We recently launched into a new series in The Book of Acts: Empowered by the Holy Spirit. I preached through Acts approximately twenty years ago in our church, and I am excited to be working through the book. I believe the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is the key to living the Christian life faithfully.

I started reading through an older book by Bertha Smith recently, “How The Spirit Filled My Life.” Bertha Smith was appointed a missionary to China in 1917. She was an evangelist at heart and saw many significant events unfold in her time in the country. She worked there until 1948, when she was forced out by the communists. She then moved to Formosa and served there until she retired in 1961.

In Chapter 7, How To Let The Holy Spirit Fill, Bertha Smith wrote about the difficulty in doing so that many professing believers have.

“Most saved people are full of themselves and of the Holy Spirit. With some, it is because they do not know that the Lord has anything better for them. Others, however, are unwilling to make the necessary break with their old selves and have only the Holy Spirit filling them. Still others are not filled because of ignorance of the teaching of the Word of God on the subject.” She continued, “Since Pentecost, every person baptized of the Holy Spirit is joined to the Body of Christ when saved, buried into Christ as described by our Lord in John 15, as a limb joined to a tree. At the new birth, we are buried into him, thus we are in him and he in us, as Jesus said we would be (John 14:20).

According to Bertha Smith, there are evidences of being filled with the Spirit.

Christ becomes your very life- The fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 are the characteristics of Christ. If Christ is being magnified through one’s personality, that ninefold fruit of the Spirit is evident.

Courage- Another fruit of the Spirit is courage. This was one of the strongest characteristics of the apostles after Pentecost. “The righteous are as bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1).

Rest- “His rest shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10). Rest of heart, rest of mind, resulting in rest of body, with complete relaxation, is indeed glorious!

At the conclusion of the book, she includes a piece entitled “How to Go On.”

Keep on keeping clean.

Keep on testifying. Water must keep flowing.

Keep feeding on the Word.

Keep reading some devotional book- experiences of others who have lived gloriously.

Keep in the habit of praying regularly, so as to be in the spirit of prayer all the time.

Keep resisting the devil.

Keep cooperating with the Lord and obeying him.

Keep people who m you know need to be filled not only on your prayer list, but keep making opportunities to make them hungry and lead along those who are not.