Filled

Luke 1:67-80 (the Message)

Then Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he came and set his people free.
He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives,
and in the very house of David his servant,
Just as he promised long ago
through the preaching of his holy prophets:

Deliverance from our enemies
and every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers,
as he remembers to do what he said he'd do,

What he swore to our father Abraham—
a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship him without a care in the world,
made holy before him as long as we live.

And you, my child, "Prophet of the Highest,"
will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,
Present the offer of salvation to his people,
the forgiveness of their sins.

Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God's Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,

Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
down the path of peace.

The child grew up, healthy and spirited. He lived out in the desert until the day he made his prophetic debut in Israel.

If you had just endured (or enjoyed?) 9 months of silence, what would your first words express?
Complaint? Lament? Happiness? Thanks?

For Zachariah, it's worship.

"Filled with the Holy Spirit," he began to praise God and make explanation of the events that led to the birth of this exceptional child.

Have you ever been "filled with the Holy Spirit?"

I know, for most of us Methodists, the answer tends to be, "not if I can help it."

Sometimes, we think that such an experience only happens to folks in "charismatic" denominations and that it has everything to do with a worship style, and other things that we don't understand, and that make us uncomfortable.

But recently, well-known Methodist evangelism expert George Morris spoke at SOTH during a Rome-Carrollton district event.

I'll always remember that he listed "foolproof ways to insure that your church is dying."

"Stiff-arm the Holy Spirit," he said, "and I can guarantee that your church will decline."

What is the Holy Spirit, and what does it mean to be, "filled?"

Well, it's not easy to explain. The Bible tells us that the Spirit "blows where it will." But I know that I have felt it, and need to experience it as often as possible.

Worship helps me do that, and so does preaching. Nature can help me, and so does scripture. Good friendships can be the place where the Spirit blows. So can service to other people, and giving to my church and to those in need. In all of those ways, I place myself in the "windy" spots of spirit.

Those butterflies in your stomach during the singing at church? Spirit. That bone-deep knowledge of what you should do in a given circumstance, or say in a particular conversation?
Spirit. The joy you feel when you see your spouse, or child? Spirit. That which keeps you going when you seem to have reason not to? Spirit.

Zachariah had an experience of God that changed him. He learned to believe that God was real, and present, and that God intended to do exactly what he said he would.

The power of that knowledge welled up inside him. In the presence of his family and this new born child...with a voice that was freshly restored...he was "filled with the Spirit," and he spoke.

May it be so for all of us as well.

Prayer: May you put us in those places today where the wind of the Spirit will blow into our lives. May you give us an openness to receive, and the ability to walk in your grace and love. Open our mouths, to speak with the truth of Zachariah.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.