Spirit Filled
Prisoners from a revolutionary group called the Irish Republican Army (IRA) had made five demands: the right to wear [non prison] clothes; the right not to do prison work; the right to freedom of association; the right to their own leisure activities; and the right to [reduction of their sentence].
- Difficulty standing
- Sluggishness
- A chilled feeling
- Lack of comprehension
- Vision loss
These effects are apparent in God’s assessment of the Laodicean church.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: Revelation 3:17
The only way that we can survive is to be Spirit filled.
Spirit filled is not simply an identity. It is an active, earnest and honest way of living our Christian life. To be Spirit filled, we cannot measure our self by the appetite of others. Only we and God know if we are truly spiritually filled or spiritually starving. There are so many ways to starve spiritually but let me share what’s on my heart. There is a scripture in 2 Timothy chapter 3 that paints a vivid picture of our end-time generation.
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3:7
As I write this, we are in an area with little to no cell phone reception. I wish I could display my shining halo and tell you that I have no problems with not connecting to the outside world. But this week I realize just how attached that we have become to the world around us. Yes, I said we because you’re paddling in the same boat as I am. We are living in the most information driven age in history. With the rise of social media, we now know when someone has a new friend, when they’ve bought a new dog, when they’ve fed the dog, when they’ve walked the dog, etc. We know so many details about so many unimportant things. Now don’t take me wrong, I thank God for information and education because I would want an educated surgeon to be the one sticking a knife into me. Obviously the knowledge of Greek and Hebrew is very valuable to understand the Bible in it’s original language. But education did not birth the new testament church and it certainly will not keep it alive. The new testament church was started by men and women who were full of the Holy Ghost. They were so filled that an uneducated fisherman, by the name of Peter, got up before a massive crowd and preached Jesus Christ. As a result, 3,000 souls were saved by that one message. Paul the apostle, despite his highly educated background felt the need to write:
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God. Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 2 Corinthians 3:5-6
Knowledge of natural food will not add one pound to your body.
A person can memorize a recipe book from cover to cover. They may understand the exact ingredients of each recipe, but unless they eat, they will surely die! Knowledge of the truth does absolutely no good unless we apply to our lives. As a child, I loved to play outside so much that my mother would have to practically drag me out of the woods to eat supper. I knew that supper was ready but I was so wrapped up in the pleasure of the moment that I had lost my desire to eat. As Christians, we live such distracted, pleasure oriented lives. I can just see God standing at the door of Heaven with life giving bread in His hand, patiently waiting on us to feast at His table. So in this information saturated age, we need to be so careful that we are not stuffing ourselves with a carnal diet and starving ourselves spiritually.