Transitions

2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied.

Have you ever been in a transition in life? A new house, job, marriage, or child? All of these experiences involve a learning curve. Some right choices and often many wrong decisions are involved as well. Today, as I read the questions Paul asked the twelve disciples, their answers were transitional. They still followed the old law and did not understand what Jesus had promised once they truly believed.  In my faith journey, there was a time when I thought I had to earn His love and that there would be things I would need to cut out of my life for our Lord to consider me.  Wow! How wrong.  Our Lord has a love for us that He has always had.  The disciples here thought they would receive the Holy Spirit once they had arrived at a certain spiritual point in their lives.

Paul told them He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”  verse 4

We all need that. That’s all that we, as believers, have to tell others about! Believe in Him! God gives us the Holy Spirit to be with us in His fullness permanently, personally, and indwelling from the moment of our salvation.

Here are a few additional verses that we can share about His promise.

  • Romans 8:9 9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
  • 1 Corinthians 6:19 19You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
  • Ezekial 36:26-27 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
  • 2 Corinthians 6:16 For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:“I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.

Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Yes!