Spirit Filled

Spirit Filled (Ephesians 5:18)

Ephesians 5:18, And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; be filled with the Spirit.

The filled means controlled, intoxicated, permeated, thoroughly influenced, overcome by a power greater than your own. We know what it is to be filled with pain, with joy, or with sorrow. Being filled with excruciating pain, for example, eclipses everything else in our consciousness. We feel only the pain and fixate exclusively on it. The filling of the Holy Spirit is a similar experience—the Christian is overcome and under the influence of a power greater than himself.

When a person is under the influence of alcohol (Luke 1:15; Acts 2:4, 13–17), or drunk, they don’t act like themselves. They have little control of their minds, emotions, words, or actions. In the same way, we are to yield control of ourselves to the Holy Spirit. But unlike alcohol, we can’t get too much of the Spirit. We can never be too filled.

When D.L. Moody was asked, “Why do you focus so much attention in your sermons on being filled with the Holy Spirit of God?” His reply was, “Because I leak!”

This one little verse contains three critical truths about the filling of the Spirit:
1. The filling is commanded.
Notice God’s tone. He is not giving us a mild, optional suggestion. If you have some extra time, you might want to consider being filled with the Spirit. It’s a command: “Be filled.” And because God commands it, we know it’s possible. Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to be indwelt, baptized, or sealed with the Spirit because those are God’s work in us at conversion—but we are commanded to be filled.

2. The filling is for everyone.
This command to be filled with the Holy Spirit is for every believer, not just for preachers, missionaries, evangelists, or pastors. It is for all of God’s children—it’s for you.

3. The filling is not permanent.
Filling is not permanent, it's an ongoing process. We are to be continuously filled, day by day. Never in the New Testament do we see a believer baptized by the Holy Spirit more than once. But we do see multiple fillings (Acts 2:4, 4:8, 9:17, 13:9). There is only one baptism at conversion, but there are many fillings of the Spirit.

Questions to Consider:
When have you experienced the empowered life of the Holy Spirit controlling and living through you?
We must clear the way for the filing of the Holy Spirit. What do you need to confess and repent of?
What acts of restitution do you need to do to make things right with others?

PRAYER: Father in Heaven, I know You want to fill me but will not until I remove the barriers. Please bring to my mind my unconfessed sins and help me repent of them. Will You fill me with Your Holy Spirit? Live Your life through me today. Make me the person You want me to be that You would be glorified, in Jesus name, Amen.

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