Dear friends:

Our military leaders are preparing for a "surge" of troops in Iraq to help stop the terrorists and violence.  Politicians are debating it.

Let me tell you the plain, incontrovertible truth: A “surge” is absolutely necessary for victory!

But I am not talking about a surge of troops in Iraq.  I am talking about a surge of the Holy Spirit in our lives in order to defeat the enemy of our souls, Satan, and his efforts to destroy us and our service for the Lord.

Satan is the master terrorist of the universe!  His demons carry out his evil terrorist plans.  They want to destroy us.  They know no mercy.  They are bloodthirsty.  They hate us with a passion.  They steal, kill and destroy.

We are not strong enough to withstand Satan’s efforts.  Only the Holy Spirit can do so, working in and through us.

How do you get a surge of the Holy Spirit in your life?

Paul gave us the answer in Ephesians 5:18: “Be filled with the Spirit” (KJV).  The NLT says, “let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.”

Paul was talking to people who were already Christians.  In 1:1, he had addressed them as “the saints which are at Ephesus.” If being filled with the Spirit was automatic for a believer, he would not have needed to so exhort them to be filled.

It is not automatic, and was not even for the first believers.  Before the Lord’s ascension, He was with His disciples and “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22).  They obviously did receive the Spirit.  If the Son of God Himself breathes on you and says receive the Spirit, there is no question that you would receive!

However, they were not “filled” (empowered) with the Spirit, something that did not happen until Pentecost in Acts 2.

We can be filled with the Spirit just like those disciples at Pentecost.   That’s why Paul gave the command to be filled.

The late Dr. Bill Bright gave two biblical keys to be filled.

THE COMMAND. God commands us to be filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18: “Be filled with the Spirit” Therefore, we know without doubt that it is God’s will!

THE PROMISE. God promises that if we ask anything according to His will, we can have it.  “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us -- whatever we ask -- we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).

Get that surge in your life.  Be filled with the Spirit.

Ask.
Believe
Receive.

Now go in God’s power and defeat the spiritual terrorists attacking you and your family!

Remember Jesus’ words: “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Jim