The Word of God tells us that we can be filled with God. That’s nice, but what does that mean? Are these just nice flowery words, or can we really be filled with Him? How can a God who is so big fill a vessel that is so small? How can so much fill so little? The following illustration may shed some light. Standing on the deck of a ship in mid-ocean, you see the sun reflected from its depths. From a little boat on a mountain lake, you see the sun reflected from its shallow waters. Looking into the mountain spring not more than six inches in diameter, you see the same great sun. Look into the dewdrop of the morning, and there it is again. The sun has a way of adapting itself to its reflections. The ocean is not too large to hold it, nor the dewdrop too small. So, God can fill any man, whether his capacity is like the ocean, like the mountain lake, like the spring, or like the dewdrop. Whatever, therefore, be the capacity, there is opened the possibility of being “filled with the fullness of God.”¹ What It Means to Have Your Life Filled Up with Jesus Christ, that’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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You can view a ‘no frills’ transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.

This weeks’ Call to Action’ is: 

Learn all that you can about your inheritance in Christ. To learn about it, read the will — His Word. /callout]

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Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question of the Day: What have you learned that you can share about any component of God’s inheritance made available for you in Christ? Please share in the comments section below./callout]

Episode Resources

You can find more information on the book of Ephesians by clicking on the links below.

1. #S8-043: Your Inheritance in Christ: Why It’s Super Marvelous [Podcast]
2. #S8-040: Why God Is the Greatest Mystery Writer of All Time [Podcast]
3. #S8-039: Why Redemption Through the Blood of Jesus Is God’s Way [Podcast]
4. #S8-038: How Predestination and God’s Foreknowledge Elevates Your Everyday Life [Podcast]
5. #S8-037: Walking Worthy of the Lord: What It Means for Your Everyday Life [Podcast]
6. #S8-035: Why Your Holy Spirit Preparation Is Part of Your God Story [Podcast]
7. #S8-033: How God Grows A Courageous Church and Why It Matters [Podcast]
8. #S8-032: The Powerful Authority Resident in Being Seated with Christ [Podcast]
9. #S8-030: Why God Wants You to Have Spiritual Revelation Flowing In Your Life [Podcast]

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 42 years ago. He has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 38 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com.

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Podcast Notes

A Life Filled with the Spirit

Ephesians 5:18–21 (ESV) — 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

What Does Is It Mean to Be Filled with Jesus?

• To be filled with Jesus means to be filled with His representative on earth, the Holy Spirit.
• Toward the end of His ministry, Jesus told the disciples that the time was coming where He would have to leave them.

John 16:5–7 (ESV) — 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

• The disciples were sad about Jesus leaving them.
• But Jesus told them plainly that it was way better for Him to return to God and for the Spirit of God to take His place.

Why Did Jesus Have to Return to Heaven?

• Why was it better?
• Why is it better?
• Well, one reason is omnipresence.
• God is omnipresent – that means He is everywhere, present at the same time.
• The Holy Spirit is God.
• Jesus is God.
• But there is a difference between the Holy Spirit being God and Jesus being God.

Lessons about the Glorified Body of Jesus

• One difference is the human body that Jesus had.
• You know, sometimes the terms that we use hinder us as much as they help us.
• We talk about having ‘Jesus in our hearts.’
• But Jesus had a physical body; Jesus couldn’t be in the disciple’s spirits.
• You can’t put the physical in the physical.
• But you might say, ‘Well, Jesus has a glorified body, doesn’t He?’
• Yes, He does.
• Let’s look at this glorified body of Jesus.

Jesus Glorified Body Is Flesh and Bone

Luke 24:36–43 (ESV) — 36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them.

• ‘Handle me a spirit does not have flesh and bone like you see me have,’ did you hear that?
• This glorified body has flesh and bones.
• Jesus told them to handle Him.
• So, He was not some wisp of smoke.
• That’s what people think when you say the word spirit.
• They think of smoke and vapor.
• Now, God the Father is a spirit.
• The Word of God says so.

John 4:24 (ESV) — 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

• But even with that, God is not a wisp of smoke.
• He has form to His being — He has body parts described in scripture — arms, fingers, feet, and a face.
• But He is still a spirit – God has a spirit body, you could say.
• The Bible says so.

Jesus Glorified Body Can Pass Through Material Matter

• Look at this other unique feature of Jesus’ glorified body.
• Listen to this verse in John’s gospel.

John 20:19 (ESV) — 19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

• Ask yourself the question: how did Jesus get into the room if the doors were locked?
• Could it be possible that there is something about the glorified body that Jesus was resurrected with that enabled this to take place?
• I think it’s entirely possible.
• So, Jesus’ glorified body is different than God’s spirit body.

Part of the Jesus Life Is being Filled with the Spirit

• Part of what it means to have your life filled up with Jesus Christ is being filled with the Spirit.
• It’s the same thing with the Holy Spirit of God.
• Let’s get back to our main thought — being filled with the Spirit.
• God wants you to be filled to the full, and with that thought, here is the Quote of the Day.

God wants you to be filled with the Holy Ghost so that everything about you shall be charged with the dynamic of heaven. – Smith Wigglesworth

• This portion of scripture in Ephesians says that we are to be filled with the Spirit.
• That’s our goal — that’s the target that we are to shoot at.
• Life is so much better when you are full of Him.
• But what does that mean?
• We can glean some by looking at the Greek grammar associated with the phrase ‘be filled with the Spirit.’

Clues from Greek Grammar Being ‘What Filled with the Spirit’

Ephesians 5:18–19 (ESV) — 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

It’s A Commandment

• The first clue we get from the grammar is that the phrase ‘be filled with the Spirit’ is in commandment form.
• It’s what’s called an imperative.
• You do, ‘so and so’ is the thought.
• It’s not a suggestion, nor is it a good Sunday School idea.
• It’s a commandment, and a commandment is an order from God from which there is no option.
• God said ‘do this’ which means that’s what you do.
• It’s not an elective.
• Think of how your mother made you eat your vegetables.
• You didn’t like them, but your mom and dad knew that you needed those in your body in the formative years of your development.
• So, they didn’t give you an option — they gave you a commandment — ‘eat your vegetables.’
• So, the first fact is that being with the Spirit is a commandment from the head of the church.

It’s Present Tense

• The second thing we can learn is about the tense used.
• ‘Be filled with the Spirit’ is in the present tense, which in Greek grammar means continuous action.
• The commandment is not just to get full one time but to be constantly or continuously filled.
• So, with these two pieces of Greek grammar, we are now at ‘be filled with the Spirit’ as a commandment that we are to obey meaning continuously; the result is a constant experience of fullness.

It’s Passive Voice

• The third thing that we can learn is that the phrase is in the passive voice.
• Now, that gets a little technical, and I don’t mean it to be.
• Let’s see if we can explain that a little clearer.
• This is grammar now — it may not have been your favorite subject in school.
• Listen to the following sentence: ‘John is throwing the ball.’
• That’s active voice – John is actively doing something — he is throwing the ball — using energy to do something.
• Now listen to this: ‘John is having the ball thrown to him.’
• That’s passive voice – John is not doing anything — he’s just standing there waiting for the ball to come to him – no energy involved.
• In this case, John is subject is the recipient of the action.
• So, if you are on the receiving end of the action — that’s passive voice in grammar.
• Look at ‘being filled with the Spirit.’
• The subject is understood as you — ‘You be filled with the Spirit.’
• You are not doing the action — you are not doing the filling.
• Since the verb is passive, that means we are to allow the Spirit of God to fill us.
• So, this is obedience.

It’s Plural

• The fourth thing we can learn from the grammar is the grammatical number.
• Grammatical number is whether we have a plural or singular noun.
• ‘You be filled with the Spirit.’
• So, here’s the question, is the ‘you’ a singular ‘you’ or plural you?
• I could be in a group of people, like a Sunday School class, and I could call a person by name that’s in that group — ‘You Chris, listen to this’ — singular you.
• Or, I could say, ‘You Sunday School class, listen to this,’ meaning that I am addressing the whole group — that’s plural you.
• So, ‘you’ can be singular — a single person or ‘you’ can be plural, a group.
• In this case, you be filled with the spirit, ’you’ is plural.
• The fact that ‘you being filled’ is plural means that it applies to all believers, not just a special few.
• So, these four clues read back into the text illuminate that ‘being filled with the Spirit’ is a commandment that we are to continuously obey so that the result is a constant experience of fullness. It’s something we are to allow the Spirit of God to do in us, and ‘us’ means all of us, not just one of us.

Every Believer has the Spirit in Them

• Every believer has the Spirit in them, but not every believer is full of the Spirit.
• It’s one thing to sip water in your system — it’s an entirely different thing to be full of water.

John 4:14 (ESV) — 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

• John four mentions ‘a well of water’ leading to eternal life.
• This is another way of referencing the new birth.
• Now, listen to this passage in John seven.

John 7:38–39 (ESV) — 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’’ 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

• Here we don’t have a well of water — we have ‘rivers’ — plural — that is, multiple water sources.
• Rivers flowing together is a much greater amount of water than a well.
• The well of water typifies the Holy Spirit in salvation.
• Rivers of living water typify the Holy Spirit in fullness.
• The point? — it’s one thing to have the Spirit in you; it’s another thing to be full of the Spirit.

How Does Being Filled with the Spirit Help?

• My spiritual dad said it this way.

“Over the years I’ve noticed another spiritual pattern in my own life. Whenever the heat was on – when the enemy was attacking, and I was under a great amount of pressure – I’d spend more time in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. This builds you up in your spirit like nothing else can do. You need to maintain this as a way of life. It ought to be an everyday occurrence in your private devotional life.” — Kenneth E. Hagin

• Now, let’s look at the characteristics of being filled with the Spirit.

Filled Up with Jesus Christ: Characteristics of Being Spirit-Filled

• What are the characteristics of those who are full of the Spirit?
• Paul lets us know straight out.

Ephesians 5:19–21 — 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

• Trait number one: Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
• Two: Singing
• Three: Giving thanks in the Name
• Four: Humility displayed by submitting to one another
• Look at Colossians three – you know that Colossians is the sister book to Ephesians — Paul wrote both of them during his first imprisonment.
• There’s a lot of similar language between the two letters.

Colossians 3:15–17 (ESV) — 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

• You see some of the same things as you do in Ephesians.
• Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
• You see singing and being thankful.

Filled with the Spirit: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs

• The first trait, the scripture says, is to be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
• Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are songs given by the Spirit at the spur of the moment.
• They are Holy Spirit-inspired songs.
• You take those songs, sing them, and make melody to the Lord with your heart.
• Sing to the Lord.
• You know that’s different than singing about the Lord.
• Put pressure on this manifestation with your faith.
• Expect, look for it, and you won’t be disappointed.

Filled with the Spirit: Thanksgiving

• So, that’s the first two traits, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs — singing.
• Another part of singing is having an arsenal of songs that bring His Presence — you know, songs that others have sung by the Spirit — songs that others who have yielded to the Spirit and have written and sung.
• Keep these songs handy – and play them over and again.
• You don’t necessarily need the latest worship song — you need songs that bring you into His Presence — that tangibly speak to you.

Your Life Filled with Jesus Means Being Filled with Fruit

Philippians 1:9–11 (ESV) — 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

• Did you hear what Paul prayed for the Philippians here? — being filled with the fruits of righteousness.
• Part of what it means to have your life filled up with Jesus Christ is being filled with the fruits of righteousness.
• What are ‘fruits of righteousness?’
• The term is metaphoric, figurative, or symbolic.
• Whatever word you connect with — they all mean the same thing.
• Fruits of righteousness is figurative.

Jeremiah 17:10 (ESV) — 10 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

• So, you see it here in Jeremiah, ‘according to his ways’ is equivalent to ‘fruit of his deeds’ — they mean the same thing.
• So, fruit is action.
• This will help you to understand the fruits of the spirit also.
• Fruit is action.
• The first fruit in the list found in Galatians 5:22–23 is love.

Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV) — 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

• The fruit of love is you acting in love.
• When you act in love, you exhibit the fruit of love.
• The more you act in love, the more you grow in love.
• Fruit is action.
• If you are filled with the fruits of the spirit, that means you are operating in the overflow.
• The Lord deposited these nine fruits into your spirit the day you received Jesus as your personal Savior.
• That deposit, though, only speaks toward capacity.
• You have a capacity to love — a divine ability to love others like God loves others.

John 17:26 (ESV) — 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

• The love that was in Jesus is in you.
• But, that love of God in Jesus wasn’t just an ability — it wasn’t capacity — it doesn’t just abide in dormant — it wasn’t just water in the glass — it came out of Jesus in action toward others.
• Fruit is action.
• So, only when you act righteously, and continue to do it can you say you are filled with fruits of righteousness.
• No action, no fruit, no fullness.
• The love of God that changes lives is only found in the overflow.
• It must spill out onto others.
• Love is real love only when it’s flowing.

Being Filled, Means Get Your Mouth Moving

• This is one part that trips people up when it comes to speaking with other tongues or speaking out with prophecy, as 1 Corinthians fourteen admonishes us.
• You must get your mouth moving.
• Listen to these verses.

Acts 2:4 (ESV) — 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

• Notice ‘they were all filled AND began to speak.

Acts 4:31 (ESV) — 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

• Here ‘they were all filled AND continued to speak.

Ephesians 5:18–20 (NKJV) — 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

• Once more, be filled with the Spirit speaking.
• Speaking is in the overflow.
• When you get full, it comes out.
• Can we say it this way? When you get full, speak out.
• Notice how Paul said to speak; he said to speak out in psalms.
• Psalms are spiritual poems.
• Notice he said to speak in hymns and spiritual songs — singing is speaking.
• Get your mouth moving – speak out, sing out.
• Notice what else Paul said, ‘giving thanks.’
• Giving thanks — saying thank you Jesus, I worship you oh God is speaking.
• Get your mouth moving – speak out, sing out, let the praise out.
• Do it out loud.
• People who are filled with the fruits of righteousness are people who act righteously.
• The more you act righteously — the more you grow in the fruits of righteousness.

Having Your Life Filled with Jesus Means Being Filled with the Knowledge of His Will

Colossians 1:9 (ESV) — 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

• Knowing God’s will should be paramount to a Jesus follower.
• How can you follow if you don’t know where He is going?
• Our motto should be: ‘The Will of God, Nothing More, Nothing Less, Nothing Else.’
• Another way of saying ‘the will of God’ is to think of ‘what God wishes.’
• God’s will is God’s wishes for your life.
• Have you ever planned apart from God?
• You know, a different wish for your life than the wish that the Lord had and crafted for you?
• It happens all the time.
• Sometimes we don’t visit with Him to get His plan; we just plan.
• Yes, you can visit with the Lord and get His plan for your life.
• You don’t have to walk in the dark — knowing His will is a Bible promise — the Lord wants you to know.
• You don’t have to leave your life on planet earth up to the winds of chance.
• One gentleman stated that there are over 23,000 job careers available in America.
• That quote is almost 30 years old.
• What’s the odds that you pick the right one by chance?

Suppose you take ten pennies and mark them from 1 to 10. Put them in your pocket and give them a good shake. Now try to draw them out in sequence from 1 to 10 putting each coin back in your pocket after each draw. Your chance of drawing No. 1 is 1 to 10. Your chance of drawing 1 and 2 in succession would be 1 to 100. Your chance of drawing 1, 2, and 3 in succession would be one in a thousand. Your chance of drawing 1, 2, 3, and 4 in succession would be one in 10,000 and so on, until your chance of drawing from No. 1 to No. 10 in succession would reach the unbelievable figure of one chance in 10 billion. The object in dealing with so simple a problem is to show how enormously figures multiply against chance.²

• Trying to get 10-minute details to line up your life in the exact order should be a 1 in 10 billion chance.
• You can’t define life by chance — you must lean on Him, who knows the end from the beginning.
• With that thought, here’s the illustration of the day.

Some years ago, a publisher brought out a book with the interesting title, ‘The Chance World.’ It described a world in which everything happened by chance. One day the sun would rise; another day it would not. It might appear at any hour, or the moon might appear at any hour, or the moon might show itself instead of the sun. The book described children born with one head the other with twelve heads. Some had their heads on their shoulders; others did not. Some even had no shoulders. If a child jumped up in the air it was not sure he would come down. One day he might come down; another day he might stay up. One day a man couldn’t get off his chair; another day he would go right through the floor down to the basement, the force would be so strong.³

• Aren’t you glad the things of God are not arbitrary?
• Yet, we fall into this kind of random planning all the time.
• We produce a plan with ‘ten-penny-thinking.’
• We devise it, and then we think we can make it happen.
• Or we try to ‘sell God’ on OUR plan.
• We tried to make it like it was His plan all along, but only because we really wanted to do it in the first place.
• People have changed churches because THEY wanted to do it.
• In some cases, THEY left churches, which had answers in exchange for churches that didn’t.
• That doesn’t mean the churches they went to were not good churches.
• It means those churches were not where they were supposed to receive the answer they needed at a certain point in their walk.
• They missed the penny.
• Some people have left jobs that THEY shouldn’t have left because they wanted something different, not understanding that job was where God was going to send the ravens to feed them and supply their needs.
• That happened exactly with me and Sharon’s aneurysm.
• I wanted to leave the job I was on at the time — the Lord told me ‘No.’
• Of course, He was 100 percent right, but I didn’t know right at that time.
• It turned out that certain aspects of the health insurance that the job offered was an invaluable tool to get us through.
• Having your life filled up with Jesus Christ means being filled with the knowledge of His will — it means being filled with the fruits of righteousness — it means being filled with the Spirit.
• Act on the Word — you guys have a great God-week in Jesus’ Name Amen.

#S2-039: How to Release Your Faith with Words [Podcast]