BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
To be baptized with the Holy Ghost is to be “filled with the Spirit,” or life, of God. This is not a life the current of which flows in obedience to carnal law, or law of our flesh. It is a life-current which operates after the law of the Giver of the Spirit. When any soul will yield absolutely to the law of God as it is in Christ Jesus, he will receive God’s life more abundantly. This is what consecration means,—to give all to God, heart, mind, soul, strength; to count all His all the time. God can not dishonor Himself by bestowing His life in its fulness upon those who will use it to their own glory. He will give His life for the preservation of such ones as long as there is hope; but He does not pour out of His Spirit for selfish service. But when the whole man is yielded to God, to be used of God, God fits that soul for service by filling him with His Spirit. Nay, but by the very submission of the whole being to God, the Spirit comes in. The prayer, the faith, the surrender, opens the appointed channel for the Spirit, which waits to enter and make effective every talent of every child of God. There are but few persons indeed who do not desire to be baptized “into the name of the Father,” to be justified from sin, to have all iniquity pardoned. There are not many comparatively that desire to be baptized “into the name of the Son”—the utter emptying of self, which was the mind of Christ. Self-effacement is not a desirable thing for any one who cherishes selfishness. There is a still smaller number who desire to be baptized “into the name of the Holy Ghost,” because this means baptism for service, not our own, not our neighbor’s, but God’s service, anywhere, anywhen, everywhere, everywhen. But as this is the greatest relinquishment of self, it brings the greatest joy, even the joy of Jesus Christ. Who does not want to serve God? Who does not want to be baptized—immersed—in the Holy Spirit, the great stream of divine life, and thus be fitted for God’s service? God is willing to prepare us; are we willing to be prepared?