When I fill my grandson’s glass with milk to drink or his bowl with ice cream, he wants it filled as full as possible. He brings it empty and gives it to me, knowing he can’t fill it himself but I can. That is how we need to come to God to be filled with His holy Spirit. The filling of the Spirit is essential to live the Christian Life. We talk about it and yet we often don’t understand what it really means or how it works. Still, we are commanded to do it. “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) Just what does that mean and how do we do it?
FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT: First, understand that there is a difference between the filling of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) and the receiving of the baptism of the Spirit (Acts 1:5 ). Every believer receives the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. We do nothing, God gifts every believer with His Presence when we come to Him. It is a once-for-a-lifetime event. In contrast, being filled with the Spirit is a repeated experience and not all believers are filled with the Spirit. When we sin or willfully disobey, we can lose our filling, but not our salvation or the presence of the Spirit. When we grieve (don’t do something He wants us to do, Ephesians 4:30) or quench (doing something He doesn’t want us to do, 1 Thessalonians 5:19) Him, we do not allow His Presence to fill us. If “filling” is confusing to you, think of “controlling” and it might make more sense.
In order to be filled or controlled with the Spirit, we must be living in obedience to Him. The Spirit will not force his control on our lives; we must yield to Him and submit to His will. When that happens, He will work in and through us. Being filled is not something we have to ask for. It will automatically happen when we are yielded to God.
The Glove and the Hand (Control): It’s like when I try to put my hand inside a glove. If there is nothing in the glove my hand will fill it, but if something is already in one of the fingers I can’t fill the whole glove. The glove is a picture of you and me. We can’t perform the tasks God wants us to do on our own, only when His Presence fills and uses us. And that only happens when the glove is open and not filled with something else. Then the hand controls the glove and it does what the hand wants. The Christian is the glove and the Holy Spirit is the hand, controlling and performing work through us.
WALK BY THE SPIRIT: Galatians 5:16 says we should “walk by the Spirit so that we don’t carry out the desires of the flesh.” This is a present tense, meaning we must be continuously dependent on the Spirit. Walking is one foot being placed in front of the other in faith that the foot remaining on the ground will support the full weight of the body. Each foot in turn acts as support while the other foot is being moved forward. Walking can only be done effectively by successive acts of faith and the power of one’s feet. To walk by the Spirit is a moment-by-moment attitude of dependence on God’s power within us.
How do you know when you are under the Spirit’s control? The main characteristic is that you are becoming more like Jesus. That means you think as He would have thought, you view everything through the grid of the Bible’s worldview, you act and talk like He would have acted and talked. We might not do it perfectly all the time but we are moving in that direction and becoming more like Him than we were a while ago.
We have a picture of exactly what this should look like in Galatians 5:22-23, the fruit of the Spirit. It is one fruit, not plural as if it were many different fruits. All the traits there go together to describe one person. Jesus was perfectly filled with the Holy Spirit and so when we are filled also we will become more like Him in our love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. Fruit only comes as God’s Spirit works through us, as we abide in Him as described in John 15. We cannot pretend to have godly love or joy or peace. Our flesh can give a good counterfeit for a short time, but it is nothing like the real thing.
I personally like the analogy of a hose. Water flows through the hose when there are no kinks or holes and when the hose allows itself to be used. When we allow God to fill us, His Spirit flows through us. It’s His water of life that flows; the hose is vessel used. The water does the work of cleansing and refreshing, not the hose. The other analogy I like is of a surgeons’ scalpel. After surgery the patient doesn’t thank the knife he used, he thanks the man whose skill used it to perform the surgery. You and I are like the scalpel He uses. It is an honor and privilege to be used by Him, but we can’t take the credit for what He accomplishes.
You may have admired a teacher or an athlete when younger and wanted to be just like them so you acted and dressed like they did. On the outside you pretended to be like them. Being Christlike is not like that at all. It starts on the inside as God’s presence works in our lives and then the results are seen on the outside. You can’t attach fruit to a vine and expected to grow. The fruit only grows when the nourishment comes from within the vine itself (John 15). That is what the Spirit does when filling us.
Another way to know we are filled by Him is when we have a desire to serve God. He puts a longing within us to live a life of service. We use our spiritual gifts. We help others, we speak to others about Jesus and we obediently take advantage of every opportunity God gives us to serve others. We put others and their needs first, just as Jesus does with us.
Finally, when we are filled with the Spirit it will be natural for us to worship, praise and thank God for everything He has done for us and is doing through us (Ephesians 5:18).
How can you know for sure if you are filled with the Spirit? The simplest answer is a single test, have you, to the best of your knowledge and ability, given the control of your life to Jesus? If the answer is “yes”, then you know you’re filled with his presence. But if you are convicted of an area that is not under his control, God’s presence will not fill you.
Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as like the wind (John 3:8). You don’t see it, but you know when it fills the sails of a ship for it moves the ship in the direction it is heading. So, too, when we are filled with God’s Spirit He will guide, direct and propel us in the direction He wants us to go.
Acts 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Would God say you are letting the Spirit lead and guide your life, or are you doing what you want and trying to get God to make it happen?
What is the main hindrance in your life to allowing God’s Presence to always control you?
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India, Africa & Spanish Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling, World View)
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