We live in a day and age when this life is hard pressed on so many fronts. Turn on the nightly news and one quickly sees people are so stressed out they end up doing extreme things that are out of control, like pulling out a gun and shooting someone for little to no reason other than they were mad. It seems people have little to no ability to control their emotions these days.

I have spent four articles thus far building the case that the average Christian believer walks out their Christian experience periodically fueled by their knowledge of the Scriptures and yet very little by the counsel and power of the Holy Spirit as evidenced by the carnality within the church or individual believers. If one would just study the nature of the church today you would quickly discover that most churches and denominations came out of church splits, and not expansion from evangelism since the 1500s when the reformation happened. To be truthful, this had to happen because carnality had been settling into the church since Constantine in 320 AD and the breakaway factions wanting to get back to what the bible said about living as Christ intended believers to live. 

When people often talk about being Spirit filled they often refer to a point in time when they experienced a move of God on their soul either during their conversion or some time after. They may have felt empowered by the Holy Spirit for some purpose, like understanding the Bible when the scripture used to seem confusing or equipping their prayer life to become personal and rich with the presence of God and experiencing break through with God.  Deep down inside people know when the Holy Spirit has touched their lives and if they need a fresh filling again.

The first article I wrote on this subject asked the question of whether we are fueling our Christian life by the Holy Spirit or just by our human will power.  I used the Jesus Movement as an example of what I and others of this time period noticed, namely the supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the lives of many believers. It was a powerful time to grow in Christ and I believe it could happen again today if believers become informed and hunger for God like never before.

The subject of what a “Spirit Filled Life” looks like isn’t taught much these days, however when I got saved in the early 1970s it was a big focus. Why? Because there was a thing called the “JESUS MOVEMENT” going on and the Holy Spirit was pouring out his power in extraordinary ways that brought many young people to a saving knowledge of Christ. Miracles were taking place often and tons of young people were getting born again. The whole idea of revival in the church should be where born again believers come to discover an awakening in their souls for a closer walk with God. Mind you, in many churches today, revival ends up being no more than becoming excited about going to church meetings instead of an awakening of their spiritual lives with the power of the Holy Spirit. The strategy of the enemy is to get believers occupied with having more meetings and church attendance rather than becoming passionate about our personal relationship with our Heavenly Father.

I am amazed at how many established houses of worship are so afraid of the supernatural they will do anything to discredit reports of the supernatural being manifested in other congregations. I know for some congregations it’s the pastors who are afraid of losing control, but for many it’s bad teaching the pastors received in seminary. When I first got saved I discovered very quickly that few churches actually welcome the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. 

I often wonder what God thinks about our prayer life. After all, if we were to look at many places in scripture that deal with what God says about how, when and where to pray I think we would have a different view of how we might be missing what’s important to God when we approach him in prayer.

I don’t write often on subjects like this, but I feel I need to write to those who may be struggling with the darkness around them as they attempt to walk with the Lord. We live in a time when many say these are the “Last Days” and I believe it more true now than ever before. We must be watchful lest we become discouraged in our souls to the point of quitting or running away from our calling in the Lord.  We need to continue to walk as the Lord has directed our souls in scripture.

In every generation there are those who hunger for God and then there are those who put their security in religious rules and systems rather than in God, all the while thinking they are serving God.

I recently reread a great book by Mark Buchanan called “Holy Wild.” In one chapter he talks about our will power only having so much ability in our lives to change things, and in reality it’s not our will power that is lacking for so many of us but our “Won’t Power.” Let me explain by using my own life as an example.