It is written in Ephesians 5:18 "Be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit". Notice two commands here. The first one is, "Don't be drunk with wine." The second is, "Be filled with the Spirit."

Why is it that Christians who would never disobey the first command here do not take the second one seriously? This is but one example of how Satan blinds our minds to the truths of Scripture. Most believers consider the first as a command ("Don't get drunk") but the second as a suggestion ("Be filled with the Spirit")!! But both are commands - and both are equally important. If it is a serious matter to be drunk even once in a year, then it is equally serious not to be filled with the Spirit even one single day in a year. Have you seen it like that?

The verb in Ephesians 5:18 is a continuous verb - it means "be being filled", "keep on being filled", and not "be filled once". If we were filled with the Spirit in the morning, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit in the evening and every day continuously. Ask God to fill you with His Spirit all the time. Such people were referred to in Acts as "men and women FULL of the Holy Spirit".

One of the primary marks of being filled with the Spirit is a change in the way we speak. Our tongue will become "a tongue of fire" (Acts 2:3). This is not "speaking in other tongues", but "speaking in our mother tongue with God's fire of love and purity". Our language will become heavenly. Notice the emphasis on our speech in these verses "Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father" (Eph. 5:19, 20). The spirit of thankfulness will replace the spirit of gossip, slander, bitterness and anger when we are filled with the Spirit. All the verses following Ephesians 5:18 are characteristics of Spirit-filled people (from 5:19 to 6:24). It begins with thankfulness and continues on to"subjection to one another" in the church and in home relationships (Eph.5:21 to 6:9); and then to"fighting and overcoming Satanic forces" (Eph.6:11). So the secret of our Christian walk and warfare on earth is "being filled with the Holy Spirit".

We cannot praise God properly if we are not filled with the Spirit. We cannot be godly husbands and wives without being filled with the Spirit. We cannot bring up our children properly without being filled with the Spirit. And we cannot defeat Satanic forces without being filled with the Spirit. Everything in our Christian life is dependent on our being filled with the Spirit.

In relation to our home, we are told here about three relationships - husbands and wives (Eph. 5:22-33), children and parents (Eph. 6:1-4) and masters and servants (Eph. 6:5-9). This last section applies to servants working in our homes as well as to those who work in an office - as servants of a company or the government, with bosses above us. So these instructions tell us how we are to conduct ourselves as masters/mistresses and servants - at home, or in an office. We all spend most of our time in two places - at home and in our office. A Spirit-filled person will manifest the Spirit of Christ at home and at his place of work. It is only with that Spirit that we can build the body of Christ.