I'm sorry if I did not make this clear.
Only believers are filled with the Holy Spirit. This happens when we are saved. The next step after salvation is to become mature in Christ. That is sanctification, which I have never heard mentioned once in my 15 years in various denominational and non-denominational so-called spirit-filled churches.
I see there are 2 routes being presented in this thread for how to live once you are saved. One, is to keep having more and more experiences and depend upon them. And of course, as I said above, many experiences do line up with the Word - like joy, peace, love, comfort, encouragement, etc.
But, the catch is, you need a knowledge of the Word, to clearly check whether your experience lines up with the Word of God. That requires renewing your MIND in the word, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It cannot be an either/or thing. Without a deep knowledge of the Word renewing our minds, and transforming us into the image of Christ, the Spirit has nothing to work with. No amount of jumping up and down, speaking in tongues is ever going to change us so we are more like Christ. As for power, all believers have that as a result of their being filled with the Spirit at salvation.
7seas, I do understand that you are not addicted to experiences, and you do seem to really know the Word of God. So, even though I have addressed this to you, it is really for the others, who have never moved forward in God, since the day they got the so-called "baptism of the HS" which is not found in Scripture. The only baptism, a noun, is water baptism.
But more, I see this whole Pentecostal/charismatic direction as missing totally the whole journey of salvation. We are not perfect when we are justified, although we are made positionally right in the eyes of God, though faith in Christ, and his death and resurrection, and atoning for our sins.
So, if we are not perfect, then how to we grow? Do we grow, by getting an unscriptural baptism, and THEN we are perfect? Never!
Instead, we walk with the Holy Spirit who is given to each born again Christian, which is a different journey for each of us. BUT, it is the same journey, in terms of we grow in the Word, and the Holy Spirit uses it to make us mature. A one time experience in anything doesn't make you mature, especially not spiritually. instead, it is a daily journey, filled with prayer, studying the Word, fellowship and service.
But this Pentecostal movement instead looks at a false Baptism, fake healings, and waiting around for the tongues of fire to descend daily. Or more?
The fact is, tongues of fire, and speaking in tongues were given as a sign of the birth of the church. Not as an ongoing means of sanctification. That is why tongues are confined to Acts, the story of the birth of the church, and the immoral Corinthian, who were not following the Biblical truths, but rather, distorting what Paul had taught them. And then, it died out. It is not mentioned again in the Bible, because the Bible replaced that experience of the early church, as the way to follow Christ. That is why tongues as LiKE fire, never appear again. They were unique to the birth of the church. Surely if the Day of Pentecost was normative, then speaking in tongues would be accompanied by the believer having tongues like fire, too? At least initially. Yet, it is not taught, because it does not happened.
The way the Bible gives to become mature is hard and long. We walk with the Holy Spirit, who arranges for us to grow, in ways we need as different people. For some, it is suffering. For others, it is service, or other ministries. The gifts we are given are to serve, God, his people, and to share the gospel. The deeper we are in the Word, (of course, led by the Spirit that we all have!) the more we become santified or mature, which means we are growing into the image of Christ.
We were created in the image of God. That perfection was lost at the Fall. Christ came to redeem us from the Fall, and change us back into his image. But, that will not be completed until we are glorified at the Eschaton.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." Romans 8:28-30
How does he do this? Read Romans 8. It does not mention speak in tongues. Unless you want to twist the word "groaning" into "unknown tongues" which has no exegetical basis.
So, I do agree, we need the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us! Absolutely! But, that is not the goal, and never was, of speaking in tongues. God has chosen a much more solid method of helping us mature when we are saved - and that is his Word mediated by the Holy Spirit that we all have in us.
I think tongues is stealing God's glory, and perverting his plans. After 15 years spent in churches that believed this, and just reading the immature responses of many in this forum, I remain convinced that tongues are long gone, and God uses the Word and the Holy Spirit, who was given to us when we were saved, or justified, as his plan to glorify himself, and help us to be transformed into the image of Christ which has always been the triune God's plan for us.
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