Being filled with the fullness of God

"I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:16-19)

If we have the power of God in us (as we do as Christians), why is it that so many of us live a powerless Christianity. The early Church in the book of Acts walked in the fullness of God. They preached the word and signs and wonders followed. They healed the sick, the lame walked, the blind saw. They were like their Master, Jesus.

Today, I find so much of the reality of the power of God missing from our lives. Yet, the world is searching. Just last week, my hairstylist shared why she abandoned the faith of her mother (Christianity) to convert to another faith. It was because the other God was able to dramatically deliver her from a demonic affliction. It broke my heart to hear that, because our God is able to save to the uttermost. Yet, if we are His ambassadors, we don't bring his hope to a lost and dying world. For the most part, we don't carry His power and presence, heal the sick, deliver the oppressed ... We don't represent Jesus and the good news of the Gospel terribly well.

I speak for myself in all this, and I asked God what it would take for us ... for me ... to be able to move in a greater dimension of His authority, His power.

The Lord convicted me of two things:

1. To walk in a greater dimension of power, we need to live a fasted lifestyle.

One of my big ahas was to read in Luke 4 that prior to His 40-day fast, Jesus was "full of the Holy Spirit". After His 40-day fast in the wilderness, where He overcame the temptations, Jesus returned in the "power of the Spirit" from whence He began His ministry. There is a shift here. Jesus also tells His disciples that in a particular deliverance, they were ineffective because "this kind only comes out by prayer and fasting".

2. To release His power to those around us, we must first be filled with Him to the point of overflowing. The analogy He brought to mind is the cup in Psalms 23. "You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows." And how do we get the fullness of Christ? Ephesians 6 says it is in knowing the height, depth, length, breadth of the love of God that we will be filled with Him. We love only to the measure of our understanding of His love of us. If we really truly knew how much He loves us, we would be completely undone.

Last year, when IHOP's Matt Candler was in Singapore speaking about the Father's love, I got such a deep revelation of how much He loves me that I couldn't stop crying. My altar minister thought I was going through hard times as I was crying so hard! Truth is, I was totally undone by the knowledge of His great love for me.

Since then, I have been praying a prayer that Matt taught us ... "Father, please increase my capacity to know your love and my capacity to love you." It's been one of the simplest but most life transforming prayers for me, even as I pray it regularly, and now I know that knowing His love is key to being filled by Him.

At the end of the day, our walk with God is such a beautiful one. It is not burdensome. The outflow of power to touch and heal lives comes not from striving but in sitting in the presence of God, gazing upon His face, having Him love on us. Oh that we may know that truth, and out of that place of communion and revelation knowledge, to be a potent force just like the early Church was. Amen.