“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:9-13
The baptism/sealing of the believer with/in the Holy Spirit happens simultaneously with your conversion to Christ. In repentance and faith, it is universally given to all believers. It is unrepeatable and permanent.
The filling of the Holy Spirit is a metaphor describing our continuous, ongoing experience and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. For you to be filled with the Spirit is to come under His influence and control throughout the experience of a Christian's life.
HOW TO BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT:
1. Embrace an attitude of daily need/thirst...
"On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."' Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." John 7:37-39
2. ...Which leads to the pursuit/effort to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue." 2 Peter 1:3-5
“Asking does not mean a casual request. You suddenly feel like it and you make your request, then you forget all about it by the next morning. In true asking, there is a kind of urgency, there is a refusal to be content with anything less than the answer. This is where this knocking comes in. You do not merely shout from a distance, you go on and you approach nearer and nearer, and at last you are, as it were, hammering at the door…You will never know the heights of the Christian life without effort. You have to strive for these things – There is a seeking, knocking, and an importunity." Martin Lloyd-Jones, Joy Unspeakable, p. 167, 169
3. Those who want to experience the power of the Holy Spirit MUST seek to maintain a purity of heart. Sin grieves the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30-31, James 4:7-8, Hebrews 1:9, Jude 23, Romans 12:9).
4. Pray for it (Luke 11:13).
“It will be best to see that, since from a post-Pentecost early church perspective, the greatest gift that God can bestow is the Spirit, Luke wants it to be seen that God's parental bounty applies not just to everyday needs, (already well represented in the text in the Lord's Prayer) but even reaches so far as to his greatest possible gift.” John Nolland, World Biblical Commentary - Luke, p. 362
“Since this exhortation is addressed to believers, the 'children' of Father, the giving of the Spirit in response to prayer cannot refer to one's initial experience of salvation. The prayer is not by a lost person needing a first time indwelling of the Spirit, but by people who already have the Spirit, but stand in need of a greater fullness, a more powerful anointing to equip and empower them for ministry.” Sam Storms
“God is willing to bestow this blessing on all who seek it, period. If we possess it not, we should inquire what there is in us which has occasioned God to withhold it from us. We should beg of God to take away from us the hardness of heart which incapacitates us for it, and we should live more on the promises that by them it may be imparted to our souls.” Charles Simeon
QUESTIONS:
1. In light of the verse below, what would one mean if the statement was made: The Holy Spirit never does an end run around the glory and majesty of Jesus?
"He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you." John 16:14
2. In what sense does the Holy Spirit make the reality of the triune God real and tangible?
3. How does the approach compare to that of Ulysses to the call of the sirens? How is his approach distinct from the response of Jason and the Argonauts with the gifted musician Orpheus in the boat?
4. What do we mean when we pray: Holy Spirit, please bring the music and the wonder of the grace of Christ in my life?