Be Filled With The Spirit...And Life!
Exodus 40:34, 2 Chronicles 5:13b-14
The tabernacle/temple of the LORD (1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 6:16, 1 Peter 2:5) was filled with...the glory of the LORD...
Exodus 31:3
(The LORD said) “I have filled (Bezalel) with the Spirit of God…”
Ezekiel 36:27
I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
1 Samuel 10:6
(NIV) The Spirit of the LORD will come powerfully upon you...and you will be changed into a different person.
(NASB) The Spirit of the LORD will come upon you mightily...and be changed into another man.
John 14:16
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever...
Romans 8:11
And if the Spirit of him (God) who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
Galatians 4:4-6
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts...
Nicholas Hellings The Daily Hymn Book Containing a Hymn on a Passage of Scripture for Every Day, 1838 on Ezekiel 36:27
Hast thou not promis’d, gracious God,
Thy holy influence to show’r?
Now shed the vital flood abroad,
On every soul the Spirit pour.
“A new heart also will I give,
And a new Spirit put within;”
By faith this promise we receive,
The pardon and the cure of sin.
However vile our hearts have been,
Thy Spirit doth our souls renew;
Sprinkle the conscience, make us clean,
And every reigning sin subdue.
A heart of flesh, instead of stone,
Is by the Holy Spirit giv’n;
The work, great God! is thine alone
To form a people fit for heav’n.
On us thy sacred Spirit shed,
Then in thy statutes we shall go;
And safely by thy precepts led,
Shall walk by faith to glory too.
Richard Baxter A Christian Directory
The Spirit of holiness in us is God's seal upon us signifying that we are his (Ephesians 1:13). He is the earnest of the glory to come. Great care must now be taken to make him the principle of all our operations and to obey him and follow his movements (Galatians 5:25 "keep in step with the Spirit", Ephesians 5:18b), as he leads you into communion with God.
Be sure you do not mistake the movings of the Holy Spirit with those of satan or your own passions, pride or fleshly wisdom. The Spirit of God is only for heavenly wisdom, and not for foolish or treacherous craftiness. He is the Spirit of love, unity, meekness, patience, and holiness (Romans 8:6b). He moves us to be conformed to Christ (Romans 8:29). This is a sure test of his identity. He works in us to perfect our sanctification and obedience. Unprofitabel trifles, despair, painful distractions and disturbances of mind make us unfit for duty, and drive us from God. Those are not the influences of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God draws our hearts to him, makes us spiritual and godly, and is ever for God's glory (Romans 8:26-27).
When you are sure it is the Spirit of God indeed that is knocking at your door, do not behave as if you did not hear.
1. Obey him speedily: delay is a temporary unthankful refusal and a kind of a denial.
2. Obey him thoroughly: half-obedience is disobedience.
3. Obey him constantly: not hearkening to him sometimes, and more frequently neglecting him.
Do not neglect the means which the Spirit has appointed for your help, Pray, meditate, hear, read, do your best, and expect his blessing. Though your ploughing and sowing will not give a harvest without the sun, and rain, and the blessing of God, yet the sun and rain will not bring a crop unless you plough and plant.
John Gibbon Puritan Sermons 1659-1689 on Galatians 5:16 "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."
To walk in the Spirit is to fulfill the counsel and advice of the Spirit. Every renewed (regenerate) soul is a stage in which the Spirit and the flesh combat in hand-to-hand warfare: light against darkness, life versus death, heaven against hell, and good versus evil. The Spirit of the Lord is with you...be ready to follow his promptings.
C.H. Spurgeon in The Treasury of David on Psalm 94:19 "Thy comforts delight my soul."
(The Holy Spirit, "the Comforter")..opens the Scriptures to us, speaks through ordinances, witnesses within us of our adoption of God; shines upon His own work of grace in our hearts; enables us to see that work, and to see in it God's eternal love to us; shows us the hand of God in our own souls - His converting, saving hand - His hand apprehending us as His own; making us feel His grasp of love, and feel, too, that it is a grasp which He will never loosen.
Adoniram Judson Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 1893 on John 3:8 “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
The wind lists to blow where there is a vacuum. If you find a tremendous rush of wind, you know that somewhere there is an empty space. If we could expel all pride, vanity, self-righteousness, self-seeking, desire for applause, honor, and promotion – if we should be utterly emptied of all that – the Spirit would come as a rushing mighty wind to fill us.
A.B. Simpson
We must learn the secret of breathing out as well as of breathing in. One of the best ways to make room for the Holy Spirit is to recognize the needs that come into the life as vacuums for Him to fill. We shall find plenty of needs all around us to be filled, and as we pour out our lives in holy service, He will pour His in - in full measure.
A.W. Tozer
"The Witness of the Spirit"
It may easily be that the great difference between professing Christians (the important difference in this day) is not between modernists and evangelicals but between those who have reduced Christianity to an intellectual formula and those who believe that the true essence of our faith lies in the supernatural workings of the Spirit in a region of the soul not accessible to mere reason.
The Divine Conquest
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life and light and love. In His uncreated nature He is a boundless sea of fire, flowing, moving ever, performing as He moves the eternal purposes of God. Every act of His accords with the will of the Triune God. Never does He act on impulse nor move after a quick or arbitrary decision. Since He is the Spirit of the Father He feels toward His people exactly as the Father feels, so there need be on our part no sense of strangeness in His presence. He will always act like Jesus, toward sinners in compassion, toward saints in warm affection, toward human suffering in tenderest pity and love.
At the base of all true Christian experience must lie a sound and sane morality. No joys are valid, no delights legitimate where sin is allowed to live in life or conduct. No transgression of pure righteousness dare excuse itself on the ground of superior religious experience. To seek high emotional states while living in sin is to throw our whole life open to self-deception and the judgment of God. "Be ye holy" (1 Peter 1:16) is a serious commandment from the Lord of the whole earth.
The true Christian ideal is not to be happy but to be holy. The holy heart alone can be the habitation of the Holy Spirit.
F.B. Meyer
In 1 John 2:1 (R.V.) the word Comforter is translated Advocate—"One who makes us strong by His presence, as Helper, Guide, and Instructor." Think what this means, to have always beside us, not a vague influence, but a Divine Person, who waits to be our strength in weakness, our peace in trouble, our wisdom in perplexity, our conqueror in temptations, our consoler in sorrow. The Lord meant that the Holy Spirit should be to us all that He Himself had been. This is the meaning of Another. There are two Advocates, or two Paracletes. When the One ascended to the glory, the Other descended into the hearts of His disciples. "He abideth with you, and shall be in you." (John 14:16-17)
Do not look for the Spirit apart from Jesus. As the sun comes in the light, so does Jesus come in the Spirit. When we are filled with the Spirit, we shall not think of Him, but of Jesus to whom He bears witness, and when our hearts are taken up with the Lord, we may know that we have received Him, who is the Gift of gifts.
Open your whole nature to the entrance of the Holy Spirit. Unlock every door, uncurtain every window, that entering He may fill you with the glorious indwelling of the Father and the Son.
On Romans 12:1
The first thing for all of us to do is to present ourselves to God as alive from the dead, and our bodies as living sacrifices. The path of blessedness can be entered by no other gate. It is only as we refuse to be conformed to this world, and yield ourselves to be transformed by the free entrance of the Holy Spirit into our minds, that we can learn all that God will do for us. We are nothing; He is all. And He is prepared to be and do all things in us, if only we will be open to Him.
J.C. Ryle
Let us resolve to make special prayer morning and night, every day that we live, for a more abundant outpouring of the Holy Ghost. We must never forget that the Holy Spirit alone is the author of spiritual success, and the spring of spiritual life in a church. He alone can open the eyes of ministers who are now blind to their responsibilities. He alone can raise up new preachers of the Gospel to fill the place of those who are removed by death. He alone can bless sermons when preached, and make them life-giving to souls.
Where He is there will be health and vigour. Without Him there can be nothing but dullness, formality and death. Oh! Let us pray more for the Holy Ghost!
Andrew Murray
Heaven is still as full of spiritual blessings. God still delights to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Our life and work are still as dependent on the direct impartation of the divine power as they were in Pentecostal times. Prayer is still the appointed means for drawing down these heavenly blessings in power upon ourselves and those around us. God still seeks for men and women who will, with all their other work of ministering, specially give themselves to persevering prayer.
Wesley Duewel "Becoming Mighty In Prayer"
If you have never received the Spirit's fullness, receive it today. Clear away any controversy, any veil between your soul and God. Obey God in every step you know to take. Present yourself totally, utterly, eternally to God in absolute surrender, asking the Spirit to fill you. Don't hurry. Be thorough; make sure your surrender is real and total. Then in simple faith appropriate what God has promised: "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Luke 11:13).
John Stott The Message of Acts
Without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship would be inconceivable, even impossible. There can be no life without the life-giver, no understanding without the Spirit of truth, no fellowship without the unity of the Spirit, no Christlikeness of character apart from His fruit, and no effective witness without His power. As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church without the Spirit is dead.
Samuel Longfellow “Holy Spirit, Truth Divine”
http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/h/o/l/holstdiv.htm
Holy Spirit, truth divine,
dawn upon this soul of mine;
Voice of God and inward light,
wake my spirit, clear my sight.
Holy Spirit, love divine,
glow within this heart of mine.
Kindle every high desire,
purify me with your fire.
Holy Spirit, power divine,
fill and nerve this will of mine.
Boldly may I always live,
bravely serve, and gladly give.
Holy Spirit, law divine,
reign within this soul of mine.
Be my law, and I shall be
firmly bound, forever free.
Holy Spirit, peace divine,
still this restless heart of mine.
Speak to calm this tossing sea,
grant me your tranquility.
Holy Spirit, joy divine,
gladden now this heart of mine.
In the desert ways I sing -
spring, O Living Water, spring!
Rowland Hill “Holy Ghost, With Light Divine”
Holy Ghost, with light divine,
Shine upon this heart of mine;
Chase the shade of night away,
Turn my darkness into day.
Let me see my Savior’s face,
Let me all His beauties trace;
Show those glorious truths to me
Which are only known to Thee.
Holy Ghost, with power divine,
Cleanse this guilty heart of mine;
Long has sin, without control,
Held dominion o’er my soul.
Holy Ghost, with joy divine,
Cheer this saddened heart of mine;
Bid my many woes depart,
Heal my wounded, bleeding heart.
Holy Spirit, all divine,
Dwell within this heart of mine;
Cast down every idol throne,
Reign supreme, and reign alone.
See, to Thee I yield my heart,
Shed Thy life through every part;
A pure temple I would be,
Wholly dedicate to Thee.
With what does the Spirit fill us?
John 1:4, 10:10 - life
An abundant Christ-like life; heart-life (emotion), soul-life (spiritual), mind-life (intellect), and strength-life (physical) - Mark 12:30
John 15:11, Hebrews 1:9 - joy
Romans 15:13 - hope, joy & peace
1 Corinthians 13 - love
Galatians 5:22-25 - fruit of the Spirit
Ephesians 1:17-19 - wisdom, revelation & power (Ephesians 3:14-21)
Philippians 1:11 - the fruit of righteousness
Colossians 1:9 - knowledge of His will
Rev. John Richardson, Daily Readings of Holy Season, Easter to Whitsuntide, on Acts 2:1-4 “When the day of Pentecost came…”
When a dead soul lives, it is the Spirit that quickens it. When a cold heart glows, it is the Spirit that gives it warmth. He is the Comforter in such as would have mourned without his grace. He is the Strengthener of such as would have fallen without his help. He is the Sanctifier of such as would have continued estranged without the drawing of his power. The incarnation of Jesus came by him. The inspiration of Scripture came by him. The enlightenment of the Church came by him. The graces, gifts, comforts, endearments of all saved sinners came by him.
Octavius Winslow Daily Walking With God
Let it not be forgotten, that the growth of the believer in the experience of the truth is as much the work of the eternal Spirit as was the first production of divine life in the soul. The dependence of the believer on the Spirit by no means ceases in conversion. There are after-stages along which it is his office to conduct the believing soul. Deeper views of sin's exceeding sinfulness; a more thorough knowledge of self; more enlarged discoveries of Christ; a more simple and habitual resting upon His finished work; increasing conformity to the Divine image; the daily victory over indwelling sin; and a constant fitting for the inheritance of the saints in light - all these works the one and the self-same Spirit, who first breathed into his soul the breath of spiritual life. Not a step can the believer advance without the Spirit - not a victory can he achieve without the Spirit. As he needed Him at the first, so he needs Him all his journey through.
Dear reader, cherish high views of the work of the Spirit. To have One near at hand, yes, in you, as He is, to detect so faithfully and lovingly, as He does, the waning grace, the feeble pulse, the spiritual decay; to awaken sensibility, godly sorrow, and draw out the heart in confession, is to possess one of the most costly blessings. Honor the blessed Spirit, laud Him for His work, extol His faithfulness and love, and treat Him as your tenderest, dearest Friend.
Samuel Chadwick The Way To Pentecost
http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyctr/books/0401-0500/HDM0496.pdf
George Matheson’s meditations on the Holy Spirit, Voices of the Spirit
https://books.google.com/books?id=89FUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP13
G. Campbell Morgan on Acts 19:2 "Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?"
CAUTION
C.H. Spurgeon The Treasury of David on Psalm 49:3 "The meditation of my heart shall be of understanding."
The help of the Holy Spirit was never meant to supersede the use of our own mental powers. He first leads us to consider and reflect, and then He gives us power.
(We have the Holy Spirit not to escape reality, but to understand and deal with reality.)