Being filled with what?

I didn't get to preach yesterday so you better pack a lunch[or hit the delete button] which I hope doesn't happen. I have been reading a book entitled '' the power of desperation'' and it has really been uplifting and challenging me in my walk everyday with the Lord. There was a quotation in the book, which the author refers to several, that says this ''We will never crave to be filled until we are convinced we are empty'' [ John Blanchard]. I begin to look at my life as I hope you will do the same. I find myself filled with a lot of things and confuse them with being from the Lord when in reality I am filled with a lot of me, myself and I.I ask you to consider the following scripture .

Eph 3:11
{This was} in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Eph 3:12
in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
Eph 3:13
Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.
Eph 3:14
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
Eph 3:15
from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
Eph 3:16
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
Eph 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; {and} that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
Eph 3:19
and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Eph 3:20
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
I love to think that everything I have materialistically or otherwise would be something from my own doings or strength. I realize that everything I do or hope to accomplish in the Kingdom will have to be from the empowering of the Holy Spirit. I find myself and others trying to reflect on yesterday's experience to empower me for future endeavors for the Lord. I try to do this in my personal life as well. I think because I sing the same song, at the same place, and the same time that the blessings will flow just as before. We go do the same thing over and over again but then after a while the newness ''wears'' out. We begin to look for something else to get us going again. We want change but we want it everywhere else but us. Churches and individuals alike want something better and many are afraid to change[as pastor I fear that as well]
Here is what most want to change, churches want new facilities, new carpet, new songs, new media equipment and none of these things are wrong but we depend on these things to make us better. Individuals are looking for new ministry[they themselves need to be ministered to], they even look for a new church because the old one is the reason for my lack of seeking. Individuals will fill their time with hobbies and adventures and neglect the house of God, prayer, and Bible study. Individuals will look for social atmospheres to fill or add to their contentment while all along they are empty inside and never know it . They will never realize their need until the point of desperation occurs in their life. I will bring it even closer to home us Pentecostals will go to church and base the service on emotion and feel good experience[folks I do believe in the Baptism of the Holy Ghost] Jeremiah says that the heart [the seat of emotions] is deceitful. It is hard to tame and know. We must be filled with more than mere emotion we must be filled with the Spirit of God and allow it to empower us. We must know in whom we have believed.
The scripture tells we need to be grounded in love[his] that we may understand the love he has for us. That we may be filled with his fullness. With His fullness then that means I need to be empty of me. The things that make me content may be just the thing that is keeping me discontent. I may be holding on to an offense, I may holding onto a horrible past, I may holding onto the effects of a dysfunctional family, God wants you to go another level and depths but our attitude and our preconceived state of satisfaction is hindering us and not helping us. The Bible tells us the story of the woman of Samaria who came with a vessel to get water and she would be filled but she found out she needed to be empty. Jhn 4:28 The woman then left her water pot, She even answered questions asked from Jesus that she knew about the coming messiah so she was filled with stuff, she was filled with scars and broken relationships but she met the master and she left the vessel she needed to carry back the water in but she was filled with Jesus. The stuff she was filled with had hindered her because Jesus told her that she didn't know what she worshipped. She had ideas about God that separated her from being filled with more of God. The church world had those same ideas as well that is the reason the scripture said ''he must needs go through Samaria.''
I used to work in a textile mill and we had a maintenance man named Steve nicknamed ''Smitty'' and he was so well loved in the plant but he was lost. He was diagnosed with colon cancer he was about 40 years of age. I went to visit him in the hospital and was going to witness to him and share the ''good news'' and when I got there his room was filled with visitors and I never did. Time had passed and there was man who came to get his tools because cancer had been eating his body and now he was only given a few weeks to live, Smitty had come to gather his tools .I went to him and I said Steve I have know one thing do you know the Lord have repented and trusted the Lord. I'll never forget his response he said ''Spanky [that was my nickname] when you lay on your back for weeks at the time and the doctor tells you they can do nothing else for you, you look up and realize what you need was there all the time. I have plenty of time on my back and have asked God to save me .It took me being flat on my back to make me realize I was empty''.
I don't want cancer to make me realize I need more of God and less of me but until I am convinced I am empty I can never be filled. This refers to saint or sinner. I don't want an offense to keep me from the depths of God when all I had to do was go to my brother or sister and all along I am convinced I'm full. I don't want to be rendered ineffective in the Kingdom due to relying on yesterday's experience when I could have sought earnestly after God and be truly filled. I want to be empty so I can be filled.