Called to Be Kings and Priests
1 Samuel 10:6-10- “Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you (King Saul), and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands, for God is with you. .…..God gave Saul another heart and all the signs Samuel prophesized about came to pass that day. When they came to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet them; then the Spirit of God came upon Saul, and he prophesied among them.”
Jesus took care of King Saul’s salvation when Saul was anointed with a kiss in verse 1. Now the Holy Spirit takes over by filling Saul with Himself. All of the things that take place in the Holy Spirit’s infilling includes getting a new heart, turning into another man, demonstrating God was with him by prophesizing.
So much of the church has taught the Holy Spirit fills us the moment we are saved, and that misses the whole divine point and process spelled out in 1 Samuel 10.
In John 20:22, The disciples were saved, but Jesus told them to wait 10 days for the Holy Spirit’s filling them before they tried to witness. This happened in Acts chapter 2 when instead of prophesizing, they spoke in tongues. It could have been demonstrating other spiritual gifts.
Although the disciples only had to wait 10 days, I had to wait 12 years between my salvation and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Many other notable leaders of our faith took years between the time they were saved and when filled with the Spirit. It is also true that some were filled at the same time they were saved such as Cornelius as described in Acts 10.
Soon after I was saved, God allowed Satan to do a number on me that I could not handle. While Jesus passed all of His tests in the wilderness after the dove landed on Him, I think I flunked all of my tests. 12 years after I was saved, I was an alcoholic, addicted to pornography and took upper and downer pills when I thought I needed them.
That is when Jesus kissed me and filled me with His Holy Spirit. Dear reader, He gave me a new heart and changed me into another man. I immediately stopped taking any pills (I no longer needed them), I went to every prayer meeting I could find in Austin and lost every desire for alcohol, and I cooperated with the Holy Spirit by dropping my subscription to Playboy magazines and would not go near any store that sold pornographic literature. I became on my way to my predestination to be conformed to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29).
Being filled with the Holy Spirit with all of the blessings that go with it is the first step you need to take on your road to discovering the part of God’s inheritance in which you are to be a leader. This step is so important I will tell you the experience of some notable leaders in next week’s article.