Being Filled With the Holy Spirit

What do you picture when you hear “Holy Spirit”? There are a lot of misconceptions about the Holy Spirit—but rest assured, He’s not a force or a mystical being, He’s a person. And like God the Father and God the Son, you can have a relationship with Him and know Him personally.

Why You Need the Holy Spirit

Christians are meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit, just as a car is meant to be filled with gasoline. While it would be cheaper to fill it with water, the car wouldn’t do what it’s meant to do.

“What fuel is to a car, the Holy Spirit is to the believer. He energizes us to stay the course. He motivates us despite obstacles. He keeps us going when the road gets rough. It is the Spirit who comforts us in our distress, who calms us in times of calamity, who becomes our companion in loneliness and grief, who spurs our ‘intuition’ into action, who fills our minds with discernment when we are uneasy about a certain decision. He is, in short, our spiritual fuel.” Chuck Swindoll

You can be a Christian without being filled with the Holy Spirit—causing you to miss out on God’s power in your life. Do you ever feel like you’re doing the Christian life in your own power? 

The Struggle is Real

Everyone struggles. Here’s how one famous Christian felt while doing the Christian life in his own power:

What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise...

For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it. I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. 

It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

Those are the words of the apostle Paul in his letter to a church in Rome (Romans 7:15, 17-19, 21-23)—as paraphrased by Eugene Peterson in “The Message.” Paul expressed this great frustration in Romans 7. Yet, Romans 8 is one of the most confident, spiritually assured chapters in the Bible. It's not too difficult to tell what makes a difference:

• In Romans 7, the word “I” is used 33 times—and only twice in Romans 8.
• In Romans 8, the word “Spirit” is used 20 times—and only four times in Romans 7.

The filling of the Holy Spirit is what made the difference between defeat that characterizes Paul in Romans 7 and victory he describes in Romans 8.

What are your struggles and how do you deal with them?

How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit

So how can you be filled with His Spirit? Just ask Him. He longs to fill you with His Spirit! You just have to pray the prayer of the early Church—“Come, Holy Spirit.” In Acts 4:31, we read, “After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the Word of God with boldness.”

Every day when you first wake up, pray, “Come, Holy Spirit!” We all need to be filled with the Spirit every single day, every hour, every minute. 

It’s like breathing—you need air to live, but the only way to get it into your lungs is through the continual action of breathing. You breathe in, and you breathe out. The average person needs to take roughly 21,600 breaths per day.

Pray that prayer right now… “Come, Holy Spirit” and know that God will meet you where you’re at.

More One Life Series Resources

More Extreme Life resources can be found here.

For more Turn Your World Upside Down resources, click here.