Be filled with the Spirit….singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.

Ephesians 5:18

Plerousthe, “be being filled,” is the expression here used in relation to the Holy Spirit. “Allow yourselves to be continually made full.” This describes, not a crisis as at Pentecost, but a condition we are to enjoy all of the time. And it is not a matter of spiritual gifts and manifestations outwardly, but of personal presence and activity of the Holy Spirit of God within our spirits- the oil that guarantees the lamp shall burn on undimmed, long after the midnight hour if need be. Moreover, it is not alone a private, individual thing. It is something we share with other Christians. Paul speaks of making melody together. Some of us may well find it easier to sing solos than to keep in time and harmony in a choir, or even in a duet. Yet the fullness of the Spirit is given to us with this very object, that we shall sing together a new song before the throne.

Watchman Nee

Nothing in nature nor in the spirit realm supports a vacuum. As soon as a vacuum is created, something rushes in to fill the void. Naturally speaking vacuums are usually artificially created. For example, vacuum cleaners work because an artificial vacuum is created so that they will suck up dust and debris from the floor. Once the canister or bag is full, the vacuum cleaner’s suction ceases until it is emptied again.

I’m sure you’re thinking, what does this have to do with my spiritual life?

Every human is born empty spiritually. Once Adam and Eve chose through their disobedience to drain themselves spiritually, a void was created in the human soul. From childhood there is a race between good and evil to fill up that void. It could be said that our souls are spiritual vacuum cleaners, drawing in whatever they are exposed to. Most of us are aware that humans are prone to draw in the destructive things of sin. In the Garden, the desire for the forbidden fruit created a vacuum and rather than looking to God to fill that void, they choose to attempt to fill it themselves.

Of course, the devil was there to assist them just as he is available always to assist us.

In a spiritual sense, when we come to Christ most of us are filled with the debris and trash of sin and the world. The first act of the Holy Spirit is to empty our hearts of such things. The conversation between Jesus and Peter at the Last Supper reflects this point as Jesus tells Peter that unless he is washed he has no part in the kingdom of God.

“Then He poured water into the basin and began washing the disciples’ feet and wiping them with the towel which was tied around His waist. When He came to Simon Peter, he said to Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied to him, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but you will [fully] understand it later.” Peter said to Him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me [we can have nothing to do with each other].”

John 13:5-8

The psalmist says it this way:

“Create in me a clean heart, O God,And renew a right and steadfast spirit within me.”

Psalm 51:10

But just being cleansed isn’t enough for once the vessel is cleaned, the emptiness is now a vacuum and if it isn’t filled by God, it will return to its state of being refilled by the debris that has been washed away. I think most of us by experience know this to be true. Again listen to what Jesus says about this matter:

“Now when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it roams through waterless (dry, arid) places in search of rest, but it does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it arrives, it finds unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and make their home there. And the last condition of that man becomes worse than the first. So will it also be with this wicked generation.”

Matthew 12:43-45

That’s a little scary, don’t you think?

The night that Jesus washed the disciples, they were clean, but empty. When the time of testing came, they failed because while they were clean, they weren’t filled with the Spirit. But after the Day of Pentecost when they were filled with the Spirit, they consistently passed the tests.

Being filled with the Spirit isn’t about external manifestations and they aren’t the end goal. The end goal is that our lives are filled with the presence of God so there is no longer room and space for the devil or sin to occupy. This is why Paul writes to the Ephesians instructions “to be filled with the Spirit.” If that was important for them, isn’t it also important for us. We’re not chasing gifts or manifestations. We are being filled up with the Holy Spirit, satisfying our hunger and thirst so that nothing of this world has any appeal any longer. As we seek this, the gifts and manifestations show up as outcome and benefits, just as when our bodies are well-nourished and hydrated, they act in strength.

You and I decide what we give place to that will fill our lives. There are only two choices in reality- the things of God or the things of the world. Someone said it this way: “What you feed grows and what you starve dies.” Today we can choose to fill ourselves with the Spirit and spiritual things or by default we will fill the void with the destructive things of sin. Far too often we work hard trying to clean out the garbage so we can feel clean again. But there is a better way. Suppose you take a glass that is filled with dirty water. You might empty it and scrub it. But as soon as you set it in the cabinet, it immediately begins to collect dust and you have to repeatedly go through the process all over again. This seems to be the pattern many Christians use. There is a cleansing, a collecting of dust, a cleansing, a collection of dust, and on and on. Paul is suggesting another way. Suppose that instead of emptying the dirty water and cleaning the glass, you chose instead to place that glass under the flow of a pure water fountain. Would it not empty out the dirty glass by filling it with fresh pure water? As long as the glass remained under the fountain being constantly filled and overflowing with pure water, wouldn’t it remain full and clean? This is what it means to be filled with the Spirit. May this be the desire and practice of every Christian.

Dr. John Thompson