5 Ways We Leak After Filled with the Holy Spirit

The great evangelist D.L. Moody once answered someone who asked him why he continually prayed to God to be filled with the Holy Spirit with the response, "Because I leak."

In this blog post I'm going to share 5 ways in which we as believers 'leak' after being filled with the Holy Ghost. But by way of introduction I first want to state the following: I reject the notion that Christians can be gradually filled with the Holy Spirit. There are no levels of filling. You are either filled or you are not. And as a byword, I also believe that there are two ways in which a Christian can be filled. And that's either by asking God to fill him (Luke 11:13) or staying intimate with God. (The latter need not ask for a filling because he or she already has the fullness of God just by nearness of fellowship.)

1. Sin - (Psalm 51:11, Ephesians 4:30) In this example from scripture we have king David who was living in the unconfessed sin of adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband. In this point, I suggest that it's best to ask God to search and try us for any unconfessed sin before asking God to fill or or drawing near to Him in intimacy. If we don't then it's a sure fire way for the filling of God to deplete from us if we do have sin that hasn't been confessed.

2. Tiredness - (Psalm 31:9-13) Exhaustion is a sure fire way of leaking after being filled with the Holy Spirit.

3. Exertion (In service) - (2 Corinthians 12:1-10) In this passage we see the apostle writing about how someone was taken up to receive revelation and glory from Heaven which assumes that person was filled to experience such things and immediately afterward we read how a thorn in the flesh was assigned to him and that Jesus told him His grace was sufficient for him and that His power was made perfect in weakness. I submit that one sure fire way to leak is to be active in His service.

4. Exposure to wickedness (being around sinners) (Psalm 43) Just as being around people who are filled and on fire for God is contagious, so the opposite is true for being around workers of iniquity. David writes about how the wicked zapped him of his energies too.

5. Idleness - (2 Thessalonians 3:6-18) Being inactive and not busy doing with what God gives you is another sure fire way of leaking after being filled with the Holy Ghost. The reason why God fills us is for us to participate in what He's calling us to do. If we are not active in engaging in these things then we will leak.

In conclusion, the reason I'm posting this is not intended to be meant for a academic treatise; but to be aimed at bringing the believer to prayer before God and asking Him to let him or her be aware of when they need to be filled. For a Christian to know these areas where they leak is not as important as trusting God and believing Him to fill us when He knows we need it. Amen.