Filling Your Tank - Examining Ephesians – September 24 Readings: Ephesians 5:18-21

Ephesians: A Worthy Walk 

Background: For the next month, we will be studying the Book of Ephesians, a letter Paul wrote while he was in jail in Rome, awaiting his first trial. Ephesus was one of his best churches, and he spent a lot of time there on his missionary journeys. The church likely planted the other churches of Asia Minor that Jesus referenced in Revelation 2-3. 

Ephesians is easily outlined. Chapters 1-3 speak of the great salvation we have in Christ, which comes by grace through faith alone. Then, 4:1 is the turning point, where Paul admonishes them to "walk worthy of the calling you have received." We cannot be worthy of Christ's salvation - it is a gift of grace. But having received it, we can then, by the Spirit's power, WALK worthy. Chapters 4-6 describe the worthy walk. This is a favorite template for Paul. He develops a doctrine then applies it practically. 

As often as time allows, the reader is encouraged to read the entire book - it will not take more than a few minutes. Each day we will work our way through the book passage by passage. 

Today's Reading:  Ephesians 1-6    Focus Passage - Ephesians 5:18-21

18 And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit: 19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

Through the Bible Readings: Isaiah58-59, 2 Corinthians 8:16–9:15, Psalm 107:29–35, Proverbs 23:24–25

This familiar passage commands us to walk in the full

Devotional:  Filling Your Tank 

What happens when you continue to run your car without filling the tank? This question makes a point that is both heavy-handed and flawed, but still a needed point. Automobiles do not run without fuel. Our bodies need nutrition to function properly. Electronics need power – we live our lives today at the mercy of cords and batteries. In the same way, a Christian needs the sustaining power of the indwelling Holy Spirit to function properly, to walk in holiness, and to serve in power. Of course, the Holy Spirit isn’t some external substance we seek, like gas or food or electricity; he is the indwelling presence of God, the third person of the Trinity, Still, his filling in the believer is as essential as gas is to a car or electricity is to a phone. As we study the great works of God in the book of Acts, we see that they were consistently carried out by men filled by the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus, the perfect Son of God, walked in the fullness of the Holy Spirit during his earthly ministry, according to Luke 4:2.

New Testament believers live in the great in-between, in what some have described as the “already-not yet.” We have already been given every spiritual blessing in Christ and have the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in us. We have eternal life and the guarantee of God’s great work in us. We also walk daily experiencing the reality of the not-yet. I may have the fullness of God in Christ and may have received all the blessings of Christ, but I have not inculcated these into my daily life. In Christ, I have many “great and precious promises” which I am still seeking to make a reality in the way I live my life. My relationship to the Holy Spirit is an already/not-yet phenomenon. I already have the Spirit and his power dwelling in me, but I need to seek his fullness and his power every day. The fuel for my Christian walk dwells in me at all times – I already have all I need. I have not yet accessed all of that power and need to learn to walk in the power I already have. The essence of the Christian life is seeking to experience daily what is already mine eternally.

Do you walk too often in the valley, feeling as though your tank is nearly empty, your soul is parched, your battery indicator is flashing critical? Do you read Bible stories and see God using average folks in extraordinary ways and wonder why there’s so little of the display of the power of God on a daily basis? Do you long for more, for a filling and empowering by the Spirit of God who dwells within you? That is also what God wants for you! He desires to fill you and use for his kingdom purposes in this world. No Christian was meant to wander in spiritual impotence or to live life without fruit. God saved us to use us in his great battle against the forces of darkness. The fact is that there is more than most of us have lived. We are studying the filling of the Holy Spirit in hopes that you will find what it means to be filled and experience all that God has for you.

Father fill us and use us. 

Think and Pray:

Are you walking daily in the fullness of the Holy Spirit?