“That You May Be Filled” Colossians 1:9
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
I think we are stuck on this wonderful verse that begins the prayer of the Apostle Paul for the saints at Colossae. Paul says that he is praying without ceasing for them and he is asking for something specifically for them.
What is Paul praying and asking for? He is asking “that they may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will!” My friend, this is not only a prayer that we can pray for others but a prayer we can pray for ourselves too!
What does it mean to be filled? In the New Testament, to be filled basically means to be under the control of the Holy Spirit. “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). When a person drinks alcohol and fills up their body with it, they are yielding themselves to its control. It takes overs their mind and body and they often become a very different person. Nice people become mean people, mean people become nice people.
How do you get filled with the Holy Spirit? You must filled up your heart and mind with the Word of God. Jesus said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life!” You can’t be filled with the Spirit without being filled with the Word of God. And you choose to yield to it and obey it as it speaks to you.
This means, that if you desire “to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding”, you need to be reading, studying, memorizing and meditating on God’s Word, the Bible on a daily basis! Being filled with the Spirit is synonymous with being filled with the Word of God. You can’t have one without the other! Hey! That’s not too complicated!
The proof of being filled with the Spirit is that you will enjoy and experience the “fruit of the Holy Spirit” in your daily life. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). And if you are “walking in the Spirit you will not be fulfilling the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).
Today, is their evidence in your walk, your speech, your attitude that you are under the control of the Holy Spirit?
God bless!
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