Question: Hi Pastor, can you tell me how to get the gift of the Holy Spirit? I am baptized and it’s been two years, and still, I can’t lead a perfectly holy life. There are times when I felt down, but God helped me. Now I want to get the gift of the Holy Spirit. Can you tell me how?
Answer: Well, in the scriptures, there are several ways that we are shown [that] we can receive the Holy Spirit or the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The number one way is an act of faith – when we receive the Holy Spirit because He’s the bringer of the gifts. You see, [every time you receive the Holy Spirit] anybody who receives the Holy Spirit automatically [actually] has certain gifts of the Spirit. So, [but] after you’ve received the Holy Spirit, there are other gifts you might want. And the Bible says that the one who speaks in tongues should covet also to interpret [1 Corinthians 14:13] which means that we can ask God for the gift of interpretation. Then again, He tells us to all desire the gift of prophecy because the gift of prophecy is important in the Church of God. So he wants us all to have the gift of prophecy, which means you can ask. So you ask as an act of faith.
Now, remember the words of Jesus, when He said: “Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”[Matthew 7:7] Then he says “Which of you, as a father, if his son should ask for bread would give him a stone? Or if a son should ask for fish, would give him a serpent or a scorpion?” Then he says, “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”[Matthew 7:9-11]. See, which means that when we ask, the Father can give us the Holy Spirit. So you can ask and receive the Holy Spirit.
Now, if you can ask and receive the Holy Spirit, it means you can ask and receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And you ask in faith, nothing wavering, as James the Apostle tells us [James 1:6]. When we ask, we must ask in faith, nothing wavering. Now, how do you ask in faith? It means that when you ask, you believe – like Jesus taught on the prayer of faith. He said “what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” [Mark 11:24]. So when you pray or ask, believe that you receive and you shall have, which means when you ask God, you must have it in your mind that when you asked, He also heard you and granted your heart’s desire. And from then on, act by faith that you have received what you’ve asked for. So, that’s receiving as an act of faith, through prayer.
The other way is by the laying on of hands. Now, in the scriptures, we also find that the apostles had hands laid on certain people to receive the Holy Spirit. Plus that, they also laid hands on others and they received the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Some even were commissioned into the ministry through the laying on of hands. Now, even back in the Old Testament, the Bible does tell us that Joshua had the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him, which means that we can actually communicate (transfer) the gifts of the spirit through the laying on of hands.
So, what I ask you to do is: get across to someone who already has the gifts of the Holy Spirit – may be your Pastor, maybe the minister of God with you has the Holy Spirit (the gifts of the Holy Spirit); he can lay hands on you, and you will receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And even now, maybe when I begin praying, you can actually receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit when I pray for you. And, I would ask you that you get ready for that in a short while. We’ll minister to you.
