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What the Filling of the Spirit MeansEphesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit;The filling of the Spirit was met not just to be contained and counteract our sinful nature. It was met for us to overflow to others with God’s presence and working through us.The worldly man and woman seek ex­hilaration in excess indulgences of various forms. Still, the Christian reaches the height of safe and divinely-guided exhilaration by being filled with the Holy Spirit.D.L. Moody said, "I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything contrary to God's law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride, conceit, ambition, and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God. We must be emptied before we can be filled."We can’t be filled because we are already filled with other stuff. It is like Andy Griffith and Opie being invited over to dinner at three places at one time when Aunt Bee went out of town, and they all had spaghetti. After eating at 3 places, they were so full they couldn't hold anything. So, we are so full of stuff we don't have God's leadership in all we do because we are so distracted and full of other stuff.The Filling of the Spirit is not (1) Advanced spiritually by some ecstatic experience, (2) It is not just trying to do what we think God wants us to do and asking him to bless it, (3) It is not possessing the Holy Spirit or an indwelling, (4) It is not receiving doses at a time, (5) It is not baptism by the Holy Spirit Acts 1:5. It is: (1) Like filling a container. We are the container, and God pours His presence into our lives. It is being filled to the brim, (2) It is permeating and penetrating our lives by God's presence and power, (3) It is total control of God's spirit in our lives.To be filled with the Spirit is to live in the consciousness of the personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ as if we were standing next to Him and letting His mind dominate our lives. It is to fill ourselves with God's Word so that His thoughts will be our thoughts, His standards our standards, His work our work, and His will our will. As we yield to the truth of Christ, the Holy Spirit will lead us to say, do and be what God wants us to say, do and be.--- Dan Nelson