Your Cup

Intro: It is impossible to live the life God requires without being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the very life of God himself––his presence, his person, his power and his purity. So then, How can you be filled with God’s Holy Spirit?

It begins with seeing your life is like a cup. You serve the Lord and others what is inside your cup. Being filled with the Holy Spirit means your cup is filled with life, love, joy and power from God. Like Nehemiah, you are a cupbearer for the King. But not just any king, but the King of Kings. We don’t want to serve our King an empty cup, we want to give him our all––our best. But here’s the good news: when you allow the Lord to shepherd you, he prepares a table before you. He himself fills your cup to overflowing so that you may serve him and others in return. Today, I want to give you four simple points so that you can be continually filled with the Spirit. Use these points everyday. You can remember them because they spell the word: FILL

1) F - Faith (Gal. 3:1-5)

The Holy Spirit is a gift and a promise from God for all his children.

He’s not earned or worked for––he’s given.

The Holy Spirit is given to you based on Christ’s work on the cross.

To receive the Holy Spirit, have faith like a child.

Don’t try to figure it all out, but rather trust what God’s word says (Acts 2:37-42).

Faith always involves repentance.

Faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin.

God fills a clean cup and repentance is about coming to God and letting him clean your cup.

Imagine trying to serve a cup of high quality juice in a dirty cup.

The person receiving the cup would turn it away.

Faith is not baseless––it’s not wishful thinking––it’s based on God’s Word.

Faith comes by hearing God’s Word (Gal. 3:1-5, Rom. 10:17).

2) I - Inquire (Luke 11:9-13)

Inquire means to ask.

But the word ‘inquire’ has a special nuance to it, meaning an intensified asking.

Inquiring usually has to do with asking until you receive. It’s more than just a casual asking. Instead, it’s someone who means business.

We remember Christ’s words: “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open to you” (Matt. 7:7-8; cf. John 16:24).

You will find that when you are a serious seeker Jesus always fills the cup of your life with his Spirit.

Jesus is called the “Immerser in the Holy Spirit” (cf. Luke 3:16).

That’s his very purpose as the Messiah.

Know that you have a good Father.

He does not want to trick you.

And he does not send you away saying, “You’re not worthy!”

Know that the Father wants to give you his Holy Spirit even more than you may want to receive him.

Ask with humility and boldness.

Realize that when you ask, God prepares your cup.

In other words, he cleanses you so that you can receive his Holy Spirit.

3) L - Long (Matthew 5:6).

With inquiring, also comes something else: longing.

God meets the longing heart––the heart that is hungry and thirsty for his righteousness.

There is no one more righteous than the Holy Spirit. He is the Father and Son’s very own Spirit.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6).

Longing is also one of the keys of every revival.

Longing says, “I don’t want anything else to fill me; I only want you to fill me, Jesus. And I long for you to fill me with your very own Spirit.”

It is from the Spirit that power comes––God’s power (Acts 1:8; Acts 2).

4) L - Let (Rev 3:20; Psalm 23)

There’s a time for asking and seeking.

Then, there is a time for resting––for coming to the table of the Lord, and allowing the Lord to fill your cup.

This is a place of stillness and quietness. It’s a time of listening and letting (Psalm 23).

In the end, you need to let God fill you up.

Be thankful for his abundant grace and kindness to you.

This Faith, Inquiry, Longing and Letting must be a daily thing because we all need to be continually filled.

Once you have stopped being filled, you fall back into man-made religion. Your eyes get bewitched, falling back to old ways––ways of religion, ways of self-righteousness, ways of man-made customs and sinfulness (Gal. 5:1).

As a cupbearer to the King of Kings, you are responsible to keep your cup full of God’s Spirit.

Conclusion

Remember these four points that spell FILL in order to be filled and stay filled with God’s Spirit: 1) F - Faith, 2) I - Inquire, 3) L - Long, 4) L - Let.

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