Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to wild living. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. – Ephesians 5:18
Have you ever felt like you are on empty, spiritually? Perhaps what you need is to be filled with Holy Spirit again . . . and again. The Greek grammar is revealing in this passage. The phrase, “be filled with the Spirit” literally says, “Be continually being filled with the Spirit,” and it’s a command! But why?
Perhaps D.L. Moody, considered to be the greatest evangelist of the nineteenth century, said it best when he was asked why he needed to be filled continually with the Holy Spirit.
He replied, “Because I leak!”
In the introduction to his book, “Twelve Lies You Hear About The Holy Spirit,” author Tim Riter asks this question:
“Why do some Christians seem to have no gusto in their faith? They attend church services, they serve the Lord and others, they give of their time and their material possessions, but they never seem to burn with passion for God. They don’t dig deep into him. They have a genuine faith, and they love God, but they clearly miss something in their spiritual lives. Other Christians are different. They have no more talent or intelligence, but their lives have a spiritual zest. Passion motivates their actions. They would never claim to be sinless, yet sin seems to become less and less frequent among them. What’s the difference? The key to the dynamic Christian life is being filled with the Spirit . . .”
Many Christians (God bless their weary, spiritually burned out souls) believe that once they have received the gift of the Holy Spirit at conversion (Acts 2:38), they are filled forever and there’s no need to be filled again. I believe that’s why the church is sometimes so impotent because we do need to filled with the Spirit, again and again, as the apostle Paul admonished the church at Ephesus.
It’s remarkable how many times the New Testament points out when someone is “filled with the Spirit” again. Peter and John were filled again after the day of Pentecost (Acts. 4:8, 13) as were the first deacons of the church (Acts 7:3). Stephen was filled again (Acts 7:55), and the apostle Paul and Barnabas were filled with the Spirit continuously (Acts 9:17, 11:24), as were the disciples who took the gospel message to the world (Acts 13:52). The Holy Spirit was their power source and He continues to be for every believer in the church today.
So how about you? What are you waiting for? Do you want to add gusto to your faith and burn with a fearless passion for Jesus once again, the same passion you received on the day you gave your heart to Him? Do you want to continue be a powerful witness for Christ to the world around you (Acts 1:8)?
Jesus desires for His church to be the most potent institution on the face of the earth and it can be if you and I will continually seek God each and every day and ask Him to fill us afresh with the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). Maranatha!
