God Gives Refills
Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. - (Ephesians 5:18)
After being told to no longer speak in the name of Jesus, Peter and John were released. And so what did they do? They prayed for more boldness to preach the gospel. They said, “And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:29–30).
Then the Bible tells us that after they had prayed, “the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness” (verse 31).
The Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost, but the apostles were given a refill. (And God does give refills.) Now we don’t need another Pentecost, but we do need to continually appropriate what has been made available for us at Pentecost.
For instance, when you are in a restaurant, you may order iced tea, and after a while, the server will come and offer you a refill. So you get a refill. In the same way, God wants to refill you with His Holy Spirit.
There is nothing wrong with asking God for a refill. There is nothing wrong with praying, “Lord, fill me with the Spirit.” In fact, there is something right about praying this, because we are told in Ephesians 5:18 to be filled with the Spirit: “Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.” In the original language, that could be translated, “Be constantly filled with the Spirit again and again and again.”
God will empower us with the Holy Spirit and fill us again and again and again.
Summary sentence: There is nothing wrong with asking God for a refilling of His Holy Spirit.
Tags: Holy Spirit, Pentecost
Copyright © 2012 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
and
Listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com.
Watch Greg Laurie's weekly television broadcast on LightSource.com.
SPECIAL OFFER
You can receive, Seal of God by Chad Williams, as our thank-you for your financial support of Harvest Ministriesthis month.
“I had no idea that in the crowd that night was a soldier, a Navy Seal who was dealing with an emptiness in his heart and the knowledge that something was wrong on the inside. And it is amazing to see how God’s Word resonates; the Lord got a hold of this soldier that very evening and turned his life around.” --Greg Laurie
Your gift reaches people like Chad every day with the hope of God’s Word through our daily broadcast A New Beginning, our crusades, and our online ministry channel, and this year across the country through Harvest America.
