"Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."  Ephesians 5:18-20 (NLT)

What is Paul comparing being filled with the Holy Spirit to?

Do you see it?   

Wait! Don’t stop reading. I’m not trying to be too controversial here. Why is Paul using this analogy? What’s the point he’s trying to make?

Well, let me ask you a question: what are people like when they’re drunk?

They are no longer in control. 
They are bold.
Their perspective is changed. 
They are uninhibited.
They do things they would never otherwise do.

When we allow the Holy Spirit to fill our lives, we are no longer in control – He is, we become emboldened and uninhibited in our faith.  Our perspective changes as we begin to see things the way He sees them and are no longer controlled by fear or worry. We go places we never thought we would go and do things we never imagined we would do.

In Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers on the day of Pentecost, what did the people observing think about them?

So what’s the point Paul is making? It’s not just that we shouldn’t be drunk but that we should be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit – to put it another way, we should be drunk on the Holy Spirit, intoxicated with Him!

So let me ask you, if you were given a breathalyzer test on how drunk you are on the Holy Spirit, where would you fall on the scale?

Holy Spirit come and fill me with your presence and your power.  Remove anything that gets in the way of letting You work in me and through me.  Amen.

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