Four Ways to Let the Holy Spirit Keep You Hungry

It's one thing to get excited about God. It's another thing to keep that hunger. Last week I shared three keys to holy hunger: actively pursuing God, keeping a pure heart, and fasting. This week at Passionate Life Church we went a step further and asked how we keep our hunger for God. Holy hunger comes from the Holy Spirit, so here are four ways to let Him keep you hungry.

1. Believe in the Promise and the Gift
If you're new, we are a non-denominational church that is Spirit-filled. That means we believe all of the gifts are active today, and that the same Holy Spirit you read about in the book of Acts, with healings and people being set free, is active in our lives today. You can read more about what we believe.

If I were the devil, I'd attack your Bible reading, pull you out of community, and remove what gives you power. The Holy Spirit equals power.

In Acts 1, Jesus commands His disciples not to leave Jerusalem until the Father sends the gift He promised. John baptized with water, but in a few days they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift we've ever been given, and He's for every believer, not just the super-spiritual.

John's Baptism:

• Water
• Repentance and a public declaration of faith
• Your old life is over, and your new life begins

The Baptism of Jesus:

• Holy Spirit, fire, and power
• The fire of God inside you that other people can feel
• You can be renewed in the Spirit every single day

I believe this is why Jesus never baptized anyone in water: He didn't want anyone confused between the two. The early church lived with urgency because they believed Jesus was returning soon, and they invited as many people as possible to their house groups. That's the heart behind our life groups.

2. Become an Empty Vessel
Here I mean emptying yourself of preconceived notions about who God is. If you've walked with Jesus a while, you tend to put Him in a box: "God, You answer my prayers this way, and I like it this way." Empty that religious spirit.

Pastor's Note: This was the first word God gave me when I came to Colorado by myself to pray over the land. I looked up and sensed the Spirit of God hovering over the state like scattered showers. I asked why He wasn't fully pouring out, and He said, "I don't have enough containers. I don't have enough empty vessels." I want Passionate Life Church to be one of them.

What the Stone Jars at Cana Show Us
In John 2, the wine runs out at a wedding in Cana, and Mary tells the servants, "Do whatever He tells you." This part is Pastor Andrew, not Scripture: I wonder if Mary was so confident because she had seen Him do it before. When you've seen God do something, you're confident He can do it again.

I was addicted for seven years, and when I surrendered, He took away all desire to use. If He did it for me, He can do it for you.

• The jars were empty. There were six stone jars, and six represents man.
• They held 20 to 30 gallons each. The extent to which you empty yourself is the extent to which God will fill you.
• They were filled to the top with water. Jesus is the living water.
• The servant carried it in faith. It was still water when he dipped it. God will give you hope, but He won't give you insurance.

The best wine was saved for last. God's blessings never run out, and out of the servants' obedience came a miracle.

3. Allow the Holy Spirit to Be in Close Fellowship With You
Think about your closest relationship: you talk every day. That's what the Holy Spirit wants with you. In John 16 (Amplified), Jesus tells His disciples sorrow has filled their hearts, so much that they couldn't receive His words.

Then He says it's to their advantage that He goes, so He can send the Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener, and Standby to be in close fellowship with them.

Field Note: You can be filled with the Spirit or filled with sorrow, but you can't be filled with both.

The Holy Spirit is not the wind. He's a person, the third person of the Trinity, and He's the God who is with us. If you're saved, you've heard His voice; you just haven't discerned it yet. The more you walk with Him, the more you'll recognize Him.

The Believers Who Had Never Heard
In Acts 19:1-7, Paul asks believers in Ephesus if they received the Holy Spirit. They say they've never heard of Him and only had John's baptism. They're baptized in the name of Jesus, Paul lays hands on them, and they speak in tongues and prophesy. Tongues and prophecy aren't for elite Christians. They're for everybody. The Holy Spirit isn't weird. People are weird. He's a gentleman. I pray in tongues every day, and prophecy is simply encouraging people with the word of God.

Ezekiel 36 saw this coming: God would replace our stony heart and put His Spirit in us. In the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon people and left. Today He has permanent residence in us.

4. Embrace the Extraordinary
You are not ordinary. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in you. Scripture tells us we cannot please God without faith, and if you don't have faith to see the extraordinary, you'll never see it.

The Messy Middle: My son Jude is 15 and loves basketball. His knees had been at a constant seven-to-eight pain level, and he hadn't been able to work his legs in three to four months. Treatments like red light therapy didn't fix it, and anger was welling up in him. On a Wednesday night, the Holy Spirit told me to bring him to upper room prayer. He didn't want to come.

Maria and Renee anointed his knees with oil, and the team prayed. The pain moved to his thighs, then his shins, and as we rebuked it, it left. He was doing tuck jumps, lunges, and full squats, and the joy of the Lord came over him. There are some things only God can fix. We have healing scriptures you can pray over your own situation.

In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul rebukes a church for acting like ordinary people, full of jealousy and strife, arguing over "I follow Paul" and "I follow Apollos." Your salvation was a supernatural act of God. You're going to live forever. Stop arguing about things that don't matter in the scope of eternity.

The Bottom Line
Believing the promise gives you access to the power. Emptying yourself makes room for Him to fill you. Close fellowship teaches you His voice. Faith opens your eyes to the extraordinary. Jesus paid for your freedom on the cross, and you don't have to stay broken.

Take Your Next Step
If you want to say yes to Jesus, receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or need someone to pray with you, reach out to our team. We'd love to walk with you.