If I go, I will send him [the Counselor] to you. He will bring glory to me by
taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
John 16:7,14
When I first began to pastor I remember struggling to lead people into the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I was confident in preaching about salvation and leading people to Christ but Holy Spirit baptism was a little intimidating for me. After several years of struggling with this I saw something in the scripture that really helped me. It was actually in Peter’s explanation of the manifestation of tongues that gave me the insight that I needed. He said in Acts 2:33, “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing”. Peter was saying that the outpouring of the Spirit which resulted in the 120 receiving the Spirit was connected to the exaltation of Jesus. His crucifixion was connected to salvation, His glorification was tied to the outpouring. That was a huge breakthrough for me. Here is how Andrew Murray describes this phenomenon.
“After His ascension to heaven, the crucified Christ was glorified on His throne at the right hand of God. And from that glory He sent the Holy Spirit to His disciples, fulfilling His promise to them. It is the Spirit that searches for the deep secrets of God, who is an indissoluble part of God, who was with Christ during His life on earth and at His death on the cross. The same Spirit would now support the disciples and make them aware of the presence of the glorified Christ. The Spirit of God would be their power in a life of obedience, and their instructor in all for which they had prayed. It would be by the power of the Holy Spirit that the disciples would defeat God’s enemies and proclaim the gospel to the world.”
From that time on it became easy for me to lead people into the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Look to Jesus, He is seated in glory at the Father’s right hand. There is a River flowing out from Him for everyone who is thirsty. You too can be filled with the Holy Spirit, His presence is being poured out on all mankind today.