Just because you have had an experience, it does not necessarily mean that you are full of the Spirit. It is easy to lean on too many things in this walk with God. Some things that were to be a means to an end have become almost an end in themselves.
Personal ministry has sometimes become a crutch in excusing people from pressing in and walking with God themselves. In an experience you may receive just a token of what God has, but do not be content with that. If you look at your gauge and find that your spiritual tank is only half full or only a quarter full, then you are in trouble.
Seek the Lord until you are literally filled with the Holy Spirit. The only way you can eliminate little distractions that cause you to murmur or criticize, to be bitter, discouraged, or heavy in heart, is to be filled to overflowing.
In the Twenty-third Psalm, David speaks about his cup running over; but the prelude to that is this statement: “You have prepared a table for me in the presence of my enemies.” It goes hand in hand.
The enemy that is battling you is related to your overflowing cup. Your enemy stands tied, shackled, and helpless while God gives you the abundance. But it is the fullness that makes the difference.
The enemy is always going to be bothering you. You are not going to prevail in your walk with God until you break through to such an overflow of the Spirit that nothing will stand in the way. This whole thing is measured by the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Do not be content with the measure that you have appropriated. You may have had an experience; you may have gifts and a ministry; but you may still not be filled with all the fullness of God. This makes the difference between a movement and a tidal wave.
Do not make an unbeliever of yourself. You have had an experience. You have the Holy Spirit, but you do not have the Spirit in the measure you need. You can tell whether a man preaches or prophesies out of a full heart or an empty heart, just the same as you can tell by its ring whether a quarter that you drop on the floor is made of real silver or some other metal. I do not know why it is that people are quite content with an empty heart and become quite disturbed by someone who is overflowing. It prods them. It disturbs their passivity, and no one wants to be prodded in their passivity.
This is a walk with God. We are not going to have a School of Prophets with a thousand people just by training them and teaching them all the doctrines and all the mechanics of ministry. The big ingredient is the overflow. They must be filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
We cannot disassociate the victories of the New Testament Church in the book of Acts from the references to the fullness of the Spirit that was their experience.
We could have everything letter perfect, but orthodoxy is often the deadest thing there is. We could be exact in the truth, completely fundamental, oriented to the gospel of the Kingdom, and yet not have a handful of people who would really be able to take it to the ends of the earth.
The Lord is leading us. He is going to teach us how to drink until we are filled. We are going to desire after that walk with God and a new awareness of the Lord. We will not let anything stand in the way. We will reach in and not cease to seek His face until His house is filled with His glory.
I am all through with only trying to produce a good sermon that may have a limited effect. From now on it is a workshop, as far as I am concerned. God is laying us on the anvil and using the hammer to beat us into shape. And if that will not work, then He will put us in the fire. God has a work for us to do, but that is secondary. He has a people for us to become in relationship to Him, and that is primary.
We are not going to start this long trip ahead of us with our gas tank empty. We are going to be filled—filled to overflowing. Once again we are reassessing and reevaluating everything. We are an apostolic company, or we are nothing at all.
Do you want the Lord to break your leg as the shepherd breaks the leg of the lamb that wanders off? or will you seek His face just because you want Him and you love Him?
When you hit an impasse, He will let it ride just so long, and then He will do something to you that will bring you to the place where He has your attention. I am not trying to put fear in you; that should be in your heart already. The fear of the Lord is the very beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10).
I think we need to make a dedication and not walk away from it—a dedication, first of all, to do our best to seek the Lord and hunger after Him until we are filled to overflowing. Secondly, we must be dedicated not to give our brother or sister any rest either, but to encourage them until they participate in the same experience.