Be Filled with the Spirit

“And be not drunk with wine, in which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.”

Ephesians 5:18

Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? To be filled with the Spirit is to walk in the Spirit and not to walk in the flesh. Have you not been quickened together with Christ and saved by grace? If we have been quickened with Christ and saved by grace, we should be walking in the Spirit whereby we have been sealed unto the day of redemption [Ephesians 4:30]. This is the gospel of your salvation that the apostle Paul spoke about in Romans.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.”

Romans 1:16

Jesus Christ’s resurrection brings in the power of God. It was Jesus Christ himself who spoke of the promise of the Spirit’s indwelling in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 16, which states, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.” Oh, how we need the Spirit to guide our path in these days. The Holy Spirit is to be our comforter and guide in everyday living. Jesus did not want us to be orphans; He wanted us to be His children. The Holy Spirit is to teach us all things and bring all things to our remembrance [see John 14:26]. The Holy Spirit will also teach us what we need to know and hear in the Holy Scriptures. We are to be filled and led by the Spirit so that we do not go back under the law, where the works of the flesh bring us back into bondage. The works of the flesh that we were saved out of such as adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying’s, murders, drunkenness, raveling’s, and such like as is stated in Galatians 5:21. If we are in Christ, we have crucified the flesh with its desires. We put to death these desires by binding them in the name of Jesus. We are no longer under its control, and the Holy Spirit comes to dispel those desires.

Have you received the Holy Spirit? This is a question for every believer in Christ. If you are a believer in Christ, you are His disciple, and you shall receive the Holy Spirit of God. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives to teach us every day, for temptations are visible, and we must make decisions not to fall into their depths. How can we compare spiritual things with spiritual [see 1st Corinthians 2:13] if we do not have the Spirit of God residing within us? We need the Holy Spirit’s guidance to lead us into the truth of God’s word and to discern its meaning. This is more than just mere head knowledge of the bible. This is a deep, heartfelt knowledge that becomes a proven fact in your life. It is proven because you are walking in it and experiencing it firsthand. The apostle Paul states that the natural man cannot receive and know the things from the Spirit of God [ see 1st Corinthians 2:14]. We must have the Holy Spirit to teach, guide, and keep us in the glorious light of Christ. There is so much disillusionment and false teaching regarding the Holy Spirit that the Spirit is literally stamped out of our lives as well as the church. When this happens, we become dead in Christ rather than alive in Christ.

After I got saved, I went with a small group to another church where the pastor laid his hands on our heads to receive the Holy Spirit. We all started to speak in tongues. Was this wrong? No, it is no different than what happened in Acts 8:17 and Acts 9:17. I went back to my church, and word spread in the church about the young people who received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. The pastors of the church said it was of the devil, and those who spoke in tongues were to stop. I happened to miss the service where this was said, but I had a long discussion about it with one of my friends. My faith stumbled. I could not believe that something so joyous was of the devil. The apostle Paul told the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, “Quench not the Spirit.” Some churches are doing exactly that, quenching the Spirit of God. Why? Because they do not understand, nor believe in the Holy Spirit. For the church, it was a matter of control within the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit has not been taught within the church and is therefore devoid of knowledge about the Holy Spirit. In fact, some believe that it was only for a specific time period of the early church in 30 AD.

At that time, I was not assured that what happened to me was good or bad since I was a new believer in Christ. The truth about the Holy Spirit I kept to myself, and I struggled with it for a while, not being completely sure about the work or presence within the believer’s life. However, when I had my prayer time or when I sang in church, I knew I still had God’s Spirit residing within me, for I sensed His presence. This was a heartfelt experience, and I know I was praying and singing to a person. That made a big difference in my life, just knowing to whom I was praying and singing to. That God was real in my life and that I had experienced His divine intervention. It was not magic; it was real, and God proved it to me. The Apostle Paul said, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit,” [Galatians 5:25]. To walk in the Spirit is the process of sanctification, where we are being transformed into the image of Christ. A.W. Tozer commented that the average Christian lives a worldly life that is not much different from that of the unconverted person. There must be a change from what we were to what we now are in Christ; otherwise, we nullify the work of Christ on the Cross.

Our God is our protector, healer, and provider. He will always provide us with what we need in life as long as our faith is grounded in His Son, Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus that we have been given the privilege to pray to our Heavenly Father. It is through Jesus that we can also receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus stated that “he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water,” [John7:38]. Look at the next verse in John 7:39, where it states that He spoke about the Spirit, that those who believe should receive the Holy Spirit. God is a Spirit, and we must worship him in spirit and in truth.

“Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 

John 4:22-24

I pray that you know to whom you are worshipping. Every believer should have the living water flowing out of his heart, which is the Holy Spirit. Every believer should know to whom they are worshipping and praying. Every believer should test the spirit to see if it is of the Spirit of God.

“Try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

1 John 4:2

The Holy Spirit will always point to Christ; if it does not, it is not of the Spirit of God. Remember that Satan has his spirits as well. That is why the Apostle John told us to test the spirits in 1 John chapter 4. Look at verse three of John chapter 4, where he states, “every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.” In fact, John states that this is the spirit of antichrist, and is already in the world. So, there is the spirit of antichrist, and there is the Spirit of God. Know the difference. Be assured that you stand in the liberty where Christ has made us free from all the works of the flesh. Christ has given us the Holy Spirit as our comforter to help us walk as disciples of Christ. This is the down payment of our inheritance (the Holy Spirit) until the redemption of the purchased possession [see Ephesians1:13-14]. Read Ephesians 5:16-20:

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

Ephesians 5:16-20

If you lack the Holy Spirit in your life, ask God to fill you with His Spirit in the name of Jesus. Read the Gospel of John chapter 14, verses 13-26. It will happen as you believe.

---

NOTE: Read last week’s post titled, “We Have Obtained an Inheritance.” There has been a technical issue preventing the post from being sent out.