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From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

 

Dear Rev. Graham: What does it mean to be Spirit-filled, and how can a person seek this out and find its guiding light? – S.F.

 

Dear S.F.: The tides of civilization have risen, the courses of nations have been changed, and the pages of history have been brightened by people who have been filled with the Spirit of God.

This isn’t necessarily an emotional experience, nor will it necessarily bring us some type of spiritual experience that is obvious or open. To be filled with the Spirit is to be yielded to Christ with our supreme desire to do His will. When we come to Christ, His Spirit comes to dwell in us – whether we are aware of His presence or not. But as we grow in Christ, our goal is to be controlled by Him. Why? To glorify Him above all else.

As Christians, our responsibility is to keep sin out of our lives so that the Spirit can produce His fruit in us. We must become grounded in the Bible. We have only one authority, one compass: the Word of God.

In a letter to a friend, Abraham Lincoln said, “I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take all of this Book upon reason that you can and the balance upon faith, and you will live and die a better man.”

Another has written that he believed the Bible to be the Word of God because, as he put it, “It finds me.”

Great leaders have made it their chief Book. President Ronald Reagan revered the Bible so much that he proclaimed 1984 the “year of the Bible.”

Let it be the staff of life upon which to live and be nourished. Let it be the sword of the Spirit which cuts away the evil of our lives and fashions us in His image and likeness.

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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)