DAY 12
Pray to Be Filled with His Fullness
‘…that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.’ Ephesians 3:19
Enthusiasm is attractive and contagious! If you meet someone who is enthusiastic about something it can often rub off on you. When people enter church services filled with vibrant worshippers, they often sense that there is something more than just the enthusiasm of an ordinary crowd. This is because there IS something more!
The original meaning of the word ‘enthusiasm’ is ‘inspired by a god.’ Religious critics of George Whitefield and the eighteenth-century revivalists often criticised them for their ‘enthusiasm.’ However, they were actually referring to something very positive! What distinguished Whitefield and his fellow revivalists from their critics was that they had a true enthusiasm in the sense that they were filled not with ‘a god’ but with ‘all the fullness of God’. Rather than being a bad thing, this is what Paul prays for at the climax of this empowering prayer in Ephesians 3. In fact, a lack of this enthusiasm, or being filled with the presence of God, is often a major reason for the decline of the Church. Contrastingly, where people are filled with God’s fullness, the Church experiences a revival.
What does it mean for us to be filled in this way? In Acts 19, when Paul first arrived in Ephesus, his initial action was to ensure that the twelve disciples were filled with the Spirit. After discovering that these disciples of John the Baptist had not heard of the Holy Spirit, he baptised them in the name of the Lord Jesus and laid his hands on them. We read: ‘When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.’ (Acts 19:6). There is some debate as to whether this experience aligns with what Paul refers to in Ephesians 1:13 regarding the believers receiving the seal of the Spirit. Regardless, Paul clearly expected Christians to receive the Spirit in this way: with some kind of experiential overflow that included spiritual gifts. It’s so important that we position ourselves to receive this initial infilling of the Spirit. But it is also important that we follow Paul’s exhortation to ‘be filled with the Spirit’ in an ongoing way. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:19 likely encompasses this initial infilling but extends to a lifestyle of ongoing fulness and continual filling.
DEVOTIONAL
by Chris Sharman
QUOTABLE QUOTE
“The fullness of the Spirit is not an option for the believer; it is the essential element in living the Christian life. The more of God's fullness we experience, the more we become like Him.”
– A.W. Tozer - pastor and author
Prayer points
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- Let’s pray for ourselves and others, asking for both the initial and ongoing filling of the Spirit. As we do, let’s believe in being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
- Pray that we would be a church where our overflow of the Spirit will be continually contagious, creating an environment where guests, newcomers, and non-believers are deeply impacted by the presence of the Lord.
- Pray for an overflow of spiritual gifts into our communities as we remain continually filled with the Spirit, sustaining a lifestyle of ongoing fullness.