The Holy Spirit brings great blessings to the life of a Christian. In the coming weeks, we will explore the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit, but today, we explore some of the other blessings identified with the “filling” of the Spirit. 

Power for Service: In Acts 1:8, Jesus specifically tells the disciples that when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they will receive the  power necessary to be his “witnesses.” In fact, so necessary is that power to our “witness,” that they were told to wait for it before they went out to witness. Over the past few days, we have also watched that powerful filling of the Spirit transform Peter from someone who was timid into someone who was bold and courageous, and into whose bold words carried the supernatural weight to save. Later, we see his confidence in the power to heal in Jesus’ name and how he credits Jesus with that healing in “witness” to him. (Acts 3:3-16) 

Hearing God’s Voice: Joel 2:28 tells us of the direct link between the pouring out of God’s Spirit and, in that instance, the gift of prophecy. We will talk about the gift of prophecy next week, but prophecy at its core is “a message from God.” It must be compared with (and found consistent with) the scriptures, but the point is that God supernaturally speaks by the Holy Spirit. We see many incidences of this in the book of Acts. For example, the Spirit tells Philip to, “Go up and join this chariot” in Acts 8:29, and Peter is told to go to Caesarea with three men who came to him from the household of Cornelius in Acts 10:19-20; 11:12. Bottom line: Spirit-filled people are better able to hear the voice of Jesus in and through all of the different ways that he may decide to speak (which, again, must all be tried against and found consistent with the teachings of the Bible). 

Love and Unity of the Church: Acts 2:42-45 gives us a picture of a Spirit-filled community. Their devotions, experiences and traits. Adding to that, Romans 5:5 tells us that our hope in Jesus “…does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” When the Spirit comes in fullness, we experience God’s love for us in a way that then naturally and irresistibly flows to others in selfless love, service and generosity. 

Power for Purity and Obedience: Romans 8:13 tells us that it is only through the power of the Spirit that we can put to death the deeds of the flesh. When the Holy Spirit comes in power, he will sometimes instantly take away some sinful desire of ours. We see an example of this in the lives of the disciples who went from arguing at Jesus’ last supper over who would be the greatest among them, to people who were happy to be the “least” here on earth, selflessly serving others and subordinating themselves and their interests to those of others. Other times, the Spirit works more slowly to empower us to put our sin to death. But, in either case, he alone brings the victory! And, in either case, we need his filling!

So, let us chase after his filling, that we, too, might be his witnesses and experience the many blessings of his fullness!