In Acts 4:31 we find the same band of disciples who were filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost being filled again. Why? Because as I heard of one German pastor who used to say, “we leak”. When we become believers, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. At that point we are “in Christ”; at that point we are saved. But that is only the beginning. As you read throughout the book of Acts, you find the New Testament church being filled with the Spirit, even after Pentecost. What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?
It means to be so full of God that we perceive His presence in our midst and in our life. It is an experiential encounter though the experience itself varies. For some it is an almost overwhelming sense of the greatness and love of God. For others it is like a blanket of peace that comes upon them and they may find themselves feeling like they are floating down onto the floor. Sometimes being filled with the Spirit happens when we are praying to God, as in Acts 4:31. At other times it happens when believers lay hands on others and pray (Acts 8:17, Acts 9:17-22, Acts 19:6). However God chooses to do it, it is an encounter with the presence of God.
We need the presence of God in our lives. God wants to inhabit His people to the fullest extent. We are the body of Christ. Among other things, what that means is that Jesus wants to use our bodies and our lives to continue to minister to those around Him like he did as recorded in the Gospels. In the same way that He proclaimed the Good News, set the captives free, healed the blind and proclaimed the year of the favor of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19), Jesus wants to keep doing that through us. It is what we should expect. That is New Testament Christianity.
But for that to happen, we have to have open hearts and lives. We have let him be Lord over us. That does not mean that we are walking in perfection, but it does mean that we walk with our hearts open to Him daily. It means we seek Him through daily prayer. It means we meet Him every day in His Word. It means that we meet Him as we gather together as a body to worship Him on Sunday. It means we receive Him through the body and blood in weekly Eucharist. It means we ask Him to show us even what thoughts must be brought before Him and made captive to His truth (2 Corinthians 12:5). It means being in a place of openness and repentance before the Lord, empowered by His Spirit, every day. We need God to fill us with His presence. God will do it, as we seek Him, day by day. If we do not ask, we will not receive. We have to expect that we will receive. If we who are evil (sinners) know how to give gifts to our children, how much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Luke 11:13). In the original Greek this verse was written in the understanding is that we have to keep asking. God gave us the Holy Spirit when we were saved, but we need the ongoing filling of His presence. Let us keep asking for His manifest presence. If we ask, we will receive (Luke 11:9-12) and we will keep getting filled with His presence.
