Empower and Mature Me
Mike Norten wrote the book, Unlocking the Secrets of the Feast. In this book was an excerpt on two of the jobs of the Holy Spirit. Recently, I've been stuck in ruts and trying to get out of them in my own strength versus calling on the power of the Spirit. I gobbled up the part that our Spirit filled lives are a continual process towards maturity! In the second context of empowerment, I don't think we come near to tapping into the power God intends for us to experience.
Norten writes:
"The concept of the filling of the Spirit has always evoked different opinions regarding its meaning. One thing I observed about filling was that in the Greek there are two different words for the process. In Ephesians 5:18 the word for filling is pleroo, which conveys the idea of growth to maturity or being molded by the Word of God. If we compare Ephesians 5:18 to Colossians 3:16, which discusses the same subject, we can see that "be filled with the Spirit" is the same as "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you." Since this command in Ephesians 5:18 is in the present tense, this indicates a continual experience or process. Both phrases have the same result: praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.
On the other hand, pimplemi in Acts 2:4 is in the aorist tense, which indicates a single event or happening. In context, the word implies an empowering for a work of service. Today, since the Spirit indwells us as believers, we can be empowered by the Holy Spirit in our respective ministries. So the Holy Spirit is doing two major things for us: empowering and maturing us."
Let's stop and just imagine what it would have been like that day when the Holy Spirit inhabited those early believers! Whew! I want to let the Spirit take control!
"When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force-no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them. Acts 2:1-4
