Something More

When Peter and John got to Samaria they discovered that the believers there had been baptized in the name of Jesus.  While such sounds like a good thing, the language implies that something more is being missed.  Verse 16 of the 8th chapter of Acts reads, "...they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."  It is not often that a simple word like "only" becomes such a weighty and significant word.  Something was missing from their experience.   Peter and John went to pray for these believers to receive the Holy Spirit and before they left, the two Apostles, "...laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit."  (Acts 8:17)

 

Now no one needs to argue with this preacher about time of the arrival of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer.  The Scripture makes it clear that as we respond to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to abide in us.  The Spirit is the One who assures us that we are indeed a child of God.  But, what is also true is that while we receive all of the Holy Spirit at the moment of deciding for Jesus, the Holy Spirit does not really receive all of us.  Instead of shucking those sinful patterns and lifestyle that we have confessed, we tend to hang on to them.  We acknowledge our dirty laundry and then choose to hang on to it. 

 

When we hear that preaching about sanctification, or being baptized with the Holy Spirit, what we are hearing is a call to give the Holy Spirit complete control of our lives.  In other words, the Spirit gets all of us.  The believers in Samaria needed to know the full power of the Holy Spirit in their lives if they were going to be able to continue the walk they had started with Jesus.   It is no different for those of us today who walk with Jesus.  There comes that moment when we have to decide if we are going to put the demands of ego aside and allow the Holy Spirit to have control of every part of who we are.  There is something more for all of us just as there was something more for those disciples who stood before Peter and John.