Apostle Paul told the church in Ephesus, saying, ‘Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit…’ (Ephesians 5:18) – here, we see the apostle admonish the church to not drink to drunkenness, but to rather be filled with the Holy Spirit instead. We know that the believers in the Upper Room were the first to be filled by the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), but we see again (Acts 4) that this was not a one-time event – the disciples were continuously filled with the Spirit as they lived out their lives in commitment to Christ. The first in-filling came with the evidence of speaking in tongues, and the second we see came with the boldness for witnessing the message of Jesus to the world. Jesus said to the twelve before He departed, ‘And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever…’ (John 14:16) – so we know that when the Holy Spirit came, He did not leave again, but He came to stay with and in us forever. So, what does this continual in-filling imply? Again – spirit, soul, and body. Our soul’s perception and consciousness of the Holy Spirit fluctuates, it strays away from the promptings of the Spirit and has to continually be guided back into communion and under subjection. This is the ‘building up’ the Bible speaks of (Jude:20), where the believer intentionally stirs up their soul in the direction of the Spirit, aligning ourselves accordingly under the influence of the Helper sent to us from God. We have seen how alcohol influences people, removing all inhibitions, making the timid bold and without reservation – this is what the Holy Spirit did to the apostles as well, He turned timid, lowly men into balls of fire for the gospel that turned their worlds upside down.
When believers bring themselves under the influence of the Holy Spirit, they avoid a lot of mistakes. This is a present continuous exercise, daily, never-ending. This is particularly important because believers can only commune with God through His Spirit, and nothing else. Jesus said, ‘God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth’ (John 4:24). Without alignment to His Spirit, we cannot render any service to God; we are spirits, and God too is a spirit – this is our only inline. Apostle Paul continues to tell believers how to ensure they keep themselves filled with the Spirit, saying, ‘speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God…’ (Ephesians 5:19-20). This is how we do it, continually keeping our souls in the consciousness of God, praising and thanking Him for the fullness of His grace available to us – intentionally reminding the soul of the goodness of God, capturing all lingering thoughts to the knowledge and obedience of Christ, and living a life of honor towards one another. The soul forgets, it cannot govern itself unto God; therefore, we must be militant and relentless in ensuring that it remains within the boundaries of God’s word and presence, not drifting about into dry places void of the realities we have in Christ. This is what we call having the Word working in us, when our souls come under and stay under!
Another sure way of being continually filled by the Spirit, is through praying in the Spirit, which the Bible tells us is a weapon of edification (1 Corinthians 14:4). In Jude, we read, ‘But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life’ (v. 20-21). Here we see that the responsibility of keeping ourselves in God’s love doesn’t lie with God, but with us instead. We are the ones who are meant to stay rooted, God’s love does not fluctuate, yet our perception and acceptance of it does – which is why we must ensure that we do all we can to remain grounded and certain of this unchanging reality. This perception allows us to stay within the parameters of the Spirit, being influenced by Him, being led into His eternal mercies which have been made available for our benefit. Church, let us continue keeping ourselves in the love of God and under the influence of His Spirit!
Prayer
Father we thank You! You have loved us with an everlasting love, unfading, unchanging. You loved us so much that You gave us the Spirit of Your Son. We have now come to share in this inheritance, your grace and your mercy is richly available to us through Christ and by Your Spirit! We choose to place a demand on the Helper You sent, allowing Him to guide and influence us, while we bring to our consciousness, Your love that has been shared abroad in our hearts. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen!
