Feb 6, 2012
My father explains how to experience the Holy Spirit
How to experience the Holy Spirit
There’s two unfortunate extremes in the Body of Christ.
Some urge us to experience the Holy Spirit — and say this means everyone should fall or laugh or speak in tongues.
Others rightly see that as a mistake. But they make the opposite mistake — and never talk about how to experience the Holy Spirit.
What is the biblical experience of the Spirit?
It’s described in at least three ways –
- as the living water of the Holy Spirit quenching our heart thirsts (John 7:37-39).
- as God’s love being poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5).
- as the Spirit shining into our hearts the light of God’s glory in Christ (2Cor 3:18; 4:6).
Notice that each of these are experiences. They involve more than believing truth about God the Father and Jesus the Son. They involve experiencing the reality of God the Father and Jesus the Son — something we actually feel.
These experiences are not the basis of our faith. The basis of our faith is God’s Word — which is true whether we are enjoying these experiences or not (Psa 42:5).
But the New Testament promises that we can and will experience God the Father and Jesus the Son by the Spirit (John 4:13-14; 7:37-38) — and urges us to seek this experience of the Spirit (Eph 1:16-19; 3:17-19; 5:18).
How do we experience this work of the Spirit?
Here’s how my father (Daniel Fuller) explains it in his book “The Unity of the Bible,” pp.146f. (with my take-aways in bullet points) –
“In that the Holy Spirit is the very love the Father and the Son have for each other, the most benevolent thing God can do for us is to share this greatest of all joys.”
- It is by the Holy Spirit that we receive a taste of the Father’s love for the Son, and the Son’s love for the Father. This is the greatest of all joys — and God promises to share it with us.
“This unsurpassed blessing obviously could not be a reimbursement for some useful and valuable work we finite creatures do for the Almighty God. Rather, it comes by faith alone, as we honor God by trusting him to keep our hearts satisfied in him.”
- This is not something we earn or deserve. It is a free gift purchased for us on the Cross and given to us by God’s grace. We receive it by faith alone — by trusting all that God promises to be to us in Christ Jesus.
“Therefore if we would have our hearts satisfied with the love and delight the Father and the Son have for each other, we should be careful to let the Spirit, who is resident in the hearts of those who have turned their lives over to Christ, keep us filled with all joy and peace as we trust God’s promises …”
- When I trust all that God promises to be to me in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit will give me a taste of the actual love and delight the Father and Son have for each other. The result is that I will be filled with all joy and peace.
“The way in which this good fight is to be waged is by ‘[taking] up the shield of faith, with which [we] can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one’ (Eph 6:16). These arrows consists of all the various doubts Satan tries to lodge in our hearts to make us despair about the future and thus lose our joy.”
- When my heart lacks joy and peace in Christ, that means Satan has successfully hit me with some doubt or fear or greed or worry — it means I have stopped trusting all that God promises to be to me in Christ Jesus.
“But all of [these flaming arrows] can be extinguished by claiming one or more of the many promises God has given us in the Bible.”
- To fight the fight of faith I come to God as I am, trusting Jesus’ blood and righteousness to make me welcome (Luke 18:13-14). I confess my unbelief and ask Him to strengthen my faith (Mark 9:24). Then I set my heart on whatever promises deal with the doubts or fears or greeds or worries I am experiencing (2Pet 1:3-4). And I pray over these promises until the Holy Spirit strengthens my faith and gives me a feeling-experience of living water, God’s love, and Jesus’ glory (Gal 3:5).
How have you experienced this?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on how to experience the Holy Spirit. Feel free to leave a reply below — thanks.
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For further reading
Here’s how Blaise Pascal experienced this work of the Spirit.
Here’s how Hudson Taylor was comforted by God’s love after his wife passed away.
Here’s how Sarah Edwards experienced God.
You are truly blessed having such a wise and God-experienced father, Steve!
What shall I say then? Your Scriptures hit the nail on the head,
this, of course, they always do,
but yet this fact’s not really new.
No, don’t be afraid – not another “poem”.
What touches me deeply, were you mentioning those two unfortunate extremes in Christianity. Since I experienced both, I realize that neither the so-called Toronto Blessing nor the pure Biblicism projects succeed in leading people to Christ, so that they – the latter ones – could experience grace upon grace through the Holy Spirit.
However, I stop it now because I overcharged your blog yesterday.
Shame on me, but honestly,
I didn’t contrive to make such a dive.
Oops, I did it again. Sorry, Steve!!
Susanne
Thanks again for your thoughts, Susanne. And you are absolutely right — I have been RICHLY blessed through my father. It was a great kindness of God to give him to me. And to whom much is given, much is due …
I started to read the holy bible and this happened to me.
The Holy Spirit was convicting me of my sin, as I was praying I wept with intense sorrow remorse, every time I sinned I offended God. I was so sorrowful for what I had done, and for the way I had treated other people in the past. I wept so much I was exhausted.
God knows me, he knows my heart there is nothing I can hide from him.
God change my heart.
Now I am no longer selfish,
I am no longer a lover of money.
I am no longer a liar.
I am no longer a con man and I am no longer a thief.
I have stopped using people to my advantage.
I am no longer spiteful towards others people.
I am no longer sarcastic towards others.
I am no longer rude towards others.
I was praying on my hands and knees, and I started praying for people around me, imagine the power of a volcano irrupting. That’s what it felt like when the Holy Spirit penetrated my heart. For he wants me to love others, to love every person as much as I love my own family. This is the will of God. He wants me to be like that. And I love my family with all of my heart.
Before, I never cared about people, only ever caring about my own needs, my greed and my wants.
There are things I need to change in my life and I am working on them every day.
I want to change; it is not me who can control this change in me. Only God can do it, only he can make me grow in faith and love.
One time a person asked me: “I want to be an angel, how do I become one?” I answered: “Angels have one rule. In all your words, actions, behaviours towards others show love,
we are angels, but we are lost, trying to get back home to heaven.
Thanks, “Brother in Christ,” for stopping by and sharing your story.
Sounds like God is powerfully working in your heart, and that you are being changed in significant ways. Beautiful.
Keep pressing in to God through His Word and prayer. Keep your heart trusting Jesus alone to save you, guide you, and satisfy you.
As we trust Him, His loving death completely pays for our guilt, His perfect life completely covers our sins, and His presence completely satisfies our hearts. What a Savior!
May you be richly blessed in Christ,
Steve
Once before I never cared about people, after I had that experience with the holy spirit, I grow to love people, I love other people in a way I cannot find the words to explain, I have given up my life for others, that’s God will for me, I love Jesus more than anybody on earth.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience, brother in Christ. It is beautiful how the Spirit fills us with God’s love — and how this is all a free gift through faith in Jesus Christ. What a glorious Savior we have — and what love-filled lives we can live.