It's A Matter of Control

After being commanded “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18), Peter and John responded: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (4:19-20). How could Peter and John be so courageous and outspoken in front of these religious leaders of their day? What allowed them to keep on speaking about what they had seen and heard?

These men were filled with the Spirit of God! In verse 8 we see that Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Peter did not face the religious leader’s interrogation on his own, nor did he attempt to defend himself in his own strength or with his own eloquence. Rather, Peter was filled with the Spirit of God. It was the Spirit who was working in Peter and John, enabling them to speak with such boldness in their defense of Jesus.

To be filled with the Spirit of God is to be under His control and influence. According to the Word of God, each believer in Jesus has a responsibility to continually be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). In The MacArthur Study Bible John MacArthur describes what it looks like for believers to be Spirit-filled: “to live continually under the influence of the Spirit by letting the Word control them, pursuing pure lives, confessing all known sin, dying to self, surrendering to God’s will, and depending on His power in all things. Being filled with the Spirit is living in the conscious presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, letting His mind, through the Word, dominate everything that is thought and done.” (Perhaps you will want to read that statement again.)

Are we living daily under the control and influence of the Spirit of God? It does not simply occur because we are believers. We have to purposely choose to live under the Spirit’s control and influence each day. May it be our prayer to live in the conscious presence of the Lord Jesus, allowing His mind, through the Word, to dominate everything that we think and do. After all, it's a matter of control!