ONE-YEAR JOURNEY OF THE BIBLE
Day 100 - 1 Kings 8-9 (Be Filled With the Spirit of God)
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"And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD." (1 Kings 8:10-11)
In our Scripture reading for today, Solomon had just finished building the temple of God in Jerusalem and he commanded that the Ark of God be brought in by the priests. As soon as the priests had set the Ark in its place and had left the holy place, we read that the cloud, representing the Spirit of God, "filled the house of the Lord."
In the Old Testament, God's house or temple was made out of physical building materials such as animal skin as in the case of the tent or stones and wood as in the case of the temple of Solomon. The permanent location of God's house was to be the temple mount in Jerusalem. In the New Testament, however, God's house is no longer the physical temple in Jerusalem but rather, it is the very bodies of the believers in Christ, as the apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthian believers:
"Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)
Just as God filled his house in the old testament at certain times throughout the old testament, God also fills Christians who are called the temple of God today. In fact, Christians are commanded by God to be filled with the Holy Spirit: "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit..." (Ephesians 5:18) How then can we as Christians be filled with the Spirit?
To be filled with the Spirit of God, one must first and foremost be a child of God. Jesus said, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.." (John 1:12). After one becomes a child of God by faith in Christ, the believer must believe that he or she can be filled and must be filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit is no different than being born by the Spirit in salvation; both are an act of faith on the part of the believer.
Assuming the believer believes that he can be filled with the Spirit, he must make sure that he is a clean vessel to be filled by the Spirit of the Holy God. This is where confession and repentance come in. The believer in Christ must confess all known sins to God through Christ our priest and must genuinely be sorry for them. The Bible says that God cannot be mocked. God know our hearts and will not fill the person who is not genuinely repentant.
Assuming that the believer has no unconfessed sin in his life, he must believe that he is filled with the Spirit of God and he is. Being filled with the Spirit is a moment by moment experience not unlike breathing air for life. Apart from the Spirit of God filling a person, that person is aimlessly drifting outside the will of God. Such a person, although saved, is powerless to do anything of worth in the sight of God. God uses those who are willing and clean and who have the faith to believe that they are filled with the Spirit of God.
"O Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank you that I am filled with your Spirit. Help me to be sensitive to any sin that will hinder my fellowship with you. Use me by the power of your Spirit to do your will and your work through me. In Jesus name, amen."
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