Verses to read: John 3:3-8, 1 Cor. 3:16, 1 Cor. 6:19; Rom. 8:9-16

…there is a difference between the believer “having” the Holy Spirit and being “filled” with the Spirit.
And let me say that it is not a question of our getting more of the Holy Spirit, but rather of the Holy Spirit getting more of us. We allow Him to occupy one or two of the rooms, but we do not hand over every key and give Him access to every part. He must possess all for He is not the guest but the Head of the home.
There is nothing we need so much for our churches and homes, nothing so important for our missionaries and Christian workers, nothing that will count so much in our service for Christ, as the fullness of the Holy Spirit. In fact, God will hold us responsible for the souls we might have won, the work we might have accomplished, had we lived Spirit-filled lives.

God’s Plan

God’s plan is that every one should live a Spirit-filled life from the very moment of conversion, but practically no one does. Perhaps it is lack of teaching. I do not know. There seems to be a seventh chapter of Romans in every life. It is not God’s will that any child of His should ever backslide. Nevertheless there are many backsliders. Hence, when they return to the Lord there is a second definite crisis in their lives. Thank God for the provision, the possibility of restoration. But oh, that they had never wandered away!
That is why I say that if people are not taught about the Spirit-filled life and led into it immediately after conversion, but are allowed to wander away, there will consequently be a second great crisis experience whenever it is revealed to them and accepted.
Hence, if you did not receive Him in His fullness at conversion, if there have been years of sin and failure, if you realize now that you are working in the energy of the flesh and not in the fullness of the Spirit, then it is your privilege to meet the conditions and experience His indwelling.
Such was the sad record of Israel. For forty years they wandered in the wilderness, though they could have gone straight through to the promised land in eleven days. Hence the experience of crossing the Jordan came nearly half a century after the first great crisis when they crossed the Red Sea. The wilderness with all its defeat and failure was left behind and the promised land entered, where victory and rest took the place of discouragement, murmuring, failure and defeat.
It was so with Jacob. In his vision of the ladder his life was given to God. Many years later, however, on that never-to be-forgotten night when there wrestled with him an angel of the Lord, he made a complete and full surrender, said an eternal “yes”, and was wholly yielded to God. There was nothing to hinder him from walking with God from the night he saw the ladder vision, but he yielded to self for so many years after, that the great crisis did not come until his return journey.
If your life has been a life like Jacob’s, useless to God and disappointing to yourself, if you have not gone right through from the beginning and lived wholly for your Lord, if you are still unsatisfied, let me tell you that you may come now, meet the conditions and know the fullness of the Spirit. It was definite in the experience of the Israelites. Never would they forget the crossing of the Jordan. A pile of stones in the bed of the river and another on the bank proclaimed to the future generations the great national crisis. In the morning they were on one side, at night on the other. During the day, that one never-to-be-forgotten day, they had crossed clean over.
Leave then the old life and enter the new. You should have done it at conversion. It ought to have happened long ago. God did not intend you to wander for years out of His will. But, praise His name, He is ready even now to fill you the moment you meet the conditions. The Spirit has been given. He will not keep you waiting if you are ready. The fullness of the Spirit is the normal Christian life that God intended you should live.
The fullness of the Spirit will answer all your questions and settle all your problems about worldly amusements. Never again will you have to ask, “Is it right to go here? Is it wrong to go there? May I attend the theatre? What harm is there in the dance? May I play cards?” You will be so filled with Him that you will not want the world. It will be the expulsive power of a new affection. The new will expel the old. You will find you greatest delight in God’s service, and you will discover that you are miserable and unhappy in the world.


**Taken from "the Enduement of Power" from Oswald J. Smith, ch.3 'the fullness of the Spirit'**

Roniya said:

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George Platt

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George Platt

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