How to be Filled with Christ

 

One of the greatest battles we face in the Christian life is with temptation. Satan is always near, whispering in our ears, trying to seduce us and lure us away from the Savior. It is far too easy to fall into these snares. But as we saw in our previous post, if we are fully satisfied in Christ, if we are "filled with the fullness of God"(Ephesians 3:19), then those temptations lose their power. It is easy to say "no" to the cupcake when have just eaten a delicious, healthy meal.

But the question remains, how do we go about being filled with the fullness of God? What does that mean, practically speaking?

Faith is the first and most important step, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith..."(Ephesians 3:17) We must first and foremost make a decision to follow Christ and place our complete trust in him. We stop relying on our own resources, skill, wisdom, and power and turn fully to Christ. We humble ourselves and commit ourselves completely and unreservedly to Christ.

In John 15, Jesus is speaking with his disciples and uses the metaphor of a vine to describe our relationship with him. Just as a branch abides in the vine and gathers nourishment and strength from the vine, so also, we are to abide in Christ. If we are removed from that vine, that means death for us. Two times in this passage Jesus makes reference to "the word,"

"Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you."(v.3)

"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."(v.7)

In the first chapter of the Gospel of John, it says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."  The New Testament teaches us that the Word of God and Jesus are one and the same.

If we are to abide in Christ, and be filled with his presence, we must be abiding in his Word and be filled with his Word.

Most often this looks simply like reading our Bibles every day. Many Christians make it a goal to read through the Bible every year. If we take 15-20 minutes every day, this can be accomplished without much difficulty. Our goal is to take the Word of God and fill our hearts and minds with it. We read slowly, carefully, thinking, and allowing the words to sink in deep. Sometimes we get distracted and our minds wander, and that is fine, we just turn our attention back to the Scripture. Setting time and page goals are all good, but sometimes just reading a few verses is enough to find that connection and hear God speak to our hearts.

Reading is a great place to start, but what the Bible most often emphasizes is meditation. Meditation is simply thinking, pondering, chewing on the Word of God. Reading is the most basic form of meditation, better is memorization. We find a verse or passage that inspires us, and we work at putting it away in our memory. Then we have that verse firmly stored in our mind and can recall it at any time. We can sit quietly and let the words turn over in our mind, repeating it over and over again, letting it sink in deeper and deeper into our hearts. Having these verses on hand is a powerful tool in our spiritual battles as well.

Reading and meditating on Scripture is how we allow God to speak to us, and prayer is how we speak to God. The word prayer means "to ask," and that is essentially what prayer is, asking God for what we need. We humble ourselves and turn our attention to the Lord and make our request known. He is a good Father and wants to hear from us. Gratitude is an important part of prayer as well. This is where I usually start off with my prayer time, thanking God for the many blessings he has given me. Then I let that turn into time of praise and worship.

I try to keep an attitude of prayer throughout the day as well, if I find some space where I am in between tasks, or waiting for something, I try to turn my attention upward and take that moment to pray. Prayer becomes the running theme of our day. We allow our hearts to continually turn to Christ. As we do so, we find in him all the satisfaction we need.

We breathe in Scripture, and we breathe out prayer and praise. It becomes a regular rhythm in our lives, day in and day out. There are certainly other tools we can use to be filled with God's presence: corporate worship, serving others, giving, and singing come to mind. However, prayer and meditation are the most basic, fundamental ways to satisfy our hearts and minds with the goodness of God.

Every relationship we hold dear is built from two things: time and communication. We spend time with the people we care for and we talk with them. Our relationship with Christ is the same. We spend time with him and talk with him. We work at going deeper in that connection with Christ, and the deeper we go, the more we feel his presence filling our hearts. We abide in Christ and allow him to abide in us. We feast on his word. We speak to him and allow him to speak to us. In time we will find ourselves filled with the fullness of God, and in that fullness, our sinful desires melt away.

Inspirational and Spiritual Greeting Cards and Prints covering a variety of topics including God's Word, Love, Christmas, and Recovery: https://www.etsy.com/shop/desperatejoy