Experiencing God's Presence #254

Be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18

Perhaps you need a little more patience. Or a lot more love. Or a deeper prayer life, or some more specific direction, or . . . well, a whole range of pieces in this vast puzzle we call “the Christian life.” The problem is that a lifestyle can’t be parceled out into bite-size sections, even though much of our discipleship approaches seem to imply that it can. The truth is that being a Christian means being filled with Christ. We don’t need more of this virtue or that characteristic. We need Jesus.

We have Him, of course—as completely as we ever will. But we still need more experience with or more realization of the Presence we already have. If the fruits of the Spirit are in any way deficient in us, it isn’t because we only have part of the Spirit. We have all of Him, but maybe He doesn’t yet have all of us. Our life in Christ is a continual stepping into more of what we’ve already been given.

What would happen if we unceasingly prayed, “Lord, fill me with You”—not “give me patience” or “strengthen my faith” or “help with this problem” or “heal this disease”? What if we stopped viewing the gifts and fruit of Jesus as separate entities and began seeing Jesus in us as an integrated whole? What if we simply prayed—boldly and persistently—“Be present, manifestly so, in me and around me”? We might be surprised at how comprehensively His Presence meets our needs. All of His attributes come with Him as parts of the package. When He is allowed to express Himself freely within us, we experience all the growth we seek.

Jesus, I know that if I have You, I have Your character, Your gifts, and Your attitudes. I don’t need more faith or patience or love, I need more of You. Be all You want to be in me. I welcome Your personality fully.

From the book