Pull The Cork

“To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Ephesians 3:19



Studying the book of Acts from the perspective of the person of the Holy Spirit has been life changing for me. Instead of focusing on the acts of the apostles I am studying the acts of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles. All I know is it has me craving a deeper relationship and reliance on the Holy Spirit like never before. I love a good illustration when I read one and as I read A.B. Simpson’s illustration on what it is like to be filled with the Holy Spirit I imagined my wife and I sitting at our favorite beach and looking out over the ocean watching a bottle float on the water until it was consumed by the waves all the while knowing that as the bottle sank into the ocean it was being filled by the ocean.

Simpson wrote, "Being filled with the fullness of God is like a bottle in the ocean. You take the cork out of the bottle and sink it in the ocean, and you have the bottle completely full of ocean. The bottle is in the ocean, and the ocean is in the bottle. The ocean contains the bottle, but the bottle contains only a little bit of the ocean. So it is with the Christian."

I love the scene that plays in the theater of my mind as I picture what it means for us to get a little of the fullness of God and yet be filled completely with Him. What a beautiful illustration of our lives in Christ. The essence of oneness; where we contain the fullness of God without the God losing any of His fullness. Proof again that there is enough of God to go around!

There is an invitation in this. Pull the cork and submerge yourself in Christ today, loved one, let God fill you beyond your capacity to contain Him. Enjoy the fullness of His presence in your life, overflowing. Allow the Spirit’s life to overflow yours today touching everything and everyone you come in contact. Imagine if you will, walking along today and feeling the cool ocean breeze on your face and that smell, that amazing scent that comes off the ocean in the early morning hours. There is nothing like the ocean that conjures up our awareness of the greatness of God. Gentle yet strong, soothing yet passionate. Yes, loved one, the Holy Spirit’s refreshing presence will sustain and satisfy your heart and soul today as you open up to Him. And to think, all you have to do is just breathe!


“And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

John 20:22

I LOVE YOU!

Michael Osthimer

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