The Holy Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost. Now, it was not only poured over some choice people, such as priest and prophets, but over all flesh.

Acts 2:1-5
1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

We all receive the Holy Spirit within us when we become Christians, but not everybody has experienced him coming upon them. When you hear about the fruit of the spirit (Gal 5:22) you hear of the spirit within us. But when you hear about the gifts of the Spirit, you hear of the Spirit upon us.
When Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan, the Holy Spirit came upon him and anointed him with power to serve in the ministry. But, it was already in him from the day he was born.
God's Spirit was in him giving him the fruit of love, joy and peace, but he didn't operate in the supernatural gifts until the Holy Spirit had come upon him.
You will recognize there has been a baptism in the Holy Spirit when you see a new and greater boldness, a greater power to serve him and you receive a new language, speaking in tongues.

You will receive power

Something happened at Pentecost. The disciples of Jesus were all afraid and hiding from the people. And Peter, who should have been the boldest of them all, had denied that he knew Jesus.
But at Pentecost, 50 days later, he boldly said, in front of thousands of people: “This Jesus that you crucified, is alive and he is the only way to God” (Acts 2:36)
Surely something had happened, Peter and the disciples were no longer afraid.

Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

My testimony
Something also happened within me when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Before, I was a very shy and quiet person. I often spoke quietly and did not have a lot of confidence. I was a frustrated Christian, because I wanted to be a “good” Christian but I felt I had failed to be one, time after time. Here are some examples of my attempts to be a good Christian.
At the time when I was baptized (in water) I had to hold a testimony. It was a very scary thing to do. When I stood behind the pulpit and delivered my message, I had my head bowed down into the pulpit, so the only thing you could see was the top of my head. Also, I was talking very quietly and was afraid of the microphone. Two people were shouting out, when I stood there, and said: Speak louder, we can’t hear you.” This was one of the worst moments in my life, and I decided to not ever stand behind a pulpit again. I have not kept that promise.
I also worked in a local radio for my church. When I had this program, I always wrote down everything I should say, and it sounded like a really bad C-film.
I also thought that my voice was too slow and boring, so I sped up the cassette player when I was speaking, and then sounded like a Mickey Mouse voice. It must have been really funny to hear.
I also tried to do prison ministry, but it was not a big success. One time, I was asked to join my prison group from my church, because they did not have enough people. I did not really want to go, but felt I should. We were placed in different groups at the prison and I was put alone in a group of six prisoners. Shy and scared as I was, I did not say anything during the one hour; I just sat there. I only listened to then talking about how they smuggled drugs into the prison etc. When the hour was over, one of the prisoners turned to me, and said: “What are you doing here?” I decided that prison work is something I should not do. I did not keep this promise either, I had many good talks later, but that was after something happened, my baptism in the Holy Spirit!
I thought that to be a Christian was something difficult and heavy.
As you can see, I wished to be used by God, but I lacked success.
In the spring of 1989 I was asked to join a youth counsel in my church. I said yes to this request for some reason, but I did not understand how God could use me in a youth counsel. This only increased my frustration.

The breakthrough
I went to a Christian camp that summer, and my frustrations increased even more. One day I went into a forest, near by the camp, and I cried out my frustration to God. “Jesus I want to be used by you, but I fail all the time. Lord set me free! Lord set me free!!”
At the evening meeting, something happened that changed my Christian life.
I did not have any intentions to go forward for prayer that evening, because I had tried it so many times before and it didn’t work. I had always remained a frustrated Christian.
Because of my frustration, I came late for the meeting and the only place I could find was in the front row, where the camp choir was sitting. I did not get very much out of the speech, because I was very occupied by my frustration. When the preacher was finished with the speech, he invited people to come forward to receive prayer, and the camp choir went up on the platform. Many people came forward at this meeting, so they removed the first rows of benches. Suddenly I was in the prayer line, without my wish or intention. It was my turn to be prayed over and the prayer partner asked what my prayer subject was. I felt I had to say something, because it would have been strange to say: I don’t want any prayer I am just standing here. So, I said something that was a desire in my heart: To be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and that happened!
I did not have a strong physical experience like being slain to the floor, or suddenly speaking in another language, but God filled me with a joy that I had not experienced before, and God showed me a truth that set me free.
When I was standing in Gods presence He said to me: “Tore, you are too much problem-centered, you always look on your own weaknesses. Instead, start to look at Me, see who I am and what I can do through you.” When I started to appropriate this truth, it was the start of an inner healing and a true picture of God.
The next day I was out on the street telling about Jesus, and for the first time it felt good to do it, not heavy and difficult. The next day again I held a short testimony for over 200 youth, which was a big step, but for the first time, I enjoyed it! God could really use me! It was like a whole new world had opened up for me.
I received a promise from God some weeks later. The scripture was Is 25:12
12He will bring down your high-fortified walls and lay them low; he will bring them down to the ground, to the very dust.

One of the strongholds that was broken early on, was the fear of standing in front of people to speak. From my childhood, I had a dream of standing and preaching the word of God, and after my experience with the Holy Spirit; I had a stronger faith that God could use me in this way.
Since my baptism, I have experienced a lot of exciting things with God: standing in front of a lot of people speaking and holding testimonies, like in Russia and Ethiopia, leading different team of outreach etc. God has really brought down a lot of my strongholds since my baptism in the Holy Spirit.

How do I receive The Holy Spirit

Luke 11:13
13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Acts 4:31
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly..

• By hearing the word of God, and receiving it.
  

Acts 10:44 and Gal 3:2
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.

• By lying on of hands.
  

Acts 8:17
Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 19:6
When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied..

Speaking in tongues

Tongues are not the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but it is a confirmation that you have received it. I believe that you can be baptized in the Spirit, and still not speak in tongues. On the other hand, I also believe that all who have been baptized in the Spirit have received the gift of speaking in tongues.
What characterized the disciples at Pentecost was not that they all started speaking in tongues, but there was a new boldness; they had received power. I experienced the same thing; I received a greater boldness in my Christian life.
Not everyone experiences tongues in the same moment they get baptized in the Holy Spirit.
When I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, I didn't speak in tongues that minute, but it was something that I developed more and more after using it in my prayer life.
During the fall, after my baptism in the Holy Spirit, I experienced a lot of new and exiting things with God. I acquired the gift of tongues and I heard the voice of God. I received tongues one day as I went back and forth praying aloud in my apartment as I usually did (and do). Then, I started to say some strange words that were not Norwegian (or English). I started to use these words more and more, and after awhile it became a fluent language. It was strange in the beginning, but now I don’t think much about it. I can just start it whenever I like to.

I witnessed two examples of people who received tongues instantly.
One time I was on an outreach in Ethiopia. One of the girls on my team was praying for a local lady. After praying for a few minutes, she didn’t know what more to pray about, but suddenly she started to get some strange words. She started to pray these words out loud. It turned out that she actually was praying in the native language of the woman she was praying for. The woman understood it and it was a blessing said over her. This is almost like what the disciple experienced on the day of Pentecost.

Another example is a girl that I met on an outreach in Czechoslovakia. This was right after the fall of the iron curtain, and we came to a village were the gospel was not preached for decades. We had a meeting for about 100 girls at a school. Many people received a touch from God at this meeting, and a girl came forth and gave us a testimony. She said that she suddenly got a strange feeling of peace and joy when she asked Jesus into her life and she could not speak in her own language for a while. She actually got saved, baptized in The Holy Spirit and got the tongues at the same time. I think this should be the normal way, but it is usually not like this for many of us. There could be different reasons for this.

Several reasons why you don’t experience the tongues

There can be several reasons why you don’t speak in tongues. The most common reason is that you have received a few, strange words, that sound just like your neighbor’s. You think you’ve just made them up, and you are afraid of using them.

Or, it could be that you generally find speaking in tongues a little scary. Remember that God is a gentleman and he does not give you something you don’t want (there are exceptions, like when God met Paul, Acts 9). God has not given us a spirit of fear, we should not be afraid of Him. (2 Tim 1:7)

Another reason might be that you haven’t heard any teaching about it, or you’ve heard teaching saying it was something that only happened at Pentecost and not for us.
You may also wonder, what is the big deal about speaking in tongues? Yes, why should we speak in tongues?
Cor.14: 4
He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

When I first received the tongues it became a great help in my prayer life. When I speak in tongues I get edified, and when I lack words and don't know what to pray, I begin to speak in tongues and the Spirit helps me.

Rom.8: 26
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

There are three types of tongues.

Arguments against speaking in tongues

When we read chapter fourteen in 1 Cor., it seems like Paul is against speaking in tongues.

1 Cor 14:6
Now, brothers, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction?

What is important to see here is that Paul is talking about the use of the tongues in the church. The problem in the first church was that everyone was going around and speaking in tongues all the time. Paul, in this chapter, is trying to put things in order and give instruction on how they should use the spiritual gifts. The challenge in the church was not that it was not in use, but they used it a lot and in wrong ways, so it became a mess. That’s why he says that not more then three should speak in tongues and then should be interpreted and that not more then two or three should prophecy in a meeting.

This chapter does not speak so much about tongues for our own edification, but you can read from this verse that Paul used it a lot.
1 Cor 14:18
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

What about using tongues for edification in the curch?
The point Paul is showing in these verses is that we should not use tongues all the time, no one will get anything out of it, especially if some one that is not saved is to the meeting. The visitors will be repulsed by the confusion, and the phenomenon, meant to be an impressive sign, will have a negative effect on the unsaved.

1 Cor 14:23
So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?

At a prayer meeting were everyone is familiar with tongues, it is okay to use. It helps to lift the meeting and prayer will be more effective. So, it is not tongues Paul is against, but how different gifts are being used in the church, and that they be used with wisdom.

You will receive power, dynamis (on Greek; power)
There is explosive force in The Holy Spirit.

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