filled to the brim

artwork by Cherry Ashen Fargo

When I first saw this beautiful work of art by Cherry Ashen Fargo, my eyes were riveted on the word, “trust,” and the symbolism of the lighthouse. The structure itself, rising tall in the sky, lifts our eyes to the heavens and God—a towering signpost to guide the way and warn of danger. The beacon, shining out over the roughest and stormiest of seas, is a symbol of salvation and direction, leading those in danger to safety and security, whether it be physical danger or spiritual and moral trials and tribulation.

Trusting God always draws my heart back to a study of God’s Word. Today, it is a word study on fills or fullness from the last two verses in Ephesians Chapter One.

Ephesians 1:22-23…

Amplified Bible: And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout the church], which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself].

New Living Translation: God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is His body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with Himself.

Phillips: God has placed everything under the power of Christ and has set Him up as head of everything for the Church, for the Church is His body, and in that body lives fully the one who fills the whole wide universe.

Wuest: and all things He put in subjection under His feet, and Him He gave as Head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of Him Who is filling the all in all.

Young's Literal: and all things He did put under his feet, and did give him—head over all things to the assembly, which is his body, the fullness of Him who is filling the all in all.

Fills (pleroo) means to be completely filled (completed state—a net or a cup filled to the brim). It carries the idea of permeation, such as salt’s permeating meat in order to flavor preserve it. It also gives the idea of total control. The present tense means continuously fills. Pleroo means to be filled to the brim, to make complete in every particular, to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally, to flood, to diffuse throughout, to pervade, to take possession of and so to ultimately to control.

Pleroo is in the passive voice (subject receives the action—in this context the "divine passive") which points out the fact that as believers, we do not fill ourselves, but permit the Spirit of God to fill us (and control us). In other words, God discloses a knowledge of Himself. One cannot simply learn to know God. God is not like secular truths which may be learned. Divine truth must be revealed!

Pleroo also means to fulfill, to complete, to carry out to the full. Pleroo indicates more than just pouring water in a glass up the brim and has at least three shades of meaning that are helpful in illustrating the meaning. (1) Pleroo was often used of the wind billowing the sails of a ship and providing impetus to move the ship across the water. To be filled with the Spirit then to is to be moved along in our Christian life by God Himself, by the same dynamic by which the writers of Scripture were “moved by the Holy Spirit.” In the spiritual realm, this concept depicts the Holy Spirit providing the thrust to move the believer down the pathway of obedience. A Spirit-filled Christian is not motivated by his own desires or will to progress. Instead, he allows the Holy Spirit to carry him in the proper directions. Another helpful example of this first meaning is a small stick floating in a stream. Sometime in our lives most of us have tossed a stick into a creek and then run downstream to see the twig come floating by, propelled only by the force of the water. To be filled with the Spirit means to be carried along by the gracious pressure of the Holy Spirit. (2) Pleroo also conveys the idea of permeation as of salt’s permeating meat in order to flavor and preserve it.  God wants the Holy Spirit to permeate and flavor our lives so that when we’re around others they will know for certain that we possess the pervasive savor of the Spirit. (3) Plerooconveys the sense of domination or total control. It is used by the Gospel writers in various passages to indicate that people were dominated by a certain emotion.

Theologian Charles Spurgeon commenting on pleroo, says this involves an intimate, experiential type of knowledge, exhorting us to, “Let us try to know divine truth more and more intimately. You know a man, for you pass him in the streets with a nod; you know another man far better, for you lodge in the same house with him; you know him best of all when you have shared his trouble, partaken in his joy, and have, in fact, had fellowship with him by blending your two lives in one common stream of friendship. When you learn a spiritual truth endeavor to know it out and out; to know its foundation and up building; to know it by the application of the Spirit to your own soul so that you are filled with it.  You may have knowledge in the brain, but it may not run into your spirit, so as to penetrate, and permeate, and saturate your spirit, till you are filled therewith. Oh, to get the gospel into one’s entire nature, and to be like the water pots of Cana, filled up to the brim!”

Lord Jesus, develop in me a deep reverence of You that leads to life, wisdom, and greater intimacy with You. Open my heart to be teachable and to receive correction and discipline willingly. Grant that I would fear You and not my circumstances in the present or the what-ifs of the future. May I be so filled to the brim with Your love that faith would replace my fear. Many people have material goods and success, but they still search for something that is real and lasting. Thank You for joy that runs deep. Thank You for peace that only You can give. Help me not to take what I have been given for granted but to be filled to the brim with gratefulness. Restore my sense of wonder and awe as I look for You at every turn in my everyday walkaround life. Speak to my heart, and give me ears to hear. Open my spiritual eyes to see that You are working in the world around me. May I be filled to the brim with wonder and gratefulness at Your great deeds. Thank You for hearing my prayers . . . always! Even when my situation remains the same, grant me grace to trust You and to thank You for your listening ear and Your gracious help. Because of Your mercy, I will sing songs of thanksgiving to You. Because of Your help, may my heart be filled to the brim with joy! In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Look Up—meditate on Ephesians 1:22-23  …pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.

Look In—as you meditate on Ephesians 1:22-23 …pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."

Look Out—as you meditate on Ephesians 1:22-23...pray to see how you might apply it to your relationship with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.


* If you liked this post, you’ll love this book – Name Above All Names Devotional: Focusing on 26 Alphabetical Names of Christ


Weekly LinkUps…

experiencing the love of Christ

artwork by Tamara Peterson

As I pondered this delightful work of art by Tamara Peterson, I could suddenly hear the deep baritone voice of George Beverly Shea singing the beautiful old hymn, The Love of God.

Composer Frederick M. Lehman describes the process of writing this hymn, which he composed in 1917 in Pasadena, California: “The lyrics are based on the Jewish poem, Haddamut, written in Aramaic in 1050 by Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai, a cantor in Worms, Germany. One day, during short intervals of inattention to our work, we picked up a scrap of paper and, seated upon an empty lemon box pushed against the wall, with a stub pencil, added the first two stanzas and chorus of the song, since the lines of the third stanza, Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky, had been found penciled on the wall of a patient’s room in a hospital after he died.” This drew my heart to a word study of the word fullness from  Ephesians 3:19…

NIV: and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Amplified:  [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!

NLT: May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Phillips:  and to know for yourselves that love so far beyond our comprehension. May you be filled though all your being with God himself!

Wuest: and to know experientially the love of the Christ which surpasses experiential knowledge in order that you may be filled up to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Young's Literal:  to know also the love of the Christ that is exceeding the knowledge, that ye may be filled--to all the fullness of God;

Fullness in Greek is pleroma from pleroo means to make full, fill, fill up, fullness, full measure, abundance, completion or what fills. Pleroma describes a full measure or abundance with emphasis upon completeness. Pleroma is completion and describes what is fulfilled or is completed without any gap. The sum total. The totality. Pleroma speaks of the total quantity and emphasizes completeness. Pleroma was a recognized technical term in theology, denoting the totality of the Divine powers and attributes.

Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest writes: “The word “fullness” is pleroma. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon gives the following: “that which is or has been filled; used of a ship inasmuch as it is filled (i.e., manned) with sailors, rowers, and soldiers; in the New Testament, the body of believers, as that which is filled with the presence, power, agency, riches of God and of Christ.”

Pastor John MacArthur has said, “To be filled up to all the fullness of God therefore means to be totally dominated by Him, with nothing left of self or any part of the old man. By definition, then, to be filled with God is to be emptied of self. It is not to have much of God and little of self, but all of God and none of self.”

Pastor Steven Cole writes: “The top rung of the ladder (to use Spurgeon’s phrase) is, “that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). “The fullness of God” probably refers to the perfection of which God Himself is full. Paul is praying that we will attain to spiritual perfection, having all that God is fill us to overflowing. As our capacity to receive it grows, He keeps filling us again and again. The idea of fullness implies total dominance or control, so that God perfectly controls our minds, our emotions, and our will.”

Pastor Wayne Barber on filled with the fullness of God: “Everything that fills God fills me and controls me and satisfies me. I am living in a realm now that I didn’t know was possible. I am loving people I didn’t think were lovable. I have put up with people who used to give me a fit. I am handling circumstances like never before. God, what is going on inside of me? God says, "You haven’t seen anything yet. Keep on trusting Me. I have other levels I want to take you to. Walk in the fullness of what I have to offer you." That is it. That is the Christian life. Paul is praying that all of God would dominate all that you are. In other words, that all of God would dominate all of you. I picked that word "dominate" very carefully because the word "filled" implies dominate. The Greek word is pleroo. It is the word that means "to be filled to the brim." If you fill a glass of water and fill it to the brim, that’s pleroo. It is filled full. There is no room for anything else. There is the implied meaning of satisfaction. You have a satisfied glass if it is full of water. What is a glass for? To be filled up. When you put the liquid to the top it must be satisfied. Nothing else is needed to satisfy the glass. So in light of Paul’s prayer, Paul is saying when we are empty of sin and we are empty of self and filled up with the fullness of God, then we begin to understand what satisfaction is all about. There is also the implicit meaning of dominance. Whatever fills a person dominates that person."

What are you filled with? What is coming out of your life? Look at your life. Are you filled with fear and jealousy or are you filled with the Holy Spirit of God?

Lord Jesus, we believe that whatever fills a person dominates that person. Fill us today so that our mind, soul, and body is dominated of the Spirit of Christ. Thank You that You don’t want to give us more head knowledge about Your love. Thank You that You help us understand and comprehend Your love for us—so that it really sinks in and goes from being head knowledge to heart knowledge about how very much You love us. Thank You that You give us a heart to experience for ourselves the limitless love of Christ. Knowledge isn’t enough. Great speeches or sermons won’t suffice, neither will hearing what You did in someone else’s life. It takes the Holy Spirit imparting power to each of us to fathom the depth and length and width, the incomparable nature, of God’s amazing love for us in Your finished work on the cross. Thank You that You cause our roots to go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love for us. Thank You that as we receive and experience Your love in our own hearts, Your love can flow through us to others. Grant us the power to understand the limitless extent of Your love. Be the center of our lives, our homes, our churches. In Your precious name we pray, amen.

Look Up—meditate on Ephesians 3:19

Look In—as you meditate on Ephesians 3:19 pray to see how you might apply it to your life.
Look Out—as you meditate on Ephesians 3:19 pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others.

Weekly LinkUps…