Baptism in the spirit is immersion into the realm of spiritual things, of spiritual experiences, of prophesying, of having dreams, of flowing in the supernatural - that's why God wants to have people baptised in the Holy Spirit.
The reality is, many people, having had an experience, just peter-out; and don't persevere to get more, to reach into more. There's a contending for these things, because there's no way the devil wants you to operate in the supernatural - so there is the gift of praying in tongues.
So how could I receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit? There are some very simple keys found in Mark 11. Everything you get, you get pretty well the same way.
Mark 11:24 - “Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe you receive them, and you shall have them”. What could be clearer than that? Jesus' own words: “Whatsoever things you desire” - so notice now, the keys in here.
Number one, ‘desire’: I must want. I must want something. When someone is hungry and thirsty, and wanting something, there is a draw - a pull into their life. Even when you're ministering to one another, if the person is hungry for you to help them, it draws out of you. It draws the life of God from you. So first thing is, if I come to God, I must come wanting to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Number two, ‘when you pray’, whatsoever things you desire when you pray. You've got to ask Him. Now you don't ask Him like this: “Oh God, if it be Your will then give me this.” You know what will happen? He'll just say (without you hearing it): you really don't know what My will is, so how can you really expect to get anything?
You actually need to know: it's the will of God for you to be filled with the spirit. So I need to know that, so I don't come to God saying: “well, if You want me to have it, I'll have it” - that is passive; it's religious. It's not how you receive anything from God.
If you're going to receive anything from God, I have to extend my faith, and believe it's for now; it's for me, now. See? Now that's a decision to push aside all the things: ‘I'm not good enough’, whatever.
Listen, that's all your history talking to you. That's the demons talking to you. That's your brokenness talking to you. What is God saying? He's saying: I love you; I've accepted you; I want to fill you with the Holy Ghost. The gift is here. Will you believe?
That's how He works! “Oh, I don't know, Lord, if you want me to have it”. I can see you're double-minded, and a double-minded man doesn't get anything; so when you ask, you've got to ask believing - and our believing is based on what we know God's word says.
So Jesus said: “wait, you'll receive the promise of the Father.” Peter stood up and said: “this promise is for you, for your children, and all who are far off”.
So this Baptism in the Holy Spirit is for every person; and the gift of tongues is for every person. Why? It's to empower us internally, to help us in our spirit dimensions in our life.
So here are the keys then: whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, you've got to ask - desire, ask.
Number three, believe you receive it. Believe that when you reach out, God will respond to you, He WILL give me this gift. Believe you receive it, and then He says: you shall have it.
So don't ask, ask, ask; just say: God, I believe Your word says that I can be filled with the Holy Ghost; I can have the gift of tongues - I choose to believe it. I believe You'll give it, and You'll give it to me because You want me to have it. You want me to be a strong believer.
The gift is to build you up. Now to approach it: “oh well, I just think I'd rather have one of the greater gifts”. Well this is nonsense - it's just nonsense.
God has got a gift to help you. I don't care how little the gift is, I'll have the littlest one, and then I'll have more; but if I ignore the little things He's giving me, it'll probably be very difficult to get more.
So one of the things about praying in tongues is: God gets a hold of your tongue; so instead of your tongue being turned to all kinds of things, it's turned to magnifying God, and turned to speaking a spiritual language - very, very powerful.
So Desire; Ask; Believe; and then Receive. I've got to consciously do it – “Lord I just receive; and now Lord, I just begin to speak in that new language” - and I've got to take a step.
Now when you step out to speak, you don't stop to try and think: now what could I say? I'll make a sound like this... That's your head talking to you.