9 Ways Leaders can Know if They are Filled with the Holy Spirit

How do leaders know when they are filled with the Spirit?

Rick Duncan

In Acts 1 and 2, there’s a special supernatural power for ministry (particularly in missions and evangelism) that is experienced. Leaders must long for that kind of evidence and pray for supernatural power in ministry.

But I believe that leaders could and should long for evidence of the Spirit’s filling that is much more mundane and routine. Fruitfulness and excellence in daily living is evidence of the Spirit’s fulness in your life. Your family will be much more impressed if you focus on the Spirit’s filling in your daily life than they will be if you focus on the Spirit’s filling in your ministry life. After all, your family is your primary ministry.

Pastor Joe Propri has been at our church to train some of our leaders. Here’s one thing Joe shared that’s been helpful to many of us.

Let’s say that a container – a jar – represents you and what’s in you. We pretty much can handle life well when things are going the way we want them to go. But life isn’t always like that. Life is a series of problems one after another. Things come at us. Things go wrong. There is stress. And pressure. The pressures might be financial. The stress might be a relational struggle with a child or a parent or a friend. The problems might be physical.

Now, the things that go “wrong” tip us over. And what’s in us comes out.

Let’s be honest here. What comes out when your child has a nasty attitude toward you? Or some ministry leader challenges your authority? Or a volunteer gets angry with a decision and confronts you? When things go wrong, what comes out? Often it’s anger. Anxiety. Bitterness. Addictions. Depression. Abuse. And more.

Strange, isn’t it, that those kinds of things come out of us when heaven’s Helper is living in us? Consider what the Bible says that He actually desires to produce within us. Here are the 9 characteristics that the Spirit seeks to produce in leaders’ lives - all day, every day.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22, 23).

Are these the 9 things that are coming out of you? Whether or not we bear the fruit of the Spirit doesn’t depend on what is going on outside. “But you don’t know my kids, my spouse, my trouble.” Listen, things will go wrong… for everyone! What I must accept and remember is this: My peace and joy have nothing to do with what’s going on outside me! My peace and joy have everything thing to do with who’s filling me!

The Holy Spirit is in me. Pressure and stress and trouble come. I’m tipped over. What comes out when I’m filled with the Spirit? The fruit of the Spirit! Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control come out! We simply have to begin taking responsibility for reactions and responses to the stresses of life.

We need supernatural power to live this Christian life. Try to live this Christian life in your own strength and you’ll fail – miserably. You’ll be miserable and so will everyone else around you. Every day, several times a day, ask for the filling of the Spirit in order to walk by and live according to that filling. Over the years, we’ve many times taught CVCers to develop a habit of praying three things:

Father, search me. (That's seeing our sin.)

Jesus, wash me. (That's forsaking our sin.)

Spirit, fill me. (That's seeking freedom from sin.)

Will you pray those prayers today? The people who are following you need you to be filled with the Spirit. They need to see the 9 proofs that you are filled with the Spirit. All day. Every day.

And by the way, when you focus on being filled in the routine of life, you will be surprised at when and how often the special supernatural power for ministry (particularly in missions and evangelism) will show up.