Faculty Josephine Lew: Living A Spirit-filled Life

 

How can the Pentecost that happened more than 2,000 years ago revolutionise our Christian living even today?

Ms Josephine Lew, an EAST Resident Faculty and Director of Mentoring Group, wrote of the origins of Pentecost and how the presence and power of the Holy Spirit may be made manifest today. Pentecost is usually celebrated 50 days after the Jewish Passover, typically in May. From the book of Acts, it recorded the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit upon the early believers at the very first Pentecost. This resulted in the followers of Christ being transformed through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

From that very first Pentecost, believers are mandated to live in the power of the Holy Spirit by faith as an act of the will to fulfill God-given purposes for their lives.

How then does one live a Holy Spirit empowered life?

There are three basic steps in living a Spirit-filled life:

1. Desire – “Before we can be filled with the Spirit, the desire to be filled must be all consuming.” A.W. Tozer (1950).
2. Surrender – In the same way, to have Christ reign as Lord in your life means you have to first surrender the control of your life to Him, especially your hurts and disappointments.
3. Breathe spiritually – Confess your sins (Exhale) and ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit by faith (Inhale), according to His command (Ephesians 5:18) and His promise (1 John 5:14-15).

Here then is the secret to Josephine’s vibrant, energetic Spirit-filled life, in her own words:

“I am often asked: ‘What gives you so much energy daily?’

I don’t drink coffee or Red Bull. But one thing I do: I wake up each day surrendering my life to God and breathing spiritually before I get out of my bed.”

 

The original article was published by Salt & Light entitled “Pentecost and the Promise of the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit,” on 8 May 2023. A video covering the same is published on Instagram. Further resources on Spirit-filled living may be found here.