Baptism with the Spirit and Being Filled with the Spirit
The Bible talks about being baptized with the Holy spirit, but it also talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit. This distinction has confused people, so let’s straighten it out.
You only need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit once. The disciples in the upper room were baptized with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. However, some of those disciples, as well as others, were “filled” with the Holy Spirit on other occasions.
The first question this provokes is, “Why would you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit AGAIN if you’re already filled with the Holy Spirit?” The traditional answer is, “You leak!” But I can’t accept that answer. Spirit-filled people were baptized with a PERSON, not a POWER. They received power after the Person of the Holy Spirit came upon them. If they had only received power, I can see picturing them as rechargeable batteries who needed periodic recharges because their power drains out when they minister it to others. But even then, Jesus didn’t say that PONDS of living water would flow through us – He said that RIVERS of living water would gush out of our bellies (John 7:37-39). A pond could run out of water, but RIVERS will keep having more water flowing into them from their sources. You don’t deplete a river just because you get a bucket of water out of it as the water flows past you.
There is no such thing as going from having the Holy Spirit in you to having only 81.2% of the Holy Spirit in you after you minister to someone else. That makes no more sense than saying that 81.2% of you went to church last Sunday. You can’t divide a PERSON! Thus, you do not “leak” the Holy Spirit.
What you can do is be more or less receptive to the Holy Spirit and be more or less aware of His presence. You can allow Him to have His way in you more or less depending on how much value you value Him as opposed to fleshly things. When people in the Bible were “filled with the Spirit,” the Spirit had His way in them.
Even people before the New Covenant was established could be “filled” with the Holy Spirit although they could not be “baptized” with the Holy Spirit and speak with other tongues.
John the Baptist was “filled” with the Holy Spirit. We see that he spoke for God and pointed people to Jesus.
Luke 1:15:
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.
One hallmark of someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit is supernatural boldness. John was totally unafraid of the religious leaders of the day, some of whom he referred to as the sons of snakes!
Matthew 3:7:
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Then Elizabeth was “filled” with the Holy Spirit. (The next thing she did after that was prophesy.)
Luke 1:41-45:
And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
Zacharias was also filled with the Holy Spirit, and he also prophesied when that happened.
Luke 1:67:
And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
(A fairly lengthy prophecy follows this verse.)
In Acts, the believers were baptized with the Holy Spirit and they immediately prophesied to people in languages that they had never learned. This was their initial “filling” of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:4:
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
From that point on, they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus referred to this baptism as a one-time event, though as we shall see, being filled was not a one-time event.
Acts 1:5:
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Peter had this to say after the Gentiles at Cornelius’s house were baptized with the Holy Spirit when they were saved (which usually did not happen at the same time):
Acts 11:16:
Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Peter knew that they had received the baptism with the Holy Spirit because they spoke in tongues. (See How to Be Baptized with the Holy Spirit for more the link between the Spirit baptism and tongues.)
A couple chapters after Peter was baptized with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit and he challenged the religious leaders boldly:
Acts 4:8-13:
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
This is an example of something that Jesus talked about. He told His disciples that they would be brought before the authorities, but not to premeditate what to say, but rather to allow the Holy Spirit to give them the words. No wonder they were “filled with the Holy Ghost” when they were in that situation!
Mark 13:9-11:
But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.
And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
In Acts 4:29-33, the believers prayed for BOLDNESS and got it! They were “filled” with the Holy Spirit when they did so.
We see that even biblically, the term “filled with the Holy Spirit” can sometimes refer to being baptized with the Holy Spirit if the person has not yet been baptized with the Holy Spirit:
Acts 9:17:
And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
Paul was ALREADY baptized with the Holy Spirit in the verse above, but one day he was “filled” with the Holy Spirit and spoke judgment over a man who was opposing the gospel:
Acts 13:6-12:
And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus:
Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.
But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
Then Saul (who is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,
And said, O full of all subtilty and mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.
Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
We see that being full of JOY goes along with being filled with the Holy Spirit:
Acts 13:52:
And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
Romans 14:17:
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
So what we can learn from all this? Even after you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit can rise up big inside you. This happened in the certain cases above. If the discussion stopped here, you would be left with the impression that it is totally up to God when such a Holy Ghost “refill” happens to you. But that isn’t true.
Ephesians 5:18:
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Now THAT’s interesting! You are COMMANDED to be filled with the Spirit. That means that you must have a part to play when it comes to determining whether or not you walk full of the Spirit! We can see some things that go along with walking full of the Spirit – singing God-oriented songs, giving thanks, and being submissive to others:
Ephesians 5:19-21:
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
One of the characteristics that qualified someone to be called – even as a DEACON – was being full of the Holy Spirit!
Acts 6:3:
Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
Stephen was one of those chosen. It is never directly revealed what Stephen did to stay full of the Holy Spirit, but his later discourse to the religious rulers gives us a strong indirect hint – that man seemed to be a walking Bible who could quote the whole history of Israel from memory!
The more you feed on the Word, the more you will build yourself up and stay “full of the Holy Spirit.”
Before moving from this topic, note that even JESUS needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit (in the Jordan River) before He could go out effectively and minister:
Luke 4:1:
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
Jude exhorts us to pray in the Holy Spirit (which would definitely involve praying in tongues although that is not all that it entails):
Jude 20:
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
This verse does not necessarily mean that you can build yourself up by praying in tongues (see What Jude 20 Really Means). However, you DO build yourself up when you pray in the Holy Spirit because another verse explicitly says so:
1 Corinthians 14:4:
He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
What can we make of all this?
First, there is only one baptism with the Holy Spirit – once you are Spirit-baptized, you don’t need to be Spirit-baptized again.
Second, there may be times when the Holy Spirit “rises up big inside you” and you sense His anointing to do something, such as prophesy.
Third, there is a sense in which we all need to do whatever we have to do to STAY filled with the Holy Spirit rather than walk around in the flesh. Living a life of praise, thanksgiving and humility, praying in the Spirit, and feeding on the Word will all help you do that. If you choose to do these things, your joy level should be high. If you neglect spiritual things and live in the flesh, your joy level will be low, and you’ll be filled with the mulligrubs instead of being filled with the Spirit.