The Spirit-filled Life
“Satan has opposed the doctrine of the Spirit-filled life about as bitterly as any other doctrine there is. He has confused it, opposed it, surrounded it with false notions and fears. He has blocked every effort of the Church of Christ to receive from the Father her divine and blood-bought patrimony. The Church has tragically neglected this great liberating truth – that there is now for the child of God a full and wonderful and completely satisfying anointing with the Holy Ghost.” – A.W. Tozer
“What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? The fullness of the Holy Spirit is a relationship with the indwelling third Person of the Trinity whereby He is permitted to exercise His holy influence over every area of your life. The result is the fruit of Christ-likeness revealed through your personality. This beautiful effect increases as you mature spiritually. Fullness by the Spirit releases God’s power in you so that by His strength and energy you can live and minister. (Ministry includes every manner of service in the Name of Christ regardless of how insignificant it seems in the eyes of men.) Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control become descriptive of the kind of person you are” (Galatians 5:22-23). – Jerald R. White, Jr.
“For a healthy Christian life, it is indispensable that we should be fully conscious that we have received the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. Let us even weary Him by our incessant entreaties that the Holy Spirit may again assume His rightful place and exercise full dominion in ourselves and in the church.” – Andrew Murray
(Sunrise over the frozen lake.)
God’s been quietly speaking to me about being filled with the Holy Spirit as well. The son of the president of our ministry, Ben Cerullo, spoke at our chapel this last Wednesday and it was amazingly anointed. He was completely transformed about 2 years ago and everyone could see it. He was tremendously rebellious in his teen years and twenties and came back to the Lord quite a few years ago, but still had some of that spirit in what he was doing. Somehow God grabbed him and it has been amazing to see the transformation. I’ve been in many services where I would hear the people say “I feel the Spirit in this place,” and I just didn’t get it because I didn’t sense anything. I would ask God, “Am I missing something?” Honestly, I don’t think most of the time that I was. Well, I could definitely sense that the Spirit was all over Ben and in the words that he spoke and it was very convicting and powerful. He speaks a lot about completely giving yourself over to God, being willing to sacrifice everything for Him, spending hours in fasting in prayer until the Lord breaks you and can then use you. He says we have to stop playing church and believes persecution is coming to the church in America because God has let us try to do it our way and we’ve failed miserably. I don’t know what else to say but that I’m glad there is at least one person in this ministry that seems to be connected into the true Vine.