Day 28: Grateful for a Transformed Life!
18Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. 19Then you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:18-20
The Apostle Paul gives us the “power source” for living our transformed lives in verse 18: 18Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. Once again he tells us what NOT to do first—don’t use mind altering substances to get a transformed mind or life, since that kind of transformation is a transformation to RUIN. Rather, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. A better translation of Ephesians 5:18b is “instead, be being filled with the Holy Spirit.” In other words, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit again and again and again. Typically, that means calling on God to fill us with the Holy Spirit throughout the day, since our tendency is to let the “flesh” win the battle, and the only way for the Holy Spirit to win that internal battle is to give Him control, to call on Him to fill us!
Paul also tells us that once we have the Holy Spirit in our lives certain behaviors and actions will follow: 19Then you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Joy comes when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Praise demonstrates our joy—we sing to the Lord either aloud or in our hearts. The internal state of our lives eventually comes out of us! If we’re filled with the Holy Spirit then others will know. In addition to that joy and praise, Paul tells us that we will ALWAYS give thanks for EVERYTHING to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ALWAYS! So we see that the result of a transformed life is thanksgiving, and the cause of a transformed life is thanksgiving! The attitude of gratitude builds an environment for transformation, AND it demonstrates that we are being transformed. Make certain that you take the time to thank God for your transformation today!
Questions and Comments for Reflection and Action:
Take some time right now to thank God for the transformation that’s taking place in you, AND take some time to pray for tomorrow’s worship—that you will be prepared, that the leaders will be prepared, and that all who come to worship will come with an attitude gratitude for ALL God is doing within us and among us.