Stay Filled with the Spirit (Part 2)

The purpose of being filled with the Spirit and praying in other tongues is to help you stay sensitive and yielded to the Spirit. This baptism of the Holy Spirit enables you to draw out the wisdom God deposited in your born-again spirit and access the mind of Christ. But even after receiving this new dimension of the Spirit—the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues—it is our choice whether we stay more filled or less filled with the Spirit. 

The following verse in Acts 4 reveals that the disciples who had already been filled with the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost were filled again with the Holy Spirit. 

“And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness,” (Acts 4:31).

This verse reveals to us that being filled with the Spirit is not just a one-time experience. Though it does begin there, being filled with (and staying full of) the Holy Spirit is a daily choice. Let’s look at another key passage of Scripture showing the connection between being filled with the Spirit and wisdom. 

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,” (Ephesians 5:15-18).

The Apostle Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote this to a group of Ephesian disciples who had already received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Acts 19 records that event. While in Ephesus, Paul asked a group of believers if they had received the Holy Spirit since they believed. The disciples responded that they had not even heard about the Holy Spirit. Paul shared this subsequent baptism into the Spirit with them, and they were all filled with the Spirit and spoke in tongues (Acts 19:1-6). Now Paul is encouraging this same group of disciples to continue to be filled with the Spirit. The literal translation here is “be being filled,” which requires a lifestyle of staying full of the Spirit. 

Notice that Paul also connects staying filled with the Spirit to being wise, redeeming the time, and understanding what the will of the Lord is. It takes wisdom to make the best use of our time. Ephesians 5 goes on to address additional aspects of staying filled with the Spirit. 

“Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God,” (Ephesians 5:19-21).

Immediately after telling us to stay continually filled with the Spirit, Paul shares these verses to tell us how we are to do that. We can break this passage down into four categories of actions that help us stay full of the Holy Spirit. 

1. Encouraging others in the Word and song (v. 19) 
2. Singing and making melody in your heart to   the Lord (v. 19) 
3. Giving thanks always (v. 20) 
4. Submitting to one another in the fear of the Lord (v. 21) 

I want to emphasize the last two traits that assist us in staying full of the Spirit. First, “giving thanks always.” Another verse of Scripture that supports this idea says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Giving thanks in the midst of everything is the will of God and releases the wisdom of God in our lives. Being thankful in everything, not for everything, is the will of God for you and me. 

The second trait I want to focus on is “submitting to one another in the fear of the Lord.” True submission involves a heart that respects all authority in our life. Jesus did not use the “God card” to excuse Himself from submitting to His parents’ authority, yet many Christians do this. When Jesus stayed behind at the temple and his parents came searching for Him, He could have said, “Didn’t you know I must be about My Father’s business? You all go home, and I will see you later.” He didn’t do that. The Bible tells us He went with them and was subject to, or submitted to, them. And because of that Scripture says He grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man (Luke 2:51-52). 

It is not possible to submit to God without submitting to the authorities He has placed in your life. Let me clarify: I am not talking about being a doormat to others or submitting to any type of abuse. If that is what you are experiencing at the hand of the authorities in your life, you need to seek help. You may need to find a way to leave that situation. But anarchy and rebellion against all authority is not the remedy for your experience with or abuse by authority. Rather, trusting in God and staying full of the Spirit is. 

Another important truth about submission is that submission is not the same as agreement. You haven’t begun to submit until you are willing to do what someone in authority asks of you when you do not agree or want to do it. I’m not talking about doing anything that violates the Word of God or is sin. But being willing to do what your flesh doesn’t want is a character trait of being full of the Spirit. It is a major key in drawing on God’s wisdom for your life! 

“If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land,” (Isaiah 1:19).

According to this verse, our willingness is just as important as our obedience as we submit ourselves to various authorities in our lives. 

I want to close by sharing with you the benefit of praying in other tongues. Look at these verses that reveal the connection between praying in your spiritual language (tongues) and accessing the wisdom of God. 

“For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God…however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries,” (1 Corinthians 14:2). 

“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,” (1 Corinthians 2:7).

By connecting these two verses, we receive a powerful revelation. When we pray in tongues we speak mysteries, and those mysteries are the wisdom of God. When we pray in the Spirit (other tongues), we draw the mind of Christ and wisdom of God up from our spirits to our minds. 

When we merged our first church with another in Houston, Texas, we began praying and seeking the Lord about our next step in ministry. One day as I was praying in the Spirit, the desire to be in Houston suddenly left my heart. We had lived in Houston for twenty years, so this change in desire surprised me. But it lined up with what the Holy Spirit had shown me about Jesus moving His ministry base from Nazareth to the northern areas of Galilee and Capernaum (Matt. 4:12-13). And as I kept praying in the Spirit, I knew our next ministry assignment would be somewhere in North Texas. A few months later a door opened for us in Decatur, Texas, which is in the northern part of the state. Thank God for the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gift of praying in tongues, which God used to direct us into this new ministry assignment.  

God knows the plans He has for us (Jer. 29:11). He knows the assignments He has prepared for our lives, and as we pray in the Spirit, we can know and discover them too. 

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God,” (1 Corinthians 2:12). 

When we pray in other tongues the Bible tells us it is our spirit that is praying. When we received the Lord, we became joined to the Lord in our spirit (I Cor. 6:17). So when we are praying in tongues our spirit is praying, and we are praying the perfect will of God. Also, the wisdom of God and mind of Christ that resides in our spirit is drawn up to our mind as we pray in the Spirit. What a powerful tool we have available to us when we pray in other tongues! 

Staying full of the Spirit is something available for each of us. I encourage you to walk in the revelation I have shared with you in this chapter. Stay yielded and sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and pray in the Spirit daily. Accessing the mind of Christ and walking in the wisdom of God consistently will be your reward. 

Adapted from Greg Mohr’s Book, Walking in Wisdom