The Best of the Portals of Prayer

Read: Zechariah 4:1-6 // Psalm 143

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…”
Job 16:13

On Being Filled with the Spirit

Someone asked Martin Luther, “sir, do you feel you are saved?” He answered, “no, I don’t feel I am saved; I know on the ground of God’s Word that I am saved.” His certainty and that of other Christians came not from feelings, but from God’s Word. Feelings are not the way to certainty; certainty is the way to feelings. When we rest on feelings, our certainty vanishes as soon as we do not feel well.
The Work of the Holy Spirit centers in functions, not feelings. Feelings do not cause us to be filled with the Spirit, nor are they the sign that we are filled. What is important is the actual presence of the Holy Spirit, not the sensation of His presence.
In possessing and expressing the fruit of the Spirit; “love, joy, peace …” we show that we are filled with the Spirit [Galatians 5:22-23].
Like every other gift of God, the filling or anointing of the Holy Spirit is received by Faith. Believing that we are filled with the Spirit is taking God at His Word. To continue in the Holy Spirit is to continue in Christ’s Word.

O Holy Spirit, You brought me to Christ; now keep me in Jesus Christ, and make me like Him in all things. Amen.

September 30, 1980