Easter Makes Everything NewSample

Keep on Being Filled

The devil doesn’t like believers who are full of the Holy Spirit, yielded to God, and overflowing with Christ’s new-creation life. He does everything he can to get us to fall right back into cultural Christianity.

When the disciples were first persecuted, the same religious leaders who had killed Jesus brought Peter and John in and said, “We know you prayed for a guy and he got healed and everyone’s buzzing about it. But did we not tell you, no more talking in Jesus’ name? Didn’t you get that? We don’t want that name mentioned in Jerusalem!” (see Acts 3). The implication was, “You know what happened to Him. It can happen to you.”

Then Peter told them, “Well, you guys judge whether we should obey you or God, but we can’t stop talking about everything we’ve seen and heard.”

So after threatening the disciples, the religious leaders let them go. That’s when a lot of us would have turned tail and run.

But what did Peter and John do after the leaders threatened them? They went to where the believers were having a prayer meeting, and “they raised their voices together in prayer to God” (Acts 4:24). Look how they prayed: “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” (Acts 4:29). In other words, “Lord, they don’t want Your word, and they want us to be afraid, but grant us boldness so that we won’t stop doing what You want us to do!” This was a battle.

We’re all tested in the new life. We battle fearful attacks, like the disciples did. What should we do when Satan is pressing us hard and trying to get us to quit? Call on the Lord. Look what happened next: “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 4:31).

Wait a minute. If they were Christians, then they were already filled with the Spirit, because Romans 8:9 says that “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” But Ephesians 5:18 tells us, “Be filled with the Spirit.” That word “filled” is in the continuous present tense, so it’s saying, “Keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit.” Yes, we have the Spirit living in us, but we need to keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit.

When the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they “spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31).

Are you living out of your new life in Christ, strengthened in Him day after day? Or do you need to get alone with God and draw near to Him again? If you constantly turn to Jesus when you are tested and attacked, you won’t give way when Satan comes after you. The Holy Spirit will fill you every day, every moment, and strengthen you with His power.