Filling of the Spirit --- What is it?

Yes, I think Torrey has the Bible in his corner on this one.

Yes, I've always felt that way about 1 cor 12:13.

 

Samurai preacher. Hmm. I like this. The samurai were totally devoted to their lord, the daimyo. They would deny themselves, and obey instantly, day or night.

Oh if only I were so obedient to the Holy Spirit!

 

I like the culture of the samurai; it certainly fits the word-picture of doulos.

I thought I'd make a spin off the fact you're in Japan.

 

R. A. Torrey’s conditions for being filled with the Holy Spirit: (1) Accept Jesus as Savior. (2) Renounce all sin. (3) Openly confess Christ before the world. (4) Surrender your will to God. (5) Thirst for God’s power. (6) Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. (7) Believe that you have been filled. (From The Holy Spirit: Who He Is and What He Does, ch. 7.)

 

I appreciate his list, but I don't know if it's that exact.

You said earlier that Acts 4:31 is key in this debate, but in that text I don't see such a list or anywhere else.

I guess we may have to put together a number of Scriptures to compile such a list.

I think that the only prerequisite to being filled with the Spirit is to be a faithful Christian whom God can use for a particular ministry.

I guess Torrey's list speaks to what it means to be read as a Christian for the filling of the Spirit.

 

I don't see Torrey's list as the final word. I see it as one viewpoint, but I do believe that if a sincere Christian follows Torrey's list step by step, the Lord will fill him. I don't mean that as pragmatism, "Do this and you will be successful." I mean it as true, internal, faith-filled desire to walk with God and be used by Him. So in that sense the most important point on Torrey's list is (5) Thirst for power. This means you will surrender your will to God, you will walk with Him, you will pray for His power.

A little book by another old timer called Quiet Talks on Power, by S. D. Gordon, says this well throughout the book. Or there is always Spurgeon, who I know you love: "Love the Spirit, worship the Spirit, trust the Spirit, obey the Spirit, and, as a church, cry mightily to the Spirit. Beseech him to let his mighty power be felt and known among you." (His sermon on "The Paraclete" in a little collection of his sermons on the Spirit, The Holy Spirit.)

What makes this verse a key is: (1) They prayed. The fullness of the Holy Spirit must be prayed for as they did here and as the disciples in the upper room before Pentecost did. Some writers deny the need of prayer for the filling of the Spirit. They believe being filled with the Spirit simply means being controlled by the Spirit, and the result is the fruit of the Spirit. But the way to a better Christian life is walking in the Spirit, not the fullness. (2) They were filled, and then spoke the Word with boldness. So the result is not sinless perfection (Holiness), a good Christian life (some dispensationalists), tongues, or just a great feeling. It is bold service for Christ.

I think any such list will end up being similar to Torrey's. Anyone who deeply studies this will learn some of the same things. I've already mentioned prayer as in Acts 4:31. There is the thirst for God's power in Is. 44:3. Then obviously one who is happy in his sin and wants God's power without the price of abandoning sin will never be filled. Then there is the command to tarry in Luke 24:49. The best writers all mention tarrying, waiting, truly being serious about receiving God's power.

But again, to me it is all summed up in the thirst and the prayer.

 

I'm sure TC will answer for himself, but you may read my experience at: http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=47056&page=2 under "First Adult Saved in Yokohama."

 

When the "Spirit came upon" means that they were filled with the Spirit, there isn't a "beter" way to say the same thing.

Entering into the pulpit w/o filling? Must needs be! But too many enter filled with ego, political measures, self-confidences, axe-grinding, etc.


Being filled isn't just for any particular service in that when one is filled they are used of God in ways not found before less that filling.

In preaching one must be filled to bring about lasting results. Emotional responses to the charisma of a preacher only bring about temporary changes, but those changes that are directed from a Spirit-filled message transform the heart and are eternal.

I've seen some of the most simple messages have the most tremendous results in salvation and sanctification from a truly Spirit-filled preacher. I have also seen the opposite in "intellectual" sermons that many responded/ were only stirred, and not actually changed.

"I'm tired of being stirred and without change. I want to be changed to stir people to change when it comes to their being filled with the Spirit and turning away from sin and towards the Lord."

 

I believe there is a special filling for preachers, an anointing if you will. This often occurs at ordination, as we find in 2 Tim. 1:6--"Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands."

In my own case, after my ordination I wrote, "My memories of that time will always be sweet and keen, and one special prayer was answered. When George Whitefield was ordained, he received a special infilling of the Holy Spirit. I had prayed that the Spirit might come upon me in a special way, also. The result of that prayer was being given strength by God."

 

Grandpa was Evangelist John R. Rice. He never pastored at Bellevue, but he preached there on occasion I'm sure. He only pastored in Texas, where he started 11 churches, and Wheaton IL, where he started another church.

He believed very strongly in the necessity of the power of the Holy Spirit for service and preached on it often with titles such as, "How Jesus Our Pattern Was Filled With the Spirit." Here is a link where you can buy this sermon in pamphlet form (only 60 cents!) as well as other books on the Holy Spirit by John R. Rice and others, including How to Obtain Fullness of Power, by R. A. Torrey, and Holy Spirit Power by Spurgeon: http://www.swordofthelord.com/osb/showitem.cfm?Category=149

 

Skypair, this one of the most important questions I've ever been asked in the ministry.

Before I go into the pulpit I usually pray for the filling of the Spirit. The experience is subject to interpretation.

But I do believe that having asked for the filling of the Spirit, I am usually filled with the Spirit when I declare the gospel.

But I don't think that it is about how I feel. I think it has more to do with the convince and power the I present the message of the gospel.

 

I do agree with this.

Is it really about desiring the Spirit, or is it about desiring to serve God and then he fills you with his Spirit?

John, it seems like they prayed to serve and then were equipped to serve:

"Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus" (vv.29, 30)

I find this important because the charismatics pray for the Spirit only to "speak in tongues."

Yes, a desire to serve God in a clean vessel:

"Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore,if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work" (2 Tim 2:20, 21).

 

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

 

DHK, so what is your view on the filling of the Spirit?

 

I think it can be about either one or both. One may desire the filling of the Holy Spirit (who already indwells the believer, as you'll agree, so it is not about receiving the Spirit) for the purpose of serving God, or one may want deeply to serve God and be filled for that purpose. It's not about having the right doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

What it is not about is anything selfish, of course. It's not about being filled with the Spirit to be a great preacher or build a big church or writing best sellers. It's about God accomplishing His purposes through us. So Spirit-filled Philip (Acts 6:3) preached to great crowds in Samaria, but then was led by the Spirit off into the desert to win one Ethiopian.

Exactly. I agree 100%. I once had some people from a "latter rain" church try to steal my members. So I sat down with them and my folk and we studied the Bible about the matter. At one point God led me to ask, "Acts mentions the baptism of the Holy Spirit eight times. How many times do you think tongues occurred?" The wife thought five or six, but it was only two! (I haven't checked this, just going by memory now.) She was amazed and disappointed.

A clean vessel is needed, yes. However, there are cases in the OT where God of His own will for His own purposes gave power to vessels that were not always clean, such as Samson. But I think in the NT age the vessel must be clean.

Maybe that's why the usual OT term (except for Bezaleel in Ex. 31:3 and 35:31) is not "filled with the Spirit." I believe that when the Holy Spirit began to indwell believers, from that time a clean vessel became needed.