How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit? - Alpha Course 09
Video of the complete Livestream where Mike asks, “How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?”
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Talk: How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?
To begin with, I would like to provide a little bit of context before I get into that talk today. I also want to say that I do not have all the answers. I have an awful lot of questions. And I am still on a journey of developing my understanding of the Holy Spirit, but I have been a Christian for about 20 years. And so, I would like to share with you today a bit of my experience, what I've learned, and what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit.
I believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity - God the Father, God the Son, who's Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit. And the Trinity is a word that isn't found in the Bible, but it helps us understand God. And because I believe that the Holy Spirit is a person and fully God, I think he deserves our respect, our attention, and ultimately, our worship, as well. The Holy Spirit has been very powerful, yet very gentle, and essential throughout my life and has had a tremendous impact on my life in many different ways.
How has the Holy Spirit helped me?
Here are some of the ways that the Holy Spirit has helped me throughout my life as a Christian,
#1 - By helping me understand the Scriptures
So one of the ways that the Holy Spirit has helped me as I've looked back on my life is that the Holy Spirit has helped me understand the Bible. The Bible can be quite a daunting book, quite a confusing book, sometimes, and the Holy Spirit has helped me to be able to understand it. He has helped me to be able to hear what God is trying to say to me through the Bible.
#2 - By being a constant companion
Another way that the Holy Spirit has helped me is by just being a constant companion. And that has been so important for me. As I look back, I appreciate the fact that wherever I've been, whatever I've been doing, whether I've been successful or unsuccessful, in a good place or bad, the Holy Spirit has always been a constant companion to me. And that has been immensely helpful and powerful in my life.
#3 - By correcting me
The Holy Spirit has also been there to convict or warn me when I'm doing wrong things because we don't always get it right. The Holy Spirit is there to help us. And we want to live a life that honours God. And so, the Holy Spirit pricks our conscience and warns us if we are heading in the wrong direction or if we're doing things that aren't going to honour God. He gently, powerfully in those instances I've found, ushers me or carries me back into the presence of God so that I can repent, say sorry I got it wrong again, forgive me, and helps me to be able to live a life that glorifies God.
#4 - By intervening where required
Another thing is that the Holy Spirit, I believe, has intervened in my life at different points. As I look back, I think I could have messed up there, or that could have been bad. But it didn't end up being that bad. And I believe that the Holy Spirit has intervened at different points in my life to help me and make sure that I am blessed. You know, my life has not been a bed of roses. He's not just carried me through everything, but he has always been there. And I think there have been instances where he has intervened on my behalf, which is excellent.
#5 - By enabling me to pray
He's also given me the power to pray. I've been able to pray for people and help them, and their lives have changed for the better, so that has been fantastic. The Holy Spirit also helps many people to become bolder and more courageous when sharing their faith. One of the best examples of that from the Bible is the Apostle Peter, one of the disciples of Jesus.
When Jesus was arrested, all of His disciples fled, and they were scared. And they had all promised Jesus that they would remain with him. But when the authorities came and arrested him, they all fled, and Peter was one of those. He was then asked about his association with Jesus on three separate occasions. And the Bible details how he denied even knowing Jesus on all three occasions because of his shame and fear. However, after a few days, he saw the risen Jesus, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. And he went on to become one of the boldest, most confident witnesses and preachers that Christianity has ever seen, and that was because of the work of the Holy Spirit.
So hopefully, you can see why the Holy Spirit is an essential part of our lives as Christians. The Holy Spirit is so helpful and powerful. But always really gentle. Now, when the disciples had met the risen Jesus, Jesus told them all to wait in a specific place and wait for the Holy Spirit. Because Jesus knew without the Holy Spirit, the disciples wouldn't be able to carry out the work that he had for them. And so they waited. And this is what happened. It says in Acts chapter two, verse two to four,
“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
Now, one thing that I want to stress here is that all of them were filled. That's what the Bible says. No one was left out. All of them were filled. And I want to emphasise that if you are a Christian, and you love God, you want to live a life that honours him, then I believe if you ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit, he will. Whoever you are, whatever background you have come from, whatever situation you are in, whatever emotions you are feeling, if that is your desire, I believe that God will fill you with His Holy Spirit.
People who have been filled with the Holy Spirit
You might be like, cool, that's fine, but it's not going to happen to me. In the book of Acts, we see five categories of people who were filled with the Holy Spirit. And you may fall into one of these categories.
#1 - Those longing for Him
The first category is those longing to be filled, like the disciples. On the day that we've already read about, they were praying and longing for the Holy Spirit. And that might be you today; you've been longing. And you're excited about this.
#2 - Those who were receptive
There is another category: those who are not so excited, maybe not longing, but who are undoubtedly receptive and up for this. There were a group of Christians in Samaria during that time, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They weren't longing or excited, but they were receptive, and that might be you today. You're not quite longing for it, but you certainly are up for it.
#3 - The hostile and opposing
Like Paul, some were hostile, who murdered Christians as part of his early life and held the coats for those stoning Stephen, the first Christian, to become a martyr. And you might be like that today, thinking, I don't want to do this at all. God's not going to do this for me. Well, some were hostile in the Bible. But God, in His grace and mercy, filled those people with His Holy Spirit.
#4 - Those who never heard of Him
There is also a fourth group, the uninformed or people who know nothing about this. And that might be you today. You may never have heard about the Holy Spirit. You may even have been to church in the past but just never heard about this. In Ephesus, there was a group of new Christians in Acts 19. And Paul went to see them. And he asked them about the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit. And they said to him, their exact words were we've never heard of that. God filled them with His Holy Spirit. And so it doesn't matter how little knowledge you have of the Holy Spirit; if you desire to love God, and to live for Him, then He will fill you with His Holy Spirit.
#5 - The Gentiles
The final one is the unlikely or the non-religious type. And you may be sat there today thinking, this is all great, but I'm just not the religious type. Holy Spirit is for people who pray and read the Bible all the time or have been going to church for years. But in the Bible, there were two groups of people, the Jews, the religious group, and the Gentiles, who were the non-religious group. Acts 10:44 to 46 says,
“While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles.”
So, if you think you're not religious enough, you're not the right type, then you need to know that God has done that for people like you before. He's filled people just like you with the Holy Spirit. So whether you are longing to be filled, are receptive, feeling hostile at the moment, feeling uninformed, or you don't feel you're the right type of person, the Bible shows that God has filled people just like you with His Holy Spirit. So you might be asking now, but how do I do it? How do I get filled with the Holy Spirit? What is the dance that I need to do? Well, you'll be pleased to know there's no dance. It's pretty simple.
There are two main ways to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The first one is you can ask a Christian to pray for you. And they will ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit. We've already read about that in Acts. It happened regularly throughout the New Testament. The second way is to ask God for the Holy Spirit yourself. And God will do that. It's that simple.
The important thing to remember is that God is eager to fill you with his Holy Spirit. He wants to pour his love into your heart because he loves you. And he wants to help you live a life that glorifies him and bring others into that relationship with God.
What happens when I'm filled with the Holy Spirit?
So what happens when you are filled with the Holy Spirit? There are three points to keep in mind.
#1 - You experience the love of God
The apostle Paul tells us that the experience of being filled with the Spirit is the experience of God pouring his love into your heart. And when the creator of the universe pours his love into your heart, there are sometimes, understandably, physical manifestations that can occur. And I want to let you know what some of them might be so you're not scared or confused or a bit bewildered should they happen to you or someone around you.
When the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, it said tongues of fire or wind. So what do they symbolise? The fire symbolises passion and purity, and sometimes when people are filled with the Holy Spirit, they can experience heat in their hands or arms. That isn't just because it's a hot day. It's different to that. Some people can experience the wind of the Holy Spirit, and in the Bible, the word for wind, ruach, is the same as the word for Spirit. And some people experience the Holy Spirit as a wind.
If you're praying for someone to be filled with the Holy Spirit, sometimes you could see the eyes fluttering. Or sometimes they might even fall over when you ask God to fill them with the Holy Spirit. So some people experience that. Some people don't have any physical manifestations. I didn't. So the important thing is not what happens to you what you physically feel. The important thing is that you pursue the Holy Spirit, and God will fill you with His love.
#2 - You express your love for God
The second point is that they expressed their love for God as they were filled with the Holy Spirit. When we experience God's love for us, we have a love for God, which we want to express and often overflows in our lives. When I sing songs in church, usually the songs are two different types. There's one type which is about how amazing God is. And the second type is about how much I love God. And you may have been in church and heard songs like that. And sometimes, I find that quite overwhelming and can see myself becoming quite emotional and having tears rolling down my face. It's not very British and can be a bit embarrassing for me. But Jesus showed emotion. Other cultures show emotion.
And when we're filled with the Holy Spirit, there is greater freedom to love God and worship Him, including our emotions. It can also include putting your hands in the air. And you may have been in church and seen people singing songs to God with their hands in the air. And that's fine. It's just that overflow of when God fills you with His love when He fills you with His Holy Spirit. Your body reacts. And sometimes we want to do that. If you go into a church and you see everybody with their hands in the air, you can know what's going on. Not everybody does that. Some people have their hands by the side, and that's fine as well. But it's just something to be aware of.
#3 -God gives you the gift of Tongues
The third thing is that God gives us a love language when we're filled with the Holy Spirit. And it's a language called "Tongues". And it doesn't happen for everybody. It's a language that you can't understand in your head. But it's a way of expressing your heart to God. Often when I'm worshipping God and praying, I'm searching for words within the English language to express to God how amazing he is and how grateful I am for what he's done in my life. But saying thank you and saying, God, you're great, doesn't seem to express fully or accurately what's in my heart and the level of worship that I want to give him. And so, God provides us with a gift of tongues.
Paul refers to this as an angelic tongue. Paul also says that when he prays in tongues, his Spirit prays, and we can't understand the words coming out of our mouth. But I'm not out of control. And I also know, when I'm praying in tongues, often during worship, when we're singing songs in church, that I understand my heart is expressing something to God more accurately than I could if I used the words in English. It's a beautiful gift. It's not the most important gift of the Holy Spirit. I'm talking about it because it's often one of the first gifts that the Holy Spirit gives. It's not a sign that you are a Christian. It's not even a sign that you've been filled with the Holy Spirit. There's no rank to Christians. I raise it simply because it might happen. And if it does, it's brilliant and helpful. But, again, I want you to focus on God and focus on the Holy Spirit.
After hearing all of this, you may still be thinking that this is great, but I still have many doubts. I don't think I'm up to this. I don't believe this is going to happen for me. And that's normal. That's me. That's what I would have thought back when I first did this. So I want to read a short passage from Luke, which says this,
“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!”
The filling of the Holy Spirit, I believe, is for all who believe and ask. The Holy Spirit will be a constant companion for you. The Holy Spirit will help you live a life worthy of God. And will help you lead others who don't yet know God into that relationship!
CONVERSATION STREET
Questions we ask this week
Conversation Street is part of our live stream, where the hosts (in this case, Matt & Rach) chat through John’s talk and answer questions that were sent in through the live stream. You can watch the conversation in the video, it starts at 49 min 53 seconds into the live stream, or you can go straight there by clicking the button below. This week’s questions and topics of conversation are:
Has the Holy Spirit intervened in your life? If so, how?
In what ways has the Holy Spirit helped you?
What does it mean to have an encounter with God?
Does our encounter with God lead us to our belief in God or vice versa?
