The 5 Minute Discipleship Podcast

#468: The Fullness of God

Loren Hicks

Episode 468 - Show Notes

  • Listen to those words, “filled with all the fullness of God.” How can we contain all of God. It’s like trying to empty the ocean. There is more of God than we could ever possibly experience.
  • Paul is praying for men and women who had already placed their faith in Jesus. They were Christ-followers, but Paul prays that they would experience more of God in their lives.
  • I believe this is God’s will for you and me too. We must be careful about two extremes. The first would be to think we know it all and have experienced all there is of God. The second would be to be so full of the things of this world that we leave no place for more of God.
  • Both extremes are likely, but for most of us, the second is more of an issue. Many of us listening today would say, “I want to experience more of God in my life. I want more of His presence, more of his power, and more of his love.”
  • It’s important to ask ourselves, “Is there space in my life for more of God?” If you are anything like me you fill your time with activity and your mind with information. We fill our appetites with food, pleasurable things, and entertainment. 
  • Not everyone wants to be full of God.  Some want just enough of God so that they are protected, happy, and guaranteed Heaven when we die. They don’t want so much of God that it changes the way they live or alters their priorities.
  • But being full of God is the whole goal of the Christian life. The word for “filled” has the idea of being dominated by something. If you are filled with rage, then rage will dominate your life. If you are filled with love, then love dominates your life. If you are filled with joy, then joy dominates your life. When you are filled with God, then God himself will dominate your life. It pictures the total transformation of the human personality by virtue of the presence of God in your life. 
  • This is an amazing thought—to be filled up with all the fullness of God.  As believers, we have been created to be the containers of God. He desires to pour his life into ours and to fill us until we’re full.
  • So, how can we experience a greater measure of God in our lives? I believe it starts with what Jesus said in the Beatitudes…we must hunger and thirst for him. Let’s check our appetites. What are you hungry for? Do you have an appetite for God? We can pray and ask God to increase our spiritual appetite for Him.
  • Second, we empty ourselves of those things that are taking up unnecessary space. You only have so much capacity. If your life is so full of other things, you’ll need to make some spiritual decisions.
  • Third, we experience more of God when we seek after him.

Ephesians 3:16, 19 - “I pray…that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Matthew 5:6 - “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.”

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