How can we be filled with the Holy Spirit? I like to use the acronym PAY.
P – "Present your body a living sacrifice" (Rom. 12:1).
A – "Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you, to control you" (1 Jn. 5:12–13).
Y– "Yield your members as instruments of righteousness" (Rom. 6:13).
First, present your body to the Lord. Why? Because your body is "the temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 6:19). The Holy Spirit came to fill you, to possess you, to control you and to glorify the Lord Jesus through you. Now that is absolutely staggerig—awesome!
Second, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and control you. Scripture says, "If we ask anything according to his will, we have it" (1 Jn. 5:12).
Third, yield the members of your body as instruments of righteousness. Romans 6:13 says, "Yield your members unto God."
Now understand this, dear Christian. "The flesh lusteth (desires) against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh" (Gal. 5:17). There's a tug of war going on inside of every believer. Paul describes this war in Romans 7:15-25. It takes very little to stir up the flesh; television and movies are filled with lustful sights to tempt the flesh to sin. But "it is God who works in you both to will (to desire) and to do of His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). This is one of the top ten verses for Christians to know and live by.
Every holy hunger or divine desire you and I ever had, God put it there. Now, we must respond and yield our members to God and the desires He puts within us.
Prayer: Father, help us to live by faith that comes by the Word of God and see the Holy Spirit do great and mighty things in and through us to Your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Quotes for the Day: "When you're through changing, you're through." —Bruce Barton
"Those who don't want the fruits of sin must stay out of Satan's orchard." —Author Unknown
