If you don’t know this material, you should, right now, today.

Lord, what does it look like to walk in the spirit?  Do I change my thoughts or does my surrender lead to a portion of my pre-programming to disappear from my habit bank?  How do I deny these sensory drives to eagerly embrace the things of God?  We are aware that the objective is to resemble Christ, to remain unspotted by the world, being holy, even as the Lord is Holy.  However, just as in working out your salvation in understanding that there is a difference between the beliefs of head and heart, there must be evidence of living in the spirit vs. the flesh.  Or is this thing something done by your Spirit’s indwelling, something akin to salvation that cannot be done by human effort but rather capitulation to the Potter’s Hand?

Let us take a look at what the Bible has to say on this topic.  In the Book of Acts, there are numerous places where the believers were filled with the spirit, Acts 2:4, 4:8, 4:31, 6:3, 6:5, 7:55, 9:17, 11:24 and 13:52.  None of these places tell us how to be filled with the spirit, only that the spirit comes upon us somehow.  This immediately indicates that it is not a thing that may be turned on and off as a light switch, that it may be a thing sponsored by need, circumstance or prayer.  Let us further investigate.  Romans 8:9-10 states; “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness”.  Without a deeper look into the Greek words, I believe we are left without a deeper understanding of what this passage means.  In this case we need look at the Greek word plerousthe to fully comprehend what Paul and others meant by Holy Spirit filling.  This word portends a continual action, the idea of “Keep being filled up with the Spirit”.  This presents again the idea of surrender or an openness or mindful preparedness to being emptied of self and filled with the Spirit of God.

This explanation although effective does bring about further questions associated with how can I keep being filled up, isn’t there a point where I become full.  Rather let us think of being filled with the buoyancy of air necessary to keep a kite aloft or to propel a ship on the ocean.  The wind is continuous and although it fills your sails or provides adequate lift to remain in flight it does not reside.  For without its continuous filling the kite comes down or the ship slows down.  This also implies that without the filling of the spirit there would be “no” flight or “no” movement of our vessels across the vast ocean.

Even this analogy, although effective, fails to convey the complete idea of being led by the Holy Spirit.  To understand the complete command of the Spirit we must understand our worldly passions that control us to the point of sponsoring action.  This is the similar function of the Holy Spirit in a believer.  We ought be so overwhelmed by its control over our hearts that we naturally behave in the “ways of the spirit”.  It becomes a natural thing to love, be patient, heal, remain self-controlled, honor the King and walk not according to our worldly drives but according to the Will of God.

One further artifice that may assist in understanding the appropriate attitude necessary for remaining in the spirit is that of the song in each of our hearts.  If you are singing a song to God, replaying it in your mind or find yourself humming it continuously, you have begun to understand the connection that must remain between a believer and God in order to be continually filled by the Spirit.  Remember we do not control it is He that controls our actions, words and faculties.  We are the clay, he is the potter.  We are vessels designed for the completion of his good works.  Keep being filled up and watch your kite fly or your ship be propelled across vast oceans.  Be salt and light.  In Jesus’s Name.