Being Filled with ALL the Fullness of GOD!

In Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 19, there is a verse of such immensity as to defy the understanding of man!

"And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. "

This verse forms part of the finale of the Apostle Paul's prayer for the believers in Ephesus. In fact, this is his second prayer, the first being in the opening chapter of the same epistle.

I find myself coming back to this verse again and again. And I find myself asking, "how does one be filled with ALL the FULNESS of GOD!?" Fulness and ALL? of GOD!? This is so astounding! Paul is praying about an experience which goes beyond logic. He talks about a knowing which is more than cognitive functioning. This is such an experiential knowing of the love of Christ, that it has to be in the realm of God, and therefore, His sovereignty. That's the beauty of this verse, that someone of the stature of Paul could pray such a prayer. Which means that it is eminently possible for believers to be filled with ALL the FULNESS of GOD!

God defies quantitative filling, so how then, the fulness of God? And to have this fulness of God in a human being? Surely it is not possible for a limited being to be filled with an unlimited One? But here the apostle is praying that it be so.

And to cap it all, he goes on to say, as though he realized that this seemingly impossible prayer requires assurance on the part of believers, and therefore, ends with the awesome verse 20, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us", which is by itself, another mind-bending and mind-blowing verse!

Let me get off the abstractions of mental exercising, and see if I can bring this down to earth, in a practical application.

Firstly, to experience this "fulness of God" means that I am going to experience in a very sensory manner, some sort of God's manifestation, either God's thoughts, or His power, or even His emotions. Which means that my mind, and body, and senses are going to experience Him. In those rare occasions that I have experienced God in a tangible way, they have been moments of emotions, and sheer exhiliration. And the outcome has been to want to have this experience again, and again. This could be what the Scriptures refer to as being "filled with the Spirit". And this experience of being "filled with the Spirit", usually had as its outcome, an exultant praise, and a boldness in sharing or preaching the word of God.

And isn't that what is needed for believers on a daily basis?

May God indeed fill every believer in Malaysia with "ALL His fulness"!