Spirit Filled Living
by Dr. John Barnett

Jesus explained the Holy Spirit in our lives by using the image of a strong river of water flowing out of us. See John 7:37-38. Rivers of water is the way Jesus describes the normal life of believers, His children.

o Rivers of water would mean that when we were saved He flowed out of our lives making us joyous and thankful.
o He flowed out of our lives making us so excited about all our sins being gone.
o He flowed out of our lives so that when we read the Bible it seemed just like God was talking to us.
o He flowed out of our lives making prayer was so natural and uncluttered. It felt like the stars overhead had parted and we were walking right into Heaven before God's Throne. We just talked and walked with the Lord through. And each day it seemed like all of life was brand new.

And that is life as God made it to be with that mighty river of water flowing out of our lives. We were refreshed, we were victorious, we were rejoicing, we were serving joyfully. The Holy Spirit was flowing through our new lives like the rivers of water that flowed in that new house of ours. That is the life of a believer as God intended it to be.

Seven years ago through the love, prayers, and hard work of so many friends we moved into our very first new home of our lives. It was fantastic, especially considering the size of our family.

o The bathtub was the size of our old plastic swimming pool, and easily held all three of the little buddies and all their toys in an ocean of warm water. In fact the water roared out of that new plumbing with a roar and flow that sounded an awful lot like the Niagara Falls. It seemed the water lines into our house were enlarged and very strong.
o The washing machine was stainless steel, oversized and of such oceanic capacity -- that any mountain of laundry would just disappear into that huge cavern. It was a small wonder to hear and see how fast the load would start as a torrent of water cascaded down upon the clothes like a geyser. It seemed like the water pressure into our house was like a fire hydrant.
o The dishwasher was huge and once the dishes were parked in their spaces the roar of water and swishing was amazing. In fact it seemed that it started almost as soon as we shut the front because the water pressure of this new home was so strong.
o And the shower. Whew, what an experience. Hot and strong came that flow. It was almost like we had built the house over Old Faithful the geyser. Just turn the handle and POW, out came the waterfall. What a shower.

But something happened one day the week before our first Christmas here in Tulsa. Bonnie noticed that the washer slowed down day by day until it took all day to just do one load. The dishwasher took 3 to 4 hours instead of 30 minutes. And the shower began to wilt, until the only way to get wet was to stand under the nozzle and even then it was pitiful.

At first it was a bother and then as the toilets, bath tubs and washers slowed to nearly a stop. We were horrified, our new home was ruined, it was broken plumbing we thought. A pipe burst in the slab or worse, the city waterline that ran under our cement approach to the garage. We had nightmare scenarios of backhoes and mud and a torn up lawn and yard as we called our builder. He smiled over the phone and said he knew exactly what was wrong.

In 15 minutes he arrived whistling and still smiling. While we wrung our hands showing him all the terrible non-functioning appliances and fixtures - he just smiled. And then after all our grief and disappointment at our new home was all spilled out he said to follow him. He walked to our coat closet under stairs (a.k.a. kids hideaway) and knelt down chuckling. He asked "Do you have any two or three-year-olds that play in here?" In a moment he stood and said, go try the shower. We ran and 'voila', Niagara Falls was back. He opened his hand and there was the small shut off valve handle that one of our precious buddies had been slowly turning bit by bit each day until the rivers of water into our home were choked, quenched and closed out of the house.

Why am I giving you the My Old House show? Because the experience of the water slowly getting choked out of our home is so clearly a picture of what happens so often to so many believers!

Jesus talked about such a strong flow of water in a spiritual sense. Lets turn there to John 7:37-38. Rivers of water is the way Jesus describes the normal life of believers, His children.

o Rivers of water would mean that when we were saved He flowed out of our lives making us joyous and thankful.
o He flowed out of our lives making us so excited about all our sins being gone.
o He flowed out of our lives so that when we read the Bible it seemed just like God was talking to us.
o He flowed out of our lives making prayer was so natural and uncluttered. It felt like the stars overhead had parted and we were walking right into Heaven before God's Throne. We just talked and walked with the Lord through. And each day it seemed like all of life was brand new.

And that is life as God made it to be with that mighty river of water flowing out of our lives. We were refreshed, we were victorious, we were rejoicing, we were serving joyfully. The Holy Spirit was flowing through our new lives like the rivers of water that flowed in that new house of ours. That is the life of a believer as God intended it to be.

Then slowly something happened. It seemed that we didn't find God's Word so exciting, and soon we hardly understood what we read each day. We also experienced troubles in prayer, it seemed we talked to ourselves and all those words just bounced around inside our heads.

That is exactly what happens when the water valve of our spiritual lives is twisted shut by sin. And that is what the Bible describes as Quenching and Grieving the Holy Spirit. We are commanded to keep our lives filled with the Holy Spirit. We are to walk in Him, live through Him, bear fruit by Him, and overcome sin with Him as our Sword of the Word.

Galatians 5:16,25 - "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

But if we give in to sin (like the lying, bitterness, and course talking) by disobeying God, we are grieving the Spirit (Eph. 4:30).

Ephesians 4:30 - "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

A pattern of sin that we continue to do leads us further away from the vital ministry of the Holy Spirit as we quench the Spirit (1 Thes. 5:19).

1 Thessalonians 5:19 - "Do not quench the Spirit."

Quenching does not mean that the Holy Spirit leaves us. We know this because Jesus promised that His Spirit would abide in us forever. But quenching does means that the Holy Spirit ceases to supply us the joy and power that we need for daily Christian living.

John 14:16 - " 'And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.' "

As believers we are commanded to stay filled with the Spirit, which simply means "controlled by the Spirit."

Ephesians 5:18 - "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit."

This is a continuous experience, like drinking water from a fresh stream (John 7:37-39).

John 7:37-39 - "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."

We are to actively follow the Lord by reading the Word, praying, and obeying His will. This is how we continually 'walk in the Spirit' and avoid 'grieving' Him.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008