Be Filled
Baptism in the Spirit is just the
beginning. We are also called to walk in the Spirit.
In Eph 5:18, we are told to keep on being filled with the
Spirit. The tense is Continuous Imperative, so God is
telling us that we must keep on being filled with the Spirit, over
and over again. Why?
The common answer is that "we
leak", but the real reason is found in John 7:37-39:
If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me
and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he
meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to
receive.
Jesus told us to drink of the Spirit and
he will be like a stream of living water. He then said
something surprising: the Spirit flows out of us. We want
the Spirit to flow in, but Jesus says that he will flow out.
The reason is that the Holy Spirit loves
the world and will aways flow out to touch those in need that he
meets. We are his channel into the world, but we cannot hold
him. He is always wanting to move out to needy people and if
we do not go with him, he will go without us. We are his
entry point into the world, but we cannot quench his flow into
world.
Jesus was aware of this flow of the
Spirit. When the woman with a haemorrhage was healed, he
knew the "power had gone out from him" (Mark 5:30). The
Holy Spirit saw the women in need and flowed out to her, before
Jesus was even aware of her. The same thing will happen to us, as
the Holy Spirit will always flow to the greatest need.
This is a challenge for us, if the Holy
Spirit keeps flowing out of us, we will soon become empty.
To prevent this happening, we must keep on being
filled. Because the Holy Sprit is always flowing out
of us, we must keep on being filled to avoid becomeing empty.
How are we filled?
The answer is simple. We just ask.
Which of you fathers, if your son asks
for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks
for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then,
though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy
Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:11-13)
Being filled with the Spirit is
easy. We must ask Father and he will keep the Spirit flowing
into us. We must keep on being on filled, so he can keep on
flowing out to those in need.
The intersting question is how often we
should ask. We feel embarrased about asking too often, but
we should look at Jesus examples to see the answer. Children
ask their parents for food all the time. "Mum, I’m
hungry" is their cry. In fact, a mother will start to
worry that something is wrong, if her children stop asking for
food. We are God's children. Because the Holy Spirit
is always flowing out of us, we need to ask every day, so that we
can stay filled with the Spirit.
Peter and John are a great example.
They had been baptised in the Spirit on the day of
Pentecost. But in Acts 4:31, they were filled again.
That is amazing: men who were present at Pentecost had to be
filled again. The reason is that the Holy Spirit had been
flowing out of them into the lame man and the other people who
heard their preaching. Although they had seen Jesus and
received the Spirit in power, they still needed to keep on being
filled with the Spirit.
Receiving the Spirit at baptism is
important, but it does not set us up for life. He will flow
out of us into the world, so we need to keep on being
filled. "Did you receive the Spirit when you were
baptised" is a good question, but "Have you been filled
with the Spirit today" is a more important one.
We cannot live on past experience. Receiving the Spirit at
baptism is important, but it will not last for a life time.
We need to be filled every day. And the way to be
filled is to ask.
Lets Get Personal
The Holy Spirit is a person. He has
thoughts, feeling, a will and emotions. He speaks (Luke
8:29) comforts (John 14:16) teaches (John 14:25) reveals (Luke
2:26) and decides (Acts 10:6,7). The Holy Spirit is a moral person
(Acts 15:28). He experiences joy (Luke 10:21).
To really experience the fullness of the
Spirit, we must develop a relationship with him We
must get to know him (John 14:17). The blessing that Paul
prayed for the Corinthian church was that they would experince the
"fellowship of the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:13).
Fellowship is a word that is not used much today, so we do not
understand what it means. The Message Bible translates fellowship
as "intimate friendship". Got wants us to have
intimate friendship with the Holy Spirit.
The key way to become the intimate friend
of the Holy Spirit is by talking to him and listening to what he
says. Imagine two friends that never spoke to each other:
what a weird friendship. To develop our friendship, we
should ask him what he is thinking and what he is feeling.
We should tell him about what we are feeling and thank him for
what he does.
We should learn to be aware of his
presence. In some places or times, he is present more
intensely than in others (Luke 5:17). As we develop his
friendship, we should experience his life and presence more fully.
We should also learn to recognise his
absence. Because he is a person, we must be careful
not to grieve him (Eph 4:30). If we do grieve him, we should
put things right immediately and restore our friendship.
Every time I go out, I grab my wallet and
keys. I go nowhere without them. If I am on may way
out and I realise that I have left them at home, I will go home
and get them. I should have the same attitude to the Spirit
of God. If I have gone out without him, I should feel
lonely. I should rush home and wait there till I find out
why he has is not with me.
Thirst
The only limit on how much we can receive
of the Spirit is our thirst. If we are thirsty for the
Spirit, we can drink of him every day. God has more to give
than we can receive and he has a never ending supply.
How thirsty are you? |