Filled to the Fullnes of God

What are you being filled with?  The truth is we live in a society where we seem to have an insatiable appetite for more.  It may be more entertainment, more pleasure, more of the newest, more food, more sports, more sex, more drugs, more, more, more....  We are a very hungry society, yet religion often comes in to tell us how wrong our hunger is but what a privilege to live in a time where people are so hungry.  Is what they are filling themselves with truly satisfying the depths of their souls or does it leave them empty only wanting something more.  This seeming insatiable hunger and appetite was not condemned by Jesus but even encouraged, He begins His first public sermon with "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their is the kingdom of heaven" and goes on to describe people in a state of absolute need.  Jesus in John 7 stirs this thirst and hunger even more, "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty,let him come to Me and drink.  "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"  If Jesus was afraid of what people desired because they desired the wrong things, then why would he stir this hunger to such depth that He would offer to fill it.  I believe it is not the desire/hunger/thirst that it is bad but the system of beliefs to suppress, deny, squelch, control, and hide our deepest desires that is a problem.  What an incredibly bold statement to stand up and say that you will fill people's deepest thirst, yet isn't Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.  So this invitation to be filled is still resounding like shock waves through the generations, will anyway come to be filled.  Paul in Ephesians 3:14-21 has gotten a revelation after visiting the 3rd Heaven of a victorious church and part of this vision is, "and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God."  What an amazing phrase "filled up to all the fullness of God", interesting that it does not say filled up with knowledge about God, the Bible, or my attempts to please God but actually filled up with Him.  To encounter God in such a way that I am filled up with Him, wow this is amazing and yet seems uncommon.  My sense is this is to be the normal Christian life, that we are to be continually filled up with God.  Later in Ephesians 5:18 it's said, "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,"  This verb for filled is a continual filling, rather than a one time experience.  Why would there need to be continual filling, well as one pastor said "I leaked" as the Spirit of God came out of Him touching another person.  Like hunger or thirst it is not forever satisfied by one drink or one meal, the picture here is of on-going eating or drinking.  If I am waiting till Sunday morning church to be filled, am I going to walk around continually filled with God.  Probably not.  We often describe difficult spiritual seasons in our life as dry times, thus the answer is not a change of circumstances but the water of His Spirit to satisfy our dry and weary souls.  Since we are to be filled to all the fullness of God, He is Light, He is Love, and He is the truth.  I will explore in future blogs how we are to filled to all the fullness of God or filled with the Spirit, this is an invitation to actual experience not just a theology.  I also will discuss dry seasons and what brings the dryness and lack of the water of the Holy Spirit flowing.  I have known that the Holy Spirit is important in the Christian journey but more from a mental ascent than from a day to day living.  Father is taking me into a season to see the importance of the indwelling Holy Spirit to bring life, joy, freedom, love, and being filled.

Being filled with His Spirit,
Bret