Ephesians 5:15-20
It has been said that the Christian life is not hard, it’s impossible. For many, defeat and discouragement characterize their Christian life. And while it’s true that the Christian life is impossible to live out of your own strength, God does not want defeat and discouragement to characterize the believer’s life. Because of that, God has provided His Spirit. He has commanded believers to live the Christian life by being filled with the Spirit.
Let’s note that God is not commanding empty Christians to acquire something they don’t already have since every believer possesses the entire Holy Spirit from the time they repent and believe (Rom. 8:9-10). Also, being filled with the Spirit should not be equated with baptism with the Spirit. Holy Spirit baptism is not an extra experience you need to seek; it is something you have from the moment you are saved. This baptism is an act by which Jesus Christ through the agency of the Spirit places you into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13; cf. John 7:37-39).
So what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? To be filled with the Spirit is to be empowered to live the life God intended by submitting to the presence, power, and purpose of the Holy Spirit. According to this definition, five key terms need to be understood in order to be filled by the Spirit. These terms are: enabled, presence, power, purpose, and submission.
The first of these terms is Empowered. Throughout the Book of Acts, when the early church was just beginning, the Holy Spirit filled many people (Acts 2:4, 4:8, 4:31, and 13:9). But Christians are only commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit in one place in the New Testament. Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” As the apostle Paul wrote the book of Ephesians, the image that he used was not random or accidental. When a person is drunk with wine, they are controlled by and influenced by that wine, and they do things they would not normally do.
Paul is saying to allow the Spirit to empower you to do things in and through you that you cannot do naturally. Remember, Jesus calls His followers to live life in a way that is impossible to achieve in their own strength. But when you are filled with the Spirit, you find yourself loving supernaturally and experiencing joy in the midst of suffering and injustice. You start growing more deeply in love with Jesus, boldly and courageously telling others about Him. And you find yourself joyfully worshiping, among many other things.
The second term is Presence. You could say that the story of the Bible is the story of God moving nearer and nearer to His people. He created man and woman in perfect fellowship with Him. But the first sin mankind committed broke that fellowship, and they were banished from His presence. But, as the story progresses, God seeks to bridge that gap between humanity and Himself by increasingly drawing closer and closer to His people. He did this initially by having His people set up a temporary shelter called a tabernacle and later by dwelling among them in a permanent temple.
Despite the temple being erected and God filling it with His presence, the people eventually rebelled against God, acting as if they wanted nothing to do with Him. And so, God’s Spirit left the temple (Ezekiel 10:18), and God’s people were removed from His presence by being removed from their Promised Land. And even though God brought His people back into the Promised Land, His Spirit never returned. The situation remained like this until Jesus was born of a virgin and was called “Immanuel, God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
And, as good as it was that God dwelt among His people in Jesus, God wanted to move even closer — not just to dwell among them, but to dwell in them through His Spirit. The great news for the follower of Christ is that God has done what He had never done in all of human history. He has set up permanent residence in His people through His Spirit. Ephesians 1:13-14 says: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
Notice that Paul says that when a person believes the gospel, they are sealed with the Holy Spirit. They get all of the promised Holy Spirit the moment they believe. They don’t get more of the Spirit later. The Spirit indwells His children fully. But, while the Spirit fully indwells a follower of Jesus, as was mentioned above, believers are commanded to be filled with the Spirit.
Here’s the distinction between these two verses: when believers are filled with the Spirit, they don’t get more of the Spirit, the Spirit gets more of them. An image that is probably not accidental is found in Acts 2:2 when the Holy Spirit first came upon the followers of Jesus. It says, “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” When a person is filled with the Spirit, they are allowing His presence to fill their entire life — every “room” in their life, every closet and every junk drawer.
People were never meant to live segmented lives where they give God one part and not another. To be filled with His presence means that you allow Him to fill every part of you. It is only in giving Him access to every part that you experience the presence of His transforming grace, even in those areas that you have walled off and hidden.
The third and fourth terms are Power and Purpose. Along with His presence, to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with His power for specific purposes. It is impossible to separate His power from what His power is meant for. First, when the Holy Spirit fills or controls a person, He gives power to comprehend the incomprehensible. Look at what Paul says in Ephesians 3:14-19: “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
In other words, when a person is filled with the Spirit, they are enabled to increasingly comprehend and apprehend the overwhelming and incomparable love of Christ for them. Next, He gives power for completing the mission of Christ for the Church, which is to make followers of Jesus of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). We see this throughout the Book of Acts. After His resurrection and just before He ascended to heaven, Jesus said to His disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (ESV).
If there’s one thing to know about the early followers of Christ even after His resurrection, it is that they were scared and fearful. But when the Spirit filled them, He turned these discouraged and frightened followers of Christ into a bold and fearless force that began to turn the world upside down. Third, the Spirit gives power for purity. Paul, in his frustration at his inability to live the holy life required of every believer, exclaimed, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24, ESV).
As he was throwing up his hands in frustration over his struggles, he turned to the only one who could purify him and declared in Romans 8:2-4: “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (ESV).
In other words, Paul is declaring that all the commands of God in the Old Testament couldn’t change his heart. And even though these commands (the Law) demanded righteousness, even Paul’s best intentions couldn’t live up to them. But even though the Law can’t produce purity, Paul declares that the Spirit can! And, in Galatians 5:22-23, Paul says that the Spirit produces a fruit within that cannot be produced otherwise: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (ESV). The Holy Spirit produces the life change that nothing else can produce. The Holy Spirit fulfills the purity of righteousness that you cannot fulfill alone.
The fifth, and final, term in the definition that we are examining is Submission. Submission provides the answer to the question, “How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?” There are two essential elements to this submission: faith and surrender. The Christian life from beginning to end is a life of faith in the promises of God. A person cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit if they don’t believe in God’s promises and trust in His Word. Faith means trusting that God has given us His Holy Spirit and that He will enable us to live a life that glorifies Him.
Faith is necessary to be filled with the Holy Spirit because we must believe that God has given us His Spirit and trust that He will work in us. In Galatians 3:2-3, Paul asks the Galatian believers, “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” In this passage, Paul reminds the believers that they received the Holy Spirit through faith, not by their own efforts. Likewise, we continue to walk in the Spirit by faith, believing that God will continue to work in us.
The second element of submission is surrender. To be filled with the Holy Spirit, we must surrender our will, desires, and control of our lives to God. Just as being drunk with wine leads a person to be controlled by alcohol, being filled with the Spirit means allowing Him to control and guide every aspect of our lives. Romans 12:1-2 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
In this passage, Paul calls believers to offer themselves as living sacrifices to God. This act of surrender is essential to being filled with the Spirit. We cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit if we are holding on to our own plans, desires, or control. Instead, we must yield ourselves to God’s will and trust that His Spirit will lead us.
In conclusion, being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a one-time event but an ongoing process. It involves allowing the Holy Spirit to empower us, fill every part of our lives with His presence, give us power for His purposes, and guide us as we submit in faith and surrender to His leading. As we walk by faith, surrender our lives to God, and allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, we can live the life that God intended, bringing glory to Him and experiencing the fullness of His Spirit in our lives.
A Prayer to Be Filled with the Spirit
“Heavenly Father, I come before you with an open heart and a humble spirit, recognizing my need for the Holy Spirit in my life. I desire to be filled with Your presence, to experience Your guidance, and to be empowered by Your love.
I surrender all aspects of my life to You, Lord. Please cleanse me of any sin, doubt, or hindrance that may be blocking the flow of Your Spirit in me. I repent of my shortcomings and ask for Your forgiveness.Holy Spirit, I invite You to come and fill me completely. Take control of my thoughts, my words, my actions, and my desires. Lead me in Your ways, and help me to walk in obedience to Your will.
I long to experience the fullness of Your presence, to receive Your gifts, and to bear the fruits of Your Spirit in my life. Use me for Your glory and the advancement of Your kingdom.
I trust in Your promises, and I believe that as I seek You, You will fill me with Your Spirit according to Your perfect plan. Thank you, Lord, for your indwelling presence. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.”
Remember that being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a one-time event but an ongoing journey of faith and surrender. Keep seeking God and inviting the Holy Spirit into your life as you continue to grow in your relationship with Him.
Rev. Kayode Ilupeju,
Good News Baptist Church,
47/49, Olufemi Road,
Off Ogunlana Drive,
Surulere, Lagos.
Tel.: 0803-302-1008
