Understanding First Things First

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be
My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and as far as the remotest
part of the earth.
Acts 1:8 NASB

Let’s return to basics . . . two foundational issues. One has to do with salvation, the other with being Spirit-filled.

Salvation is a gift. God reached out to you and me at the cross, where His Son paid the penalty of sin by dying in our place, and He gave us eternal life in His Son. All He asks is that we reach out in faith and take His gift.

And so, how does one become a Christian? By being rightly related to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is Salvation 101. It’s as basic as you can get.

What must I do then to get the source of God’s power into my life? This may surprise you, but the answer is nothing. He comes to live within you when you believe in Christ. You don’t make a single contribution to your standing before God by doing this or promising that or giving up certain things. The transaction is based on grace—God’s matchless, unmerited favor. When you and I receive the gift of eternal life, wrapped inside that gift is the Holy Spirit. He comes as part of the “initial salvation package.”

I am filled with the Spirit when I am rightly related to the Spirit of God. When we are, the “power” within us is unleashed and we become His vessels of honor, ready and available for whatever service He wishes us to perform. When filled, the “power” that raised Christ from the dead becomes the motivating force behind our lives.

The filling of the Spirit not only means that our lives are totally available to God, but it also includes such things as keeping short accounts, being sensitive to whatever may have come between us and Him, and walking in complete dependence upon Him.

When we do, He is able to work through us, speak through us, use us, direct us without restraint, and empower our gifts and our efforts in ways we could never accomplish on our own. It isn’t that we need more of the Spirit (an impossibility); it is that we need His power, His working, His cleansing, His freeing. And as He fills us, all that and so much more take place.