What is the filling
of the Holy Spirit? – Part 2
Understanding (2)
Understanding (2)
If a person does not follow the directions of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 25), does not make use of His power by being obedient to Him, then
the Holy Spirit remains ineffective and inactive in his life (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19). Understand this through this example – you
have an electric connection and wiring done in your house and the electric
current remains flowing through those wires; but till the time you connect a
working and appropriate electrical equipment to it and allow that electric
current to do its work, till then the presence of that electric current in your
house remains inactive and ineffective. The evident manifestation and proof of
the presence of the electric current, its power, and its utility, will depend
not only upon the type and capacity of the electrical equipment you connect to
it to utilize the electrical power, but also on your allowing the electric
current to flow through it. Whether the equipment is small
and of a low capacity, or large and of a big capacity, the electric current
flowing both of them will always be the same. The ability to utilize the power
of the electric current, and manifest that power, is solely dependent upon the
capacity of that electrical equipment.
Similarly, the more obedient and submissive you are to God, the more
you adhere to and follow God’s Word, the higher the priority
and honor in your life God and the Word of God has, the more will the power of
the Holy Spirit work in your life and be evident to others. If your own
spiritual life is weak, then the power of the Holy Spirit
too will be that much less evident in your life. If all you can do is muster a
few minutes of perfunctory reading of a Bible passage, and mumble a few routine
words of prayer – and many people do not even do that, then how can you hope to
have a powerful and vibrant presence of the Holy Spirit evident in your life?
Children have to regularly go to school, have to sit in classes and
attentively learn that which is being taught, have to do their ‘home-work’
well, have to clear their exams, only then can they increase in knowledge and
understanding, and be able to do something in life. This is not achieved by
their just running through the various corridors of the school for a few
minutes every day, and spending the rest of the day foe various other things.
Similarly, in the spiritual classrooms as well it is necessary to sit for the
requisite time and attentively spend time in learning from the Holy Spirit, and
pass through the experiences of the examinations of life. Only then can the
life and power of the Lord be seen in the life of the person.
Every truly Born Again Christian Believer is a temple of the Holy
Spirit and the Holy Spirit is continually present in, dwells in every truly
Born Again Christian Believer (2 Timothy 1:14). When this Christian Believer,
depending upon his level of spirituality and spiritual maturity, through the
power and his obedience to the Holy Spirit, is able to do
something for the glory of God, that was not possible for
him to do on his own, nor was possible through any human strength, or
knowledge, or ability then that is working through being filled with the Holy
Spirit, as we have seen above in the examples of Peter, John and Paul.
Since usually not all Christian Believers are of the same level in
their faith, submission, and obedience to God and His Word as are some special people of God in their Christian obedience
and maturity, therefore it appears that to be filled with the Holy Spirit to do
something, i.e. to something wonderful or extra-ordinary
through the power of the Holy Spirit, is only possible for
certain special people, not every Christian Believer. But this is a
misunderstanding, and the misunderstanding is misused to state and propagate
the false doctrine of the necessity of ‘filling with the Holy Spirit’. Increase
in your obedience to God, His Word, your spiritual life, and you too will be
able to do things through the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is a very simple, straightforward, and common-sense example from
everyday life, that you would never expect a person who is ill and weak with
some sickness to be physically able to do the same or as much work as a healthy
and strong person can do.
As long as the sickness of the things of the world and of compromising
with the world for the sake of earthly gains continues to weaken the Christian
Believers and keep them spiritually unhealthy; so long as we continue to weaken
our souls by the habit of obeying and working for the people of the world, and
to do so, continuing to put God and obedience to His Word to a lower position
in our lives, making it a matter of convenience instead of an overbearing
necessity, we too will never be able to do that which a spiritually healthy and
strong person can do. And we will continue to be carried
away, to be tossed to-and-fro by the preachers and teachers of such false doctrines
(Ephesians 4:14).
God has given us the required ability through His Holy Spirit and
guidance through His Word the Bible; it is up to us to make use of it and be a
worthy witness of the Lord.
- To Be
Continued
Next: What is the
filling of the Holy Spirit? Part 3 – Implications
No comments:
Post a Comment