How to Pray in Faith to be Filled
with the Holy Spirit
We are filled with the Holy Spirit by faith alone. However, true prayer is one way of expressing your faith. The following is a suggested prayer:
"Dear Father, I need You. I acknowledge that I have been directing my own life and that, as a result, I have sinned against You. I thank You that You have forgiven my sins through Christ's death on the cross for me. I now invite Christ to again take His place on the throne of my life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit as You commanded me to be filled, and as You promised in Your Word that You would do if I asked in faith. I now thank You for directing my life and for filling me with the Holy Spirit."
Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? If so, bow in prayer and trust God to fill you with the Holy Spirit right now.
How to Know That You are Filled (Directed
and Empowered) with the Holy Spirit
Did you ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit? Do you know that you are now filled with the Holy Spirit? On what authority? (On the trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word: Hebrews 11:66And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him; Romans 14:22, 2322The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.23But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from.)
Do not depend upon feelings. The promise of God's Word, not our feelings, is our authority. The Christian lives by faith (trust) in the trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word. This train diagram illustrates the relationship between fact (God and His Word), faith (our trust in God and His Word), and feeling (the result of our faith and obedience) ( John 14:2121He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.).
The train will run with or without the caboose. However, it would be futile to attempt to pull the train by the caboose. In the same way, we, as Christians, do not depend upon feelings or emotions, but we place our faith (trust) in the trustworthiness of God and the promises of His Word.
How to Walk in the Spirit
Faith (trust in God and in His promises) is the only means by which a Christian can live the Spirit-directed life. As you continue to trust Christ moment by moment:
Your life will demonstrate more and more of the fruit of the Spirit
( Galatians 5:22, 2322But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.) and will be more and more conformed to the image of Christ ( Romans 12:22And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.; 2 Corinthians 3:1818But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.).
Your prayer life and study of God's Word will become more meaningful.
You will experience His power in witnessing ( Acts 1:88but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.).
You will be prepared for spiritual conflict against the world ( 1 John 2:15-1715Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.17The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.); against the flesh (Galatians 5:16-1716But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.17For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.); and against Satan (1 Peter 5:7-97casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.8Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.9But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world; Ephesians 6:10-1310Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.13Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.).
You will experience His power to resist temptation and sin
(1 Corinthians 10:1313No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.; Philippians 4:1313I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.; Ephesians 1:19-2319and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might20which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,21far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.22And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.;
2 Timothy 1:77For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.; Romans 6:1-161What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?2May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.5For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,6knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;7for he who has died is freed from sin.8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.11Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,13and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.14For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!16Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?).
Spiritual Breathing
By faith you can continue to experience God's love and forgiveness.
If you become aware of an area of your life (an attitude or an action) that is displeasing to the Lord, even though you are walking with Him and sincerely desiring to serve Him, simply thank God that He has forgiven your sins - past, present and future - on the basis of Christ's death on the cross. Claim His love and forgiveness by faith and continue to have fellowship with Him.
If you retake the throne of your life through sin - a definite act of disobedience - breathe spiritually.
Spiritual breathing (exhaling the impure and inhaling the pure) is an exercise in faith that enables you to continue to experience God's love and forgiveness.
Exhale - confess your sin - agree with God concerning your sin and thank Him for His forgiveness of it, according to 1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. and Hebrews 10:1-251For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.2Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?3But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.4For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.5Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, "Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, But a body You have prepared for Me; 6In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure. 7"Then I said, `Behold, I have come (In the scroll of the book it is written of Me) To do Your will, O god.'"8After saying above, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the Law),9then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will." He takes away the first in order to establish the second.10By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.11Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;12but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,13waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.14For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.15And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, 16"This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, And on their mind I will write them," He then says, 17"And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."18Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.19Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,20by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,21and since we have a great priest over the house of God,22let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;24and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,25not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.. Confession involves repentance - a change in attitude and action.
Inhale - surrender the control of your life to Christ, and appropriate (receive) the fullness of the Holy Spirit by faith. Trust that He now directs and empowers you; according to the command of Ephesians 5:1818And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,, and the promise of
1 John 5:14, 1514This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.15And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
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Millions of copies of the booklet, "Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-filled Life?" have been distributed in most major languages around the world. As a result, thousands of Christians have learned how to experience the power and control of the Holy Spirit, moment by moment. Through the abundant life which Christ promises, and which they are now experiencing, they have become more effective in sharing their faith in Christ with others. Experience has confirmed the validity of Christ's command to the disciples to wait until they were empowered by the Holy Spirit before going forth to the world to share the good news of His love and forgiveness. Most Christians, when they have learned this truth concerning the Holy Spirit, want to be actively sharing Christ and helping to fulfill the Great Commission in our generation.
