In order to live the supernatural, Spirit-filled life, you first need to be freed from anything that hinders you from being filled with the Spirit and walking in the fullness of the Spirit. There are several requirements to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
1. REPENT. Change your mind about who will be Lord and King in your life and about your spiritual condition before God. Repentance is the recognition that your only hope for eternal life is found in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished by dying on the cross for you. Repentance is also a change of behavior. People around you will see that you are a new person with a new heart and a new mindset.
2. OBEY. In Acts 5:32 Peter spoke of the Holy Spirit, “whom God has given to those who OBEY HIM."
When our heart's desire and passion is to follow and obey Jesus, we will be filled with the Holy Spirit. “Repent and be baptized every one of you...and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). Water baptism is a step of obedience and is a testimony to the world that we love and follow Christ.
If we refuse to be baptized, we're just flat out choosing to disobey the one we call LORD. Willful disobedience to God is SIN, and sin blocks the work of the Holy Spirit. Habitual disobedience will choke out all that the Spirit of God wants to do in and through us.
If your heart's desire is always aimed at living in obedience to Jesus, the Holy Spirit will empower you to do that. The Apostle Paul in Gal. 2:20 spoke of being crucified with Christ, that is, dying to the self-centered part of you, changing your orientation from pleasing yourself to pleasing Jesus Christ.
3. ASK in faith to be filled by the Holy Spirit. When we repent of our sins and by faith embrace Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we RECEIVE the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit moves into our lives and we become spiritually alive. When we surrender control of our lives to the Lord, we are FILLED with the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to do what we can't do.
Being filled with the Spirit is not a once-in-a-lifetime event. We must CONTINUALLY be filled with the Spirit. How? Pray in faith and ask to be filled. Come to God with your needs. "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ASK HIM!" (Luke 11:13).
Begin your day surrendering yourself completely to the Lord in prayer. Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit and use you today for His glory. Ask Him to cleanse you from anything that would hinder Him living out the life of Christ through you. Then believe that what you asked for is true—that you are filled with the Holy Spirit and that He is living in and through you.
You do not have to beg God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. You don't have to barter with Him by fasting or weeping all night. However, you do need to repent, to surrender your life totally to His control. The weakest of God's children, when utterly surrendered to the Spirit of God, is empowered to accomplish the supernatural. You may think that your life isn't very impressive. But God IN YOU is impressive. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords resides in You!!