To be filled with the Holy Spirit

The early Church depicted in the Book of Acts reveals that the Holy Spirit should fill the Church of Jesus Christ and that He should fill individuals who make up His Church. In fact all believers were filled with the Holy Spirit before they became a Church. That is the reason why in the contrmporary Pentecostal or Charismatic Local Church it is common for Pastors or preachers to invite or even to persuade believers to come forward to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the end of the Church service. Many do come forward but very few are baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Why? There are two reasons for this: One is misconception of being filled. The other is failing to meet the conditions.

Misconceptions of being filled

Here are some basic misconceptions of being filled with the Holy Spirit:

1. Some think that you can be filled with the Holy Spirit without knowing it. I cannot find in the Old Testament Scripture nor in the New Testament Scripture, neither in Christian biography, in Church history nor in personal Christian testimonies, the experience of any person who was ever filled with the Holy Spirit and who did not know it. No one was ever filled with the Holy Spirit who did not know that he had been so filled!

2. Some think that the Holy Spirit comes upon you gradually and fill you gradually. In the Scripture (as recorded in the Book of Acts), it was never a gradual filling. It says that He fell upon them, He came upon them, He fille them - it was an instantaneous act.

3. Some think that the Spirit-filled life is abnormal. The fact is, if we really mean business about pressing on follow the Lord, we will be brought to the conclusion that it was His plan, and part of the purchase of the blood of Christ, that He should fill everyone who names the Name of Jesus Christ. There isn't anything about the Spirit-filled life that is abnormal, extra, strange or queer. Actually, it is the way that Christians are supposed to be!

The conditions which must be be met

Here are some basic conditions which must be met by anyone who desires to be filled with the Holy Spirit:

1. You must be sure, to the point of conviction, that you can be filled. If you have the impression that you have received everything God has for you the day you received Christ as your savior, you will never move on to the fullness.

The New Testament Scripture tells us that after the filling of the Holy Spirit a believer's life is transformed. Spirit-filled Christians are changed people and they will do what Paul said:

Paul said, "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 5:18 - 20, NKJV).

Unless you are convinced about this, I suggest you don't come forward to be baptized in the Holy Spirit yet. I suggest you search and meditate the Scripture, read the Word, and see for yourself what the Lord has spoken.

2. You must be sure that you desire to be filled. Does every believer desire to be filled with the Spirit of God? The answer is no. Many do not wish to pay the price of being possessed by the Holy Spirit.

It is plain in the Scripture that the Holy Spirit wants to fill us and possess us if we are believers. The Holy Spirit is pure, for He is pure, for He is the Holy Spirit. He is wise, for He is the Spirit of wisdom. He is true, for He is the Spirit of truth. He is like Jesus, for He is the Spirit of Christ. He is like the Father, for He is the Spirit of the Father. He wants to be the Lord of your life, and He wants to possess you so that you are no longer in command of the little vessel in which you sail. You may be a passenger on board, or one of the crew, but you definitely are not the captain. The Holy Spirit, the Captain is in command of the vessel.

He expects obedience to the written Word of God. But our human (fleshly) problem is that we would like to be full of the Spirit and yet to go on and do as we please. The Holy Spirit who inspired the Scripture will expect obedience to the Scripture. And if we do not obey the Scripture, we will quench Him.

3. You must be sure that you need to be filled with the Spirit. Why are you interested in the baptism in the Holy Spirit? you have received Jesus, you are converted and your sins have been forgiven. You have studied the New Testament Scripture. You know that you have eternal life and no man can pluck you out of God's hand. In the meantime, you are having a wonderful time going to heaven.

Are you sure that you can't get along all right the way you are? Do you feel that you just cannot go on with your Christian walk resisting discouragement? Do you feel that you cannot obey the Scripture and understand Biblical truth and bring forth fruit and live in victory without a greater measure of the Holy Spirit only the baptism in the Holy Spirit can fulfill? You must come to a place where you would still be happy and joyful if you had only Him! You don't need God and something else. God does give you Himself and lets you have other things too. But there is that inner loneliness until you reach the place where it is only God that you desire. If you have reached that place, then baptism in the Holy Spirit is for you and that you need it desperately!

Bible passages on how to be filled with the Holy Spirit

There are four Bible passages on how you can be filled with the Holy Spirit - baptized in the Holy Spirit.

1. You must present your vessel

Paul said, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).

"To present your body" means "to surrender your vessel". That must come first. A vessel that has not been presented will not be filled. God cannot fill what He cannot have. God wants us to be intelligent to take the initiative to come to Him. If you will not present your personality, you will not get the fullness of the Spirit of God.

Are you ready to present your body with all of its functions and all that it contains - your mind, your personality, your spirit, your love, your ambitions, your all? This is the first thing and it can be a simple act. Are you willing to do it?

2. You must ask

After presenting your vessel, you must ask.

Jesus said, "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion" (Luke 11:10 - 12)?

The answer, of course, to each of these questions is "No", and so Jesus draws His conclusion:

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him" (Luke 11:13)!

God's people all over the world have taken advantage of this gracious offer. They have believed Him - they have asked and they have been filled. How much more shall the Holy Spirit is given to them that ask God, so you ask. First, you present your vessel, and then you ask. That is perfectly logical and perfectly clear. I set aside all theological objections to this text. Many so-called believers say that this is not for today.

Let me just ask them why the Lord left us this promise in the Bible. Why didn't He put it somewhere else? Why did He put it where I could see it if He didn't want me to believe it? Some believers may say, if the Lord wanted to do it, He could give it without our asking. But He chooses to have us ask. "Ask of me I will give thee" - it is always God's order (see Ps 2:8). So why not ask?

3. There must be willing obedience

Peter said, "And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him" (Acts 5:32).

The Spirit of God cannot give a disobedient child His blessings. The Father cannot fill a disobedient child with the Holy Spirit. God gives His Holy Spirit to them that obey Him - those who are obedient to the Word, obedient to the Spirit, obedient to the Risen Lord. Are you ready to obey and to do what you are asked to do? What would that be? Simply to live the Scriptures as far as you understand them - simply, but revolutionary.

4. To have faith in God

Paul asked the questions: "This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being mad perfect by the flesh" (Gal. 3:2)?


The answer is, of course, by the hearing of faith. You are not filled with the Holy Spirit by law-keeping. You are filled with the Holy Spirit by faith and obedience to your Lord. I am talking about His coming and possessing the full body and mind and life and being, taking over the entire personality, directly but gently making it His, so that we may become a habitation of God through the Spirit.


The Holy Spirit and Christians


Here are two important Biblical facts concerning the Holy Spirit and every believer in Christ:


1. Every believer is given a measure of the Holy Spirit


Paul said, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those are God's possession - to the praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:13, 14, NIV, emphasis added).


2. Any believer who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him


Paul said, "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ" (Romans 8:9, NIV, emphasis added).


The anointing of the Holy Spirit


"Anointing" is an Old Testament word and is an act accomplished by pouring oil on an individual's head. When they poured oil on a man's head, it was not a gradual process. When they poured the oil they turned the oil vessel (container) over and poured it out, and it ran all over and down the skirts of the man's garment.


At the consecration (of priesthood) of Aaron and His sons, it it written:


"And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his (Aaron's) head, and anoint him. Then you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. ..." (Exodus 29:7, 8, NKJV).


Similarly, the anointing and outpouring of the Holy Spirit is not a gradual process, but an instantaneous act of God. God gives us the anointing because we are priests of the New Covenant.