Be Filled With The Holy Spirit

By Pastor M. Isi Eromosele

In Ephesians 5:18, Apostle Paul wrote, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.”  What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? And, how can we be filled with the Spirit?

Being filled with the Spirit means, basically, having great joy in God. And since the Bible teaches that "the joy of the Lord is our strength" (Nehemiah 8:10), it also means there will be power in this joy for overcoming besetting sins and for boldness in witness.

Basically, it means radiant joy, because the Spirit who fills us is the Spirit of joy that flows between God the Father and God the Son because of the delight they have in each other. Therefore, to be filled with the Spirit means to be caught into the joy that flows among the Holy Trinity and to love God the Father and God the Son with the very love with which they love each other. 

And then, in answer to the second question, the way to be filled with the Spirit is by trusting that the God of hope really reigns; that not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from his will (Matthew 10:29) - and that he runs the world for you and for all who trust His Word. In believing that, you will be filled with the Holy Spirit and with joy.

What Does "Baptize in the Holy Spirit" Mean?

The phrase "baptize in (or with) the Holy Spirit" was apparently coined by John the Baptist. All four of our gospels record that he said, "I have baptized you with water, but He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33).

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:12, 13:

Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

According to this one reference, Paul conceived of Spirit-baptism as the act by which the Spirit made us members of Christ's body. Once we were alienated from God, cut off from Christ (Ephesians 2:12), but then the Holy Spirit swept over us and brought us to life by uniting us to the living Christ and thus to His people in one body. This is a once-for-all event. It is never repeated, and nowhere does Paul ever admonish a Christian to be baptized by the Spirit.

Baptism with the Holy Spirit is an experience you have with God after conversion in which the Holy Spirit falls upon you in such a way that your heart bursts forth in the utterance of tongues (some ecstatic speech or unknown language).

We are sometimes urged to seek a "second blessing" or second experience of the Spirit after our initial conversion experience. Two things need to be said.

First: the blessing of the fullness (or baptism) of the Holy Spirit may occur at the moment of conversion and leave nothing to be sought but its preservation and growth or repetition. Second: even if one does not experience the fullness of the Spirit at conversion, the thing to be sought is not "the second blessing," as if that experience would be the end of our spiritual quest.

What we should seek (and this applies to all Christians) is that God pour his Spirit out upon us so completely that we are filled with joy, victorious over sin and bold to witness.

And the ways he brings us to that fullness are probably as varied as people are. It may come in a tumultuous experience of ecstasy and tongues. It may come through a tumultuous experience of ecstasy and no tongues. It may come through a crisis of suffering when you abandon yourself totally to God. Or it may come gradually through a steady diet of God's Word and prayer and fellowship and worship and service.

However it comes, our first experience of the fullness of the Spirit is only the beginning of a life-long battle to stay filled with the Spirit.

Pastor M. Isi Eromosele is a part of the Leadership Pastors at God’s Intervention Center in New York. He is also the Founder and CEO of Oseme Group, a global management consulting company based in New York City.

Rivers Of Living Water

By Pastor M. Isi Eromosele

We have before us one of the most remarkable and challeng­ing statements in the whole of the New Testament. Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38).

These words were spo­ken by Jesus to people who were spiritually dry, empty and defeated. They are like many people of our day, going through religious ritual and ceremony but finding no real meaning, life and victory.

The Apostle John includes the commentary on the words of Jesus. Verse 39 tells us that Jesus' statement about "rivers of living water" is a reference to the Holy Spirit. When it comes to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, it is possible to go to extremes.

However, despite our fear of one extreme, we must not go to the other extreme and be devoid of the person and power of the Holy Spirit. Herein lies the power for life and ministry. The Holy Spirit is our power source.

The 21st century church needs to be reminded of the purpose and power of the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. It seems that the modern church has replaced the power of God with the performance of man. Instead of singing, "Holy Spirit breathe on me," we are saying, "Lights…cameras…action."

The setting of our Lord's words amplify their meaning. The occasion was the Feast of Tabernacles, the third in a series of Jewish Feasts. In the Old Testament, the Feast of Tabernacles lasted seven days. In the New Testament the Feast of Tabernacles lasted eight days. It was a Thanksgiving Feast.

The guidelines for the Feast are found in Leviticus 23. The people were required to leave their permanent residences and build booths of willows and palm branch­es. During the Feast of Tabernacles they would live in these booths made of branches as a reminder of their nomadic days in the wilderness.

It was a time of remembering God's wonderful provision. During the Feast of Tabernacles, the city of Jerusalem and the Temple area were filled with booths made from branches.

At the heart of the Feast was a daily pro­cession. Priests carrying Golden Pitchers would lead a parade or procession through the city to the pool of Siloam singing the words of Isa. 12:3, "Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salva­tion."

The great crowd of people would parade back to the Temple and the Priests would pour the water from the pool of Siloam down upon the Altar and the peo­ple would shout and wave palm branches.

This procedure went on for 7 days, but on the last day the procedure was repeated with two significant exceptions. First, when the parade of people returned from the pool of Siloam, the Priests would march around the Altar seven times com­memorating Joshua's victory at Jericho.

Secondly, the Priests would raise the gold­en pitcher over the silver funnels as they had done each day previously, but this time there was no water — only an empty pitch­er. This signified the disobedient genera­tion that died in the Wilderness. Instead of a shout and the waving of palm branches as the people had done each day, they now stood in silence.

It was in the moment of silence — this moment of bewilderment, emptiness and meaninglessness — that Jesus cried out. You must get the picture. Our Lord had been watching the people go through the motions, perfectly following the order of service, but there was no meaning, no power, no life. They found themselves right where they had started. Nothing was any different.

Think of the great crowd of peo­ple who gathered annually for this obser­vation of the Feast of Tabernacles. Think about their lives, their homes, their jobs, their communities and their churches.

Think about what they brought with them to the great Feast: their hopes, their dreams and their expectations. Think about what they took away when they returned to their homes. Were they any different? Or did they just go through the same old motions only to conclude with an empty pitcher?

What happened to that crowd over two thousand years ago still happens to people in our world every Sunday. People go to church filled with hopes and dreams and expectations. And all too often they go away unfulfilled and empty.

Fellow pastors and church leaders: are we sending our people away empty? Do they come to the House of God in search for the Water of Life only to hear the clanging of an empty pitcher? Do they hear the dipper banging against the bottom of your bucket?

The Holy Spirit function comes to the preacher not in the study, but in the closet. It is heaven's distillation in answer to prayer. It is the sweetest exaltation of the Holy Spirit. It impregnates, suffuses, softens, percolates, cuts and soothes.

It carries the Word like dynamite, like salt, like sugar; Makes the Word a soother, an arraigner, a revealer, a searcher; Makes the hearers a culprit or a saint, makes him weep like a child and live like a giant.

Opens his heart and his purse as gently, yet as strongly as spring opens leaves. This function is not a gift of genius. It is not found in the halls of learning. No eloquence can woo it, no industry can win it. No prelatic hands can confer it. It is the gift of God - a signet set to His own messengers…It is given to those who have sought this anointed honor through many an hour of tearful, wrestling prayer."

Jesus said, "If anyone thirsts…" Thirst is a consciousness of an unsatisfied need. Thirst expresses desperation. Thirst will kill faster than hunger. One can go weeks without food, but only days without water.

Are you thirsty?  Are you thirsty for God? God will meet man on the level of his desire, man can have as much of God as he wants."

Eric Alexander, the former pastor of St. George's Tron, Church of Scotland, in Glasgow once said, "We need to learn that the blessing of God is not a cheap com­modity lightly dispensed."

The Psalmist said, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God, my soul thirsts for God - for the Living God" (Psalm. 42:1-2).

Do you have an unsatisfied need for God in your heart? Are you thirsty for Him?

"Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water…"

Jesus did not promise a trickle or a stream or a flow…He promised a river. Can you get your mind around this? The Holy Spirit is like a mighty rushing river…a life-giving river. He is like the mighty river found in Ezekiel 47 that produces life wherever it flows.

Pastor M. Isi Eromosele is a part of the Leadership Pastors at God’s Intervention Center in New York. He is also the Founder and CEO of Oseme Group, a global management consulting company based in New York City.

Seeing The Future By Adjusting And Realigning Your Spiritual Present

By Pastor ChyChy Ayodele

It is beyond crucial for you to come to precise and exact knowledge of God's plan and purpose for your life; that is to prophetically access the word of wisdom for your life. This means a clear insight into the future through a revelation of God's intent for your life. "Knowing what the will of The Lord is, try to find out what is pleasing to The Lord". Ephesians 5:10.

Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of any man, what God has in store, reserved, prepared for those that love Him, but it is revealed to us by His Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2.

Beyond the spiritual awakening, the elation and the ecstasy of communion and fellowship with God, there is oneness with God, uniformity, one mind, one heart, one desire, one purpose and union with God.

The exhortation to enter into deep union with Christ, to realise your union with Christ is not just for the sake of praying. The ultimate purpose for fellowship with God is to reveal Him on Earth. 

Fellowship brings your soul into oneness with God, and in this oneness you are Him. In this oneness you fellowship and come into perfect union with the unique Christ dimension you have been designed to express.

You begin to become the revealed purpose of God. You begin to be changed into the dimension of His glory you are permitted to behold. That dimension creates your identity. That dimension creates your new creation identity in the kingdom and describes your unique purpose. It tallies with all your experiences, gifts, talents, preferences, unique style, temperament and personality and suddenly you will know exactly why your whole life has been the way it has been.

You will realise that truly all things (good or bad) have been working out for your good because you are called according to God’s purpose. A purpose whose revelation you enter into in this union with God. In this union with God you know all things because you come into the anointing. Each saint is called to reveal Christ in a unique way, unique to His or her make up, temperament, personality, history and experiences.

Without this revelation of the spirit, your effort in the present may be leading you away from your predestined future. This revelation causes you to see the end from the beginning and to begin to consciously yield to the preparation of the spirit that will produce it.

It makes you accurate in every facet of your life. Thus, you screen off irrelevant and inaccurate relationships that do not align to this purpose. You begin to delete activities that have no bearing upon your destiny. 

You begin to exclude inputs that clog up your life; you begin to cut off everything that is unrelated to your destiny. You begin to prepare, eat the right spiritual food, diet, engage in the accurate spiritual drills, exercises, routines, diet regimens that will produce that future. You are accessing destiny by degrees.

The purpose of your prayer times, spiritual exercises, fasting, praying is for this one reason. Jesus said when He came into the Earth, "I have come to do thy will oh God, as it is written about me in your books!". There's a book written about you in the archives of Heaven. It is your diary filled before you were even born. Ephesians 2:10. 

There's a prescribed life, a predestined manifestation of Christ that you represent.  The greatest investment you can make in your life is to believe God, strive for and enter into that intimacy with Christ that causes you to become that purpose. Your cry should be, "Lord, what would you have me do?" Like Paul cried immediately he encountered Christ on the way to Damascus.

The answer will not come overnight. It will come progressively, ever-increasingly and in finer detail, more precise definition as you access the deeper realm of oneness with Christ. Your imagination, your will, your emotions, your mind, your intellect and consciousness begins to be imparted, infused with a new consciousness, an awareness of your purpose.

You will begin to know and continue to know. This knowledge alone will answer 95 percent of your life questions. "Who am l? Where is my genius? What is my definition of success? What do l commit my whole life to? Who do l marry? Where do I live? What lifestyle do l I live?"

Success is predestined...

Pastor Chychy Ayodele
Preacher and Teacher of the Word; Christian Publisher; Songwriter; Gospel Singer; Inspirational and Motivational Minister and Attorney.

You Are Part Of A Whole: Seek Harmony Proactively

By Pastor ChyChy Ayodele

The whole is the body of Christ on Earth without which, independent of which you cannot exist or function as a saint upon Earth. The body of Christ is comprised of souls from diverse backgrounds, status, experience and temperaments in life. What you are to the body of Christ universally becomes experiential reality in the local assembly as you relate and operate. No saint can exist outside the body of Christ.

Put Positive Emphasis On Love

In church and in even in Christian relationships, if you wait to receive love before you give it you may never do. If you wait for correct response from others you will never do what is right, or do what God requires of you. Love actions are not reactions prompted by conducive atmospheres. Love is not released to the deserving. The unlovable and the loveless need more love.

Every harsh, coarse, hate-filled, wrong attitude, etc, exhibited by any human towards you proceeds from and reveals the deficiency of the divine love in a person's heart. Your response, whether you take offense or not, no matter how unfair and unjust the action toward you is, reveals also the sufficiency or deficiency of divine love in your own heart.

If you are spitefully used and abused by someone, love's response is Jesus' command, "Love those who spitefully use you". If you react in another way, returning spite and hatred, no matter how justified, you have fallen short of love and revealed a deficiency of love in your heart equal to the deficiency of love in the heart of the one who spitefully used you.

This is another bold but humbling fact. In personal conflicts between individuals, God never takes sides. He dispenses love to both sides. If you react apart from love, you fall short, too. The only way to be on God's side in any matter is to act or react in love. Love truly covers multitude of sin.

Jesus on the cross released love and multitude of sins and atrocities were covered up. Love truly is the greatest, especially when it is Divine Love.

Give love to humans and expect love from God. You will not be disappointed because God is love and His love is unfailing. God's love is sure. God's love is faithful, unceasing and abundant. He is shedding it daily abroad in our hearts by His Holy Spirit who dwells in us. To expect love from man is to look for heartbreak, disappointment, disaster. God is love and His love is found in those who really walk with Him. Love is found in those who truly know God.

Come into harmony with love for love itself is harmony, love is in harmony. Love is at peace. Love is unperturbed. Love has forgiven and forgotten all offenses. Be a pioneer, an initiator of this love life on Earth.

Be the first to act and keep acting no matter what comes or goes, no matter what adds or takes away. Be fearless and free. Love wins the day. Give love, receive more from God, give it all away, receive more love from God.

Start from the little in your heart now. Give it away. Reach out to some unlovable person. One who has been spiteful toward you before. Plan out an act of love, a gift of love, words of love. You can afford it. Reach out and touch your enemy with God’s love, touch your adversary, your foes, your worst persecutors, your greatest antagonists, touch them with His love.

Though they doubt you, though they wonder what you are up to, touch them again and again. Love never fails. Be steadfast in love, it humbles you. Surrender and yield to divine love. The devil and enemies may resist your faith, but there's no resistance against persistent steadfast divine love.

The walls will be shattered, barriers broken by love. Love is the greatest weapon. Choose to be among the few who will make the difference. Love even the unlovable, as Christ did and still does. Jesus Christ loves us with perfect love. His gift to us is perfect love. Love those ones who are loveless towards you. Mathew 5:43-48, Mathew 5:20, Romans 5:5.

An atmosphere of hate and discord is the crucible in which the life of perfect love will be discovered by those who have understanding... through the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Chychy Ayodele
Preacher and Teacher of The Word of God; Gospel Singer; Christian Publisher and an Attorney.

Let Your Purpose Define You

By Pastor ChyChy Ayodele

The love of God is moving in your heart, overflowing, over-ruling and defeating and destroying the love of all else until you hate the world and its ways and hate all else in comparison with your love for Christ and your desire to please Him.

That desire becomes stronger than anything, for the love of God makes you want to please Him in all things, and this is what makes you relate with all men the right way; with the unconditional love that is willing to lose all things, (tangible and intangible). It is called “I love God more than anything or any person in existence.”

The fear of God must also work in your life. It will destroy all other fears in your heart. The fear of God means you will never act in a way inconsistent with the truth just because you are afraid of anything or anyone. You don't fear what people will think or say. You will also do what is right and not just what is consistent.

No matter what comes or goes, you are who God says you are. But until you allow the spirit light to shine this into your consciousness, you will never be in actual experience of what God says you are. That's why you must take personal responsibility to drive the truth into your soul, into the depth, the core, the heart 
of your being.

You must take the word of God and speak it to yourself consistently and deliberately think of yourself to be what the word of God says you are. You must know that a glorious, holy, peaceful, righteous, patient, loving, sweet, harmless person lives within you. That's the real you. You are indeed full of the love of God.

Turn inwards into the riches of His grace, treasures of heaven, precious things of God's Spirit lying within, deep within you, calling you to prophetic, a place of discovery, at the feet of Christ. Let your spirit, full of divine plans and purposes, secret things of glory break out.

Christ within you is calling you, drawing you to Himself and you must not only begin the journey, but must persist in it until you arrive at your destination, which is union with God and His purposes for your life which reveals your true identity. And that is where your anointing, power and grace is for you.

When you discover His purposes, you discover His power, and the more accurately you walk in His purposes, the more tremendously His power shows up. There's grace overflowing, there's power and glorious anointing in His presence to enable you bring forth His purpose. Obey your thirst!

Your thirst and quest for knowledge must be followed incessantly. Your quest also for true love will be fulfilled and you will receive power to do His will for humanity. But this is found in Christ and this means the anointing. Enter the anointing. To meet Christ you must access the spirit, which is where He exists. He resides in your spirit, which is the deepest part of your being.

The Holy Spirit is in you, the Spirit of Christ.

Pastor Chychy Ayodele
Preacher and Teacher of The Word of God; Gospel Singer; Song Writer; Christian Publisher; Inspirational and Motivational Minister and an Attorney.