Drinking a lot of wine can be a funny thing, because you never how it's going to effect you. I love it when I just sing (badly) at the top of my voice, and dance as if no one is watching. It's like my whole body comes alive and music turns into liquid oil running through my veins, not a bit of me able to keep still or silent. A state of ecstasy, full of joy, completely free. Other times I'm a complete wreck; crying my heart out, tears and snot running down my face - its not pretty! Or I've felt invincible, as if the impossible no longer exists. All insecurities or fear of failure, evaporate. I've been so intoxicated that I can't stand and all I can do is lie on a heap on the floor until the weightiness lifts. And there's the talking none stop in words no one else seems to understand.
This could be my memories of over doing alcohol, in my teens and twenties, but it's actually a description of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Having tried both, there's no comparison. Alcohol is tasty, and being off your head can be great fun at the time but it's a not so cheap counterfeit. The original version, which our body, mind and soul were designed to experience, leads to wholeness, holiness and restoration. There's healing in the tears. Regrets are dealt with, not piled on. It's a goodbye to condemnation, not hello. It's an experience of intimacy that comes from being truly loved, seen, heard, known. (And He'll still be with you in the morning!) Being flat out on the floor isn't a place of hopelessness, but a time where He reveals the secrets, mysteries and strategies of heaven.
Everything in moderation isn't a bad philosophy. It's pretty healthy in fact, but not where love is concerned, and God is love. I want to live a life full of the abundance that Father God has for me. When I'm full of Him, that's where my freedom is. It's the source of my joy, strength, love, patience, boldness, faith. Somewhere along the way, I seem to have forgotten this, and reduced the size of the cup I'm drinking from! I've been satisfied with having a fuzzy feeling, and saying thank you very much Holy Spirit, that'll do nicely. I'm not sure why. Embarrassment? Responsibility? Insecurity? Laziness? Fear? Dignity? Yes, probably a mix of all these. So here's my dilemma. Am I willing to give up on the more of God so that I can be seen as vaguely respectable?
I don't think I can and so it's time to hand over my need to be in control and to trust that being though being full of the Holy Spirit may mean I become as "undignified as David" it will bring a transformation that has good fruit. Getting "drunk" with friends is so much better than by yourself, so why not pull up a seat at His table, and taste of His goodness. And let's choose the large glass!
Acts 2:15-19 These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. 1No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions,and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy.
Ephesians 5:17-19 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.
Song of Solomon 5:1b Oh, lover and beloved, eat and drink! Yes, drink deeply of your love!
Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
2 Samuel 6:16 As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.
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