The Holy Spirit
A post exploring the “infilling” of the Holy Spirit.
I aim to explore on this site how to live out Christ-centered relationships, and I felt led to write a post about the main person who helps reflect the love of Christ in our lives. I hope this post launches you into deep exploration and reflection. I hope it excites and renews your flame for Christ. And if this information is a refresher course, I hope you bask in the peace that is the practice of these truths.
Let's talk about the Holy Spirit.
Being a Christian involves embracing the Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He sent us an “Advocate” and “Helper.” ( John 15:26-27, John 14:26). So many of us are acquainted with the role of God and Jesus but less so with the Holy Spirit. And many of us live as followers of Christ without activating the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. A relationship with the Holy Spirit is the way to be tapped into what the Lord has for you and what He has called you to. The Holy Spirit knows the things of God intimately, and He reveals those things to us (1 Corinthians 2:10). He warns us, confirms things within us, and directs us. We need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and yield to Him to effectively lead lives that advance the kingdom of God (John 16:13-15).
When someone repents and accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live in them ( John 14:17). Said differently, He comes to indwell within them (2 Corinthians 6:16). This experience is often referred to as “getting saved.” However, there's more to salvation than avoiding hell. There's a gift also available for us to live for Christ with power ( Acts 1:6) . The power I am referring to is not our power to wield as we will, but the power of the Holy Spirit, which we have access to once we become infilled. The evidence of being infilled with the Holy Spirit is speaking in other tongues ( Acts 2:4, Acts 19:6). The other tongues are an unknown language, your prayer language, which connects you to the Holy Spirit. Your prayer language is for building you up and is meant to be something you tap into daily. God gave us a prayer language to enjoy deeper worship and pray out mysteries (1 Corinthians 14:2). There are things we can't pray in our knowledge that praying through the Spirit addresses; there's direction we don't even know to ask for in our “known language” that we can pray when we're infilled with the Holy Spirit.
There is a misconception about speaking in other tongues that tripped me up for years, even after I was infilled with the Holy Spirit. It negatively impacted my faith and, thus, my prayer life. I've had people tell me in the past that speaking in tongues is not for everyone, and that's partially true, but only because the words can be confusing. Speaking in Other Tongues is one of the nine ministry Spiritual Gifts ( 1 Corinthians 12:8-11), which always operates in a corporate setting in conjunction with the Interpretation of Tongues (1 Corinthians 14: 27-28). The Holy Spirit gives every believer at least one spiritual gift. The spiritual ministry gift for corporate gatherings is not given to every believer. That's what is referred to when the bible says that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts “severally” ( 1 Corinthians 12:11) . Your prayer language, however, is available to every believer once they receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
For the past few years, I've been learning so much about the Holy Spirit and engaging my prayer language like never before. It's been life-changing for my walk, and I've grown so much in the knowledge of Christ as a result. God wants this for you, too. God desires you to experience the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. Teaching is not a gift of mine, but I gave an intro here to launch you into a deeper exploration of the Holy Spirit if this is new to you. The resources below will help you better understand these concepts. I learned everything I've written in this post from reading these books, reading scripture, and applying it in my life.
Kenneth Hagin describes in his book that being infilled with the Holy Spirit is a gift readily available for you to receive ( he describes “the how” as well). My deep hope and prayer is that you choose not only to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit through salvation but also to be infilled with His power operating through you.