EPHESIANS 5:17–18 SAYS, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” These verses indicate that it is possible to know the will of the Lord for our lives. God’s will is that believers be filled to overflowing with His Spirit.
How can you tell if a person is filled with the Holy Spirit? Someone said, “I’m filled with the Holy Spirit because I spoke with tongues years ago.” (See Acts 2:4 and Acts 10:45–46). But I agree with D. L. Moody, who once said, “Living only on past experiences is living on stale manna.”
Ephesians 5:18 says, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but BE filled with the Spirit.” In other words, to be filled with the Spirit is to be filled now in the present tense. It’s a continual, ongoing action, not something that occurred once, sometime in the past.
Greek scholars note that in Ephesians 5:18, the Greek words for “be filled” mean “be being filled” with the Holy Spirit. That is to say, we are to maintain a constant experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Romans 12:11 says, “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” Notice the expression “fervent in spirit.” In the Revised Standard Version, this same phrase is translated “be aglow with the Spirit.” James Moffatt’s translation (The Bible, A New Translation) says, “Maintain the glow.” I like that one best. That’s what the Lord wants us to do: maintain the glow of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is God speaking to us personally. And we know that God’s Word is His will.
If you’re filled with the Spirit and maintaining the glow, you will have a song in your heart.
HEBREWS 1:1—2
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days SPOKEN UNTO US BY HIS SON, whom he hath appointed heir of all things.
Romans 12:11 states that it is God’s will for us to be “fervent in spirit,” or to maintain the glow of the Holy Spirit. Another translation of Romans 12:11 tells us to be “on fire with the Spirit” (Goodspeed).
In following God’s plan for your life, maintaining a Spirit-filled life is just as important as receiving specific direction from the Lord about something He wants you to do. For example, you could receive specific direction from God about part of His plan for you, and you could obey it. But if you obeyed His direction strictly from a sense of duty, it still wouldn’t be God’s best for your life. There would be no fervency of spirit or glow about it, and it would be tough sledding! In other words, God’s will for your life would be difficult to fulfill.
Being filled with the Spirit, or being fervent in spirit, is recognizable. If it weren’t recognizable, you wouldn’t know whether or not you were aglow with the Holy Spirit. In
Acts 6:1–3, we see men chosen to do work for God because they were filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. They were aglow with the Spirit, and it was recognizable:
ACTS 6:1—3
1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
3 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.
The disciples didn’t look out in the world among sinners for seven honest men; they looked among Christians. Isn’t it strange that among believers they would have to say, “Look for those who are honest”? Evidently, there were some in the Church who didn’t have a reputation for being honest! An honest report was something the disciples were looking for. A person’s honesty and integrity are recognizable. These qualities can be seen in a person’s life.
Notice the second characteristic the disciples were to look for in choosing seven men to assist them: “Look ye out among you seven men…FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST” (Acts 6:3). In much the same way an honest reputation is recognizable, being filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit is also recognizable.
If you’re filled with the Spirit and maintaining the glow, you will have a song in your heart. Notice Ephesians 5:18 says, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” If you’ve got a song in your heart, you can’t help but speak it out of your mouth, because the Bible says that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34 NKJV). Speaking by the unction of the Holy Spirit in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs is something you do from your own heart—to yourself and to God.
A psalm is a spiritual poem or ode. It may rhyme or it may not. There are 150 psalms in the Old Testament that were given by the Spirit of God. Those psalms are also to benefit us today (2 Tim. 3:16). And just as those psalms were given to encourage David, the Holy Spirit will do the same for you. He’ll give you a psalm, a hymn, or a spiritual song—a supernatural utterance—to encourage you in the midst of tests and trials. It doesn’t have to be one written in a songbook.
The psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs the Holy Spirit gives register on your heart and minister to your soul because they are Holy Spirit-inspired. He’ll lift up your spirit so you can maintain the glow!
Author
Kenneth E. Hagin
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