 Many believers grow to the place where their heart becomes cold and they lose this childlike expectation. They think they've experienced everything that there is to experience in God. But there's more to him than we realize. You need to come back to the place of spiritual hunger. And I want to talk to you about spiritual hunger that leads to new dimensions in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. But first, I want you to comment this by faith. Type these three simple words, there is more. No believer here on earth has reached their full potential in Christ. You've not plateaued in your walk with God. There are still encounters to be had with the precious Holy Spirit. Depths and heights unending to explore. And I want to challenge you to recapture childlike faith and wonder. I want to talk to you about going deeper with the Holy Spirit. First, I want to define what I mean by that. Because whenever I talk about going deeper with the Holy Spirit or walking in greater measures of his power, going to higher heights, often what people get in their mind is the Holy Spirit coming closer to them. But that's not what's happening. You see, the Holy Spirit already lives in you. You have the Holy Spirit. He dwells in you. Ever since you were born again, you've had the Spirit of God living within you in the fullness of his presence and power. So you're not lacking in that area. The key here though is greater levels of surrender that ultimately yield greater levels of revelation and greater encounters and more intense encounters and more frequent encounters. You see, what happens sometimes in the life of the believer is they come to this place where they hit this wall in their walk with God. And the sad thing is that all of their encounters with God are only in their memory. They don't believe that there are encounters to be God had with God in their future. And they don't have the faith to encounter God here and now. I don't want to just encounter the presence of the Holy Spirit once or twice. I want to live in an encounter with the presence of the Holy Spirit with his power working in my life. You can live in that encounter. Now, I don't mean that you'll always sense the power of the Holy Spirit on your physical being. I don't mean that your emotions will always be at a high. I simply mean that you can live in that awareness of the Holy Spirit's presence and power that causes you to become aware of those things that God wants you to learn. And you begin to appreciate different facets of his nature. As you go from season to season, from glory to glory, as you grow as a believer, you'll begin to notice that you start to appreciate different aspects of the nature of the Holy Spirit. In one season, you might appreciate his miracle working power in another season, you might appreciate his strong power to convict. In yet another season, you might appreciate his compassion, his companionship, the communion you have with him. Now, of course, we ought to be experiencing the fullness of the Holy Spirit in every season of life. But again, there are moments where you come to appreciate or focus on or recognize in greater detail different aspects of his person. Now, that's not to say that he is limited. Sometimes it's just a limitation of our perspective. Psalm 63.1 says this, You, God, are my God. Earnestly, I seek you. I thirst for you. My whole being longs for you in a dry and parched land where there is no water. So when I talk about greater dimensions of the Holy Spirit, I'm talking about accessing, using, experiencing, and becoming more aware of that which God has already deposited in you. And I want to make sure that's clear, has already deposited in you to to pull from that well that the Holy Spirit has already dug in your spirit. And so as we begin to walk in this hunger, we begin to set ourselves up to receive from that well, and that well never runs dry. Just when you think you've come to the end, just when you think you've taken out every drop, that's when you begin to see that there is more depth still, that you've not quite come to the end of it. It's also important that we recognize there is a difference between desperation and spiritual hunger. Now I'm going to say something right now that, at first, if you allow it to, might upset you. But that's not the goal. That's not the purpose of why I'm saying it. I'm saying this because I want to help you adjust a certain mentality that maybe was drilled into your mind from, I don't know, certain church ideologies. But as I say this, I want you to leave your heart open to what I'm trying to communicate to you. Hear me out so that you can better receive it. We are not to live in desperation for God. Now I know, as I said, at first when you hear that you go, wait a minute, no, we need to be desperate for God. We need to always desire God. And I agree. We ought to always desire God. We ought to always have intense hunger for the Lord. But there's a big difference between spiritual hunger and desperation. I'll tell you what I mean by that. Desperation is a great initiator, but it's not a great sustainer. Desperation is great for a moment, but it's not a good lifestyle. Because desperation implies lack. Desperation means I don't have. Desperation means I'm not connected. Desperation means there is no way out. And I want to be sensitive to this because you will, as a believer, find moments in your walk with God where you are desperate. Maybe circumstances make it so that you're desperate. You have nowhere to turn seemingly. But I want you to think back during your life. And I want you to begin to assess the encounters you've had with God. This is very important. In those seasons where you were desperate, and I'm not talking about in the material. I'm talking about in the spiritual. It's usually because you had not been seeking God. It's usually because your prayer life was lacking. It's usually because your devotion to the Word was lacking. The difference between desperation and spiritual desire is the difference between starvation and hunger. You become hungry every day, at least I do. After every meal, they're always looking forward to the next one at some point. And if you live with a healthy hunger, your body gains nutrition and nourishment. And so you go from meal to meal, knowing that you're going to need the next one. But when you starve yourself, there's malnutrition. Certain systems start shutting down. Certain aspects of your physical body stop working. Why? Because you deprived it so much that it came to this place of malnourishment. And so in the spirit, it's like that. When I describe desire for God and spiritual hunger, I'm talking about living a lifestyle of encounters with God, living a lifestyle of prayer, living a lifestyle of the Word, so that yes, you are hungry for God. Yes, you desire Him, but you're not coming to the place where you're malnourished in the spirit. Now if we are desperate in the spirit, it means that we haven't been doing those things. So desperation is a great initiator because sometimes we need to get desperate before we'll actually pursue God. Many of us are stubborn in that way. And in fact, that's a part of my testimony. I came to a place of great desperation. And then I got saved. Or I came to a place of great desperation. And then I found breakthrough with depression and anxiety. That broke off of my life. But those issues were there in the first place because of a lack of the presence of God, or I should say a lack of an awareness of the presence of God, or a lack of thinking according to the truth, or a lack of living just as you ought to live. That's where that lack comes from. And you might find, for example, in the book of Psalms, where David writes of his desperation, but he's writing usually of exterior circumstances where his enemies are coming against him, or, for example, where he sinned and then became desperate for the presence of God, or the mercy of God, or for God's favor again. So again, desperation is a great initiator if you come to the place where you're empty, but it's not a great sustainer. And so many of us think that it's healthy to live in that lack. Because, oh, I'm just desperate for God. Well, what do you mean by that? So if by desperation you mean that you're malnourished in the Spirit and you're not seeking the Lord and you've not been praying, you've not been reading the Word, okay, that kind of desperation is unhealthy. But if by spiritual hunger you mean that you're seeking Him, you're praying daily, you're in the Word and you're receiving of His presence, but you still want Him, that's a healthy hunger. So I want to make that distinction there, because sometimes when we hear things like that, you have to live desperate. Usually what that is, I'm going to expose some things here. Usually what that is is one of two things. When people emphasize desperation, either A, they're talking about spiritual hunger, but they're using a different word for it, that's fine. Or B, they want you to live in a place where, how do I word this? In some church cultures, they want a response out of you. Because it makes the preacher look good or the worship team look good or the movement look good. Or maybe they want you in a place where you're dedicating every waking hour to growing their machine. And so then they say you have to be desperate and they keep people in that place of legalism or in response. So that's not every case and that's not every church, but that does happen sometimes. So again, I want to make sure that's a healthy distinction because and the reason I'm taking my time with this is because so many have come under that mindset and it's affected them in a legalistic way. And in being affected in that legalistic way, they start to look at spiritual hunger as a negative thing. And that's not what I want you to have that negative, I don't want you to have that negative experience. I want you to come to this place where you recognize it actually can be a very healthy, sustainable way to live as opposed to being burned out and then saying, and then being criticized if you don't continue to burn yourself out. So I know I took a trail off there, but this is so important because when you're dealing with God's people, you're dealing with the Lord's sheep. You're His people. And I want to make sure I'm living up to my responsibility of helping to minister this to you in a way that is going to bring fruitfulness and life and spiritual vitality and not in a way that's going to bring the yoke of legalism down upon your head. If you are someone who understands what I'm saying there, maybe you've been through something similar, let me know in the comment section. So that's first and foremost. There's a difference between desperation and spiritual hunger. You can use the word desperation and mean spiritual hunger, but again, desperation, the way I define it there is not a very healthy thing. Okay, many believers though have lost their spiritual hunger. So I'm not talking about, oh, you don't want to burn yourself out to help build my machine. You must not be desperate enough or you don't want to sacrifice your family and you don't want to sacrifice all of your finances. You don't want to put yourself in an irresponsible place to grow the machine of the ministry where you're not desperate enough or you don't want to shout loud when I sing, you're not desperate enough. You don't want to jump up and down when I preach, you're not desperate enough. I know I'm hitting on some things here and the Holy Spirit's exposing. Maybe he's confirming things to you right now, even as I talk about this. But what I'm talking about is many believers have lost that spiritual hunger, which is healthy, to where they come to this place where their desire for the things of God have weakened. Philippians 3.8 says this, what is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ. Here is a man who's putting Jesus first. You notice he gave everything up for Christ, not for man, not for a system. For Christ, he gave all things up. And so this is the kind of hunger, this is the kind of perspective that we need to come. Some of you, you had this when you were born again for the first time. You had this when you just gave your life to Jesus. And somewhere along the lines, something was lost. Somewhere along the lines, there was that edge that became dull. And now all of your encounters with God are in your memory, not in this moment. In Psalm 73, 25, the scripture declares, Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. I want to read that again. Let this settle in your spirit. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. I just want Jesus. Do you remember that simplicity? Do you remember the simplicity of just loving him? Not to perform and look, it's good to serve in church. We as believers ought to serve in church. It's good to give our finances to ministries and churches. We ought to do that. That's our responsibility. But sometimes legalism will drill you into the ground and then criticize you if you don't allow yourself to be destroyed by the yoke of legalism. But that's not what this scripture is describing. No, no, this is much simpler. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. What is this? I'm not trying to be cynical. Let me just be real with you. I'm not trying to be cynical. Well, where you ask my brother Steve here or some of the friends who know me and ask my family. As much as I appreciate the things that God has blessed me with in this world, not everything that's material is evil. I appreciate my family. I appreciate my friends. I appreciate the health that the Lord has allowed me to live in. Well, you know, sometimes we'll just be out and about and maybe we'll be dining with friends. And I don't know if this is cynical. I don't think it is because it's coming from the place of being grateful for Jesus. I just look around. Sometimes I say, Steve's my witness. I'll say, is this it? Is this what the world has to offer? One time I was ministering in Las Vegas and you know that's like Corinth right there. And we're driving down, what's it called? The place with all the lights. The strip, the strip. We're driving down the strip, believe it or not, on my way to preach. We had to go from the hotel to the venue. That was the way to go. You go down the strip. So we're heading down. There's casinos. There's bars. There's restaurants. There's shows. I guess restaurants aren't all that bad. But anyway, I'm driving down the strip. There's about a dozen of us in the van. And I'm looking through the windows of the different places of business. I'm looking at the people out on the street. Not a smile on a single face. I mean, this is right. This is supposed to be peak American party culture. At least that's what they say. All right, they have a saying. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. No, my friend, what happens in Vegas is revealed in heaven. But I'm driving, I'm driving down there as a passenger. I'm looking out at the window. And I'm looking at everything and I go, is this is, this is it. This is what people live for. And I wasn't saying that in a condescending way toward the people. I was saying that just in terms of what the material world has to offer. I mean, you hear of these wealthy individuals like billionaires and millionaires who live in the biggest houses, eat the fanciest food, wear the most expensive clothes, drive the fastest cars, take the most exotic trips. Everything given to them. And many of them are miserable. They're empty and hollow inside. And again, I'm not criticizing people who are wealthy. There are wealthy believers who have wealth and they have the Lord. That's just what the Lord's given to them. But you know, it makes me think of this verse. Earth has nothing I desire besides you. What would this existence be without Jesus? What would this experience of this world be without Jesus? And again, many people have just shifted their focus from off of this and they're coming up empty. And maybe they used to have this vitality to their spiritual life. Maybe they used to hear from God and dreams and visions. I know, I know I'm talking to someone right now. They used to hear from God and dreams and visions. They would go to church and they would go with this great expectation and excitement wondering, what is God going to say to me today? What is God going to do as the people gather together? What miracles wait in this season? And they were excited about the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. And they were excited about prayer. And there was this hunger to learn and to know and to experience and to be completely immersed in, obsessed with the presence of the precious Holy Spirit. And some have lost this. And because of that, they lose that desire. They lose that childlikeness. And now they've lost all expectation. They think like this, well, you know, I had my encounters with God. I had my experiences in the supernatural. But let me just say this, experiences in the supernatural are not just for new converts. Experiences in the supernatural are not just for the new believer. So many believers think that they come to this place of maturity where now they don't expect an encounter in God's presence. Now let me be clear. I'm not saying that emotion alone is an encounter with God, but the presence of the Holy Spirit can certainly affect your emotions. And I'm not saying that the physical sense of his power alone is the experience of his presence. But an experience in the presence of the Holy Spirit sometimes comes with a tangible touch of power on your physical being. And we become raptured in that presence, immersed in that experience, focused on, there is nothing wrong with an encounter with God. Why do people demonize encounters today? Why are people so offended when the Holy Spirit moves? Well, they're crying, they're laughing, they're falling off. They're responding to the touch of God's presence and power. They're experiencing something. Well, I don't know what's the purpose of this. How does it glorify God? How does it glorify God? They're coming into an experience that causes them to stand in all of the very glory of the one who gave them that experience. Well, I don't know. This doesn't really look like it's changing anything. How do you know that? How do you know they're not being changed? Even if in some subtle way, internally, something has shifted in them, that should be enough. Who are we to judge and say, well, this doesn't change anything. We don't know that. My goodness. And then we fold our arms in the midst of a move of the Holy Spirit. And because there is a lack of hunger, we no longer welcome the move of the Holy Spirit. Now, I know the majority of people I'm talking to here, you love the Holy Spirit moving. And let me know in the comments, if you love the power of the Holy Spirit moving in your life, in the ministry, in the church, in your home, wherever you go. Of course, we love the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. But then there are those moments maybe where your heart goes into that place where you become like the religious, where something is too odd for you or too new for you. Or this is what they did to Jesus. This is what they did to Jesus. And so we need to come back to the place where we're saying, yes, my life is based on the word. Yes, I'm maturing in Christ. Yes, I think it's more important to develop character like Christ. Yes, I think it's important to show the fruits of repentance. Yes, I think it's important to be a good husband and a good father and a good friend and a man or a woman of integrity. Oh, but let us not forget that child likeness. Where is the awe of the power of the Holy Ghost? Where is the awe? Where is the wonder? Where is the expectation? Or have we grown so much now that we say, that's not really for me. I've grown past that. Or they can have that experience because they need that. Sometimes the Holy Spirit moves upon our life just to awe us. Just to remind us that He is near. You know, my precious daughter Aria, I tell her all the time, I love you so much, all the time, no matter what. And she goes, Dad, I know you always say that. And I'll say it every day again and again. She's only four and she's already getting a little impatient with me saying that again. I'm going to tell her every day, I love you with all my heart. Dad, I know. And sometimes maybe I'll be working in the office or I'll be passing by one of the rooms that she's playing in. And every so often, I'll just go, Aria, I want to just kiss you on the head. And she goes, OK. And she just leans her head forward. Whatever she's doing, she'll stop. And sometimes she'll say, wait, I have to finish this. So I'll stand by and wait until she finishes playing with her toys or whatever she's doing. And sometimes I'll come by and I just want to, I just want to kiss you on your little head, I tell her. And she goes, OK. She leans her head forward. I kiss her. And I go into the next room. She doesn't say, Dad, what was the purpose of that? What exactly does that lead to? How exactly does that cause me to look at you in a more revelatory way? Or, Dad, how exactly does that bring honor to you? I just wanted to show affection. And many people don't know that about the Holy Spirit. Sometimes he'll move on you with his power, like a father would kiss a child on the head because he just wants to awe you. He's not everything the Holy Spirit does. Look, you know this ministry. You know me. We're balanced. We're on the word. I caution people all the time with being experienced, first, word, second, taking all those things into consideration. It is not a contradiction to say. It is not a contradiction to say. But sometimes the Holy Spirit will do things that you just don't understand. And it's just an encounter to be had. Not everything is going to be systematic. Not everything is going to be one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three. Here's what I did. Here's why I did it. And some things are going to be mysteries, even just, even if just for a season. That was a time when, one time, I was praying to like, I want to say three in the morning. And it was just one of those nights where you just, you don't realize the time has gone by. There's a beauty of the Lord's presence in the room. And I'm talking about the physical manifestation. Yes, the omnipresence of God everywhere, indwelling presence of God within me. I get that. But I'm talking about, I was in a manifested presence where you could sense his touch on the room. And sometimes that happens. Your room becomes like a piece of heaven on earth. And I go to bed praying in tongues. In fact, I went to bed thinking in tongues. I don't know if that has any effect. At the time I didn't know. I just said, just in case. And so I'm worshiping, I'm praying in tongues. I'm just thinking about the Lord in my mind as I'm falling asleep. And just some time later, just minutes after falling asleep, I wake up. It was about three in the morning still. I wake up and I fit. The best way I could describe it is like this. I felt like somebody gave me like a cold glass of water. You know that filling when you drink iced water and you can fill it go down and you can sense that, that, that, that, that. I see sensations very cold. My whole body felt like that, but times 10. It felt to me as though the Holy Spirit breathed upon me. And every cell in my body received life. I wake up just gasping like that because it was, it was like something had filled me. And I'll tell you, when I woke up, the presence of Jesus was so rich in that room. It was like a thick cloud on the room. I could just, the air was thick and heavy. You could feel the presence of Jesus. It was, there was a royalty to it. There was a love to it, a gentleness, a joy, but a power. There was a joy and a gentleness, but a power and an authority. And I knew that I was loved. It was just words fail. And so I'm just sensing this in my room and I'm like wondering, okay, what's going on here? What was that for? Holy Spirit, what are we doing? And the Holy Spirit later revealed to me that He just wanted to give me an encounter in His presence. Just, it was like He was, like I do to our, just giving me a kiss on the head. Hey, I love you. Now this doesn't mean that if you don't have those euphoric encounters with God that He doesn't love you. Remember, you don't go by feelings, you go by faith, but we mustn't be dismissive of these encounters when we hear of them or when we experience them ourselves. Colossians, let's go to Ephesians. Now again, the verses I'm giving you are just principles. I read you Psalm 63.1. It's talking about this desire for God. Philippians 3.8 talks about just having no consideration for the things of this world. Psalm 73.25, same thing. Just this world doesn't do it. It doesn't do it. It doesn't do it. Take anything and everything else. Just give me Jesus. Holy Spirit, you can take anything and everything else. Just don't take from me the sense of your presence. I can't do without that. And now at Ephesians, we're looking at Ephesians chapter 3. I'm going to read verses 17 through 19. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people. Watch this now. To grasp how wide, how long, and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now, this verse is not talking about euphoric encounters in the presence of the Holy Spirit. This verse is not talking about demonstrations of power and dreams and visions. But it is talking about grasping the love of Jesus, which is primarily what I'm talking about. The experiences, the encounters, those are just results. But what the root is, I'm talking about just loving Him. Where is this? I want to know this. And none of us have received this, by the way. None of us have reached this point. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people. To what? What does He want us to do? To grasp how wide, and long, and high, and deep is the love of Christ. Well, I haven't grasped that yet. I'm not there yet. I don't know that yet. Colossians 1, 9, and 10. For this reason, since today we heard about you. We have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. Now, hold on. We continually ask, verse 9, God to fill you with knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. And then the Scripture says that we are to grow in the knowledge of God. Well, how much is there to know of God, even just His will? It's unending. 2 Peter 3, 18, But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him be glory both now and forever. We are to grow in that knowledge. Now again, these verses I'm giving you, I'm not saying they are telling us of these encounters we have. Those are things that we experience with the Holy Spirit. What I am saying is that these verses talk about growing in our relationship with God, growing in the knowledge of God, walking with Him more closely, becoming more like Him, maturing in the faith. None of us have reached that point, none of us. And to pretend like growing in the knowledge of His love and not being affected by that love is possible, it's nonsense. You want to know more of His power? You're going to see more demonstrations of power. This just logically follows. So the premise is the Scripture that we grow in the knowledge of His love. We grow in the knowledge of His power. We grow in the knowledge of His mercy. Okay, well, you grow in the knowledge of His love, you're going to experience that love in ways you did not know. You grow in the knowledge of His power, and you're going to experience His power in ways that you did not know. Because if you knew them, you would not have had to grow in them. Something begins to happen in you now when you begin to walk with Him in this way. Watch this. You begin to hate sin and lose interest in the things of this world. There comes a point in your walk with God where, Holy Spirit, help me communicate this. Please understand, first of all, that we are saved by grace through faith. Because of the grace of God, we can have faith. And by that faith, we receive the righteousness of God through Christ. Righteousness is imputed to us. So then Christ's record of perfection gets attributed to us. So that when God looks at you, He sees His Son. In fact, when He looks at the cross, He sees your sin. So let's start there. So I'm not talking about legalism. I'm not talking about this paranoia about losing your salvation. I'm talking about what's available to you in Christ. You're already in Him. I'm talking about what happens when you continue down this path. What begins to happen in your heart and mind is your sensitivity towards sin and worldliness becomes heightened. Now, this may be something you experience. I'll show you scripture for this in a moment. As you begin to become more and more like Jesus, you become more and more sensitive to sin. What I mean by that is, unless you've regressed, what you allowed 10 years ago, you will not even look at today. The people you would associate with, and again, I'm not talking about evangelism and family members who were trying to win the Christ. I'm talking about you allowed them to have influence over you. The people you associate with change and the people you used to feel comfortable around something in your spirit says no. Certain ways you used to joke, even if they weren't blatantly sinful, maybe they were just a little entitled or a little prideful or a little boastful. You won't even say it. You think it, you go, Lord, I can't even believe I thought that. Now, a few years prior, you didn't even think about it, no thought. But now that you're growing, you're going from glory to glory, you begin to have this disdain in you for sin and for worldliness, not just blatant sin, but for the patterns of this world. This is a sign that God is taking you places. In fact, you know you're regressing when that disdain begins to weaken and you're no longer sensitive to it. You just allow it again and again. And then the old habits under which you lived begin to make a comeback. That's dangerous. When anxiety begins to creep up, it's a sign you let your flesh get too strong. When pride begins to well up, it's a sign you let your flesh get too strong. When cynicism and doubt and entitlement and all these things, when these begin to creep up, it's a sign that something's not right. And as you begin to grow in Christ, he will ask more of you. He'll begin to require things of you. Now please hear me, please hear me. When Jesus asks you to give something to him, that is an invitation to greater measures in the Holy Spirit. When he says to you, you used to do this or say this or think like that, and now I'm asking you to turn from that. Okay, in one season of your life, I tolerated it. I'm not talking about sin, by the way. Just these compromises, these flaws, these character issues, these tendencies, if you will. Thought patterns even. And he says, now I'm going to require this of you. And the moment you say yes, Jesus, and you give that up, you enter a deeper place. The Holy Spirit is in you, but are you in him? Jesus lives in you, but are you living in him? See, the Holy Spirit within me fills the capacity of who I am. Oh, but me and the Holy Spirit, now there's depths unending. And it's living this way that, yes, results in encounters and experiences. And as I said a moment ago, those are important. We mustn't look down upon those. We mustn't snub our noses at encounters with the Holy Spirit's power. But that's not exactly what it's about. That's a part of it, but that's not exactly what it's about. When I talk about these dimensions in the Holy Spirit, I'm talking about dimensions of Christ-like character. I'm talking about dimensions of surrender, dimensions of joy, dimensions of peace, dimensions of power. Anything you can experience of God that's laid out clearly in the Scripture, you haven't reached the fullness of it yet, nor have I. Psalm 97-10. Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones, and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 1 John 2-3-6. We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says I know him, but does not do what he commands, is a liar. And the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, a love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. Well, that's what begins to happen. You walk in him, transformation takes place. And as you begin to give those things up for Jesus, you're detaching from the material. You're detaching from the earthly. Think about the fact that Peter and John were present on the day of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, they were all together in one accord. And we know this story suddenly. There came a sound that was as a mighty rushing wind. They have an encounter with the Holy Spirit. But then I want you to look down now at Chapter 4 of the Book of Acts. Verse 23. On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. All that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. So there we see that Peter and John obviously had been questioned. They're experiencing a degree of persecution. They come back to the church now. They begin to report on these things. Keep in mind, this is Peter and John. They had already experienced the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Verse 28. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. This is their prayer. Now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. Watch this now. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. I looked up this word all in the Greek. Very deep meaning here. The word all means all. Every single one of them. Now wait a minute. Weren't Peter and John already filled with the Holy Spirit? In fact, in John chapter 20, Jesus breathes on them and says, receive you the Holy Spirit. Did not Peter and John also move in the miraculous, casting out devils, healing the sick? Did they not operate in a degree of the Holy Spirit's power? Of course they did. Maybe not in the same way that they operated in his power after the book of Acts chapter two, the day of Pentecost, but they still operated in a degree of that power. And so we see that there are still encounters to be had. Experiences. He wants to touch your life in a fresh way. Yes, you're filled. Yes, you have him. But does he have you? Yes, he's in you, but are you living in him? There are new dimensions of his love, new dimensions of his power, new dimensions of your communion with the Holy Spirit that you've not experienced yet. None of us have completely reached everything that God has for us. It's time to embrace again that childlike wonder concerning the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Father, I pray that your people would come into that encounter now. Touch their lives in Jesus' name. Stretch your hands toward mine. Believe God now to begin to do a work in your heart. Father, make their heart pliable in your hand. Help them to yield those areas of their lives that are keeping them from experiencing new dimensions of the Holy Spirit's presence and power. And Father, I pray for deliverance and healing in the name of Jesus. I rebuke all forms of bondage and addiction. We come against sickness and disease. Let your power flow and touch their lives. In Jesus' name we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it, say amen. Well, if you enjoyed this teaching and you think others need to hear it, please leave a like that'll help to spread the teaching even further. And also, let's stay connected. Make sure that you subscribe to my channel right now and click the notification bell when you do, so that you can continue to receive teachings on the Holy Spirit Prayer and Spiritual Warfare. And now I want to invite you to participate in what God is doing through this ministry. And I know that right about now there's a temptation to click out of this video because you've received the word and I'm glad that you've been blessed. But I'm asking you to just hear this for just a moment and see if you won't get involved with what God is doing through this ministry. We as a ministry are beginning to see great expansion. As I record this now, it's live, but you may see this a year from now, even years from now. At the time that this is being recorded, our ministry is preparing to begin to do events in arenas. That's how much these events have grown. And in fact, our first arena event is the very same year where this has been recorded. And so the ministry is expanding. The media is expanding millions of people literally, that is not an exaggeration by any means. There is actual hard data that shows us that millions of people are getting the Word of God. They're listening to the Word. They're receiving ministry through this work. So the media is working. The events are working. People are being saved, healed, delivered and empowered. Isn't that what it's about? Making a difference in somebody else's life just like Christ has made a difference in yours. You know, you were able to receive this teaching or attend an event or receive of this ministry because somebody supported the ministry and it got to you. And so I'm asking you now, please pay it forward. Do your part by becoming a monthly ministry supported today. Be a part of something big. Be a part of something that's bigger than all of us. It's the kingdom of God. It's working. The darkness is losing. The gospel is advancing. And I'll tell you this, I believe the Great Commission could be fulfilled. The gospel hasn't lost its power and the Great Commission will not fail. Jesus is seated in the highest place of authority. That's what I believe. And it's just our job now though. The harvest is plentiful, Jesus said, but the laborers are few. It's not that the people aren't responding. It's that the laborers aren't going to get the harvest. So will you help us go through the mission field of media and reach the lost and minister to the saints and help to empower the church of the living God through the word of God? You can be a part of that right now. I want to ask you to sign up. If you haven't done so already, sign up to become a monthly ministry supporter by signing up for our automatic giving plan at davidhernandezministries.com slash partner. Go and look at the website now. davidhernandezministries.com slash partner. Here's what I'll challenge you to do. David Hernandez ministries.com slash partner. Open that screen and then say, Holy Spirit, what do you want me to do? And then simply do what he asks. Just trust the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we say, God bless me and I'll give. But the truth of the matter is that faith says give and he'll bless you. I truly believe that as you are a blessing to others, God will increase you not so that you can consume it for yourself, but so that you can be generous even more so a good steward of the resources God gave you. You can also give a single gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate. We accept currency all different kinds from all different nations. We even accept cryptocurrency now. So do try the website first. If that doesn't work, you can give to the YouTube super chat or through the Facebook giving options. But do try the website first. I so appreciate your giving. Thank you for hearing me out. I love you. I pray for you. And until next time, remember nothing is impossible with God.