Filled With the Spirit

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

Luke 1:67-80

67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

68 "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. 69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),   71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—72 to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."

80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.

NIV

First, we have to deal with the fact that Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit way before the Day of Pentecost, as was his wife, Elizabeth when Mary came to visit. It is also interesting that the first words of his prophetic words were “Praise be to the Lord”. This prophecy of Zechariah is all about what will occur because of the son God has for him and Elizabeth. Although, we have often thought that the prophets always spoke for the Lord, in some sense saying, “This is what the Lord God says”. But here the prophesy of Zechariah is not necessarily what the Lord said but is in fact being inspired by the Holy Spirit. This makes us think of the prophets again, and we wonder how they received the word of the Lord. The Prophet Amos said: “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets”. This revelation was either through dreams or visions which is not the case with the prophesying of Zechariah, as he was filled with the Holy Spirit who inspired his words. This was not a dream or a vision, but the words he spoke came directly from the Spirit. Would we also have to believe the Holy Spirit is still at work in the hearts and minds of believers who are willing to be inspired? We have been warned not to quench the Spirit, yet if we are speaking from our own thoughts based on our studies through our educational process, we may well just be speaking as men, or from our flesh, without the Spirit. Yes, we are to study the word of God and hide his words in our hearts, but without the inspiration of the Spirit, we may say good things, but at the same time they might just be empty words because they come from our flesh. Let us always be walking in step with the Spirit hearing His cadence for our lives, always listening for His inspiration so that our words are meaningful and beneficial. This is being filled with the Spirit.