The other day, we'd been working long and hard
here in the office, and it was time for a meal,
and I said, Maggie, I think what I need is a
good piece of meat. I haven't had steak for a
couple of weeks, and I'm tired. Mabel just kind
of picked me up, and so she and I went to a place
where... We'd never eaten before. And I heard
that they specialized in steaks, and I felt I
needed some meat. And so we went into the place,
and I tell you the truth, it was the best piece
of meat that I'd had for months and months. Especially
good. It was just great. And then, before we
got ready to go, Maggie got up at the table for
something and the chef, the man who had prepared
our steaks, went over to Maggie and said very
quietly, Are you Ruth? She smiled and said no.
I'm Maggie. He said, I saw Miss Kuhlman come
in. And I never miss her broadcast. Tell her.
Just tell her. I love her old -fashioned cornbread.
And if that chef is listening to me right now,
I want to say, You keep those good steaks coming.
Oh, sir, your steaks are wonderful. And I'll
keep the good old -fashioned Missouri cornbread
coming. And it's just like that. I'm going to
talk to you again about something that, um...
It's so vitally important. Oh, sure. We've been
speaking about the Holy Spirit, and you know
how real the mighty third person of the Trinity
is to me. And I've spoken to you regarding the
person of the Holy Spirit, the use of the personal
pronouns. And we spoke of him regarding his intellect.
I've spoken to you regarding the activities of
the Holy Spirit. He guides. He confirms. He communes.
He intercedes. He teaches. He reveals. He impels.
He restrains. He speaks. He defends. Oh, the
work of the Holy Spirit is marvelous. And we've
spoken to you. in these heart -to -heart talks
regarding many of these things, literally the
activities of the Holy Spirit. But do you want
to know something? Of all the doctrines in the
realm of the person and the work of the Holy
Spirit, there is none more important as it relates
to the believer's Christian life than that of
the feeling of the Holy Spirit. And I believe
that I receive more letters asking me how can
I be filled with the Spirit than any question
that is asked me. Ms. Coleman, you speak of this
wonderful experience, and it is the greatest
experience. that a human being can know is that
experience of being born again. Without it, the
richest man in the world is poor. And with that
wonderful experience of being a Christian, of
being born again, the poorest man in the universe
is rich. Nothing is more vitally important to
any human being. Nothing is as glorious their...
There is no experience known to man that is more
important than that experience of being born
again. Then there comes that experience of being
filled with the Spirit. And that experience is
for every man and every woman who's been born
again. If you're a Christian, if you've had that
experience of regeneration, then this second
experience is as important. This second experience
is a part of your inheritance. It is in the plan
of God that you receive this vitally important
experience of being filled with the Spirit. But
somebody says, Ms. Kuhlman, how can I be filled
with the Spirit? The Apostle Paul gives us a
command. Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess,
but be filled with the Spirit. It's a command.
Read it. It's there in the fifth chapter of Ephesians,
the 18th verse. Literally, look at it. It isn't
something that's optional. Paul says, but be
filled with the Spirit. Now, what does the apostle
have in mind when he says, be filled with the
Spirit? Now, this word, filled, may be used in
two different senses. In the original text, There
are two different Greek words, both translated
filled. One seems to suggest a filling up. You
might take a glass and a pitcher of water and
you pour the water from the pitcher into the
empty glass so that water fills up the glass.
The disciples on the day of Pentecost were filled.
up with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit moved in,
came into dwell, and His presence was manifested
in the believers. That's understandable. But
watch something. The second word seems to have
the added thought, not only a presence, but a
power that manifests itself through the individual
who is filled up. Not only as the water was poured
into the empty glass, there was more than that.
There was a power that manifested itself through...
That glass having been filled up with water.
There's more than just being filled up with the
Spirit. There is more than just an empty vessel.
There's more than just you being filled to Spirit.
More than just me being filled to Spirit. That's
glorious. That's wonderful. But there is a place
where we are so filled up, not only with his
presence, but a power that manifests itself through
the individual, through the one who is filled
up with the spirit. The word is used of sails
that are filled with the wind. Now, the result
of filling sails with wind is that the boat moves.
The sails are not truly filled with the wind
when the wind simply builds them out, but they
are in the same sense filled with the wind when
the boat is moved or carried along by the wind
that is in the sail. And in this scriptural sense,
when the Apostle Paul is talking about the familiar
spirit, He's talking not only about the spirit
indwelling in a person, but about the added thought
that the one who indwells moves the one who is
filled into a new course of action and produces
a new kind of life, a life of power. Oh, that's
glorious. This can be illustrated in the Upper
Room Discourse when our Lord takes the disciples
aside and emphasizes the truth that he's to be
taken away from them, that he's going into death,
and that there'll be a resurrection. But remember,
death and resurrection meant a separation from
them. Our Lord says, Because I have said these
things unto you, sorrow hath... filled your heart.
What does it mean to have a heart filled with
sorrow? When sorrow controls a person, it dominates
him. It produces a new life, a new outlook. Even
the facial expression will change. If we would
understand what Paul is trying to teach us in
the fifth chapter of Ephesians, in place of the
word filling or filled, Use the word controlled.
We would not be amiss and would make plain what
Paul says. Do not be drunk with wine, which produces
riotous living, but be controlled with the Spirit,
which produces psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs. It produces the giving of thanks. It produces
submission. It produces power. It produces a
new life. So Paul brings this contrast to us
to teach us that as a man may yield himself to
the control of alcoholic beverages, one can...
also yield himself completely to the power and
the person of the Holy Spirit to the extent where
the Holy Spirit will control his life and his
being. The Spirit produces a new walk. The Spirit
produces new speech, a new manner of life. Do
you want to know whether one has been filled
with the Holy Spirit? There will be power in
that life. That life will be dominated, will
be controlled by the Holy Spirit. But you say,
how can I be filled with the Spirit? I'll give
it to you in just a few words. Turn over to Jesus
yourself and all you have. You say, is it that
simple? It's that simple. I repeat it. Turn over
to Jesus. yourself, and all you have. This is
the crucial point. And if you bungle this, you
block the whole thing. Between two persons, there
is no love without an inward self -surrender
to each other. If either one... withholds the
essential self from the other, love is blocked.
It'll not spring up no matter how hard you try
to love around and pass that core of an unsurrendered
self. You cannot love fully unless there is an
unsurrendered self. So between you and Jesus.
There can be no love without an inward self -surrender.
You cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit until
there is an inward surrender of all that you
are and all that you have. The real You surrendered
to him. Not the surrender of this thing or that
thing. Some people miss it entirely by saying,
well, I surrendered this thing or I surrendered
the other. It's not the surrender of things.
It's the surrender of you. The essential you.
And he feels that which you surrender unto him.
All that he wants is you. And when you turn over
to him yourself, You don't seek him. You don't
seek something. You don't seek an evidence. You
turn yourself. You commit yourself. You surrender
yourself. An inward self -surrender to... Jesus.
And when you have surrendered to him completely,
the Holy Spirit will fill the vessel. Not only
filling it to the full, but there will be the
outward manifestation of the power of that one
who has filled you with himself. Being filled
with the Spirit is that simple.