Living a Spirit-Filled Life
What would you say is the greatest need in the Church today? A great children’s program? Amazing worship? Perhaps you would say you need a pastor who can really preach the fire of God down?
All of these are wonderful but what does this all boil down to? The greatest need is not for more programs or strategies, it’s that each one of us has the Spirit of God resting on us and working through us.
It is much easier to break and crush a vessel that is empty. However, a full vessel is much harder to break because it has form. There is something that is pushing back against the forces that are trying to crush it. It is the same with us in our spiritual walk. The enemy is constantly trying to come against us, to break our spirits and get us running around on empty. The truth here is that Satan doesn’t care if you are doing things for the Kingdom of God. If he can get you to be doing those things out of religious spirit or with a resentful heart, then that will spill over on the people that you claim to serve.
Conversely, if you are filled with the Spirit and presence of Almighty God, then you serve out of a place of love, peace, and joy, that will also spill out on the people around you. If you are filled with His living water, with His Spirit, then people will get a true representation of Who Jesus is.
Some may ask, why do we have to be vigilant? The disciples were saying that Jesus was coming back any moment, and this was right after He had ascended into heaven. For the last 2,000 years, people have been saying that Jesus is coming back soon. Does that mean He will come back in the next three days? Weeks? Months? Years? We don’t know. We never say this to bring fear, but to have our hearts continually prepared for when He does come.
What’s Your Role?
Being Spirit-filled is not a one-time action, it is a continual infilling. The amazing part is we get to drink from an inexhaustible Well! Just like Jesus told the woman at the well, we will never thirst again. Rather, it becomes a spring bubbling up and flowing out of us that we get to share with the rest of the world.
Walking It Out…
How do we put this into practice in our everyday lives? The prophet Isaiah has some beautiful insights into how we can exemplify Christ and walk in the Spirit:
Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.
Walking in the Empowerment
Isaiah 61:1a
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor…
We have to walk in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He has given us the power to not only look like Jesus, but to tell others of His saving grace. We are supposed to look different. In a world where despair, greed, strife, and hate are prevalent, love, joy, peace, and patience are peculiar. We are supposed to be peculiar, or different (1 Peter 2:9 KJV). When we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, we look different to the world and it is then His kindness that draws people in.
Walking in the Purpose of the Holy Spirit
Isaiah 61:1a
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor…
Our whole purpose is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who are lost in darkness. The ones that are spiritually poor. The ones that are outcasts, broken, and dying in sin. Jesus said our purpose was to go and make disciples.
Matthew 28:19-20 NIV
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The other part of the Good News is that we never have to do this alone—in our own power. Once again, it is the power of Jesus living through us that allows us to be witnesses to others.
Walking in the Compassion of the Holy Spirit
Isaiah 61:1b
1b He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
God doesn’t care if someone looks a certain way, or dresses nice, or smells good. He doesn’t care if they have a home or are homeless; if they have a job or have blue hair, or any other outward appearances that someone can present. He cares about their hearts and if they know Him. Why do we allow outward appearances to sway us?
The Gospel message crosses all boundaries! We have no idea what people are going through or the baggage they carry. It doesn’t matter. We are called to be compassionate and share His love, no matter what people may look like, smell like, or act like on the outside.
Psalm 34:18 NIV
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
There is a tradition in Japan called Kintsugi, which literally means “golden joinery”. It comes with the symbolism that celebrates broken pieces that have been healed and become stronger than they were before. Jesus does the same with us. He does not ask us to pretend our scars never happened, but to stand as a testament that golden scars cover us, that our healing is to His glory. He is close to the broken. But praise God, he does not leave us there. He can heal those broken places, and when we surrender to the Holy Spirit, he can use us as a vessel to minister that healing to others.
Brokenness is not the end of the story. Jesus turns victims into victors, brings prisoners out of darkness into light, and heals the broken seams of our lives and replaces the scars with something so much more beautiful than we could imagine.
