How to Be Filled with the Holy Ghost
In concluding my posts on the subject of being filled with the Holy Ghost, it would seem that all my previous posts concerning this subject would be irrelevant, should I not proclaim clearly how to be filled with the Spirit. I have shown that it is a command that Christians be filled; I have demonstrated how that it is the Spirit’s longing to fill and control us; I have portrayed that the purpose of such an experience is for the service of Christ and for the winning of souls; it would be foolish to close this series without clearly dictating to the reader how to be filled with the Spirit.
The scriptures are clear regarding the manner in which we are filled with the Holy Ghost. It has been my experience in the ministry that so many have “muddied the waters” when it comes to many vital doctrines. Salvation has been muddied with “works.” Sanctification has been muddied with “standards.” And the experience of a Christian being filled with the Holy Ghost has been muddied with false ideas regarding the experience, as well as false manifestations of the experience. Every experience that God has for His people is SIMPLE. I have said it once and I’ll say it here, that if God wanted to make the gospel complicated, He would not have, under any circumstance, sent Jesus Christ to shed His precious blood upon the cross of Calvary. Jesus did not come to give us a hard gospel; He came rather to perform the hard part of the gospel Himself. The hard part was paying for our sins. But He did just that! So many who desire to be filled with the Spirit of God make it much more complicated than what it is. If there is any complication whatsoever in receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, that complication lies with the seeker; not the Giver! Of course, the Holy Ghost must dwell within you before He can completely fill you. To obtain this promise of being filled with the Spirit, the Spirit must first live within you. You must be saved before you can ever be filled! But if you are saved, the steps you must take to be Spirit-filled are simple.
Look with me at a passage with which I will begin:
John 7:37-39 – “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Jesus here is speaking of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. Here’s what He says regarding receiving the Spirit. The first words out of His mouth are this – “If any man thirst…” The first step to being filled with the Holy Ghost is
Thirsting
There must be a desire within the believer to be empowered from heaven to do the will of the Father. This thirst begins with acknowledging a lack within your own soul. You must realize that there is a great task before you, and you cannot do unless the Spirit of God fills you with the tools necessary to complete it. I believe that this act of thirsting for the complete control of the Holy Ghost in one’s life is the number one reason so many in the church are not filled with the Spirit. So many in the church who are seeking to be filled with the Holy Ghost are seeking “tongues.” As soon as they speak in tongues, they are through with any further experience with the Holy Ghost. Listen carefully to what I am saying – God does not fill you with the Holy Ghost so you can speak in tongues. If speaking in tongues is your goal, it is no wonder you have not been filled.
When I received the gift of the Holy Ghost, I was not seeking for “tongues.” I came to the realization that the Holy-Ghost-filled people that surrounded me had a degree of joy, peace, and fulfillment that I did not have. God used them in service for Him. Seeing the Holy Ghost use some of those precious people caused me to see my need to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Soon, my lips became dry. My mouth became as cotton. I was thirsty to be used in the kingdom of God, and I knew at that point that it would have to be the Holy Ghost that would perform it. “If any man thirst,” Jesus says. The first step is “thirsting.” Longing to be filled with the Holy Ghost more than you want anything else. As long as your desire to be filled with the Spirit does not trump all else in your life, I am certain that you will not be filled.
Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
The next condition Jesus gives is as simple as the first – “He that believeth on me as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” The next step is
Believing
After thirsting for the Holy Ghost more than you thirst for anything else, you must believe that God is going to fill you with the Holy Ghost. Do you remember the day you were saved? Salvation is as easy as believing. You were saved the moment you let go of sin, self-righteousness, and any feeble effort to save yourself. At some point, you finally let go completely and let Jesus Christ do the saving. At that moment, you were saved. Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is no different from receiving salvation in regard to BELIEVING. The moment you trusted the Lord to save you, He saved you. And the moment you trust the Lord to fill you, He absolutely, positively is ready to fill you with His Spirit. The Lord is not playing games. He does not hold the gift of the Spirit in front of you, and then pull it back when you reach for it. NO WAY!
There is one final step in receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. As soon as you completely believe and trust Jesus to fill you with the Spirit, often there is a choice to make. I stated in a previous post that the flesh “lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” I pointed out that the flesh has a great desire to control you, and the Spirit of God has a strong desire to control you. “Being filled” with the Holy Ghost is simply “being controlled” by the Holy Ghost. Often, when a person comes close to being filled with Holy Ghost, expecting and believing the Lord to do it, the person is confronted by the Holy Ghost with something to do. With the flesh pulling one way, and the Spirit pulling the other, which one is going to control you? I’ll tell you which one will rule you – the one to whom you YIELD. So, the final step to receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is
Yielding
You say you want to be filled with the Holy Ghost. This means you want to be completely saturated, governed, and controlled by His will. So, while you stand there believing to be filled, the Spirit speaks softly to your heart, giving you a small task to do. You resist. If you will not do a small task that the Holy Ghost gives you, how can you claim that you wish to be FILLED, or CONTROLLED Him? You are inconsistent. Only when you yield completely to the Spirit will He completely control you, filling you with His presence and power. You do not think this is scriptural? Look with me –
Acts 5:32 – “And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.”
God gives the Holy Ghost to them that obey Him! I am sure that if every Christian reading this would thirst for the Holy Ghost to fill you, ask Him to do so with a heart full of faith, and yield to any command He gives you to do, that He most certainly is ready to fill you! It is His longing to fill you with power to win souls in this end time.
Closing Thoughts
I understand that I have not covered, by any means, all possible areas of study regarding the subject of the Christian being filled with the Holy Ghost. I am closing my thoughts on this subject for now. I will begin covering other subjects shortly. With Easter coming on, I would certainly like to write some posts regarding the resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Thank you all for reading!
In concluding my posts on the subject of being filled with the Holy Ghost, it would seem that all my previous posts concerning this subject would be irrelevant, should I not proclaim clearly how to be filled with the Spirit. I have shown that it is a command that Christians be filled; I have demonstrated how that it is the Spirit’s longing to fill and control us; I have portrayed that the purpose of such an experience is for the service of Christ and for the winning of souls; it would be foolish to close this series without clearly dictating to the reader how to be filled with the Spirit.
The scriptures are clear regarding the manner in which we are filled with the Holy Ghost. It has been my experience in the ministry that so many have “muddied the waters” when it comes to many vital doctrines. Salvation has been muddied with “works.” Sanctification has been muddied with “standards.” And the experience of a Christian being filled with the Holy Ghost has been muddied with false ideas regarding the experience, as well as false manifestations of the experience. Every experience that God has for His people is SIMPLE. I have said it once and I’ll say it here, that if God wanted to make the gospel complicated, He would not have, under any circumstance, sent Jesus Christ to shed His precious blood upon the cross of Calvary. Jesus did not come to give us a hard gospel; He came rather to perform the hard part of the gospel Himself. The hard part was paying for our sins. But He did just that! So many who desire to be filled with the Spirit of God make it much more complicated than what it is. If there is any complication whatsoever in receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, that complication lies with the seeker; not the Giver! Of course, the Holy Ghost must dwell within you before He can completely fill you. To obtain this promise of being filled with the Spirit, the Spirit must first live within you. You must be saved before you can ever be filled! But if you are saved, the steps you must take to be Spirit-filled are simple.
Look with me at a passage with which I will begin:
John 7:37-39 – “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Jesus here is speaking of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. Here’s what He says regarding receiving the Spirit. The first words out of His mouth are this – “If any man thirst…” The first step to being filled with the Holy Ghost is
Thirsting
There must be a desire within the believer to be empowered from heaven to do the will of the Father. This thirst begins with acknowledging a lack within your own soul. You must realize that there is a great task before you, and you cannot do unless the Spirit of God fills you with the tools necessary to complete it. I believe that this act of thirsting for the complete control of the Holy Ghost in one’s life is the number one reason so many in the church are not filled with the Spirit. So many in the church who are seeking to be filled with the Holy Ghost are seeking “tongues.” As soon as they speak in tongues, they are through with any further experience with the Holy Ghost. Listen carefully to what I am saying – God does not fill you with the Holy Ghost so you can speak in tongues. If speaking in tongues is your goal, it is no wonder you have not been filled.
When I received the gift of the Holy Ghost, I was not seeking for “tongues.” I came to the realization that the Holy-Ghost-filled people that surrounded me had a degree of joy, peace, and fulfillment that I did not have. God used them in service for Him. Seeing the Holy Ghost use some of those precious people caused me to see my need to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Soon, my lips became dry. My mouth became as cotton. I was thirsty to be used in the kingdom of God, and I knew at that point that it would have to be the Holy Ghost that would perform it. “If any man thirst,” Jesus says. The first step is “thirsting.” Longing to be filled with the Holy Ghost more than you want anything else. As long as your desire to be filled with the Spirit does not trump all else in your life, I am certain that you will not be filled.
Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
The next condition Jesus gives is as simple as the first – “He that believeth on me as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” The next step is
Believing
After thirsting for the Holy Ghost more than you thirst for anything else, you must believe that God is going to fill you with the Holy Ghost. Do you remember the day you were saved? Salvation is as easy as believing. You were saved the moment you let go of sin, self-righteousness, and any feeble effort to save yourself. At some point, you finally let go completely and let Jesus Christ do the saving. At that moment, you were saved. Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is no different from receiving salvation in regard to BELIEVING. The moment you trusted the Lord to save you, He saved you. And the moment you trust the Lord to fill you, He absolutely, positively is ready to fill you with His Spirit. The Lord is not playing games. He does not hold the gift of the Spirit in front of you, and then pull it back when you reach for it. NO WAY!
There is one final step in receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. As soon as you completely believe and trust Jesus to fill you with the Spirit, often there is a choice to make. I stated in a previous post that the flesh “lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” I pointed out that the flesh has a great desire to control you, and the Spirit of God has a strong desire to control you. “Being filled” with the Holy Ghost is simply “being controlled” by the Holy Ghost. Often, when a person comes close to being filled with Holy Ghost, expecting and believing the Lord to do it, the person is confronted by the Holy Ghost with something to do. With the flesh pulling one way, and the Spirit pulling the other, which one is going to control you? I’ll tell you which one will rule you – the one to whom you YIELD. So, the final step to receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is
Yielding
You say you want to be filled with the Holy Ghost. This means you want to be completely saturated, governed, and controlled by His will. So, while you stand there believing to be filled, the Spirit speaks softly to your heart, giving you a small task to do. You resist. If you will not do a small task that the Holy Ghost gives you, how can you claim that you wish to be FILLED, or CONTROLLED Him? You are inconsistent. Only when you yield completely to the Spirit will He completely control you, filling you with His presence and power. You do not think this is scriptural? Look with me –
Acts 5:32 – “And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.”
God gives the Holy Ghost to them that obey Him! I am sure that if every Christian reading this would thirst for the Holy Ghost to fill you, ask Him to do so with a heart full of faith, and yield to any command He gives you to do, that He most certainly is ready to fill you! It is His longing to fill you with power to win souls in this end time.
Closing Thoughts
I understand that I have not covered, by any means, all possible areas of study regarding the subject of the Christian being filled with the Holy Ghost. I am closing my thoughts on this subject for now. I will begin covering other subjects shortly. With Easter coming on, I would certainly like to write some posts regarding the resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Thank you all for reading!
