Being born again is in no way the end of anything, but the beginning of something reaching still farther.
Acts 18:26 – And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.
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I became a Christian as a child at the age of ten. In those earliest years after my conversion, I was so hungry for the things of God that I would often weep for them. Though in my teen years I grew somewhat indifferent, deep inside I never lost that hunger. When I married, I found that “good thing” of which the Word speaks, and surely found favor of the Lord. It was right after marriage that the hunger I knew as a child came boiling back to the surface. But now it was twelve years after being born again. We were attending a different church than when I was a child, and a greater interest was taken in young men than in mere boys. (Be warned here, my friend. Never lessen your interest in a believer because he is a child. That child will grow up, and those early years of nurturing are so important.)
I was like a young lion encountering his mother after being separated from the pride for a time. I had become so strongly imprinted on the things of God, that when I came back to them fully, I knew I was going in the right direction. I have never stopped pursuing that direction. But then, as a 22-year old, the church we attended showed me something beyond what I had known. I wanted it twelve years earlier, but had no idea how to ask for it, or even what it really was. Ah, but now; now I was learning. I needed to be filled with Holy Ghost. I needed something in me more powerful than I had known, greater than I had known, more enriching than I had known, to empower me, to teach me, to enrich the depth of knowledge of His Word. I needed to be filled with Holy Ghost. And so, at twenty-two years of age, I asked for and received the infilling of Holy Spirit with the initial physical evidence of speaking in other tongues as Holy Spirit gave utterance. Yes, it’s real, and I would not trade it for anything in the world.
To the Spirit-filled believer I say, “Re-fill, re-fire, and allow the Lord to use you to ignite others.” To the Christian who has not yet received the fullness of Holy Ghost I say, “Ask, and you shall receive. This precious gift of God is yours for the asking, but you must be a believer to receive that of which I write. Jesus said to receive Holy Spirit, you must have a relationship with God so you can call Him Father. Is God your Father? Then He has a gift just for you, and He longs for you to receive it.” To the unbeliever I say, “Go to Romans 10:9-10, read it, and act on it. The best is yet to come.”
Manna for Today – Acts 18:18-28; John 14:15-17; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:1-13; Acts 8:4-24; Acts 9:1-19; Acts 10:1-48; Acts 19:1-7
My Second Miler by Dr. Beechard Moorefield 