Lesson 21: Being Filled with the Holy Spirit (part 4)

Read: Galatians 5:16-26- www.bible.com/bible/59/gal.5.esv

One last example of submission to God is a man named Hezekiah. This man's submission, however, is not the one we want to copy. It is, however, the one we do most in our lives. Let's set the stage for the story. Hezekiah had become very ill, as we read in Isaiah 38, and had been told he was going to die. This was not in keeping with his own agenda, so he cried to God and begged God to be fair to him. God heard his cry and sent Isaiah to tell him he would have an additional 15 years of life. The very next chapter in Isaiah describes how, shortly after he was well again, Hezekiah received visitors from a faraway land called Babylon. He wanted to impress these envoys and showed them all the treasures of the Temple. Isaiah came to him with God's word and told him he had made a terrible mistake and proceeded to tell the king how God would punish Israel at Babylon's hand because of what Hezekiah had done. In the last verse of Isaiah 39 we are told Hezekiah submitted to God's will, but underneath he was thinking only of himself because he thought, "At least there will be peace and security while I'm still alive." Imagine the audacity, the self-centeredness of this King who was willing to let God punish His people as long as it wasn't while he was alive!


Are we really so much different from Hezekiah? Aren't we willing to follow God, to submit to His will as long as it doesn't adversely affect us? Or perhaps, we intentionally misunderstand God's will and see only our own benefit from doing what God says following our own timetable – once our goal has been achieved, we’ll just bow out. This must never be! If we are to be submissive to God, it must be for the entire plan, not just the part we may be able to understand. Remember, God sees the very intentions of our hearts – He will never allow us to “go part-way” with Him after we’ve gotten what we wanted from Him.

Being filled by the Holy Spirit, then, requires us to be yielded to God, waiting for Him to give us direction or information, and then submitting completely to His commands. This is not a once-in-a-lifetime choice, it is not something we choose whenever there are special revival meetings in our church, it is not a New Year's resolution, it is not something we do before taking communion, it is not even something we do every morning to start out the day. This yielding and waiting and submitting is something we must do every moment of every day for the rest of our lives.

*Look up each of the following verses, and write down your responsibility to the Holy Spirit:
James 4:10
1 Peter 5:6-8
Psalm 25:5
Hosea 12:6
Hebrews 6:15
Romans 6:13