Be Filled with the Holy Spirit (Video) — Zac Poonen

Being Filled With the Spirit to Witness

Mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Don't go by what you read elsewhere. The words of Jesus are final. Acts 1 .8. When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive, not tongues, power. Power for what?

Power to be my witnesses. Not bear witness. Bearing witness is only with the tongue. Like in a court, the judge says, what did you see? And you bear witness. You can be bear witness like that about the gospel.

That's not it. Being a witness. Being a witness is doing and speaking. Being a witness, not bearing. And it must begin in Jerusalem. Begin in your home. If you've got a home, it must begin in your home.

Be a spiritual witness to your wife, to your husband, to your children. Jerusalem. Then the next circle, Judea. Then the next circle, Samaria. And then finally, the outermost parts of the earth. Don't try to witness in the outermost parts of the earth before you are a witness in your own home.

Let the people in your own home see you as a spirit-filled, powerful witness for Christ by the way you live, the way you deny yourself, the way you're dead in the moments of temptation. As an overcomer, you have the resurrection life of Jesus.

Let your wife see it. Let your husband see it. Let your children see it. Let your parents see it. That is where it must begin. Jerusalem is my home. So when you seek to be filled with the spirit, don't think of the church meeting.

Oh, I want to be filled with the spirit on Sunday morning. No, sir. No, sister. In your home. Someone, somebody once asked me, what's the difference between your church and other churches? I said, well, we don't compare ourselves with other churches.

As I said, we don't say we have no hypocrites. We have got plenty of hypocrites in our church, just like other churches, but we try to preach the truth. But I'd say one difference is this. For other churches, Sunday is the main day.

For in our church, the main day is Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday and Sunday afternoon and evening after you go away from your church. In other words, the way you live.

That's what I mean. Not Sunday morning when you're like they say in your Sunday best and behavior and dress everything. That's not what we major in. For other churches, that's the main thing. The Sunday service in the morning.

That's not the main thing for us. It's Monday to Saturday, the way we live. That prepares us to worship God on Sunday, to be a witness in Jerusalem in my place of work, to be a witness. Is that your passion?

Ask God to fill you with the spirit. He may give you other gifts. I sought for power and he also gave me the gift of tongues, which I didn't seek for. It's not the main thing. Jesus never spoke in tongues.

Charles Finney never spoke in tongues, but he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. It's not a once for all experience because you read about some of those apostles, they were filled with the Holy Spirit again and again and again.

You read about Peter, he was filled with the Holy Spirit again in Acts chapter 4. So it's not once for all. They were praying in Acts 4, they were again filled with the Holy Spirit. So I see that verse in Ephesians 5, 18, be filled with the spirit.

The Continuous Filling of the Holy Spirit

In the original Greek, it's present continuous. You know, be being filled with the spirit. Not be filled with the spirit, but be being filled with the spirit. A continuous experience. Fullness of the spirit.

Sometimes I illustrate it like this. Here's a house on a hill. One room is called the guilt room. We ask the Lord to come into our heart. When you ask Jesus to come into your heart, it's the Holy Spirit who comes in by the way.

Because Jesus is in heaven. He doesn't come in. It's the Holy Spirit on earth and he's the one who enters your heart. The spirit of Christ. Why do I say that? Because it says in Romans 8 and verse 9, clear verse.

If you don't have the spirit of Christ, you're not even born again. Very clear. Romans 8 verse 9, the last part. You don't even belong to him if you don't have the spirit of Christ. So we're not praying for the Holy Spirit to come in.

We are praying for the Holy Spirit to fill us. So when a person receives the Lord Jesus Christ in his heart, if he really Christ has come in, it's the spirit that has come in. According to Romans 8 verse 9, then he belongs to him.

The spirit has come in. But like that 10 room house, one room is lit. And you stand there and look at that house and say, is there light in that house? Yeah. Has the spirit come? Yes. But is there a house filled with light?

No. Nine rooms are empty. It's dark. That's the condition of many a Christian. Has the spirit come? Have they received the Holy Spirit? Yes. Are they filled with the spirit? No. Why? Because just like Jesus said, I stand at the door and knock, the Holy Spirit knocks and he will not come in unless you open the door.

Surrendering Every Area of Life to the Spirit

So that's the way I've illustrated it. He comes to different rooms in your heart and says, can I come into your television room and determine what programs you will watch and what programs you'll turn off and never watch?

Some believers will say, Lord, there are some programs I watch you may not like it. And the Lord says, I won't come into that room. I won't disturb you. Sit alone there and watch whatever you like. He's a gentleman.

He will not enter where he's not invited. Can I come into your finances room and check whether you're earning your money righteously? Whether you're paying your taxes? Whether you're cheating anywhere?

How do you spend your money? Are you careless and lavish? Are you faithful and frugal? A Christian must be frugal in expenditure. And they don't want the Lord to control them. He says, go ahead, you do what you like with your money.

I won't interfere. And we pray, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. The Lord says, you lock all the rooms. How can I enter? You can pray for a hundred years. You don't have to pray at all. Just open every door and be filled with the spirit immediately.

Examining Forgiveness, Money, and Habits

Isn't there a need to demonstrate that the Holy Spirit has come to manifest the life of Jesus in us? Let's pray. While our heads are bowed in prayer, let's take a few moments, my brothers, sisters. Have you opened every room in your heart?

The guilt room is always open, I know, because you want to be free from the guilt of sin. You know the other rooms in your life, areas in your life, you want them to be filled with the light of God, right?

Is every room of my heart open to God? It's a silent transaction that you have to have just between you and God. You can have it right now. Is there anybody you have not forgiven? Think of someone who did some terrible harm to you or somebody you got a grudge against.

Some of you haven't forgiven your wives for something they did or said. You haven't forgiven your husbands for some terrible thing they did or said. Maybe they spoke against your relatives and you're upset with that.

Brother, don't miss out on eternity's offerings God is giving you for some silly, stupid thing like that. Forgive and forget. Have you hurt somebody whom you have not apologized to? Say to the Lord right now, like Zacchaeus, at the first opportunity, I'll set it right.

I'll call up that person or write a letter and say, I'm sorry, please forgive me. Now, don't get oversensitive about this and torment yourself trying to dig up. If there is anything in your mind, the Holy Spirit will remind you in 10 seconds.

If you're not reminded of anything in 10 seconds, forget it. You know immediately if there's somebody you're not forgiven. Is there some unrighteousness in money in your life? Will you sacrifice Jesus like Judas Iscariot did for 30 pieces of silver?

30 pieces of silver and you give up the baptism of the Holy Spirit and Christ for that? Not worth it. Say, Lord, I want to be righteous. Is there a habit in your life? I'm not asking you whether you got rid of it.

I'm not asking you whether you'll get rid of it tomorrow. You may not. It may be too strong for you right now. What I'm asking is, do you want to get rid of it permanently? That habit you know is dishonoring God in your life.

Do you want to? The want to, that's what I want to know whether you have it. Want to. Say, I want to. If there's anybody who needs to be filled with the Spirit here, it's me, Lord. It's me, Lord. It's me standing in the need of prayer.

Prayer for Fullness, Surrender, and Faith

Lord Jesus, like you filled those apostles on the day of Pentecost, do it here again. Fill me, Lord, I pray. Let your Spirit be poured out upon me and fill me in my innermost being right now and give me an assurance.

You know, I'm sincerely asking you, Lord. I'm not seeking my own honor or any such thing. I want to be the least in the body of Christ, but I want to live for you the rest of my life. Forgive me for all the ways I've failed you and blundered and disappointed you and made promises that I didn't keep.

I'm not going to make any promises to the Lord because I won't be able to keep them. I'm just saying I want to live a godly life. I want to be useful for you. I won't make any promises, but fill me with the Spirit, Lord, and I say to you, my whole life will be yours from now till the end of my days.

I don't want to live for myself. And Lord, don't leave me empty. Answer me from above. I'm not looking for feeling or emotion or any tickling of my spine or any such thing, Lord. I want a reality. My will is yielded to you.

I want your will in my life in every area. If you have prayed sincerely, my brother, sister, in your heart, express your faith by saying, thank you, Lord, for hearing me. You've seen that I've sincerely prayed.

Thank you for hearing me. I believe you have heard my prayer. I look forward to seeing the result of that in the days to come. And the best I know how, I open my heart to you completely to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and I receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit right now into my heart.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you. Keep your nail pierced hand on my head always. I want to follow you all the days of my life. Help me, Lord, to be what you want me to be on this earth. Thank you, Father.

Change lives, change families, and bless everyone as they go back. Make us a blessing wherever we go. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.