LESSON FIVE
How You Can Know When You Are Filled With the Holy Spirit
Did you sincerely follow the steps outlined in Lesson 4? Did you ask the Holy Spirit to fill you? If you did not, Lessons 5 and 6 will not mean much to you. Go back to Lesson 4 and ask God to work in your heart. If he has filled you, you will be anxious to proceed with these next two lessons.
Lesson Objective: To experience assurance of the filling of the Holy Spirit
BIBLE STUDY
Read Galatians 5:16–26
Before you consider the many verses below, be sure to read the Bible passage listed above.
If you click on the verses in the study below you can see the entire verse! If you are not on-the-go, consider opening a physical Bible and looking up the passages.
Results of the Spirit-filled Life
- What will the Holy Spirit demonstrate in and through your life as a result of his filling you (Galatians 5:22, 23)? Which specific fruit of the Spirit are you most in need of?
- Read Acts 1:8. How do you see this power at work in your life? How does John 15:16 apply to you today?
- How do you identify with 1 Corinthians 12:1–11 and Ephesians 4:11?
- What mannerisms, language, activities, and inconsistencies in your life do you think are hindering the Holy Spirit from developing his fruit, power, and gifts in you?
- What happens as we are occupied with Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to work in us (2 Corinthians 3:18)?
Fact, Faith, and Feelings
- Fact: Why should we be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)?
- Faith: What is our assurance that we have been filled with the Spirit (1 John 5:14,15)?
- Feelings: When you were filled with the Spirit, did you feel any different?
Do not depend upon feelings. The promise of God’s Word, not our feelings, is our authority. The Christian lives by faith in the trustworthiness of God himself and his Word.
This train diagram illustrates the relationship among fact [God and his Word], faith [our trust in God and his Word], and feeling [the result of our faith and obedience] (John 14:21).The train will run with or without the caboose. However, it would be futile to attempt to pull the train by the caboose. In the same way, we do not depend upon feelings or emotions, but we place our faith (trust) in the trustworthiness of God and the promise of his Word.
LIFE APPLICATION
Questions
Though you may not be aware of a change immediately, with the passing of time you will see some evidence of your being filled with the Spirit. If there is no change, the Holy Spirit is not in charge.
- Do you think a person can be filled with the Holy Spirit and not be aware of it? Explain.
- Ask yourself these questions:
Do you have a greater love for Christ?
Do you have a greater love for God’s Word?
Is prayer more important to you?
Are you more concerned for those who do not know Christ as Savior?
Are you experiencing a greater boldness, liberty, and power in witnessing?
If you can answer yes truthfully to these questions, you undoubtedly are filled with the Spirit. - Do you experience assurance of the filling of the Holy Spirit?
- Do you think a person can be filled with the Holy Spirit?
- If your answer was no to any of those five questions, what do you suppose that indicates?
- What will you do to change your attitude or actions?
Memory Verse: “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (Galatians 5:22, 23 NLT)