Filled with God Spirit - Part 1

 

Filled With the Spirit - Part 1

God promises to give us His Spirit (1 John 5:14-15). We receive the Holy Spirit from God at the moment of Salvation (John 14:16, 7:37-39; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 3:2). Jesus sits on the throne of our life and fills us with the fullness of His Spirit (Galatians 5: 15-25). The Holy Spirit is a Believer's down payment of our inheritance of the Kingdom of God (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 4:30).

By being filled with the Spirit, I am not referring to speaking in tongues or any public manifestation of spiritual gifts. I also do not mean having God's power in order to show off how great we are. I am referring to spiritually entering the Holy of Holies of God's Heavenly Tabernacle (2 Corinthians 5:1). This is the Holiest Place, the Sanctuary where we dwell in holiness for the rest of our life.

The Bible instructs us to keep on, continually being filled with God's Spirit on a moment-by-moment basis (Ephesians 5:18), and to yield possession and control of our life to Him. Our obedience allows God's Spirit to freely work in and through our life. With the Spirit's filling, we also have the mind of Christ in every situation and decision we face (1 Corinthians 2:15).

We cannot cause the Spirit's filling by exerting our will power or by doing good deeds. God fills us with His Spirit as we completely surrender to Him. God grafts us into the Vine of Christ (John 15:5). This makes us Christ-centered Believers. We love God's Word, we trust Him in every area of our life and we are filled with His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Prayer:

Father God, You promised to give us the Spirit and You commanded that we be filled with Your Spirit (Hebrews 11:6; Romans 14:22, 23.). Thank You for helping us to get off the throne of our life and to follow the direction of Your Spirit in everything that we think, say and do (Psalm 19:14). You ordained for the Spirit-filled Christian to experience Christ's abundant, powerful and fruitful life flowing in and through our life for Your glory and honor. We ask that You continually fill us with Your Holy Spirit.

Thought for the Day:

To live in the fullness of God's Spirit requires complete consecration of our life to Him.

Why Don't Christians Act Like Christ?

Are you disappointed with church people? Did a church let you down in the past? Maybe the imperfect people there did not respond to you like you envisioned they would. Possibly someone was rude, or curt or made you feel uncomfortable. However, most churches are full of caring people who are making every attempt to overcome their carnal, fleshly nature.  Have you ever heard the quote; “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven”? There is a great deal of truth in that statement. Most church people really care about each other and other people.

Some people come to Christ with learned negative behavior, a broken heart or insecure living arrangements. These obstruct our sanctifying process in certain areas. We may be mentally and emotionally lame from abuse. At times, we have life circumstances that hinder us from healing in those areas; and sometimes they even compound our other issues. We may still exhibit negative emotions, character, habits and, at times, lifestyle choices that give Christians the reputation for being hypocrites.

That is why the Bible exhorts us not to criticize one another, because God is our only judge. We stand or fall by His opinion and judgment, not by the condemnation of our peers (Romans 14:4). The proof of salvation is a changed life; however, we do not change instantaneously in every area all at one time. However, this does not excuse any penchant to sin that we refuse to relinquish to God, because our consistent Christian lifestyle is our greatest testimony to the world.

Our justification for salvation, and our glorification of our body when we see Jesus are instantaneous occurrences. Unfortunately, our sanctification – the process of becoming holy – takes a lifetime. Our spirit is dead in sin until we come to Christ for salvation (Ephesians 2:1-5). Then the Holy Spirit inaugurates the sanctifying process at the moment of our spirit’s rebirth. However, the evidence of His ministrations is hard to see sometimes. God teaches us to correct, rebuke and encourage one another with unceasing patience and diligent discipleship (2 Timothy 4:2). 

God gave us all different spiritual gifts and He expects us to use them to build one another up (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Discernment is one of these. If you see a fault in someone, do not judge them, but pray for them and for God to heal their deepest wounds. According to the grace and faith God gives us, we can use our gift of prophesy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, compassion and administration with patience and cheerfulness to build up the Body of Christ (Romans 12:6-8).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You encourage us to hate what is evil; yet, You command us to encourage the sinner, realizing they are a work in progress. When we are offended by someone’s words or actions, remind us that they may be dealing with underlying hurts and hindrances that prevent their victory in this area of their life. Help us to show compassion and grace to those people at church, work, in our neighborhood and especially in our own family. Allow us to reap this same favor from others.

Thought for the Day:

Living a surrendered life to God allows us to walk in a consistent manner that promotes our positive testimony to the world around us.