Tag Archives: Present your whole self

How to be filled with the Holy Spirit

This talk of “how to be filled with the Holy Spirit” may sound formulaic. But it’s not the same as how to build a deck or make a fancy dish. Actually, I believe God intends us to be filled with the Holy Spirit when we first accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord. It is both a one-time event and also a life-long process. But far too often, as in my own rebellious walk, being filled with the Holy Spirit came later. I asked Jesus into my life but did not quickly or totally surrender all to his authority over me. How thankful I am that God doesn’t apply my personal level of patience with me!

 
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not an academic process. We aren’t filled by knowledge. Rather it is a matter of readiness and desire. That said, AW Tozer poses a number of preliminary questions for us to consider while examining our readiness and desire:

1. Am I ready to be filled?
Can I accept that Jesus accomplished everything at the cross and my good works don’t add to my salvation? Have I been accustomed to “considering the interests others before my own?” Am I ready to replace “my will” with “your will, Oh God?” The Spirit calls you to himself through prayer, meditation and scripture reading, and sometimes through the inspiration of others lives.

 

2. Do I want to be filled?

“Are you sure you want to be possessed by a spirit other than your own? That Spirit, if he ever possesses you, will be lord of your life!” Do I want to hand over the keys to my house, job, relationships, finances, personality, and even my motives and desires to the Holy Spirit and say, “I come and go as you tell me?” Am I convinced that I need to be filled? Have you come to the end of self and found it a futile way to live?

 

How to receive the Holy Spirit: (Reference AW Tozer)

1. You must present your whole self to his authority.
Just as we present ourselves to God to become clean before his eyes, so we must present all our body to the Spirit’s leading. (Romans 12:1-2) This may seem simple, but your response determines your readiness to let the Spirit have control over your whole life: your mind, your ambitions, and even your personality to his authority.

2. You must ask:
The Holy Spirit will not force himself on us but rather he only acts on our invitation.

3. You must obey.
It is senseless to submit ourselves to an authority unless we plan to willingly obey. The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God. (Acts 5:31). Our obediance affirms what we believe. It seems simple to say this involves living by what the scriptures tell us but in today’s reality it is quite revolutionary.

4. You must have faith.
We receive and submit to the Holy Spirit by faith just as we submit to Jesus for our salvation – by faith. It is like building a house without knowing the whole purpose of its design, becoming a habitat of God. It’s like going on an adventurous journey without knowing all the details of the trip, letting him guide us, shape us, and lead us as only the Spirit of God can do. It’s considering yourself a vessel whose purpose is to be filled with God’s truth and grace and poured out on others for his redemptive plans.

 

Will you ask and believe him for the perfect plan he offers?

 

“We ask you, almighty God, let our souls enjoy this their desire, to be enkindled by your Spirit, that being filled as lamps by your divine gift, we may shine like burning lights before the presence of your Son Christ at his coming; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
– The Gelasian Sacramentary