A Second Work

In many holiness circles where sanctification was preached, it was often described as "baptism of the Spirit" or "a second work of grace."  The preaching was more focused on sanctification being an event to be experienced through an intense time of seeking this gift from God than it was preached as a moment in a believers life which began a process of living in submission to the will of God.  One of the common elements of the different approaches to the Spirit filled life was the desire in the heart of the believer for something more in their spiritual life.    

Those who disliked the image of a second work of grace affirmed, and rightly so, that at the moment of salvation the Holy Spirit came to abide in the heart.  There was no need to talk about Him coming a second time.  The Spirit did not come on the installment plan.  When we said "yes" to Jesus we received all of the Holy Spirit and not just a part of Him.  The problem experienced by many of us is that while we received all of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit did not receive all of us.  

Beginning faith can often be filled with enthusiasm, but also filled with the conditional.  This results in the kind of life the Apostle Paul described in a moment of confession, "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me." (Romans 7:19-20).  It is when we grow weary of such a life and when we long for something more that we find that our heart is receptive to the Spirit calling us to surrender not a part of ourselves but all of ourselves so that the emptiness cannot only be filled, but also controlled by the Holy Spirit.