Grow With Pastor Joe

Devotions for The Head, the Heart, and the Home

Ephesians 5:17-20

Read: The will of God for the life of every believer is that each believer would be filled by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5 is in the middle of applying the doctrine of who we are and what we have in Christ as seen in the first three chapters of the book. To be “filled with the Spirit” means that the believer is not controlled by emotions, outward influences, or opinions; but rather it means to be yielded to the control of the Holy Spirit in our life. Our spirit (inner man) must be yielded in faithful surrender moment by moment to the Holy Spirit now abiding in us. As we learn to live this out it will lead us to do two unnatural things to the flesh. (1) Worship will be the first response of the overflowing work of the Spirit of God within our hearts. As we yield to Him we begin to have a worship filled lifestyle. We will only be as genuinely worshipful as we are genuinely full of the Spirit of God. The Spirit filled life sees that all of life is to be lived “in your heart to the Lord.” (2) Gratitude will be the second response of being filled by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s role is not only to correct and teach us, but to point us to Christ in gratitude. The teaching and correcting of the Holy Spirit should cause our hearts to be thankful that God is always doing an often unseen inward work of grace in the heart of the believer. We can only “give thanks for all things” if we are in all things filled by the Spirit. The Spirit filled life is just another way of saying the true Christian life. Our worship and gratitude is dependent upon the Holy Spirit and directed by Him. May we yield our spirit to the Holy Spirit so that our life is full of worship and gratitude to our King.

Reflect:  Either write down, discuss, or sing your favorite “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” to give thanks to God for who He is and what He has done for us in Christ

Rest: Rest your head, heart and home in worship and gratitude trusting in God’s working in our hearts.

Respond: Each day seek to yield moment by moment in total dependence upon the empowering of the Holy Spirit to have a worship and gratitude filled week.