Day 132 - 2 Chronicles 1-6

ONE-YEAR JOURNEY OF THE BIBLE
Day 132 - 2 Chronicles 1-6 (How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit)
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"...when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying: 
        "For He is good, 
        For His mercy endures forever,"  
that the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God."  (2 Chronicles 5:13b-14)

What an awesome experience it must have been for the people who were there at the dedication of the temple which Solomon built when it was filled with the cloud of the glory of the LORD which is the Spirit of God.  Yet even that experience cannot compare with the experience of the Christian who is filled with the Holy Spirit.

The New Testament teaches that those who have been born again of the Spirit of God (John 3:5) have become the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) as I explained in a recent post.  But just as the temple of God in the Old Testament was not always filled with the Spirit of God, the believer in Christ also may not be filled with the Holy Spirit.

So, how does a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ become filled with the Holy Spirit, you may ask?  Firstly, Christians are commanded by God to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), therefore, we can be sure that it is not only possible for every believer believer to be filled with the Spirit but that it is imperative that they are.   

Secondly, the believer must meet the two most basic requirements to be filled with the Spirit:  Be free from any unconfessed sin and believe by faith that you are filled with the Spirit.  The Bible says that followers of Christ must rid themselves from all sin (2 Corinthians 7:1) and to confess all known sins to God (1 John 1:9).  If we do, God promises to cleanse us from ALL our sins.

After we have confessed all known sins to God and have received cleansing of all our sins (salvation paid for the penalty of sin but confession cleanses from day to day sins - see John 13:10), we are now clean vessels which the Holy Spirit can fill.

But just as the true believer is saved by believing in faith that Jesus has once and for all pardoned all his sins and have given him the gift of eternal life, so also, the true believer is filled with the Spirit by believing in faith that he is - because God has commanded it and because he is a clean vessel after he has confessed all known sins and have received cleansing of all his sins.

"God, please forgive me of all my filthy thoughts and actions which are sins against you.  Thank you for cleansing me of all my sins now.  Thank you that you have filled me with your Holy Spirit.  Help me to walk according to your Spirit so that you can use me to bring glory to yourself.  In Jesus name, amen."