Reigniting Your Life
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HArX_wEUoFs
In last week’s message we looked at our need to have our lives reset back to God’s original design or setting, and then we looked at how that reset happens.
At the end I gave a series of steps, and in the last step we looked at maintaining what the reset accomplished, and this begins with allowing the Holy Spirit to fill us to overflowing.
Before His death and resurrection, Jesus said, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” (John 16:7 NKJV)
And then Jesus added that He will send the Holy Spirit to become implanted in our lives, so that the Holy Spirit will be able to then lead and guide us into all truth (John 16:13).
Let me use an example to explain this whole idea of our need to reignite our lives once we have reset them.
A customer wrote a letter of complaint to a company he had bought a knife from. He said that as he used his new knife it had gotten dull, and he had expected that the knife to last a lot longer when he bought it.
The company responded, “It will. All you have to do is sharpen it.”
No matter how sharp a knife might be, if it isn’t re-sharpened it will get dull. In the same manner, no matter when we get our lives reset to God, if we don’t get them reignited, then we’ll find ourselves getting further and further away from God’s original design, purpose, and plan.
To illustrate, let me ask some rhetorical questions, that is, I’m not asking for a show of hands or a shout out, but rather I’d like everyone to take a moment and quietly reflect and think about how we would answer.
• Are you happy with where you are in life?
• Do you believe that God is happy where you are in life?
• If Jesus were to return right now, will He find not only faith on your part, but will He find you truly in love with Him?
Every one of us has been through so much. We’ve been through what many refer to as “The Ringer.” We’ve been through one battle after another, from illness to financial difficulties, and everything in-between, and all of it has literally taken our breath away. And what we need, before we get too dull and used up, is to get our lives re-sharpened, that is, we need to get ourselves reignited.
In looking at the pillars of our church, as they represent the whole of the church, it seems that the excitement for evangelism, that is, our need to reach out with the good news of Jesus Christ has waned somewhat. We can also say that same thing about discipleship, that is building up God’s house within each of us, and we can add to that our mission of making a difference in our community and world for Christ. Each one of these pillars seem to have taken a back seat to everything else that is going on in the world and in our lives.
We have become so concerned about all these other things going on in our world that we’ve forgotten the main thing, and that is Jesus Christ. This was the Apostle Paul’s take when he said, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2 NKJV)
It is for this reason that I’d like to talk with you about getting reignited, that is, our need to get supercharged for God. In other words, we need to get ourselves filled and overflowing with the Holy Spirit.
Now, before we can begin, it’s important that we understand just who the Holy Spirit is, especially if we want and need to be filled and reignited by Him.
In short, the Holy Spirit is God, or as He is often referred to as the third person of the Godhead. The Bible makes it clear while God is one, He is actually several that make up that one, and we see this in the Bible, as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Now, most have no problem when it comes to God being both the Father and Jesus, His Son, but not so much the Holy Spirit. But the same qualities of God the Father and Jesus Christ are found in the Holy Spirit. Now, this is brought out quite sufficiently in a small booklet I’m getting published soon on the Trinity. But until it is, you can read it on my spiritual transformation webpage https://spiritualtransformationseries.com
But there is something that brings this all together and that is what Jesus told His disciple about the Holy Spirit who He would send in His place, which is found two chapters earlier.
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth.” (John 14:16-17a NKJV)
The word that jumps out and gives us this meaning is the word “another.” In the Greek language it means something or someone of the same kind. So, Jesus was literally saying that He was going to send a Helper just like himself, and since He is God, then so is the Holy Spirit.
Receiving the Holy Spirit
Our living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit rests solely upon being willing to receive the Holy Spirit and being open for the Holy Spirit to fill and overflow our lives.
Explaining why he was baptizing unto repentance, John the Baptist said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11 NKJV)
Concerning Jesus, the Apostle John said we’ve not only received His fullness but the additional grace of one blessing after another.
“And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16 NKJV)
This is what every believer in Jesus Christ can expect, grace stacked upon grace. It’s where believers can expect to receive this fullness in an ever-increasing degree.
This is God’s moment-by-moment provision for vitality, strength, courage, boldness, victory, and an abundant life.
We see this fullness, and this ever increasing fullness, through the following ways in which the Holy Spirit moves within the life of a believer.
Being Filled with the Holy Spirit
We become filled with the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. After Jesus’s resurrection, He showed Himself to the disciples.
It says, “When Jesus appeared to the disciples He breathed on them saying, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (John 20:22 NKJV)
When we come to belief in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit enters, and we become His dwelling place.
The Apostle Paul said, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16 ) ... “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19 NKJV).
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is an important part of our spiritual life, because then we’ll discover a source of supernatural power that can help us throughout this journey of faith until we enter heaven.
Setting all controversy aside, this is our greatest need. To have Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, and the Holy Spirit living inside of us helping us live and walk out this life of faith.
And while being filled is important, there’s a greater filling available, and that is being filled to overflowing. It’s called the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Being Baptized with the Holy Spirit
Remember they already received the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them. Now Jesus is telling them of a further filling known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Many Christians, unfortunately, aren’t experiencing being filled to overflowing because they haven’t received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They haven’t experienced the fullness and haven’t yet been empowered.
Of being baptized with the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, “For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:5 NKJV)
Jesus is talking about a special anointing, a special empowerment, if you would, of the Holy Spirit that awaits all who have come to faith in Jesus Christ.
The word “baptism” gives us this understanding. The word means to be completely immersed. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “I want to completely immerse you in the power of the Holy Spirit, flooding every compartment of your life.”
We see this same meaning in what Jesus said in Luke 24:49.
“I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49 NKJV)
The word “endued” means to completely cover or to clothe oneself in. Jesus is saying He wants us to be clothed in the Holy Spirit’s power.
Now, this isn’t some academic exercise that sounds good in church but has no application in real life. Rather, it’s the one thing that we as believers need above and beyond everything else, which is why Jesus told His disciples prior to His accession to wait for it.
We need this baptism of the Holy Spirit if we’re ever going to make an impact upon this present generation. We need the baptism of the Holy Spirit so we can be like a river of living water allowing the Holy Spirit to overflow our lives so we can overflow God’s mercy and grace in the lives of everyone we meet.
But there’s still another step in this filling process, and that’s the constant fill up we need along the way.
Being Refilled with the Holy Spirit
After being filled and baptized in the Holy Spirit, the disciples found it necessary to be continually refilled. After the Jewish authorities punished Peter and John telling them not to preach or teach in the name of Jesus, they went to the local church and prayed.
It says, “The place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31 NKJV)
They were refilled.
When full-service gas stations were around, we use to go in and say, “Fill ’er up,” and the attendant knew this meant two things. First, the gas in the car was getting close to empty, and second, we wanted our gas tank filled.
As believers, once we get filled and baptized, we need to be continually refilled.
We need a fresh anointing and refilling of the Holy Spirit to meet the new complexities and challenges of life. This was something God’s people knew and wanted from the very beginning.
I love the way the prophet Isaiah calls out for this fresh anointing.
“Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence ... When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, the mountains shook at Your presence.” (Isaiah 64:1, 3 NKJV)
We always need to be yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit wants to work within us, filling, controlling, and directing our lives so that we can be everything God has created for us to be.
Living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit is not some holy suggestion nor is it optional on the part of believers. Rather, it’s a command Jesus gives for us to be continually filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit.
Finally, this is not something we can work up on our own; rather, it is a work of God in our lives. We need to be open and available for God to do this fantastic work within us.
It is from these three steps that a tremendous power is ours.
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” (Ephesians 3:20 NKJV)
Simply put, the power of the Holy Spirit enables us to stop living for the world and all its enticements and start living for God. The Apostle Paul gives us this when he tells us to walk in the Spirit so that we don’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
Further, the Holy Spirit gives us the power to enter the very presence of God.
In Romans 8:26 the Apostle Paul says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
And then there’s the power the Holy Spirit gives us to live according to God’s will for our lives.
And so, to reignite our lives we need that divine spark of God, which we have seen is no one less than the Holy Spirit
Conclusion
To conclude our time together on this subject of being reignited, there’s a scripture verse I believe applies.
Outside the city of Ephesus, Paul runs into some disciples and asks, “‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’” (Acts 19:2, NIV)
They told Paul they never heard that there was a Holy Spirit, and they had only been baptized in John’s baptism in water for repentance. Once they heard about Jesus Christ, they came to belief in Him, and it says that Paul laid hands on them and baptized them in the Holy Spirit.
Maybe you’ve heard of the Holy Spirit, or you’ve known of the Holy Spirit but haven’t taken your relationship with Him any further.
When Jesus’s disciples took their relationship with the Holy Spirit further, there on the day of Pentecost, their life in Christ grew leaps and bounds.
First, have you experienced filling of the Holy Spirit by accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. Next, have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Or maybe you just need a refill.
Every one of us is in one of those three categories.
If you have found that you haven’t been walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, then don’t wait; don’t quench and grieve the Holy Spirit any longer. Instead, let’s receive the Holy Spirit’s power to ignite and reignite our lives, and the church.
