Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior from the wrongs/sins you have committed? Did you pray for Him to save you from the wrath of God? If so, the Holy Spirit came inside of you. Do you struggle with unkind attitudes, sinful behaviors, and making mistakes? We all do. We all need to be filled with the Holy Spirit daily.
We Need to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit like Jesus
If you read my blog “Are You Filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 1)?”, you will remember that Jesus, who is God and the only perfect man, was filled with the Holy Spirit. It was prophesied of Him before he was born as a human baby in Isaiah 11:1-2 (King James Version of the Bible):
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him–the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD….
As I stated last time, if Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to fulfill His calling as the only begotten Son of God, how much more do we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit! Ephesians 5:18 exhorts us, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit….” People drink wine or alcohol or take drugs to escape the pain of their problems. There is a better way than getting drunk or high to deal with life! The Holy Spirit will fill you and give you all you need to be loving, strong, healed, and courageous! I once heard someone say, “I’m high on the Most High [God]”, ha ha! This may sound funny to hear; but you, too, can be lifted high in your heart by the Most High God! Keep reading to find out how.
You, Believer, Were Sealed with the Holy Spirit
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? Ephesians 1:12-14 tells us the happy news that:
That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.
Those of us who believe in Jesus Christ were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise. He is our downpayment of all the heavenly treasures of His Presence and blessings, both spiritual and material, that await us in heaven! We are sealed with His Holy Spirit, sealed for God! We do not need to be afraid of the Holy Spirit! He is the Spirit of love and of God’s wonderful, healing power. God is love, including the Holy Spirit! The day you became a true believer in Christ, you were given His Holy Spirit and sealed in Him! You do not have to worry about God abandoning you! Hebrews 13:5b says, “…For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Thee means you. This version of the Bible uses Old English spoken four hundred years ago. This version of the Bible is often quoted because it is public domain. However, the truth in it is still for us today and forever! 🙂
We Need the Holy Spirit to Be a Christian
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? Romans 8:9b warns us, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” Do you have the Holy Spirit? Have you ever felt God’s love? Maybe going to church every Sunday or just on Easter and Christmas is your tradition. That does not mean you are a true believer in Jesus, however. Ask Him to genuinely save you and give you His wonderful Holy Spirit! The first part of Romans 9 says, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you….” Let us not live according to the fleshly, sinful nature. Let us live in the Holy Spirit. He will give us the power to overcome sinful attitudes, habits, and words! He will help us with the mistakes we make! Galatians 5:16 gives us the happy news, “This I say, then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Hallelujah!
Glorify God in Your Body and Spirit with the Holy Spirit’s Help
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? First Corinthians 6:19-20 gently admonishes us, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Jesus bought you with His blood shed on the cross at Calvary. You and I don’t have any rights to ourselves. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Let us glorify God in our bodies and in our spirit by living for Him with the help of the precious Holy Spirit!
Life and Peace Come from the Holy Spirit
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? Romans 8:6 tells us, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Do you want life? Do you want peace? Don’t run away from the God who loves you so very much! Don’t let the devil lure you away from God, tricking you into thinking that God is like those people who hurt you! Draw near to God through His Holy Spirit! There you will find the life your desolate heart has been searching! There you will find the peace you crave! Circumstances can really take you for a ride, often unpleasant or even devastating. But the Holy Spirit of God will give you peace in the most desperate situations. Even when life is pleasant, there is still “something missing” until the Holy Spirit comes in and fills the vacuum in your heart craving love! Don’t settle for lesser joys than being close with your Maker!
The Holy Spirit Will Help You Pray
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? Romans 8:26 encourages us, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Are you going through a difficult situation? Do you sometimes just not know how to pray? The Holy Spirit will groan through you sometimes in a prayerful manner. A groan is a prayer, too! This isn’t scary, my friend. This is your heart groaning for God to give you a fresh touch of His love and fill you up with the Holy Spirit again! It is beautiful! You don’t have to be eloquent in prayer! Just groaning to Him seeking His help is prayer enough sometimes!
The Holy Spirit Will Enlighten Your Spiritual Eyes
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? In addition to the Holy Spirit giving us help with sin, life, and peace, there are other benefits of having and being filled with the Holy Spirit. We read in Ephesians 1:16-19a:
…Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power….”
The priceless Holy Spirit of Spirit is a Person, not just a Power. I proved that in “Are You Filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 1)?” He will give you wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the One who loves us more than anyone, matched only by the Father and the Holy Spirit. What is this wisdom and revelation about? It is about how wonderful God the Father, Jesus our Lord, and the Holy Spirit are! It is wisdom and revelation about how much they love you and want to meet your needs! It is wisdom about how They want us to depend on Them for everything, including overcoming sin! It is also wisdom and revelation about how They love everyone else the same way and how we can people who make our world a better place to live, especially by helping others to know God!
The Holy Spirit Gives Us Joy!
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? We learn in Acts 13:52 what happened when the disciples of Jesus were saved and filled with Holy Spirit. It says, “And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.” The Holy Spirit gave Jesus’ disciples joy! Do you have joy in your heart? Did you used to have joy but some heartbreak came along and stole it? You can have joy for the first time if you have had a miserable life, and joy can return in spite of the past! Serving God is not drudgery! It is joyful! It is the joy of knowing how good the God you serve is! It is joy about how much He loves you! It is joy about how He is turning every one of your tests into testimonies! It is joy about answered prayers and strength in the meantime while you are waiting for other prayers to be answered! We learn in Nehemiah 8:10, “…the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Praise God! You may feel at the end of your rope. You may feel that no one cares about you. You may feel discouraged and lose the will to live. But put your trust in God. Ask Him to renew your hope and fill you with the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to purify you of anything that displeases Him. You will be filled with joy and fresh strength and hope! –And by the way, someone does care about you! God does! God is the heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. –And for what it’s worth, I care, too. 🙂
The Holy Spirit Will Remove the Veil Over Our Understanding and Give Us Liberty!
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? Second Corinthians 3:15-17 offers us fantastic encouragement:
But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
This is great hope for the Jewish people and the people from every nation and nationality in the world. It says above that when the Jews who don’t know Jesus read Moses, or the Torah, the veil is upon their heart. However, when they turn to Jesus Christ, the vail, or veil, will be taken away! The covering on their hearts that is blinding them and us from seeing the truth of the Bible, including from the Torah, or the first five books of the Bible, will be removed when we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ! Hallelujah! (That means praise God!) Also, we are told the glorious truth in this verse that the Holy Spirit is Lord and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty! Liberty is freedom. Do you feel stuck in sinful thoughts? Stuck in a besetting sin? Bound by circumstances you can’t get out of on your own? The Spirit of God will give you liberty, freedom, from those things! He may or may not take you out of your circumstances right away, but you will feel free in your heart in the midst of those trying circumstances! Eventually, He will surely lead you out of your difficulties! 🙂
We Christians Are All Baptized into One Body
I love this verse in 1 Corinthians 12:13: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” If you are a Christian, a believer in Jesus, you were baptized into one Body of Christ. You may be a male. You may be a female. You may be a Jew. You may be a Gentile (from another nation than Israel). You may be black. You may be white. You may be a free person. You may be a slave. You may be a Charismatic, a Baptist, a Presbyterian, a non-denominational, or go to some other church. Maybe you don’t go to church at all. (It is actually God’s will that we meet together with other believers as Hebrews 10:25 tells us.) Whatever gender or nationality you are, whatever church you may go to, whether or not you have your freedom, if you believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you are part of that one Body of Christ and are made to drink of one Holy Spirit! It is sad to me when people disassociate with others for leaving their church. It can actually be almost devastating. That happened to me, but God healed my wounded spirit and made it all better! Praise His wonderful Name! The truth is that all of us believers in Jesus belong to Him and to one another! God does not want any division between us, even if we can’t agree with some doctrinal differences. As long as we agree that Jesus Christ is God and that He died to forgive us for our sins, we can fellowship and associate with one another. We all drink from the same Holy Spirit! We are one Body!
Let us not have an “Us Four, No More” attitude toward other believers or unbelievers. Let us not become spiritually elitist, only accepting those who believe our denominational beliefs and distrusting all other believers and people. This is rooted in spiritual pride. I know because I have had to repent of it in the past. We who trust in Jesus are one Body and share in one beautiful Holy Spirit!
The Holy Spirit Will Develop in Us the Fruit of the Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23 also tells us the benefits of being filled with the Holy Spirit. This “fruit of the Spirit” benefits not only us but others who come in contact with us! It says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” When the Holy Spirit comes inside of you and you are filled with Him, you will bear His fruit! This includes love for God and others, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), gentleness, goodness, faith (trusting God when you can’t see yet), meekness (humility), and temperance (self-control). Wow! What beautiful fruit God is developing in the character of us Christians who continually be filled with the Holy Spirit! Verse 23 above says, “Against such there is no law.” That means that no commandments in the Bible contradict having this fruit in your life and my life! The Holy Spirit makes us such loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, gentle, good, faith-filled, humble, self-controlled people, step by step! This is a lifelong process with daily struggles, but being filled with the Holy Spirit will help us grow gradually into all this lovely fruit! The Holy Spirit makes us more delightful people! He will give us victory over sin step by step!
The Holy Spirit Will Give You a New Heart
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? Do you know Jesus? Ezekiel 36:26-27 offers Israel and you this wonderful promise:
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.
Wow, again! Is your heart stony, hardened from being battered by people and deceived with sin? Do you know someone like this? God will give you a new heart! You will still be you, just a better you! He will soften the hard ground of your heart with the rain of His refreshing Presence! He will make your heart tender to Him and tender to others. Please note that He will protect your heart and heal if it gets hurt again. You don’t have to put up walls around you to protect your heart anymore. God will shield you from attacks and disappointments. They will come, but He will be with you to help you! He will show you who to trust and who not to trust. God will put His Holy Spirit in your heart and fill you with Him so that you can keep His commandments (statutes) in the Bible. When you stumble and fail, He will be there to wash you clean and give you the strength and renewed vigor to keep going until you go to heaven and end up in the refuge of His arms! Even now, He is your refuge through the Holy Spirit! Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)?
You, Yes You, Matter to God!
Are you thinking, “The Holy Spirit sounds great. But God wouldn’t notice me. He is too busy. He wouldn’t answer my prayer.” Don’t buy into the lie that you do not matter to God. You, yes you, matter to God! You are so special and precious to Him as if you were the only one! Jesus would have died for you if you were the only human on earth alive! Be encouraged by Luke 11:13, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” Jesus promised you in John 6:37, “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” You are noticed! God has all the time in the world to hear you respectfully pour out your heart to Him! He is so very interested in everything you have to say! He is not bored with the tiniest request! No request is too hard for Him to answer! He will delight to save you and give you the Holy Spirit, your Helper!
The Holy Spirit Will Reveal God’s Wonderful Plans for You
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? God has wonderful things planned for you, fellow believer! Let 1 Corinthians 2:8-11 inspire you:
…Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
God will show you the wonderful things He will do for you! You and I couldn’t even imagine these wonderful things on our own! The sweet Holy Spirit is your Friend who will show them to you through God’s Word, the Bible!
Babies Can Be Filled with the Holy Spirit!
We read an amazing thing that was prophesied in Luke 1:15 about John the Baptist, Jesus’ forerunner prophet: “For he [John] shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.” Astonishing! John, when he was an unborn child, was filled with the Holy Spirit even in his mother’s womb! We read further down in the same chapter in verse 44 in the words of John’s mother, Elizabeth, “For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy [Mary’s] salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe [John] leaped in my womb for joy.” Wow! John the Baptist was indeed filled with the Holy Spirit while yet unborn. This is a beautiful prayer to pray over unborn children that they will be filled with the Holy Spirit!
Let us see in this verse the value of unborn children and their humanity. Let us give them the opportunity of life and to discover on earth the love of God and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Let us give them the opportunity to find their calling in life and be a part of making this world a better place! If you have aborted your child or been a part of committing abortions, there is forgiveness for you through the blood of Jesus Christ! Just ask! You don’t have to grovel and do penance. Just ask Him to forgive you and help you never to do that again. He will surely forgive you when you are sincere. He will help you to forgive yourself. You will see your child again in heaven! I truly believe that.
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Before wrapping up this discussion about the Holy Spirit, I want to discuss the gifts the Holy Spirit gives us believers. Perhaps the first gift you think of is the gift of tongues. Some believers will tell you that in order to be filled, or baptized, in the Holy Spirit, you must receive the gift of [supernatural] tongues. They say the baptism/infilling of the Spirit is like shoes: the tongues come with it. I am not against tongues, and the supernatural gift of tongues given by the Holy Spirit are a most beautiful and helpful gift to intercede and can be used to prophesy a message of hope in church when interpreted into English. If you desire the gift of tongues, ask the Holy Spirit for it! The Holy Spirit’s tongues are different than demonic tongues inspired by Satan. There is a true difference! True tongues are from the Spirit of God, not the devil.
However, some people fear they don’t have the Holy Spirit because they never got the gift of tongues after earnestly asking God for it. I can assure you that if that is you, you can be filled with the Holy Spirit without necessarily receiving the gift of tongues. Let me share with you verses that prove this. Hang with me.
Jesus told His disciples before He left earth and ascended to heaven, “On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Soon after on the Day of Pentecost after Jesus’ ascension to heaven, the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in many different earthly tongues. People who were visiting Jerusalem from other nations were astonished that they heard the disciples speaking in their own native tongues, or languages. So, tongues can be languages on earth. I once heard that a Vietnamese girl who didn’t know Jesus attended a youth retreat at a church Charlie and I used to go to when we were first married. She was saved because she heard someone speak a tongue in Vietnamese and someone else interpreted this message from God. She believed that God was real because she knew these people didn’t speak Vietnamese! She knew that it was supernatural proof of the existence of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit!
In 1 Corinthians 13:1, the apostle Paul, who did speak in tongues, says, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” What I want to point out from this verse is that tongues can be the languages of men on earth that someone speaking doesn’t know, or tongues can be the language of angels.
Now back to proof that you can have the Holy Spirit without the gift of tongues. First Corinthians 12:12-14 says, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body–whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free–and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. [We looked at that verse earlier.] Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many….”
I really encourage you to read the rest of that chapter. I do not have the time to go into the whole chapter in this blog, but you can. If you don’t have a Bible, you can go to https://biblegateway.com and type “1 Corinthians 12” in the search bar. Now let us look at the passage above more closely. The Body of Christ is made up of many parts, not just one. Reading further down in 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 will help:
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
If you are a Christian/believer in Jesus Christ, you matter! Your part counts! Not everybody is a pastor, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor, a teacher, a miracle worker, a helper, a guide, or a tongue-talker. Not everyone is a gift giver, has the gift or service, or whatever your gift is. But you count! You are needed, just as all of the parts of your physical body are needed! There is so much more that could be said about this. But I want to encourage you that if you prayed for the gift of tongues and didn’t get it, one of two things is true: 1) You will get it later; or 2) That is not your gift. You can still be filled with the Holy Spirit! Walking closely with God, you will discover what your gift or gifts are! These gifts are given to build up other believers in the love of God and to lead others to Jesus Christ for salvation.
The Holy Spirit Still Performs Miracles
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? Did you notice above that some people are given the gift of performing miracles? The apostles of Jesus prayed to God in Acts 4:30, “By stretching forth Thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of Thy holy Child [Son] Jesus.” My friend, do not be afraid of healing and miracles. Do not let someone convince you that God used to do those things but doesn’t anymore! Don’t let the devil trick you! Hebrews 13:8 tells us that “Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” God still heals! I have experienced God’s healings and miracles in my own life! You can read about them in my autobiography on my website, A Little Person With A Big Testimony. God has miraculously healed me of severe acute laryngitis. I couldn’t talk for two months; and after praying with other believers, I could miraculously talk the next day! The ear, nose, and throat doctor shortly after could find nothing wrong with my voice and said I could sing again! And I could! I have been healed of many things. God has done many financial miracles for me and my family. Maybe you can testify the same! I have laid my hands on many people praying for healing in the Name of Jesus, and He healed them, often instantaneously! Glory to Jesus! My friend Joel Hitchock, a world-wide evangelist, has prayed for many people to be healed miraculously in the Name of Jesus, and they were! He has often seen the blind eyes opened, the deaf ears opened, and the mute able to speak! I have even heard of God still raising the dead back to life! God still does miracles, my friend!
A Simple Prayer
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit (Part 2)? You can pray a simple prayer for Him to fill you. If you believe in Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and shed blood for your salvation from the wrath of God, you may pray for the Holy Spirit to fill you! If you haven’t prayed for Jesus to save you yet, it is not too late and you can do it right now. Here is a sample prayer:
“Dear Jesus, please forgive me for the wrongs I have done. Wash me in Your precious blood. Help me live for you. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Show me where to go to church. Take me to heaven when this life is over. Protect me and help me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
If you prayed that prayer for the first time and meant it, welcome to the family of God!!! You are now a part of His Body! Find a church where you can meet with others who believe in Him and are following Him. Go somewhere you can grow spiritually. You are welcome to also keep visiting my website for spiritual feeding. Read your Bible every day or read it at https://biblegateway.com. Pray respectfully to God. Praise Him. That means tell Him how great He is. Be honest with Him about your gratitude, your needs, your frustrations, what makes you angry, your heartaches, your irritations, and the needs of others. You have begun a wonderful adventure, my friend! It won’t always be easy, but you will have the Holy Spirit to help you along the way! God is always with you and never falls asleep! He lovingly thinks about you constantly!
Please comment below or send me a message on the CONTACT page if God has done a healing or miracle for you. Send me a message if you have a question or a comment about this blog or anything on my website. Tell me if you prayed today to be saved and/or filled with the Holy Spirit! I would love to hear from you!
Many blessings to you!
Here is a song I love to praise God in the dance to! May it encourage you as you are waiting on God for your miracle!
Here is another Tauren Wells’ song sure to encourage you when you are at the end of your rope (or even if you aren’t). I have heard this song before and wept:
Here is another encouraging song from Tauren Wells called “Hills and Valleys.” God and His Holy Spirit will put your on all your hills (victories) and comfort you in all your valleys (heartaches):
