I hope things are well with you now. It's amazing to me that I never saw your prayer request before now, because I certainly would have responded to it much earlier. Well, better later than never.

As far as receiving the Holy spirit is concerned, you received him at the moment you repented. He came to live in you at the moment you were born again(Acts.2:38). Having him come and live in you is not the result of works, but faith in Jesus christ through the work he did and the death he died on the cross. That's what qualified us for the gift of the Holy Spirit(Eph.2:8). But you can ask to receive the baptism of the Holy spirit, which is different from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we all receive at the moment we are born-again. The baptism is for power to do the works God has called us to do. We are filled with great power when we are baptised in the Holy Spirit(Acts.1:8), power to cast out demons, power to do signs and wonders, power to witness for Jesus all over the world, even in the face of persecution, etc. That's that's the difference in having the Holy Spirit live inside of you and being baptised in him. The word baptism means to be totally immersed in something. To have the Holy Spirit live on the inside you means that he just dwells there, but you are not yet totally immersed in him and all of his power and gifts and other attributes. Got it?

Anyway, you can have the baptism of the Holy Spirit the same way you received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit: through faith! Just ask for the baptism, and when you do, just believe you have received him, and you shall have him(Mk.11:24). It's just that simple! Don't worry about seeing some physical sign, because not everyone speaks in an unknown tongue when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. The Bible says "we walk by faith and not by sight"(2Cor.5:7).

Finally, as far as trying to break free from cigarette smoking is concerned, just confess it and believe that you are delivered. The Bible says that "With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation"(Ro.10:10). It also says that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse from all sin"(1Jn.1:9). So, it is a the very moment that you confess it that you are free of it. And the Bible says that "if the son has made you free, you are free indeed"(Jn.8:46). It's that simple! Of course, you may find yourself slipping every now and then, but you are still delivered spiritually. Sometimes it takes time for Spiritual deliverance to manifest into physical deliverance. That's why some healings are progressive and not immediate. It's that way with bad habits as well. But we can't let the devil deceive us into believing that we are not delivered because we slip and fall every now and then. That's the nature of our flesh. Even though we are born-again and saved(we have new nature), we still have a sinful nature in us that's evil. It leads us to do those things we use to do before we got born-again. And also, until our minds are renewed in the word of God, we will always be tempted to go back into the sin we use to do. All of go through that, and God certainly understands that. All he wants from us is that we keep getting up: keep praying; keep reading his word; keep fellowshipping with other believers. In time, those old habits will die. In the meanwhile, Jesus doesn't count our sins against us, just as long as we keep confessing them from a repentant heart that hates sin. Never compromise with sin. Always seek to outgrow them. In this way, God doesn't hold them against us, because he is always judging us by our motives to do the right thing, eventhough he knows that we will fail to at times. He just wants us to have the right heart towards him, a heart that wants to do the right.

By the way, the Lord will bless you financially in time. Just put him first. The Bible says that if we delight ourselves in him, he will give us the desires of our hearts(Ps.37:4). Just seek his kingdom first, and all those other things will be added(Mt.6:33).

Well, Hope that helped some.

God bless you!

Hi and thanks, its encouraging just to know that someone is praying.
The Lord is helping me in the financial realm, but it is Love that I need more. I feel like dying for lack of it. I just dont seem to be able to get over my boyfriend leaving me and being with another woman. Im begging the Lord daily to either bring him back or bring someone else. The depression that i go through at times in relation to this is devastating and naturally affects every other area of my life. We are not meant to be alone and my aloneness is intensified by the fact that im in a new city and have not met many people.My work ( artist ) keeps me at home which also does not lend itself to meeting people. I know i should make more of an effort to befriend people, but in all honesty im so miserable inside that the few i have met run away.

Please may i ask that you pray about this relationship as well.

Thx again