FreeGrace2 said:
Being "filled with the Spirit" is a command to obey. Being indwelt and being filled are 2 different things.
Every believer has the Holy Spirit in them. Gal 3:2,5 which is by saving faith.
However, Paul gave 2 commands of what not to do:
1. do not grieve the Holy Spirit, Eph 4:30
2. do not quench the Spirit, 1 Thess 5:19
And 2 commands of what TO do:
1. be filled with the Spirit, Eph 5:18
2. walk by means of the Spirit, Gal 5:16
One cannot be filled when they are either grieving or quenching the Spirit.
To be filled with the Holy Spirit is when one is empowered by the Spirit.
.....and not every believer is filled according to scripture. And the Holy Spirit cannot be commanded to dwell with in.
Exactly. The subject of 1 John 1 is fellowship with the Lord. v.9 shows what breaks fellowship; sin. Which is why the ONLY WAY to be restored to fellowship is through confession of sin. I'm not talking about the salvation relationship. That is permanent and cannot be broken.
The Bible uses terminology of marriage to describe the believer's relationship to Christ (wife, bride). Now, in a human marriage, when one spouse offends the other, is there harmony or disharmony? This is what being "out of fellowship" looks like.
How is this disharmony restored? The offending spouse needs to confess their offense in order to be back in fellowship again.
So marriage is a picture of our relationship to Christ. When the believer sins, they are out of fellowship with the Lord and lose the blessings that are part of being in fellowship.
So, confession of sin restores fellowship. Being filled is a command and therefore God's will for the believer.
1 John 5:14,15
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that
if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
The key to this passage is to be in fellowship before we "ask anything according to His will". v.15 refects the truth of Isa 66:18 - If I
regard iniquity in my
heart, the
Lord will not
hear me:
So, in order for the Lord to hear the believer, they must be in fellowship (have all sins confessed). Then, 1 John 5:14 tells us we can ask anything (to be filled) which is according to His will.