15 Minute Bible Study
Are You Filled With the Spirit?
Memory Verse: Romans 8:11

Being filled with the Holy Spirit means yielding to Him and allowing Him to have control over us. To experience His complete power at work in us, we must first arrive at specific points of awareness, desire, humility, submission, and belief.

1 Recognize your need for the Holy Spirit's power in your life. Unless you consider that necessary, you will continue relying on your own strength and ideas. No matter how talented, attractive, intelligent, or physically fit you are, you will never reach your full potential on your own. God has a specific plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11); how can you ever hope to achieve the goal if you don't even know what His plan is? Only the Holy Spirit, who knows the mind of God (John 16:13-15), can successfully lead you into the fullness of life that the heavenly Father has planned for you.

2 Desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (2 Kings 2:9) Without this yearning, you will be unable to experience His power.

3 The desire, however, must give birth to action—you must repent of the sin in your life. True repentance involves change of both attitude and behavior. (Luke 19:1-8) You must not only recognize that you need to change; you must also make lifestyle adjustments that correspond with God's revelation of your sin.

4 To walk in the Spirit means to surrender control of your life to Him. Let every step begin with the question, "What do You want me to do, Father?" We must develop a Christlike mindset of humility in which we pray, "Father, I may not see Your reasoning, but I will accept Your control." (Mark 14:36)

5 Simply believe God will do what He has promised. (Romans 4:21) He has an wonderful plan for your life; John's gospel gives us the assurance of the Holy Spirit's role in leading us into the Spirit-filled life. (chapters 14-16)

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1) Am I operating in my own strength, or do I consciously seek and submit to the Spirit's control in my daily decisions?

2) Over which areas of my life have I failed to give Him authority?