Holy Mnemonic

September 10, 2019

“But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!””                      —Acts 7:55-56 NKJV

In deacon Stephen’s speech before the Sanhedrin in Acts 7, a subtle pattern emerges with a simple English mnemonic that probably doesn’t exist in any other language. Nonetheless, it helps me remember an important gospel truth about how God works.        

Stephen is recalling Jewish history, from Abraham to Moses and the prophets. He ad libs the story, but also gives a few exact quotes throughout his talk. At one point, the Holy Spirit descends upon him he sees the presence of the glorified Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father, and bears witness to the fact. 

Christians argue back and forth about what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit, how it occurs, and what are the conditions or requirements for it to happen. Some insist that there is a “second blessing” to which Christians ought to aspire and that speaking in tongues always accompanies it; others assert that we get all the Holy Spirit we’re ever going to get when we repent and are converted. We talk a lot about the gifts of the Spirit, with healing and prophecy usually at the top of the list of desired gifts. We read of the fruit of the Spirit in Ephesians. Entire libraries have been written about this elusive Third Person of the Trinity. In all my own reading on the subject, I cannot recall ever seeing this particular text being quoted. And yet, it seems to be quite seminal on the subject.

Here’s the pattern I see in this text: Stephen quotes Scripture, is filled with the Spirit, sees Jesus at the right hand of the Father, and speaks out in testimony of the fact. This pattern gives rise to the mnemonic: 

Scripture, 

Spirit, 

See, 

Say.

Being filled with the Spirit is what happens when we immerse ourselves in Scripture. The result is our seeing the glory of Christ and speaking out in testimony of what we see. Bearing witness apart from Scripture and the filling of the Spirit is empty. Only when we allow the Scripture to soak into our souls do we give the Holy Spirit the wherewithal to do his work in us. He uses Scripture to open our eyes to see what others cannot, to which we bear testimony. Instead of our witness resulting in the conversion of the hearers, it may provoke anger and hostility, but that too, is evidence of the pattern. 

I’ve preached for years the necessity of immersing oneself in Scripture in order for God to work in us. Scripture is the  tool he uses to bring conviction and correction of sin, comfort in trials, and guidance in times of confusion. Without them there can be no filling, and without his filling we cannot see what God is doing, and consequently have nothing of importance to say. I am thankful tonight for this simple memory device. It’s now up to me to actually begin the process whereby God can fill me with his Spirit, open my heart and eyes and mouth to declare the glories of Jesus Christ, the crucified, risen, and glorified Savior .