Holy Spirit

Last night in our Bible Study, my husband, MTM asked us to comment on the Holy Spirit. We were reading the following scripture, a very nice bit about the Trinity.

13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. -1 John 4: 13-15

I think he meant to focus on the outward "proof" that we are 'of God' because a.) we testify that Jesus is the Son of God, b.) we testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior, and c.) His Holy Spirit is in us. So we looked at the "Fruit of the Spirit" Gal. 5:22 ff. We also looked at other aspects of the Spirit of God:

• John 14: 16-17, the Helper, and Spirit of Truth.
• John 14:26, the Helper who will teach all things.
• John 16:13, the Spirit who guides.

A young couple who have just joined us were concerned about our views on the subject of "baptism of the Holy Spirit." It's understandable, since this is a topic of much debate in many churches. They had left a church where "Spirit baptism" was quietly used as a means to seperate leaders from other members.
Our take on it is this: it's in the Bible. Acts 10:44-47 shows the Gentiles to whom Peter was preaching have the gifts of the Holy Spirit "poured out on them." So, I think, when a person accepts Christ as their Savior, they receive the Holy Spirit. At times, they receive the Gifts of the Spirit at the same time. However, this wasn't the case for me, or people in my church. You were saved, and had confidence of that salvation. But there were no manfestations of Spiritual Gifts such as in Acts 10. Years later, after my initial conversion as a child, I asked God for more of Him, for the Gifts of the Spirit to manefest in my life. About 24 hours of praying later, I was overcome by the Spirit of God during worship. I had a CD playing ("Heart of Worship") and was singing, when I had to start praying. It felt like a pressure inside, and tears welled up in my eyes and spilled over my cheeks. For many minutes, the length of a song, I poured out prayer in some other language. It was very intense and emotional, which was really strange, because I wasn't feeling either before. I mean, I was just doing the household chores, when *BAMM* it overcame me.
Now, in my private prayers, I often find myself speaking like this. We have had experiences with wild church services where everyone was going :lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalal all at the same time. And we've had people pray over us, one at a time, in quiet tones of reverance, and give an interpretation imediately. I can only say, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, and He gave gifts to the early church folks, and He can still give those gifts today.