“Wait for the Promise of the Father, which, says He, you have heard of Me. For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence.” (Acts 1:4,5)
At the mission I was taught that once you were saved you were already baptized with the Holy Spirit. Others said that if you asked for it then you had to receive it by faith, and that not everyone received the same gifts. I was shown 1 Corinthians 12:30 “do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?” It seemed so clear and I just accepted it. One Sunday between services a group of us was at a lady’s house having lunch. The subject of the baptism of the Holy Spirit came up. I said that I thought I had been baptized and that not everyone had the gift of speaking in tongues just as I had been taught. Another lady that knew me, got frustrated and loudly said, “Bill Cotton if you were baptized with the Holy Spirit, you would be dangerous.” It felt like a slap in the face. It shook me up. Then I did something dangerous. I went to God for myself. I needed God to show what was correct.
The first thing God showed me was a scripture. “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22) (Later I learned that the tense for the Greek word for “receive” is Aorist Imperative. Imperative means it was a command, and the Aorist tense means it happened at that moment, not later.)
The second thing God showed me was that everyone I knew who could pray in tongues, described the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a very definite, distinct and powerful experience of being filled with the presence of God after they were saved. And every one who couldn’t speak in tongues did not have that experience. I began to pray and soon I realized that I was not baptized with the Holy Spirit.
The third thing God showed me is that I did not have to be afraid of getting something fake or demonic. “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?( Luke 11:9-13)
These verses shows someone who is already a son, asking his Father for the Holy Spirit. And just like the earthly father, God is not going to give His children something evil if they are asking for the Holy Spirit. Thus I started praying to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Two times I remember people praying for me and I felt the presence of God all over me, but I still didn’t get baptized. Then one Saturday night I went to a coffeehouse ministry on the lower east side and a friend from the mission was there. John asked me if I had been baptized with the Holy Spirit yet and I said no. Then he told me to go up for the altar call the next time Pastor David spoke about it and I said, Of course! What he said didn’t make sense until the next day. After the morning service Pastor David announced that he was going to preach on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I was so excited I shouted Praise God. That night Pastor David preached a powerful message that I knew was for me but his altar call was connected to certain issues I was very ashamed of. One was the homosexuality and even though I was free from the sin I didn’t want anyone to know that I had been involved in it. I wanted to go up so bad but I was too ashamed. I kept praying that Pastor David would give another altar call. Finally on the third altar call I went forward. I just held up my hands and began to worship Jesus. I felt the Holy Spirit coming into my body through my hands and feet and on my head. It was like being in heaven! The presence of God was so powerful. I was still aware of things going on around me but I lost all sense of time. When I finally came to my senses again and turned around every one was gone! The church was empty! I was at the altar for at least a half hour or more and it only seemed like minutes. I remember I felt so free and alive and drunk the Holy Spirit, only with no hang over. Praise God! The devil was still trying to play with my head though. I didn’t think that I had prayed in tongues. I had said some strange little syllables but I didn’t think anything of it. I had a friend who was staying in my room and we were listening to some worship music and I felt such Joy in my heart and I blurted out a few “syllables”. My friend said, brother what was that? And I said, oh nothing. Then he said, brother that was the Holy Ghost! From that night I began to pray in a heavenly language every day. Praise God! It amazes me how much the devil fights against God’s people being baptized with the Holy Spirit. It also amazes me how many Christians are against it also! We don’t have to understand it or try to figure it out, but just simply believe what John the Baptist said about Jesus: “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire”(Matthew 3:11). Also we need to ask! (See Luke 11:9, 10 & 13)
By William A. Cotton