I love the Holy Spirit and as Pentecostal Christian, I believe the bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit is our Strengthen, Comforter, Teachers and Counsellor.  We need to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit.

In order for us to gain a sense of the ways in which the Holy Spirit fills us, we can study several of the verbs used in the book of Acts, which describe our being filled to overflowing by the Holy Spirit. He didn’t choose these different words simply to provide a variety of expressions. Rather, they reveal to us the full range of experiences in the Holy Spirit.

1. We Are Baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:5
⁵ for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

In ancient times the Greek word baptizo was used in a number of interesting ways. It essentially described something that was immersed. Examples include a sunken ship, a drowned person, the dipping of a morsel of bread in a drink and the dyeing of a garment.
In using the word “baptizo” to describe our entry into the dynamic of His fullness of life and power, Jesus chose it to describe living in the fullness of the Spirit.

Today, the Lord might say, “I want to flood all compartments or your life with my life and power!”

He was calling for a change, just as a dyed garment takes on an entirely new dimension of beauty that wouldn’t be present otherwise. Just as a sunken ship has all of its compartment flooded, God’s Spirit flows in to fill the vacuum of His presence.

Being baptized in the Holy Spirit brings new qualities to our life and character. So when we talk about baptism in the Spirit, these kinds of immersions show us what we were intended to experience.

2. We Receive Him.

Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power…

Interestingly receive, or lambano, conveys both the ideas of giving and receiving. It describes taking or laying hold of something or someone with the hand, in order to make use of it. It can also mean to receive a person to give someone access to one’s self.
Jacob is an Old Testament picture of this in Genesis 32:22. With persistence and passion, he took hold of a promise, a future, a purpose, which only God could give him. Symbolically, in changing his name, God transformed him into His man.

In short, everything ultimately relates to our willingness to be open to Him, to allow His power, grace and glory to flow all ways—to and from us!

The verb is repeated in Acts 8:17… Are you, like me, wanting this openness to be manifest in your life and attitude, your church and ministry? Our encouragement is to take hold of God’s promise to pour out His Spirit upon us. We must commit ourselves to persistent prayer, to lift our voices, and fervently ask him.

3. The Holy Spirit Comes Upon Us.

Acts 1:8 …when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…
Come upon or eperchomai relates to the overtaking of a whole new set of circumstances coming upon us. When we are full of the Spirit, we are overtaken with His heart and His mind. His compassion burns inside of us. His quest becomes our own.

Another coming upon involves the Spirit’s clothing us (enduo) us in power (Luke 24:49). In this we are anointed with His resources of enablement. To be filled with the Spirit is to be overtaken with His mind, His heart, His focus, & the faith to do ministry in His name; be it healing, deliverance, encouragement, preaching, prophesying…

The Holy Spirit wants to reshape
· our perspective on the world
· our passion for the lost
· our pointedness in focusing on human need.

4. We Are Filled with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:4
⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

In the Greek language, the verb pleroo (to fill) was not used except to indicate an overflow. The word means there’s more than enough! We need not depend upon the scanty resources of past experiences because His resources are abundant and always available.

There always will be more than enough of His Spirit working in us, wanting to fill us, but we need to remain open to His renewing, refilling workings! Just like a sponge can become harsh and brittle, we need full immersion in the fullness of the Spirit.
Paul’s call to be “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18) by continuously being “filled with the Spirit” provides us with direction to ensure our keeping this overflow occurring.

5. The Holy Spirit Is Poured Out.

Acts 2:17

‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams

Peter quotes from Joel’s prophecy about the coming of the Holy Spirit…

The Old Testament word from Joel describes a pouring or spilling forth, an abundant, intentional, Sovereign imparting of God’s Spirit… Peter echoes that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

It is a bestowing of an abundant proportion – God’s Spirit given extravagantly with Sovereign planning. In other words, it is His power with a purpose.

What happens when the abundance of water behind the dam courses through the generator within the dam and releases energy? A roaring sound? Perhaps, but the purpose of this engineering marvel is not to generate the thunderous sound as the water rushes through the gates but, rather, to generate power and light to serve cities miles away. By the releasing of the potential within the dam, energy is channeled for the intended purpose.

God would say to us, “Live in the fullness of the Spirit and let the rivers surge in and through you to light the world wherever you go, day by day.”

6. The Holy Spirit Falls Upon Us.

Acts 10:44
⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.

Fall upon or epipipto suggests one of the loveliest ideas concerning being filled with the Spirit. In the story of the prodigal son, when the boy returned, the father met his son with great affection—he “fell on his neck,” embracing him with joyous acceptance. The word means to rush upon and seize.

This is the picture of a man coming and capturing his long-lost son in a grace-filled embrace of gratitude and affection.

Here we find believers who had been baptized in water as an action of obedience following their repentance and faith in Christ, but they had not yet received the fullness of the Spirit. Follow-up work was needed. They needed an enablement for power-filled service and in the appropriate time, the Holy Spirit rushed upon them to seize them for His work.

Can you get a picture of that very experience? The Spirit of God so urgent, so passionate, so committed to His agenda and His love for us, that He would run to meet us in this place and say You are My ambassadors, called to a holy calling, set apart for the History, which I write!

My Prayer for you is that you know and are filled with the Holy Spirit.

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