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Be Filled with the Holy
Spirit.
“But how,” you ask, “can
I be sure I am filled with the Holy Spirit as those early disciples were,
equipped for winning souls?” The Answer—by prayer.
This filling is not
just receiving the Holy Spirit once at salvation, which is true (Acts 2:38),
but a continuous being filled. Ephesians
5:18 commands the Christians to whom Paul was writing to be “filled with the
Spirit.” Because of the actual tense of
the verb “be filled,” it is correctly translated “keep on being filled with the
Spirit.”
Two Types of prayer—corporate
and personal –produce this Holy Spirit filling in preparation for witnessing.
First, there is the
scriptural corporate praying of others in the sending out of one who is to ministry
(such as Acts 13:1-4).
Evelyn was sent out to
minister to the world.
For twenty years, the
gathering together of my own board to pray for me just as I leave for an especially
huge assignment has been very important and deeply meaningful to me. This prayer support not only produces a
shared partnership in the responsibility and fruit of the task, but releases
multiplied power from God in, on, and through me.
I
understand first hand how this feels to have people praying for me when I am
speaking somewhere. The more people I
have praying the more effective my speaking times seem to be. I long to have a team of people praying for
the Holy Spirit to fill me with his power, as I go out there and share my life
story with women of the world. I long
for the Holy Spirit’s power to be released in the hearts of the people who
listen.
Personal
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Second, I believe more
important, is our personal seeking to be filled. We must be willing to spend time alone with
God in prayer before our witnessing – asking God to cleanse us and then
emptying ourselves of our own desire.
Next we must ask God’s Holy Spirit to fill us with Himself so we can be
holy and full of Him rather than our own desires.
Next we must ask God’s Holy Spirit to fill us with Himself so we can be holy and full of Him rather than our own selves. Then we will be eligible to have all the power the early disciples needed to win their world to Jesus because they, to, were filled by the Holy Spirit working in them.
EVANGELISM IS REACHING
WITH JESUS A WORLD STILL IN ITS SIN. And
despite our wonderful modern communication expertise and mountains of printed
materials, it still is only the Holy Spirit who can convict people of sin—so that
they will repent and turn to Jesus.
Several
years ago I would pray everyday for God to fill me with his Holy Spirit. I still do this often, but not nearly what I
used to do. Does it make a difference in
reaching my world for Jesus? Yes, it
has!
Why have I
forgotten to do this??? TIME! When I do
not put God first in my line of priorities, things begin to slowly change. It is time for me to, wake up and get back to
the basics.
Thank you
dear Evelyn, for reminding me of the priorities in my life.
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