The Holy Spirit: Filling the Believer

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Welcome to the InTouch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, September 4th. Does the role of the Spirit of God seem a bit confusing? Today’s podcast will help bring clarity by looking at what the Bible says about the power of the Holy Spirit and filling the believer.

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Do you really want to reach your potential as a believer? Want to become the person God wants you to be? Want a power in your life whereby you can not only overcome sin, but you can accomplish and achieve those things that God would have you to achieve? You want your life to be productive and fruitful, and you want the joy of the Lord in your life. Well, in order to have that, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Ephesians chapter 5. Because in this passage, the Apostle Paul gives us the command. And I want us to begin reading with verse 15 and reading through the 21st verse of this 5th chapter of Ephesians. He says in verse 15, therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And what is that? And do not get drunk with wine, but that is dissipation. It’s a terrible waste. but be filled with the spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God, even the Father, and be subject to one another in the fear of God. Now, if you recall in the first part of this passage in chapter 5, verse 1, he says, Therefore… be imitators of God as beloved children. And then he talks about the problem of sins in people’s lives. And he says, if you’ll notice in verse 11, do not even participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. He says, for it is a disgrace. It’s disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. And then the apostle Paul says there are two types of people in the world. They’re the wise and the unwise. He says the unwise are those who Listen, those who allow themselves to get under some kind of worldly influence and end up wasting their life. And what Paul is saying in this passage is that wise men and women are filled with the Holy Spirit. Unwise men and women are highly influenced, come under the influence of other things in their life and cause them to waste their life. So I want us to look at this whole question of what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. There’s lots of confusion today about what it means to be filled with the Spirit. And sometimes we put being filled with the Spirit and being baptized with the Holy Spirit together. And so sometimes we confuse the two and make them both the same. And they’re not the same according to the Scripture. And Paul says in this passage that we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So I want us to look at this in the light of two things. First of all, the command itself. And secondly, what are the requirements for a person to be filled with the Holy Spirit? And if you’ll notice in this passage what he says… Verse 18, do not get drunk with wine, but that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. Now when he says filled, what does he mean by the word filled? Well, the word filled means to pervade, it means to saturate, it means to fill up, but it means some other things. It also means, in this particular passage, to control things. uh… to dominate and so when the bible talks about being filled with the holy spirit we’re talking about bringing every aspect of our life in submission to the holy spirit whereby he is in absolute control now you recall the bible says that all of us have already been indwelt by the holy spirit if we receive christ as our savior every single believer has already received the holy spirit Every single believer is already indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Every single believer who has the Holy Spirit does not necessarily claim to be filled with the Spirit. The fact that the Holy Spirit indwells us and has sealed us does not mean that we are filled with the Holy Spirit. So when he talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit, here’s what he’s referring to. That is, he’s referring to our entire being being brought under subjection to the control of the Spirit. You see, it is not like oftentimes we think of filling and emptying something. It isn’t as if… We empty our lives and then God pours the Holy Spirit in. But rather, you’ll recall what Jesus said before He ascended. He said, I’m going away. If I go away, I’ll send the Comforter who is the Holy Spirit. He’ll be in you, with you, and upon you. He will abide with you. He will not leave you. He says, I will not leave you comfortless. I’m coming to you. And what Jesus was referring to is that at Pentecost, He would come back in the person of the Holy Spirit and indwell the life of the believer. And you see, indwelling was not sufficient. Jesus wants us to be full of the Holy Spirit. So to be filled with Spirit is to allow the Spirit of God who indwelled you, the rightful… position that he has to control every aspect of a person’s life. That’s what being filled means. It doesn’t mean filling it up and emptying out. It is the Spirit who has sealed you, living within you. What you’ve done is by degrees or gradually as you have understood, you submit total control to the indwelling presence of the Spirit. Now, if you notice how he says this, he says, we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. and the word here for filling means more than what it appears and notice he says we are to be filled that means we are to be being filled it is a continuous action it isn’t something that just happens once Whereas many things that God will do in our life happens one time. He saves you once, justifies you once, redeems you once, reconciles you once. All of these things He does once. But the filling of the Holy Spirit is something that happens not once, but many times in our life. And the reason it does is because we can lose the filling. And when he says we are to be filled, that is a continuous action. That is, we are to be being filled. Now, the reason he says we’re to be filled with the Holy Spirit is because, first of all, we can’t even live the Christian life apart from the filling. And secondly, we certainly can’t do the work that God has called us to do apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit. Now, a lot of folks seem to be doing rather well from their perspective. But that’s because we have forgotten something very, very important. When he says we’re to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we are to be being filled with the Holy Spirit, there’s a reason for it. It is essential to the life that God has called us to live and essential to the work God has called us to do. Now think about this. And we forget this. We look around and see how other people are living and we say, well, yes, I’m a church member and I’ve been saved and yes, my life is a little different from other people’s. But I want you to think about the way God sees it. God sees the Christian life, the life of the believer, as a supernatural life. And if our life is a supernatural life, it must be lived in supernatural power. And the reason God has given us a supernatural life and a supernatural power, the power of the Holy Spirit, is because God knows that you and I have a supernatural enemy that we face every day. And notice I didn’t say an omnipotent enemy. There’s only one omnipotent person, and that’s God. But a supernatural enemy, that is, the demonic forces that are loose in this world today have supernatural powers, not equal to God, but powers beyond what oftentimes we give them credit for. So when you think about the Christian life, the normal Christian life isn’t simply just going to church and reading your Bible and praying. The normal Christian life is a supernatural life, lived in a supernatural power, and able to face a supernatural enemy victoriously. That’s why Paul says we are to be filled and continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. Because in the filling of the Holy Spirit, there comes with that filling the release of the supernatural power of Almighty God in and through the life of the believer. So when he says, be ye being filled, it is essential to the life that we’ve been called to live and essential to the work God has called us to do. Now, the big question comes, if this is what the Holy Spirit’s fullness is, that is bringing every aspect of my life under his control, under his domination, if it means the Holy Spirit who is living and dwelling within me, assuming, listen, assuming full control over as a result of my voluntary submission to him if that’s what it means how is the person filled with the Holy Spirit so I want you to jot these down because I don’t want you to forget them they’re very simple but some things that you and I need to recall and understand first of all what is the first requirement well let me say let me say this is not the first requirement but let’s put it let’s just settle this issue and go on from there The fullness of the Holy Spirit can only happen in the life of a believer because a person who is unsaved does not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. So starting from the foundation that you are saved by the grace of God through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary, now that you are a believer, how is the believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Step number one is a desire for that filling. What is it that you desire most in life today? If God were to say to you today, I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to give you anything you ask for, one thing. I’m just going to give you one thing. Anything you ask for, you can have it. Just one. I want to ask you a question. Would what you ask for be something that is spiritual, physical, material, emotional? What would it be? You see, one of the reasons a lot of people are not full of the Spirit, they have no desire. Now, one of the reasons is that people are ignorant. They don’t know that there is such a thing as the Holy Spirit. Some people have never been taught. And some people have gotten mixed up with so many other things that they don’t know what it is. And so they think, well, don’t bother me with that. And so there’s no real desire. You remember what the Apostle Paul said in Colossians? Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Keep on seeking those things above, not things that are on the earth. And you see, what happens is we get to seeking things that are earthly and we let pass by things that are heavenly, the things that most count in life. You recall what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount when he was talking about the things that we need in life of food, clothing, and shelter? He said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these other things are going to be added. And you see, here’s what the devil would not have you ever understand. If the craving obsession of your life is Christ… And that’s what you want above everything else in life. You want to know his ways and how he operates. And you want to know what God is up to. And you want to understand who is this God? Who is this Christ? Why does he operate the way he does? Why does he do the things he does? Why does he allow what he allows? Why does he work in my life the way he does? Why does he answer this prayer and not that one? What is the work of the Spirit in my life? What’s God’s goal for my life? What is my potential in Christ? You see, if these are the things that we are really hungering and thirsting and yearning for, you know what God says? All the other things are going to be taken care of. It begins with a desire. And so I want to ask you again, is what you desire most something that only God can give you? Is it something somebody else can give? And I want to say this again. If you will put your focus on what He wants for you, you’ll be amazed at what He provides for you. But the focus must be upon Him, not upon the earth, not upon things. Secondly, That is, the first requirement is a desire, and the second requirement is cleansing. That is, before you and I can be filled with the Holy Spirit, there must be a cleanup job going on in our lives. And that is, God wants us to deal with every single thing in our life that ought not to be there. What he’s simply saying is that all sin must go. And in this passage, earlier in this passage, he says, don’t even talk about some things that go on in this world. They’re dirty, filthy, nasty, evil things that believers shouldn’t even talk about, he said. Separate yourself from sin. You say, well, are you talking about sinless perfection here? No, I’m not talking about sinless perfection. I’m talking about a life that is separated for God. Now listen, sanctification is not only being set apart by God for God, but it’s being set apart from sin so that our life is a life of obedience, not tolerating and rationalizing sin. And excusing ourselves for it. Here’s what we do. We say, Lord, you know nobody’s perfect. I can tell you don’t have to inform God about anything. I mean, especially in theology. He’s got that down perfectly. lord you know you know i’m not perfect and god you know everybody sins he knows all about that and so what we oftentimes do is just give him a little prayer and it’s lord i i know i shouldn’t have i feel real bad god and what we feel bad about is is that we are hurting now that we that the punishment’s coming and the discipline’s coming and or sometimes we say now you know i know i shouldn’t have done that i’m i’m i’m really sorry and god i want you to forgive me and and uh but lord you you know what happened and god you know what they did to me and lord you know why this happened That’s justification, vindication, and it’s not repentance. Genuine repentance, listen, genuine repentance says, I am remorseful in my heart about sinning against God. I am sorry about it. And I want to get it straightened up and cleaned up right now. That’s what repentance is all about. That doesn’t mean it won’t ever crop up again. It doesn’t mean you won’t ever get out of the spirit again over the same thing. But each time I have to deal with it. We have to repent of it. And cleansing requires repentance, which means that I am going to change my mind about the fact that I need that, want that, it’s absolutely essential in my life, and choose to see it from God’s perspective. And so the filling of the Holy Spirit begins with a desire, continues with a cleansing, and thirdly, there must be yielding. Now here’s where the rubber really meets the road. Am I willing to yield? Am I willing, as he says, am I willing to yield everything to him? It may be a relationship. It may be something about your vocation. It may be something else in your life, some thing, something physical or something material. Here’s what I want you to see. Listen to this carefully. You cannot be full of a spirit… And hold on to one single thing that God has clearly said to you must be yielded. You said, that’s unfair. No, it’s not. God wants the best. And God, listen, God will never tell you to relinquish your right of anything if it’s not best for you. And so he says… If we’re to be full of the Holy Spirit, we must be yielded. Look, if you will, in Romans chapter 6. He puts it very clearly in this passage because he helps us to understand what goes on in our life when we are not totally yielded to him. He says in the 16th verse of Romans chapter 6, do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, and what he’s saying is whenever we choose to obey in any area, You are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness. That is, when you and I choose to yield our life and every aspect of our life to him, what we are doing is we are positioning ourselves for the fullness of his life. And notice he said when we don’t, it’s death. That means death forever. That doesn’t mean physical death, that if we don’t, we’re going to die physically. But it means, rather, that when you and I do not yield everything to Him, it is death to our fellowship and death to our joy and death to our sense of fullness. That is, we don’t experience or enjoy or reap the rewards that are ours if we had been willing to surrender everything to Him. The fullness of the Spirit requires absolute surrender. That is the definite, deliberate, willful, voluntary transfer of full possession, control, and use of spirit, soul, and body to the person of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. And until we’re willing to do that, we’re not filled with the Spirit. It is an ongoing, continuous thing. You see, the truth is, you could be filled with the Spirit several times in one day. Let’s say that you get up one morning, and you’re feeling tough, and you’re just having a difficult time, and it’s a tough day all day long, and you find yourself, you say something here that you shouldn’t say, or you do something here, you just have to repent of that, ask the Lord to fill you afresh and new with the Holy Spirit, He will do exactly what you ask. Which leads me to the fourth step, which is very simple, and that’s asking Him. Just simply asking Him, Lord, I want you to fill me with the Holy Spirit. But that must be preceded by a deep desire, by cleansing, and by yielding. Which leads us to the fifth step, which is the last one. And this is probably the most difficult of all for some people. A strong desire, a willing to clean up your life. Nobody can do that for you but you. A willingness to make a full surrender of every aspect of your life to the control of the Holy Spirit. And then ask Him. And then just believe that He’ll do what He promised. And my friend, if you will, God will fill you with the Holy Spirit. In fact, you can be filled with the Holy Spirit right where you’re sitting. If you have the desire and you’re willing to deal with sin and willing to yield every aspect of your life and willing to simply ask him and believe that he did it, you don’t have to see any lights, no bolts of lightning. You may feel absolutely nothing emotionally. Because remember that genuine faith does not need a feeling to confirm it. Genuine faith accepts the truth on the basis of who said it, Almighty God. And that is sufficient for receiving the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

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Thank you for listening to the Holy Spirit filling the believer. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.