The Holy Spirit's Power

"Be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs"

The essence of the Spirit of God is power, power to witness, to live an overcoming life, to possess a sound mind, etc. Micah testified, "But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD." Any and all saints found in scripture had one predominate characteristic, they were without exception controlled by the Spirit of the Living God. Therefore the question arises, "Am I filled with the Spirit?" 

The assuring personal evidence one is filled with the Spirit is not speaking in tongues! But as Paul tells us in one of his latter letters, a prison epistle; "...but be filled with the Spirit; 
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." Do you find yourself quoting the Psalms frequently? Do spiritual songs spring up in your heart regularly? These consistencies are not characteristic of a carnal Christian.

There is much quibbling over the question of how one is filled with the Spirit. Jesus answered this once and for all. "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive." 

What do you imagine a Sultan would give, traveling with his vast wealth, for a cup of water after three days without any in Sahara desert? He would give all that he had. And so it is with the Spirit of God. When we desire Him more than all the world, we may have Him. I have a little saying I quote often, "When a person gets serious with God, then He will get serious with that person!" 

"The only hope for a thirsty world is the overflow from our buckets."   

(rds)