This article is meant to show you that a believer will not experience the filling of the Spirit without the Word. The Spirit teaches us all things through the Scriptures. He reveals Christ through the Scriptures inspired by Him. The only way we can glorify Christ in our lives is by living according to His will which we cannot learn outside of the Scriptures. The filling of the Spirit occurs as we know and obey the will of God. But we have to begin by reading the Bible.
Introduction
The work of the Spirit is to reveal Christ to us, to teach us about Christ, to glorify Christ in us, and ultimately, to make us like unto Christ. The purpose of the Spirit is to glorify Christ, not Himself or His independent ministry. But He does this through the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit does not work outside of the Scriptures.
“He (the Holy Spirit) inspired the Scriptures, it is also Him Who illuminates it in our hearts today.” Pastor Duston Moore
The Holy Spirit Does Not Function Outside of the Word
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The Spirit teaches us all things through the Scriptures. He reveals Christ through the Scriptures inspired by Him. The only way we can glorify Christ in our lives is by living according to His will which we cannot learn outside of the Scriptures. Do you get where I’m going with all these? Let’s continue.
John 14:21, 23 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
As believers in Christ, the will of God by which we have to live our lives is outlined in the Scriptures which was inspired by the Holy Spirit. According to the Apostle Peter above, we obey the truth only “through the Spirit”. It is impossible for you to obey the truth of which you are unaware, and even when you’re aware of it, it is still impossible for you to obey it based upon your own strength or discipline.
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13.
You Cannot Be Filled by The Spirit If Devoid of the Word
If the Holy Spirit works through the Scriptures, and you cannot obey the truth that you have not learned, then the Holy Spirit will not work in you if you’re not conversant with the Word. This makes sense since yielding requires that you know the commandments to which you are to yield, and it gives way to the move and filling of the Spirit. This does not mean that a believer who is devoid of the Scriptures does not have indwelling Spirit, it just means that the Spirit is yet to be in control of his or her life. To be filled with the Spirit is to be full of the truth of Christ which will in turn produces the desire to live for Him. This point is the reason for Colossians 3:16-17:
Colossians 3:16-17 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Do you see any connection between the above passage and Ephesians 5:18-20?
Ephesians 5:18-20 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
The connection between Ephesians 5:18-20 and Colossians 3:16-17 won’t be obvious until you read both passages in full. So when you get a chance, read Ephesians 5:18-6:9 and Colossians 3:16-4:6. What you will find out is that the commandment to be filled with the Spirit and the commandment to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly both produce similar results. They both result and singing and giving thanks, biblical submission and humility, godly and selfless relationship between husband and wife, parents and children, masters and servants, and so on. You will get the full point when you read the passages.
But suffice it to say that any believer’s outward action or demonstration that is based on the truth of the Scripture is the work of the Holy Spirit. When you allow the Word of Christ to “dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16), and allow yourself to be controlled by the Spirit of God, it means that you will have the commandments of Christ and will most likely keep them (John 14:21, 23). This is yielding to Christ referred to in Romans 6:13. It will result in you being filled with the Holy Spirit, and in turn in you manifesting the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the source of truth.
2 Peter 1:21 “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
Without the Spirit’s empowerment., we cannot receive and obey the truth. And we cannot be filled with the Spirit without the knowledge of the Word of God. Carefully consider the following passage:
1 Corinthians 2:7-16 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
“When we submit to the Word of God as our authority, we are submitting to the Spirit Himself, since He inspired every word it contains. No true work of the Spirit will contradict, devalue, or add new revelation to the Scriptures (cf. Rev. 22:17–19). Instead it will elevate biblical truth in the hearts and minds of believers” – Dr. John MacArthur in Strange Fire
So, if you want to be filled with the Spirit, you have to begin by studying the Scriptures.
“You cannot be filled with the Spirit and devoid of the Word.” Pastor Duston Moore
You show me a Christian that is devoid of the Word of God in his heart, I will show you a powerless Christian with very little or no experience of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit Teaches and Speaks to Us Through the Word
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
1 John 2:24, 27 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
As pointed out earlier, it was the Holy Spirit who inspired the Scriptures, and He is the One who illuminates it in our hearts today. But before He can illuminate your heart, you must have taken in the Words of God. The Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah confessed thus:
“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16 .
The Holy Spirit teaches us through the Scriptures by illuminating our hearts with the truth. But we have to read it first. Unfortunately, there are many so-called Christians today who are desperate to hear from God but make no time to read the Bible. Many of them simply depend on the Pastor to prophesy and tell they what God has to say to them. “Father Lord, let the man of God mention my case today” they say. This is a very counterproductive way to live the Christian life.
The Spirit speaks to us today through the Word of God. This is the source of truth. The scripture is the Word is truth (John 17:17). Do you know that the entire Bible is all about Christ? Successful victorious Christian life does not happen without a good knowledge of Christ (See 1 John 2:13-14). The true knowledge of the true Christ can only come from the scripture, the Word. If your Christian life is without the Word of God, you will be void of the power and the move of the Holy Spirit.
The manifestation of the Holy Spirit cannot happen in the life of the believers without the Word. The point is this: study the Scriptures; read your Bible! Obey what it says. Your total yielding to Christ will pave the way to the power and the move of the Holy Spirit in your life. This is how to attain the victorious Christian living.
Deuteronomy 6:5-9 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. What is the Holy Spirit teaching you from the Scripture about Christ?
Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
