The Promise of the Father

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. ACTS 1:4–5

Derek Prince was converted in a barrack room and, soon afterwards, received what he understood as the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He never doubted either experience, and he spent the rest of his life teaching both. In the years of the charismatic renewal, when Christians in many older denominations were seeking a fuller experience of the Spirit, Prince was one of the teachers they most trusted, precisely because he was not excitable. He came at the subject as he came at every subject: with a Bible, a notebook and a series of careful questions.

A promise for every believer

Prince began where Jesus began. Before His ascension the Lord told His disciples not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father. They had already believed; they had already seen the risen Christ; they had, in John’s account, already received the breath of the Spirit. Yet they were told to wait for something more — for power to be His witnesses.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. ACTS 1:8

Prince argued from this and from the rest of Acts that the baptism in the Spirit is an experience distinct from conversion, available to every believer, and intended to equip the church for its mission. He pointed to the Samaritans, who believed under Philip’s preaching and then received the Spirit when the apostles came and laid hands on them; and to the disciples at Ephesus, whom Paul asked whether they had received the Holy Ghost since they believed.

He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. ACTS 19:2

He insisted that this promise was not confined to the apostles or to the first century. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, made it as wide as the call of God itself.

For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. ACTS 2:39

The sign that accompanies it

Prince held, with the Pentecostal tradition from which his own experience came, that speaking in tongues is the normal sign that accompanies the baptism in the Spirit. He noticed that on the day of Pentecost, in the house of Cornelius and at Ephesus, the outpouring was marked by the disciples speaking with other tongues, and he concluded that this was the pattern the New Testament intends.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. ACTS 2:4

He valued tongues not as a badge of spiritual rank but as a gift for the believer’s own edification and prayer, and he taught that it should be used with order and restraint in public worship, as Paul directs.

Where careful readers differ

Here, more than at most points, the reader must weigh what Prince taught against the full witness of Scripture, because sincere and godly Christians have read these passages differently.

Many hold that every believer is baptised in the Spirit at conversion, citing Paul’s words that by one Spirit we are all baptised into one body. They read the events in Acts as unique moments in the widening of the gospel — to Jews, to Samaritans, to Gentiles — rather than as a pattern for every believer. They also note that Paul asks, expecting the answer no, whether all speak with tongues.

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 1 CORINTHIANS 12:13

Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? 1 CORINTHIANS 12:30

This book does not attempt to settle the debate. But three things may be said. First, whatever one’s view of the doctrine, the New Testament plainly calls believers to be filled with the Spirit, continually and not once only (Ephesians 5:18). Second, no teaching on the Spirit should be allowed to divide the church into first-class and second-class Christians; the Spirit dwells in every believer, or he is none of Christ’s (Romans 8:9). Third, the test of the Spirit’s work is not first a gift but a character.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. GALATIANS 5:22–23

Prince would not have disagreed with any of that. He knew that gifts without love are noise.

Power for a purpose

What is most valuable in Prince’s teaching on the Spirit is its purpose. He did not present the baptism in the Spirit as a spiritual luxury or as an end in itself. He presented it as power to witness, to serve, to pray and to overcome. The disciples who waited in the upper room did not stay there. They went out into the streets and preached, and three thousand were added to the church in a day.

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. ACTS 4:31

Notice that the same disciples who were filled at Pentecost were filled again in Acts 4, when they prayed under threat. Whatever we believe about a first experience, the need is continual. The church does not live on an old filling.

Asking and receiving

Finally, Prince taught that the Spirit is received as every gift of God is received: by asking in faith. He loved the Lord’s words about the Father who gives good gifts.

If ye 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 11:13

That is a promise on which every Christian, whatever his tradition, may stand. Ask. The Father is not reluctant. And the Spirit He gives will not draw attention to Himself, nor to the believer who receives Him, but to Christ.

He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. JOHN 16:14

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Read the accounts of the Spirit’s coming in Acts 2, 8, 10 and 19. Write down what they have in common and where they differ.

2. Whatever your tradition, ask yourself honestly whether you are living in the power of the Spirit or in your own strength. Where is the evidence?

3. Ask the Father, simply and specifically, for the fullness of His Spirit, trusting Luke 11:13. Ask again tomorrow.

4. If you have tended to look down on believers whose experience of the Spirit differs from yours, confess it and seek out one of them for fellowship.

5. Examine your life by Galatians 5:22–23 rather than by any gift. Which fruit is most lacking? Pray for it by name.

A PRAYER

Father, You promised Your Spirit to all who ask, and I ask. I do not want to live the Christian life in my own strength any longer.

Fill me, and fill me again. Give me power to witness, boldness to speak, and love to make every gift sweet.

Keep me from pride in any experience, and from despising any brother whose path has differed from mine.

Let Your Spirit glorify Jesus in me, and let the fruit of His presence be seen in my home and in my work. Amen.