Times of Refreshing: 7 Days in Acts 3:19Sample

Holy Spirit Overflow

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive…
John 7:38-39

The times of refreshing Peter spoke of in Acts 3:19 come directly from the words of the Master he loved so much. It is the Holy Spirit indwelling our own spirit that overflows into every area of our lives. He brings refreshing, restoration, and renewal—like a mighty, surging river full of living water. A person can’t get more refreshed than that!

God’s Word explains that the Holy Spirit indwells every person who receives Jesus by faith Rom. 8:9. That born-again moment when our once dead spirit—dead due to Adam’s and Eve’s fall and our own sin—is made alive by the very breath of the Holy Spirit. It is Divine CPR. However, all four gospel writers tell us it is the baptism of the Spirit that releases the overflow—the river of God’s power in our lives to satiate our thirsty souls and spill over to bring others into His Kingdom.

Let’s look at the Greek definition for baptize from the New Testament:

Baptizo Greek-Meaning: to baptize, dip, dye, immerse, plunge, submerge, inundate, flood, swamp, soak, douse, drench, and saturate.

Tell me. Which of these definition words do not sound like waters of refreshing? This is the life Christians are meant to have, the life of God’s continual presence. A life that not only satiates our own thirsty soul but an effervescent infilling to pour His life through us into others in their time of need.

How do we receive this holy drenching? By simply asking for it, as Jesus tells us Luke 11:11-13. We welcome the overflow of the Spirit already within us accompanied by His supernatural gifts and His grace to effectively work the lavish character of His fruit through us 1 Cor. 12:7-11, Gal. 5:22-23.

Yet, we can still struggle. We feel unworthy or doubtful of God’s refreshing presence, but the stuff and struggles of our lives let us know how desperately we need the Holy Spirit’s invigorating work. Living in the Holy Spirit’s rivers of living water is the abundant, excessive, overflowing, extra-ordinary, and over and above life, He invites us to live in.

Let’s do exactly that.