Holy Spirit Fullness
1-Are you longing for the fullness
Of the blessing of the Lord
In your heart and life today?
Claim the promise of your Father;
Come according to His Word,
In the blessed, old-time way.
He will fill your heart today to overflowing;
As the Lord commandeth you,
"Bring your vessels, not a few."
He will fill your heart today to overflowing
With the Holy Ghost and pow'r.
2-Bring your empty earthen vessels,
Clean through Jesus' precious blood.
Come, ye needy, one and all;
And in human consecration
Wait before the throne of God
Till the Holy Ghost shall fall.
3-Like the cruse of oil unfailing
Is His grace forevermore,
And His love unchanging still;
And according to His promise,
With the Holy Ghost and pow'r
He will every vessel fill.
(Lelia Morris, 1912)
This old gospel song talks about the provision of the Holy Spirit. It speaks to our deep need to be full of the Spirit. Our lives are like empty jars of clay (earthen vessels) which we bring before Him (2 Corinthians 4:7), and He graciously fills us with the life, love and power of His Holy Spirit so that He can live out His life through us, and we can operate in the power and authority that He gives us to witness for Him, with signs and wonders following the proclamation of the gospel. And this is a fullness which lasts, because we can keep coming to the Lord to be renewed and replenished. There is one baptism in the Spirit, but many fillings! When Paul exhorts us, in Ephesians 5:18, to be filled with the Spirit, the implication of the verb he uses is that this is a continuing and ongoing action; we keep on being filled with the Spirit.
The hymn says, "Bring your vessels, not a few," quoting 2 Kings 4:3, when Elisha instructed a widow of a faithful prophet to gather together every empty vessel that she could procure and to fill them with the oil that she had in a small jar. A miracle took place as that small jar kept dispensing oil until every vessel was filled. We read of a similar miracle in 1 Kings 17:16, when Elijah visited a widow at Zarephath, and her small jars of flour and oil sustained her throughout a long famine. The filling of the Spirit is sustainable - it never runs out. The only limitation is with our capacity to receive.
As much as we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to edify ourselves, we also need to be filled so that we can minister to other people, especially people who do not yet know the Lord. God gives us His Spirit so that we can be effective witnesses for Him, taking healing and deliverance out onto the streets, demonstrating the power of God, and engaging in spiritual warfare in order for God's Kingdom to break through into our neighbourhoods, city and nation.
Another old song says, "Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning". This reminds us of the five wise bridesmaids, in Matthew 25:1-13, who ensured that they had enough oil to keep their lamps burning until the coming of the bridegroom. Sadly, there were also five foolish bridesmaids who failed to take enough oil, and they ended up missing out on the wedding feast. There is no shortage of provision on God's part, so let's remain steadfast and diligent as the Holy Spirit continues to fill us and overflow from us.
Prayer
Father God, we acknowledge our need to be continually filled with Your Holy Spirit. Please help us to keep our lamps burning brightly so that others may see the light of Your truth and come to experience Your redemption, healing, forgiveness and restoration. Strengthen Your church, we pray, that she might be a vital witness to the power and majesty of Your glory, and help to usher in Your Kingdom so that Your will may be done on earth as it is in heaven . In Jesus' name. Amen!
