Very few professing Christians are actively witnessing and sharing Christ with others on a regular basis.  When done with the right motives, sharing Christ with others can boldly show that Christ is at the pinnacle of your life.  However, when witnessing is done for the wrong reasons, out of a feeling of obligation and not joyously through repentance, rejection and hostility may be a common response to the message that you have to give.

You may be taking time to witness every week to people in your life, but still be living as a worldly, carnal individual. In the same way, you may be spending hours in prayer and Bible study every day, but still not be living for the cause of Christ.

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Witnessing and evangelism must be done for the right reasons and through the right motives - Not for self gain, to appear better than others, to look like a "Good Christian", to be an example to others, to feel like you accomplished something worthwhile, to be affirmed in your salvation - No, none of these things.  Witnessing must be done solely for the cause of Christ in order that God may be eternally glorified and honored through your life, death, and the age to come.

In order to witness effectively, you need to learn to rely on the power and work of the Holy Spirit, and not on your own abilities, to effectively exemplify Christ in word and action.

So, how do we become filled by the Spirit?
And how do we know when we are filled by the Spirit?


1. Be Sure That You Are a Christian

2. Have No Unconfessed Sin in Your Life

3. Be Filled With the Holy Spirit

"He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'" (Acts 1:7,8)

To be filled with the Holy Spirit, you must invite the Spirit by faith to control your life and empower you.  By inviting the Spirit into your life, you will be able to live a godly life and to resist the desire to live as a worldly, carnal "Christian".

"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord..." (Ephesians 5:18,19)

Living by the Holy Spirit is a way of life - A life in which you allow yourself to be controlled by Christ through repentance and the promises of His scripture.  This lifestyle is not one of mysticism or enchantment, but is instead choosing to truly believe that Christ is your Savior from a wasted life and an empty eternity.

When living by the spirit, we will increasingly begin to want the things that God wants.  Our will for our lives - our passions, our past-times, our hobbies, our thoughts, and our attitude - will start to reflect God's will more and more.

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."  (1 John 5:14,15) 

To appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit, you must willingly surrender the direction and control of your life to Jesus Christ.  Through these scripture passages, you can have confidence that He will fill you when you compromise your plan for His.  In the same way, you can claim the fullness of His Holy Spirit if you truly desire to serve and honor Him as supreme in your life.

Remember:  Living by the Spirit and receiving the power of Holy Spirit initially and continually is probably not an emotional experience.  You receive the Spirit by faith, and by faith alone.  There is no "special feeling" as if to attribute it to some indwelling spiritual energy.  Although the power of the Spirit may be present in your life, don't depend on feelings and emotions.  Depend on God's Word as a basis for faith in Christ Jesus.  Through this faith, we are justified through the grace that only He can provide.  In the same way, we are filled by the Spirit through His promise.  Proper emotions should be the result of faith in Christ; not the means for which you base your faith.(Romans 1:17)(Romans 14:23)
Now, on the authority of Your command to be filled by the Holy Spirit and your promise that if we ask anything according to your will You will hear and answer us, by faith I claim to the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  (Bill Bright, Campus Crusade)

It is by faith in the divinity of Christ and the meaning of His blood-sacrifice that we can constantly and continually know that we are filled with the Spirit.  To continue to grow and remain constant in the Holy Spirit, continue to examine your motives, cherish scripture, live with an eternal perspective, and breathe spiritually through confession.  Above all, strive to boast only in Christ, and to prize Him as supremely worthy of your devotion.

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ."(Philippians 3:7,8)

With or without emotions, simply trust God and the promises of His Word to fill you with the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is the vital to appropriate the fullness of His Spirit. 

It's not easy to prize Christ as sovereign in our lives, especially in the society that we live in.  Through writing this, I am by no means proclaiming that I am "more spiritual" or more knowledgeable than any one else.  By writing this post and this series, I am trying to help others grow their faith in Christ and to begin to live that love for Christ through repentance.