Full surrender.

     God is looking for the individual who will abandon all for the cause of Christ. He is looking for the one who will give up all dreams, plans, goals, agendas, self-will, and instead live only for the will of God. Posessions, position, and prestige, mean nothing to such an individual, only that Christ will be glorified..
     This is the call to do all for the glory of God. Whether eating, drinking, whether in word or deed, all is done in His name, for the sake of His kingdom, and for His good pleasure. This is the meaning of "Seek first His kingdom, and righteousness".
     This is the hungering and thirsting after righteousness that Jesus refers to in the sermon on the mount. This is the point that we must come to to be filled with all the fulness there is in Christ. This is Paul's heart when he says he has given up all that he may know Christ. This hunger drove him to do one thing only, to press on in his relentless pursuit of Christ. Only when one is truly empty can he be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. As long as we allow other things to satisfy us, we will never reach the place of true hunger. Just like a child spoiling his supper by eating junk food, we too can lose our spiritual appetites by filling up on worldly things, things that may not be wrong in and of themselves, but yet they stand in the way of knowing Him in a deeper way.
     Christ died, rose, and then ascended to the Father, making it possible for all to experience the total and full communion with with the Father through the presence of the Holy Spirit. That is why Jesus told His disciples that is was good that He went away. That is why He instructed them to wait until they received the Spirit. It is those, and those only, who live in the fulness of Christ, who are the most effective for Christ. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict and reprove, and He does it through those who are filled with Him.
     It was in the power of the Holy Spirit that Peter stood and preached on the day of pentecost. It was in the power of the Holy Spirit that Stephen stood before the Sannhedrin. It was the Holy Spirit who worked in and through the apostle Paul. The New Testament church was founded and advanced by individuals who were entirely devoted to Christ, filled to overflowing with the Spirit. It was not by human wisdom or strength, but by the very Spirit of the living God.
     Throughout the history of the church you will find souls who hungered for more.They began to earnestly seek God. They prayed and fasted and prayed some more until they were filled. They would then go out in the power of the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim what God had done for them. The fire would spread, and great changes would come to the church. Backsliders would return, complacent souls would catch fire once again. The lost around them would be convicted and saved. Sin would be put away. Drunks would give up drink, cursing would turn into praise, thieves would return what they stole, and then lead productive lives. The sick, just like in the days of Jesus, would be prayed for, and they would recover. There was a complete revolution in the life of the church!
     It takes a total consecration. A giving up of all, so that He may become all.