“Wherefore, brethren look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.” Acts 6:3 (KJV). In the early church, business had to be conducted and it was just as important then as it is now to find honest men to handle the business dealings of the day. Notice with me however the first qualification required for this position. They had to be men not “filled” with the Holy Ghost but “full” of the Holy Ghost.
A guest speaker named Tom Lawrence from Little Falls NY, came and ministered at my home church this past Sunday. The altars were full at the end of the service as many hearts were stirred by Toms anointed preaching. I was one of those who went to the altar. The evidence was all around us that God was doing very powerful things at the altar.. As Tom prayed for me, I noticed something that I have seen over my lifetime in many men and women of God. As I looked into his eyes I could see that Tom was a man “full” of the Holy Ghost. His wife was with him and she too was being used by God to pray for people at the altar. I could also see that the Spirit of God was touching her mightily as she moved about. Somehow in today’s modern day church we are forgetting to teach much about the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and men and women being “full” of the Spirit of God.
While I was preaching in the northeast under a God called anointing as a revivalist over a several year period, I came to realize that there are clear patterns affecting revival in churches. To be honest, although I mailed out hundreds of letters telling about my intercessory prayer and prophetic ministry, initially only a small percentage ever invited me to come and preach. Of those however who did invite me to come, a large percentage had me come back and minister again and some churches had me consecutive years in a row.
As a result, I was able to observe what was happening in those churches over a period of time. It always seemed to be the faithful few, the remnant if you will, who would be both praying over the meetings and also going to the altar to pray at the end of each service. Likewise, there was another group who invariably would come, sit through the services and be totally unmoved. Although a strong presence of the Lord could be sensed in every meeting, as the Word of God with divine empowerment was coming forth from my mouth, there they would sit. I said it was like “bumps on a hickory stump.” They never responded to a single altar call and usually were the first ones out the door at the end of each service.
I know that there currently mockery out there in the body of Christ about fasting; I heard the mockery myself at a conference I attended recently. God personally dealt with me about fasting over time. The Holy Spirit is such a gentleman, and He never overwhelmed me about it. It was always just there as something in my heart prior to every meeting I ever preached. All that I will say about that is that it is very Biblical to fast. Days that I did fast brought the increased empowerment on His Word as could tell in my voice as I preached. Also, there were added results that would follow at the altars on the days I fasted that I did were especially evident to me. Fasting simply puts the flesh to death for a short period of time as we commit to praying more than we normally would with diligence that we normally would not have. Although this may sound foreign to some, we serve a God who Jesus said to the woman at the well, is a Spirit. As such His ways are higher than our ways. If we are to be men and women who are “full” of the Spirit of God then we should fast and pray as He enables us.
I believe that there are far too many, and possibly far more than people want to admit church-going attendees who are not only not “full of His Spirit,” they are not truly born again. As I have said before “Christians do not backslide into the deep sins of the world, they most often backslide into religious practice.”
There is no such thing as categories of Christians. Simply put, it is not found anywhere in scripture. There is no such thing as a Christian, who is not called, first to be filled with His Holy Spirit, and then to stay “full” of the Spirit on an everyday basis. To embrace Christ is to embrace His cross. To embrace His cross, you have to take up your cross. In taking up your cross you have to understand the whole reason for His crucifixion was so that His sinless body could pay the only price payable so that His “Holy” Spirit could come into us and cleanse us and empower us.
God the Father knew that the only way to become a Christian who anyone would ever want to follow is to get filled with the Holy Ghost, and then stay “full” of the Holy Ghost and power.
The Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:15 (KJV) says “That ye may be blameless and harmless. The sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” Paul’s clear intention here was to show us that we can be “harmless” and “blameless” by being men and women “full” of the Holy Ghost! “Yes we may have been filled with the Spirit once, but we leak!” Keep seeking!
How by getting “full” of the Holy Ghost!
I pay a visit each day a few web pages and blogs to read
posts, however this website provides feature based articles.