Thirst (Part 2)
Full Of…Filled With
I ended Part One of this post by talking about being “filled with living water.” Just the idea of “filling” or “full of” speaks to the Spirit as the living water that fills us.
Jesus was “filled with the Spirit.” Remember that Jesus received the Holy Spirit at His baptism (Luke 3:21-22; and so do we, as Luke 3:16 says: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”). John says that as Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the Spirit come down and “remain” or “rest” on Him (John 1:32). This fulfills the Old Testament prophecy that says, “And the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him” (Isaiah 11:2). This signifies a new relationship with the Spirit, a relationship in which the Spirit is not just with Jesus but in Him and empowering Him for His work and mission, just as it is with us. John tells us that we share in the same baptism as Jesus: “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain [indwell], this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33).
Through baptism, we receive the Spirit, and He fills us with His living water. So, the water both kills us (we die to our old self) and brings us life (our new self). We too get to share in the same mission, ministry, and work of Jesus as we are also “filled with the Spirit.”
Consider also that Jesus was full of the Spirit when the Spirit led Jesus out into the desert to be tempted for 40 days (Luke 4:1). In fact, it was through the Spirit that Jesus combatted and rejected Satan’s temptations (Luke 4:3-9). Like Jesus, being filled with the living water of the Holy Spirit empowers us to battle with and reject Satan and his evil schemes. In fact, Jesus continued to be tempted while here on earth, as Luke says that Satan left Jesus “till an opportune time.” Like Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit means that we are led by the Spirit to places, people, and circumstances to carry out God’s will in our lives (Luke 4:14).
Jesus promises that the same Spirit that fills Him will fill us. In fact, we will do greater things (John 14:12) in His name through His Spirit if we believe! We are filled with the same spirit as Jesus! Take a moment to breathe that in. If this is so, are people seeing “greater things” through us as the Spirit fills and empowers us to do them? If not, why? Is it because the Spirit can’t, or because we are keeping the Spirit from it? Do we seek to live “filled with the Spirit” as those who have gone before us?
You know, I find it interesting that Paul tells us not to get drunk on wine but to get drunk on the Spirit (filled with the Spirit) (Ephesians 5:18-20; Colossians 3:16-17). What does he mean by this? When one is drunk, whatever has inebriated them will begin to change and even control them. They do things they would never do, say things they would never say, think things they would never think. The substance has taken control. If we are “filled with the Spirit,” we are drunk on the Spirit. The Spirit is in control. We think, say, and act according to whatever the Spirit is doing in us.
This is ongoing. We are not simply “filled with the Spirit” at our baptism and are then finished. We are constantly being filled so that there is a deepening intimacy and a transformative work going on inside us and through us. But for that to happen in our lives, we must be thirsty...
Thirst!
So: do you thirst? Remember, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” So: are you thirsty? Take a moment to open your Bible and read these passages before you move on…
Psalm 63:1
Psalm 143:6
Psalm 42:2
Revelation 21:6
John 4:10–15
Again, DO YOU THIRST? Will you allow the Great High Priest to draw water for you and fill you without end? Or will you try to capture and contain the Holy Spirit in a way that is comfortable to you and will not force you to move? The choice is ours. We can be filled with the living water of the Holy Spirit, or we can quench the Spirit’s work in our lives.
We were created to be filled to overflowing with God’s love and presence. May we all be filled so much that others will see it and say, “Surely the Spirit in this place!”
