The Wonderful Spirit-energized Life

"Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.  And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:17-18, ESV).
"[F]or we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7, ESV). 
"If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25, ESV).
"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7, ESV).

"TRUE HOLINESS CONSISTS OF DOING THE WILL OF GOD WITH A SMILE."  --MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA, CANONIZED AND NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER 

All Christians have the power to walk in the Spirit with the Lord all the days of their lives, not just in church or among their friends and fellow believers--but even with the sinner!  "Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God"  (cf. Gen. 6:9). That would look good on any resume!   Likewise, "Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him"--he was translated into heaven like being raptured!   To enjoy a continuing, ongoing, progressive fellowship with God the Father and God the Son through the resident Spirit is a blessing and privilege all believers share.  It is good that Jesus left us the legacy of the Spirit so we would learn to lean on Him and realize we are actually better off that way than if He were still residing on earth. He promised not to leave us "orphans" but to send another Comforter, the Holy Spirit!   Few believers avail themselves of the fullness of the Spirit and find their otherwise unrealized potential.

We all have an innate ability to walk with God and are commanded to continually be filled with the Spirit from Day One of our salvation. To do this we must keep short accounts with God and readily confess all known sin as we get convicted, not letting them get stacked up and having a backlog or spiritual "docket."  Martin Luther mentioned progressive repentance in his Ninety-Five Theses as his first objection!  In God's economy, emptying comes before filling and repentance before faith; they go hand in hand:  if one doesn't believe, repentance is to blame; if one can't repent, belief is the issue!  All in all, it's not always how big our faith but how thorough our repentance.  "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear" (cf. Psa. 66:18).  We must come clean and fully surrender!  We don't have permission to live in the flesh, but a new power and energy to live in the Spirit!

The genuine Spirit-filled believer isn't one who goes by feeling or walks about on Cloud Nine or on some perpetual, religious high, but must learn to lean on his faith in times of testing and trial, for his faith must be tested, being more precious than silver or gold.  Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote a book entitled He That is Spiritual in 1918 that was a bombshell in the doctrinal schools because he introduced the terminology of carnal believers as a separate class of believer (i.e., not spiritual).

There is no dichotomy in the body, for all believers are spiritual and all are subject to becoming carnal or getting out of fellowship or falling into temporary sin unless confessed.  A believer who thinks it's all right to live in a carnal lifestyle needs to repent and surrender to the lordship of Christ, not just call himself carnal.

But one thing is certain, Jesus left us the legacy of peace in turmoil and faith to move mountains as it were.  We are more than conquerors in the power of the Spirit as a fringe benefit of salvation.  The primary perk of salvation is inner peace with God and oneself.  It is a proven fact that one can face any trial if one has peace about it!

In other words, the fruit of the Spirit is the primary manifestation of the Spirit-filled Christian.  We are to become fruit inspectors of our fruit and we also are to know others by their fruits!  These two are different meanings of fruit since we judge others by their actions since we cannot see their thinking and heart's condition.  False teachers will be exposed by their fruit or deeds!

It is a known fact that those who know their God are able to do great exploits in His name and have great energy for God (cf. Dan. 11:32).  Having great thoughts of praise for God is another sign of filling (cf. Dan. 4:35).  Spirit-filled believers display boldness for God and are content in their relationship, as we stand up for the truth and fly our Christian colors and realize that God meets all our needs in Christ so that He will give us everything we need to do His will (cf. Phil. 4:19).

Athanasius is known as taking such a stand against Arianism that he said he'd be "Athanasius contra mundum" if the whole world embraced the heresy.  It is oh so very important to be vigilant of heresy creeping into the church!    Likewise, Ignatius and Polycarp, two disciples of John the Elder, gave up their lives as martyrs rather than do homage to the emperor Trajan.

When you hate your life without Christ and only live for the glory of God you are being filled.  With Christ at the helm, life is worth the risk and the venture.  Just like Paul said, "For to me to live is Christ..." (cf. Phil. 1:21).  That's the essence of spirituality:  to not think or dwell on ourselves, but to be overcome with thoughts of Christ and to be obsessed with divine thoughts from the Spirit, not selfishness--we don't think less of ourselves, but of ourselves less!  We live for the glory of God to be displayed in us as His vessels of honor!

In the power of the Spirit, we find that energy to do His will that cannot be done in the energy of the flesh!  We have the power of God at work within us both to do and to will of His good pleasure (cf. Phil. 2:13).  In fact, everything done solely in the flesh is in vain and cannot be rewarded!  Paul would boast of nothing but of what Christ accomplished through him (cf. Rom. 15:18).  The world may ask us, "Where do we get our strength?"  Our answer must be that we have a secret:  We can do all things through Him who strengthens us!  (Cf. Phil. 4:13).  The Christian life is not hard, it's been said, but impossible!  We must learn to seek His face and find God's strength to do His bidding.  That power resides inside us because we all possess the same Spirit, and it's not how much of the Spirit you have, but how much of you He has!  John 15:5 says that apart from Christ we can do nothing!

That's why the Spirit is called the Comforter and the Paraclete, or the One called alongside.  We must learn by experience how God speaks to us and to realize that the primary M.O. is the Word of God and our relationship to the Word is an indicator of how in tune we are to His will.  We are all anointed by the Spirit (cf. 1 John 2:20-21) and need no one to teach us these things if we only get into the Word God will illuminate it for us.  One telltale sign of the apostles was that when they were filled with the Spirit they spoke the Word of God with boldness.  The Spirit-filled believer has his antennae sensitized to the Word and realizes when God is speaking to him through it by conviction and enlightenment. He will open our eyes to wonderful things in the Word!

Only the power of the Spirit transforming their lives can explain the way the apostles turned the Roman world topsy-turvy!  That was the biggest miracle to witness--their conversions from cowards to bold witnesses for the resurrection.   Today we don't so much as witness the resurrection but we do see the miracles of transformed lives and what God can do.  We must realize that what He's done for others He can do for us! 

Our prayer ought to be:  Just a closer walk with Jesus!  Richard of Chichester prayed to help people "to know Jesus Christ more clearly, to love him more dearly, and to follow him more nearly."  Job was admonished:  "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee"  (cf. Job 22:21, KJV).  Brother Lawrence, a monk in a French Carmelite monastery in the seventeenth century, practiced the presence of God throughout the day no matter what he did, even washing dishes according to his book, The Practice of the Presence of God.  

We must realize the divine order of events:  fact, faith, feeling!  We must first get our thinking straightened out and know right to think right, then we are equipped to do the right thing, and finally, we will reap the benefits of feeling right!   A good litmus test is having peace as Christ's legacy (cf. John 14:27).  We must rejoice in the Lord always as Habakkuk said, "[Y]et I will rejoice in the LORD..."  (Hab. 3:18, ESV).   And Nehemiah said, "... [F]or the joy of the LORD is your strength"  (Neh. 8:10, ESV). 

NB:  THE ONLY HINDRANCE TO ENJOYING THE WONDERFUL SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE IS THE AMOUNT OF YOUR SURRENDER, AND IN HOW CLOSELY YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THE PROMPTINGS OF THE SPIRIT TO DO GOD'S WILL.  TEST THE SPIRIT:  IS THERE A SPIRIT OF THANKSGIVING AND OF PRAISE TO GOD?  WHEN WE GET OUR EYES OFF OURSELVES AND DWELL ON THE GLORY OF GOD IT HUMBLES US!   

CAVEAT: DON'T ASSOCIATE THE FILLING WITH FEELINGS PER SE, THEY MAY ACCOMPANY IT AND MAY NOT FOR GOD REQUIRES US TO WALK BY FAITH AND STEP OUT IN FAITH TRUSTING THAT HE'S WITH US TO EMPOWER US.  ("BY FAITH ABRAHAM OBEYED!")     Soli Deo Gloria!