Spirit-Filled Living

By Jeff Brawner

Have you ever felt inadequate as a Christian? Have you struggled to be faithful, to really love people and to share your faith? Have you wondered if you “have what it takes” to love and live for the Lord?

If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, you’re a candidate for a Spirit-filled life.
In order to experience the power God wants to give us, we must first recognize that we are inadequate. We don’t have what it takes to be dedicated, effective followers of the Lord. Even with the best intentions, our own power isn’t enough to get the job done.
Thank God we don’t have to depend on our own power! God is eager to give us His enabling power. He makes us both faithful and fruitful by empowering us to live a Spirit-filled life.
Romans 10:17 says that faith (our ability to trust and believe) comes by hearing (perceiving and understanding), and that hearing comes by the Word of God. Four essential elements of a Spirit-filled life described in the Word can awaken your faith and lead you into a new level of God-directed living.

The promise of a Spirit-filled life

(Acts 1:4,5; John 16:7)
As His time on earth came to a close, Jesus commanded His disciples to wait in Jerusalem to be baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4,5). This instruction highlights two important principles.

First, it reveals our need. Jesus commanded (not suggested) that His followers wait for power because the greatest danger they faced was not failure to act, but attempting to act in their own strength.

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is not about the bubbly feelings that accompany a “bonus blessing.” It is about our absolute need for divine help in order to live a spiritually effective life. Jesus wanted His followers to grasp the urgency of that truth and recognize their utter dependence on God’s enabling power.

Second, it reveals the Holy Spirit’s nature. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the “Comforter” or, in Greek, parakletos. That same word was used in other Greek writings to describe a character witness in a trial. In other contexts, it describes a specialist in any field who could supply missing knowledge or insight needed to solve a perplexing problem. It also refers to an encourager who knows exactly what to say or do when a person is suffering physically or emotionally.

Most important, a parakletos isn’t a something, but rather someone. When Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit, he consistently used the pronouns “he” and “him.” Paul’s benediction at the close of 2 Corinthians includes the phrase “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” The word “fellowship” was used to describe a traveling companion or a close, trusted associate. In other passages, Paul often mentioned being led or guided by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit isn’t an interpersonal force. He wants to be as real and as personal a part of our daily lives as Jesus was to His disciples. That’s what the Lord had in mind in John 16:7 when He promised that the Spirit would come into the disciples’ lives and continue ministering to them after His departure. As you read the Word, notice the ways Jesus worked and walked with His disciples. That’s exactly the kind of intimate fellowship the Holy Spirit wants to share with us.

The purpose of a Spirit-filled life

(Acts 1:8)
“But you will receive power,” Jesus promised in Acts 1:8, “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (NIV). The text suggests two purposes for the power (in this context, “divine ability”) the Spirit offers us.

First, we are given the divine ability to be. Notice the cause-and-effect relationship of the phrases “receive power” and “be witnesses.” Being filled with the Spirit does far more than enhance our abilities; it revolutionizes our identity. The very act of being filled with the power and the person of the Holy Spirit as promised by Christ gives us the first-hand experience that is the very definition of the word “witness.” Far more than our words, our very life becomes our testimony to the truth of God’s Word.

Second, we are given the divine ability to do. Behavior is the inevitable consequence of character. In other words, who we are determines what we do. With the new identity the Holy Spirit puts within us comes the power to actually do the will of God and to reflect Him in both our character and our conduct.

Of course, all believers have received the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, as Romans 8:9 tells us, they wouldn’t be believers in the first place. It is the Holy Spirit who convinces us of our need for salvation through Christ and then makes Christ’s work real in our lives. Receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit does not elevate us to some “higher class” of Christianity. We are all forgiven, cleansed and made a part of God’s eternal family. But experiencing the promise of the Father makes it possible for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to reach us at a deeper, more intimate level. We become divinely enabled to dynamically reflect the reality of a living, loving God.

The precedents of a Spirit-filled life

(Acts 2:1-4; 8:14-19; 10:44-48; 19:1-7)
The impact made by the first-century believers when the Holy Spirit worked in and through them set a precedent for the way the Holy Spirit wants to work in and through us. In each passage above, two points are evident: (1) All were filled. The fullness of the Holy Spirit isn’t for a select few but for every hungry believer. God’s plan and promise is for every one of us, not just those who happen to be apostles or leaders. (2) All spoke with tongues (languages) they had never learned, expressing unrestricted praise and prayer.

Again and again in the Early Church, the release of Spirit-enabled prayer and praise was exemplified by speaking in tongues. Tragically, many modern believers have allowed themselves to miss out on this important dimension of the Spirit-filled life, usually because of confusion about doctrine or concern about abuse, whether real or merely perceived. I suspect they would be more interested in discovering what they have been missing if they understood two important biblical facts.

First, the essence of speaking in tongues is prayer and praise. It is not a badge we wear to prove how wonderfully God has blessed us. Instead, it releases within us the kind of Spirit-enabled communion with Christ that Paul described in Romans 8:26 when he said that the “Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” That’s what the visitors to Jerusalem witnessed on the Day of Pentecost when they heard the Spirit-filled disciples praising, worshiping and declaring the wonders of God in their own languages. In contrast, when Peter stood to speak he didn’t do it in tongues but in his native Aramaic.

That leads us to the second fact: the expression of speaking in tongues has both a personal purpose and a corporate purpose. More specifically, it is a corporate gift and a personal grace. This clears up the confusion often caused by Paul’s statement in 1Corinthians 14:5: “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy ... so that the church may be edified.” Not everyone has the ministry of tongues in a church service, but everyone can and should have the manifestation of tongues in his or her personal life with God.

The preparations for a Spirit-filled life

(Acts 1:12-14)
The first way the disciples prepared themselves for the promise of the Holy Spirit was by simply showing up in obedience to Christ’s command. If God is going to work powerfully in our lives, we must be available.

A second act of personal preparation is illustrated in Acts 1:14: “They all joined together constantly in prayer.” This brought the disciples into two different “alignments” that set them on course toward becoming empowered partners of the Holy Spirit. First, they needed oneness with God. Prayer is essential to spiritual alignment. It is impossible without a heart that is surrendered to God and forgiven. Second, they needed oneness with each other. Prayer plays a vital part in relational alignment. Genuine reconciled relationships allow the release of God in and through their lives.

The perpetuation of the Spirit-filled life

In Ephesians 5:18, Paul told us to keep being filled up with the Holy Spirit. The baptism in the Holy Spirit was never intended to be a one-time experience. Rather, as we continue to seek and surrender to the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit, the result is an ongoing life of released power and realized potential.

Jeff Brawner is pastor of Bonita Valley Christian Center (Assemblies of God) in Bonita, Calif.