© 19 Colin Melbourne
Hungry and Thirsty For God
When this Pentecostal outpouring began in England I went to Sunderland, and met with the people who had assembled for the purpose of receiving the Holy Ghost.
I was continuously in those meetings causing disturbances, until the people wished I’d never come. They said that I was disturbing the whole conditions.
But I was hungry and thirsty for God, and had gone to Sunderland because I heard God was pouring out His Spirit in a new way.
I heard that God had now visited His people, had manifested His power, and that people were speaking in tongues as on the Day of Pentecost.
When I got to this place I said, “I can not understand this meeting. I have left a meeting in Bradford all on-fire for God. The fire fell last night, and we were all laid out under the power of God. I have come here for tongues, and I don’t hear them: I don’t hear anything!”
“Oh!” they said, “When you get baptised with the Holy Ghost you will speak in tongues.”
“Oh, is that it?” said I, “When the Presence of God came upon me, my tongue was loosened, and really I felt, as I went in the open air to preach, that I had a new tongue.”
“Ah no,” they said, “…that’s not it.”
“What is it then?” I asked.
They said, “When you get baptised in the Holy Ghost…”
“I am baptised, ” I interjected, “…and there is no one here who can persuade me that I am not baptised.”
So I was up against them, and they were up against me.
I remember a man getting up and saying, “You know Brothers and Sisters, I was here three weeks ago, and then the Lord baptised me with the Holy Ghost, and I began to speak with other tongues.”
I said, “Let’s hear it That’s what I’m here for.”
But he would not talk in tongues.
Same Spirit: Two Different Manifestations
I was doing what others are doing today; confusing the 12th. of 1 Corinthians with the 2nd. of Acts.
These two chapters deal with different things, one with the Gifts of the Spirit, and the other with the Baptism of the Spirit with the accompanying sign.
I did not understand this, and so I said to the man, “Let’s hear you speak in tongues.” But he could not. He had not received the “Gift” of tongues, but the baptism.
As the days passed, I became more and more hungry. I had opposed the meeting so much, but the Lord was gracious, and I shall ever remember that last day: The day I was to leave.
God was with me so much that last night.
They were to have a meeting, and I went, but I could not rest. I went to the Vicarage, and there in the library, I said to Mrs. Boddy [Wife of Rev. Boddy who was leading the meetings. Ed.]
“I cannot rest any longer. I must have these tongues.”
Continue reading…
Smith Wigglesworth on The Bible Evidence of the Baptism in The Holy Spirit
Top 10 Smith Wigglesworth Book
© 19 Colin Melbourne