Let the Holy Spirit Fill You

Let the Holy Spirit Fill You

(January 2002)

 

You can encounter God in amazing ways through His Spirit

By: Marilyn Hickey

 

So those times of the Holy Spirit’s touching and refreshing

us, giving us rest and direction, convicting us of sin, and

giving us joy - all are just a taste of what we’ll experience

throughout eternity.

 

Don’t miss what God has for you in His presence through the

Holy Spirit’s indwelling you! Say, “God, I must have a

manifestation of Your presence. I can’t go on without

knowing Your touch. However You want to do so, I’m available.”

It’s so important to have God’s presence in our lives through

the Holy Spirit. God wants to have encounters with us just

like the Psalms encounters I had in my seminar.

 

It’s scriptural. When Paul had an encounter with God at

Damascus, for example, he didn’t resist the Holy Spirit;

he went down to the floor!

 

Now, encounters with the Holy Spirit can come in different

ways. Some are not as dramatic as others. Paul had another

encounter on his second missionary journey. He didn’t know

which direction to go, and he kept trying to go the Asian

route, but he just couldn’t get a witness in his heart.

 

Have you ever tried to do something and you couldn’t quite

get the mind of God? You think, Well, God, I’m trying to

hear You, but would You speak up?

 

So one night Paul had a dream, and in it, a man said, “Come

to Macedonia.” And Paul shifted his plans because he had

an encounter with the Holy Spirit.

 

In this second encounter, he didn’t have a vision, he didn’t

see a light, he wasn’t slapped to the ground or blinded for

a few days. He just had a dream. (Acts 16:6-10)

 

You can have an encounter with the Holy Spirit in laughter,

in weeping, in prayer, while reading your Bible. Encounters

come in different ways. When you begin to have encounters,

usually it means God’s taking you to another level. It means

there’s something He wants you to do. He doesn’t give them

to you for a little tickle and a thrill. He gives you

encounters to take you into ministry - to fill you and spill you!

 

When the Lord fills us with His Spirit, He fills us with a

purpose. We saw this clearly in the book of Acts - the

wonderful miracles working through people after the mighty

filling of the Holy Spirit.

 

Say you put a dry sponge in water. What happens? It soaks

up the water. That’s the way it is with the filling of the

Holy Spirit – we “soak up” the Spirit.

 

But when the sponge is all filled up and won’t soak up any

more water, then what happens? It drips. Now, there are a

lot of people who are filled with the Spirit who never let

the anointing spill out of them; they just drip.

 

On the other hand, you can squeeze the sponge and release the

water, spilling it. God doesn’t want drips; He wants spills!

 

Look at Peter, for example. As we’ve seen, the disciple who

had denied Christ stood up on the Day of Pentecost full of

the Holy Spirit and preached to the multitude. Three-

thousand were saved! (Acts 2)

 

There’s something else interesting about this: Peter was

initially filled with the Spirit according to Acts 2:4 -

the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Acts 4:8 says, “Then

Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost…” And verse 31 says,

“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”

 

Notice that these fillings happen after the initial

outpouring. You see, there are more fillings! When you

get spilled, you have to get filled again.

 

Part of the purpose of the infilling presence of the Holy

Spirit is for God to use us for ministry.

 

Excerpted from And He Will Give You Another Helper:

A Complete Understanding of the Holy Spirit’s Role in Our

Lives, copyright 2001 by Marilyn Hickey.

Published by Harrison House Publishers, Tulsa, Okla.,

www.harrisonhouse.com, 1-800-888-4126.