Holy Glow

Be not drunk with wine

but be filled with the Spirit

as Joel foresaw.

From the time I was small I observed "drunk" in my family and it was never pleasant or fun. On bad days "Drunk" hurt people. "Drunk" was uncontrollable, angry and violent. "Drunk" did things that embarrassed or shamed you. On good days "Drunk" was obnoxious and full of mean sarcasm. Many Christians talk about being “drunk in the Spirit”, but I could never reconcile how the Holy Spirit works in and through the body of Christ with “Drunk”.

I did a quick word study and can't find anything good about being drunk in the Bible. Paul says in Ephesians: “Be not drunk with wine…but be filled with the Spirit.” Peter says in Acts: "These are not drunk as you suppose..." then quotes from the book of Joel where God promised to pour out His Spirit on all mankind.

I realized yesterday that the happy, warm, feeling of well-being, the feeling that I'm on cloud nine - THAT'S what people are talking about when they say "drunk in the Spirit". I've experienced that glow many times. I just never associated it with being drunk. It didn’t make me violent or sarcastic - quite the opposite! People didn’t want to avoid me, they wanted to know how I got that way. Being drunk is the closest thing the world has, but it falls so short! One key difference is I could choose to go with it or suppress it. You don't get that with alchohol. Why would we borrow the world's terminology for something so amazing?

The first I recall someone else noticing this on me they said, “Della doesn’t need alchol! She get’s a natural buzz.” I was aglow with that feeling when they said that. At the time, and up until yesterday I thought everyone experienced that occassionally, but not everyone does. Some do, but many never have that natural glow. I understand what the world is looking for at the bottom of a beer bottle. They're looking for a glow. Ask for the Holy Spirit. He’s got plenty of glow to go around. Acts 4:8-12, 6:2-6, 8:12-17, 9:17-19

-Ephesians 5:18, Acts 2:15-18