DRINK AND PRAY!

One of the more unusual things I have seen in the church world happened when I was in Bible college. I was on a ministry team sent to a church near Sacramento, CA, to conduct several services. The team was praying with the pastor before one of the services and a man the pastor obviously knew came into the room. The pastor introduced him to us as a prophet with a very unusual gifting. According to the pastor, the man could tell just by touching your hand or your arm how full of the Holy Spirit you were. I thought this was really different and I’m pretty sure I heard an alarm bell ringing in the back of my mind.

The man proceeded to go around the room touching each of the team on the hand and then calling out levels of Spirit fullness: “Three-quarters, one-half, two-thirds, etc.” No, I am not going to tell you what he said to me, so save the pressure tactics.

Is that really a spiritual gifting? I think not! That is not the discerning of spirits and there is absolutely no scriptural basis for that kind of silliness!

In Ephesians 5:18 the apostle Paul issues a very strong command to the church: “Do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation [wasteful]; but be filled with the Spirit.” The way Paul phrased this last part of the statement means that being filled with the Spirit is not to be thought of as a one-time event but we are to be “continually being filled” with the Holy Spirit. I don’t believe the issue is that we somehow leak the Holy Spirit out of our lives as much as we become casual in the way we respond to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes this happens because the bumps and bruises of life divert our attention away from our life in the Spirit.

The important question out of all this is, “How do we stay full of the Holy Spirit?” Let’s look at that from what Paul had to say. How does one get drunk on wine? The answer is, “You drink wine, lots of it!” Using this as a parallel, how do we get full of (drunk on) the Spirit? Drink it, lots of it! Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit” (John 7:37-39, ESV).

How do we drink of the Spirit? I think that is partially answered in what Paul lists in Ephesians 5:19-21:

“Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” This is building each other up with joyful encouragement in the things of the Lord

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“Singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” I can’t over-emphasize the importance of music, good worship music, being taken into our mind and spirit. If there is nothing edifying in your mind and spirit, then nothing edifying is going to come out during your quiet moments.

“Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In my darkest hours of the valley of cancer, I found how powerful it is to give thanks, to praise, to worship. It brings the presence of God’s Spirit, and that Presence overwhelms fear and anxiety.

“Submitting to one another in the fear of [out of reverence for] Christ.” What Spirit-full believers are you connected with and accountable to? Their presence in your life is like a refreshing drink!

All of these methods of drinking of His Spirit are disciplines and will not happen without conscious attention on our part!

I believe this list is both “cause and effect.” It is partially how we stay full of the Spirit and as we are full of the Spirit, we will show these as the result of being Spirit-full.

Romans 8:5: “Those who live according to the Spirit [set their minds on] the things of the Spirit.” Without being overly complicated about this verse, I believe this is speaking of those who desire to be Spirit-filled, who are hungry for all that God’s Spirit has for them. They think about the things of the Spirit and seek to be overflowing, Spirit-filled believers. Paul contrasts the carnally minded and the Spirit minded. The primary focus of the carnally minded is dominated by the natural, earthly life and all the things thereof. To be Spirit minded means to be eager in pursuit of the Word, of worship, of the Holy Spirit. There is to be nothing slovenly or casual about pursuing the Spirit-full life according to Ephesians 5:19-21 or Romans 8:5. In both cases this is zealous, wholehearted pursuit.

John Piper in his excellent book A Godward Life puts the pursuit of a Spirit-full life this way: “If we want to be filled with the Spirit, we must ask our heavenly Father for it. And that is just what Paul does in Ephesians 3:19 where he prays, ‘That you may be filled with all the fullness of God.’” Piper then goes on and says it this way, “Drink and pray. Drink and pray. Drink and pray.” Well said, John Piper. Drink and pray is the pursuit of the Spirit-full life.