About This Project

filling what has been emptied

Imagine yourself as a container. Without God, your container is filled with the junk of your sinful nature. Praying for God to fill you with His Spirit won’t work well because you are already full—of your sinfulness. To deal with this, we must become “a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1) and die to our sinful nature, for “unless the soul-temple is daily emptied of self, and prepared for the reception of the Holy Spirit, self will rule the entire being.” (Southern Work, January 29, 1903.) Dying to—or emptying—the sinful self is the focus of column 1 in your prayer journal.

Column 2 focuses on the second part of this process—receiving the divine nature and power of the Spirit, to fill our container, and be re-formed in the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29). “The soul must be emptied of self, that Christ may pour his Spirit into the vacuum” (Ellen White, Signs of the Times, 1891).

Emptied of self we must be, else we cannot show that Christ is formed within, the hope of glory… The preciousness and importance of truth must appear, and will appear, when self is hid with Christ in God; then Jesus will be revealed in our lives. Our characters will be molded after the divine similitude. Then the Holy Spirit will control the human agent. Men will possess the attributes of Christ. (Ellen White, 12 Manuscript Releases, 50.)

divine fire only falls on a sacrifice

This picture of divine fire entering into a sacrifice is seen in the Old Testament. At the inauguration of the tabernacle, “fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar” (Leviticus 9:24). At the start of the services in Solomon’s temple “when Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple” (2 Chronicles 7:1). God specifically instructed the priests that this divine fire should never go out, “The LORD said to Moses: “Give Aaron and his sons this command: ‘These are the regulations for the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar… The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out… The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out” (Leviticus 6:8-9, 12-13).

Notice this connection between becoming a sacrifice and the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus. Matthew describes that “as soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him” (Matthew 3:16). Baptism symbolises death to the old life. When someone is baptised, they go completely under the water to show that their old life has been put into the grave. However, they then rise to a new life which is empowered by the Holy Spirit. As Matthew indicates, it was after Jesus had come up from the watery grave of the Jordan river that the divine fire of the Holy Spirit came down out of Heaven and rested on Him. But this baptism of the Holy Spirit was not just for this one occasion,

From hours spent with God [Jesus] came forth morning by morning, to bring the light of heaven to men. Daily He received a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit. In the early hours of the new day the Lord awakened Him from His slumbers, and His soul and His lips were anointed with grace… (Ellen White, Christ’s Object Lessons, 139)

As Jesus offered Himself as a daily sacrifice and was daily baptised by the Holy Spirit, so should we as His disciples. Jesus declared that those who want to follow Him should die “daily” (Luke 9:23) and as Paul wrote of himself, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31). Consequently, as John the Baptist foretold, Jesus “will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). This two-fold experience is highlighted in the Upper Room. As the disciples humbled themselves and confessed their sin to each other, the Spirit baptised these “living sacrifices” as “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4).

using your journal

The focus of prayer column 2 is receiving the power of the Holy Spirit, that we can be “transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Therefore, prayers for the baptism of the Holy Spirit will include three specifics—a) receiving God’s nature in exchange for my own—empowering mind, body and spirit, b) receiving faith to pray confidently for my physical and spiritual needs, c) receiving grace (which is power) to live according to God’s words. Remember that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an actual experience. So like Jacob who prayed until he received God’s blessing (Genesis 32:26), make it your priority to pray each day until you have received a “daily… fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit.” (Ibid.) Avoid rushing out into your day before experiencing divine empowering!