Friday 8 March 2013

A Spirit-filled Life


A Spirit-filled life
Our tendency in the West is to make everything a matter of the mind, and therefore a matter of comprehension, rationalism, security and safety that manifests itself in utter predictability.
I find myself wondering why some want to say that to be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with the Word as what Paul says in Ephesians 5:18 “be filled with the Spirit” and Collossians 3:16 “let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly…” are one and the same thing. Are they really?
There may be parallels, but they are not the same.
Christianity was never meant to be about a mere intellectualism – a rational comprehension to a certain number of facts faithfully believed. Now please don’t hear me wrong or read the wrong thing into this the Word is vitally important, studying it is important, without it we have no sure foundation or compass, but are we really hearing what it saying when we say that both the texts above are one and the same thing?
Christianity is about a spiritual dynamic….
To be a Christian is to be born from above, of the Spirit (John 3).
To be a Christian is to be possessed by God – without him dwelling in us we are not Christians (check out Romans 8).
To be a Christian is to know the Spirit witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God (Romans 8).
To be a Christian is to experience the love of God being poured into our lives by the Spirit.
To be a Christian is to be sealed by the Spirit.
To be a Christian is to know the Spirit giving us access to the Father.
To be a Christian is to know real fellowship with God by and in the Spirit.
To be a Christian is to know righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
To be a Christian is to know that I am joined to the body of Christ – a dynamic living community who corporately experience the presence of God by the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22)
To be a Christian is to be led by the Spirit – a supernatural dynamic of relationship with God.
To be a Christian is to know that I am not limited to my ability to comprehend the text as God is able to reveal and teach me by his Spirit (Ephesians 1:17).
To be a Christian is to know the power of the Spirit enabling us to live brand new lives.
To be a Christian is to know that when we fall short the Spirit will also convict us of sin.
To be a Christian is to know the Spirit continually pointing us to Christ.
To be a Christian is to know that we can also quench the Spirit as he seeks to work through our lives.
To be a Christian is to know that whatever our creation gifts maybe we are not limited to or by them as he gives gifts of the Spirit.
To be a Christian is to know that the Spirit can give us songs in the night.
To be a Christian is know the power of God’s Spirit taking us beyond our fears and limitations to do things way beyond us.
To be a Christian is to know that in my weakness in prayer his Spirit comes through.
To be a Christian is to be open to dreams and visions and prophecy and miracles and tongues and interpretation.
To be a Christian is to be able to hear God speaking to us in a way we understand.
To be a Christian is know that I need to be filled and filled again (Ephesians 5:18).

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