I love pastry. One of my favorite things is creme-filled donuts. The more cream the better. “Fill them up,” I say. While donuts are not great for my weight watcher’s diet, I love chocolate or vanilla creme just the same.
The Bible talks about being filled – not with vanilla or chocolate creme though. It’s my spirit that needs filled. I know my spiritual tank feels like it is running on empty so much of the time. God knows when I am a little less patient, a little less kind, a little less thoughtful, a little less generous, etc. I think those times are because I am a little less ‘filled.’ My tank is on empty and I need a refill. Sooooo, I know I need to spend time in the Word and in prayer and fellowship with God.
One of my many favorite sections of the Bible is the wonderful prayer for all of us in Ephesians 3.16-19
“May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].
May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!”
Filled with God Himself! What a wonderful privilege to know that God does not just want to give me a little of Himself, but wants me to be filled with Him and to really know His love. When I am filled with God, my tank is full and I am able to be more of what He wants me to be and give from a full tank – so to speak.
There is no end to God’s supply – He tells me “the Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24.1) and that He “owns the cattle on a thousand hills.” (Psalm 50.10)
God wants to fill us with His provision as well as His love, His mercy, His goodness, His patience, His kindness, His Presence and everything about Himself. He wants us to know personally what He is all about and His great love.
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