How To Be Filled With The Holy Spirit?
We were created to live in the fullness of God’s presence, but sin has diminished this relationship. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we’re able to live a supernatural life. When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, the very colors of our nature change. Learn how you can be filled with the Holy Spirit.
You Were Created For God’s Presence
You were never designed to do life on your own. That was never God’s intent. You were designed to live in the presence of God.
In the Garden of Eden, before the fall of Adam and Eve, creation existed in the fullness of the presence of God. However, in their rebellion, humanity experienced a diminished living in God’s omnipresence, but not the manifest presence.
To reconcile the Fall, God sent His son so that not only can our sins be forgiven but so that we can be reconciled to God and participate in His presence. God has already initiated restoration work in our lives by being in Christ. But if you could live the Christian life on your own, you would not need the Holy Spirit.
Filled with the Holy Spirit
Ephesians is an unusual book. It’s the only letter Paul writes where he’s not addressing controversy in the church. It was the most mature church in the New Testament; therefore, he was able to write about things to help a church grow and develop.
Ephesians chapter five raises a question: Do all Christians have the Holy Spirit?
The short answer is yes. However, that’s not the question that Paul addresses in this passage. The question is not, does the believer have the Holy Spirit, but does the Holy Spirit have you?
If you are a believer, the Holy Spirit already has residency in your life, but the difference is that we want to give him the presidency. He’s already on the throne, but He desires to give life to the throne of your heart. When you came to Christ, you were justified by faith in the person of Jesus and received pardoning grace for your sins.
However, you did not lose your old nature. Your old flesh got dragged kicking and screaming into your new life, but your flesh has no intention of letting you go without a fight. That’s why so many of us have the same old propensities we had before we got saved. The only remedy for the flesh is crucifixion with Christ and supernatural power.
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
In our new life, it’s not that we want to forgive someone else, but we choose to because I am crucified with Christ. We recognize that now we choose God’s purposes rather than our preferences. It may not be easy to sacrifice for unreached people, but we choose to for God.
It’s not just that “Christ lives in you” (and we want to make much of that); it’s how He lives in you that matters. If the Christian life is a supernatural life, then we need supernatural help to live it.
“Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit,” Ephesians 5:18
This sentence is written in what’s called the imperative mood in Greek, which means it’s a command for the believer—it’s not optional.
But why would the Apostle Paul use the metaphor of wine in this passage?
Well, if a person drinks too much alcohol, they become inebriated. We know that a person who drinks too much becomes impaired; sometimes, we call that “under the influence.” The Apostle Paul is using the metaphor to illustrate: That in the same way a person can be “under the influence” of alcohol, a believer has the opportunity to be “under the influence of the Holy Spirit.”
Once again: If the Christian life is a supernatural life, then we need supernatural help to live it.
What is Baptism of the Holy Spirit?
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He (JESUS) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Matthew 3:11
“I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he (JESUS) who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’” John 1:33
“I have baptized you with water, but he (JESUS) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Mark 1:8
“And while staying with them he (JESUS) ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Acts 1:4-5
The original Greek word for baptism is baptizo.
What comes to mind for us is experiencing a water baptism, which means to be immersed. Now, in reference to the Holy Spirit, in the Middle East during Biblical times, people lived much closer to the earth and had an agricultural-based economy. One of the crafts and expressions of artistry then was how fabrics were dyed, dipping the material into the dye. It was referred to as fabrics undergoing baptism.
In their minds, when they heard the term baptize, the image was not merely John the Baptist baptizing people into repentance but the image of fabrics transformed through immersion. The very color and natural substance would be changed.
When we read a baptism of the Holy Spirit, we’re referring to the very colors of our nature being transformed.
I knew a lady in one of my congregations who once told me that before she became a believer, she struggled to love others. She desired isolation and did not incline to help or show kindness to anyone. However, she told me after her baptism, “I have been filled with the Holy Spirit, and now, I love others effortlessly.”
It came naturally for her because she’s living supernaturally. It will be a challenge, but normal Christianity is Spirit-filled Christianity.
Continue Being Filled with the Holy Spirit
If a person drinks too much alcohol and is under the influence, they will sober up unless they keep drinking.
When I drink of the Holy Spirit, I need to keep drinking to stay under the influence. Therefore, this verse also translates: “Be being filled with the Holy Spirit.”
So, for the believer, we continue to drink of the Holy Spirit through our hunger and thirst through prayer, dependence, and leaning into God’s heart through His Word. If a person drinks too much alcohol and is under the influence, they’ll sober up unless they keep on drinking. When a believer drinks of the Holy Spirit, they must keep drinking to stay under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
This is why scholars tell us that this verse translates in two ways: To be filled with the Holy Spirit but also translates to being filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s referencing an ongoing action. There’s an infilling of the Holy Spirit, but there’s an ongoing drinking of the Holy Spirit in staying under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
There was a time early in my ministry when I took a severe pay cut, and my family was living below the poverty line. My car was breaking down constantly, and I was meeting the end of my self-confidence. Finally, one night I fell on my face and told God, “You’ve got to do something.”
But the problem was that I had ideals of what my self-confidence thought I could do. That’s where I was putting my trust. However, your circumstances are always your classroom, and I learned that God was more interested in what He was doing in me than what He would be doing through me.
REMINDERS
Being Filled with the Holy Spirit is God’s command.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is for every believer.
God does the filling.
A few weeks later, I told a lady how things were going poorly, and she grabbed me by the face. “Paul, that’s so good. God is breaking you. There’s something good coming.”
What she was referencing wasn’t a nervous breakdown but a biblical brokenness. Scripture tells us that God loves a broken and contrite heart. Biblical brokenness means to surrender. And even though, as a pastor, I knew God, I wasn’t surrendered.
But when I surrendered, He filled me with His Spirit of love and joy. That’s when my life began to change. You can’t be full of yourself and want the fullness of God at the same time.
JESUS: “If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” Luke 11:13
God’s far more interested in what he does in you than what he does through you. Because if you allow Him to do what He’s willing to do, it will take care of itself because He is the one who’s producing the fruit.
TL;DR
You were created to live in the presence of God.
After the fall of Adam and Eve, humanity experienced a diminished living in the presence of God.
God sent His son to reconcile the fall and restore humanity to participate in His presence.
The Holy Spirit already has residency in a believer’s life, but He desires to have presidency over their heart.
The Christian life is a supernatural life and thus requires supernatural help to live.
The original Greek word of baptism means to be immersed.
Related Reading
Who is the Holy Spirit by Rev. Paul Lawler
How to Move Mountains with Prayerby Rev. Paul Lawler
The Fruits of the Spirit Explained by Ken Stewart