Spirit-filled?

I have a background in art. If someone asked me to ‘prove it’ should I pull out documents that show the courses I’ve taken? Or should I show them the work in my portfolio? I’m thinking of that old saying, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating!”

I’m thinking of a friend who insists that the greatest evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. In her mind, if that happens all is well. She points to the New Testament account of what happened to Jesus’ disciples after He returned to heaven . . .

“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1–4)

Most Christians understand this was a one-time event to fulfill the promise Jesus made in John 14:16: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.”

That the Holy Spirit came was made evident by the wind, tongues of file, and the ability to speak in languages they did not know. Because it was Pentecost, the city was filled with people who spoke those languages so this evidence not only convinced the new Christians that the Spirit had arrived, it also enabled many people to hear the Gospel in their own language.

Today, missionaries must do language study for being filled with the Spirit soon gave way to an even more spectacular evidence — He changes the lives of God’s people. This is an internal change that becomes visible to others. That is, the Spirit enters our spirit and gives us His life. Obviously change happens, sometimes quickly. The life of the Spirit moves from the deepest part of us to affect our thoughts, emotions and will. Our body begins to take orders from a new Master.

However, the flesh or old nature fights change. Depending on qualities like humility and obedience, this can be a short battle or a longer one. When the Spirit takes charge of the whole person, that person is Spirit-filled.

“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:17–26)

Speaking in tongues happens in cults. It also happens in professing Christians whose lives are fleshy as described above. While Spirit-filled believers also speak in tongues, a far more convincing evidence of the Holy Spirit is His fruit and that the fleshy life being put to death. Pride and other nasties are abandoned and the life of Christ becomes evident as proof that the Holy Spirit is there and given priority.

Tozer says, “I do not believe in a repetition of Pentecost, but I do believe in a perpetuation of Pentecost—and there is a vast difference between the two; Pentecost did not come and go, but Pentecost came and stayed.” The abiding element was not wind, fire and tongues but the Holy Spirit Himself, the Comforter Jesus promised.

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, You sent the Spirit to fill Your people and abide in us. He shows the reality of You as He gives new life, the grace and strength to live godly lives and do Your will. That came, that stayed. You have called me to live in that fullness, with intensity and purity that is the evidence that You are in me. Only You can make happen that amazing kind of life. Speaking in tongues is an intimacy of communicating with You, but as the Scriptures say, it is of little value in telling the world the Good News without an interpreter, whereas love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control need no interpreter only a yielded life.

Alive through the spirit . . .

In my understanding, a person could be diagramed with small circle in the center, a second one around it, and a third one around both. The small circles represent the human spirit, the next one is the soul, the third is the body. In an unsaved person, the spirit is separated or ‘dead’ to God and almost useless. The soul includes emotions, volition and intellect. It operates entirely on input from the outer circle which includes physical desires and anything perceived by the senses.

In this diagram, when the spirit is given new life from God, the input changes. We begin to live by faith — which is a function of our spirit. We learn to walk by faith we walk rather than by sight or emotions, reasonings, or personal desires. This visual has its flaws, but it helps me understand verses like:

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)

"Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

It also helps me understand why the disciples on the road to Emmaus did not recognize Jesus. Could it be that they had not yet learned to perceive and understand Him through the spirit? Could that be the only way to ‘see’ Jesus? Is this why the religious leaders missed the reality of who Jesus is? Whatever was going on in them, this encounter with Jesus opened their hearts so they understood who He was.

“So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. (Luke 24:28–35)

This diagram also helps me understand what Tozer writes in today’s devotional. He says, “God does not play on our emotions to bring us to the point of spiritual decision” but he also writes, “When in our Christian experience our emotions are raised, it must be the result of what God’s truth is doing for us” and “Whatever else it embraces, true Christian experience must always include a genuine encounter with God.”

When the human spirit is made alive through faith in Jesus Christ, then God begins to use our souls to govern our bodies rather than the other way around. He informs my spirit by His Word and His Spirit. My enlightened spirit then governs my thinking, emotions, and decisions. I can disregard input from my body and the outside world unless God is using some of that to reinforce what He is telling me through my spirit.

This is why joy does not depend on circumstances; it is a fruit of the Spirit through my inner spirit and cannot be taken away from me. The same is true for love and all other spiritual fruit.

This is why I can decide to serve the Lord even when circumstances seem against it. He is informing me in the deepest part of my being and I just ‘know’ what He wants me to do.

This is why God tells me to be renewed in my mind. It isn’t about education or reading other books. It is about listening to the Holy Spirit as I read God’s Word. He feeds my mind with godly thoughts and ideas and instead of thinking by outer evidence, a renewed mind sees life and the world through God’s eyes.

This also explains the following verses:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:17–18)

God changes sinners (who operate soulishly because their spirit is dead) to live in a new way. He makes the inner person come to life and enables us to hear and communicate with Him. Simple, yet incredible.

^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, thank You for giving new life, for making my spirit alive to You. I’ve done a lot of stumbling and made many mistakes as I try to live this new way, but You are saving and keeping me. I am so grateful!

Spirit, Soul, and Body

Every time that Chambers talks about the human will I’ve thought of this diagram. It explains how God changes lives.

The drawing on the left depicts the person who does not know God. This person’s spirit is dead to (or separated from) God because of sin. Such a person has a soul which consists of intellect, emotions, and will. However, those faculties are governed by the desires of their flesh, the pressures of the world, and the lies of Satan, which they may or may not be aware of. Those who observe this person will see a life governed by the soul. It can range from tightly self-controlled (emphasis on ‘self’) morality to deeply evil behavior.

The circles on the right depict a Spirit-filled Christian. This person is alive to God because his spirit has been reborn through the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Yielded to the Lord, he no longer listens to the dictates of the world, the flesh, or the devil, even though they still bombard him with temptation. Instead, his soul and body function according to the leading and desires of the Spirit who lives within. If this person is transparent, people will see Jesus in him.

Note: if a Christian is not yielded to the Holy Spirit, he will live much like an unsaved person except that there is a battle between the inner spirit and the flesh. The New Testament describes this battle:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:16–17)

When Chambers talks about the need to exercise our will in the battle against sin, the ‘will’ he is talking about is depicted on the right. It is the power of volition that is yielded to Christ through redemption.

Even though this is the ideal, I know from sad experience that those arrows can switch direction. If I have some strong “I wants” then my will can become reversed, more like an “I won’t.” Without the Holy Spirit, my will power is useless in battling sin. In order for the arrows to flow outward again, I need to confess my sin and rely on God to get me back on track.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me! (Psalm 31:2)

Again, should I try to overcome temptation by the power of my human will alone, it will not work. Nor will intellectual reasoning help me; I can realize something is sin, but cannot mentally gain victory over it. Emotions like anger at my sinfulness will not work either. The flesh is useless and apart from Christ, I can do nothing. I need to be filled with His Spirit so His life is flowing outward from the core, from the One who lives in my heart.

Today, Chambers uses part of this passage to talk about the need of settling issues with God in the “secret places of my soul.”

“If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver, and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.” (Jeremiah 4:1–2)

Prompted by Jeremiah’s words, I’d say most Christians know what it means to have the Lord God rule their lives and be blessed. In Him we will glory. We also know that we cannot “remove the detestable things” from His presence in the power of the flesh. We might want to, but we find ourselves unable. All must be yielded to the Lord, not just Sunday morning, not just when trials come, not just when I feel like it or feel needy.

In light of these diagrams, Chamber’s words make sense only if “external world” is the diagram on the left and “secret places” is the one on the right . . .

“The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world. The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him . . . . If I say—‘I will wait till I get into the circumstances and then put God to the test,’ I shall find I cannot. I must get the thing settled between myself and God in the secret places of my soul . . . . Lose it there, and calamity and disaster and upset are as sure as God’s decree. The reason the battle is not won is because I try to win it in the external world first. Get alone with God, fight it out before Him, settle the matter there once and for all.”

That secret place is right at the core where God lives and from where I must draw my life and all that I think, feel, decide, and do. Unless I run to Him, my soul will rule and play havoc in my walk with God.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)