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timg
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Joined: 2008/8/23
Posts: 100


 what if you are not spirit filled?

Should a person go to the mission field if he is not filled with the Holy Spirit?

 2012/1/6 17:37Profile
Sidewalk
Member



Joined: 2011/11/11
Posts: 719
San Diego

 Re: what if you are not spirit filled?

Not to be disrespectful, but you shouldn't even go to bed tonight without being filled with the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit comes to everyone who asks Him to come, and in my reading of New Testament theology, being baptised in the Holy Spirit is the normal experience of believing in Jesus for Salvation. Jesus never said "some of you will be filled with the Spirit..."

The infilling of the Spirit is every believer's assurance that the covenant for salvation is absolutely real. How many people have you heard say something like,

"I think I'm saved. I accepted Jesus as my savior on _______"(fill in the date.)?

It is not presumptuous to expect that He will give you powerful witness that He is really there, is it? If a child asks for bread, his father will not give him a stone, will he?

Since the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit has been given to His church. Scared out of his wits, Satan has done everything he can to keep that knowledge away from you.

Maybe you should go to the mission field, maybe not. But for sure you should lay hold of the promise of God to be filled with His Spirit before you even approach the other decisions in your life!

Yes. It is that important.


PS I am not of that school that believes you can't go to heaven if you haven't been filled with the Spirit, that doctrine only serves to feed the pride of its adherents, and frighten new believers into thinking their confession of faith "didn't work."

All who accept Jesus as savior in faith are in the kingdom, and those who receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit are in a position to fully enjoy their salvation and service to a much greater degree. "That they might have life, and have it abundantly!"


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Tom Cameron

 2012/1/6 21:07Profile
Miccah
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Joined: 2007/9/13
Posts: 1752
Wisconsin

 Re:

Sidewalk said, "Not to be disrespectful, but you shouldn't even go to bed tonight without being filled with the Holy Spirit!"


Best quote I've read all day. Thank you!


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Christiaan

 2012/1/6 21:10Profile
Lysa
Member



Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 3699
East TN for now!

 Re: what if you are not spirit filled?

Quote:
sidewalk wrote:
Not to be disrespectful, but you shouldn't even go to bed tonight without being filled with the Holy Spirit!


<--- This is me "LIKING" this quote!


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Lisa

 2012/1/6 21:46Profile
Elibeth
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Joined: 2011/8/14
Posts: 1148


 Re:

Sidewalk,
You said,' I am not of that school that believes that you can't go to heaven
If you haven't been filled with the Spirit,..........

Please, don't think that I am trying to be smart, ..But this is what the Scripture says:

Rom.8:9,...now if anyone have not the Spirit of Christ,he is none of His.

May we all grow in Him,
Elizabeth

 2012/1/6 22:00Profile
Sidewalk
Member



Joined: 2011/11/11
Posts: 719
San Diego

 Re: The Spirit of Christ

Elibeth, you are certainly right that those without the Spirit of Christ are none of His.

My reference was to another doctrine stream that insists you must speak in tongues to be saved. It is not the same as the people who have genuine faith in Christ, but have never been taught to ask for an infilling of the Spirit.

I was raised in the Presbyterian denomination, and those things were dismissed as for a different people in a different time. For a time I was satisfied with that, I didn't know any better.

But then in the early 60's, an Episcopalian priest named Dennis Bennett shook the denominational world upside down with a book he wrote called "Nine O'clock in the Morning." Within a few months, the baptism of the Holy Spirit became a raging conversation across denominational lines as the Spirit of God ripped through the nation's congregations. Dr. Bennett's electrifying book was both warm and scholarly, brilliantly telling the story of how this prominent clergyman was brought to his knees and came away changed with this unorthodox experience. It made the cover of Time magazine but more importantly, it made Godly people in the major denominations go onto their faces to receive a blessing they hadn't known was waiting for them.

Catherine Marshall also wrote a book about her experience being filled with the Spirit called "Something More" and suddenly the welcome mat she had all over the country was snatched away. She came into a whole new circle of friends, many of them outcast from their former prominent churches. There was a price to pay.

Up in Minnesotra where I lived at the time, the pastor and others got Spirit baptisms, and it split the church in a loud and ugly crash. One of the things I remember from those days- I was in high school- was that Leonard Ravenhill came to speak.

Need I say more? Yikes- I was with other youth group friends sitting in the front row and before the service and Ravenhill was sitting alone on the platform. I had no clue.

"Pigs." I heard him mutter.

He spoke of us- the smug, the self righteous, the lost Presbyterians before him. His preaching was breathtaking, calling the the spades as it were, filthy shovels! He was not one to hold back.

Boy it got messy after that, but he sure planted a seed in me. I knew then, years before I had my first infilling, that I wanted what he had!

For me, the Spirit of Christ is that thing I recognize in others, a spark of humility, a zeal for righteousness, a willingness to sacrifice time and money- the things that tell me Christ is living in that one. But there are genuine believers who don't know how much God wants to bring them closer, deeper, and happier with this infilling.

Hey, I'm nowhere near full yet, and my first taste was in 1964! I want more.... before I go to bed tonight, and more tomorrow!

I like to keep the doctrine simple-

"If it's from God- I want it!"


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Tom Cameron

 2012/1/6 23:33Profile
roadsign
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Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 Re:

timg, I see you are asking a yes/no question. Are you referring to yourself? Is another person asking you for guidance? Or is it merely a rhetorical question. If so, this may give you some food for thought - regarding the meaning of "spirit-filled" and its relationship to life choices:


The Filling of the Spirit:

When the Spirit births new life in us, our very being becomes “God’s temple”. 1 Cor. 3:16 This means that God’s Spirit resides and operates - not in religious buildings - but in living flesh-and-blood people. What does that mean – practically speaking?

Consider the instruction: “Do not get drunk on wine, which [ruins your life]; Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Eph. 5:18 This is talking about influence: Instead of letting alcohol influence and dominate us, we are to let the Spirit influence and dominate us – our way of thinking and living. We submit ourselves to the Spirit (that is, God) to convict, to teach, guide, comfort, and transform us.

As our habits of thinking and living become dominated by God’s Spirit, we grow in spiritual maturity. Our abilities and gifts become freely available for God’s purposes, rather than for our own ends.

As the Spirit fills and dominates our lives, God, the giver of our gifts, becomes our centre of focus, not the gifts themselves. Through the Spirit’s influence in our lives, everything about us becomes more and more available to God, and our lives become consistently honoring to God, and in harmony with his purposes.

It is God who “has put his Spirit in our hearts”2 Cor. 1:22, but it is our duty to allow the Spirit to fill and dominate our lives.

Diane


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Diane

 2012/1/6 23:37Profile
Lysa
Member



Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 3699
East TN for now!

 Re: what if you are not spirit filled?

Quote:
Quote:
Sidewalk wrote:
You said,' I am not of that school that believes that you can't go to heaven if you haven't been filled with the Spirit,..........



Please, don't think that I am trying to be smart, ..But this is what the Scripture says:

Rom.8:9,...now if anyone have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.


I read the Scriptures as the Spirit of Christ and being filled with the Spirit are two different things. Christian’s do not need to be filled with the Spirit (the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, as I understand it) to be ‘saved’ and live forever with Him but in order for each person to be ‘saved’ we must have the Spirit of Christ.

Just my two cents worth, God bless,
Lisa


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Lisa

 2012/1/7 13:46Profile
timg
Member



Joined: 2008/8/23
Posts: 100


 Re:

I finally had a chance to read all the comments. As usual I am thankful for your well thought out answers and concern for your brothers and sisters in Christ. My question about going to the mission field if you are not filled with the Spirit does pertain to me. After the resurection jesus told the disciples to wait until they received the power of the Holy Sirit and then go. I have always been taught that the day of pentecost was a one time thing, but I have been having my doubts after reading and listening to the accounts of the revivals and the experiences of some christians in the books that have been recomended on this site.
Sometimes it seems as if all I do is based on my own strength. I mean what is the diffrence between me and what I do and what a devout follower of another religion can do? Are we not supposed to have super natural love, joy, peace ect.?
I know there are many views on these things and I have been searching the scriptures for an answer from God.
I appriciate all of your feed back, and especially those who can back up what they say with personal experience. I am tired of living and hearing a theory.
Please forgive me if it seems as though I am covering ground already discussed. I am thick and am small of faith.
When I listened to the account of Paul Washer throwing stones in the woods and wondering where God is, and the struggles of some of the others, I can so much understand and relate. It is the point where they have victory that seems to elude me.
Please pardon my poor grammer and spelling. I need to rush to work, and it is definetly not my strong point.
Grace and peace to all and may He receive all glory due His name!
In Christ,
Tim

 2012/1/13 9:55Profile









 Re:

If you do not have the Holy Spirit then you can not even possibly be saved. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit daily... but what does that mean? Literally it means to be in fellowship with God daily... to commune with Him.

When I spend time with my wife, when we commune with each other, I am "filled" with thoughts of her... concern for her, love for her, etc.

This is what it means to be filled with the Spirit daily. We become one with the Holy Spirit and thru the Holy Spirit we worship God (in spirit and in truth).

Being sheeple (i.e. stupid) we always want to make it some kind of mystical thing. I dont think it's nearly as mystical as our peon little minds want it to be.

I think the quote in the first response was dead on! Well done!

Krispy

 2012/1/13 10:52





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