Everyone talks about a desire for the outpouring of God but I often wonder how ready we are to be filled.
Just because God is moving does not mean we will be a part.
At this time God is advancing his kingdom and he wants you and I to be doing our part. However we need to be full to give out to be effective.

Using the example of a glass of water there are two things that cause it to be full.

1 There must be no holes in it or it will leak

2 You have to put it under a tap and switch the tap on.

That seems simple logic but in our Christian lives it is profound.

If there are holes or cracks or problems, past or present it can be very difficult to be in a place where you are ready when God moves. All sorts of things can stop your Christian walk from being fulfilled.
I like the word in Haggai 1:5 where it talks about wages that are put in a bag with holes.
So we have to make sure that character issues are dealt with if we are to have real credence in what we do for Him.
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we have to take care of that temple, spirit, soul and body
We have to submit to Him and make sure the holes are fixed and not just papered over.

Then we have to be consistent to stay where the outpouring is happening if we are to be full. Like my spiritual father Buddy Harrison used to say “under the spout where the glory comes out”

So how are we going to get full

1 We need to be full of Jesus
Psalm 81:10 is a reminder of all he has done and the word says “so open your mouth wide and I will fill it”
Then take a look at Ephesians 4:10. Jesus did what He did in order to fill you up.
Ephesians 3:19 says that knowing the love of Christ for you is so you may be filled with all the fulness of God.

All this means we have to fix our eyes on Jesus and allow Him to fill us up.

2 We need to be full of the Holy Spirit
These days that has become such a mantra for most people but I wonder how many actually take this seriously.
Ephesians 5:18 is the key scripture that exhorts us to “be filled with the Spirit” and we trip that off our tongue so easily.
However in the original Greek text there was a sense that this was a continuous thing. In other words it implores us to go on being filled.
To me that requires effort on our part. We have to allow the Holy Spirit into those areas he pinpoints so we can be full of Him in every area of our life. That means yielding to His way and not our way. That is a constant choice we have to make.

In that way we get our identity and our destiny from the Spirit not from the flesh, which would still try to dominate in our lives.

It is rather like the great example of a jar filled with stones that looks full. However if you put sand in you realise there is still more room to fill in all those spaces. Then if you think it is full try pouring in a cup of coffee and you will see there is still more space.
Of course most people joke that means you always have space for coffee but in this illustration it shows me we all have more capacity for the Holy Spirit if we allow Him more in our lives.

In Acts 2:2 on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came and filled the house. That is always what He wants to do so we become wall to wall Holy Spirit.

In that way once we are full we can give out from the overflow.

Be filled and then be ready to give out of yourself from the overflow of the Spirit in you.

More next month