If you want to change the world, then first the Holy Spirit must change you. “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. …be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:17-18).
You need the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit in you changes everything.
The Holy Spirit in you, completes you.
Nobody is filled by a fraction of the Holy Spirit, but the fullness of God. “… be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). Whatever fills you defines you.
You don’t need a program, you need the Holy Spirit.
You need the Holy Spirit in you for the purposes of God to come from you.
You don’t need natural talent, but spiritual power. You would not need so many gimmicks if you just had the Holy Spirit. “…‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).
Trying to explain the Spirit-filled life is like trying to explain falling in love. A thousand poems have been written, and a thousand times more songs, but it is not until a man or a woman actually falls in love can they truly understand. The same is true with being filled with the Holy Spirit.
“‘I will put My Spirit in you… Then you shall know…’ says the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:14). To teach the Spirit-filled life, see to it that they themselves become filled.
Filled with the Holy Spirit
If the Holy Spirit has come upon you then the power of God is in you.
The same Holy Spirit that filled the Apostles fills you. Stop thinking God cannot do great things through you. It’s not about you.
The proof of the Holy Spirit in you is the Holy Spirit through you. The waters are not still, but flowing. The Lord Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38).
The power of a church is not in how filled a building is with people, but how filled the people are with the Holy Spirit.
We don’t need a new way, but to return to the old. To solve 21st century problems, we need Holy Spirit power like the 1st century church. “…And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit… And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:5,8).
Imagine a church with saints filled by the Holy Spirit! It always begins with that one saint. Be that one.
Hindrances to being filled
You can’t be filled with the Holy Spirit if you are full of yourself.
Scripture says be filled, and there is no emptying in the instructions that follow.
You will not have the power of the Holy Spirit unless the power of the Holy Spirit has you. The ability of God to use you has more to do with your surrendering than His conquering.
Beware that you would organize the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit right out of your life.
The harder you try the less you have. The more it is about you the less it is about Him in you. The world says be strong, and God says be weak.
The reason so few walk in the power of the Holy Spirit is not the scarcity of all that God has, but the scarcity of those willing to live the life that they could receive all He would give them.
The only man who can argue against the power of the Holy Spirit in you is the one who does not have it.
The Holy Spirit cannot do a work through you until He has first done a work in you. If you want to help others, get out of the way.
Keep pressing in
If you don’t know whether you are filled or not, then you are not. You will know. Never give up until you take hold of all that God has for you.
Jesus said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” (Acts 1:8). The proof of power is power. Keep asking until you receive all that the Lord has for you.
Blessings,
Paul
Amen… “Not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit… this mountain shall be removed”
Whatever the mountain which stands before us, in Him it must give way…
Blessings
Brian
It is such a humbling place to step into, that narrow place where you find that the Lord stands ready to do the impossible, and all we ever needed to do was to trust in Him, knowing in our heart that He is able.
Blessings to you Brian!
Paul
Having read and reread this. Never before has The Holy Spirit been explained this way. This is what I want-the Holy Spirit. How does a person die to themselves to receive the Holy Ghost?
Hi Jonie, thank you so much, I truly pray the Lord would help me to write every word! Your desire for the Holy Spirit is what the Lord desires. Jesus left us the Helper to teach us in all things, to guide us, to convict us and even to be grieved when we go astray. I do think dying to oneself is critically important to growing in faith, it is the only way to be sanctified. You might try reading a few blogs I have, one on Fasting Unto the Lord and Consecration. I focus in much on the surrendering or dying to oneself. But for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this is a beginning, it requires nothing more than an open door and a willing heart. In most cases I have seen it occur with the laying on of hands by a mighty man or woman of God, but I know God is never restricted by the methods of man. Pray for it. Seek Him in your prayer closet. Desire the Holy Spirit in your daily prayers. I want you to know God wants to be in you even more than you want Him in you. So invite Him in. Keep me posted, I want to hear about the day you were filled by the most wonderful Holy Spirit!
Amen I want to change my situation
Amen I want God to change my life
Oh and He will, when once we come to Him with willing hearts, He will come to us and change us into who He has meant for us to be.
Thank you Paul. You have faithfully expressed the amazing desire of Holy Spirit to bring us into intimate relationship with our incredibly beautiful creator. It is so hard, as humans, to not try and make this relationship happen. It is so wonderful when when once we have just stopped trying and He makes Himself known.
Thank you Carol! It is my greatest desire that others would come to have this intimacy with the Holy Spirit in their lives. That they would come to know the fullness of God in their heart, and for once learn what never ending satisfaction feels like. You have expressed the process so beautifully, and it is as simple as that, falling in love with God. I pray you are taking this message to as many as you can! Blessings to you, Paul