What Does It Mean to Be Spirit Filled? Ephesians 5:18-21
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is more than a one-time experience—it’s a way of life. In Ephesians 5:18–21, Paul tells believers to stay continually full through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. In this Light on Life episode, Emery Horvath explores how Spirit-inspired worship strengthens faith, renews joy, and keeps your heart sensitive to God. Learn how to maintain spiritual fullness every day by walking in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. What Does It Mean to Be Filled with the Spirit of God? — that’s the core of this week’s Light on Life.
Listen to the Audio
LOL-S11-026
Right Click to Download
Never Miss an Episode
Join believers who are growing in God’s Word every week. Subscribe to the Light on Life Podcast on your favorite platform:
Use this if your podcast app supports adding shows by RSS feed.
Read the Notes
You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.
Accept the Challenge
Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.This week’s call is:
Refuse to operate on a half-empty spiritual tank. Stay filled with the Spirit learning to flow in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
Join the Conversation
Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.This week’s question is:
Question: Have you ever received a Holy Spirit-inspired song, hymn, or spiritual song. Please share one that you received in the comments section below.
About Emery
Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 45 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 40 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.
If this episode helped you, would you share it with a friend and leave a quick review?
Podcast Notes:
Be Filled with the Spirit: Opening Remarks
Ephesians 5:18–21 (ESV): — 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but [be filled with the Spirit,] 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Here in this passage, we are exhorted both what not to do and what to do.
We are not to be drunk with wine or any other intoxicating element.
We are not to be filled with liquor [to the point of loss of control] of any kind, as well as pills or plant substances that bring about an unhealthy level of stupor.
With that thought, here is the Historical Background of the Day.
If Ephesians was first sent to the Ephesian Christians, then it is incumbent upon modern readers to interpret the book in that light. Thus, for example, Paul’s command to stop getting drunk with wine (5:18) would be quite interesting in view of the fact that the worship of the god of the vine (Dionysius) was prevalent in Ephesus.
Instead of going with the flow of the city - instead of getting drunk knowing that it opens the door to all kinds of debauchery and bad behavior, believers are encouraged to get filled instead with that which would never have any kind of negative impact - never — ever — not no way — not no how.
We are directed to be filled with the Spirit — that’s totally positive — completely uplifting — and an absolute blessing.
Don’t be filled with a substance — be filled with a being — a spirit — THE Spirit, in fact — the Holy Spirit of God.
This passage of scripture lays out for us in detail what the characteristics are of those who are filled with the Spirit.
Just like there are distinctive traits of one who is drunk — so there are distinctive qualities for those who are filled with the Spirit.
They are as follows:
Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
Giving thanks in Jesus' name unto God
Submitting to one another out of respect for Jesus.
Now just think about this.
If this is the criteria or the definition of what it means to be filled with the Spirit, then would it be fair to say that the work of God on planet earth is mostly done by people who are half-empty?
Now, if the work of God has gotten as far as it has with half-empty people, – what would happen if we all were filled and stayed full?
Being Filled with the Spirit: Lessons from the Greek Grammar
There are several things that the Greek grammar used in this passage communicates to us about being filled with the Spirit.
Being Filled with the Spirit Is a Commandment
First, the verb ‘be filled’ is imperative.
Imperatives are commandments.
Commandments are not suggestions - they are orders from God about which there is no choice.
Being Filled with the Spirit Should Always Happen
The second thing the Greek grammar shows us is that it’s in the present tense.
Present tense means continuous action.
So, this commandment from God is better translated as ‘be being filled’ — that is be filled and keep on being filled.
In other words, don’t spring a leak.
Stay full all the time.
Staying full is then a matter of observation — that is, being cognizant of your spiritual health.
Today, many are so in tune with their health — when the slightest thing is off — they are running to the doctor and getting checked.
Spiritual health is much like physical health.
You can be off physically, and you can be off spiritually.
So, we are to stay full all the time.
Being Filled with the Spirit Is for Every Believer
Being filled with the Spirit is plural in number, meaning the concept of staying full applies to all believers.
Spiritual health is not just for one of us — it’s for all of us[3. Jerome H. Smith, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge: The Most Complete Listing of Cross References Available Anywhere- Every Verse, Every Theme, Every Important Word (Nashville TN: Thomas Nelson, 1992), 1386.].
We are admonished to maintain a state of being continually full, which indicates that we are not at the same level of ‘fullness’ from one moment to the next.
The tense, in itself, gives us a significant clue about spiritual development.
When you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you were filled or became full at that particular moment – but the Word of God admonishes us here to be filled and stay full.
Types of Being Filled with the Spirit
Driving a Car
You can liken this ‘being filled with the Spirit” to driving a car.
You take your vehicle to the gas station and fill up at the pump.
You drive off, you hit bumps in the road, and traffic congestion — you motor your way through rainstorms, snow storms, excessive wind, or weather.
Extreme cold presents its challenges.
What happens as you navigate your car through all these challenges?
Your gas tank needle goes down a lot more than usual.
What comes after a while?
You have to gas up — you have to top off your tank and keep your gas tank full.
Spiritually it’s the same — you are not always at the same level.
You spend some time with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, your singing praises unto God — you’re thanking Him and your allowing humility to reign in your life to the point that you’re submitting to one another in the fear of God.
But, then, you live a little bit, and your ‘full needle’ goes down.
You have to top off your spiritual tank, so to speak so that you remain full.
When a person is saved, the Spirit of God enters into your spirit in the process we call the new birth.
A Glass of Water
With that thought, here is the Illustration of the Day.
We used the example earlier of a car and a gas tank.
But, we can use the illustration of water.
To be healthy, you must drink so many glasses of water daily — it depends on your body weight.
So, water enters the body, but you and I know that water doesn’t remain in the body.
Water may enter your body, but you also know that one glass does not make your body full of water.
To get full of water, you must drink deeply; that is, you must take in a more significant amount of water than a sip.
So, it’s one thing to have water in you – another thing to be full of water.
Taking that over now - water is a type of the Spirit.
The experience of drinking of the Spirit of God and doing that fully is called the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
You get to a place where you are full, and when you are - you begin to speak.
Acts 2:4 (ESV): And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
When you think baptism, think total immersion – think a lot of water.
But, I also think drinking a lot and then living some means that water doesn’t stay in — you don’t stay full.
I am not saying that the Holy Spirit comes and goes or that He leaks out.
But, I am saying you don’t remain at the same level.
The effect on your spirit, man, is not always the same.
The reality of fullness wanes.
So, we talked about gas in a car — and we spoke about being filled with water as parallel examples of being filled with the Spirit.
Charging a Battery
Here is yet another type that may help you understand what it means to be filled with the Spirit.
Think about the function of charging a battery.
When you get involved with supernatural Holy Spirit utterances like psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, the effect is like hooking up to the battery.
Batteries get charged to maximum capacity but do they stay charged?
You start putting a load on them, like turning on the lights or putting the device in use, like a cell phone or a laptop, and the use drains off the battery.
The Holy Spirit fills your being, but the effect of living life on planet earth causes a draining effect.
To charge back up — get into His Presence.
His presence affects your Spirit.
You become aware of Him.
By faith, you open your mouth and begin to speak divine utterances.
Praying with other tongues is like this also.
It is a means of charging or building your spirit.
How Do You Know When You Are Filled with the Spirit?
It’s simple.
When you are full, you begin to speak.
Did you ever hear the expression - ‘I got so full, I had to say something?’
Jeremiah got so full one day.
He tried to hold back — he tried to refrain from speaking.
It didn’t work — he couldn’t hold the utterance back.
Jeremiah 20:8–9 (ESV): For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. 9 If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
The prophetic Word of God got so strong inside Jeremiah.
He tried to hold it back — he was tired of people deriding him - reproaching him - making fun of the message God had given him by the spirit of prophecy.
Jeremiah decided that he wasn’t going to say anything anymore.
But he couldn’t do it.
He was so full of the message.
When people get full of the Spirit, they talk - they speak — anointed words come forth.
In every place in the Bible where people get full of the Spirit, they were talking.
We already mentioned Acts 2:4.
Acts 2:4 (ESV) — 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Being filled with the Spirit doesn’t just yield tongues.
Holy Spirit-filled believers spoke out of their fullness without tongues in many places.
Acts 4:5–8 (ESV) — 5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them,
Did you get that? — Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke up against the religious rulers, elders, and scribes.
Acts 4:8–12 (ESV) — 8“Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
So, Peter was filled with the Spirit, but he wasn’t speaking in tongues; he was speaking in English.
He was speaking in a known tongue.
What is this type of speaking where you are filled with the Spirit and speaking in your known tongue?
This is speaking by the Spirit.
This is speaking by the spirit of prophecy.
This kind of speaking is an utterance in your known tongue, just like speaking with tongues.
The Holy Spirit of God is responsible for it.
It’s an utterance that comes from being full, leading to you staying that way.
Paul prayed for this kind of utterance.
Ephesians 6:18–19 — 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
Understanding the Inspiration or Utterance Gifts of the Spirit
Let’s talk about this spirit of prophecy for a little bit.
To do that, we should understand some general things about the gifts of the Spirit.
There are nine gifts or manifestations of the Spirit.
You can look at these gifts individually, and you can look at them as a group.
Let’s look at them as the latter — as groups.
The nine gifts of the Spirit are grouped into three groups of three.
The three groups are the Revelation gifts, the Power gifts, and the Utterance gifts.
The revelation gifts include the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and the discerning of spirits.
The power gifts include the gift of faith, the working of miracles, and the gifts of healings.
The utterance gifts include prophecy, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues.
Another general fact that will help you is to know that the gifts of the Spirit work more outside of church than they do inside of the church.
Why is that? – it’s because you spend more time out of the church than you do in the church.
In the context of what we are talking about, the utterance gifts will absolutely work in your personal devotional time.
The spirit of prophecy, a divine utterance in a known tongue, will work in personal devotional prayer time.
Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are all divine utterances.
These psalms, these Holy Spirit-given hymns, these heaven-sent songs can come by the Spirit of prophecy.
So, right in your devotional time, the Spirit of God can bring up out of your spirit divine utterances that will lead you to be full.
You will come of your prayer time so filled, so packed, so charged that you will be able to handle all that you have to deal with throughout your day.
Now, you can practice working with the Holy Spirit in these things.
He knows you may not have significant experience in these areas.
Just lean on Him.
Express to Him that you want to flow in these areas.
Ask Him to give you psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
Remember that spiritual things can be practiced.
Have you ever thought of your devotional time as practicing the things of God?
Now, I did not say rehearsing the things of God – I said practice.
There is a difference.
You can practice working with the Holy Spirit in your devotional time.
Things won’t always be perfect.
The Holy Spirit is perfect — but the manifestation coming through a human vessel is not always perfect.
Sometimes, we shut down the gifts because we think everything has to be perfect.
The phrase ‘practice makes perfect’ has application when learning to flow with the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit knows this, but he also wants you to know it.
You can say to the Holy Spirit, ‘I need some practice with this – help me.’
He is your helper - Jesus said He was.
You may have experienced this when you were initially filled with the Spirit speaking with tongues.
You may not have spoken many words in other tongues at that time.
But, as you continued to walk with Him and yield to Him, you found the flow got better — it became stronger – again, practice makes perfect.
Remember that you are in direct contact with the Holy Spirit in any of these utterances, be it the utterance gifts of the Spirit or psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs get you over in the area of utterance gifts.
They can come by tongues, interpretation of tongues, and prophecy.
Know that the gifts of the Spirit are like bacon, eggs, and hash browns.
Bacon is not eggs, and eggs are not hash browns, but they sure work well together on the same plate!
Psalms are not hymns, and hymns are not spiritual songs, but they are all part of the same plate.
Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs: What Are They?
Psalms are spiritual poems.
The psalms of David are an example of Holy Spirit-inspired poems.
How would you like to receive one of these on the spur of the moment?
It’s possible you know.
The same Holy Spirit that moved upon David can move upon you.
He can give you a spiritual poem.
These may rhyme, and they may not.
What about Holy Spirit-inspired hymns?
What are they?
Well, they are not necessarily hymns out of the hymnal at church.
Some hymns can be divine means but not all of them.
Some hymns are laden with unbelief.
The Spirit of God certainly didn’t inspire those.
No, those kinds of hymns are of human invention.
The same can be said about spiritual songs.
Every song sung in Jesus' Name was not necessarily given by the Spirit.
Some are just songs put to music by the creativity of the writer.
Songs given by the inspiration of the Spirit are not thought up in advance or rehearsed.
One may give forth a song or a psalm by the spirit of prophecy or by ‘tongues and interpretation of tongues.
Doing so will build one’s spiritual life and bring us into a state of fullness that God desires for our lives.
Take the admonition to stay full of the Holy Spirit personally.
Ask Him to help you in this area.
And with that thought, here is the Quote of the Day.
God wants you to be filled with the Holy Ghost so that everything about you shall be charged with the dynamic of heaven. — Smith Wigglesworth
Here’s a helpful piece from my spiritual dad, Kenneth E. Hagin.
He has this to say about this area of being filled with the Spirit in connection with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
“Over the years I’ve noticed another spiritual pattern in my own life. Whenever the heat was on - when the enemy was attacking and I was under a great amount of pressure - I’d spend more time in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. This builds you up in your spirit like nothing else can do. You need to maintain this as a way of life. It ought to be an everyday occurence in your private devotional life.” — Kenneth E. Hagin
That’s a good word today.
Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs: An Example
Yesterday in my time with Him, I asked the Lord to help me get over into this area.
I love this flow - it’s so wonderful to me.
And this is what He gave me.
OK Lord, thank you today, thank you today.Lift your eyes and look up aheadAnd see all the places that you should go insteadWalk in the way and walk in my pathAnd you can be a vessel to help subside the wrathFor this day, and hour the Word goes forth.This day and hour a messenger is neededHe must walk the path and sow the seedSo that people who hear may believeSo, be that shining star, that vessel of graceBe the person who understands their place in meFor I see the dawn is rising yet another day.And I see that we are to flow to the nth degreeWalk by the Spirit, not by the mindWalk by the Word, and revelation will come in due timeSee the way, and understand the path.See, you know the pathWalk this way, says the Spirit of grace.Walk this Way, and behold the glory of His faceAnd let his light shine your Way.Thank you, JesusI love this way.I love this walk.I love to hear Holy Ghost talk.It’s a joy — it’s a delight in my spirit it rises.Oh to me it’s such a prize,Such a delight to flow with the Spirit of God,His spirit will lead me, and direct meAnd oh what marvelous surprises.So I thank you Father God for all that you have doneBecause in Jesus, the victory‘s been won.There’s no delay.No, there’s no sorrow in following HimThere’s just the light - there’s just peace.Hello, there’s freedom from sinSo, I enjoy every day as I walk in His wayI enjoy every step, and the path that I takeFor He directs my way and understands the planAnd it unfolds right in the palm of my hand.Glory oh, glory and honor, and praises to GodAll glory and honor, and praises to HimHim who is above, and not beneathHim, who is strong and mighty to defeat the plans of the enemyOh, let your voices shout out and harmonious calls of victoryPraises, let them rise,Praises let them surprise,Praises, let them bring joyFor sorrow shall not be your call but peace.The effect thereof will be your all in all.Oh no, oh no, oh, no says the Spirit of God.Oh no, they’ll be no sorrow but joy so completeAs you walk, as you move, as you operate it will be sweet.Sweet, sweet, sweet, — the sound of joy,Sweet, sweet, sweet the sound of GraceSweet, sweet, sweet, oh what a wonderful place.What a wonderful time indeedSo, thank you dear Jesus and thank you oh, God,Thank you because the victory you have trod.You have walked it out, in ancient timesAnd now you have given us the benefit of what is divineThank you today.Oh you’re a dear one to meThank you today for you giving us victory, victory.
You, too, can flow in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
Now Father, in the precious name of Jesus, help us to advance and increase in this area of being filled with the Spirit. Give us the poetry of heaven. May the music of glory arise from within our hearts — songs of praise and worship unto our God. Give us the sounds of praise and the edification that comes by speaking forth in psalms. We give you all the credit for these utterances in your name. We thank you for it in Jesus' Name. Amen.
What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit of God - now you know a little about it — you guys have a great God-week in Jesus' Name, Amen.
🎧 Suggested Episode
If you enjoyed this message on having your life filled with Jesus Christ, check out “What It Means to Be Filled with the Spirit of God” — it’s the perfect companion episode that shows how Spirit-filled living overflows into every part of life.
Listen Now →__________
References: