Make No Room For Satan

There is an interesting Greek word for our English word "fill" in the New Testament.  It is used in Acts 15:13  and it is defined as "to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim. "  In this instance the word is used in verse 13 as "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."  This verse along with others exhorts us to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Certainly we are filled with the Holy Spirit when we He enters our lives by our invitation including repentance, faith toward Him and our asking.  Then Ephesians 5:18 tells us to "avoid being drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit." There is an ongoing day by day filling of the Holy Spirit that comes from relationship with the Giver of the Holy Spirit himself, Jesus.  When we look back at our  definition  of "fill" we see there is a place where we are daily filled to a level of not leaving room for Satan to infiltrate our lives and lead us astray.  Certainly temptation comes regardless of how full we are but as with Jesus in the wilderness we are equipped to resist the temptation.  The answer to remaining stable in our faith life is to remain filled with the Holy Spirit.  Galatians 5:16 says, "walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."  Ananias and Sapphira were a part of the early church and participated in the daily life of the Church.  In the midst of the greatest power and purity of the life of the Church something went terribly wrong!  They lied to Peter about an offering they were bringing and in essence lied to "the Holy Spirit."  The died on the spot!  We don't have time to go into the many obvious questions here about all the "whys and whats" but I simply want to address the words of Peter.  He asked Ananias, "why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?"  What a question!  There had been a temptation to appear greater than they were before man that resulted in sinning against God.  An evaporation had occurred and emptying of the Holy Spirit that allowed a filling with Satan.  May we today heed the warning of Peter and press in close to Jesus and remain FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT!