Fill 'er Up

When I was young, I remember the outings to the service/gas station.  As the attendant walked toward the car, I remember my dad saying, “Fill ‘er up.”  While the gas was being pumped, the service station man checked the oil and radiator, check the air pressure in the tires, washed and wiped the front and back windshields, and wiped the mirrors.  As the years progressed, the driver had to decide between full service and performing the services for the car yourself.  Of course, the price increased per gallon of gas when full service was chosen.  Each time, there was also a decision to be made of how much gasoline would be added to the tank.  When it was full, you stopped so that it didn’t overflow the tank.

At eating establishments, waiters and waitresses are constantly coming by to refill your beverage order. Even if your glass is not empty, they fill what is needed to have a full glass. If you want something else to drink, you have another glass brought with the new beverage so as not to dilute or combine the two. Once again, if you fill the glass too full, it overflows and is wasted.

Each day we have the choice of asking God to fill us with His Spirit. Sometimes we have filled our lives with so many other things that there is very little room for what God offers. Those distractions need to be completely eliminated and cleaned out so that God can fill us fresh and anew with His Spirit. And when God’s Spirit overflows, blessings abound.

 

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Psalm 16:11

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Matthew 5:6

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

 

For this reason I kneel before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 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 Lord’s holy people, 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 3:14-19

And this is my prayer: that your  love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:9-11

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:9-14