Introduction & ice breaker
Recall an experience (your own or observing someone else) that has shaped how you perceive the idea of being “filled with the Spirit.”
Begin with a prayer of release and ask God to give you a fresh revelation of his true promise for you.
Themes to Consider
Something extraordinary is happening at Pentecost - this is something God had been preparing the world for for centuries.
We all may come to the idea of God with different starting places.
RELATIONAL UNION:
That God could be so close with us that the experience and the description is us being filled with God’s Spirit.
And it wouldn’t just be a solo individualistic experience but something that brings us closer to one another and unites our hearts.
And it wouldn’t even end with us alone as the beneficiaries but a sure sign of the Spirit’s filling is that we are radically generous and concerned for justice for our neighbor.
The Promise - Jesus is saying I will satisfy you and make you a source.
The Outpouring - This is God filling people with His life in Jesus name.
The Resistance - There will be:
confusion - other explanations
substitutes - other motivations
cultural Norms - other stories people are insisting in
The question to you is - what would be worth it to you to miss what God is offering you?
The Receptivity - They were cut to the heart.
The real substance of their inner life was reached.
They were aware of their longing.
They were convicted and needed action.
They needed to let go.
Discussion Questions
What is your first response to the idea that God promises and wants to fill you with His Spirit?
What type of resistance would be worth you missing what Jesus is offering here?
What are you holding on to that you need to let go of and confess and surrender to Jesus?
Guided Prayer
Prayer of Thanks: Thank God that he promises us this great gift of his spirit.
Prayer of Emptying: Confess and repent of anything that might take Gods place as a priority
Prayer of Longing: ask God to give you his spirit.
Prayer of Waiting: wait upon God - do not rush past the moment. Keep asking and expecting. Listen for his voice or gentle nudging.
Supplemental Content
It is no easy task to walk this earth and find peace. Inside of us, it would seem, something is at odds with the very rhythm of things and we are forever restless, dissatisfied, frustrated, and aching. We are so overcharged with desire that it is hard to come to simple rest. Desire is always stronger than satisfaction.
Put more simply, there is within us a fundamental dis-ease, and unquenchable fire that renders us incapable, in this life, of ever coming to full peace. This desire lies at the center of our lives, in the marrow of our bones, and in the deep recesses of the soul.
We are not easeful human beings who occasionally get restless, serene persons who once in a while are obsessed by desire. The reverse is true. We are driven persons, forever obsessed, congenitally dis-eased, living lives, as Thoreau once suggested, of quiet desperation, only occasionally experiencing peace. Desire is the straw that stirs the drink...
Spirituality is, ultimately, about what we do with that desire. What we do with our longings, both in terms of handling the pain and the hope they bring us, that is our spirituality.
—Ronald Rolheiser
Our pursuit of God is successful just because God is forever seeking to manifest Himself to us. The revelation of God to any person is not God coming from a distance once upon a time to pay a brief and momentous visit to the person's soul. Thus to think of it is to misunderstand it all. The approach of God to the soul or of the soul to God is not to be thought of in spatial terms at all. There is no idea of physical distance involved in the concept. It is not a matter of miles but of experience.
—A.W. Tozer
