It is only fitting that after the awareness of one’s filth in the Dung Gate that one wants to be washed clean and be set free to live a victorious life. The Gate that Nehemiah and his team built after the Dung Gate was the Fountain Gate.
Neh 3:15 But the gate of the fountain repaired Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king’s garden, and unto the stairs that go down from the city of David. The pool of Siloam is where Jesus said to the blind man to wash up in John 7:9. At the time of Nehemiah and after it many washed (mikveh) themselves before they entered to temple area. Spiritual meaning of the Fountain Gate is the fountain of living waters and its source, who is God in the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ.
John 7:38 “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” Jesus promised that in His believer’s heart will flow living waters (the Holy Spirit). Jesus said His words are life and spirit. The Word and the Holy Spirit come hand in hand. Hence Jack discovered that he can only be cleansed by the three things: the blood of Christ, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. The following is what Jack recorded on matters of being filled by the Holy Spirit.
Journal day 65b: how to be filled by the holy spirit?
After reading a non-believer’s quest of living one year biblically (regardless of his motives), I got down to thinking hard about my own daily living. Am I really taking God seriously? Am I living according to my belief in the Bible being God’s words? Is my faith real? Is my God real?
I decided to elaborate further on this topic. We know why we need to be filled by the Holy Spirit but we do not normally know how. Recently I have had the opportunity to personally observe two different types of filling process. (Please be led by the Holy Spirit as you read this. Do not take these as formula).
Two weeks ago a camp was arranged by a church (for pastors and church workers/leaders) to wait upon God and a 78 year old pastor was the sole speaker of the three days seminar camp. At night the meeting was opened to the public so I attended three night meetings. Every meeting started with a worship session followed by a short testimony of a pastor who had been through similar training before about how they were transformed in their relationship with God and how their churches were positively impacted too. The elderly speaker himself focused very much on teaching about the Holy Spirit. After the sharing of God’s words, he told us that he could feel the strong presence of the Holy Spirit and called all those who had not been filled to go to the front and be filled. Many people went and knelt at the front. They were lightly touched by those pastors who had already been filled. Many were filled and some lied down and could not get up. Some spoke in tongues. Some friends were among those who were filled. They told me that they felt a force (not the pastor’s hand) pushing them backward. One lady said she had to fall backward as the force was too strong but her feet were caught under her and she was stuck kneeling with her upper body leaning precariously backward. So she sat down. Then the force came again and she swayed and fell backward onto the floor and could not move for a long time after that.
In another recent incident, a 73 year old grandma was filled by the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. Her daughter was sharing the Bible with her, reading the whole Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians (six chapters) and explaining to her the meanings. The old lady listened carefully. All this while another person was worshiping and singing old hymns in another part of the hall. At the end of the reading, a person suggested that the daughter pray for her mother to be Spirit filled as we perceived the old lady has faith. Prior to this, we had spent the afternoon and evening reading Bible, singing old hymns, praying (mostly in the Spirit), and worshiping God quietly. The presence of the Holy Spirit was by then very strong. So the daughter prayed by faith for her mother to be filled by the Holy Spirit. After the prayer, we prayed (in understanding and in spirit) that she could speak in tongue. Indeed the 73 year old lady spoke in tongue for about 20 minutes.
The grandma has had little formal education and has been baptized and become a Christian about two years ago and has been attending a very small traditional Presbyterian church that does not talk about the Holy Spirit except in scholarly/mind knowledge. The church pastor and congregation do not speak in tongues. But the grandma has a steadfast faith. She just believes without doubting. When she goes to church she does not know any hymn but she follows the others and sings the hymns anyway (a few words behind others). At home, when she hears her daughter singing the hymns she thinks they sound lovely and wants to sing along too. But she does not know the tune so she reads all the lyrics! When the daughter leads her to read the Bible, she would continue reading without feeling tired or bored and just goes on reading without regard for the time.
We observed three important things about her:
1. She really hungers and thirsts for the Lord and His words.
2. She believes without doubt that God is real and His words are real.
3. She trusts God completely.
In Matthew 5:6, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” I believe the old grandma fits this category of Christians. She is indeed richly blessed!
AAA Jack
3-5-2009
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