Preamble: This prayer has been used for many years in my ministry to those who respond to altar calls seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I include myself in the prayer each time I pray it in public and I ask the seekers to pray after me out loud. Sometimes I invite those who come forward to raise their hands with me. Here is the prayer.
Almighty God,
I come to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I confess that I am a sinner.
Save me from my sins.
Cleanse and forgive me.
If I have never been saved, forgive and save me now.
Grant to me the gift of eternal life, in Jesus' Name.
I also renounce and repudiate Satan,
I take back all the ground I have ever given to him
and I give that ground to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I hereby reject the devil and all his works,
in the powerful Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I also yield myself fully to you, Lord Jesus.
I will obey you completely,
because the Holy Spirit is given to them that obey Him.
Lord Jesus Christ I surrender unconditionally to you
to do God's will alone.
By your Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus I also bring the self-life,
the old man, the carnal nature, the ego,
the bad dog in our lives--
this self-life I bring to the cross,
I crucify it,
I mortify it,
I make it dead through agency and work
of the Holy Spirit of Almighty God.
I crucify, by the Holy Spirit,
adultery,
fornication,
uncleanness,
lasciviousness,
I crucify by the Holy Spirit,
idolatry,
witchcraft,
hatred,
arguing,
evil lust,
bad temper
I crucify, by the Holy Spirit,
strife,
seditions,
heresies,
envyings,
murders and such like,
the love of money,
the love of the world,
the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes,
the pride of life.
I also by the Holy Spirit crucify every besetting sin
and sins which so easily overthrow me.
All these, this whole carnal nature, this self-life
with its affections and lusts,
I crucify,
I mortify,
I make dead,
I reckon it dead to sin
and alive unto God.
Now Lord, where sin ruled,
where Satan held ground,
and the flesh reigned,
now Lord there is room
for you, for your Holy Spirit.
Come and fill me now, Lord Jesus.
Fill me now.
Impart those gifts of the Holy Spirit
that are God's will for me.
Teach me to walk in the continuous
filling of the Holy Spirit,
just as the early Christians were filled
and then filled again.
Lord I am going to believe
that you will fill me with the Holy Spirit.
LORD, I BELIEVE NOW THAT YOU ARE FILLING ME
Thank you Lord for filling me with the Holy Spirit.
Impart your gifts severally to me as You will.
I PRAY ALL THIS IN THE MIGHTY NAME
OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. AMEN
A final word: Just as the early Christians were filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 and then again, the same people in Acts 4, so this is a renewable, repeatable blessing. If you have been filled with the Holy Spirit in the past, the way back is the way you came the first time.
K. Neill Foster, August 4/03