- What are the signs of being filled with the Holy Spirit other than speaking in tongues?
Power and boldness – Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
This may have been “the” sign the first believers at Pentecost received…Acts 2:38
“Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Because we see later in Acts at Peter and John’s trial that the whole city has been impacted by their message. It is estimated at Pentecost there were up to 1 million people in Jerusalem for the celebration, Between the two Sermons of Peter, 5000 came to Christ and received the Holy Spirit and it could have been that, 5000 shared the Gospel with boldness, to touch the whole city and set it spiritually on fire
The gifts of the Spirit – The New Testament list various gifts some attributed to the Spirit, some to Jesus, some to the Father but for the sake of argument and answering this question regarding signs of being filled with the Spirit I will list all three…
1 Corinthians 12: 4-11
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
There is an OT passage that reflects these gifts…Isaiah 11:2
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
The gifts from Jesus are…
Ephesians 4: 7-13
However, he (Jesus) has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. 8 That is why the Scriptures say,
“When he ascended to the heights,
he led a crowd of captives
and gave gifts to his people.”
9 Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. 10 And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
The gifts from the Father are… Romans 12:6-8
In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
A very simple explanation of the three types of gifts and the reason of their evidence is this…
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are gifts only generated by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of glorifying the Father and drawing people closer to him
The gifts of Jesus simply are to help mature and unify the Body to change the world
The gifts of the Father are practical gifts to encourage and touch others so that might see God as real.
The fruit of the Spirit –
Galatians 5:22,23 “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” NLT
Romans 14:17 – “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” ESV
You will notice if you really research the fruit of the Spirit (first one of my pet peeves, it is the fruit, singular not fruits plural, we get it all not just some) the fruit affects us physically, mentally, emotionally and of course spiritually some of us are crippled emotionally, or mentally and we don’t allow the Spirit to move through us in those ways however, as we mature and allow the Holy Spirit to heal us we can be free.
In my opinion, these character traits are more important than the gifts, from this standpoint; the gifts can be faked, the character traits can not be, for a long period of time! If some one is faking a character trait, they will eventually reveal themselves.
Along with all of this, the fruit revealed through your life changes your speech, your singing, your thankfulness, and your submission to God Ephesians 5:18-20
Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul tells us our attitudes change as we reflect the Holy Spirit alive in us.
Peter alludes to us that the Holy Spirit gives as all that we need…2 Peter 1:3
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
So if you have been “filled or baptized” in the Holy Spirit and these things aren’t in your life then you need to begin practicing daily being filled with the Spirit (as we read earlier, Ephesians 5:18, which is written in a tense that means, constantly, continually be filled). Or perhaps actually get filled with the spirit for the first time
- Is it the teaching of the Bible that we cannot be filled with the Spirit or walk in the Spirit unless we first receive the gift of speaking in tongues? Is being filled with the Spirit different than walking in the Spirit?
I am hoping that the above explanation helps to answer this question but….let me start with the last part of that question first…is walking in the Spirit different than being filled with the Spirit? I assume this part of the question comes from Galatians 5:25
“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Paul writes this after giving us a list of the sins of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.
I believe Jesus stresses his intention is that all who follow Him, would be filled with the Spirit….
Mark 16:15-19
And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. 16 Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. 17 These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. 18 They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”
19 When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
Jesus told us in Acts 1:8 that we would receive power to be his witnesses when the Holy Spirit came upon them…the expectation being the fulfillment of this scripture, because that power gives us the ability to do all of these things….as the disciples walked with Jesus, Jesus said the Holy Spirit was “with” them but later He would be “in” them so they could do these things….so to me walking in the Spirit can not be obtained apart from being filled with the Spirit
Now the first part of the question…tongues is not always referenced when people receive the in-filling or baptism of the Spirit, many believe it was there but just not mentioned. The Apostle Paul mentions that tongues is not a gift everyone has.
1 Corinthians 12:29-31
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.
BTW to me the best gift is always filled with love first, then whatever is necessary to meet the need of the person you are ministering to…
For the sake of time
Acts 2:4 the upper room everyone spoke in tongues
Acts 2:38-42 3000 saved and filled with the Spirit but no mention of tongues
Acts 8:14-17 Samaritans baptized in the Holy Spirit but no mention of tongues
Acts 9:17-18 Paul receives the Holy Spirit but no mention of tongues however we know he spoke in tongues (more than you all)
Acts 10:44-46 Romans are baptized in the holy Spirit just hearing the preaching and began to speak in tongues
I believe if the church filled with the Holy Spirit moved more in boldness and power we would see more of the evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit than we do with tongues….I believe everyone should ask for a prayer language 1 Corinthians tells us it builds up our spirit but I believe the purpose the in-filling is boldness to be his witness and fruit that shows we are truly representatives of Christ
Making the main thing the main thing!