Fill Me Now

For the disciples of Jesus, the Holy Spirit changed everything. Waiting in the Upper Room, weak and uncertain, “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance” (Acts 2:4). Suddenly, God’s power flowed in their lives, and they spoke and ministered with boldness.

The Holy Spirit also changed the life of the apostle Paul. After he had been confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus, Ananias laid his hands on Paul, telling him that Jesus “has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17). Paul knew that all Believers needed this power, and he wrote that we should be “filled with the Spirit.”

This message gripped the heart of Elwood Haines Stokes, who was born on this day in 1815, in Medford, New Jersey. In 1879, he wrote a hymn called “Fill Me Now.” In the form of a prayer, Stokes asked, “Fill me now, fill me now, Jesus, come and fill me now; fill me with Thy hallowed presence, come, O come, and fill me now.”

His prayer was that the Spirit would “bathe my trembling heart and brow.” He yearned to be filled with His presence.

Stokes did not understand exactly how this happened. He wrote, “Thou canst fill me, gracious Spirit, though I cannot tell Thee how.” But what he knew for sure was that he needed the power of the Spirit in his life.

Stokes admitted that he was “full of weakness.” He cried out for the Spirit to “cleanse and comfort” him…to “bathe” his heart and brow…to comfort and save him.

In your life, remember that even though your flesh is weak, God’s Spirit is willing (Matthew 26:41). Seek to live in the Spirit…to be filled with the Spirit…to be controlled and empowered by the Spirit.