Wholly Filled With God

In the end of the prayer to understand the love of God in Ephesians 3, there are some words that are amazing, especially in the Amplified Bible:

…that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!

It sparks great desire in me. I want to be filled through all my being unto ALL the fullness of God. I want to have the richest measure of the divine presence. I want to become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself.

It is so amazing that we can hardly imagine that God’s word actually says these things. But the next verse is Ephesians 3:20 – Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do super-abundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—

Can you image that? Super-abundantly, far over and above being a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself…

This is so amazing. You say, Lord, how? How can I be filled with the richest measure of the divine presence? How can I be filled unto all my being with the fullness of God? How can I become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself?

Here as in many cases, you only have to look to the verses above. What does the rest of the passage say? It is a prayer to know the love of God. God IS love, so to know God is to know love and to know love is to know God. But there are some steps in this prayer that will take us far to being completely filled with Him.

Ephesians 3:16-20 (Amplified Bible) – May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality]. May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]! Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—

May He grant you out of the rich treasure of His glory (His glory, His essence, His manifested presence) to be strengthened with mighty power in your inner man (your heart, your spirit).
May Christ THROUGH YOUR FAITH actually dwell, settle down, abide and make His permanent home in your heart.
May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love.
May you have power to be strong to grasp the full boundaries of His love in a way that you actually experience it.
THEN AND THEN ONLY can you be filled with the fullness of God.
He is well able to do this – and super-abundantly far over and above anything you can imagine.

What I want to emphasize here is that it is through YOUR faith that Christ will abide in you. He is in you if you belong to Him, but He is only as real to you as you put your faith in the reality of His indwelling presence.

Some people speak of this as practicing the presence of God.

He said He will never leave you or forsake you, that He is with you always. I like Matthew 28:20 in the Amplified Bible. “Behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be).”

I put faith in the fact that He is with me always, all of my days, perpetually, uniformly and on every occasion. One of the most wonderful things that I give God thanks for all of the time is that I don’t have to feel His presence to know His is there. He is as real when I feel Him and when I don’t.

I love to feel the presence of God personally and in a corporate service, but thank God He is with me the same when I feel Him as when He “seems” far away. How could He be closer than right inside of me?

When I put faith in the fact of His indwelling presence, that activates His reality. He is always there the same, but if I treat Him like He isn’t there and think that my prayers are reaching Him, and wonder why He won’t help me, I am not putting faith in what He has said. I am putting my feelings and perceptions above reality. This cuts me off from Him. His present help and mercy and kindness to me are as near as my faith in Him who is in me.

By my faith He actually dwells, settles down, abides and makes His permanent home in me. So my faith in Him who really is in me is the first and major step to being filled unto all the fullness of God. He is already there, and His reality is activated by my faith in the truth.

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