Filling of the Spirit

I struggle to understand what people mean when they say “the filling if the Spirit” or “the Holy Spirit is moving here”. I am a continuationist, and firmly believe that the Spirit is presently working in the redeemed of Christ with gifts for the life of discipleship after the Master. So categorically I affirm that the Spirit works, fills, empowers, gifts, etc. in many various ways. However, I am continually perplexed by what is exactly being communicated in the statement, “filled by the Spirit” – it’s an ambiguous phrase to me, as well as my wife. That said, I feel that the confusion is more on my side than on those who use it, and so I’m seeking to work through what it means. Below are some reflective thoughts on seeking to move myself into an understanding of what is being communicated. Not all the Scriptures in mind for these points are quoted, but there were many in mind as I worked through this.

• The Third Person of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not just Spirit, it is itself potently holy; it is holy, promotes holiness, it creates holiness. It is itself the strength of God for the name of God. (Rf. Rom. 1:4, 8:13, Eph. 1:13,14, Rev. 1:4,12,16, 20 – where the perfect (7) Spirit is shown to be the foundation of the church, held in the hand of power of Christ).
• This is why, fundamentally, on Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit is mainly, and chiefly expressed in the preaching of the Gospel. (Rf. Acts 2:4 runs immediately into v. 14 – 5-13 is a parenthesis of sorts.)
• A foundational action of the Spirit is birthing believers into a clear, permanent, and pervasive distinction with the world. (Rf. John 3:3, Titus 2:4-8, Jer. 31:33 with Ezek. 11:19-20, Phil. 2:13,1 Cor. 2:12,14-15.)
• We are all born into a state of being ruled by the spirit of “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2).
• One of the things that comes out of this powerful phrase Paul uses is that air itself is permeating. There is something that we are born into, something that engulfs us, that in some serious sense, sustains us, nourishes us, and replenishes us.
• Air, to our physical bodies, must be present for us to live. Air, in a spiritual sense, is ruled by spiritual forces, and thereby derives what sort of nurturing it shall have.
• We know from this verse and Eph. 6:12 that the spirit of the power of the air is at war with God. The air of this world is being ruled by Satan; those of this world belong to him, they breath his air, they follow his rule.
• For the Holy Spirit to come and “fill us” is in some very real sense capturing the positive contrary of Eph. 2:2 – the Spirit of the power of God filling us.
• There are fundamentally two kingdoms in the universe, that of light, and that of darkness; flesh and spirit, life and death, God and Satan, holy and sin. The Holy Spirit “filling believers” is what God does to those who belong to them, weaning them off the World by the superior power of his presence within them.
• So, more fully, we can say that the Spirit fills believers to their promotion in holiness and sanctification, which is for the believer what the strength of God does. Jesus perfected us, and we are sanctified in him (Heb. 9:28), and therefore, the Spirit is working in us, being our air of his power, so to cause us to change to a different rule.
• We experience living under the rule of the power of the air felt natural and normal before the illumination to saving faith in a believer – it can also be said that the living in the Spirit is natural and normal (compared to fanciful flights of imaginative and preposterous stories). However, it can also be terribly uncomfortable, and uneasy seeing that we are corrupted in our nature to feel more at home with sin and wickedness than holiness and righteousness. The point here, however, is that spiritual existence is a “normal and natural” thing – it is the master you are under that determines how things are played out and to what end.
• The experiential note of the “filling of the Holy Spirit” is, to some degree, that holy sense of the value of the cross, and the redemption purchased there in being presently, actively, and powerfully applied to our existence.
• The “filling” is also that deep sense of the value of God in a new way. Phrases like “a fresh filling” are, for me, unhelpful at times. A renewed sense of the value, beauty, worth, and glory of God in some new understanding of him, or a deeper resolution and power for holy living to God are how we experience this renewed enlarged view.
• Ergo:: The phrase “The Holy Spirit is here with us, doing X, moving Y, etc.” is a pastoral recognition of the Spirit doing this “filling” in a body of believers, not just for an individual.
• The experiential side of this can be where Michelle and I struggle, as it seems. I think this should be, in part, buffered by personalities. Some people are extroversive than others. However, I think for us, the difference is that our hearts are not thrown into the adoration of God via the empowering of the Holy Spirit with the same affection, or with the same sensitivity as others may be experiencing. This is wrong, and we recognize it, and we seek to work through it by the Holy Spirit. I want to be more sensitive to the Spirit. This will come through a continual, steadfast existence before God in prayer and praise of his glory.