CHAPTER NINE

ENJOYING GOD
THROUGH TAKING IN THE SPIRIT

Scripture Reading: Psa. 27:1; John 6:63; 7:37-39; 14:6; 15:4-5; 1 John 2:27-28; 3:24; 4:13; 5:20

BEING DRUNK WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

I would like to emphasize the word eats in John 6:57 and drink in 7:37. After speaking concerning eating Him in 6:57, the Lord said that anyone who thirsts should come to Him to drink in 7:37. We should never consider that the thought of eating and drinking the Lord is something we invented. Our speaking is based entirely on the Lord Jesus’ words.

Drinking the living water refers to drinking the Spirit. At the time the Lord Jesus spoke this word, the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Hence, on the evening of the Lord’s resurrection He came and stood in the midst of the disciples and breathed into them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22). From that day on the disciples drank of the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended and filled the disciples. This was a greater drinking of the Spirit. Once they were filled with the Spirit, they began to speak in different tongues. They were like drunken people speaking. Those who heard them could not comprehend them. They could not understand what was happening, and they remarked that the disciples were filled with new wine. They definitely were filled, not with new wine but with the Spirit. They were drunk with the Spirit, not drunk with wine. The Spirit is the realization of God. They were drunk with God, not with wine. They were “crazy” because of God, not “crazy” because of wine. I believe that the Lord would allow me to say this. When a man is drunk, he becomes crazy and speaks deliriously. He speaks whatever he wants to speak; there is no fear or reservation in him. On the day of Pentecost the disciples were indeed drunk. They were drunk with God. They were filled with God. Therefore, they were “crazy” in their behavior.

We should not be surprised when we hear the word crazy. Strictly speaking, if we have never been crazy in our experience as a Christian, our faith in Him is not very strong. In 2 Corinthians 5:13 Paul says, “For whether we were beside ourselves, it was to God.” Being beside oneself is being crazy. God can make a person beside himself. As Christians, have we ever been beside ourselves? The verse goes on to say, “Or whether we are sober-minded, it is for you.” This means that the apostle was sober toward men but was crazy toward God. Some Christians are sober before men and sober before God; they have never been crazy, because they have never been drunk with God.

Another place in the Bible, Acts 26:24-25, also speaks of being beside oneself. These verses say, “As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, You are insane, Paul. Much learning is driving you insane. But Paul said, I am not insane, most excellent Festus, but I am uttering words of truth and soberness.” In Paul’s mind he was uttering words of truth and soberness, but to his interrogators he was insane. He was speaking in an insane way while he was defending himself, not in an ordinary way. Paul was “insane” because he was inwardly filled and drunk with God. He was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Many of us can testify that when we breathe in God through our prayer, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit can be compared to new wine; the more we drink Him, the more we are inwardly filled with Him. When we are full of the Spirit, we cannot help but be beside ourselves, because it seems as if we have been swept off our feet. Our praise is no longer common praise, and our singing is no longer common singing. We are as those who are “insane” before God; we are drunk with God.

We not only need to eat God and drink God, but we also need to be drunk with God. This is an intense drinking, not a small sipping. We need to drink to the extent that our whole being is filled with God. Then our preaching of the gospel will be powerful, and our witnessing for the Lord will be bold. The fact that some brothers and sisters are afraid of testifying for the Lord proves that they do not have enough God, not enough of the Spirit, within them. Everyone who is drunk with the Spirit is bold. Whatever God entrusts them with or commissions them to say is carried out without any fear. They are like Peter who declared before the rulers, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you judge” (4:19). The apostles were indeed in a drunken and crazy state. They testified that the Jesus whom the Jews had crucified on the cross was raised up by the God of their fathers, for it was not possible for Him to be bound by death. They seemed to be saying, “We stand here today to testify of His resurrection. If He has not resurrected, we would not have such boldness. He is living, and He is living within us. As the Spirit, He has entered into us, has filled us, and has intoxicated us. Therefore, we are not afraid of anything.”

We must see that God is not only edible and drinkable but also intoxicating. Not only can we eat God and drink God; we can be intoxicated by Him and be drunk with Him.