"FILLED" WITH THE SPIRIT
Part 1

February 25, 2009
Mike Blume

  Scripture Text:

 
Ephesians 5:13-22 KJV  But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.  (14)  Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.  (15)  See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,  (16)  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  (17)  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.  (18)  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;  (19)  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;  (20)  Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;  (21)  Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.  (22)  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

  Message:




Our text speaks of people who are asleep who should awake.
  • It is therefore dealing with saints of God.
  • Admonishing believers to get to the place they should be.
  • Amongst that admonition we read of believers who had the Holy Ghost.
  • These folks were told to be filled with the Spirit.
  • They already had the Holy Ghost.
This reveals an important truth.

Having the Holy Ghost does not necessarily mean you are filled with it.


Another verse that speaks to Spirit Baptized Christians is as follows, and also admonishes them to a goal.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This speaks of being WHOLLY SANCTIFIED.
  • The bible would not make such statements to people with the Holy Ghost if such things were automatically fulfilled by simply having the Holy Ghost.
  • This shows us that we may be Christians with the Holy Ghost, but not wholly sanctified.
  • We may be Christians with the Holy Ghost, but not FILLED with the Spirit.
Our entire spirit, soul and body must be preserved blameless.



That says a mouthful.

The Amplified Bible says:

Eph 5:18 AMP And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but ever be filled and stimulated with the (Holy) Spirit.

Notice the Amplified shows that the Greek sense of the idea is being stimulated by the Spirit.

The Holy Ghost is not physical.
  • So it is not like water physically filling you up leaving no empty physical space in you when it speaks of being filled.
  • It is speaking of FULLY STIMULATED.
  • This means we must allow the Spirit to stimulate and INFLUENCE us fully.

When we stop to think that we know we are not always FULLY stimulated by the Spirit, we can realize what it means to say we are not always FILLED with the Spirit.

The idea of drunkenness with wine is a good picture.

Wine stimulates you and you can drink it until you are fully stimulated.

Paul said that is debauchery, or excess.
  • You can drink SOME wine and be a LITTLE stimulated by wine, but not intoxicated.
  • Just feeling good.
  • But getting DRUNK with wine speaks of a state of being wherein all the worst of the fleshly characteristics being brought out of our lives.

So the more stimulated you are by the Spirit of God, the more FILLED you are.

Simply replace the word FILLED with STIMULATED to get the proper idea.

FILLED is from the Greek word: ple¯?roo¯?
Thayer Definition:
1) to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full
1a) to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally
1a1) I abound, I am liberally supplied
2) to render full, i.e. to complete
2a) to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim

STRONG:  ple¯?roo¯?
play-ro'-o
From G4134; to make replete, that is, (literally) to cram (a net), level up (a hollow), or (figuratively) to furnish (or imbue, diffuse, influence), satisfy, execute (an office), finish (a period or task), verify (or coincide with a prediction), etc.: - accomplish, X after, (be) complete, end, expire, fill (up), fulfil, (be, make) full (come), fully preach, perfect, supply.

If the Bible used the term FILLED, then that very term implies DEGREES OF STIMULATION.
  • Degrees of influence.



Notice that Peter was in the upper room on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 1:13 KJV  And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.

And Peter preached about what the Holy Ghost was when he got the Spirit in Acts 2.

Watch this:

Acts 4:21-23 KJV  So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.  (22)  For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.  (23)  And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.

Acts 4:31 KJV  And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Peter and probably many from the day of Pentecost and those saved after, who were already filled with the Spirit once, were FILLED AGAIN in Acts 4.
  • How can that occur if simply HAVING THE Spirit automatically means you are filled with it?

Did they LOSE IT between the time of Acts 2 and Acts 4?
  • Of course not.

We cannot allow other things to influence us, and thereby HINDER the Spirit of God from FULLY influencing us like He wants to.

When a bottle is half full, this would represent being HALF stimulated by God's Spirit and half stimulated by other things.

We are told to allow ourselves to be stimulated with the Spirit of God.
  • It is up to us.
  • If you want the Spirit to stimulate you completely, then you have the choice to see to that.
  • God put it in our hands.

So how do we allow the Spirit to stimulate us completely?

Let me pause here and show the details of our human lives and how the Spirit of God works in us.
  • 1 Thess 5:23 said we are SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY.

God showed me one day that just as the Tabernacle and the Temple had three major sections called the OUTER COURT, THE HOLY PLACE, and the MOST HOLY PLACE, man is body, soul and spirit.

The Bible lists the SPIRIT first and the body last.

It reminds me of Exodus where Moses was told to build the tabernacle, and God started with the instructions for the Ark of the covenant, which was situated in the deepest part called the most holy place.

God started with the ark in the inner most section and worked his way out to the outer court when teaching Moses how to make the Tabernacle.
  • Paul started with man's SPIRIT and then listed soul and body after that in the same pattern and manner.

JOHN 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  

Jesus told Nic. that a person's SPIRIT is born of GOD'S SPIRIT.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 KJV  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.  (27)  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

God said the New Covenant would involve giving us a new heart and spirit, while removing the stony heart.

Then God would put a HIS SPIRIT into us.

Notice the two spirits here.
  • Man's spirit made new, and then God's Spirit put into us.

Luke 5:37-38 KJV  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.  (38)  But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.

The old wine bottle breaks because it has lost its elasticity or ability to expand.

A stony heart is like a stiff, hardened bottle.

If God put NEW WINE -- His New Spirit -- into our OLD human spirits that cannot expand or stretch with the POWER of the New wine in us, we would BURST.
  • God cannot give people His Spirit if they refuse to allow Him to change their old spirits and old hearts.
  • So repentance is really vital to getting the Holy Ghost.
  • You have to release your rigid and stubborn spirit by letting go of things God does not want you to have, or He will not give you His Holy Ghost.
  • If He did, He would never be able to do anything through you by His Spirit, because it is too stiff and rigid and so full of yourself.
  • When you let go of yourself and stop putting yourself forward all the time, and humble yourself by repentance, God has given you a new spirit that is SOFT and not STONY.

Even FAMILIAR (OBE) spirits of the devil need someone to manifest through as their bottle.

Familiar means BOTTLE.

It means a water skin or FROM A JAR.
  • Spirits enter people and people become their CONTAINERS or bottles.

God's Spirit also requires us to be SOFT in spirit so he can STIMULATE US easily.

How easily can God stimulate you?

If you are stubborn spirited and hard hearted, you have an OLD bottle.

God's Spirit may have filled you at one time years ago, but if you became hardened and stiff over the years with the stiffness of doing YOUR own thing instead of the will of God, He cannot STIMULATE your life any more.
  • You run your own life and don't allow His Spirit to stimulate and influence you.

So the HUMAN SPIRIT is the ONLY THING that is born again when we are saved.

He gave us a NEW SPIRIT and then put HIS SPIRIT into it.

And He entered this new TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST the day we got His Spirit.
  • Just as the ark of the covenant was placed into the MOST HOLY PLACE, God's Spirit is put within our human spirits.

2 Chronicles 5:5-7 KJV  And they brought up the ark, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, these did the priests and the Levites bring up.  (6)  Also king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude.  (7)  And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims:

2 Chronicles 5:9 KJV  And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day.

Taking out staves means IT IS THERE TO STAY and need not be carried any more to find its home.

And 120 trumpeters blew the trumpets:

2 Chronicles 5:12 KJV  Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:)

2 Chronicles 5:13-14 KJV  (13)  It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;  (14)  So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.

The SPIRIT FILLED the temple when the people were IN UNISON.
  • They sang hymns and spiritual songs.

And the men could no longer stand up to minister, since God exploded in that temple and HE MINISTERED HIMSELF.

This is repeated again here:

Acts 1:14-15 KJV  These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.  (15)  And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

120 IN UNISON.

Acts 2:1-4 KJV  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  (2)  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  (3)  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.  (4)  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

You need to be in ONE MIND for the things of God.

You cannot split your mind into two directions.

Matthew 6:22 KJV  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Matthew 6:24 KJV  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Then Jesus repeats words about TAKING THOUGHT.
  • Seek first His kingdom and righteousness.

Do not split your attention and your mind between the things of God beside the things of the flesh and of the world.

God wants to manifest through you, out from your spirit, into your soul and body and MINISTER HERE.

He has to pass through your MIND or SOUL first.

Your SOUL IS NOT YOUR SPIRIT.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

SOUL involves EMOTION:

Deut. 14:26  ...for whatsoever thy soul desireth:...thou shalt rejoice,

1 Samuel 30:6  ...the soul of all the people was grieved,


WILL:

Job 6:7  The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat.

1 Chronicles 22:19  ...set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God;



INTELLECT:

Proverbs 19:2  ...that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good;

Lamentations 3:20  ...My soul hath them still in remembrance,

Proverbs 2:10  ...When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;




YOUR SPIRIT is different:

Phil 3:3  For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.  

Mark 2:8 KJV  And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?


Worship is a SPIRITUAL THING.

Perception of things the natural mind cannot know is a SPIRITUAL THING.


In order for you get the Holy Spirit, He had to make a new human spirit in you through your repentance and yielding to God.
Now that He is in your spirit, He has to move out into your MIND.

This requires Him to stimulate your mind, and that involves YIELDING your mind to Him.
  • If your mind is on things it should not be on, His HOLY Spirit will not move into your mind.
  • It can't.

This reminds me of a verse:

GOD CANNOT DWELL IN AN UNCLEAN TEMPLE.

Anyone ever read that verse before?

It is found in 2 Non-Existent Scriptures 3:19
  • It is no where in the bible.
  • But everyone from Newfoundland Canada to Victoria, BC, down to Los Angeles California, and Houston are of Texas, and I am sure to the far east coast of the southern USA are sure that this verse is in the bible.
  • But it is not!

If God can dwell in your spirit, while your mind thinks thoughts that are not right, it may hinder His Spirit from working in you, but HE IS STILL IN YOUR SPIRIT.

The Holy Ghost does not leave your spirit and come out of you just because your thoughts are not where they should be.

If that were the case, then He must have left me a thousand times.
  • I have not always thought perfect thoughts.

The Spirit WILL EVENTUALLY leave if you get bad enough in your mind and do enough wicked works.

But He is patient.

Psalms 86:15 KJV  But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

But we also know:

Genesis 6:3 KJV  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

So God does dwell in unclean temples every time a Christian thinks a bad thought.
But He stays to work with us if we are sincere and make mistakes.

But His Spirit is HINDERED from working through the mind of someone whose mind is on carnal and fleshly or sinful things.
  • In fact, your mind does not even have to be on evil things to hinder the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:9-16 KJV  (9)  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  (10)  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.  (11)  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.  (12)  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.  (13)  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.  (14)  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  (15)  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.  (16)  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Paul stated that God gave us His Spirit so He could reveal deep things to us.
  • This is not saying nobody has seen heaven and what He has in store for us.

This is actually saying that before the New Covenant, nobody could know the things He had in store for the New Covenant since the time the world began.
  • When the new covenant came and God provided us with His Spirit, we were then able to know the things God prepared for us.
  • WE KNOW THIS BY THE SPIRIT.
  • Paul got revelations from THE SPIRIT.
  • But the NATURAL MAN cannot receive these things EVEN IF HE HAS THE SPIRIT.
  • The things of the SPIRIT is too foreign to the natural MIND.

Our spirits were hard and stiff before we repented, and God gave us new soft spirits, and then put His Spirit in them.

But now our MINDS might be too hard and stiff and stubborn.

And we cannot think outside the box of NATURAL and CARNAL things.
  • Not necessarily evil, but we have no room to think of SUPERNATURAL things.
  • We are too full of unbelief or doubt.
  • Everything must fit the NATURAL course of the world for us to believe in it.

Those whom God can use in the gifts powerfully are those whose MINDS were allowed to be influenced by God TO ACTUALLY BELIEVE God can do things that are supernatural.

Not only that, but they believe GOD CAN USE THEM!

The spiritual things are foolishness to the natural minded man.

After Paul explained this, he hit the Corinthians between their eyes by saying...

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 KJV  (1)  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.  (2)  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.  (3)  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

These were Spirit baptized Christians whose minds were so natural that Paul knew they would think his revelations were foolishness.

You may be thinking of natural things that are not wicked nor evil, but because your mind is always on NATURAL things, and you do not start thinking of SPIRITUAL things, your mind actually hinders God from putting HIS MIND into it to be able to use you.

If God is going to get you to DO some ACTION for Him in this world, He has to go through your MIND before He can influence you to MOVE YOUR BODY and do His will.

So, when you have the Spirit of God and your SOUL or MIND is yielded to God to be open to the supernatural and good things, then He can put HIS MIND in you.
  • And that means you will KNOW with your MIND what TO DO with your BODY.

And your SPIRIT, SOUL and BODY are WHOLLY SANCTIFIED.
  • This FILLS you with the Holy Ghost..

This is as follows:



The level of water in the bottle indicates the DEGREE OF YIELDING you give to God.

If your mind is on things other than the things of God too much, God cannot move into those parts of your soul from your spirit.
  • He cannot OCCUPY that much of your soul.

Your soul is not wholly submitted to Him.

The more you YIELD your mind to God and the things of God, the MORE HE CAN FILL YOU or STIMULATE or INFLUENCE you.

Isaiah 26:3 KJV  Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Where HIS SPIRIT is there is PEACE.

If you want to be delivered from stress and fear, start filling your mind with the THINGS OF GOD and His Spirit will move into your mind.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.

The reason the Bible said people were filled with the Spirit when it entered them is because they were fully yielded to God at that moment.

They repented, and their hearts were wide open to anything God wanted.

People who fight the will of God cannot get the Spirit baptism, even if they do not purposely fight His will.
  • They may simply be naturally resistant and unopen.
  • People who have a hard time expressing themselves, and are introverted, have a hard time getting God's Spirit.
  • Their spirits are too stiff and rigid.

The reason they speak in tongues is because the tongue cannot be tamed by man.

James 3:8-11 KJV  But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  (9)  Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.  (10)  Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.  (11)  Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?

How can James tell us that no man can tame the the tongue, and then turn around and tell us to stop using our tongues to speak blessing and cursing?

How can we stop this if no man can tame the tongue.

Matthew 19:26 KJV  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

GOD must come on the scene.

This shows us that God does not expect us to MAKE OURSELVES do what is right.
  • We need His HELP!




Prov 20:27  The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

Psalms 18:28 KJV  For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

Mat 5:15-16  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Ephesians 4:27 KJV  Neither give place to the devil.

Luke 2:7 KJV  And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.


TOPOS occupancy.

FILLED WITH SPIRIT.



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