Emptied To Be Filled

“The human spirit fails, except when the Holy Spirit fills.”

- Corrie Ten Boom

In his message this past Sunday, Pastor Jared explained, “If we do the emptying, God will do the filling.”

The Bible is full of examples of men and women who emptied themselves, humbling themselves before God, and were filled by the power of the Holy Spirit to do great things.

By the power of the Spirit, David, who was just a boy, killed the 10-foot giant, Goliath.

By the power of the Spirit, Mary, a young virgin, humbled herself before God, and became pregnant by the Holy Spirit, giving birth to the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ.

The Disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues they did not know in order to reach those in Jerusalem who were there from every nation under heaven.

Young Stephen was filled with the Spirit such that, as the Jewish leaders looked upon him, they saw the face of an angel. Stephen then proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ, even while being stoned to death.

But, what does it mean for us to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit today?

It definitely could happen, but I have not recently seen anyone kill a giant with a sling, become pregnant by the Holy Spirit, get stoned to death for proclaiming Jesus or speak in a tongue unknown to them in order to reach people from a foreign land.

Yet, the Bible is full of promises for us as to what the Holy Spirit will do in our lives:

- Guide us into truth – John 16:13

- Give life to our mortal bodies – Romans 8:11

- Helps us in our weakness – Romans 8:26

- Give us hope – Romans 15:13

- Provide us with power over fleshly desires – Galatians 5:16

- Fill us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – Galatians 5:22-23

And the list could go on and on. As Pastor Jared said, “When we empty ourselves and allow the Spirit to fill us, unexpected, supernatural things become normal and expected.”

His name will make you smile, but the words of late 19th, early 20th century British evangelist, Smith Wigglesworth, are powerful,

“We must be careful not to choose, but to let God’s Holy Spirit manage our lives; not to smooth down and explain away, but to stir up the gift and allow God’s spirit to disturb us and disturb us and disturb us until we yield and yield and yield and the possibility in God’s mind for us becomes an established fact in our lives, with the rivers in evidence meeting the needs of a dying world.”

Pastor Ken

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