The Daily Word of Righteousness

Living in the Fullness of the Spirit, #8

If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— (John 14:15,16)

To gain more of the Spirit we must obey the commandments of Christ found in the Gospels and the Epistles.

To gain more of the Spirit we must obey what we believe to be God's will for us, and we must do this at all times and in all situations. If we are not sternly obedient to God we are not going to be able to live in the fullness of His Spirit.

Having obeyed His commandments, having sought to find His will and perform it each day, we then must pray. We must ask and keep on asking. We must seek and keep on seeking. We must knock and keep on knocking. How long?

Until we receive. Until we find. Until it is opened to us.

It appears we often succumb to a spirit of inevitability concerning the Spirit of God:

We speak in tongues so we are living in the Spirit.

We go to a Pentecostal church so we are living in the Spirit.

If God wants to use us He will move sovereignly on us and carry us out of ourselves.

When we die we will receive more of the Spirit.

When we go to Heaven we will receive more of the Spirit.

There is no scriptural support whatever for the above suppositions, except that in rare instances, such as in the case of Gideon, Moses, and the Apostle Paul, God does intervene sovereignly in our life. For most of us, however, we have to pray each day and desire God's will and His Spirit. Otherwise we go through life until we end up in a nursing home, never having received the fullness of the Spirit.

Having once spoken in tongues, or continuing to speak in tongues, is not an evidence that we are living in the fullness of the Spirit of God. The fruit of the Spirit revealed in our personality is a more certain proof.

We can go to a Pentecostal church and behave like the devil himself.

There is no scriptural support for the notion that after we die we will receive more of the Spirit of God and live in the fullness of the Spirit.

There is no scriptural support whatever for the assumption that when we go to Heaven we will receive more of the Spirit of God and live in the fullness of the Spirit.

It is today that we must ask, seek, and knock. We need to do this continually. Our nation is sliding down into depths of depravity. Only the Holy Spirit of God has the power to reverse this trend. Let us be faithful to ask God, and keep on asking God, that we may live each day in the fullness of the power of His Spirit. (from Living in the Fullness of the Spirit)