“I am filled with joy at His
success” (John 3:29)
This is John the
Baptizer being filled with joy when he heard of Jesus coming to baptize around
the bend in the Jordan River where he was also baptizing. He is the one who
said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). This was
the cousin of Jesus who baptized with water, but Jesus would baptize with the
Holy Spirit. Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit? Scripture says that
when you come to faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord that you will receive
the Holy Spirit. When you are born again there is a new you in the Holy Spirit.
But are you filled?
When we start our
Christian life God makes us new, He transforms us. Yet Romans 12:2 gives the
admonition to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This is a process as being filled is in the
future pluperfect tense, which means continually being filled. This implies
that we can run on empty or be emptied. We do not lose the Holy Sprit, but we
can grieve the Holy Spirit as Ephesians 4:30 warns us. So how do you do this?
We grieve the Holy Spirit with our sins, which I imagine cover the Spirit of
God with our filthy rags. This image
makes me cringe, which is a good thing because it should be the last thing we want
to do.
The Holy Spirit is
God within us, the Counselor, Comforter and “Convictor.” Yes, the Spirit
convicts of sin and causes us to repent and go the other way, the way of the
cross. That is the way of holiness and righteousness. We can’t do this on our
own, we need the perfecting power of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk
in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” This
power within us brings us the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is “love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control” (Galatians
5:22-23). This is the opposite of lusts of the flesh. This is the life
controlled by the Spirit. It should grow as we grow in Christ. Just as John, we
become less of us and more of Jesus. That is the purpose of life. He needs to
be our center, our everything. That is separating the sheep from the goats
indeed.
I like to describe
this as a process like filling a jar with water. But first the jar is full of
rocks or our sins (original self). As we take out our rocks, or purify
ourselves through the sanctifying and perfecting power of the Holy Spirit, we
can pour in more water. Water is the Holy Spirit, and the more we have the more
power we possess. This power increases until we have no more of ourselves and
all of Jesus and His Spirit. Get it, it is the process of The Pursuit of Holiness, the
title of a book by Jerry Bridges on “Running such a way they we get the prize” (1Corinthians
9:24). This is running the race to personal holiness. This is not the “pursuit
of happiness” that the Declaration of Independence declares as an inalienable
right. It instead is a much richer and grander goal of life. It is the pursuit
of God and His ways to holiness. God provides and we have a responsibility to
pursue. It is a holy partnership.
In this
partnership, we are convicted of our sins if we are filled with the Holy
Spirit. We come to identify our issues like anger, selfishness and sloth or
laziness. God hates these things and so should we. We need personal revival.
Psalm 80:18 (NKJV)
prompts, “Revive us, and we will call
upon Your name”. God
is calling each of us to personal revival toward His holiness through His Holy
Spirit. Yes, the world is falling into an immoral soup of political and fleshly
correctness. This is not of God, but man. The revival can only start within
each of us. Ask God to continue to fill you with His Holy Spirit that you might
become more like Him. In Isaiah 6 the train of His robe filled the temple with
glory. Ask God to fill you with His robe of glory, His Holy Spirit to overflowing.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts.