Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. – John 10:7-10
Selwyn Hughes once wrote that "although every Christian has the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit does not have every Christian." Hughes seemed to parallel the abundant life in Christ with being filled with the Holy Spirit. Certainly, there should be no doubt for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is a direct correlation.
Someone else once said, "In conversion, God's life is imparted to us. In the fullness of the Spirit, God's life inundates us." Jesus clearly stated that He had come (as the incarnate Son of God) in order that His “sheep” (those who had entered “the fold” through Him) might have life “to the full.”
The questions for each of us are these, "Is God's life truly inundating, flooding, filling me?" And, "Believing that I have the Holy Spirit, can I say that the Holy Spirit has me?" If today our answers are, "No," to both of these questions, then perhaps we can see why the life we currently enjoy does not seem "abundant."
If we are full of pride, conceit, ambition, self-seeking, pleasure, and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God, and I believe many a person is praying to God to fill them when they are full already with something else. – Dwight L. Moody
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