Filled or tongues?
A few years ago, I was having a discussion with someone about the Holy Spirit. They believed that unless you speak in tongues and are baptized in water, you will not make it to Heaven. That’s a misguided teaching for another day. I told them that my son, who was four years old at the time, spoke in tongues. They didn’t believe me. For some reason this person believed that we have to be at a certain age of understanding to have the Holy Spirit operating in our lives. In fact, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb!
Unfortunately, most Pentecostals only access enough of the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues.
When the Holy Spirit came upon us, we WERE filled! God is dwelling on the inside of us. We ARE a temple of the Holy Spirit! We ARE filled!
“Why then do we not see the operation of that in most Christians lives??” someone asks.
We are continually being told that we need more of the Holy Spirit. It’s like God has withheld from us. That is sadly a mistake. It gives Christians a great excuse to operate on a lesser degree of Power and Authority! If we are only filled half-full of the Holy Spirit, we are not able to do what Christ said we could do. This puts the focus back on us and our achievements. The strong will say, “You have too much “junk” in your life for God to use you. This is why you are not operating in the Power of the Holy Spirit.”
IT’S NOT ABOUT US.
If someone is told they only have a portion of what Jesus paid for, then they will only reach a certain “level” of maturity in Christ. When we understand that there was absolutely nothing withheld from us, the sky is the limit.
*At this point some readers will pull out Old Covenant scriptures and say “God does withhold”.
If you believe that, you are probably already set in your theology and “have need of nothing”. Don’t let your “theology” get in the way of the Holy Spirit. God does not withhold anything from us!
Psalm 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
BECAUSE OF JESUS, God does not withhold any good thing from us!
Ephesians 3:6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
Heard a great quote this morning that someone posted from Bill Johnson:
Our mandate is simple: raise up a generation that can openly display the raw power of God.
Openly display through demonstration of God’s miracle-working power! The raw power of God, unchanged by method or process. Not something that can be stirred up, but comes from being FILLED with the Holy Spirit.
It never said “They spoke in tongues and had power”. It says they were FILLED with the Holy Spirit and POWER. Are we only accessing enough of the Holy Spirit so we can speak in tongues??
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