Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Oh.....To Be Spirit Filled!!

Ephesians 5:18 "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;"

The fruit of the Spirit will not spring up into your heart and life overnight. It grows as you water and fertilize your soul daily with the Word of God.

Mature, godly men and women don't become that way in a day. There is no such thing as instant godliness. We live in a world of instant potatoes, instant oatmeal, instant grits (for you southern folk...LOL!!) and fast food drive-thrus. I guess we tend to think that things in our spiritual life should come as quickly. That just isn't how it is.

Galatians 5:16 tells us to "walk in the Spirit". How long does it take to learn to walk in the Spirit? How long does it take a baby to learn to walk? Some babies learn in eight months, some in ten months, some one year and some longer than that. You will not learn to walk in the Spirit in one day. It is a daily process. It starts when you take the first step. Just as that baby's confidence in walking grows after many times of stumbling, falling and getting up again...its the same way that we grow in our confidence in God to help us learn to walk in the Spirit.

What does being Spirit-filled or Spirit-controlled mean? Does it mean that we get more and more of the Holy Spirit? No....if you are born-again you got all the Holy Spirit you were gonna get when you got saved. The filling or controlling of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit getting more of you. This happens as we yield our lives to Him. This is God's will for each of our lives. He wants to control us.

Ephesians 5:18-21 (18) "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;" (19) "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;" (20) "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" (21) "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." People identify a person who is drunk with wine by that person's actions. The same is true of a person controlled by the Holy Spirit. That person will be identified by their actions.

A person who is drunk with wine:

**walks differently
**talks differently
**acts differently
**thinks differently
**feels differently

The alcohol controls them and the results are in impaired judgment.

A person who is filled with the Spirit:

**walks differently
**talks differently
**acts differently
**thinks differently
**feels differently

The Spirit controls them and the results are in improved judgment.

We can be controlled by the Holy Spirit by doing these four things each day...(1) keep Christ in the center of our lives...(2) stay in God's Word...(3) keep a yielded and submissive spirit...(4) resist temptation to sin and choose to do right.

How filled we are with the Holy Spirit rests solely on us. He wants to fill us. We hinder His filling us. He desires to fill us every day...not today and then take a break from His fullness tomorrow.

A person can know when they are filled by the evidences mentioned in Ephesians 5:18-21...(1) you'll be joyful and want to fellowship with Him and others...(2) you'll have a heart filled with praise...(3) you'll have a thankful spirit...(4) you'll have a reverent and submissive spirit toward others.

Galatians 5:22-23 also list qualities that will be evident in the Spirit-filled person's life. I found this and thought it was good:

"The contrast between works and fruit is important. A machine in a factory works, and turns out a product, but it could never manufacture fruit. Fruit must grow out of life, and in the case of a believer, it is the life of the Spirit. The flesh produces 'dead works', but the Spirit produces living fruit. The old nature cannot produce fruit; only the new nature can do that."

I desire so much to be filled with the Spirit. This is a command for my life and yours...not a choice. But to be Spirit-filled means being completely emptied of self. As I go through my day after having thought I yielded my life completely to God...something happens in my day to show me I'm not completely emptied of self. Even a little self is too much self. Would you fill a cup with water that had even one speck of dirt in the bottom of it and offer it to someone to drink. Yet we expect God to fill us with even a speck of self in it and offer it to Him for Him to use us. Shame on us....NO!!....SHAME ON ME!!!

14 comments:

Kristi said...

I like how you compared being drunk to being filled with the Spirit.

People just don't know what they're missing when they won't yield themselves to the Holy Spirit.

~Kristi

Anonymous said...

Mrs Julie I am with you Oh to be filled with the Holy Ghost and I echo your words Shame on me for not being filled. Good Post.

CindyMae said...

Wonderful post!!! Being filled with the spirit is such a wonderful thing!!!

Anonymous said...

As I go through my day after having thought I yielded my life completely to God...something happens in my day to show me I'm not completely emptied of self. Even a little self is too much self.

Amen. Great post, we need to be filled to overflowing.

TheNormalMiddle said...

A wonderful thought provoking post of truth. Thank you :)

Miss Ashley said...

WONDERFUL post... You're words echo the desires of my heart. How do you think God feels when we desire so much to be Spirit-filled?

Here lately, it seems that the harder I try, the less I am able to walk in the Spirit.. maybe that's it.. maybe I need to stop "trying."... but then how does it happen?

Just some thoughts.. Sometimes I think the devil tries Confusion on me to keep me looking at "ME" instead of just to Christ...

Ashley

Sis. Julie said...

Thank you all for all your comments. Its good to know that it is the desire of each of you to live a Spirit-filled life.

miss ashley....I think God's is very pleased when we desire to be Spirit-filled...but I feel he is even more pleased when we actually get to the place of being filled. I face the same problem when "I" try hard to be Spirit-filled...but you said something very important..."maybe I need to stop "trying". The filling is done by the Holy Spirit. We cannot make it happen. All we can do is pray and pray and pray more and let the Lord live His life through us. When we let Him live through us that is when we can live the Spirit-filled life. The problem is that we seem to have things in our lives that keep Him from being able to live through us like He wants us to.

Thank you for your comment.

Unknown said...

Awesome post! Boy did I need it! I know what you mean by thinking you are just fine spiritually and then BOOM! in the middle of the day, you realize you are full of self! I'm so glad we have the Holy Spirit to point it out to us though!

Unknown said...

Oh I meant to let you know how much I appreciate you praying for my niece and her hubby in Paraguay who are suffering with Dengue fever right now. She is 4 months pregnant and has a 1 1/2 yr. old daughter in the home. Please continue to pray for all three of them! Or should I say all FOUR! (the baby)

Rita Loca said...

A great post, once again. Thank you for your prayers for my family. I cant add anything to your post, but repaet the title...OH, to be Spirit filled!

Sis. Julie said...

Sis. Pam....I'll continue to pray for all for of your niece's family...please keep me updated.

jungle mom...I'll also continue to pray for your family. Prayer is a privelege and not a drudgery...we should all be more than happy to pray for one another and the burdens we bear.

Jerry Bouey said...

Excellent contrasts, Sis Julie. Thanks for posting them here.

I am still playing catch up on some of the older posts from when my computer was down - caught up to all the newer once since then, but not all the ones written during those four months of me not having a computer.

June Fuentes @ A Wise Woman Builds Her Home said...

I enjoyed this post. Thanks for sharing.

Many blessings...

Sis. Julie said...

mrs. june fuentes...I'm glad you got a blessing from this post.

VERY IMPORTANT!

Are you a good person? Take this test and find out.

Swidget 1.0 6

Audioministries.org