16.02.2021
IBC Admin
"Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything."
(Eph 5:18–20)
In Ephesians 5:18, we are invited to "be filled with the Spirit." This is not a one-time experience, but happens when we invite God to be the primary influencer in our lives on a day to day basis. When we choose to shut out the noise of this toxic world and through prayer avail ourselves to the reading of God's word, we then are inviting God to be the primary influencer in our lives and the One who fills us.
When we are in fellowship with other believers in the church, we not only come under the teaching of God's word, but have opportunity to practice all the "one another" commands of the Bible (love, encourage, pray, give, etc.) When we serve the cause of Christ and become agents of His love to a world in trouble, are asking God to influence us that we may influence others. That is what it means to be filled with the Spirit.
Some of the key attributes of this filling are found in the next verse in Ephesians 5:20, "give thanks always in everything." Here we are invited to trust God and taking a posture of giving Him thanks no matter what.
We trust Him in our difficulties and trials knowing that He is present and has given us a promise that He is always with us to the end of the age. We trust Him in a world of wickedness and injustice, knowing that ultimately Jesus will return and make things right. We trust Him in our weakness, knowing that He is the resurrection and the life and our strength and refuge.
Pastor John MacArthur wrote this in his 2009 Newsletter to help us better understand this biblical principle, "A thankful heart is one of the primary identifying characteristics of a believer. It stands in stark contrast to pride, selfishness, and worry. And it helps fortify the believer’s trust in the Lord and reliance of His provision, even in the toughest times. No matter how choppy the seas become, a believer’s heart is buoyed by constant praise and gratefulness to the Lord."
Our tendency is to foster a complaining and grumbling spirit. But when we choose to be thankful to God no matter what, an amazing thing happens to us, we become transformed and filled with God instead of filled with the fear and anxiety of our circumstances and world. When I do that, then we will be filled with His peace, His promises and His presence.