The Command (Eph. 5:18b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/10/2019 8:46 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus: The Command

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 5:18b

 

            Message of the verses:  “but be filled with the Spirit.

 

            “The Command” is the first main point that we will be looking at and then there are several sub-points under this main point we will be looking at, so we could probably call this an introduction to this first main point “The Command” in our SD for today.

 

            John MacArthur believes that the Apostle Paul had Pentecost in mind when he writes “but be filled with the Spirit,” even though we know that he was not present there then.  When you think about what the Holy Spirit did, which is a fulfillment of what Jesus Christ said would happen while He was on earth, that the church would not be what it was then and is today without the ministry of the Holy Spirit filling believers.  The church would have no effect against the wiles of Satan without the filling of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers.  We have already studied the book of Acts and therefore know what happened on the Day of Pentecost.

 

            We have also mentioned that the filling of the Holy Spirit that took place during Pentecost was not something that happened to Old Testament believers on a regular basis.  We know that Moses and also David were at times filled with the Holy Spirit.  However all believers have this filling of the Spirit in their lives today because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross to pay for our sins.  When one looks at the difference between how the disciples of Jesus were while Jesus was on the earth and then after the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost you can understand that it was His filling that caused this difference just as Jesus said would happen.

 

            John MacArthur writes “The Holy Spirit’s permanently indwelling all believers—rather than only being with some of them, as was true before Pentecost—is one of the great dispensational truths of the New Testament.  In the new age, the church age, the Spirit of God would not just be alongside His people but in them all (cf. 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19).  It is this residence of the Holy Spirit in believers that makes possible the fulfillment of all Jesus’ other promises to His people, and in Ephesians 1:13 He is called ‘the Holy Spirit of promise.’

 

            “The Holy Spirit is our divine pledge and security that Jesus promises are fulfilled (2 Cor. 5:5).  Among many other things, He guarantees and gives assurance that we will have a heavenly dwelling place in the Father’s house (John 14:2-3); that we will do greater works, not in kind but in extent, even than He did (14:12; cf. 14:13-14); that we will have Christ’s own peace (14:27); that the fulness of His joy will be in us (15:11).  The Holy Spirit assures us that Jesus Christ and the Father are one 14:20); that we are indeed God’s children (Rom. 8:16); that He will intercede for us, making our prayers effective (Rom. 8:26); and that He will bear fruit in our lives (Gal. 5:22-23).”

 

            MacArthur goes on writing “But the work of the Holy Spirit in us and on our behalf can be appropriated only as He fills us.  Every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and has the potential of receiving the fulfillment of all Christ’s promises to those who belong to Him.  But no Christian will have those promises fulfilled, that is not under the full control of the Holy Spirit.  We have just claim to all Christ’s promises the moment we believe in Him, but we cannot have their fulfillment until we allow His Spirit to fill us and control us.  Unless we know what it is to be directed by the Holy Spirit, we will never know the bliss of the assurance of heaven, or the joy of effective work for the Lord, of having our prayers answered constantly, or of indulging in the fullness of God’s own love, joy, and peace within us.”

 

            As mentioned we will be looking at the sub-sections over the next few days that go along with this main section which is the Command of being filled with the Spirit.  The first sub-section is entitled “The Meaning of Being Filled.”  Lord willing we will begin that tomorrow.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to continue to have the Spirit of God work on my heart in regard to humility, for being filled with the Holy Spirit means that I must be humble in order to do the works that God has planned for me to do from eternity past.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Being filled, and being humble.

 

Today we look at the verse that goes along with C. S. Lewis’ quotation from yesterday and that is 2 Corinthians 9:7 “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”

 

7/10/2019 9:26 AM