“Be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18
Jesus makes it clear that our Heavenly Father knows how to give good gifts. So, He teaches his disciples to pray persistently. He wants us to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking. Then Jesus shows His followers that their Heavenly Father is more extravagant, glorious, and rich in His giving than they can imagine.
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you re evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:8-13
Do see how extravagant God is? “How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
That’s generous! God will give to us the His Spirit who has been present when God is creating:
In the beginning. Genesis 1:1-3
In the incarnation of Jesus. Luke 1:35
In the baptism of Jesus. Matthew 3:16
In the extraordinary life and ministry of Jesus. Acts 10:36-38
In the birth of the Church. Acts 2
In the ministry of each local congregation. Ephesians 2:22
Paul urges his readers in Ephesus to be filled with the Spirit. Get filled with the Spirit. Keep on being filled with the Spirit. Paul has in mind the creating work of God. Where there is darkness, chaos, and formlessness in our lives and in the world the Spirit of God is present for a God-shaping struggle. And into this darkness God can speak, “Let there be light.”
Jesus promised that His very life, ministry, death on the cross, and resurrection is to make the in-dwelling gift of the Spirit possible. His words of comfort to the Disciples gathered in the upper room the night before His crucifixion made no sense and they seemed to have felt only confusion and grief. He says to them,
“Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go I will send Him to you.” John 16:6-7
Later they understood Jesus. The way of the cross, the passion of Jesus, had opened the way of the Spirit for the creation of a new humanity. Peter would say in his exhortations to the people of Jerusalem gathered at Pentecost, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off–for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39)
Having received “the gift” we can ask for this gift to occupy our hearts, mind, soul, and strength over and over. Be filled with the Spirit. Having received Jesus as Lord, having received the forgiveness of the Heavenly Father, having received your adoption as children of God, are you open again, today for the filling of His Spirit?
Are you asking? To be filled with Holy Spirit.
Are you seeking? To be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Are you knocking? To be filled with the Holy Spirit.
In Scot McKnight’s recent book, Open to the Spirit, he suggests a prayer of openness toward our Heavenly Father:
Lord, I am open to the Holy Spirit.
Come to me, dwell in me, speak to me
so that I may become more like Christ.
Lord, give me the courage to be open.
Lord, I am open to the Holy Spirit.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Amen.
You have been created and born again in Christ Jesus for a dynamic living relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The whole movement and struggle of history is for people to be in this communion with God. So ask, seek, and knock.
If you are not sure that the narrative of Scripture is for our communion with the Father, Son, and Spirit consider this vision and exhortation from the Apostle Paul to the Galatian church:
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” Galatians 3:13-14
“…we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his son, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” Galatians 4:3-7)
This is God’s intention for you: communion with Him, not isolation from Him.
So by humble and sincere faith in the name and promise of Jesus Christ our Lord — ask again, “Fill me with your Holy Spirit.”