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41 THE IMPERFECT TENSE. A second tense which helps define the ministry of the Holy Spirit to you is the imperfect tense. It denotes in Greek, as it does in English, a process.
While it appears to be the same in English, because the imperfect tense is used in Greek, the text actually says, "And the disciples were being filled with joy." It refers to a
process rather than a crisis. Instead of filled (aorist tense) for a moment, they were being filled (imperfect tense) for the continuing exigencies of life.
You pour water into a cup until it's filled (aorist tense). How do you know it's full? If
there's any question about it, keep pouring! Similarly, when you bring the empty cup of your human spirit to God and ask him to fill you with the refreshing water of his Holy Spirit, he does! You are, by that decision, filled (aorist tense) with the Spirit. Then,
just as the process of evaporation begins to empty a glass full of water, so
too, If
life places special burdens on you,
If you become
involved in ministry to others
--while that can be, and often is, refreshing-- you are depleted further and faster. How do you replenish the supply? By being filled (imperfect tense) with the Spirit again. It's
not unlike breathing. As you deploy the Holy Spirit (exhale), you must employ the Holy Spirit (inhale). 42 HERE'S THE BOTTOM LINE.
If you drain your cup of blessing to be a blessing
go through the
process of Spiritual Breathing as it is sometimes called.
Consciously, deliberately and decisively go on being filled (imperfect tense) with the Spirit again and again and again. GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO BE IMPERFECT. Learning
to live in the imperfect tense prepares you The previous sentence may be among the most important you will ever read! Let
me repeat it: So give yourself permission to be imperfect! Life
is a process. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that Giving
yourself permission to be imperfect You free the loving Father to set the agenda remembering:
Incredible! 43 THE PRESENT TENSE. And that, of course, is the ideal.
Stephen was a man When deacons were needed by the early church they picked seven men
They were not continuously filled with the Spirit. They were continually (key word) filled with the Spirit. Something continuous is like an unbroken line. There are no interruptions in it. Something continual is like a dotted line which, by it's very nature, consists of interruptions. To be continuously full of the Holy Spirit--in the sense of uninterrupted obedience --is not your objective. It's not even a possibility! Sinless perfection in this life is an illusion. To
be continually full of the Holy Spirit Obedience is the Big Word in a Spirit-filled life. Not as a "dead works" thing (Heb. 6:1) as if, by being obedient, you will earn additional spiritual "brownie points." Rather, obedience is the preferred response of grateful sinners to God's amazing grace (Rom. 5:20b-6:23). That's what being full (present tense) of the Spirit meant for Barnabas and the others. They
came to a place where routine obedient A
life full (present tense) of the Spirit is a normal
Christian life. If that's not how it is with you, here's the answer. 44 LOOK WHERE THE IMPERFECT TENSE IS LOCATED.
Barnabas and the others described as being full of the Spirit were not perfect. However,
The same modus operandi will work for you.
When you
sin, seek forgiveness. You'll soon discover fresh infillings of the Spirit are
available when you need them.
45 HOW OFTEN DO YOU NEED TO REPENT? As often as needed. A dozen times a day? Maybe more! In 1930 my father founded the Open Door Rescue Mission in Oakland, California. During the thirty years Dad served as superintendent, God used him to feed, clothe and minister to over three million men on Skid Row. Jesus salvaged thousands of them. When, in response to the Gospel, one of those poor wretches received Jesus as his personal savior, Dad
would send him upstairs to the rehab center The man was then given his own bar of soap and told to take a shower. Often he'd say,
Dad would provide him with a pair of pajamas and, for the first time in a long time, he'd settle down in a warm, clean bed with white sheets for a good night's sleep.
In the morning he'd be told to shower again, wash his hair and shave. Dad would see to it that he got some clean clothes. Not new, but clean. Then came a hot, nourishing breakfast after which he was instructed to brush his teeth. Later that day Dad would take him down to the barber college and get him a haircut. By then this fellow whom many had tossed aside on the scrap heap of life as worthless, was beginning to feel human again. Every day thereafter, and as long as he stayed at the Mission, he had to All of this was based on a simple premise in which Dad believed implicitly: The feeling of being clean was the best defense against going back to live in the gutter again. Download
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