The Holy Spirit is the secret of the Christian’s power! Remember, Jesus prayed to be filled with the Holy Spirit as His first concern on the day of His baptism before taking up His ministry. In Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 3, verses 16-17 (NKJV) we read: “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’.”
Jesus knew that His coming to earth would be a battle from the time He began His ministry up to his death, resurrection, and ascension. He knew that He must be filled with, empowered by, and constantly obedient to the Holy Spirit to experience the power essential to complete His mission of preparing for the salvation of any penitent believer.
Jesus gave warnings to His believers that they would become the target of evil forces in their efforts to follow Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Of course, we receive the Holy Spirit in our new birth experience of salvation, but too many fail to go on to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Millions of nominal Christians in our churches today are seemingly comfortable in their religious indifference and care little about hearing a call to a powerful Christian life available to anyone who will meet the conditions for being filled with the Holy Spirit.
There are many important commands to Christian believers in our Bible, but none of them is more important to believers than the apostle Paul’s command in Ephesians 5:18 to “be filled with the Spirit.” Jesus did not want His disciples to begin trying to preach the Gospel until they were baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). But this command is meant for all who have trusted Christ as their Savior and in whom the Spirit has already been given. The “much-moreness” of the Holy Spirit comes in power when believers realize the need for more power to pray, to resist temptation, to understand the Scriptures, to understand God’s will for their lives, to share their faith with a testimony, or to love someone who is difficult to love. And the apostle Peter also told believers on the Day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit was not only for apostles and believers, but he said “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:39, NKJV)
Only hungry, seriously determined believing hearts will go on to seek the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit represents Holy Fire. But as William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, in urging all of his soldiers to “Get filled with the Spirit, he also reminded them that “the tendency of fire is to go out.” That’s why the passage in Ephesians 5:18 which reads “be filled with the Spirit” actually means “keep on being filled with the Spirit!” When the apostle Paul warns believers: “Do not quench the Spirit,” He means “Do not put out the fire of the Holy Spirit!” And the great advice of most of my Bible College professors was “Keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit!”
The 120 believers who were filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost included the twelve disciples. Peter and John, two of the more prominent of the twelve disciples, discovered that after weeks of sharing the Gospel and being threatened and imprisoned and warned against continuing to proclaim the Gospel, they were weary and worn. Rejoining the other apostles, they went to prayer, and we read in Acts 4:31 (NKJV): “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” It was not only Peter and John who needed a refilling of the Holy Spirit; all twelve of the disciples needed a fresh outpouring of the Spirit for the power and wisdom to keep on spreading the Gospel and giving guidance to the newly-formed churches.
Every Christian will be tested and tried as we try to maintain our close fellowship with Christ with a life of prayer. Our evil enemy Satan and his numerous demons are going to tempt, torment, and trap us in a thousand ways to defeat us in our faith. We need the Spirit’s help to know how to pray, to understand the Scriptures, to have the wisdom and courage to witness to and win another person to Christ, and to discover our gifts to find our place in the kingdom of God.
I would like to close the message on “Rekindling the Fire” with the words of a song, which is a prayer, by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel, a dear friend of mine who has now passed on to be with the Lord.
Blessed Holy Spirit, come again today;
Come, indwell us fully in a mighty way.
We are longing, waiting for Your grace and pow’r;
Blessed Holy Spirit, come on us this hour.
Chorus:
Come upon us now! Come upon us now!
Hungry, thirsty, longing we before you bow.
Work in all Your fullness in and through us all;
Hungry and obeying, Lord, in faith we call.
Blessed Holy Spirit, let Shekinah fall;
May Your holy glory come upon us all!
May Your fire and glory now on us descend;
Put Your seal upon us; then in service send.
Please, Holy Spirit, work so all can see;
Exercise Your Lordship—all Your ministry.
Work in pow’r more fully than we’ve seen or heard;
‘Tis Your blessed promise, ‘tis Your holy Word!
Blessed Holly Spirit, Oh! Do not delay!
Come in might and glory; come on us today!
‘Tis for You we hunger; it is You we need.
Blessed Holy Spirit, come, oh come! we plead!
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