For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
(John 3:34 NIV)
“A long time ago, in a chapter of life far, far away….” I realized that what we do for God is supposed to come out of who we are in Christ. I know now that most Christians may not only understand this, but live it out, but it was a revelation to me at the time. I had been doing lots of things for God – good, God-honoring, people-blessing things. And yet, if I was honest, I wasn’t doing them from a place of overflow. I wasn’t drawing from the fullness of “God with us” inside me. It was more like I’d get “just enough” spiritual fuel on Sundays or in Bible study to keep going—and then I’d run on fumes the rest of the week.
Today I understand that, while I can – for awhile and with limited results – run off the spiritual “fumes” in my life, I do life much better when I have spent time at the “well of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3). When I spend time communing with God in the Word, writing, prayer, and worship, I am filled up to overflow for others. I believe this is what God wants for all of us – to be FULL of the Holy Spirit so that our Light and Life overflows to be a blessing to others.
The Apostle Paul told the Ephesians: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19 NIV).
How much is “all fullness,” I wonder?
Today I came across a verse that echoes the same idea: ,
The One whom God has sent to represent him will speak the words of God, because God has poured out upon him the fullness of the Holy Spirit without limitation. (John 3:34 TPT)
When we look at it in other translations, it continues to expand our understanding of what “fullness means.”
–For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God [proclaiming the Father’s own message]; for God gives the [gift of the] Spirit without measure [generously and boundlessly]! (AMP)
–For He whom God sent speaks the words of God; for He does not give the Spirit sparingly. (NASB)
–For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. (NKJV)
Based on this it seems that the fullness God wants for us doesn’t have any limits, can’t be measured, is given generously and not sparingly. That, friends, is what I would call abundance. God wants us to minister and bless others out of the abundance within us. When we acknowledge Jesus as Savior, allow him to become Lord, and ask the Holy Spirit to fill us, he will. There’s no limit to the number of times we can ask for filling. There’s no limit to the amount of the Holy Spirit we can receive. God fills us generously, boundlessly, and lavishly with the Holy Spirit. Out of that bounty and abundance we then do all the things we are called to do with ease – and joy!!
God,
You are our salvation, the One we trust. You are our strength, defense, and the Love that has drawn us to you. Thank you for your invitation to follow Jesus and to be filled with his immeasurable love. Emmanuel, help us to come to you daily to commune with you at your well of salvation, so that we can be lavishly filled with all you are. Holy Spirit, fill us up so that we can minister to others out of the abundance of your Presence within us. In Jesus’s name we pray, AMEN.
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.”
With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:2-3 NIV)
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19 NIV)