Ephesians 5:18 instructs believers to be “filled with the Spirit.” But what does that actually mean, and how do you accomplish it in your everyday Christian walk?

That’s the question ACTS International asks today in their daily devotional:

“How can we be filled with and thus empowered by the Holy Spirit?” 

First, desire and faith. As with all of God’s gifts, so is the filling of the Holy Spirit. We need to truly want it, and we need to believe that God will give it to us as he said he would.



As noted in today’s Bible verse, “Jesus said, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.”



Second, commitment. If my heart and mind are filled with anxiety, anxiety will control me. If anger, anger will control me. If fear, fear will control me. But if my heart and mind are filled with God’s Spirit, my life will be filled with his love, joy, and peace and these will control me.

And what we are filled with is what we are committed to. If we are committed to ourselves, we will be controlled by our selfish desires plus our anxieties, fears, and so on. But if we are genuinely committed to Christ and make him Lord of our everyday life, we will be controlled by his Spirit and our life will exhibit the fruits of the Spirit.

There are three more parts to their answer—read the full devotional for the rest.

By: Andy. This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 10:10 am and is filed under Devotional, Faith. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.