If you look around, you can see darkness coming upon our land.  There is no denying it.  Just watch the news.  It’s depressing.  And the church is not immune to what happens in the culture.  In fact, the church often follows the culture to its own demise, which is what we are seeing today.  We are in the early stages of the great apostasy Jesus warned us about in Matthew 24.  But we also have a mighty weapon to confront the darkness.  And that weapon is the Holy Spirit.  So the most important question we can ask ourselves is this: How can I be filled with the Hoy Spirit?  How can I have more of Him in me?

But when it comes to the Holy Spirit, many of us are confused and conflicted as to what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Is it a Charismatic thing or is it for everyone?  Is it something that comes naturally, or do we have to ask for this filling?  And if we have to ask, are there any conditions we must meet first?  Again, if there are conditions, what are they?

Ah, so many questions and so much confusion.

D.L. Moody once spoke about the need to be filled by the Spirit (and he was a pretty non-Charismatic guy.  Look at what he said:

“I believe firmly, that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and self-seeking, and everything that is contrary to God’s law, the Holy Ghost will come and fill every corner of our hearts.  But if we are full of pride and conceit, and ambition and self-seeking, and pleasure and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God; and I believe many a man is praying to God to fill him when he is full already with something else.  Before we pray that God would fill us, I believe we ought to pray Him to empty us.”

I couldn’t agree with him more.  But how is someone filled by the Holy Spirit?

How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit

The key to living a life of assurance and confidence in Him is learning how to remain filled with the Holy Spirit.  And before you can remain filled, you have to be filled in the first place.  This is what this message talks about.

We talk about some steps you can take to prepare yourself for His filling.  They are as follows:

First, you must desire to live a life that will please the Lord.

Second, be willing to surrender your life totally and irrevocably to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Third, confess every known sin that the Holy Spirit calls to your remembrance and experience the cleansing and forgiveness that God promises in 1 John 1:9.

Fourth, ask Him, by faith, to fill you with the Holy Spirit. You can pray something like this:

Dear Father, I need You.
I hunger and thirst for a more vital relationship with You. I admit that I have been in control of my life. And, as a result, I have sinned against You. Thank You for forgiving my sins through Christ’s death on the cross for me. I now confess and turn from my sins and surrender the control of my life to the Lord Jesus. By faith, I invite You to fill me with the Holy Spirit as You commanded me to be filled. You promised to fill me if I ask according to Your will. I pray this in the authority of the name of Jesus Christ.

To demonstrate my faith, I now thank You for filling me with Your Holy Spirit and for taking control of my life. Amen.

But that’s not the end of it.  There is so much more about all this that we cannot do it justice in this simple summary.  To find out more, you will need to keep listening.

The following is a study on How to Be Filled by the Holy Spirit.

To download the slides to this message, click – HERE