Effie Darlene Barba

Filled with the Spirit

by Effie Darlene Barba

 

be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)

I come repentant once again

Broken hearted for my sin

My thoughts they drift to think of me

Until Your face I cannot see

There tossed upon the raging waves

Where pride and self in pain enslaves

This heart of mine came spiraling down

Until I felt I soon shall drown

Where went the peace, the joy I knew

Just yesterday, the sky was blue

I know your Spirit lives within

Though sometimes grieved by my sin

I long dear Lord to see Your face

I know of Your amazing grace

So, here I stand before Your throne

Surrendered to You and You alone

So, filled with grief that I forgot

Just for a moment, I was bought

Redeemed, Beloved, Your Precious Child

And then, I thought of You. I smiled

Remembering all the love that’s mine

The lights of hope began to shine

Surrendered fully to your will

My beating heart began to still

Being filled the Spirit’s Word

A song of praise within me stirred

I never want to leave this place

Of Joy surrounded by Your grace

 

be filled with the Spirit;  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 (Ephesians 5: 19-20).

 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.  (Galatians 5: 22-25)

Concluding Thoughts

So, how are we being continuously filled with the Holy Spirit—it is moment by moment giving Him undivided control, undivided possession, and undivided use.

It is keeping our eyes focused on Jesus Christ, surrendering our life, our hearts and our will to Him.

¹⁷ Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.¹⁸ But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)

Then what do we get?

The fruits of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control.   What better exchange! Our self, filled with anguish, anger, frustration, and despair for His Joy, Hope, Peace, Love, and self-control!

DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD?

If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link.  There is nothing more important than this; because,  He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.

Poems PREVIOUSLY

A New Creation

The Key

The Mystery

I Am in Christ all I Am Not

The Great Pleasure of His Will-a Poem

If I in Silence Do Dismiss  (A Poem)

But for God, the Sorrows that Abound- a poem

How to Live a Life of Grace as God’s Beloved

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Disclosures

©Effie Darlene Barba, 2019
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Credits:

Photo by ferdinand feng on Unsplash

It had been a very rough day and night.  Now Paul was being brought before the Jews who had accused him.  The Roman Guards wanted to get to the bottom of the story.  They wanted to understand what Paul had done to so anger the crowd and they wanted to get it right.  After all, they were there to keep the peace; but to do so they needed to know what laws might have been broken, if any.  So, there he stood before the crowd.  Paul began.  “Men and Brethern, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.”  Washed in the blood of Christ, Paul’s conscience was clean.  He had surrendered to God’s will each step of the way.  Ah, but unwittingly he was about to break the law for which he quickly acknowledged his own failure. Repenting, he sought God’s wisdom once more to respond.

So, what was the blunder for which Paul repented?  The high Priest commanded someone close to Paul to hit him in the mouth.  Paul replied, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit there judging me according to the law, and in violation of the law you order me to be struck?” (ACTS 23:3 NET). In other words, he called the high Priest a hypocrite.  However, he had not realized Ananias was the high priest.  So, they had him on a technicality, because he for a second lost his cool.  “⁴Do you dare insult God’s high priest?” ⁵ Paul replied, “I did not realize, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.’ (Acts 23, NET).  He had broken the law for which he repented immediately.  How quickly do we repent?

When We Fail

Continue reading “How to Find God’s Wisdom After We Fail”

How does one respond with love to a hostile crowd?  All too often we are told we must compromise, be silent or even give in to whatever radical idea they espouse to build a bridge of unity.  Yet, is that truly loving when it comes down to defending the gospel or not?  We are told to for the sake of unity and love to acknowledge a lie for truth.  So many try to say it is unloving to say homosexuality is a sin, or that abortion is killing a child? The crowd becomes hostile screaming bigot if we say Jesus is the only way of salvation.  But, knowing eternity lies before every man, woman and child, would the loving thing be to just let them be to die in darkness and face judgement when we have the key to salvation?

If a man stood on a high precipice saying, if I jump, I can fly-do we let him jump? Paul would say, “No!”  He came to Jerusalem with gifts for the church of Jerusalem.  At the same time, he came bearing the sacrificial gift of his hair having fulfilled a very traditional Jewish ritual of completing a Nazarite vow.  Did he believe that the vow held a key to salvation?  No, but for him, he fulfilled the Nazarite vow with a passionate love for God and for the Jewish people.  It was Paul who said to not do things that could be a stumbling block for others.  He detailed this in Romans 14.  So, for Paul he fulfilled the ritual of the Nazarite vow, as a symbol to the Jewish people of his love and devotion to God. And as a sacrifice, sweet savoring to God.

A Hostile Crowd

Continue reading ” How to Respond with Love to A Hostile Crowd”

Paul was unstoppable in his mission.  He with great determination spread the gospel throughout the lands in Asia and Europe.  During all his journeys he faced great opposition, beatings, stoning, and even was shipwrecked.  Many of us would have either stopped or even proclaimed that surely God would not allow such trials in our life.  But why wouldn’t He?  To submit to Jesus Christ means we are willing to face the trials He faced.  Wouldn’t the very passion to know Him fully demand that we be willing to imitate Him in everything?  His love both for the Father and for the sinner drove His passion so that He willingly paid the full penalty of sin for all who would come to Him for Salvation. That kind of passion and love for the lost would drive us to know fearless faith whatever the cost.

If only we love as He loved. Submitting to His will.  Trusting God, no matter what.

So, what is your mission?  Does your heart burn with a love for the lost?  When you walk through a crowd or even when you listen to the news, does your heart break for those who don’t know Christ?  Or have you grown cold, insensitive to this?  After all, doesn’t society tell you to worry about yourself only?  Yet, Paul pleaded and prayed that we are To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God (Ephesians 3:19).  Filled with all the fulness of God.  To know the true heighth, depth, length, and width of that kind of love, overflowing with joy, hope, and desire that others might experience the power of walking hand in hand with God.

 

Fearless Faith Whatever the Cost

Continue reading “How to Know Fearless Faith Whatever the Cost!”