Although I was raised in the Methodist church, I quit attending once I went away to college.  I think that sometimes happens because we haven’t really taken the step to fully claim our parents’ faith as our own.  In my case, the seeds had been planted, and if asked, I would have said I believed in God, but I hadn’t yielded myself to Him yet.

What, or more appropriately who, pulled me back into the church was surely the Holy Spirit.

About a year or so after graduating from college, I began to feel this strong sense that I wasn’t where I was supposed to be on Sunday mornings.  I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was playing hooky.

The Holy Spirit was leading me back to God, and the Holy Spirit continues to draw me in closer and more completely.  It’s been a long journey, and how I wish I had embraced it more fully earlier in my life.

As believers in Christ, we have all received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  But we are told in Ephesians 5:18 to be FILLED with the Holy Spirit, and the tense used in this verse tells us this is a continual action.  Not a one-time deal.

What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and how do we do this?

In the Bible, to be filled with something means to be controlled by it; controlled in our minds, our emotions, and our will.  And note that the verb is passive – to be filled, not to fill.   We don’t do this; it is the Holy Spirit who fills us.  But our part in this is to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us.  Our part is obedience to God’s command.

The Wiersbe Bible Commentary explains the contrast between the indwelling and the filling of the Holy Spirit this way:  “The baptism of the Holy Spirit means that I belong to Christ’s body.  The filling of the Spirit means that my body belongs to Christ.”

Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to fill you?  Are you fully experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit in your life?  Ask Him to fill you, and then believe that it has been done and step out in faith to what He is calling you to do.

Lord, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit:  our advocate, our counselor, our comforter.  Let us not be too easily satisfied with the things of this world.  Make us thirsty for more of the Holy Spirit.  Help us to surrender our desire for control, and to turn it all over to You, as we stand on Your promises and we experience the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  Amen