Picture a tall, cold glass of milk. Now bring out the magic. Yes, the chocolate syrup. When the chocolate syrup is squeezed out of the bottle into the milk, what happens to the chocolate? It sinks to the bottom. How does the milk taste and look? Really no different.
This is a picture of what often happens in the life of a Christian. God promises the Holy Spirit as a down payment, an engagement ring of sorts, to seal every believer when they are spiritually born again (Ephesians 1:13–14; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22). The chocolate represents the Spirit; the milk represents our lives.
All Christians are indwelt by the Spirit, but not all Christians are empowered, filled, or walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is due to either ignorance of the role of the Spirit or willful walking in disobedience. Living a life of being “chocolate milk” is God’s intention for all believers. A “chocolate milk” life is one of divine appointments, of seeing character change and people’s lives influenced, of answered prayer, and joy that doesn’t necessarily match the surrounding circumstances. The Christian life is not hard to live; it’s impossible on our own. God provides what we need to live the Christian life through His Spirit.
Read together Ephesians 5:18.
Ask: What are we commanded to avoid? Why?
What are we commanded to do?
The contrast Paul uses is of the alcohol influencing a drunk person to that of the Spirit being the primary influence in how we live. Being filled with the Spirit means letting the Spirit direct and empower us.
The 3 W’s:
The natural question is: how do we become stirred-up chocolate milk? We answer the ‘how’ through the three W’s.
Want:
Do you want or desire to be directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit? Sometimes Christians are more comfortable identifying with “spiritual things” than identifying as a follower of Jesus. Do you want Jesus to be in the driver’s seat and have the Spirit lead and direct you?
Wrongs:
Do you have any unconfessed sin? Are you turning from known sin and keeping short accounts with God? Sin quenches the Spirit.
Willing:
Are you willing to surrender and yield control of your life to Christ? Rather than giving over different parts of our lives over to God, walking in the Spirit means our entire lives are laid down as a living and holy sacrifice (Romans 12:1–2).
We receive Christ by faith, and we are filled with the Spirit by faith. We only need to be born again spiritually one time, but walking in the Spirit is moment by moment. We can continue to ask and thank God for filling us with His Spirit knowing this is both His will and His command.