Full of The Holy Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Have you ever perused church websites? Most have a section called “Our Beliefs.” The Pentecostals and other “full gospel” faiths are famous for making a doctrine out of speaking in tongues. The Magnolia Apostolic Tabernacle’s website says, “… and the receiving of the Holy Spirit with the initial sign of speaking with other tongues…”

While I do believe in speaking in other tongues is a real manifestation of God in some instances because of what Christ said in Mark 16:17, I also think that to make it a doctrine of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is a complete contradiction to the word of God, and a focus on something completely insignificant when compared to Galatians 5 above.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:30, “All do not have gifts of healing do they? All do not speak with tongues do they?...” Why does man, or church, or denomination have to create a rule for their membership?

What would happen if we used Galatians 5 as the standard for what “being filled with the Holy Spirit” truly means? I dare say we would find all of ourselves short of being filled.

I watched a program the other day where some Westboro Baptists were calling the host of the show a “fag lover.” They went on to explain that it was love for them to point out another person’s sin. Really? They also said Billy Graham was a profiteer of Gandi's saying, "Love the sinner and hate the sin." So go figure that one.  Has the log been removed completely from their eye? Did Christ in his condemn and call the adulteress names in John 8? On the contrary Christ’ showed love by showing grace to the sinner and pointing out to the religious their judgment which is hypocrisy.

All of us fall short of this example of love, but what of joy? Is prosperity, power, influence, pleasure the same as joy? Is happiness joy? Does the joy that comes from the Holy Spirit only come from our earthly pleasures that so many mis-name “blessings” from God? Do any of us have the joy of Christ? Joy that was so complete and powerful that it allowed Him to endure the cross? (Hebrew 12:2) Oh wait, I dare say only a few would see any joy in such suffering.

And what of peace? Do any of us have the peace to sleep in the storm as Christ did more than once?

My point is that life is a path, and not a destination. Beware of those who speak as if they have arrived. Beware of majoring on the minor, when our ultimate goal as Christians should be to walk in love over any other gift of manifestation of the Holy Spirit. And I preach this to myself. I pray this to heaven.

I pray for me that 2013 be a year of discovering joy & peace as it comes from the Holy Spirit. Not for the world to change around me, but that I would have it in spite of the world around me. A joy and peace that come from being in relationship with Christ, and not from an adherence to doctrine or some man’s definition of what it is to live a holy or godly life.