There are at least six conditions that must be met in order for us to receive the Holy Ghost:

1. We must be saved.
2. We must have a “first love” for the Lord.
3. We must have a burning desire to be filled with the Holy Ghost.
4. We must surrender into complete obedience unto the Lord.
5. We must get sanctified to the point we genuinely love people and their souls.
6. We must want the Holy Ghost for more than just our own self.

Let’s consider each of these conditions in more detail.

We Must Be Saved. (Condition #1 Required To Receive The Holy Ghost)

Proverbs 15:29 — The Lord is far from the wicked.

Psalms 66:18 — If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.

John 9:31 — Now we know that God heareth not sinners.

Mark 2:22 — And no man putteth new wine into old bottles … but new wine must be put into new bottles.

Bluntly, God will not give us the gift of His Spirit if we are committing sin(s)…or if we are stained and spotted with unforgiven sins from our past.

We must be born again (John 3:3,7).  We must repent of our sins and turn away from them (Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15, Luke 24:47).  We must be forgiven, cleansed, and reconciled unto God the Father through Jesus Christ’s supreme sacrifice (Acts 16:31, Romans 5:10, Romans 10:9, 2 Corinthians 5:18).

Only then can we be on our way to receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost that God has for us.

We Must Have A “First Love” for the Lord. (Condition #2 Required To Receive The Holy Ghost)

We are all familiar with the concept of “first Love”…we have all experienced teenage infatuation…where a certain other person was all we could think about…where we wanted to be in constant fellowship and companionship with that certain other person…where we wanted to impress and please this certain other person…and this “first love” kind of love is exactly the kind of love and zeal we must have for the Lord if we want to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Now, most of us have been saved long enough that we have LOST our first love for Christ.

Revelations 2:4-5 — Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Think about it: what was our zeal for the Lord like when we first got saved?

What is our zeal like now?

Jeremiah 2:2 — …Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee … when thou wentest after me…

The Lord remembers when WE were pursuing Him…when we wanted to be with Him…when He was what we thought about most of the time…when we wanted to please Him…and He wants us to return to that.

In Luke 18…the Rich Young Ruler could tell everyone that he was all right.  He had been going through the motions…he had been following a set of traditions…so it was easy for him to say that he was okay.

But apparently, there was something eating at his conscience…something was evidently nagging him…telling him that he was not FULLY right…and that is why he went to Jesus.

When he presented his question to Jesus, he EXPECTED that Jesus would justify him because he had followed the traditions…and with Jesus’s blessing, he would finally be able to clear his conscience.

And, Jesus did in fact give him the chance to pontificate about how well he had followed the traditions…but then Jesus went to the very heart of the problem…and it was the same problem that we have today…a LOVE problem.

We have lost our first love for Christ and the things of God…so much so that we end up just going through the motions…we end up just repeating traditions…and all the while, the love and adoration for the Lord that INVOKES and DEMANDS worship and praise is missing.

In short, if we want the Holy Ghost present and active in our lives, then THAT “first love” for Christ is the kind of love we ALL need to get back to.

We Must Have A Burning Desire To Be Filled With The Holy Ghost. (Condition #3 Required To Receive The Holy Ghost)

Nobody has ever received the Holy Ghost because they were casually interested or curious.

They got it because they were deeply committed to getting it…

Either that, or they were so devoted to the Lord…and so in love with the Lord…that their worship and praise reached a level where the only thing that COULD happen was for the Holy Ghost to take over their vessel.

Bluntly, where there is no spiritual desire or interest, there is no Holy Ghost.  Where there is no worship, there is no Holy Ghost.

Philippians 3:14-15 — I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect [i.e.: as many as are really saved], be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

This verse tells us we are to have the mindset where we are constantly pressing towards that higher calling of being filled with the transformational power and anointing of the Holy Ghost.

And if this is not our mindset, God WILL reveal it for ALL to see.

Actually, God has ALREADY revealed it.  People around us can ALREADY see plainly whether we are truly filled with the power and anointing of the Holy Ghost or not…and that is something that SHOULD embarrass us.

We must surrender into complete obedience unto the Lord. (Condition #4 Required To Receive The Holy Ghost)

John 14:15-16 — If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.

Notice that it is only AFTER we are keeping Christ’s commandments that He gave us in the Bible that He will pray that God send the Holy Ghost to us.

We CANNOT expect to be filled with the Holy Ghost if we will not follow and keep ALL of Christ’s teachings and commandments that He has put in the Bible for us to embrace, embody, exhibit, perform, and obey.

We must get sanctified to the point we genuinely love people and their souls. (Condition #5 Required To Receive The Holy Ghost)

1 Peter 1:22 — …see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.

That is pretty strong language…we must love each other…fervently…and with a PURE heart…and if we are not authentically doing this, then we CANNOT receive the transformational power and anointing of the Holy Ghost.

When you encounter one of those rare cases where a person receives Salvation and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost at the same time, you will always find that they were in a state of complete love for people and total submission and obedience unto the Lord.

Conversely, when you find people who want the Baptism of the Holy Ghost but who cannot seem to receive it…a little investigation will almost always reveal that they are falling short in their love for people…or they are resisting surrendering completely unto the Lord…or both.

If we look at the Baptist men in Acts 19, all they knew about was the ministry and Baptism of John…but when Paul came along, they were completely open to receiving Christ’s greater dispensation…and when we read the story, we can tell there was no resistance…just complete acceptance and reception…so much so that all it took was for Paul to lay his hands on them and the Holy Ghost came upon them…and they started speaking in tongues and prophesying.

We Must Want The Holy Ghost For More Than Just Our Own Self. (Condition #6 Required To Receive The Holy Ghost)

Yes, the Holy Ghost is a comforter to us personally (John 14:26).  Yes, the Holy Ghost takes us into a higher dimension of peace, joy, and faith (Romans 15:13, Colossians 1:11).  Yes, the Holy Ghost gives us spiritual strength and power (Luke, 24:49, Acts 1:8, Ephesians 3:16). Yes, the Holy Ghost takes us into a deeper fellowship and relationship with God (Ephesians 3:9). But the Holy Ghost is about far more than just our own self.

The Holy Ghost is a witness of Jesus Christ as the one and only Redeemer and Savior of humanity.  And, He is the essence of the power, authority, truth, and love of God.  Altogether, this means receiving the Baptism of the Holy Ghost is about us moving into the spiritual realm where God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost can touch the lives of others through us.

In short, if a person wants the Holy Ghost, they have to want it for more than just their own self.

Receiving the Holy Ghost is not about receiving the equivalent of a badge of honor that we can exalt our self with…or gain entrance to some lofty club.

Receiving the Holy Ghost is about receiving the power of God to work through us to touch others.

So, a person should ask their self: What is my motivation for wanting the Holy Ghost?

Those who are wanting it primarily for their own self…or for some form of prestige or acceptance…will not be able to get the Holy Ghost.

Conversely, those who want it so that the power of God rests upon them to touch the lives of other people for good, those people will definitely get the Holy Ghost.

So in summary, six conditions that must be met in order for us to receive the Holy Ghost include:

1. We must be saved.
2. We must have a “first love” for the Lord.
3. We must have a burning desire to be filled with the Holy Ghost.
4. We must surrender into complete obedience unto the Lord.
5. We must get sanctified to the point we genuinely love people and their souls.
6. We must want the Holy Ghost for more than just our own self.

Whether we are seeking to receive the infilling of the Holy Ghost for the very first time…or whether we are needing a refilling of the Holy Ghost…moving up and measuring up to these six conditions is how we get ourselves into that place where God can fill us with the Baptism, Fire, Power, Anointing, Authority, Truth, and Love of the Holy Ghost.

Now, one last thing…

It takes a lot of personal clean-up, fixing, and improving to receive the Holy Ghost.

It takes a lot of personal effort, earnestness, and diligence to receive the Holy Ghost.

Consequently, there are some who decide they will just settle at the level of being saved…and leave being filled with the Holy Ghost to others.

But, there is a very real danger here…

IF there is something that is preventing you from receiving the Holy Ghost…IF there is something standing between you and the GIFT of the Holy Ghost…then that something is an obstacle between you and God.

Therefore, whatever is keeping you from receiving the Holy Ghost will most likely also keep you out of Heaven.

So, let’s get ourselves fully and completely surrendered and submitted unto the Lord…let’s get ourselves cleaned up in Christ…let’s get our hearts right before God…let’s do whatever we have to do in order to be filled with the power and the anointing of the Holy Ghost…so that each one of us can be all that the Lord wants us to be in Him.

— SLF