An open door to move in miracles

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is as important today as it was on the day of Pentecost, but how do we pray for others to receive? Evangelist Marilyn Harry shared her experience at ELS.

“The baptism of the Holy Spirit is still a strategy of the Holy Spirit to fuel his people – it’s part of the revelation and inheritance of Elim that we’re called to step into,” said Elim General Superintendent Mark Pugh at ELS.

And at a time when we’re in danger of losing some elements of Pentecost, he warned, it’s something we need to pray for in our churches too.

One person with a history of doing just that is evangelist Marilyn Harry. A highlight at ELS was her sharing stories of people being filled with the Spirit and giving simple advice for those praying for this for others. This is what she said.

Starting out with the Spirit

I got saved at 19, but I really struggled. I couldn’t get baptised in the Holy Spirit. I had all these thoughts, like I wasn’t good enough and I didn’t want to make it up – I was so sincere! But when I was 21 I got radically baptised in the Holy Spirit.

I went to Bible college, then went to Birkenhead to work with Paul Epton. There, we were in a youth meeting one night. I was a youth pastor. There was an 18- and 19-year-old and some younger ones, around 14.

My heart started to thump and I thought the Lord was saying he wanted to baptise one of them in the Holy Spirit. One boy said, “Yes”; he was really crying to God for that, along with another older boy. I had never, ever prayed for anybody before to be baptised in the Holy Spirit. I didn’t know how to do it. I put my hand on their heads; they were sat down and the Holy Spirit fell upon them. They fell off their chairs and I had a job getting them up afterwards!

Then the pastor said “I want you to pray for the whole youth group.” And all the youth group got baptised in the Holy Spirit!

Baptised straight away

It’s been a mark of what we’ve seen happen when people come to Christ – getting baptised in the Spirit straight away.

The largest group where I saw this happen was in India, in a leaders’ meeting where 500 leaders were immediately baptised.

What I love is that this is not for specialists; it’s for ordinary people. My greatest heart is to train others and I always encourage them.

How do I do that? If I was praying for an individual or for a group, I would begin by simply asking if they knew the Lord.

Then I would say that the Bible says Jesus is a baptiser in the Holy Spirit: in Luke it talks about calling for the Spirit, then also in Acts that the Holy Spirit can be given by the laying on of hands.

I would ask, “Would you like to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit?” Mostly they say yes. I teach it like this: ask, believe, receive. I would lead them in a little prayer: “Dear Lord Jesus, please baptise me in the Holy Spirit and help me to speak in other tongues.” Then I would ask, “Do you believe that’s going to happen?” Most people say yes. If they’re not sure I’d have a chat.

A key thing, by the way, is that when we pray for people we should always keep our eyes open, because eyes have a great significance. So I would ask them to close their eyes and say, “Don’t be nervous. I’m going to lay my hands on your shoulder, pray for you in the name of Jesus and you’re going to be baptised in the Holy Spirit.” As you sense their countenance changing I would simply say, “Take a deep breath in and speak out.”

Baptism for all

Whether it’s one person or hundreds of people, I’ve seen it happen. I don’t believe it’s just for leaders; it’s for everybody.

The youngest I’ve seen baptised in the Spirit is a child aged four. I’ve seen children baptised and fall to the floor and then for long periods just raise their hands to heaven. We’ve seen people fall off their seats as well.

We mustn’t lose the miraculous and, personally, I believe the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an open door to move in miracles.

A message for nervous leaders

Don’t be nervous! Have a go. I’d say pray in tongues a lot too. I find if I pray in tongues I feel more confident to pray for others. You will be surprised that when you ‘ask, believe, receive’; when you lay your hands gently on someone’s shoulder and pray in the name of Jesus, they will get baptised in the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes people have said, “I’m not sure about speaking in tongues.” I’ve said, “In the book of Acts, the Bible says Mary the mother of Jesus spoke in tongues. If it’s OK for Mary it’s OK for me.”

Don’t make a big drama about it. Just have a go!

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.