Stay Filled
Now the fourth thing that we learned from this letter of Jude is to stay filled with the Spirit.
In verse 17 he said, “Dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.”
And then he goes on in verse 20 to say “But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love”
Stay Filled Daily
So let's be reminded that we need the Holy Spirit in our lives. We always talk about this around Pentecost, but so often we forget about the life filled with the Holy Spirit. But it's our only hope—to live Spirit-filled lives.
As Thomas Arnold said, "He who does not know God, the Spirit does not know God at all." We need the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is central to us being able to live our lives in Christ and in God's ways.
Power of the Holy Spirit
Samuel Chadwick, the great Methodist preacher of times gone past, wrote a book called The Way to Pentecost, and in it he says that “no other religion has anything corresponding to the Christian doctrine of the Spirit. And in the Christian religion, there is nothing so vital, persuasive, and effective.”
In other words, our faith really hinges on the infilling of the Spirit. No other religion teaches that you can be filled with the very Spirit of God. This is the key to living a powerful Christian life—and Jude knew this. So he pleaded with these people: don't be like those who don't have the Spirit, but pray in the Spirit always and be filled.
Receive a Fresh Anointing
Do you need a fresh anointing from the Holy Spirit today? I think our daily prayer to God should always be, “Fill me Lord, give me a fresh anointing from the Spirit now. Give me a fresh touch from Your hand. Give me a fresh empowering as I go out and live my life.”
As Wesley Duewel wrote in his book Ablaze for God, “It is spiritually natural for the Holy Spirit to come upon God's children again and again once they have been initially filled with His presence and power. New special times of need arise. The Spirit is available to empower and fill again. God is delighted to anoint us, empower us, and cause His Spirit to flow through us to others with their needs. As we walk close to God in obedience to His will, and as we seek His face for new enduements, we receive by faith His new outpourings.”
So, friends, I pray that in this moment you will just be still and receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Live in faith, live in His power, live in His fullness, and don't ever forget that you need the Holy Spirit every hour of every day.
