Bible Study:
Being Filled with the Holy Spirit
--Read the following verses and consider the questions at the end.
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Acts 1:4-5, 7-8
On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
John 14:16-18; 25-27
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you…"All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 15:26-27; 16:7-14
"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
I Corinthians 2:7-12
No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"— but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
I Corinthians 2:14-16
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"
But we have the mind of Christ.
I Corinthians 6:19-20
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."
Questions to Consider
- Who is the Holy Spirit?
- What does He do? How important is He to my life?
- What does He want from me?
- How do I make room for the Spirit of God?
- How do I get ‘filled’ with the Spirit of God? How do I know when I am filled?
- What are the results of someone being filled?
*How do you know if you are living a Spirit-Filled life? (You will know!!!)
Answer: You will internally experience and externally manifest the works of the Holy Spirit.
What are the works of the Holy Spirit?
(Place a check mark next to the ones that you are experiencing/manifesting)
--He reminds us of all that we are supposed to be and do to please God.
--He tells us ‘what is’ and ‘what is yet to come’ (deep thoughts of God, truth and wisdom).
--He counsels us/guides us/teaches us.
--He shows us all that God has freely given us (our inheritance).
--He convicts us when we are on the wrong track.
--He makes us holy.
--He pours out God’s love into our hearts (we experience God’s love).
--He prays for us/intercedes for us when we do not know how.
--He reveals 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (A vision of Heaven?)
--He enables us to do all that Jesus did – healings, deliverances,
proclamations, miracles – more than can be asked or imagined.
--He bears relational fruit through us (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control)
--He distributes supernatural gifts to us so that we can build up God’s
community.
--He anoints us for specific roles, appointments, functions and callings.
*Take the next 7 minutes to read the following descriptions and then describe yourself below.
*Description of an Un-full-filled Christian: A Churchgoing Guesser who does not ‘hear’ from God, who is confused and indecisive, who gets blown around by circumstance, who does not ‘experience’ the fullness of God’s love (and is thus insecure), who often bears the anti-fruit, who never manifests anything supernatural, who is unaware of their role and gifts and is thus inactive.
*Description of a Filled Christian: A Church-serving decision-maker who knows what God is saying, who acts on everything in certainty, who is not easily shaken by circumstance, who feels loved by God, who keeps their eyes on their eternal inheritance, who is great at relationships with all sorts of people, who heals, delivers and reveals the Kingdom of God, who consistently uses their gifts for the good of the Church and who is working hard to live out their life mission.
*Description of yourself: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
*I want to get filled and stay filled, but I am not sure how…
What steps should I take to get/stay filled with the Holy Spirit?
- Confession of Need– “I cannot do it without the Holy Spirit. I am stuck. This is as far as I can go without His push?”
- Personal Research– What does the Bible have to say about the Holy Spirit? What does it have to do with me?
- Pull down the dams– Whatever has been stopping the flow has to be discovered and destroyed. “In Jesus name, I want to be searched and delivered from any hindrance to the movement of the Spirit of God in my life.”
*Common ‘Dams’: Control, Filled with other things, Other ‘hires’, Doubt/Unbelief, No Desire, No Desperation (can do without), Sin wins, Don’t consistently ask for, No expectation, Fear of what may happen
- Get away– Find a place of silence and solitude and dedicate significant time to getting immersed.
- Ask earnestly and desperately– “I cannot get up from here until I am filled.” Refuse the quarter-tank mentality. “In Jesus name, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit!”
- Receive in faith– Praise God that He gives His Spirit without limit. Allow the Spirit to take over the way you think, feel and act.
- Ask Him to do His work in and through you– Commit to communication, holiness and ministry. Give Him a platform to work in and from.
