One of the most common excuses for not becoming a Christian is the fear of failure to live the Christian life. Besides overlooking the fact that people cannot be saved on the basis of good works (Titus 3:5), this objection ignores the truth that God provides the power to live the Christian life. Before Christ was crucified He promised the coming of the Holy Spirit to help believers (John 16:13,14). The order of events of the Book of Acts supply ample evidence of the fulfillment of this prophecy (Acts 4:7, 33;6,8).
The power of the Holy Spirit was not designed soley for the first-century church. Rather, all Christians are indwelt by the Spirit and thus have His power available (1 cor. 6:19). However, living the Christian life under the Spirits power must not be thought of as simply allowing the Spirit to take control while the believer does nothing. Believers still must live the Christian life, though they do it through the Spirits power. Rom. 8:13 says, "if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live".
Christians who struggle in their own strength to live the Christian life will fail. We must by faith appropriate daily the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:4,5). To describe in a practical way, this means that believers trust the Holy Spirit to empower them in specific instances such as sharing their faith with others, resisting temptation, being faithful, and so on. There is no secret formula that makes the Holy Spirit's power available. It is simply a reliance on the Spirit of God to help.
Often the Christian will doubt his/her salvation simply because he/she does not feel saved, not understanding that the basis for that salvation is the promise of God and not emotional feelings. In fact, the entire Trinity is involved in this.
To be filled with the Spirit is to be controlled by the Spirit and is therefore crucial to successfully living the Christian life. How can someone be filled with Spirit? Unlike the indwelling of the Spirit, filling is a repeated experience. Christians who were filled more than once (Acts 2:4; 4:31). Just as important, we must observe that filling is a command to be obeyed not an option.
How can someone be filled with Spirit? Prior conditions are simply confession of sin and yielding to God. The believer who chooses to obey in these areas is filled with the Spirit and enabled to manifest Christ-like character. This obedience may be accompanied by prayer but is not necessarily so.
The certainty of being filled with the Spirit may be confirmed by the believer's faith and life. The believer must of course, believe God's Word that meeting the conditions will result in the filling. The Spirit-filled person will exhibit the Christ-like character described in (Gal. 5:22, 23) as the fruit of the Spirit.
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