The Force From Within
“And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
There’s probably no subject in the modern church that stirs up more confusion and division than the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I’ve had enough questions come through recently—emails, conversations, online discussions—that I figured it’s time to walk through the scriptural foundation of what the baptism of the Spirit really is. Not from a denominational lens. Not to convince anyone they’re wrong. But to simply lay out what scripture says, affirm the finished work of Christ, and help us understand what’s already been given to us in Him.
Because here’s the truth: If you are in Christ, you are not lacking. You are not waiting on God to give you something He’s holding back. You are complete in Him. And when it comes to the Holy Spirit—whether it’s His indwelling presence or His power upon your life—you already have what you need. What remains is your choice to yield.
The New Birth and the Spirit Within
When you put your faith in Jesus—truly trust that what He did on the cross applies to you—something happens. Spiritually, a transformation takes place. Paul calls it a circumcision made without hands in Colossians 2:11. God cuts away the body of sin. You’re sanctified by the lifeblood of Jesus. You’re cleansed. You’re made new. Dead in sin no longer describes you. You’re revived. Alive in Christ.
It’s not just poetic language. Ezekiel 36:26–27 shows what happens in that moment. God says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you… I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes.” That’s not symbolic. That’s literal. You receive a new heart. Not an old, wicked heart patched up. A new heart. A new spirit. And God’s own Spirit joined to yours.
It’s not like the old covenant, where the Spirit came upon someone for a task and then lifted. No, under the new covenant, you become the very temple of God. The presence that once rested behind a veil now resides in you. Permanently. As Paul said in Colossians 2:9–10, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him.”Complete. Lacking nothing.
So from the moment you say yes to Jesus, the Spirit of the living God takes up residence in you. He joins Himself to you. You’re one. You’re not trying to get close to Him. You’re not trying to earn access. You are in Him and He is in you.
Spirit Upon: The Power to Live and Witness
Now here’s where the distinction matters. You can have the Spirit within you and still not walk in His power. You can be born again and yet live as if you’re on your own. That’s why we need to understand the Spirit upon.
Jesus said in Matthew 3:11, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Now, God is the one who puts His Spirit in you. But Jesus—the high priest of the new covenant—is the one who baptizes you with the Spirit. That word “baptize” means to immerse. Think about water baptism. The goal isn’t to get water in you; it’s to be surrounded by it. Immersed. That’s what Jesus does with the Spirit.
So while the Spirit is already in you, there’s another dimension available: the Spirit upon you. Power for daily life. Boldness to witness. Fruit for character. Gifts for ministry. And it doesn’t come by waiting for God to do something new. It comes by yielding to what’s already there.
Too often we confuse the terminology. We say, “Have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit?” or “Are you Spirit-filled?” As if those phrases describe separate events or classes of believers. But let’s clarify something: there are only two kinds of people in the world—those who are born again and those who are not. If you are born again, you have the Spirit. Period.
From there, the choice is whether you’ll live under His influence.
Filled with the Spirit Means Yielding
Let’s look at Acts. This is where most of the confusion tends to come from. In Acts 2, the disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit, and they begin to speak in tongues. But then in Acts 4, it says Peter is “filled with the Spirit” again—and this time, he speaks boldly to the religious leaders, not in tongues but in his own language.
This shows us something important: being filled with the Spirit isn’t about getting the Spirit in you for the first time. It’s about yielding to His influence. It’s about being inspired, empowered, and emboldened by the Spirit already within you.
Jesus said in Luke 12:11–12, “Do not worry about how or what you should answer… for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” That’s what happened in Acts 4. Peter, filled with the Spirit, spoke as the Spirit taught him—not in tongues, but in boldness. And that same Spirit teaches you.
Being filled with the Spirit means living from His influence. Whether it’s for ministry, for patience in traffic, or for loving someone who’s hard to love, it’s all the same Spirit working in you and upon you.
What About Acts 19?
Acts 19 is often used to say you can believe in Jesus and still not have the Spirit. But if we slow down and look closely, that’s not what’s happening.
Paul finds a group of disciples and asks them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answer, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” Right away, we see these folks didn’t even know the Holy Spirit was available. So Paul digs deeper: “Into what then were you baptized?” And they respond, “Into John’s baptism.”
So they weren’t believers in Jesus yet. They’d heard the message of repentance from John, but they hadn’t yet heard or responded to the gospel of Christ. That’s why Paul tells them again to believe on Jesus, and after they do, “they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” That’s when they got born again.
Then Paul lays hands on them, and the Spirit comes upon them—they begin speaking in tongues and prophesying. But the point here isn’t that they were believers lacking the Spirit. It’s that they weren’t believers yet. Once they were, they received what was already theirs.
And Acts 8?
Same deal. In Acts 8, it says the Samaritans had received the word of God and had been baptized in the name of Jesus, but “the Spirit had not yet fallen upon them.” Sounds like they were missing something, right?
Here’s where word study helps. The Greek word for “receive” is lambano, and it doesn’t mean “get something new.” It means “to take, to lay hold of, to appropriate for oneself.” It’s an action. It’s not waiting for God to do something—it’s choosing to yield to what’s already available.
Likewise, the phrase “fallen upon” comes from the Greek epipipto, and in this case, it’s used metaphorically. It doesn’t mean the Spirit fell from heaven like a cloud. It means they hadn’t yet yielded to the inspiration or impulse of the Spirit. They hadn’t responded.
So when Peter and John lay hands on them, it wasn’t that God finally sent the Spirit. It’s that the people finally received—they took hold of what was already theirs.
We’ve turned these moments into doctrines that suggest you get saved, then get the Spirit later. But scripture doesn’t support that. What it shows is people learning to yield. The moment you’re born again, the Spirit is in you. And the power that comes upon you is available the moment you choose to lay hold of it.
You Don’t Need More. You Need to Yield.
Let’s stop waiting for God to send something. He already sent Jesus. He already put His Spirit in you. If you want to pray in tongues, speak. If you want to walk in boldness, speak. If you want wisdom, ask. James says God gives generously to all who ask without finding fault.
When Paul talks about being filled with the Spirit, he’s not talking about getting more of God. He’s talking about living under His influence. Whether that looks like praying in tongues, preaching the gospel, or walking in love, it’s all the same Spirit at work.
We often treat the Holy Spirit like He’s something to “catch,” as if He’s floating around waiting to land on us. But He’s already in you. You just need to say yes. That’s what repentance is—changing your mind, turning to Him, and stepping into what’s true. That’s how we walk in the Spirit. That’s how we see power.
And listen, if you’ve had a moment in your life where you responded beyond your own strength, where you acted out of love or wisdom you didn’t conjure up yourself, that was Him. That was being filled with the Spirit. That was the power coming upon you, not because you earned it, but because you yielded.
Final Thoughts
You don’t need to wait for a fire tunnel. You don’t need someone else’s mantle. You don’t need to hope that maybe one day God will decide to move. You are complete in Christ. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. You lack nothing.
The anointing abides in you. Jesus lives in you. The Spirit of God is already within you—and when you choose to yield, He comes upon you. For power. For witness. For life.
So the question isn’t, “Will God move?” The question is, “Will you yield?”
As the Spirit leads you—whether into peace, power, or prayer—just follow. And let’s stop making it complicated. As Yoda said: “Do or do not. There is no try.”
