Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is God, and is the third person of the Trinity. When someone chooses to repent and follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit is given as a deposit guaranteeing their inheritance & salvation and helping them to walk through life with God and to look more like Him.

Before Jesus’ death and resurrection, He said: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognise Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)

According to the Bible, walking with God is not possible without the active enabling of his Holy Spirit. In a mysterious way, God promises not only to be with us, for us, ahead of us, behind us, beneath and above us - but also in us, through his Holy Spirit who takes up residence in the lives of those who open themselves to him. We may or may not always sense his presence but learning to ‘keep in step’ with the Holy Spirit is a key to living as Jesus’ follower; actively partnering with him by listening, developing a sensitivity to his ways, responding in trusting obedience to his promptings.

Just as a sponge needs regular soaking in order to be filled and effective, so God exhorts us to be filled again and again with his life-giving Spirit in order to know the enabling we need to fulfil his purposes

There is no formula to this - no set place or context within which being filled with the Holy Spirit happens or doesn’t. It is not dependent on your good behaviour, level of maturity, feelings, circumstances etc.