This I Believe by Dallas Janousek

I believe in the gift of the Holy Spirit which is very simply the baptism of speaking in tongues. The Holy Spirit is God. God is a spirit. (John 4:24). To become a subject in the kingdom of God, Jesus said a person must be born again or otherwise stated Born of water and of the spirit. (John 3:3-5) The birth of the spirit and the baptism of the spirit are symbolic terms. The apostle Peter knew this to be true when he spoke to thousands in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. He said, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remissions of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:30)

This experience was received by the Jews, Samaritans, and the Gentiles on the day of Pentecost as found in the book of Acts. The new birth that consisted of water and spirit was never meant to be optional or unnecessary. You must be born again are works of Jesus. (John 3:7) Until a person is born again of spirit, they cannot be called a Son of God.

The Evidence

There are two major evidences of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The first evidence on the outside is speaking in tongues. This means speaking in languages the person does not know. Speaking with the other tongues has been directly connected with the spirit baptism since the day of Pentecost after Christ's ascension. There were approximately 120 disciples of Christ filled by the spirit of God and began to speak with other tongues, as the spirit game the utterance (Acts 2:1-4) In Acts 19:1-6, a group of John the Baptist's disciples heard about the Holy Ghost from the apostle Paul. They were filled with the spirit and they spoke with tongues.

We cannot express with our own words the Beauty of the Baptism of the spirit. Only the God we can utter what of souls would say. There may have been several reasons God chose speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of this spiritual baptism. It is an objective external evidence that those who are filled with the spiritual baptism. It is an objective external evidence that those who are filled with the spirit and onlookers can identify for sure (Acts 10:46). It is a uniform evidence all the disciples on Pentecost, all the household of Cornelius, and all the believers in Ephesus spoke in tongues so is everyone that is born of the spirit are the words of Jesus in his description of this spirited new birth (John3:8) speaking in tongues shows the complete control of the spirit over our human wills. The tongue is the most unruly member of the body (James 3:8) and is being tamed by God is evidence of his complete control. Another evidence of the spirits abiding presence in our lives is the fruit of the spirit which Paul mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The Promise

The apostle Peter made it clear in his message on the Day of Pentecost that the gift of the Holy Ghost is for everyone for the promise is unto you and your children and to all that are a far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call (Acts 2:39) Through faith, obedience and submission to the Lord Jesus and his gospel qualify us for this most joyous of all experiences.