Day #160 - Overflow
The Presence - A Devotional for living in Thanksgiving, Worship and Wonder
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13 NKJV
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13 NIV
Have you ever had a slushy drink?
If you’ve never had one, I will try and explain one to you. It is a mixed sugary frozen drink that is very cold and refreshing, especially on a hot day. You have to get one from a machine that mixes the ice and the flavor together while making it frozen but smooth. When you get a slushy you usually hit the cup on the counter a couple of times to make sure it settles and you can pack in as much as possible. The other thing you do is fill it up as much as possible which usually causes it to overflow on top of the lid. Then you have to slurp the excess off the top to try and minimize the delicious mess.
God wants us live in the overflow of “the Presence.” There are many benedictions in the New Testament letters and towards the end of Romans Paul gives one of my favorites. These benedictions are short blessings for his readers in the various churches he is writing.
This blessing is all about the work of the Holy Spirit and Paul uses these wonderful words like “all” and “overflow.” Paul here calls God the “God of hope” and He prays the God of hope will fill the church with all joy and peace in believing. As we believe in the God of hope we are filled with all joy and peace. What an amazing promise for us who trust in Him.
However, it doesn’t stop there, Paul not only blesses them with this prayer for being filled but for abounding of even overflowing with hope. This hope comes to us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Are you living in the overflow of hope? We are not only supposed be filled but to have more than enough that runs over.
The Holy Spirit, God’s empowering presence, is after us once again. His power not only gives us gifts like tongues and prophecy and not only is for boldness to share our faith. The Holy Spirit’s power is also to cause us to live in the overflow of hope. What a Helper! What an empowering presence in our lives to make real to us what Christ has won for us.
I encourage you to pray this prayer over yourself and over those who you wish to bless. What a powerful blessing to pray this benediction of Scripture.
May the God of hope fill me with all joy and peace in believing and trusting in Him, so that I may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, amen!
Yes, let us live in the overflow of what Christ has done for us and continues today!
My cry nearly everyday for years is fill me Holy Spirit with new wine; fill my cup to overflowing! Being a rather non talkative type of person I become the opposite in the Holy Spirit. I become someone I am not…on my own. It is fun, rather off balancing but I have learned to go with the Holy Spirit’s flow and let Him speak or do what He wants. I have to surrender to His control even when it does not make sense to me. One day, even in my introvertness personality I found myself saying to a doorman at a hotel the Lord wants to tell you, you are His juiceman….you squeeze the best out of people! He turned out to be a believer and Neither he or I will ever forget that revelation. Few words in the Spirit can change a life in the wink of an eye.