The Holy Spirit And How It Affects The Mind Of A Christian Today

The filling of the Holy Spirit has intrigued me for quite some time as a concept that seems to me to be a little vague in the minds of many Christians today. Yet, nevertheless, it strikes me as being a very important issue as it pertains to our lives as followers of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Anything that directly affects our relationship to God is of vital importance for a few very good reasons. First, as stated in the Westminster shorter catechism: “Man’s primary purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” We cannot glorify the Lord if we do not know what he wants us to do or how he wants us to live. Secondly, we cannot expect God to bless us if we do not carry out his decrees, and of course, every one of us wants God’s blessing

For example, God caused John the Baptist to be filled with the spirit even from before his birth while he was yet in his mother’s womb. (Luke 1:15). Also, if we look at the instance when Elizabeth was filled with the holy spirit upon being greeted by Mary, (Luke 1:41), it seems as though she was filled non-electively, so to speak, in other words she had no choice but to be filled with the Holy Spirit. There are several other instances of this kind of filling, or this event of filling, but in each particular occurrence it seems as though the purpose of the filling was to be a sign of the coming of a New age or dispensation. The reason that I would say this is that as far as I know there are really no other instances of this ‘spontaneous filling’ after the church had been firmly established. Thus, it appears that the event of the filling of the Holy Spirit was not conditional other than presumably one had to be a believer in God in order to be filled, though, this may not have been the case for John the

I have already given a definition for the filling, namely, that it is basically allowing the Holy Spirit to have control in and of our lives. By time I am referring to that standard definition having to do with the; “measurable period during which an action, process or condition exists or continues.” As humans we are restricted by the bonds of time and consequently, everything that we do is thereby bound, to a certain extent, by time as well. As I previously pointed out, we have been commanded by God to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18). The imperative present tense here implies that it is not something that has been done in the past or will be done in the future but is to be done now, at this current time. So, to answer the previous question, yes, the filling of the Holy Spirit does have some sort of relationship to time. It takes time for a believer to learn how to turn the control of his life over to God and to find out what it means to let God lead. Thus, we can see that it takes time to be filled with the Spirit. However, it does not necessarily take the same amount of time for everyone as it is partially dependent on the closeness of the individual’s walk with God and also, on his desire to draw closer to