August 12

Filled

“That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3:19).
The fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:23).
“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).

To be filled with God is a great thing; to be filled with the fullness of God is still greater; to be filled with all the fullness of God is greatest of all. This utterly bewilders the senses, and confounds the understanding; by leading us at once to consider the immensity of God, the infinity of His attributes, and the absolute perfection of each.
By the fullness of God we are to understand all the gifts and graces which He has promised to bestow on man in order to his full salvation here, and his being fully prepared for the enjoyment of glory hereafter. What God fills neither sin nor Satan can fill or in anywise occupy. For, if a vessel be filled with one fluid substance, not a drop or particle of any other kind can enter it, without displacing the same quantum of the original matter.
—William Bramwell.

Make me lonely for Thy presence, every earthly friend above;
Make me thirst for Thine indwelling, make me hungry for Thy love;
Till in full and free surrender I shall yield my life to Thee,
Only then, in full perfection, canst Thou give Thyself to me.

All the beauty that I seek for, every treasure I would own,
Thou art these in rich completeness, they are found in Thee alone;
All the loveliness I long for, all the best that I would be,
I can never find them elsewhere than in Thee, Lord, just in Thee.

Empty me of all my glory, all my boasting, all my pride;
Let my righteousness, my wisdom, on Thy cross be crucified;
Fill me, then, with all Thy fullness, all Thy will work Thou for me;
In Thyself is nothing lacking; make me, Lord, complete in Thee.
—Annie Johnson Flint.

The fullness of the Spirit will not bring any satisfied feeling of nothing more to be done or to be received, but rather fresh hungerings and thirstings for more. We are filled only in the sense of a flowing river: it is full and yet ever receiving and ever passing on all it receives.
—John Harrison.

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