How to Be Being Filled with the Spirit ~ blog

Yesterday we looked at what happens to those who make it a habit to use alcohol or other addictive substances and behaviors to deal with their stress and problems.  That road, if we become addicted, leads us to debauchery.

I have no problem with someone using alcohol in a responsible manner.  I will on occasion enjoy a drink in a social setting or a glass of wine with dinner.  However, when one begins to use alcohol to escape reality and deaden one’s pain or relieve one’s stress and addiction occurs it will lead us to a bad place.  Enough on that.

Let’s learn about this second command in Ephesians 5:18 where we are told;

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.

 Instead, be filled with the Spirit…”

These 5 simple words I believe are the most important words for anyone to be able to experience what God really wants to do in our lives.  First, notice the word

INSTEAD

Just as getting drunk on wine leads one to a bad place where harmful things happen there is another alternative. And the end result is so much better than where being controlled by alcohol will lead you.  It is an alternative with the end result of making that choice so far superior it can be astounding.

Instead of me choosing to escape what is going on in my life with alcohol, drugs, or sex which always leads to a dead end … I can choose to be filled with or controlled by the Holy Spirit and the end result will be Him changing me into a more Christ-like man. The end result of making that choice is as different as ending up in Heaven or Hell.

All that to say that when we stand at the fork in the road and choose to deal with life using alcohol or the Spirit and end results of making that choice could not be more different and extreme.  Choosing to be filled with the Spirit is the most important choice you can make every day and at every time of temptation during the day.

Now notice that the verb in this command is in the present tense.  That means that it is something we are to be doing on an ongoing basis.  Just as breathing is necessary for us to remain alive and for all our bodily functions to continue uninterrupted, be being filled every day is necessary for us to experience the real life God has for us.

Stop breathing for 5 minutes and you will be dead.

Stop being filled with the Spirit and you will begin to be open to a fall back into sin.

I know that sounds rather dramatic, but I am saying it for emphasis.  The idea is that we need to always be being filled with the Spirit.  Being filled with the Spirit is the normal way we are to be living the Christian life.

Lastly, you need to know that this verb is in the passive tense.  That means that the actual filling is not something that we can do to ourselves, but it is an action that is being done to us. I can fill myself with water, but I must be being filled with the Spirit.  It is a work that He does for us and we cannot do for ourselves.

The issue is not one of Him coming to us and filling us because He is already in us.  To be being filled means that we are surrendering control of our actions to Him instead of ourselves or to our flesh.

Many people do not realize this.  They think they have 3 options in life.  We can be controlled by our sinful flesh, or we can control ourselves, or we can be being controlled by the Spirit.  The problem with me trying to be in control and manage everything in my life on my own leaves me vulnerable to the world, the flesh, and the devil.  We know what we should do but we find that our flesh easily leads us to do what we do not want to do.  See Romans 7 and Paul’s description of this.

Think of it this way.  Life is a down escalator.  If we are standing on a down escalator and do nothing … we will go down.  There are active forces in life that will lead us into temptation and into sin.  For me to just try and ignore them is foolish.  Eventually, they will control me, and I will sin.

Therefore, I need to make the DAILY choice to ask the Spirit to fill me. When I do that, He does that.  And we need to be doing that in an ongoing way throughout the day. We are on a down escalator and so to even remain in the same place will require some effort on our part.  And to make progress in the Christian Life we need to be being filled with the Spirit continuously.

Tomorrow I will go into the details of how we are to do that.  For today, have you asked the Spirit to fill you?  Are you yielding to His leadership?  Are you following the directions He is giving you throughout today? That my friends is how we will begin to experience His power to live a Christ-like life.

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