Be Filled With the Spirit

 Jesus made it clear in Luke 24:49 that it was essential that His disciples wait to be filled with the Holy Spirit before they attempted to go out and be His witnesses. These men already had the benefit of walking with Jesus for three years. How much more do we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit today? Jesus' promise in Acts 1:8 was fulfilled during the Feast of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers in Jerusalem. (See Acts 2:1-21) Acts 2:4 says, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” Peter assures us that the gift of the Holy Spirit is not just for the believers who were there that day. In Acts 2:38-39 he says, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself.” It is God’s will that all believers be filled with His Holy Spirit.

Do we know the Holy Spirit as our Teacher and Guide? Are we baptized with the Holy Spirit? See Matt. 3:11, Luke 3:16, John 1:33, and Acts 1:5. Have we received the power to be His witnesses? Are we clothed with power from on high? If not, why do we not experience the fulfillment of these promises? Usually it is either because we don’t even know that these promises exist, (Hosea 4:6), or else we are just too busy to take the time to seek the things of God. Jesus told us, “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" (Luke 11:9-13) So, if we are not receiving things from God that we are sure are God's will for us, it has to be because we are just not asking, seeking or knocking. Have you asked God to fill you with His Holy Spirit?

Someone once said we have as much of God as we want. That is so true. God is not trying to hide Himself from us. In fact, He has gone to great lengths to reveal Himself to us. (Heb. 1:1-3) So, if we are clueless about God, it’s not His fault. He wants us to know Him in a deep, intimate way, to be able to hear what His Spirit is saying to us. Many people know God only through what they have read in the scriptures or through what other people have taught them, but they don't know Him personally. Seven times in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, Jesus says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Usually, our problem is that we don’t have those spiritual ears open and ready to hear.

The book of Acts is the story of the early church and how the Holy Spirit filled the new believers and empowered them to do what Jesus sent them out to do, be His witnesses. I am going to be doing some more studying on this topic. Until next time...