It is, apparently, one thing to receive the Spirit. It’s an entirely different thing to be filled with the Spirit:
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18 ESV)
Paul is writing to Christians who received the Spirit at their baptism. But he now commands they be filled with that same Spirit. We may be tempted to see the Spirit primarily as a static presence within us whom we receive “as is” and who remains “as is” for the rest of our lives. But it is, instead, possible to live in such a way that the Spirit is a dynamic presence we experience in ever-increasing degrees. It seems there are intentional things we can do that allow us to experience more and more of the Spirit. He doesn’t merely dwell in us, as if he moves into a space in our heart or our soul, like moving into a house in a neighborhood. Instead, it is possible to live in such a way that the Spirit overflows within us, taking up the entire block, the whole neighborhood. He floods our heart and soul.
And when we allow this, when we live in ways that permit this brimming over of the Spirit, that’s when the really exciting stuff happens:
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. (Acts 4:8-10 ESV)
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31 ESV)
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. (Act 7:55 ESV)
9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? (Acts 13:9-10 ESV)
Every Christian receives the Spirit. But not every Christian overflows with the Spirit (see Acts 6:3). The fact that Paul commands this indicates that it is not something that automatically happens. We overflow with the Spirit when we intentionally live in ways that permit the Spirit free and unhindered reign within us. And when that happens, the real work of kingdom-bringing happens. Courage rises. Fear dissipates. And we step boldly into the river of God’s righteous cause, willing and able to do remarkable things.
Reflecting on Paul’s words in Eph. 3, T. D Jakes (Anointing Fall on Me) writes this:
Being “drunk with wine” means that we are intoxicated or under the control of wine. To be drunk means that you have given yourself over to the alcohol. In order to remain drunk, one must continue to partake of whatever brought about the drunkenness. Paul knew the saints would never come to church or attempt any type of service for the Lord while under the influence of wine. But if it were wrong to be drunk on wine and attempt to serve God, then it would be equally wrong to attempt to serve God and not be filled with or intoxicated with the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Spirit is not a person we sip once in a small quantity into our lives at baptism. He is a bottle we drink dry so that we become intoxicated by him, under the influence of him. We are to be filled with him.
Teresa of Avila (Interior Castle) pictured it this way. Imagine, she said, a large basin of water. Then imagine a spring pouring forth fresh water constantly into that basin. And now imagine that basin expanding to hold all the water that pours into it. The water fills and the basin expands to hold the ever-flowing water.
The water is God or his Spirit. The basin is us. We’ve been designed to grow and expand to contain an ever-increasing presence of God within us. God has an inexhaustible and constantly increasing supply of himself and his Spirit to offer us.
You are meant to experience the presence of the living Spirit in ever-increasing ways. You are meant to be filled with the Spirit, to brim with him, to overflow with him. And when you do, you are led and empowered in ways you never thought possible.
But this doesn’t just happen. It requires an intentionality. It needs a purposeful way of life. One that invites the Spirit to have free reign, unhindered and unencumbered.
