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elwood stokes

Fill Me Now

Words: Elwood Haines Stokes (b. Oct. 10, 1815; d. July 16, 1895)
Music: John Robson Sweney (b. Dec. 31, 1837; d. Apr. 10, 1899)

Note: Elwood Stokes wrote this hymn in 1879. Dr. Stokes was a pastor, one of the founders of a religious community in New Jersey, and president of the Ocean Grove Campmeeting Association. He felt there was a lack of hymns on the work of the Holy Spirit, so he wrote Fill Me Now. The camp’s director of music at the time, John Sweney, supplied the tune, testifying that while he was on his knees in prayer, “God seemed to speak the melody right into my heart.”

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

F illed and fulfilled–there’s often a connection between them. When you fill a pitcher with milk, you are also enabling it to fulfil the purpose for which it was designed. The relationship is so close that the Greek of the New Testament has one word (pleroo) which can mean either or both. The Greek word is used to describe a net full of fish–with the net’s purpose thus being fulfilled (Matt. 13:37-38).

Knowing this provides valuable insight, when it comes to a ministry of the Spirit of God. The Old Testament and the New speak of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps some are inclined to think of that in spatial terms, seeing it as similar to filling a pitcher. So when the Spirit in us is somehow depleted we need to be “topped up” in some way. But that is not it at all. To begin with, the Holy Spirit has all the attributes of deity, and He is therefore omnipresent–fully present everywhere at once.

The term describes not a physical experience, but a spiritual work of God in the believer’s life. What’s implied in Stoke’s repeated plea that the Spirit of God “bathe his brow” ((1) and (4)) tends to get us off the track with regard to the meaning, though this may simply be poetic imagery for the comfort of the Spirit.

The Spirit’s filling refers to His empowering, the enabling grace given to us so we can fulfil the purposes of God. A man named Bezalel was filled with the Spirit to give him skill as a craftsman to construct Israel’s worship centre (Exod. 31:2-5). Zacharias with filled with the Spirit so that he might prophesy (Lk. 1:67-68). And when the early church faced persecution, they prayed for boldness to continue preaching the gospel. It was the filling of the Holy Spirit that equipped them to do so (Acts 4:29, 31).

(1) Hover o’er me, Holy Spirit,
Bathe my trembling heart and brow;
Fill me with Thy hallowed presence,
Come, O come and fill me now.

Fill me now, fill me now,
Jesus, come and fill me now;
Fill me with Thy hallowed presence,
Come, O come, and fill me now.

What Christian has never felt a sense of inadequacy to do the will of God, and live consistently in a way that pleases Him? But there is a problem with these lyrics, though we can certainly appreciate the sentiment they express. The text is based on the holiness doctrine of the need to tarry and plead for a “second blessing.” The difficulty lies in the basic implication of the hymn that we must ask and urge the Holy Spirit to fill us. No one in the Bible ever does that, nor are we ever commanded to do so.

First of all, each and every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God (e.g. Rom. 5:5; 8:9, 11; I Cor. 2:12; 6:19; II Cor. 5:5; Gal. 4:6). As to pleading for Him, even the words of Ephesians 5:19, “Be filled with the Spirit,” might be translated, “Be being fulfilled by the Spirit.” In other words, make sure you are in tune spiritually, so you will be receptive to His fulfilling work.

That is sometimes described as “walking in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16, 25). Our walk involves a consist life of obedience and faith. A step by step trust in the Lord, and obedience to His Word. If we sin, we are to confess our sin (I Jn. 1:9), and take up our obedient, faith-filled walk again. When these things are true of us, the Spirit of God is able to fulfil His purpose in and through us. As we walk, He fills. The result is successful Christian living.

(3) I am weakness, full of weakness,
At Thy sacred feet I bow;
Blest, divine, eternal Spirit,
Fill with power and fill me now.

The evidence that we are walking (living) in the fullness of the Spirit will be seen in our lives in a practical way. Recently, I wrote a blog on a hymn about revival. The characteristics of a revived believer will do nicely here to describe a Spirit-filled believer. He or she will exhibit the following:

  • A repentance of sin, and a desire to live a holy life
  • A love for the Lord, and a longing to know Him and serve Him
  • An enriching study and application of God’s Word
  • A love for the people of God and a desire to fellowship regularly with them
  • An earnestness and power in prevailing prayer
  • A love for the great hymns and gospel songs of the church, and for singing them with others
  • A passion to witness for Christ, and see others come to know Him

Questions:

  1. How is the Spirit of God fulfilling His purpose in you today (or this week)?
  2. What other hymns about the ministry of the Spirit do you know and use?

Links:

Today in 1863 – Howard Smith Born

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Howard E. Smith was a church organist who composed a number of hymn tunes, including the one used for Love Lifted Me. The words for this song were written by James Rowe, and his daughter describes for us how the two men worked on it:

Howard E. Smith was a little man whose hands were so knotted with arthritis that you would wonder how he could use them at all….I can see them now, my father striding up and down, humming a bar or two, and Howard E. playing it and jotting it down.

I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more;
But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me, now safe am I.

There is a line in the second stanza of the hymn that I especially appreciate. “Love so mighty and so true merits my soul’s best songs.” That is a worthy sentiment. In both the writing and the selection of our hymns, and in their use, we should keep in mind who we are singing for, and singing about. The Lord is worthy of our very best.

Having said that, I do have some reservations about this particular song. The words are fine, but Howard Smith’s tune does not always suit their mood and meaning. The tune of a hymn should serve as the frame of a picture does, enhancing the message, and supporting it. The tune and the words should be saying the same thing. But that is not always the case here.

The kind of bouncy rhythm of the melody does not suit the words “I was sinking deep in sin.” (Someone suggested it almost sounds as though the lyric should be, “I was sinking deep in sin, Yahoo!”) The third stanza’s “Souls in danger, look above” is likewise not suited to the happy, rhythmic tune. Since the song uses a somewhat irregular metre, it does not seem possible to switch to another familiar tune. It might help a bit to sing it more slowly.

(2) Today in 1895 – Elwood Stokes Died

Graphic Elwood Stokes

Little is known of Elwood Haines Stokes except that he was one of the founders of a New Jersey religious community, and president of the Ocean Grove Campmeeting Association. His prominence in the late nineteenth century is attested to by the statue raised in his honour. Sensing a need for more hymns about the Holy Spirit, Stokes wrote Fill Me Now in 1879.

Hover o’er me, Holy Spirit,
Bathe my trembling heart and brow;
Fill me with Thy hallowed presence,
Come, O come and fill me now.

Fill me now, fill me now,
Jesus, come and fill me now;
Fill me with Thy hallowed presence,
Come, O come, and fill me now.

Thou canst fill me, gracious Spirit,
Though I cannot tell Thee how;
But I need Thee, greatly need Thee,
Come, O come and fill me now.

Of this prayer hymn, my musician father would likely have said, “I don’t agree with all the details, but I appreciate the sentiment being expressed.” The work of the Holy Spirit is often misunderstood, and there are few hymns on that subject that are fully biblical.

A Note on the Filling of the Spirit

“Be filled with the Spirit,” says Ephesians 5:18. But in order to grasp what the Word is saying we need to note a couple of things. First, all Christians are forever indwelt by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9; I Cor. 6:19). We do not need to ask Him to come into our lives. And second, the Greek word for “filled” (pleroo) is more often translated fulfilled in the New Testament.

His filling ministry is not a spatial thing. It’s not as though we need to be “topped up” with the Holy Spirit the way we fill a gas tank. What Paul is speaking of in the Ephesians text is His empowering to enable us to fulfil the will of God. (The artisans of Israel were filled with the Spirit to equip them to design the intricate furnishings of the tabernacle, Exod. 31:1-5).

Occasionally, in Bible times, the filling of the Spirit was a sovereign act of God, seeming to require no personal qualifications or human action at all. John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit while still a babe in his mother’s womb (Lk. 1:15). But that does not seem to be the norm for Christians on this side of the cross.

Greek scholars suggest the verb tense for “be filled” (or, if you will, be fulfilled) is more literally “be being fulfilled.” That is, be in such a condition, and have such an attitude, that the Spirit of God is able to fulfil His purpose of equipping you to serve the Lord. No Bible verse actually tells us to ask for the Spirit’s fulfilling ministry. But we are responsible, by God’s grace, to be in a condition of heart and life which allows Him to do His work unhindered in and through us.

While not exactly synonymous with walking in the Spirit, these two are closely related. “If we live in the Spirit [through the new birth] let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). Walking requires step-by-step faith in God and obedience to His Word, and the confession of any known sin (I Jn. 1:9). And as we walk, the Spirit fills (and fulfils), and as He fulfils, we walk.

It might be going too far to suggest believers should never ask for the Holy Spirit’s filling–which is tantamount to praying for God’s enabling grace. But more pragmatic and practical prayers, related to the specific need, can have the same result. The believers in the early church prayed, “Grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word….And when they had prayed…they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:29, 31).