THE BLESSINGS OF THE SPIRIT'S FILLING
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18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
the contrast between the Spirit's filling and being drunk.
Not only is the contrast stated directly in Ephesians 5:18, but the initial filling of the Holy Spirit recorded in Acts 2 was misunderstood as a state of drunkenness.
*Some ... made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine'
13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
Peter responded to their misunderstanding by saying, "These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people'" (Acts 2:15-17a
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
There is a marvelous promise here for people who have tried to find their "kicks" through alcohol and drugs. Drunkenness and drug trips are illusionary experiences. They create a false euphoria that is out of touch with reality. A drunk person is controlled by a force that releases his inhibitions; his troubles seem to disappear; he gains a boldness that sometimes can be dangerous for those nearby. The tragedy is that the euphoria is only temporary. He often awakens from his "trip" to discover that his troubles have increased. Perhaps he's been arrested for drunk driving or his wife has left him. Paul warns that the euphoria produced by alcoholism produces destruction.
Believers have an alternative that is satisfying and not illusional. It's real. The alternative is the filling of the Holy Spirit.
When He is in control, the inner benefits of love, joy, and peace prevail (Galatians 5:22). As Ephesians 5:19 indicates, the Spirit-filled believer can make music in his heart to praise God. The result is an inner calm that brings rest in even the most trying circumstances.
the false euphoria that some seek through drugs or alcohol. Under the control of the drug, my mind and emotions enjoyed sublime ecstasy.
so comfortable and at peace; it seemed I was floating in paradise.
As time lapsed,
euphoria GIVES way to a sensation of pain and discomfort from the surgery.
The euphoria was not real; it was only masking the actual pain. Yet, the more I came to consciousness, the more quiet and at rest I felt in the Lord.
Many had been praying for me, and the Holy Spirit filled me with a calmness and a joy that did not eliminate the pain but was there in the midst of it. That inner benefit needs no additional source other than the Holy Spirit Himself.
19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
The filling of the Holy Spirit produces joyful worship. To obey these words, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Music of praise and thankfulness to the heavenly Father flows naturally from the heart of the Spirit-filled person. When praise, worship, and thankfulness seem foreign to us, we may need a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit.
While I was pastoring in Chicago, a touch of revival visited two churches in Pekin, Illinois. A couple who had led in the revival awakenings that came to Regina, Saskatchewan, in the early seventies were holding meetings there. The meetings at one church became so crowded that they had to be moved to a larger building. The meetings lasted for several weeks, dramatically affecting the lives of hundreds of believers and bringing many to Christ.
Hearing what God was doing, my wife and I decided to visit.
It was a unique experience to be a part of such a powerful visitation of the Holy Spirit. As believers got right with one another and with their Lord, they were experiencing a fresh filling of the Spirit. We shall never forget the singing, the praises to the Lord, the joy, and the seemingly timeless nature of the evening.
The service lasted nearly four hours, but people still lingered when it concluded. They did not want to go home. Such revival helps illustrate the upward benefit of the Spirit's filling ministry. tallows praise, thanksgiving, and worship to flow freely.
It allows praise, thanksgiving, and worship to flow freely.
An Outward Benefit
The imperative to be filled with the Holy Spirit in Ephesians immediately precedes the portions of Scripture that deal with personal relationships. Relationships between husbands and wives, children and parents, and workers and employers, as outlined in Ephesians 5:21-6:9 are possible only through the Holy Spirit's filling ministry. The Holy Spirit can enable human beings to manifest a servant's heart that will make the home, family, and working relationships harmonious and Christ-exalting. The Spirit-filled life also prepares the believer to claim victory over Satan and his kingdom (Ephesians 6:10-18). We shall study this in more detail in succeeding chapters.
The foundation of filling
What are the necessities for the spiritual condition the Bible calls being "filled with the Spirit"? What must we do to achieve it? How can the available, beneficial, Christ-exalting fullness of the Spirit be ours?
The Word of God keeps the formula simple. We are not discussing a condition available only to "super saints." God means
the fullness of the Spirit to be a part of the normal, daily living of every believer. What does it take to know this aspect of invincible living?
Regeneration -Finding New Birth (John 3:1-16)
It seems wise to stress this basic point. Some may be reading these words which have never been born from above. If you were to die and stand before God and He were to say, "Why should I let you into My heaven?" would you know how to Answer? Salvation--eternal life--is God's free gift to be received as your possession. It becomes yours the moment you reach out in faith and claims the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ as payment for your sins.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
While writing this book, I visited a businessman who had recently received Christ as his Savior. Don and his family had attended our church, though he was not a believer. The church had exerted much prayer and work to win him to Christ.
His wife had been praying for his salvation for seven years.
When they made plans to move to another state, we invited them to our home for a farewell dinner. During the evening, Don and I had a chance to talk alone. I mentioned that many of his friends hoped he might come to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior before he moved away. That opened the door for conversation about eternal things, and in a matter of a few minutes, Don was praying and inviting Jesus Christ into his life to be his personal Savior and Lord.
The change he experienced was instant and profound. He immediately shared the joy of his new life with his wife in another room. The next Sunday, while attending church and Sunday school, he remarked that it was like someone had just turned on the lights. For the first time he could hear spiritual truth and understand what was being said. Subsequent visits with him confirmed his continued growth. Regeneration had taken place.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17
I was reminded again of how transformative it is to receive Christ and to have the Holy Spirit enter one's life. All spiritual victory begins here. If any reader still needs to settle the matter of personal salvation, you must do that now. Invincible living never results from self-effort or turning over a new leaf. Victory is receiving a new life through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
Elimination -Grieving the Spirit
19 Quench not the Spirit.
In his Systematic Theology, Lewis Sperry Chafer devotes an entire volume to the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, with sixty-five pages addressing "Conditions Prerequisite to Filling." Nearly all of those pages are given to a study of how we grieve and quench the Holy Spirit. Dr. Chafer concludes that the filling of the Holy Spirit requires only three conditions:
1. QUENCH NOT
19 Quench not the Spirit.
2. GRIEVE NOT
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
and
3. WALK IN
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Grieving the Spirit is the result of unconfessed sin in the be. lever's life. We are therefore confronted with a twofold problem:
How can we keep from sinning, and how do we apply God's provided cure once sin has entered our lives? The Holy Spirit is present to help us with those two major problems. If we do not rely on His Person and work to overcome the sin problem, we grieve Him. When He is grieved we will not know the victory and joy of His filling. It is of vital importance that we handle our sin problem on the basis of God's Word. That which grieves the Holy Spirit is instantly removed through confession expressed by a contrite heart. The moment we become aware of any grieving or estrangement, we need to determine the cause and apply the remedy.
Dedication-Yielding to God
Quenching the Spirit refers to resisting or rejecting the will of God for one's life. Yielding to God's plan allows the Holy Spirit's filling to make us invincibly strong. Being invincible means having the capacity and power to do God's will.
Dedication involves yielding totally to God's purpose.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Ines through subtle trickery (Ephesians 6:11
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
force (Ephesians 6:12
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Satan desires to manipulate us and force us to accomplish his plans.
The Holy Spirit does not work this way. He respects our personal dignity and gently woos us to respond to God's will. He is not interested in coercing us, but desires that we be willing responders. We do not do God's will through our own strength but through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit within us.
We must, however, yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit, expecting Him to accomplish God's will in us and through us.
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
We must yield to the Lord and His plan in every experience of life, even the hard and the painful ones.
One of the heartbreaking stories of the Old Testament tells of the time King David fled with his family from the insurrection mounted by his own son Absalom (2 Samuel 16
As David approached Bahurim, a man from Saul's clan named Shimei began to throw stones at the king and his company.
As he hurled his rocks, Shimei also pronounced curses upon David.
7 And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial:
8 The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man.
What a lesson for all of us to learn about
profit from it. I yield yielding to the Lord. Even in one of the most to what You are trying times in David's life, he recognized
that God in His sovereignty wanted to use teaching me." the experience for David's profit and His own glory.
Every battle Satan launches against us somehow fits into God's sovereign plan. Even as we resist and reject Satan's purpose in attacking us, we must yield to God’s lessons and purposes in allowing us to face the battle. Failure to seek the Lord's teaching inevitably prolongs the battle. Yieldedness says, "Lord, I hear You in this battle. I want to profit from it. I yield to what You are teaching me"
Continue - Walk in the Spirit
Yet, once the skill is learned, walking becomes a practice without thought.
Walking in the Spirit has a similar pattern. When we first see the need and desire to do so, the steps may seem halting and difficult. We will find ourselves resorting to serving the Lord in our own efforts. Self-effort displaces grace. Yet, when we fall, there is always forgiveness and the privilege of starting over. As we become more accustomed to the Spirit-led walk, we will find ourselves looking to the Holy Spirit moment by moment in every experience.
As we learn to walk in the Spirit, it is excellent to begin each day with a prayer of expectancy, expressing our desire to experience the Holy Spirit's leading and enabling in every moment of the day. Taking stock in the evening as you think through the day prayerfully is also helpful. Offer praise and thanksgiving for the successes realized through the Spirit's work in you. Confess and repent of the times you relied on your own effort. This is a process that will go on as long as you live. To walk in the Spirit requires daily practice.
To keep in step with the Spirit or to "walk in the Spirit" requires moment-by-moment dependence upon the Spirit. We seriously err when we think we walk in the Spirit by our own human effort. We need to maintain confidence and expectation that He will make walking in the Spirit a reality for us. To "walk in the Spirit" means to depend entirely upon the Spirit, realizing that He alone can and will guide and help us.
What a delight it is for a parent to watch their little child learn to walk. It's always a time of much trial and error.