One of the most misleading statements Christians regularly make is about being “spirit filled.” When most people make statements about being spirit filled, they are tracing being filled with the Holy Spirit to to an event where a person was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues. This can be misleading and unintentionally confuse the subject because it makes being spirit filled a singular event instead of an ongoing lifestyle!
While the Bible does teach about an initial baptism of the Holy Spirit with the sign of speaking in tongues following (learn more here), this was never intended to be just a one time occurrence. Look at Ephesians 5:18:
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
In the Greek the phrase be filled is better translated as “be ye being filled” or “be continually filled.” In other the words, this is supposed to be a continuous action, not just a one time event. If you think about the context of the verse, it compares being filled with the spirit to being drunk. In the natural, a person becomes drunk by drinking and the way they stay drunk is by continually drinking. This is true spiritually too.
An example from the scripture is Acts 4:31:
31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit,
Many of the disciples who were filled with the Holy Spirit in this verse are many of the same disciples who were filled with the spirit when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. We see from this example, this wasn’t a one time event. To learn more, check out this message.
Before I explain how to be continually spirit filled I want to clarify what it means to be spirit filled. When we get saved, the Bible teaches the spirit of God moves inside of us. He joins His spirit to our spirit and we become one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). Once we get saved the spirit of God will never leave us nor forsake us, however, that doesn’t mean our mind, will, emotions, and body is constantly filled with Him. Having our mind, body, will, and emotions full of the spirit of God is what it means to be spirit filled. To learn more, check out this article on the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
There are many ways we can stay full of the spirit of God. These include:
- Praying in the spirit and the known tongue
- Worship
- Reading and meditating scripture
- Speaking the word of God
- Obeying God’s instructions
Being spirit filled is a lifestyle we are all called to live every moment of the day. According to Ephesians 5:18 it is God’s will for our lives. I bring this up, because in the series I’ve recently been doing in my weekly blog, I’ve been teaching about how to find God’s will for our lives. My premise has been that many people want to know God’s specific will for their life such as the career they are called to or who to marry, yet they ignore things about the general will of God the scripture is very clear about. I believe as we obey the portions of scripture where God clearly reveals His will, many of the specifics of God’s plan for our lives like what career to choose or who to marry will become evident.
I could give dozens of examples of this from my own life, but for times sake, I’ll give one. How did I know I was called to plant and pastor a church? The Holy Spirit revealed it to me as I spent an intense season with Him from 2012-2015 when I was in Bible College. A large part of my waking hours were spent with Him in prayer, worship, reading and studying the word. During that season I began to change and became more sensitive to God’s heart. Why? I was full of the spirit of God on a continual basis.
The ironic thing is I didn’t go to Bible College to get a ministry career. I just wanted to know God better; that’s it. It was out of knowing Him better and having Him continually fill me and reveal Himself to me that my heart and desires began to change so I wanted what He wanted for my life!
I want to encourage all of us to get filled and stay filled with the spirit of God. It is God’s will for our lives. As we are obedient to that instruction, we will be more sensitive to His voice when He speaks about other areas of our lives.
I hope this article has helped you. Below are all of our previous articles on my “What Is God’s Will For My Life” series.
