October 14, 2004 Thursday
Filled to Glorify

"But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus..." - Acts 7:55

"The Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things" (John 14:26)...that is, the Holy Spirit teaches us how to become like Jesus Christ Himself in all facets of our life. Being filled with the Spirit means nothing less than that our eyes are fixed "steadfastly into heaven" and that we are becoming like Jesus Christ, which is not a one-time experience, but a daily, lifetime experience. It means that we begin to see as He sees and live as He lived, it means that we have a new will. "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." (John 6:38) Every day we face a battle of wills...ours versus God's. And Jesus alone has become our example of how to surpass the will of human nature when He literally put on human nature and conquered it entirely, and now we are commanded, "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 13:14). The Spirit of God gives us a new, Heavenly will, and His daily work in us is teaching us how to live through it. The human nature here of Stephen was undoubtedly entirely against God's, but he was clearly filled with the Spirit as he was bold to preach as Jesus was, he kept his eyes on heaven as Jesus did, and he forgave as Jesus forgave, even replicating the great cry of forgiveness from the cross (Luke 23:34). Not only did Stephen's enemies hear about Jesus, but they saw Jesus, through the new nature that was shinning in Stephen, and that is the precise work of the Spirit in our everyday lives. If there are attitudes not of Christ in your life, if you're not willing as Jesus is, if you view something as being good that Jesus called sin, if you believe something that Jesus doesn't...then the will of human nature is ruling your life, you're not filled with His Spirit. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:8). He fills us so that we will see His Glory and be used by Him through every circumstance of life and so that others might be filled too when they see the truth of His Glory radiating through us! If people are unable to see His Glory and repent, through the testimony of our lives, then the filling fountains have become nothing more than dry rivers of old.