SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/12/2019 10:04 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Meaning of Being Filled”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eph. 5:18b
Message of the
verse: “But be filled with the
Spirit.”
In our last SD we looked at what it is not to be filled
with the Holy Spirit, and now in today’s SD we want to begin to look at what it
is like to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
John MacArthur writes “Be filled’ translates the present
passive imperative of pleroo, and is
more literally rendered as ‘be being kept filled.’ It is a command that includes the idea of
conscious persistence. Being filled with
the Holy Spirit is not an option for believers but a mandate. No Christian can fulfill God’s will for his life apart from being
filled with the Spirit. If we do
not obey this command, we cannot obey any other—simply because we cannot do any
of Gods’s will apart from God’s Spirit.
Outside of the command for unbelievers to trust in Christ for salvation,
there is no more practical and necessary command in Scripture than the one for
believers to be ‘filled with the Holy Spirit.’”
As
one might understand from this quote above it is so very important to
understand that all of the work that believers do for the Lord Jesus Christ
after their salvation has to be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. It goes like this in my opinion. First, in eternity past God the Father chose
us for salvation, and then the Lord Jesus Christ came to pay four our sins when
He came to planet earth. Next the Holy
Spirit gives us an effectual call to salvation, a call we cannot say no
to. Next as we look at Ephesians 2:10 we
see that God has chosen works for us to do and in order for us to do these
works we must be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to complete these
works. However some people think that
just being saved is all that is necessary and even if they do not get any
rewards for the cause of Christ here on earth being in a little corner of heaven
is better than being in hell. One who
thinks like that may have to read over what Paul wrote in the last chapter of 2
Corinthians: “5
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or
do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-unless
indeed you fail the test? 6 But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves
do not fail the test” (2 Cor. 13:5-6).
John
MacArthur writes “To resist the filling and control of the Holy Spirit is
flagrant disobedience, and to deny or minimize its importance is to stand rebelliously against the clear
teaching of God’s own word. Every
Christian falls short of God’s standards and will sometimes fall into sin and
indifference. But he cannot be
continually content in such a state, because the experience of sin and
indifference will be a constant struggle with his new nature (Rom.
7:14-25). He knows they cannot be
justified or in any way reconciled with God’s will.”
As
we saw in 2 Corinthians 13:5-6 a person needs from time to time take inventory
of themselves to make sure that they are truly a believer. Just going forward in a church service saying
that we have accepted Christ as Savior does not necessarily mean that one
becomes a believer. It is what happens
after that that proves that you are a Christian, things that show that a person
is growing in the Lord. The metaphor of
a baby is seen in the Word of God to show that once a person is truly
born-again is important for believers to understand. I know in my case that I did not step foot in
a church after I became a believer, but none the less I was growing in the Lord
as I attended different Bible studies for four years, and was mentored by a new
friend of mine in the Word. There came a
time when the Lord laid on my heart to begin to attend church which I obeyed
and actually went to that church for over 32 years. The Christian life has hills and valleys, but
when we are in the valleys and are trusting the Lord, perhaps that is the time
when we grow the most in the Lord. None
of this can happen if the Holy Spirit is not filling us, continually filling
us. One of the things that can help us
to determine if a person is a believer is to see the things that a person longs
for. If a person continues to long for
things of the world, of the flesh, then that person needs to take inventory to
see if they really are a true believer.
MacArthur
writes “Although every Christian is indwelt, baptized, and sealed by the
Spirit, unless he is also filled with the Spirit, he will live in spiritual
weakness, retardation, frustration and defeat.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There seems to be many things that I am
learning that I need to do in order to continue to grow in the Lord, things
like longing for heaven each and every day and also being filled with the Spirit
continually. I know that I cannot do
these things on my own, but I know that the Lord will continue to do these
things through me so that He will receive the glory for what I accomplish in
the Spirit for Him.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Humility is still
what I think about, and as mentioned it takes humility in order for the Spirit
of God to work in my life to accomplish what He has chosen for me to do in
eternity past.
Verse that goes along with David
Jeremiah’s quotation from yesterday:
“Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm
139:10).
7/12/2019 10:40 AM
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