The more I study the scriptures,
the more I realize it is not about me really, at all. It is all about letting
Christ live through me. Then I begin to realize, through the Word, that I
cannot live in my flesh and ask God to work in me at the same time. There has
to be a death. There has to be an E M P T Y I N G of Hannah, so that there can
be a F I L L I N G of the Holy Spirit. This makes sense to me. Think about it
this way, you cannot fill a cute coffee mug with piping hot vanilla French-pressed
coffee if it is already full of lukewarm coffee. You would need to empty that
cute mug first so that you can fill it with the good golden stuff.
If you look throughout scripture
you see this idea of being emptied so that God can do a work.
In 2 Kings 4 Elisha works a miracle
by the power of God. He asked a widowed woman to find empty vessels
so that God could fill them with oil.(It’s a pretty neat story; you should read
it sometime!)
We see a similar reference to this
in 2 Corinthians 4:7 where Paul says, “But we have
this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God
and not to us.”
In Philippians 2:7 Paul tells us
that Jesus even emptied himself in order that he may live a life of a human on
earth and be the perfect sacrifice on the cross for you and me.
Just like Christ was crucified, we
must follow the same example as Galatians 5:24 says, “And
those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires.” We crucify that flesh so that the Holy Spirit can fill us.
So now since we see that we have to
first empty ourselves to be filled, who does the filling?
The Holy Spirit! Yes. I am so glad that
he does the work in us, as we saw in 2 Corinthians earlier. In Philippians 2:13
it says that, “…it is God who works I you, both to will and to work for his
good pleasure.”
Guess what? The pressure is off you,
dear friend. It is Christ who is going to fill you and work in you. The initial
step you must take is to ask God to empty you. He will fill you and do the
rest.
So why do you need to be filled with Him
and not yourself?
He created you to bring him GLORY. You
cannot honor Christ if you’re the one doing the living and doing. When you
empty yourself, the Holy Spirit will fill you. Then you will be guided by Him.
He will tell you what to do each step of the way.
“Fear not, for I am with you; I will
bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will
say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons
from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by
my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Isaiah 43:7
I exhort you, my brother or sister,
to ask God to empty you so that you may be filled with him. All glory and honor
is due Christ and he will receive that when you are filled with the Holy
Spirit.
- Hannah
