Young Adults' Group

The Filling Of The Holy Spirit

by Pastor Mark
July 22, 2021

The work of the Holy Spirit

The work of the Holy Spirit is truly vital in our life and ministry. It is especially so when we consider the kind of leadership that is Spirit-filled. Last Sunday, Pastor Charles taught us how God chose Joshua, a man especially filled with His Spirit (Numbers 27:18).

Pastor Charles also contrasted Joshua with the 70 elders who were selected to support Moses in judging the children of Israel (Numbers 11). The Lord took the Spirit who was upon Moses and placed the same on the elders. They were able to prophesy, but it turned out only to be a one-off event. There was no continuing work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

God begins a work in our lives through the Holy Spirit and how we follow-through matters. It will determine whether the Spirit would work in our life only in a general way or something more significant. The Lord Jesus Christ helps us understand this better as He elaborated concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

1. “With you”

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever” (John 14:16)

The Lord Jesus used the Greek phrase “meta humon” which means “with you”. The Holy Spirit will be with us. This is one of the first things that the Spirit will do in our lives when we are born again. He will abide with us always. It is a general work that the Spirit does for all who believe in the Lord Jesus. The challenge is for us to be conscious that the Spirit of God is with us. Our problem is that we tend to forget that He is with us…to be our Helper just as the Lord Jesus was to His disciples. Let us depend on the Spirit to help us. Let us be conscious of the Spirit of God abiding with us.

2. “Alongside you”

“The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17)

The Lord used the Greek phrase “para humin” which means to “be alongside you”. From being with us, there is another level in which the Holy Spirit will relate to us. He would be “para”…to draw closer and to be alongside us. He would relate to us more specifically. What would the Holy Spirit do as He comes alongside us? He would teach us all things. The Lord Jesus taught further, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26) There are many truths that the Holy Spirit would teach us if we give greater regard to the Lord Jesus and His Word. He would help bring to remembrance what we have learnt. Let us look to the Spirit of truth to come alongside us and to teach us all things.

3. “In you”

The Lord Jesus described a deeper level using the phrase “en humin” which means “in you”. The Holy Spirit is now located inside the person. He fills the person and does significant work in his life. For Joshua, he was specially filled with the Spirit. When he was inaugurated before the children of Israel, the Spirit of God was in him (Numbers 27:18). He was full of the Spirit. Only selected leaders would experience such a filling of the Spirit of God. The filling of the Holy Spirit will not happen unless He has been with us and has come alongside us…teaching us and causing us to remember the Word of the Lord. Let us be challenged to seek the Holy Spirit to work in us in a more significant and deeper manner.

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