Be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord. Eph. 5:18b-19
Dear saints, let us pray that the saints would learn to speak Christ to one another with the hymns and to sing hymns and spiritual songs in their daily life in order to build up their spirit and their fine and tender feelings to equip themselves to function in the meetings (Eph. 5:18b-19 and notes 191, 192; Col. 3:16 and notes 165, 167; Hymns, #1141, ss. 1, 3-4).
Verses 19-21 modify be filled in spirit in v. 18. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are not only for singing and psalming but also for speaking to one another. Such speaking, singing, psalming, giving of thanks to God (v. 20), and subjecting of ourselves to one another (v. 21) are not only the outflow of being filled in spirit but also the way to be filled in spirit. Eph. 5:19 – footnote 1, Speaking (RcV Bible)
Hymns, #1141, stanza 1:
We will sing to the Lord with our spirit,
We will sing to the Lord from within,
We will sing hallelujah to Jesus;
And be blent into oneness with Him.In Ephesians 5:18-19 Paul says, “Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.” We are to be filled with the Triune God as the all-inclusive, consummated Spirit in our spirit. This filling occurs not by our speaking in the common, worldly language but by speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. In our hymnal there are many good hymns full of the truth. Every hymn, especially those written by us, is a good message full of the riches of Christ. For example, Hymns, #501 describes how Christ was the infinite God in eternity who, as God’s radiant expression, became a finite man, limited in time. As the very expression of God, He died for us to accomplish redemption in His flesh. Then He became a life-giving Spirit to be one with us. We must learn to speak Christ with the hymns…In every meeting we should use a hymn in a living way. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1985, vol. 3, “The Divine Speaking,” ch. 2)
More details via Beseeching.org, day 411.
