DAILY VIDEO DEVOTIONAL
Someone has said, “What’s important in the Christian life is not how high you can jump, but how straight you can walk once you’ve landed.” That’s certainly true in relation to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. I hear many good and faithful people debating what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But sometimes I think that we’ve missed the whole reason God told us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t so we could debate about how high we need to jump, but rather to learn how to walk straight in a crooked world.
The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Galatia about what it meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He characterized the life filled with the Holy Spirit as he wrote of the fruit of the Spirit. He then says in Galatians 5:16, “But I say to you, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” He reemphasizes this great need by saying, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (5:25). He knew that how we walked was more important than how we talked. There was a great need not only to talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, but especially to live out a life under the control of the Holy Spirit.
It’s my experience that Christians today are much better at talking about the fullness of the Holy Spirit than at walking daily in the power of the Holy Spirit. We must learn to walk by the Spirit. It’s interesting that when Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, he contrasted being filled with the Holy Spirit with getting drunk. I’m not proud of the fact that before I became a Christian, I got drunk on several occasions. One of the first things that happened when I drank too much was that I couldn’t walk straight, no matter how hard I tried.
There’s a contrasting truth when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We walk straight spiritually, and there’s no effort. We’re no longer living in our own power. We’re walking under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The only way He walks is the straight and narrow way. He walks the way of holiness and purity. He walks the road of integrity. When we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, then we too will walk in the way of holiness, purity, and integrity.
Many begin well in the Christian life but do not finish well. Often it’s because they have not learned to draw from the living waters deep within themselves. We must daily appropriate the fullness of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He is our enabler. He empowers us to live the way we ought to live. He overcomes every weakness and obstacle in our walk with God. He is our source of victory. And He will see us through to the end. He enables us to complete what was begun in us.
We are absolutely dependent on the Holy Spirit for all our strength in the Christian life. So we must depend on Him daily. Then supernaturally, we will naturally walk in purity and holiness of life. Today, I ask you: How straight have you been walking? The answer speaks volumes of how much you truly know about the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians : Chapter 5
1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2) and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3) But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4) Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5) For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.[a] 6) Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7) Therefore do not be partners with them. 8) For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9) (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10) and find out what pleases the Lord.
Book of the Month
Sammy Tippit told his fiancée, “I can’t promise we’ll be rich, but life won’t be boring.”
Sammy had no idea what an understatement that would become. Beginning in the bars of Baton Rouge and the nightclubs of Chicago, Tippit has shared the news of life-changing faith in Christ all over the world – including in the middle of a revolution in Romania, the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda, and war in Burundi and the Congo.
Sammy’s lifelong adventure has come at a great price. He’s been cursed, threatened, arrested, deported, and blacklisted. He’s also been personally broken, ravaged with illness, and devastated by grief.
Yet he continues to preach to in stadiums, in open fields, and via satellite technology to hundreds of thousands around the globe. For all other books…
About Sammy Tippit Ministries
STM has been providing inspiration and help around the world for nearly 50 years. Sammy Tippit, founder and president, is a world renowned counselor, teacher and evangelist with experience serving and helping people in over 80 countries. Sammy provides materials that help people tackle a broad array of social, societal, psychological and spiritual issues. He is particularly passionate about making materials accessible to other countries around the world. Sammy is married to Debara “Tex” Tippit, and they have two children and five grandchildren.
Sammy Tippit Ministries is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization.
Contact: info@sammytippit.org
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