“That he (God)would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:16-19).
We become filled with the Holy Spirit by faith “That that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:14).
The first step of preparation for being filled with the Holy Spirit anointing is to claim the gift of justification which is accepting Christ and receiving instant justification from all past confessed sins through His blood. At this time a measure of the Holy Spirit is given to the believer which makes it possible to overcome sin.
The second step is called sanctification which is a daily submission to God through the study of the word and prayer. When we ask in faith and claim the power to stop yielding to sin, God places His strength in our life, and in that moment we can claim deliverance from any habit of sin. The Scriptures repeatedly confirm that the Holy Spirit cannot be given to those who are disobedient “And we are his witnesses of these things and so also is the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him” (Acts 5:32). When justification and sanctification unite to work in the life, the believer experiences the “blessing of Abraham” in the full sense.
The third step involves an exercise of the same kind of faith for sharing with others the powerful experiences of Justification and sanctification. It consists of actually claiming the promised power to make our words convicting and fruitful to fulfill God’s great commission of sharing the gospel.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
