Be Spirit Filled – By Whatever Means!

Quit Quibbling and Get Filled

Jesus often referred to the “promise of the Father,” which was—and still is—to send the Holy Spirit to be with us, dwell within us, and work through us in ways that are beyond human replication. It doesn’t take too long reading in the New Testament to understand that God’s deep desire for his children is that they would live as Spirit-filled people.

Enduring Truth // Focus: Matthew 10:18-20

You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

The New Testament writers spoke often of the Holy Spirit. Jesus directly spoke a great deal about the Spirit as well. For the first century Christians, a relationship with the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, was just as normal and expected a part of their faith experience as was their relationship with Jesus.

It is unfortunate that what was fully embraced in the first century has become so controversial in our day: The infilling of the Holy Spirit. We now quibble over if one is Spirit-filled at salvation or if the infilling comes when one is baptized in the Spirit as a separate and distinct event. We argue over whether speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of being Spirit-baptized or if the Spiritual language is even valid in the 21st century.

Theological lines have been drawn, denominations have been formed, preachers have taken their stand on one side of the issue or the other, position papers have been issued, and all the while God longingly waits to give the Holy Spirit to all who ask (Luke 11:13).

Jesus often referred to the “promise of the Father,” which was—and still is—to send the Holy Spirit to be with us, dwell within us, and work through us in ways that are beyond human replication. It doesn’t take too long reading in the New Testament to understand that God’s deep desire for his children is that they would live as Spirit-filled people.

For the believer, the Spirit-filled life is not an option, but a divine expectation. It is an act of faith and obedience that will enable the believer to experience dimensions of the blessedness that the Acts 2 believers experienced. Nothing but the Spirit-filled life will empower the believer for his/her mission in the world. Nothing but the Spirit-filled life will enable the believer to live the kind of holy and honoring life God calls for—and deserves. Nothing but the Spirit-filled life will equip the believer with words—and courage—to stand before hostile people to fearlessly declare what the world does not want but so desperately needs to hear:

God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

The Father is still waiting to deliver His gift to those who ask: “Ask and keep on asking…for how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!” (Luke 11:9-13)

We may quibble over the mechanism of Spirit infilling, but the bottom line is, by whatever means, be filled and keep on being filled with God the Holy Spirit.

The Father promised it. Jesus declared it. The Holy Spirit is ready for it. Are you?

Thrive: Try this prayer for Spirit-infilling: “Lord Jesus, you are the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Just as you breathed on your disciples and invited them to receive the Holy Spirit, I ask you to breathe on me and baptize me in the Spirit of your Father afresh today. Fill me with the Holy Spirit from the center to the circumference of my life—truly take over every square inch and every split second of my life.”

Yield

Reflect:
Ephesians 5:10-20

“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.” (Ephesians 5:18, NLT)

If you are a believer, the Spirit-filled life is not an option, it’s a divine expectation. Spirit-filled, Spirit-formed, Spirit-led living is a Christian essential.

In the New International Version of the Bible, when Paul says, “Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery,” that is, meaningless, valueless, even self-destructive living, but “instead be filled with the Spirit,” he was speaking to believers who had come out of the pagan culture of Ephesus.

In their pagan worship and ritual, one of their idols was Baccus, the god of wine and drunken orgies. Their belief was that to commune with this god and to have his leading, they had to get drunk. In their drunken stupor, they believed they could discern his will and how best to serve him. And the sick by-product of their out-of-control intoxication was to engage in sexual immorality with temple prostitutes.

Just as depending on wine was a destructive counterfeit to Spirit-filled living in Paul’s day, so we need to be careful in our culture today where alcohol is the drink of choice to help people relax, feel confident, or take away the pain of whatever ails them and make them feel good, that we don’t buy into that deceptive line. This is not an anti drinking campaign, since Scripture doesn’t explicitly forbid the enjoyment of alcohol. However, there are an unfortunately large number of Christians today whose drinking habits are no different from unbelievers. The truth is, it is still God’s desire that we depend on being filled with his Spirit to make us confident, competent and joyful rather than a drink—or for that matter, a relationship or position or a possession.

In truth, nothing compares to the Spirit-filled life to satisfy every longing of your heart and enable you to experience the good life. The greatest and longest lasting “high” in this world comes from being filled with the Spirit-filled. Now Paul is not referring to that instantaneous infilling of the Spirit that we read about in Acts 2, but rather the ongoing submission of our will to God’s work through an active yielding of one’s life to the Spirit’s control.

Spirit filling in the book of Acts was an event, while the filling in Ephesians was an ongoing process. In Acts, it was evidenced by extraordinary, miraculous happenings, while in Ephesians, it was evidenced by ordinary, everyday choices that submitted the believers to the Spirit. In Acts, the Spirit was received by asking in faith, while in Ephesians the Spirit was pleased by the believer yielding in obedience. Both kinds of Spirit infilling are valid, and needed.

Being filled with the Spirit is not a matter of eliminating sinful or unproductive behavior in your life and passively waiting for God to supernaturally fill you, Paul is saying Spirit-filled living is about eliminating those things that grieve the Holy Spirit and replacing them with passions that please him. Living the Spirit-filled life is about the daily choices you make to yield control to him—choices to imitate God and eliminate immoral or questionable practices; choices to find out what pleases God; choices to find out what God’s will is—and ruthlessly pursue it.

Make a decision today to allow the Holy Spirit to have all of you! In every area of your life, yield control to him—that is what it means to be Spirit-filled. And there is no temporary high that compares to that.

“O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.” ~Augustine

Reflect and Apply: Offer this prayer: “Holy Spirit, take control of all of me—mind, tongue, hands, eyes—all my thoughts, words and actions. Have more of me, I pray.”

A Baptism By Fire

Reflect:
Luke 3:1-20

“John answered, saying to all, ‘I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’” ~Luke 3:16

John the Baptist launched his ministry as the forerunner to the Messiah with preaching the likes of which people had never heard before. His messages were so confrontational and penetrating that the crowds were convicted to the core of their being. People from every dimension of Jewish society began to repent and return to the God of Israel. Israel was in the midst of a great revival.

This spiritual awakening was so powerful that people began to wonder if John himself was the long-awaited Messiah. But John quickly put those rumors to rest by letting them know that his ministry was simply to lead people to repentance in preparation for the Messiah. It would be the Messiah’s ministry that would empower them with the very Spirit of God.

The Message version of Luke’s account offers this rendition:

“I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

The ministry of the Messiah was not simply to announce and launch the Kingdom of God on Planet Earth. Rather, it was to so immerse his followers in the Holy Spirit that they themselves would embody the words and carry out the works of Jesus, and as King’s agents, extend his Kingdom “to the uttermost parts of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Now the real question for those of us reading these words today is this: Is the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire something you just read about historically, or is it an experience that is personal and fresh in your life today?

The truth is, despite all the misgivings and discomfort modern Christians may have about this baptism with the Holy Spirit, we cannot simply erase this important dimension of Christ’s ministry from the pages of Scripture. To paraphrase D.L. Moody, to remove the work of the Holy Spirit from the Bible is like using a sundial by moonlight.

Jesus is still the baptizer with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is still the one who empowers believers to do words and works of Jesus.

And Paul’s question to the Ephesians in Acts 19:2 is as critically important for you today as it was for them nearly 2,000 years ago: “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?”

If you haven’t, perhaps you should spend some time with the Great Baptizer and ask him for the Holy Spirit and fire. Jesus himself has said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth … how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (John 14:16-17, Luke 11:13)

“If Christians are forbidden to enjoy the wine of the Spirit they will turn to the wine of the flesh…Christ died for our hearts and the Holy Spirit wants to come and satisfy them.” ~A.W. Tozer

Reflect and Apply: Ask the Lord to give you a fresh baptism of the Spirit and fire. Ask him to cleanse and empower you so you can embody his words and carry out his works in your world.

Yield

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Ephesians5
Meditation:
Ephesians 5:18

“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.”

Shift Your Focus… If you are a believer, the Spirit-filled life is not an option, it’s a divine expectation. Spirit-filled living is a Christian essential.

In the New International Version of the Bible, when Paul says, “Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery (that is, meaningless, valueless, even self-destructive living), instead be filled with the Spirit,” he was speaking to believers who had come out of the pagan culture of Ephesus. One of the idols they worshipped was Baccus, the god of wine and drunken orgies. The pagans believed that to commune with and be led by their god they had to get drunk. In their drunken stupor, they believed they could know Baccus’ will and how best they could serve him. One of the sick bi-products of their out-of-control intoxication was engaging in sexual immorality with temple prostitutes.

Just as depending on wine was a destructive counterfeit to Spirit-filled living in Paul’s day, so we need to be careful in our culture today where alcohol is the drink of choice to help people relax, feel confident, or take away the pain of whatever ails them, and make them feel good, that we don’t buy into that deceptive line.

I am not preaching against drinking, because I don’t believe the Scriptures explicitly forbid it. But unfortunately, there are a lot of Christians today whose drinking habits are no different from unbelievers. The truth is, it is still God’s desire that we depend on being filled with his Spirit to make us confident, competent and joyful rather than a drink, or a relationship or position or a possession, for that matter.

In truth, nothing compares to the Spirit-filled life to satisfy every longing of your heart and enable you to experience the good life. The greatest and longest lasting “high” in this world comes from Spirit-filled living.

Paul is not referring to that instantaneous infilling of the Spirit that we read about in Acts 2, but rather the ongoing submission of our will to God’s work through an active yielding of one’s life to the Spirit’s control.

Spirit filling in the book of Acts was an event, while the filling in Ephesians is an ongoing process. In Acts, it was evidenced by extraordinary, miraculous happenings while in Ephesians, it was evidenced by ordinary, everyday choices that submitted them to the Spirit. In Acts, the Spirit was received by asking in faith, while in Ephesians the Spirit is responded to by yielding in obedience. Both kinds of Spirit infilling are valid, and needed.

Being filled with the Spirit is not a matter of eliminating sinful or unproductive behavior in your life and passively waiting for God to supernaturally fill you, Paul is saying it’s about eliminating those things that grieve him and replacing them with passions that please him. Living the Spirit-filled life is about the daily choices you make to yield control to him—choices to imitate God and eliminate immoral or questionable practices; choices to find out what pleases God; choices to find out what God’s will is.

The great evangelist D. L. Moody went to England for an evangelistic crusade, but was met with some professional jealousy. One pastor protested, “Why do we need this ‘Mr. Moody’? He’s uneducated and inexperienced. Who does he think he is anyway? Does he think he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?” One wise pastor pointed out, “Moody doesn’t have more of the Holy Spirit than we do, but the Holy Spirit has more of Mr. Moody.”

Make a decision today to allow the Holy Spirit to have more of you!  In every area of your life, yield control to him—that is what it means to be Spirit-filled.

“O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.” ~Augustine

Prayer… Holy Spirit, take control of all of me—mind, tongue, hands, eyes—all my thoughts, words and actions. Have more of me, I pray.

 

Fall Afresh On Me

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Matthew 10
Meditation:
Matthew 10:19-20

“But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”

Shift Your Focus… The Gospels speak often of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus spoke a great deal about the Holy Spirit as well. Furthermore,  the first century believers understood that a moment-by-moment relationship with the Holy Spirit was normal—and necessary. So critical is the active ministry of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament that without him, the new covenant doesn’t exist.

It is unfortunate that what was fully embraced in the first century has become so controversial in our day:  The infilling of the Holy Spirit.  We now quibble over if one is Spirit-filled at salvation or if the infilling comes when one is baptized in the Spirit as a separate and distinct event.  We argue over whether speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of being Spirit-baptized or if the Spiritual language is even valid in the twenty-first century.

Theological lines have been drawn, denominations have been formed, preachers take their stand on one side of the issue or the other, position papers have been issued, and all the while God longingly waits to give the Holy Spirit to all who ask (Luke 11:13).

Jesus often referred to the “promise of the Father,” which was—and still is—to send the Holy Spirit to be with us, in us, and to work through us in ways that are beyond human replication.  It doesn’t take too long reading in the New Testament to understand that God’s deep desire for his children is that they would live as Spirit-filled people.

For the believer, the Spirit-filled life is not an option, but a divine expectation.  It is an act of faith and obedience that will enable the believer to experience dimensions of the blessedness that the Acts 2 believers experienced.  Nothing but the Spirit-filled life will empower the believer for mission in the world.  Nothing but the Spirit-filled life will enable the believer to live the kind of holy and honoring life God calls for—and deserves.

The Father is still waiting to deliver His gift to those who ask.  “Ask and keep on asking…for how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!”

We may quibble over the mechanism of Spirit infilling, but the bottom line is, by whatever means, be filled and keep on being filled with God the Holy Spirit.

The Father promised it.  Jesus declared it.  The Holy Spirit is ready for it.  Are you?

“How little chance the Holy Ghost has nowadays. The churches and missionary societies have so bound Him in red tape that they practically ask Him to sit in a corner while they do the work themselves.” ~C.T. Studd

Prayer… Lord Jesus, just as you breathed on your disciples and invited them to receive the Holy Spirit, I ask you to breathe on me and baptize me in the Spirit afresh today.

Yield

Essential 100—Read:
Ephesians 5:10-20

“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.” (Ephesians 5:18, NLT)

If you are a believer, the Spirit-filled life is not an option, it’s a divine expectation. Spirit-filled, Spirit-formed, Spirit-led living is a Christian essential.

In the New International Version of the Bible, when Paul says, “Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery,” that is, meaningless, valueless, even self-destructive living, but “instead be filled with the Spirit,” he was speaking to believers who had come out of the pagan culture of Ephesus.

In their pagan worship and ritual, one of their idols was Baccus, the god of wine and drunken orgies. Their belief was that to commune with this god and to have his leading, they had to get drunk. In their drunken stupor, they believed they could discern his will and how best to serve him. And the sick by-product of their out-of-control intoxication was to engage in sexual immorality with temple prostitutes.

Just as depending on wine was a destructive counterfeit to Spirit-filled living in Paul’s day, so we need to be careful in our culture today where alcohol is the drink of choice to help people relax, feel confident, or take away the pain of whatever ails them and make them feel good, that we don’t buy into that deceptive line. This is not an anti drinking campaign, since Scripture doesn’t explicitly forbid the enjoyment of alcohol. However, there are an unfortunately large number of Christians today whose drinking habits are no different from unbelievers. The truth is, it is still God’s desire that we depend on being filled with his Spirit to make us confident, competent and joyful rather than a drink—or for that matter, a relationship or position or a possession.

In truth, nothing compares to the Spirit-filled life to satisfy every longing of your heart and enable you to experience the good life. The greatest and longest lasting “high” in this world comes from being filled with the Spirit-filled.  Now Paul is not referring to that instantaneous infilling of the Spirit that we read about in Acts 2, but rather the ongoing submission of our will to God’s work through an active yielding of one’s life to the Spirit’s control.

Spirit filling in the book of Acts was an event, while the filling in Ephesians was an ongoing process. In Acts, it was evidenced by extraordinary, miraculous happenings, while in Ephesians, it was evidenced by ordinary, everyday choices that submitted the believers to the Spirit. In Acts, the Spirit was received by asking in faith, while in Ephesians the Spirit was pleased by the believer yielding in obedience. Both kinds of Spirit infilling are valid, and needed.

Being filled with the Spirit is not a matter of eliminating sinful or unproductive behavior in your life and passively waiting for God to supernaturally fill you, Paul is saying Spirit-filled living is about eliminating those things that grieve the Holy Spirit and replacing them with passions that please him. Living the Spirit-filled life is about the daily choices you make to yield control to him—choices to imitate God and eliminate immoral or questionable practices; choices to find out what pleases God; choices to find out what God’s will is—and ruthless pursue it.

Make a decision today to allow the Holy Spirit to have all of you! In every area of your life, yield control to him—that is what it means to be Spirit-filled. And there is no temporary high that compares to that.

“O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.” ~Augustine

Reflect and Apply: Offer this prayer: “Holy Spirit, take control of all of me—mind, tongue, hands, eyes—all my thoughts, words and actions. Have more of me, I pray.”

A Baptism By Fire

Essential 100—Read:
Luke 3:1-20

“John answered, saying to all, ‘I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’” ~Luke 3:16

John the Baptist launched his ministry as the forerunner to the Messiah with preaching the likes of which people had never heard before.  His messages were so confrontational and penetrating that the crowds were convicted to the core of their being. People from every dimension of Jewish society began to repent and return to the God of Israel.  Israel was in the midst of a great revival.

This spiritual awakening was so powerful that people began to wonder if John himself was the long-awaited Messiah.  But John quickly put those rumors to rest by letting them know that his ministry was simply to lead people to repentance in preparation for the Messiah.  It would be the Messiah’s ministry that would empower them with the very Spirit of God.

The Message version of Luke’s account offers this rendition:

“I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

The ministry of the Messiah was not simply to announce and launch the Kingdom of God on Planet Earth. Rather, it was to so immerse his followers in the Holy Spirit that they themselves would embody the words and carry out the works of Jesus, and as King’s agents, extend his Kingdom “to the uttermost parts of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Now the real question for those of us reading these words today is this:  Is the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire something you just read about historically, or is it an experience that is personal and fresh in your life today?

The truth is, despite all the misgivings and discomfort modern Christians may have about this baptism with the Holy Spirit, we cannot simply erase this important dimension of Christ’s ministry from the pages of Scripture.  To paraphrase D.L. Moody, to remove the work of the Holy Spirit from the Bible is like using a sundial by moonlight.

Jesus is still the baptizer with the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is still the one who empowers believers to do words and works of Jesus.

And Paul’s question to the Ephesians in Acts 19:2 is as critically important for you today as it was for them nearly 2,000 years ago:  “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?”

If you haven’t, perhaps you should spend some time with the Great Baptizer and ask him for the Holy Spirit and fire.  Jesus himself has said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth … how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (John 14:16-17, Luke 11:13)

“If Christians are forbidden to enjoy the wine of the Spirit they will turn to the wine of the flesh…Christ died for our hearts and the Holy Spirit wants to come and satisfy them.”  ~A.W. Tozer

Reflect and Apply: Ask the Lord to give you a fresh baptism of the Spirit and fire.  Ask him to cleanse and empower you so you can embody his words and carry out his works in your world.