Life with the Holy Spirit

This guest article is chapter four, “The Holy Spirit,” from Dean Schendel’s book, Oneness: A Call to Honor God in the Marriage Relationship.

 

Be Filled

In Ephesians, Paul instructed believers to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:15–20).

“Notice Paul’s directive¹ to ‘Be filled with the Spirit.’” Paul was instructing followers of Christ that God’s will for us was to be filled with His Holy Spirit. That should be the desire of every follower of Christ so he or she will live wisely during these days of evil.

Even Jesus informed us of God’s desire to give us the Holy Spirit.

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (Luke 11:9–13).

“God has given us the Holy Spirit; and we must trust that He has given us the Holy Spirit.”² Believers have been instructed to be filled with the Holy Spirit because “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:5) and “because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’” (Galatians 4:6). If you are a child of God, God sent the Spirit of His Son specifically to fill you.

“You yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16). Your body is meant to be a temple for God’s Holy Spirit to dwell in; this is the only way you will be able to commune with God. Who lives in you? God’s Holy Spirit or your selfishness? Living by the Spirit becomes an important part in the lives of Jesus’ followers. We sell ourselves short until we are filled with the Holy Spirit because with the Holy Spirit comes power. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8), and only by the power of the Holy Spirit will you have the ability to do the things of God and to live God’s way—to successfully live your life in and for Christ. This power becomes available to you only after you are reborn in the Spirit by believing in God’s Son as the crucified and risen Lord and Savior. Jesus died not only to bear the sins of mankind; He had to go away for the Holy Spirit to come. Jesus was God in the flesh and was limited to one location due to His being human. He could be with only the people in His vicinity. The Holy Spirit, however, is available to all followers of Christ, anytime and anywhere.

Tags: holy, life, spirit

Category: Spirit, Summer 2016