God has already created the heavens and the earth, become flesh, and passed through human living on the earth for thirty-three and a half years. Moreover, He has gone through death, dying on the cross in seven statuses, and He has resurrected, ascended, and descended. Today He is on the throne and also in us, and He is also operating in the whole world. Hence, whenever we go to preach the gospel, we can tell people that the Word is near them, in their mouth and in their heart (Rom. 10:8). The Word is Christ, and Christ is the Spirit. The Spirit is like the air, which is in our mouth and within us. Like the air, the Spirit is also in our mouth and within us. Today our God is such a wonderful One. He is our Savior and our life, and He is also the Spirit. We need to be filled with such a Spirit.
In Galatians 3 the Spirit is referred to as the blessing of the gospel. The gospel that we preach contains a central blessing—the Spirit—which was promised by God to Abraham from the beginning (v. 8). As early as four thousand years ago, God promised to bless Abraham. This blessing was to be the Triune God incarnated to be the seed of Abraham, and it was in this seed, who is Christ, that all the nations would be blessed (vv. 14, 16). How could Christ as the seed become a blessing to the nations? It was by His passing through a process. He lived a human life and then went to the cross, where He accomplished an all-inclusive death and dealt with all the problems among men and all the problems between God and man. Then He resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God. It is this life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God who is moving on the earth today to be a blessing to all the people in the world.
Hence, this Spirit is the gospel, the salvation, and the very God Himself, Jesus Christ our Savior. He is our life and power. Essentially, He is in us as life, and economically, He is upon us as power. It is this Spirit whom we preach, and it is this Spirit whom we have believed in, received, and obtained. Galatians 3:2 says that we have received the Spirit. Moreover, Ephesians 1:13 says, “In whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in Him also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise.” At the time we were saved, the Holy Spirit, who is God Himself, entered into us as a seal to mark us out, indicating that we belong to God. This indicates that the Spirit whom we have received is in reality the Triune God Himself.
Now what we need is to be filled with this Spirit. In Ephesians 5:18 Paul exhorts us to be filled in spirit. We need to be filled in spirit with the Spirit—the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God. How can we be filled with such a Spirit? We can be filled through prayer and the confession of our sins, which includes repentance. On the day of Pentecost, after the people had heard the gospel and had been touched, they asked Peter what they had to do in order to be saved. Peter told them, “Repent and each one of you be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). This shows us that as long as we fulfill the principle of repenting, confessing our sins, and thoroughly dealing with our sins, we will definitely receive the Holy Spirit. Just as we initially received the Holy Spirit and were saved through repentance and confession, today we also receive the filling of the Holy Spirit through repentance and confession.
We experience regeneration and salvation once for all, but we need to repent and confess our sins day by day throughout our whole life. For example, consider our washing of our hands. We do not wash our hands once after we are born and then have no need to wash them again. Rather, we have to wash our hands many times a day throughout our lifetime. Another example is breathing. We cannot cease breathing just because we took a deep breath once. Rather, we have to breathe unceasingly to preserve our life. Breathing is like our prayer, and hand-washing is like our confession. If we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we must pray and confess every day.
Today the processed Triune God has been consummated as the all-inclusive Spirit. People in the Pentecostal movement assert that in order to receive the Holy Spirit Christians must fast or do certain things until they hear a big noise and open their mouths and speak in tongues. This is altogether nonsense. After the Triune God accomplished redemption, He became the life-giving Spirit, and, like the air, He is in our mouth and in our heart. Whenever we open our mouth and call on the Lord’s name, we receive the Holy Spirit and are saved (Rom. 10:8-13). However, after our salvation we still have to be filled with the Holy Spirit through our daily prayer and confession.
We need to confess our sins thoroughly, especially before we go to contact people or prophesy for the Lord in the meetings. When we pray and confess our sins to a certain degree, we will be filled with the Holy Spirit inwardly. We do not need to analyze whether it is the essential Spirit or the economical Spirit, because the two are just one Spirit. Although there is a distinction between the essential Spirit and the economical Spirit in function, They are still the same one Spirit.
After we have been filled with the Holy Spirit, we still have to do a few things to maintain the filling. First, we should not quench the Spirit (1 Thes. 5:19). The Spirit causes us to be burning in spirit (Rom. 12:11) and also causes us to fan into flame the gift which is in us (2 Tim. 1:6). Hence, we should not quench the Spirit.
Second, we should not grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). To grieve the Holy Spirit is to displease Him and to not walk according to Him in our daily living (Rom. 8:4). How do we know when the Holy Spirit is grieved? We can know by our living. If we are not joyful in our Christian life, this is a sign that the Holy Spirit is grieving in us. It is because the Holy Spirit is grieving in us that we are not joyful. If we are joyful, this indicates that the Holy Spirit in us is also joyful. A sister testified that she once had prayed to the extent that her whole being was refreshed, light-hearted, and so full of joy. This is proof that the Holy Spirit in her was joyful. Hence, to not grieve the Holy Spirit is to not grieve yourself.