A Study on Being Filled with the Spirit

What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?  Mainstream churches never talk about this really.  You only hear about this in charismatic circles.  Is it different from just having the Holy Spirit inside of us?  Yes I think so.

 

I do not agree with the Pentecostal belief of course that one has to pray in tongues to be saved.  They get the two things mixed up of having the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Spirit.  They are different.  They think they are the same, which is why they think if you don't pray in tongues you have not been "baptized in the Holy Spirit." 

 

The Assembly of God denomination's has a belief that I do agree with and like.  They say that whenever someone gets saved they automatically receive the Holy Spirit, as Eph. 1:13 says.  "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."  Once you assent to your faith in Jesus you receive the Holy Spirit. 

 

But there is this secondary filling of the Holy Spirit.  This secondary filling comes and goes, it is not permanent, where as the first gift of the Spirit is always there, kinda like an undercurrent. 

 

The filling of the Spirit may come on a person for a moment, for an hour etc. 

 

When Jesus told us to drink of his blood and eat of his flesh, one interpretation is that he meant we are to read his word, that is his flesh, and drink his spirit, that is his blood. 

 

In Revelations John ate the scroll, so there is one example of someone eating the word.  Also "Man shall not live by bread alone but my every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."  Amen. :)

And here is a verse that I have always found to be interesting.  This is in regards to drinking of God's Spirit.

         

     "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit."        

         

So does this mean that being filled with the Spirit is somewhat like drinking wine?  David says, "You have filled me with more joy than when grain and new wine abound."  So can God give us the same joy and relaxing feeling that drinking can?  Of course He can.  But does He?

 

I have had a bit too much to drink a few times I will say.  It does seem to take all your cares away.  But drinking too much wine is harmful to the body.  Drinking of God's spirit improves your health. 

 

I have heard that when people "fall in the Spirit" they experience this overwhelming peace of all your cares being taken away.  So that is interesting. 

 

I used to joke in high school if someone would be like, "Are you high?" if I was acting silly and I'd say, "I'm high on Jesus!" lol  I had a lot of joy of the Lord I guess and was quite silly in high school.  Back before college made me more stoic and serious, and took away my joy perhaps. lol 

 

But yes I had a lot of joy of the Lord back then.  Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again rejoice."  Also, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."  College seemed to sap my strength and maybe that was why because it sapped my joy.

 

I was part of the Torrey Honors Institute in college at Biola University.  I never liked it.  I didn't feel a whole lot of love in that program, and pretty much no joy.  So it really affected me and brought me down.  It made me more of an intellectual, yes, and more disciplined and helped me become a better reader and writer, but it took away a lot of my joy sadly. :( 

 

Plus Biola as a college is predominantly Calvinistic, high church etc.  I was raised in more informal denominations and churches.  Biola was a bit more on the legalistic side for sure. 

 

There was a quote from a someone I heard once, "I never struggled in my faith, until I went to a Christian college."  lol and that was true for me too.

 

Back to the Holy Spirit. lol  The Holy Spirit was never discussed at Biola, not once, which is sad. 

 

What else does the Bible have to say about being filled with the Spirit? 

1 Corinthians 12:13                    

"For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit."

Well there it is, the concept of drinking of the Spirit.  It makes me think of the verse, "If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink." 

Maybe that's why so many Christians are still so thirsty.  They read the word plenty, but they do not drink of God's Spirit.  Why?  Because charismatic churches that do not follow the Biblical order of service have scared other churches away from the Holy Spirit altogether, which is sad. :(  There needs to be a middle ground. 

I pointed out to my husband that the issue is that charismatic churches forget their mind and focus on the emotions, and other churches forget the emotions, or the heart, and focus only on the mind.

We have to meet in the middle.  And I so wish I could find a church that had both.  The church I did a missions trip to twice in Taiwan had both.  Banner Church.  Check it out if you're ever in Tai Chung. :)  They have an ear piece they can give you in the service so you can hear it in English lol. 

But Asian people never forget the mind.  Their culture is all about the mind.  But that church is Pentecostal so it brings in the perfect amount of heart and emotions and the Holy Spirit as well.  Praise God.  Now if they could start a church here like that lol that would be wonderful. :)      

May God open doors for that to happen and for our American churches to be more balanced.  Amen! :)  God bless!