The Holy Spirit

Being Filled with the Spirit

Paul commands believers to be filled with the Spirit, setting it against being drunk with wine. To be filled with the Spirit is to be so yielded to Him that He directs and empowers the whole of life. It is not a one-time event to boast of but a continual filling, sought in humility, that overflows in worship, thankfulness, and love within the family of God.

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;Ephesians 5:18 (KJV)

A command, not an option

Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. Paul puts it as a command, which means being filled with the Spirit is not reserved for a spiritual elite but is the calling of every ordinary Christian. And he sets it against drunkenness for a reason. Wine floods a person and takes control, changing how he speaks and acts. The Spirit too fills and influences, but toward the opposite end: not loss of self but the recovery of our true self, alive to God and useful to others.

The form of the command matters. In the original it carries the sense of go on being filled, a continual, repeated filling rather than a single dose stored up for life. We are like vessels that must be filled again and again, daily returning to the Lord to be replenished by His Spirit. No believer outgrows the need.

What a Spirit-filled life looks like

Paul does not leave us guessing what the filling produces. Immediately he describes it: speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things, and submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. A Spirit-filled life is marked by worship, thankfulness, and humble love within the family of God. It is strikingly ordinary and strikingly beautiful.

This is worth holding onto, because people sometimes imagine the fullness of the Spirit must always feel dramatic. Often it looks like a heart that sings, a mouth quick to thank God even in trouble, and a life that prefers others. The surest evidence of the Spirit's fullness is not intensity of feeling but Christlikeness of life.

How to be filled

Scripture does not give a formula, but it shows a posture. We are filled as we yield, confessing sin rather than grieving the Spirit, asking the Father in faith, for Jesus said He gives the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, and steeping our lives in His Word, for the parallel passage links being filled with the Spirit to letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly. Emptiness of self and hunger for God are the open hands the Spirit loves to fill.

Christians describe and emphasize this experience in different ways, and on some of those questions sincere believers differ. What Scripture presses on all of us is not a particular label but the reality: a daily surrender that keeps returning to be filled, so that the Spirit, and not the flesh, governs the day.

Filled again and again

It helps to see that Scripture speaks of being filled with the Spirit more than once. The same believers filled at Pentecost are filled again a few chapters later when they pray for boldness, and the place is shaken and they are all filled with the Holy Ghost, and speak the word of God with boldness. The fullness of the Spirit is not a single reservoir stored up years ago but a fresh supply for fresh needs, sought again whenever we come empty to the Lord.

This is freeing for the Christian who fears they have missed some once-for-all experience. There is always more of God to be had, always a fresh filling for today's weakness and today's work. The command to be filled is a standing invitation, renewed every morning, to come and be replenished by the Spirit for whatever the day requires.

The difference the fullness makes

What does the fullness of the Spirit actually change? It does not make us superhuman; it makes us Christlike. It loosens the grip of the flesh, so that anger, lust, pride, and fear lose their old power. It puts a song in the heart and thankfulness on the lips even in hard days. It makes us quicker to forgive, gentler with the failing, and bolder to speak of Jesus. In short, the fullness of the Spirit looks like Jesus lived out in an ordinary life.

That is why we should long for it, not for the sake of an experience but for the sake of a changed life. To be filled with the Spirit is to be governed by Christ rather than self, and there is no better way for any human being to live. Come empty, come asking, and let Him fill you again.

Filled, and controlled by love

The contrast Paul draws with drunkenness is worth pressing further. A person under the influence of wine is controlled by it; their words and steps are governed by something outside themselves. To be filled with the Spirit is to be under a better influence, governed not by wine, or by anger, or fear, or appetite, but by the gentle rule of God within. The filling is not a loss of self but the freeing of the true self to live as it was made to live, in love toward God and neighbor.

This is why the marks Paul names are so relational: singing together, giving thanks together, submitting to one another in love. The fullness of the Spirit is not chiefly a private thrill but a life poured out for others, the very pattern of Christ. A church full of the Spirit is a church full of song, gratitude, and humble love, where people prefer one another and Jesus is honored in the ordinary give and take of life together.

So do not think of the fullness of the Spirit as something exotic or reserved for a spiritual few. It is the normal, daily calling of every believer, and it is offered afresh each morning to all who will come empty and ask. Confess what needs confessing, open the Word, lift the heart to the Father, and let the Spirit fill you again for the day. He delights to do it, and a life lived full of Him is the truest and happiest life a person can live.

And the fullness always overflows toward others and toward Christ. A believer filled with the Spirit becomes a spring of blessing to the people around them, quicker to forgive, readier to serve, gentler in speech, and bolder to speak of Jesus. The point of being filled is never to hoard the Spirit but to let Him pour out through us for the good of the church and the glory of the Lord who gave Him.

Filled for Christ and for others

The fullness of the Spirit is never given merely for private enjoyment. It overflows. It fills the mouth with praise to God, the heart with thankfulness, and the home and church with humble love. And its center, always, is Christ. The Spirit who fills us glorifies Jesus, so that the more truly a person is filled with the Spirit, the more Christ is honored in how they speak, serve, and love.

So do not settle for a half-full Christian life. Come daily, empty and asking, and let the Spirit fill you again. He delights to do it, and the world He sends you into needs the overflow: a people so full of the Spirit of Christ that they cannot help but sing, give thanks, and love one another.

Related: The work of the Holy Spirit · Grieving and quenching the Spirit · Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit · The Holy Spirit