How to Walk the Spirit
Gal 5:25 25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (NKJV)
Batteries are a great portable power source. Batteries come in all shapes and sizes and can be used to power just about anything you can imagine. Perhaps the best of all batteries is the rechargeable kind. I have a rechargeable battery on my cell phone and another for my drill motor, but I think the best decision I made was to get some rechargeable batteries for my digital camera.
When I got this camera, I thought I would save a lot of money on film. I can download all my pictures to the computer and print only the ones that are really good. Great idea right?
Unfortunately I was spending a fortune in batteries. It seemed like no sooner had I taken 10 to 15 pictures that I needed another set of four batteries. I had never gone through batteries so quickly. That’s when I decided to try the rechargeable batteries in the camera, and was it ever worth it! Not only can I recharge the batteries when they get low instead of throwing them away, but the charge lasts longer than ordinary batteries.
+ Do you know how well my camera or my cell phone or my
drill motor, would work if I never put them on its charger?
+The batteries start out strong, but as they are used they get
weaker and weaker.
+The battery must be recharged in order to be effective.
Each of us need to be regularly recharged with the Holy Spirit.
+When we are saved, the Holy Spirit comes and lives within us,
and when we are filled or baptized in the Holy Spirit, God
energizes us to live an effective Christian life.
+However, it’s not good enough to just get plugged into God
once.
+The daily routine of life has a way of draining our strength
not only physically and emotionally, but spiritually as well.
+God’s desire is that we remain strong “Fully Charged,” and
He makes that possible for us.
+We must continually come to God to be recharged or refilled
with the Holy Spirit.
I. GOD’S DESIRE IS THAT WE REMAIN FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with
the Spirit. (NIV)
18And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit (NKJ)
+ The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is more than just a doctrine;Being filled with the Spirit should
be a vital personal experience!
+ More than just understand the Baptism of the Spirit;
WE NEED TO PERSONALLY EXPERIENCE THE SPIRIT!
+The baptism in the Spirit must be more than what we believe; it must be a personal
experience.
+ If you have not received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, don’t be satisfied; get thirsty. God
wants you to be filled; get desperate for God to fill you!
+ But there is more! Once you have been filled with the the Spirit, don’t be satisfied with just
a past experience.
2. Being filled with the Spirit is not a one-time experience, but a lifestyle.
Reinhard Bonnke, in his book Mighty Manifestations says, The baptism in the Holy Spirit was not meant to be a single emotional event recorded in believers diaries. It wraps believers around permanently. The Spirit becomes your environment, the air which you breathe providing the vitality of the Christian faith.
+We draw strength and life from the Spirit; apart from the Holy Spirit we have no strength or
spiritual vitality .
+Just like rechargeable batteries are renewed or refreshed when they are put on their charger,
we too are energized for life by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14:4 4Those who speak in a tongue build up themselves (NRSV)A person who
speaks in tongues is strengthened personally in the Lord. (NLT) ¨Edifies himself (NIV)
PETER was filled with the Holy Spirit w/120 believers in Acts 2. did not try to live the rest of
his life on that one experience. In Acts 4:31 31After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter and the other believers were again
+Paul understood the need to continually be renewed in the Holy Spirit He wrote to the
Ephesians and said, Be filled with the Holy Spirit(5:18 NIV).
Without a continuous infilling of the Spirit our spiritual batteries will run down;
+Soon we are running on empty; therefore Paul says, Be filled with the Spirit
+Paul is saying, Be continually filled with the Spirit, or Be perpetually filled with the Spirit.
+ Being filled with the Spirit is not to be an event or spiritual high that we write about in our
diaries. Being filled with the Spirit is to be a lifestyle!
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LIVE A LIFESTYLE OF BEING CONTINUALLY FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT?
+The initial and continuing evidence of being baptized in the Spirit or filled with the Spirit was
to speak in other tongues.
+Does that mean that you go around and continuously babble on and on in tongues? NO!
+When you receive the Spirit and begin to speak in other tongues you yield control of your
tongue to the Holy Spirit.
+In the same way you live a Spirit-filled life by allowing the Holy Spirit to control and direct your
life –the steps you take.
Thus as Reinhard Bonnke said, the Spirit is the environment, the air which [you] breathe
moment by moment.
+The Spirit-filled lifestyle is one in which you allow the Spirit to control your life.
+ The influence or the presence and power of the Spirit should not wax and wane in our lives
like the phases of the moon.
+ As we live as Spirit-filled lifestyle, we should not go from light to darkness like the phases of
the moon. Instead we continually walk in the light, as he is in the light (1 John 1:7).
When we live the Spirit-filled lifestyle being continually filled with the Spirit, we can be strong with the Lord’s mighty
Alcohol has an effect over the chemistry in our brains. Our senses are numbed; the thinking process is slowed down and our ability to react to stimuli is lessened.
Our inhibitions are also set free, and we find ourselves doing or saying things that we would not do when we were sober;
Some of the things done under the influence of alcohol can’t even be remembered.
+Drunkenness Paul says leads to debauchery a wild gathering involving indulgence in
pleasures immoral, especially sexual activity and excessive drinking
+When we choose to live to satisfy the flesh then it’s passions and desires are never satisfied.
+Sin will only create a thirst for more; the desires of the flesh will become our master.
+Paul says not to live under the control of the flesh which leads to death, but to live like Jesus
which gives us life; be filled with the Spirit.
+We make the choice to live our lives to please God then the Spirit helps us say no to the
desires of the flesh;
+God’s Spirit becomes the influence to direct our choices so we can live like Jesus
+Impurities in a transformer create an eddy current (acontrary or circular current).
+When an eddy current develops, energy is wasted;the power is blocked or trapped within the
transformer.
+As the power circles inside the transformer it gets hot and burns out
Sin is like an impurity within a transformer; sin will sap our spiritual strength.
+When we feed the desires of the flesh it thirsts for more and more. A cycle of sin will circulate
within our lives.
+God ‘s desire is that His power and love will flow through Our lives, but sin disrupts that flow.
+ Either the impurity of sin will be removed from our lives or we will eventually self-destruct.
+We must make the choice to live like Jesus, to be set free from sin in order to continually live
the Spirit-filled life.
If we are going to live a Spirit-filled life, then we must turn away from sin and daily live like Jesus.
+Is there some hidden sin in your life that you need to let go of? Don’t let the impurities of sin
keep you from being filled with the Spirit.
+Perhaps you have been desensitized to sin in your own life. Have you stopped feeding the
flesh??
2. We can live the Spirit-filled life BY DAILY STAYING
IN TOUCH WITH JESUS.
+A fully charged battery is of no use if it is not placed in proper contact with the connections or
poles.
+If we are going to receive the power of God’s Spirit in our lives then we have to get in touch
with Jesus.
How do you stay in touch with a friend?
You communicate with each other. talk, you listen, and when you talk they listen. Simple huh?
2.1 We stay in touch with Jesus BY LISTENING TO GOD when He speaks. How will God speak to us?
+God will speak to us through His Word. The Bible is not just another book.
+ It is God-breathed ¨inspired by the Holy Spirit.
+It is an eternal, unchanging, perfect Word.
+ The Bible is God’s personal love letter to you.
+God will also speak to us by His Spirit. The Bible says, “He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says” (Rev 2:7 NIV). Jesus said, “My sheep recognize my voice” (John 10:27 NLT).
+God will communicate His heart to you through His Spirit +Generally the Spirit will speak to us in two different ways: within our mind or thoughts, and through other people.
As you listen to God’s Spirit keep in mind these two reminders
1. When God’s Spirit will never say anything that contradicts the written word of God.
2. We don’t automatically accept what people say; it should either confirm what God has
already placed within your heart or you should wait for God to confirm what others may
say before acting on it.
We stay in touch
++By Listening
2.2 We stay in touch with Jesus BY TALKING TO GOD.
+We need to learn to pour out our hearts to God in prayer.
1. One way you can talk to God is in your own language
2. We can also communicate with God in the language of the Spirit ¨that is in other tongues.
+ 1 Corinthians 14:15 I will pray in the spirit, and I will pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will sing in words I understand. (NLT)
+ Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. (NIV)
We communicate With Jesus through prayer, both in English and in other tongues,
We can also communicate with God through praise
and worship.
+ Ephesians 5:19-20 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (NIV)
+Living a Spirit-filled life start by choosing to live like Jesus,
but it doesn’t stop there.
+We also need to make the choice to stay in contact with the
source; we need to get in touch with Jesus.
*Do you have a daily time established to be alone with God
where the two of you can just talk?
*Do you have a place where you can listen for God to speak to
you through His Word and by His Spirit
¨a place where God can hear from you?
Set a time to talk with God.
3. We can live the Spirit-filled life SHARING JESUS
WITH OTHERS.
+God does not intend for us to be filled with His Spirit And not
share it
+A cup that is filled with water is stagnate; over time that
fresh water will become polluted and spoiled.
+ The Dead Sea is such a cup filled with water. However it keeps everything put into it; nothing flows out, so it is lifeless.
When Jesus said the infilling of the Holy Spirit would be like rivers of living water(John 7:38).
A river is not stagnate; it flows and moves giving life to everything along its banks. Jesus said, Freely you have received, freely give (Matthew 10:8).
God wants us to be filled with the Spirit like a garden hose with a sprinkler attached to it; when the water is turned on the hose is filled, but it can’t hold it in. The water showers and refreshes the everything it touches.
We need to look for opportunities to share the love, grace and power of Jesus that is within us by His Spirit
