19.Dec.2008 Experiences with the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 4: 11-12 (NLT): Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
“Their” is the pastor. A pastor’s job is the equip the people of God to do his work; it is not the pastor’s job to do everything. He can’t. He physically, emotionally, and spiritually cannot do everything. When a congregation grows beyond 50 people, the pastor cannot keep up. A misinterpretation of the Bible puts too much pressure on one man to do everything. This disastrous method is man’s way. Then, there is God’s way.
There is an observable difference between a Christian who is constantly being filled with the Spirit and one who is not. You can tell these people apart quite easily. God will always put people around you to teach you something. If you are not open to the Spirit, then you will not learn. There is always room for growth. The Holy Spirit is involved in this process.
The Spirit brings revelation. People live out of their revelation. Each revelation has multiple levels. Some people have deeper revelations than others. The Holy Spirit teaches us the principles of God’s Kingdom through revelation. He takes you deeper and deeper and deeper into each revelation. A revelation of God’s love comes in multiple levels. You love your friends. You love your family. You love your spouse. Those are all levels of revelation of God’s love.
A new Christian is called “a baby.” This term is quite true. New Christians have trouble understanding the Bible. When we ask the Holy Spirit to teach us the Word, He will. He is a teacher. He opens up revelation of the Word so God’s principles become our principles. This is growth. And it is achieved by the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
When you have an encounter with God, it will change your life. When you have an encounter with God, you become filled with the Holy Spirit. God’s power comes upon your life, and you live a whole different kind of life. Prayer and a filling of the Spirit go hand in hand. It happened in Pentecost, it happened when the believers prayed together all throughout Acts, and it happens even now. Praying and being filled becomes a daily occurrence. Boldness and confidence are birthed in the midst of these movements. And lives are changed. Continual filling is needed because it gets harder each day to stay motivated to follow God. You see, the world is looking for people who align their belief with their life instead of saying one thing and doing another. The power of being continually filled changes you into someone that causes people to stop and wonder what happened to you.
Great examples of what happens when an ordinary people get filled with the Holy Spirit: Paul. He changed the world because of the Holy Spirit. He took the world by storm. When you submit to the Spirit and allow Him to fill you, anything is possible.
