Filled With All the Fullness of God (2)

The fourth of four prayer petitions that the Apostle Paul makes in Ephesians 3:16-19 is that Christians might be filled with all the fullness of God in verse 19b: that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Last time we examine the first principle of this petition, the doctrinal foundation.

Second, the practical application. Let us consider practical, day‑to‑day living. Consider first, however, exactly what it means to be “practical.” We hear this word constantly today, but how many of those who use it know what it really means? Most people who use it simply equate it with activity. To most people, to be practical means we are going about doing things and being busy. But this is only partially true. Being practical is first an attitude long before it is an activity. So, in practice, there is one thing that will always be true of the believer who is filled with all the fulness of God: he will be totally dominated by God in the intellect, emotion, and will (the entire personality).

1. The intellect will be dominated. Oh, how vital it is that our minds be dominated by God! As Romans 12:2 declares, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Notice, it’s not renewing of our “emotions” or our “feelings” that is vital but the renewing of our minds. Our minds need constant renewing against the world’s attitudes and actions.

One of the clearest and saddest facts of our day is that most Christians are just not knowledgeable of God and His Word. As A. W. Tozer observed in the mid 20^th Century, “The Church doesn’t teach much of anything now . . . nowadays you can go to Church a lifetime without getting much Theology.” And it just keeps getting worse. Evangelical churches today are filled to the brim with entertainment, social activism, and human philosophy, but the knowledge of God and His Word are conspicuously absent. It is vitally important that preachers preach and people love doctrine, for that is what our minds need.

2. The emotions will be dominated. How often we are dominated by feelings! A common catch‑phrase today is, “Well, that’s just the way I feel.” Yes, and that is precisely our problem! Our actions and attitudes are quite often based on how we feel. It’s all right to have feelings, but we must never be dominated by them. We must not act on what we feel but rather on what we think about what we feel; our feelings must be weighed and controlled by the in­tellect. Think a moment of Stephen’s words as he was being stoned (Acts 7:60). Humanly speaking, didn’t Stephen have cause to “feel bad?” He was falsely accused and unjustly condemned. But his words were, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge?” There was a man who was not living by feelings but by a spirit controlled intellect. This, of course, reminds us of our Savior’s words from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

May we couple this with the intellect. To be dominated by His dominance not only means we THINK spiritually, but it also means we FEEL spiritually; that is, we act spiritually. How often we find ourselves “reacting” in a given circumstance. Something happens, we feel a certain way about it, and we then react accordingly. But may we submit that even if the result of our “reaction” is right, we are still wrong. Why? Because God does not want us to react; He wants us to act. God wants us to think, based upon the Word of God, then act.

3. The will will be dominated. Consider the words of our Lord, “I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (Jn. 6:38; cf. Phil. 2:7‑8). We see the same attitude many times in the life of the Apostle Paul (Acts 20:22‑24; Phil. 3:7‑10; etc.). The point in all this is that our will must be dominated. We no longer live as we desire but as He desires. So, to be dominated by His dominance means not only means we THINK spiritually and FEEL spiritually, but it also means we CHOOSE spiritually. When we are dominated by God, we will choose the right desires, the right priorities, the right values, and the right goals. This leads to one last principle for next time.