"Be filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit"

Paul is an advocate for self-control.  This passage doesn’t say to not drink wine but instead don't get drunk or become inebriated with wine (in our modern world there are many other things which can be considered mind-altering our state of consciousness other than wine such as drugs, marijuana, and strong liquor, sex, escapism, to name a few) what Paul was addressing here was anything that we utilize to numb our mind from dealing with the reality of life and being fully present in the moment.

He is using this as an analogy to describe being filled with the Spirit, the passage can be interpreted “instead be inebriated with the fullness of the Holy Spirit”, Paul tells us to utilize the Holy Spirit to be our means of dealing with the things in our lives which need our immediate attention, like anything that comes at us in the form of pain or turmoil, disappointment or rejection, loss or celebration, hurt and depression, anything that we face we can come to the Holy Spirit to be our resource of living water to flow through us and to wash us from all of the negativity the world has placed upon us with a fresh flow of the Spirit moving through us to encourage us and to restore our perspective.  Yes, be inebriated with the flow of the Holy Spirit, not just a little, but in His fullness take as much as you need or desire.

Paul goes on describe that the Holy Spirit will give you songs to express His joy in our lives when we turn to Him to become our source of fulfillment rather than what the world has to offer.  He says that  “our hearts will overflow with a joyful song to the Lord..”, when Paul is speaking of songs he is referring to us joining together with others to celebrate and share in song what the Lord has done with us, and remembering the promises of what God will do in our lives if we celebrate Him and acknowledge His presence.  

Our tendency is to isolate when we are in need, Paul tells us to not be alone, but be mature and accountable with others and encourage each other by singing and letting our needs be known to God.

He mentions “spiritual songs”, there is no other song more spiritual than the Song of Songs. Perhaps Paul was encouraging us to sing and rejoice in the greatest of all songs, the song of the bride and the Bridegroom coming together and becoming one through their love for each other. 

Paul also mentions that we can keep speaking (and singing) to each other with words of Scripture, and also singing the Psalms with praises, as well as spontaneous songs given by the Spirit.

We have numerous resources at our disposal for our encouragement, we do need to exploit this resource to be our go-to place where we go to be filled with the presence of God.

We give thanks for all people God brings into our lives, it doesn't matter what the situation or disposition of the other person is we are still to give thanks, always!  

It is easy to justify not giving thanks if another person is either rude, mean, or disrespectful to us, that still doesn’t absolve us from being thankful, in fact, that person may be a glaring signpost for us to take that extra step to express thankfulness to God because He knows our heart and our disposition, and how easy it is for us to not walk in joy when others put challenges in our path.  

When we express thankfulness for all people bitterness doesn’t have a chance to take root and poison our hearts.

Paul tells us we are to submit to each other out of respect for Jesus, there is no better way to serve each other than to submit ourselves to the benefit of others.  Jesus laid down the example of what it means to submit to each other out of love, how much more should we serve each other as the evil in this world increases and attempts to choke out the true expression of love in Christ.

It is essential to encourage each other and to lift each other up before the Lord that we may be strengthened and healed as a body when we are discouraged that we may reflect the radiance of Christ through our brothers and sisters who are parts of the same body.  

When we do this we can all celebrate the love of Christ and sing joyful songs of celebration for Jesus is our strength and our shield.

If you need encouragement, may you be filled with the Holy Spirit to overflowing with His goodness and strength.  And may you be aware that your brothers and sisters in Christ are your greatest resources to sing songs of joy with you when you need it most, and may your Spirit-Filled songs reflect the glory of the Lord that flows through you to wash out the filthiness of the World leave you inebriated with the joy that reveals Christ.

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett