I’ve been thinking and talking with Holy Spirit and other Christians the last few days about worship songs that have “we want more of You, Jesus” in them, and I would like to offer a different perspective.
There was a season in my life when I knew that there was more to the Christian life than I was experiencing and I even began asking for more. But here's what I have discovered:
I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where anyone asked for more of Jesus, more of God, or more of Holy Spirit. I do see where Paul encouraged us to be filled with the Spirit, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
The Bible says in Colossians 1:19 that Jesus is the fullness of God in bodily form. He is the fullness of God. In Colossians 2:9-10, it says, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Diety lives in bodily form, and YOU have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.” (Or some Bibles say, "and of this fullness you have all received.")
The word “fullness” is “fulness” in the Bible and the Greek word is “pleroma” and means “the body of believers, as that which is filled with the presence, power, agency, riches of God and of Christ; fullness and abundance.” The example was also given of a ship that was manned with sailors, rowers, and soldiers. It was filled to capacity with everything that was needed.
That means that you and I have already been given the fullness of Christ in us, so there is no more to ask for! It is not that we need more of Christ but rather that Christ needs more of us!
It is not that we need more of Christ but rather that Christ needs more of us!
We already have all the fullness of Christ, we just need to access it and give ourselves over to His fullness, and His Lordship over every part of who we are!
To keep asking for more of something that you already have in full, is like someone starving for food, while sitting in front of a banquet table filled with every food known to man! You don’t need more of God, you already have it! God needs more of YOU! It’s a Lordship issue.
So how do I access this fullness? The simple answer is SURRENDER.
Which takes us to Ephesians 5:18, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
“Be filled” would seem to imply that I am empty, like a glass, and need to be filled. That is not this word at all. That word “filled” is “pleroo” very similar to the word “pleroma” which is “fullness”. “Pleroo” means “to make completely full so that there is no room for anything else; literally, to cram.”
So it is NOT saying that you leak and the Holy Spirit has to be RE-filled inside of you. What it is saying is that you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, all of His fullness, but you must allow Him to take over every part of you.
It might be better understood as “be overtaken by the Spirit”. Isn’t that what alcohol does? Doesn’t it overtake you? Aren't you controlled by it?
So, know today that you have the fullness of Christ in you through the power of the Holy Spirit. You have all of the Holy Spirit that there is, living inside of you, if you know Jesus as Savior and Lord.
To be filled with the Spirit is not to ask for more of the Spirit or more of Jesus. You already have all there is. It is, instead, an invitation to more Lordship: you giving more of yourself to the control of the Holy Spirit.
And let me close with this: the first miracle recorded of Jesus is water to wine. Sometimes, however, some things are overlooked: 1) this took place in Cana, a place covered by plants that looked like reeds that they used to measure with. Also, 2) it says that they filled the pots to the brim, indicating that we, as Christ followers, must be so filled and overtaken with the Spirit that there is no room for self or anything else.
When water fills a pot, it keeps flowing in that pot until all the impurities have flowed out of it and it is simply pure water being poured out. This is what the Father wants for us when He inspired Paul to write, “Be filled with the Spirit”: so filled that there is no room for anyone or anything else.
This is the process. This is the pathway. This is journey for all followers of Jesus.
Selah.
You are loved,
Jena