Step 4: Be Filled with the Holy Spirit

One of the most sensational narratives in the Bible can be found in Acts 2. Peter preaches his first sermon and by the time he is done talking, 3,000 people had accepted Christ as their savior. Just a few minutes earlier Peter had been cowering along with the other apostles in his house, afraid for his life. We had seen, earlier (see Step One), how he had betrayed Jesus despite his best intentions to stay by Christ's side. What happened to this man, never known for his great courage? What made him go out among the people, some of them responsible for the death of Jesus, and proclaim the good news to them without fear?

The power of the Holy Spirit.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4)

We see this power manifest time and time again. In Acts 4, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, defends himself before the Sanhedrin, uttering words of immense wisdom. Jesus had promised this. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matthew 10:19-20)

In Acts 4:31, we find the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit speaking the word of God boldly. In Acts 6, we find Stephen, full of God's grace and power, doing great wonders and miraculous signs. In Acts 13 we find Saul, filled with the Holy Spirit, exposing the evil in people around him. Every single miracle in the New Testament performed by the apostles was through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Even the Old Testament recounts what happens when people are filled with the Spirit of God. In Judges 6:34, Scripture says the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon and we see him and his small army of 300 men securing a magnificent victory over a huge force gathered against him. In Judges 14:6, we find a similar account of Samson: The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. Scripture speaks about how the Holy Spirit moved in the lives of Moses, Joseph, David, Saul and several others in the Old Testament.

There is one notable difference, however, in how people received the Spirit in the Old Testament from how they did in the New. In the Old Testament, the Spirit was given to a few select people for a specific purpose, given by God solely according to his discretion. In the New Testament it is given to every single person who accepts Jesus as his savior. Which means that if you are a Christian who is reading this, you have the Holy Spirit within you. But if you aren't feeling his power manifest in your life, as in the lives of those we have briefly looked at, it is not because he is weak within you, but because you are not yielded to him. If you want to experience his power, simply turn yourself and all you have to Jesus. This is why the third step (see Step 3) is so important. We need to surrender everything we have into his hands. We need to surrender ourselves.

May the Spirit be with you.