Text: Eph. 5:18

This is a command. You are to be filled only with the Holy Spirit not with alcohol or any other thing. This is for your good and for the demonstration of the dominion that Jesus Christ has secured for you. One of the things that you must desire most is the overflow dimension of the Holy Spirit. However, before there can be an overflow, there must have been a filling. You must desire to operate in the overflow dimension of the Holy Spirit. There is joy in walking in the overflow, when God is instructing us to be filled; it is out of his love for us. The greatest thing you can be, is to be like God. Everybody is filled with something. Some people are full of self.

Notice the first part of that scripture ‘and be not drunk’. There are things that a child of God should never be filled with, one of which is wine, things that can give you momentary high; mind bending substances etc. A child of God should only be filled with one thing. Nobody is empty. If you are not filled with something, something will fill you up. That is why when God was instructing his people in his word, he said “this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shall meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success”. Josh. 1:8. There is good success and there is bad success. Some people succeed to fail. Any success that is not in line with the purpose of God for your life is failure. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of comprehensive success. Nothing on earth can make you succeed like the Holy Spirit.

While believers are never commanded to be indwelt with the Holy Spirit, they are commanded to be filled with the spirit. The moment you surrender your life to Christ genuinely, the Holy Spirit is already in you in a measure. However, it is a command that you yield to the Holy Spirit, have hunger for him and get to the point where you are filled. Because of our perception of the word ‘filling’, we think of the intake of something in order to be filled. Many have equated the filling of the Spirit with getting the spirit within or getting more of the spirit. They confuse the filling of the spirit with his indwelling. There is difference between being filled and being indwelt. Filling is in stages. Some people are carrying ankle level. Study Eze. 47 and you will see the different levels of filling. There is the well dimension and there is the river dimension, which is also in levels. John 7:38. Anointing is in levels. Anointing is defined as the outflow of the Holy Spirit through human vessel.

After the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we have a number of references in the New Testament, which refer to the filling of the Holy Spirit using such words as ‘full’, ‘filling’ or ‘filled’. Some of such verses are: Acts 2:4, Acts 4:8,31, Acts 6:3-5, Acts 7:55, Acts 9:7, Acts 13:9, 52, Eph. 5:18. The issue is not getting the Holy Spirit within but of allowing the indwelling spirit to take charge and move into every area of the believer’s life. If you lock him up in one small compartment in your life, he will stay there. He is a gentle spirit. Cultivate friendship with the Holy Spirit; cultivate a solid relationship with him. Recognize that he is a personality, our ever-present help in time of need.

Purpose of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8, Acts 4:31

Reasons why we must be filled with the Holy Spirit.

1. It is commanded in the word of God. Eph. 5:18, Gal. 5:16. “Walk in the spirit” is a command. If you engage the Holy Spirit in your life, he will safeguard you from fulfilling the lust of the flesh. The more spiritual you become, the less carnal. It is the law of use, the law of consolidation. What are you eating? The muscle you are using is the one that is getting more consolidated. If you fill the carnal man with the lust of the flesh, you are becoming carnal. If you feed the spirit man with the right food, you will become spiritual. The Holy Spirit will flow through you and your carnal appetite will begin to die. It is the spirit that leads you to the market place that will lead you home. Which spirit is leading you in your business, profession or career? Everybody has a leading spirit. Who is your guide? The rapture is going to be a spiritual encounter. It is only those who are tuned to the frequency of the Holy Spirit that will hear the sound of the trumpet. Those who don’t have the Holy Spirit will not even hear the sound of the trumpet. God is saying be filled so that you can be free from other spirits, from lust. The two don’t go together. Many people rationalize whether a child of God should listen to secular music. Every work of art has a spirit. The Holy Spirit is real. To the glory of God, he has given me quite a number of songs after spending quality time in his presence. It pays to walk with the Holy Spirit. When God says ‘be filled’ with something, that thing must be very good for you. God wants to fill you so that you can become an igniter; he wants to heal you so that you can become a healing agent. What the Lord will do with you if you allow yourself to be filled is limitless; you will receive power. True power does not come from the ballot box, true power comes from the Most High and for you to get to the Most High, you must be connected. See what the Holy Spirit did in the life of Peter who denied Christ. When the power of the Holy Spirit came upon him, he was completely transformed to the extent that three thousand souls surrendered their lives to Christ after his sermon. Acts 2:41. Seek God this year more than you have ever done in your life and all the things that people seek will chase you.
2. There can be no fruitfulness without your being filled with the Holy Spirit. John 6:63. It is the spirit that gives life; quickens, he brings restoration, harvest and terminates labour without commensurate benefit. The Holy Spirit in your life will terminate the presence of thistles and thorns. Where the Holy Spirit is at work, no power either in flesh or out of it can operate a curse in your life; you will be blessed above any curse. Part of the redemption package of God is that God wants to transform you to make you a transformer. Everything that brings thistles and thorns has been atoned for on the cross. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of fruitfulness. Wherever the Holy Spirit moves, barrenness is terminated; he removes dryness and brings fruitfulness. The curse of barrenness was destroyed on the cross. Gal. 3:13-14. You must elevate your walk with the Holy Spirit above lust this year. When you walk with the Holy Spirit, everything will fall in their proper place; everything you touch will succeed. What is the Lord asking you to drop that you are still holding on to?  There is nothing better than what God wants you to do. The best thing to chase in life is the purpose of God for your life. Success is not measured in terms of acquisition. Success is not a destination so the idea of ‘I have arrived’ does not even exist. True success is keeping appointment with divine schedules for your life. True success is measured in terms of how far you are able to keep appointment with divine schedules for your life. The Holy Spirit leads you according to the purpose of God; he does not lead you outside of God’s purpose. How can you serve God according to his purpose for your life without the engagement of the Holy Spirit?

TO BE CONTINUED.

PRAYER

• Father, I thank you for the many provisions you have made for my well-being here and hereafter. Thank you for the power of your presence and the presence of your power. Thank you that you have a purpose for my life; your plans for me are plans of good and not of evil to give me an expected end. Lord, I stretch my hands to you; please grant me the grace to walk with you in the mighty name of Jesus.
• Anything the enemy has done to derail your purpose for my life, Lord, today, I ask you to deprogramme, in the name of Jesus. Grant me the grace never to settle for Ismael in the mighty name of Jesus. Help me to walk hand in hand with you and let your glory be revealed in me and through me, in the mighty name of Jesus.
• Lord, please help me never to misplace value in my relationship with you. Grant me the grace to be all that you want me to be and to place value on things that have eternal value, in the mighty name of Jesus.
• Lord, I thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for the indwelling presence of your spirit in my life. I thank you that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and I ask you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to fill me to overflowing in Jesus name.
• Holy Spirit, I surrender comprehensively to you, I ask that you take full control of my body as your temple. I yield every cell, every part, and every organ of my body to you precious Holy Spirit, brood over, take over my life comprehensively and grant me the grace to walk with you. Please mentor me, be my teacher, be my intercessor, be my comforter, be my teacher, be my guide. I ask that you help me to depend on you in this journey. Precious Holy Spirit, mentor me to be at the centre of the purpose of God in my life and to fulfil it. I depend on you. Through you, I shall do valiantly. Thank you precious Holy Spirit, in Jesus name. Amen