Transcription
There is another realm beyond this physical reality. There is more to reality than what you can see and hear with the physical body. Beyond this realm, in the spiritual realm, there is life and activity, light and darkness. And I want to show you from the scripture how to see into the spirit realm. I'm going to give you three biblical keys, but before we do that, let me tell you what I mean by seeing in the spirit.
When I say "see in the spirit," first of all, I'm talking about seeing things from God's perspective through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. I'm also talking about things like dreams and visions, and even seeing the spiritual realm augmented onto the physical realm, like when you see an angelic host, or when God shows you a glimpse of something heavenly. That is what you're seeing: these spiritual realm augmented onto the physical realm.
Now, you and I cannot control what we see in the spirit. We can't just decide to see an angelic being. We cannot decide to see something of the heavenly realm. Only God can choose whether you and I receive a dream or a vision, or whether you and I see an angelic being.
So, what are the, what are the, what are the purposes of these keys? Well, primarily, when I talk about the purpose of these keys, I mean that you are positioning yourself in a way that you're going to see and hear clearly in the spirit when God tries to reveal something to you. Now, God can do anything that he wants. If someone is being stubborn and they're far away from him, and he wants to show him a vision or a glimpse of the heavenly realm, they have no choice but to see it. But generally speaking, as we see in scripture, when God interacts with people, he often does so in proportion to their obedience.
Now, again, God can do whatever he wants. He doesn't have to show us anything, and he can show anyone anything that he wants of the spirit realm. So, it's not like I'm going to give you these techniques, you're going to apply them, and then just by your own will be able to look around the spirit realm. No. Rather, I'm giving you keys that are according to scripture that will help you to be positioned to see what God wants to show you. Generally speaking, God shows us things of the spirit realm in proportion to our obedience. So, you can't control it. It's not like something that you can wield on your own and just decide to see.
So, these are the things that we have to be doing when it comes to seeing in the spirit realm. We all have a desire to see deeper things. We all have a desire to catch glimpses of the heavenly realm. So, I'm going to give you key number one, and that is the word. Number one is the word. Now, comment in the comment section whether you are watching live or on the replay. Simple words: "Show Me Your Glory." Let this be a childlike prayer of faith that you declare it publicly. Write that in the comments section now: "Show Me Your Glory," even if you're watching on the replay.
So, number one is the word. Now, in the scripture, we see a principle revealed called the law of stewardship. Now, the law of stewardship is simple: when I take care of and reverence what God has already given to me, that positions me to receive more. Here's what Jesus said about revelation: Mark chapter 4, verse 25. "To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them."
Now, again, this goes back to the point that I was making just a few moments ago. God can take someone who's disobedient and stubborn and living in sin, like he did with Paul the Apostle, and he can just show them something of the heavenly realm as he wills. And on the other hand, even though you are applying these keys, this does not mean that God is obligated to show you something that he doesn't want to show you. Rather, when I give you these keys, it's to align yourself with this principle of stewardship. This is how God generally speaking chooses to operate. He chooses to show us things of the spirit in proportion to our obedience. This is so important that we get this: he chooses to show us things of the spirit in proportion to our obedience.
Now, I've had many encounters with God. I've had many dreams, many visions. I've had many open visions. I've seen many things in the spirit realm. I've seen heavenly activity. I've also seen physically demonic activity on people. I've seen demonic beings on people, like literal demonic beings on people. The Holy Spirit will reveal that to me. Now, these are glimpses into the realm of the spirit. This is to see into the heavenly. This is to see into the world beyond our own. There is so much more to reality than we realize.
But if you want to be able to receive this kind of revelation, if you want to be one who can be—hear me now—if you want to be one who can be trusted by the Lord to receive certain types of glimpses into the heavenly realm, then you're gonna have to be one who walks in obedience. This is why the word is so important.
Now, there are some who will teach you that the word of God is to take the place of supernatural experience. And usually, they'll ask you something like, "Is the word of God not sufficient?" And it seems to be a trap question. But we are the ones who believe that the word of God is sufficient in that it accomplished its purpose. The word of God is sufficient in that it was sufficient enough to accomplish its purpose to connect me with God. And when I am connected with God, it's not as though he's gone mute. It's not, it's not as though I should be spiritually deaf. When I am properly connected with God, grounded in the word, then I can discern what is of God and what is not. And therefore, I can be trusted with heavenly glimpses, with glimpses into the spiritual realm.
So, the word doesn't prevent you from having supernatural experiences. Hear me now. The word doesn't prevent you from having supernatural experiences. It prepares you for them and then permits you to have them. The word of God in you is a stabilizer. The word of God in you is a compass. The word of God in you is a foundation. And it's only by the stability in the word that we are given what we need to properly navigate the realm of the spirit. People who see into the realm of the spirit who are not grounded in the word will lose their minds.
When you try to—hear me now—I'm talking about some deeper things here. When you try to enter into the realm of the spirit while not taking the route laid out in the word of God, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you are opening yourself to attack and influence. Notice I did not say possession and curse, but you are opening yourself to attack and influence. Think about these people who think that they're having divine encounters while taking some type of drug. And it's—I'm not going to say the name of the drug because I'm not going to endorse that. But you'll hear reports from people who take certain drugs, and they'll tell you that they've had encounters with these extra-dimensional beings who impart to them some wisdom or who give to them a whole new perspective on life, by which they see all things through a new lens. That's not what I'm talking about.
You try to enter the spirit realm through the way laid out through the New Age, through the way laid out through witchcraft, through the way laid out through the world. Well, you're going to end up with demonic influence. You're going to end up being heavily attacked and deceived. But when you catch a glimpse of the realm of the spirit in the safety of the word, in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, by the will, the pure will of the Father, well, these things bring peace. These things bring transformation that makes you more like Christ. These things bring glory to God and not to man.
So, again, the word doesn't prevent you from having supernatural experiences. It prepares you for them and then permits you to have them. But you have to be grounded in the word so that you can properly navigate and discern spiritual realities. I've heard far too many stories of individuals who've tried to tap into the spiritual realm who lost their minds. They had to, they had PTSD, they had to go through therapy, years and years of mental torment, all because they tried to take it man's way. All because they tried to take the path that demons take into the realm of the spirit. This is why we must begin with the word. This is why we must begin with the scripture.
Hebrews 4:12 says this: "For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between—watch this now—cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires." So, the word of God has the ability to separate that which is of the soul and that which is of the spirit. Well, that which is of the spirit is purely connected with God. That which is of the soul can have fleshly mixture: your emotions, your own desires, your own will, your own thoughts. And these things can cloud judgment. These things can cause confusion. Confusion is always the result of believing a lie. If you are confused, then you are believing a lie. If you are confused, you're under some form of deception, always, in every case. Why? Because confusion comes when you can't decide between two realities. When I know the truth, then I can identify the lie, and I'm no longer trying to weigh two different options. When I know the truth, and I expose that deception, now there's a clear path forward. But the word of God is what does that for us. The word of God eliminates that confusion by separating that which is of the soul, or which is of self, and that which is of the spirit, which is of the Holy Spirit.
Now, once you begin to walk in this, you begin to see things from God's perspective. You begin to attain the wisdom that God gives to his servants, like he gave to Joseph, like he gave to Solomon, like he gave to Stephen the Martyr, like he gave to the apostles to spread the gospel, like he gave to the early church to help communicate the message of salvation through Christ to the ends of the earth. He gives you wisdom. James chapter 1 makes this absolutely clear that God will give you wisdom.
But what did Jesus say to those who listen to my teaching, "more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them." So, if God has given you his word, which is the more sure word of prophecy, he's given you the scripture, which is the foundation of truth, the final authority, the measure against which we place our lives to see if we're doing good or evil. When he has given you the word, he's given you a pure and holy standard, a clear and holy and true and unmistakable standard in the word. And he gives you this word and he says, "Here, live your life by this. Walk according to what I have said. Walk according to what I have commanded. Walk according to the truth. Thy word is true. Walk according to what's in the Bible." That's what God has given to us as a gift.
Here's what most believers do: we set aside the word and instead of going for the truth, we go for experience. Now, I know this seems almost counterintuitive to what I'm saying to you, especially since the title of this sermon is "How to See Into the Spirit." Many will say, "Well, should that be the approach that we take to Christianity?" By no means. It's not an experience-driven faith. It's, it's what he's already done. He's already accomplished it. So, experience is a part of it. But if you're seeking experience, you're already off to the to a bad start.
Now, say that again: if you're seeking experience, you're already off to a bad start. You say, "How can that be?" Well, because we, we ought not to be seeking experience and encounter. We ought to be seeking Jesus. And in seeking Jesus, we get it all. In seeking the face of God, we will experience encounters as we come to know him. So, when we set our minds on the word and we receive and reverence what he's already given to us, then and only then do we have the proper foundation that will be in place that will enable us to go deeper.
Many Christians want to skip that. Hear this now, please. Many Christians want to skip the receiving of the word. They want to, they want to skip the receiving of the written word because they want to go right to the revelation received to the heart. They don't want to implement the discipline of knowing the scripture. They don't want to implement the discipline of daily reading the scripture. They don't want to implement the devotion that should be daily to the word of God. Instead, they want an experience. Why? Because it's easier. Because it's, in their minds, instant. Because it's something that can be obtained through what someone else does. But God does cause us and does require us to be diligent in the word.
And so, when we begin to receive that revelation, that understanding that he's given to us, and we're faithful in the written word, hear me now, please. This is so key. When you are faithful in the written word, then and only then will he give to you the word that is spoken to your heart. But the first key is the written word. Then you begin to see things from God's perspective. Then you begin to look at people and situations through the eyes of the Heavenly Father. Think about what a great advantage that is. That the one who knows all hearts, that the one who can see the future and the past at the same time, is a picture before his eyes all at once. The one who can cause anything to be, the one who spoke all things into existence, the one who has the power to transform and to change, the one whose will shall be accomplished no matter what anyone does to resist it. This great, powerful, loving Heavenly Father becomes your very present, close guide. Your Heavenly Father guides you by His Holy Spirit when you live by the word, when you devote yourself to the word. What a great advantage in life. What greater advantage is there than to hear from the one who can see it all? But that comes by the word.
Now, in my experience, I've found that the more I receive of the word, the deeper I can go into spiritual encounters. Now, some people don't like this idea of spiritual encounters, but I believe all of us at some point will grow past that. We don't want to get stuck in that stage of, of our Christianity where we don't believe in spiritual encounter. It's not as though God is dead. He's not stopped interacting with his children. He's not stopped speaking. He still interacts with us. He still loves us. He still does things unto His glory. Of course, he does. So, we have to come to this place now where now we're receiving the word, and the Lord looks and he says, "You are practicing good stewardship." He sees now that we are receiving the written word, and he looks and he says, "You've been faithful with that revelation. Now I can give you more."
Now, I am not saying, and please don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that all of us can go adding to scripture. None of us can add to scripture. The scripture is complete. The scripture is what it is, Genesis to Revelation. Okay? That's the inspired word of God given to us. That's the more sure word of prophecy. But this doesn't mean that he won't speak to us personally. Of course, he will. Visions, dreams. He generally, again, generally entrusts these things to faithful servants. So, that's number one: is the word.
Number two: increased prayer. Now, when I say that, many will say, "Well, I'm already doing that." No, no, no, no, no. No matter what your prayer life looks like, no matter how committed you are to prayer at this point in your life, now, all of us can increase our prayer life. Hear me when I say this: consistent prayer produces longevity. Much prayer produces depth. Let me explain that. When you pray consistently, like day to day, Monday through Sunday, every day you're praying. You wake up, you pray. Let's say you devote every day 10 minutes to prayer, and you're seeking the face of the Lord every single day. That's consistent prayer. And that consistent prayer, that daily fellowship with God, that will sustain you to be faithful and consistent. It produces longevity. So, there are many Christians who've been saved 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years, and that's wonderful, and we honor them and we celebrate that. But beyond longevity is depth.
So, consistent prayer produces longevity. You make daily contact with the Lord. You'll be here five years from now, still serving Him. That's wonderful, and we celebrate that. Nothing wrong with that. You should pray consistently. But add to that now, not just praying daily, and this is where many, kind of myself included, can use some more work in this area. But we're not just praying consistently now, but we're praying for long periods of time. Now, I know that not every season will allow for this. I think, for example, of the single mother who has to work two jobs and raise three kids, and all while doing it, still make time for the Lord. Of course, the Lord is going to give grace to you. He's not going to be angry with you because you didn't pray three hours that day. That's legalism, and that's not how the Lord operates. But for those who do lean in, for those who do make that sacrifice, the Lord will reward you in proportion to where you are. The Lord will see. The scripture tells us that He sympathizes with us. He remembers that word "dust." So, He understands we have needs. We have to eat, we have to work, we have to sleep, and so forth. He gets that. But the Lord is going to look and reward you in proportion to your life. What does your prayer life look like in proportion to your responsibilities that come from Him?
Now, you pray consistently, and that's going to set you up to be here for decades to come, till the Lord returns or until you go home to be with Him. But now you add to that consistency, depth. How do you do that? You pray for longer amounts of time. And you'll notice something as you begin to pray, and I'm giving you insight here on on prayer now from experience. When you begin to pray, you will notice that the first, I want to say, depending upon where you are in your walk with the Lord, let's just say the first 30 minutes, it's going to be rather difficult. You have to remember that prayer is the death of the flesh. When you sing a worship song, you can do it with gladness. When you study the scriptures, most of the time, that's something that you're capable of doing. You volunteer for a ministry, that's something you can feel good about, maybe even get excited at by volunteering at your local church or ministry. That's wonderful. But you ever notice that the moment you begin to pray, suddenly your flesh starts to squirm and fight you? The moment you begin to pray, suddenly you almost feel like this agitation. You have to go on to the next thing. Now looking at the clock, how long has it been? I don't know what to say. What do I do? What am I supposed to pray? Do I sit? Do I stand? Do I pace? Do I play music? What do I do? And there's all this activity going on inside of you. There's all these, there are all these distractions that are fighting for your attention. And in that moment, if you're not careful, you will walk away from the prayer room simply because you got frustrated with the flesh that was fighting you like a child throwing a tantrum.
If you give into the flesh, the flesh will know that if it throws a tantrum, you'll give in to the flesh. This is why I say to parents, if your kid throws a tantrum, don't give them what they want. Never give your kid what they want when they throw a tantrum. For why? Because then you're teaching them, "When I throw a tantrum, I get what I want." So, the flesh does the same thing to us. It throws a fit. We go to pray. It starts to squirm and fight. What about this? What about that? What about the bills? What about your relationships? What about the ministry? What about all your responsibilities? What about work? What about this, that, and the other? And it's pulling you away from that prayer room. And if you're not careful, you give into that flesh. You say, "Okay, let's get out of here." And now it knows, "I know how to get them out of prayer. I know how to pull them from that secret place."
And so, this is why I say in that first 30 minutes that you're praying, you're going to notice this struggle, this fight. But watch this now. There comes a point in prayer, and very few believers reach this, where it goes from being a fight to becoming a flow. And once you hit that flow, you're not fighting to stay like fighting the flesh, saying, "No, I want to pray. How do I stay focused? I don't want to be distracted." No, my friend. Once you find that flow, now you're no longer fighting a flesh that's trying to pull you away. Now you're, it's, it's everything in you that has to pull yourself from prayer. You're no longer fighting to stay in. You're having to pull yourself out because you realize it's been an hour, two hours, three hours. You won't be looking at the clock at that point. You won't be checking the time. You won't be looking at your watch. You won't check your phone. You won't even want it. There will be nothing in this world that calls for your attention that you'll want to give your attention to when you've reached that flow in prayer. It's a beautiful, beautiful place in the spirit where you've passed that fight. The flesh is fighting and squirming and fighting and squirming, and then it becomes weak. You've, you've beat the flesh into submission. And you said, "No, like, like almost like another person." People will call you crazy. But think about it like this: you say, "No, we're gonna pray whether you want to be here or not. We're gonna pray whether you fight me or not." And so you subject the flesh. Now, and you pass that 30 minutes. If you're really in the flesh, it could take you hours to get there. I'm just being honest with you. But, but once you've hit that, that flow, now you don't want to leave. People talk about a movie, a show, who cares? They say, "Oh, we're gonna go here to this place." Oh, I don't, I don't even care where you're going. So, and so wants to hang out. I, you know what? I love them, but not right now. The phone is ringing, you throw it aside. Nothing could be more important. Nothing could be more interesting. Nothing could capture my imagination quite like what I'm experiencing here and now. The flesh has been defeated. You're flowing now. You're not going to reach that by praying 15 minutes a day. You're not going to reach that by a quick, "Thank you, Lord, for this day. Bless me. Help me. Go on about my day and be more like You. Thank You, Lord. I love You." And then walking out the door. You're not going to reach that like that. It's going to take that focus.
And once you do, you, you don't even have to be taught what to pray. You don't have to reach for lessons and sermons and notes. It just flows like a river. You're flowing with the Spirit now. Now, it's in this place that you begin to see into the spirit. I'll read you a portion of the scripture in a moment, but I want to share this with you. Years ago, and by the way, I'm not released to share everything I see in visions and dreams. The Lord has given me dreams and visions about people. You know, He's exposed things to me about, if I said their names, you'd know them. He showed me things about my future. He showed me things about people around me. He showed me things about me. He's spoken to me about spiritual realities. And sometimes I'm released to speak about these things, other times I'm not. In fact, most of the time, I don't even share it because it's, it's usually just between me and the Lord. This one thing I will share because I was released a few years ago to share it for the first time.
I was praying, and I'm not saying this to try to give a non-answer. I'm not saying this, uh, to try to avoid the subject. I really don't know if I fell asleep or not. I'm not trying to be spiritual. I don't know if I fell asleep or not. So, either this was a really intense dream or a vision from God. So, here's what happened. I'm standing in a room filled with light, just brightness all around. And it was so bright that all the details of that room were washed out. All I know is I was standing in the midst of bright light all around me. And as I looked ahead of me, I could see in the light the shape of a man sitting on a throne. Now, of course, I knew this to be the Lord. He shined so much more bright than the surrounding brightness that I was able to see his shape, but I was not able to make out his features. And so, what I did is I started to move closer. And as I began to move closer, get this now, I began to feel this really strong weight of sorrow, like my heart was broken. I thought that as I walked toward Him, I would sense joy and peace, because that's a fruit of the Spirit, and it is true, in His presence there is joy, in His presence there is peace. But in this particular vision, God was showing me another side of things. He was showing me the fellowship of His suffering. He was showing me a glimpse into His heart. And I'm moving closer to Him, and I could hear weeping coming from that throne. And as I step closer, this weight came on me, sorrow, heartbreak, pain. I was grieved, deeply, deeply grieved.
So, this obviously stood out to me because it was different than any vision or dream that I had ever experienced. And of course, eventually I came out of this. Whether I came out of the vision or the dream, I do not know. Again, not trying to be spiritual. I don't know if I fell asleep or not. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me about what that was. I said, "Why did I still sorrow? Holy Spirit, why did I sense pain when I walked toward the Heavenly Father?" The Holy Spirit spoke to me that what I was sensing was not even a percentage. I mean, if you could even say a portion, the smallest possible portion you could imagine, that's what I experienced of His sorrow over lost souls, over those who walk in darkness, over those who live in sin. Yes, the Lord is angry with the wicked. Yes, judgment is being stored up. But there's a compassion to His heart, too. And what I was sensing in that moment was His heartbreak for the lost.
You want to know why I preach? You want to know why I evangelize? Why I travel around the world sharing the gospel? Why? Why do you think it is that I spend time away from my wife and daughter when I could just do live streams all the time? Why do you think it is that we as a Ministry do events around the world and make them free, even though we never recover the cost of any events that we do? Why do you think it is that when I preach the gospel, I do so with passion and conviction? Yes, it's because I love souls. That's part of it. Yes, it's because it's my Christian responsibility. That's part of it. But the real drive behind this evangelistic ministry, the real drive behind why I preach with such conviction and passion, is because I know that for every soul I win, I'm wiping a tear from the Heavenly Father's face. Every soul won to Him is a tear wiped from His face. That's why.
Now, what I glimpsed there obviously was something of the spirit realm. It was something of the Heavenly Realm. This is what the Bible says. And again, I'm talking about increased prayer here. This is the second key. First Corinthians 2:10-16: "But it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit. For His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets." Now, this is New Testament. This is after the cross. "But it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit, for His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets." This is one of my favorite portions of scripture, and you're going to see why in a moment. "No one can know a person's thoughts except that person's own spirit, and no one can know God's thoughts except God's Own Spirit. And we have received God's Spirit—not the world spirit—so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given to us. When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit's words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them, and they can't understand it. For only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who knows enough to teach Him? But we," the Bible says, "understand these things. But we have the mind of Christ."
Now, this is why I say, by the way, that the Holy Spirit is the mind of Christ. He is that active mind of Christ in us. By that, I mean that He gives to us revelation concerning the things of God. That's all that title means, by the way, when I say He's the mind of Christ. But here we see a very powerful reality taking place. The Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of God, who is God, three different persons, distinct from one another, all equally divine. The Holy Spirit searches the deep things of God. Think about what that means. The Holy Spirit knows the mind of God. He knows the fullness of the power of God. He perfectly understands the will of God. He knows about all of the questions that we have to ask. He knows everything there is concerning all realms that exist, all things. And what does the Bible say? And the Spirit, what does He do? "We have received these things from God's Spirit so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us." So, the Holy Spirit speaks spiritual realities to your spirit. That's how you receive them.
Now, this is not being spoken to your intellect. Your body is just a shell. Your soul is just an outer shell of who you are. Who you really are is the spirit man, your innermost being, the part of you that is connected with God. That's who you truly are. And the Holy Spirit communes with that part of you that is all spirit. These are deep spiritual truths here, but they're biblical. Now, we don't always immediately understand these communications with the mind. This is why you can see something in the spirit realm and go, "Gee, I wonder what that was." You don't understand it here, but your spirit already does. You may not get everything that God is doing here, but we trust Him because our spirit understands what He's doing. This is why I say that revelation is not receiving new knowledge. Revelation by the Spirit is when that which I already know in my spirit is made manifest in my human intellect. When what I know inwardly is understood outwardly, that's revelation. And this fellowship, this communion, comes by prayer.
Now, this increase in prayer can look several different ways. I would say, you watch this now. If you pray 15 minutes a day, change that. Start praying an hour a day. If you pray an hour a day, try your best to do two. And when I say "do two," I mean consecutively. Now, I understand not all of us will be able to do this every day, but set aside at least one day. If you can set aside some time once a month, fast quarterly, do something where you're regularly tapping into the deeper things of the spirit. So that when you go to pray, you increase your prayer life. And what you're doing is, you're not increasing your connection with God. That, that's not possible. You are already 100% connected with God. You're not receiving more of the Holy Spirit. That's impossible. You already have all of the Holy Spirit. No. When you pray, you are now opening that influence. You are allowing what you already have in your spirit to influence the rest of your being. Let me say that again: when you increase your prayer life, you are allowing what you already have in the spirit to influence the rest of your being, to now affect your mind, affect your emotions, affect what you see. And this is where you begin to see other things in the spirit.
I can't tell you how many times I've prayed till three in the morning and fallen asleep, only to be visited by God in my dreams to receive revelation that was quite helpful, by the way, regarding our ministry. The Lord has spoken to me very specifically about ministry decisions that I would have decided otherwise, but God spoke the other way, and I went God's way, and it saved us. I can't tell you how many times the Lord has shown me things about other people, or when I meet people, and the Holy Spirit shows me things about them, and I can discern it. You know, my team knows when I'm in a certain place of fasting and prayer, some of them will be able to tell you that I'll just turn to them and I say, "Are you feeling this? Has this been happening lately?" I think I just did something like that to Tim the other day. Oh, he didn't. No, I was in a different place of prayer at that season for that week, and I was just, you can pick up on things. Listen, when you start to pray like this, you start to pick up on things. You're very, very sensitive to things, and you, you can see different things. Some stuff I'll tell you, I'll be honest with you, some things you don't want to see. Some things I would rather not see in people. Some things I would rather just, "God, you keep that." But He shows it to me to pray. I could see things in people's lives. I can see things that they're going through. And this is not saying that I have all knowledge. That's not, that's not at all. I'm just a servant. I'm just spending time, more time with the one who does.
And so, you begin to increase your prayer life, and you watch that not only will you begin to discern more effectively, and I'm not talking about criticism. "Oh, I sensed a bad spirit on them. Stay away from them." And by the way, this is a side note. I do digress sometimes. I find it funny when someone criticizes a ministry, and then they find someone else who criticized the ministry, that they somehow think that that's proof that they both heard from God. I'm thinking, "No, they're just two bitter people who found each other that are hypocritical and agree on what they hate." So, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about true discernment. I'm talking about discernment based in love, in the word, not vague, "Something doesn't sit right about this." But where the Holy Spirit can say, "That's what's wrong. This is what's happening." Or where God will even begin to show you angelic things. You'll even be able to see sometimes. And we ought not to pray for these things specifically. Again, we're not after encounter. I'm just telling you what can happen when you position yourself in this way for God to be able to show you things.
There have been times where I've seen literal demonic beings on people. Preachers, by the way. Yeah, I'm gonna shock some people here today. And by that, I don't mean that they're Christians who are possessed. I mean they're frauds. Oh, we don't want to go there. I mean that they're actors performing on stage, and when that curtain closes, they sigh relief and get out of character. The Lord shows me that. Now, I don't see all things all the time, and there are many things that have gone past me, and there will probably be many things where people go, "Why didn't you have the sermon on that?" I'll say, "I don't know. I'm human. I need to get better at that." So, I have by no means reached perfection. There will be things I don't discern. But certain flows of the spirit, I find especially during services, because during a service, or before, leading up to when I'm prepping, I'm, I'm preparing my heart, my, my spirit. I'm resting my body. I'm focusing on the Lord, clearing my life of distractions. And it's just prayer and rest, and prayer and rest, and study and rest, and the word and rest. And by the time I get into those services, I feel like I'm a whole different person, and I could see very clearly. And I'm telling you this to wet your spiritual appetite because this is not just me. I'm, I want to cultivate or agitate, I should say, that spiritual hunger in you that you would say, "I want that. I want to know the Lord like that." And you can.
But I'm talking about deeper prayer now. Increase your prayer life. You're not going to get there 15 minutes a day. You know why? Because 15 minutes a day doesn't kill the flesh. Now, hear me here. Once the flesh has been subjected, let's say it takes you 30, 40 minutes the first time to get the flesh to that place where it's silent. It took you 30, 40 minutes the first time. The next time you go to pray, it'll probably take you 30 to 40 minutes again. The next time you pray, it'll probably take you 30 to 40 minutes again. But the next time you pray, it might only take you 30 minutes. And then it'll take you 30 minutes to get into that flow for the next dozen times you pray. And these are not exact numbers. Please don't get religious. You can't systematize spiritual things. I'm just giving you examples here. Let's say for the next dozen times or so, now 30 minutes it takes. But eventually, you're going to get to the place where you go, "Right in." There's no fight. Because you're walking in a way where you keep the flesh weak. You're walking in a way where you keep the flesh subjected. Many of us are not there. So, we have to subject the flesh and then continue to keep the flesh subjected. Many of you are there where you just have to continue now to keep the flesh subjected. And so, when you go to pray, you enter right into the spirit. Down you do this, you'll see things in the spirit as I described. Your discernment will become sharper. Dreams, visions, prophetic insight. I, I don't even know if I should share this, but I, I've been released one time, so I'm pretty sure I can. Um, you know, I truly believe that there's been times when I've been praying in the spirit where I've ministered to people on another part of the world in real life. Now, you can call me crazy. I'm not saying I can control that, but I think that's something that believers are able to do by God's sovereign will. It's not something we can choose to do, but I can't prove it. I can't, I'm not, I may not even be totally convinced of that myself, but something in me says that was too real of a vision, me witnessing to that person, for that to not have been a real thing. Maybe it was just a vision. I don't know. Part of me believes that maybe that could have been the case. Call it childlike faith, if you want to. You can call it something else if you want to, but that's what I believe, or part of me does, anyway.
Then there's that increase in prayer. Things like fasting as well. Fasting is not just a diet. Fasting is not just starving yourself. It's very simple. Why we fast? We fast to weaken the flesh. We fast to train against an agitated flesh. So when you're hungry, when you're angry, when you're tired, and you can still have joy, peace, and patience, then you can have joy, peace, and patience when you're not hungry, angry, and tired.
Now, three. I give you the first two. Number one, the word. Number two, increased prayer. Number three, purity. Remember this: sin is a weight that grounds you to the earthly. Sin is a weight that grounds you to the earthly. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14: "Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life." Hear me now. "For those who are not holy will not see the Lord." Now, before you go freaking out with a works-based mentality, remember this: the believer is justified by faith. Ephesians 2:8-9. Think about Abraham. Believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness. So, the believer is justified by faith. What I'm talking about here has nothing to do with your salvation. I'm talking about seeing into the spirit realm, or seeing glimpses of heavenly things. I'm talking about living in the righteousness that has been gifted to you. So, you've already been given the righteousness when you believe. But are you walking in that righteousness that you've been gifted?
Sin clouds your judgment. Sin brings deception, which makes it very difficult to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. Sin hardens your heart, which diminishes your faith. Look, I believe in studying the scripture. You know me, I'm very big on balance and grounding everything in the word. We must be biblically balanced. It's not just the word. It's not just the Spirit. It's the Spirit and the word. That's how you become a mature believer. And we use the word as our foundation for spirituality, but not as a limiter. God never intended His word to replace a relationship with Him. He gives us His word to put us in relationship with Him. It gives us everything we need to know to connect with Him properly.
Now, if you are living in sin, your heart becomes hardened, and your faith decreases. This is why, oh, please hear me now, this is going to be an eye-opener for some, not for everyone, for some. If you mock spiritual things and you're comfortable doing so, I'm willing to say there's some compromise in your life. If you mock spiritual things, like you see someone, for example, slain in the Spirit, and you're able to mock that, there's probably some compromise in your life. Or you see someone who comes in who is sick, and they're very, maybe they're in a wheelchair, maybe they're on crutches, maybe they're on a walker, maybe you can tell just by looking at them that something is very, very wrong. Well, if you, as an individual, look at them and immediately dismiss the fact that they can be healed by saying, "Oh, they're probably not going to get healed," or "That's going to be another one disappointed. That's going to be another one turned away." That's cynicism. And that cynicism is a result of compromise. Compromise is a result of sin. So, sin hardens the heart and it diminishes faith. I mean, you don't have childlike faith. How are you supposed to experience anything that God has for you without faith? It's impossible to even please Him.
So, we approach God with great expectation. Notice I did not say entitlement. There is a difference between expectation and entitlement. Many believers approach God with entitlement. "Lord, I prayed. Lord, I fasted. Now give me an encounter. You owe it to me." No, no, no, no, no, no, no. God is sovereign. We cannot choose to have these experiences. I can't say, "Hey, let me take you to..."
heaven with me. Nonsense. God is the one who decides who has what experiences, and every single one of them will serve one purpose or another. Now, that could be a purpose that's personal for you. That could be a purpose that's something that He wants the body of Christ to know. But even knowing this, we ought to understand that this does not replace scripture, and anything that contradicts the scripture must be thrown out. It doesn't have the same authority.
But this doesn't mean God doesn't have a personal connection with us. God is sovereign. He decides to experience His what. So, we are not entitled to these encounters, but we should expect them. Expectation is child likeness, joy. I wonder what will happen. I wonder what God's going to do today. You start praying like that, and I promise you, your prayer life will be more consistent. Instead of, "Oh, here I go, I have to pray again. This is my devotion, otherwise God will be angry with me, otherwise God will push me away. This is what I have to do to be a good Christian. If I'm not praying every day, I'm not going to heaven." Legalism, guys. Legalism. That's legalism.
Oh, but if I approach God, I wonder what the Lord's going to speak to me today. I wonder what He's going to show me in His word. I wonder what truth He'll reveal to me through scripture. And every so often, even wonder, I wonder if there'll be a supernatural encounter that I have in His presence. That, my friend, will produce a hunger for more prayer in your life. Not living our Christianity to experience things. I'm not talking about serving God for the sake of supernatural encounter. No, we come to Christ because we're sinners and we need Him to save us, and only He can. And we put our faith in His finished work. That's the gospel.
But I am saying that the closer you get to God, the more likely these encounters are. Generally speaking, again, as I said at the beginning, God can give an encounter to someone who doesn't seemingly deserve it, and God doesn't have to give an encounter to someone who seemingly deserves it. God can choose anyone, anytime. But through scripture, we see that generally speaking, God gives encounters in proportion to our obedience. Number one, the word. Go deeper in the word, my friend. You're not going to get into the heavenly realm by just the verse of the day. Number two, increased prayer life. You're not going to know the depths of the Holy Spirit's presence by 10, 15 minutes a day. Yes, pray throughout the day, of course, but also establish time to spend with Him. And number three is purity. Sin is a weight that grounds you to the earthly. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord.
So here's what I want you to do, and I believe God brought you to this for a purpose. I don't believe it's by accident that you're seeing this. So let me pray with you. I want you right now to repent before the Lord. Ask Him to forgive you for neglect of the word, for neglect of prayer, and for any compromise that you might have in your life. And then, with childlike faith, I want you to ask Him to show you His glory. I want you to ask Him to allow you to have, according to His will and unto His glory and for His purposes alone, to allow you to have a supernatural encounter. Let's pray that now.
Father, I thank You for that one watching this now. Lord, I know, I know, I know You've called them to this moment. And I pray, precious Holy Spirit, that You would cause them to be moved unto repentance. Help them to identify all the areas of compromise in their life. Grant them repentance. I pray now, just begin to get those things right. Look, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Mercy's never come to an end. He'll forgive you. His mercies are new every morning. He'll forgive you. Just get it right. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Just get it right.
Father, now, Father, I pray You would cause that one to experience and know the depths of Your glory. Wow them with encounters in Your presence. Shake them to their very core. I pray. Let them have experiences in Your presence that are so beautiful, they're borderline terrifying. Beauty of Your glory, as one stands in awe of a mighty ocean. Way so, we pray that they would come to know Your presence in Jesus name, we pray. I want you to say, because you believe it, say Amen.
Notice there, I did not say fearful, I said terrifying. And by terrifying, I mean, like when you look at the ocean, it's big, it's beautiful, and there's this sense of intimidation because it's so beautiful. Or you're standing on the edge of a mountain and you see the vast plains and the other mountain ranges, and you're thinking, this is so big, it's beautiful, it's grand, it's awe-inspiring. You almost begin to tremble. That kind of beauty and terror is what I'm talking about. Like lightning flashing.
Now, if you enjoyed this teaching, do me a favor. Go ahead and leave a like on it, because that's going to help to spread the message all over. And also, make sure you're subscribed to our channel so that you can learn more about the Holy Spirit, prayer, and spiritual warfare.
Now, I want to read a portion of scripture to you. Go to Second Corinthians chapter 9. I want to show you something that Paul the Apostle wrote to the Corinthian church. We're going to begin reading. Let's begin at verse number six. Go to Second Corinthians 9. I'm going to read verse 6 and onward to you. Remember this: A farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give, and don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure, for God loves a person who gives cheerfully.
Now, for context here, Paul the Apostle is talking about money. He's not talking about prayers or good deeds. He's talking specifically about finances, and he likens finance unto seed. Now, this is not necessarily mean that when we give, that God has to multiply it, give us, give it back to us in a certain amount of time. This just simply means that when we're good stewards and we're generous, that God blesses us for that. Now, that's not why we give, but that is a law of scripture. It's the law of stewardship. So here he says, a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.
Now, here's what's key. Verse seven: You must each decide in your heart how much to give. Don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. This is why I don't use gimmicks or pressure tactics. I don't say, I don't say things like, you know, if you give $77 in the next seven months, you're going to have sevenfold blessing. That's what you would call a gimmick. Nor do I try to incite the greed in people to get them to give. So no guilt, no gimmicks, no greed. But we should give to the gospel.
Now, here's the promise of scripture: And God will generously provide all you need. A promise from His word. Either we believe the word or we don't. When you give generously, the Bible says, God generously will provide all you need. Now, watch this. This is a powerful promise, and this, by the way, is the biblical definition of prosperity. I know the definition of prosperity has been abused from time to time, but this is the biblical definition. Then you will always, not sometimes, you will always have everything, not some things. You will always have everything you need. Watch this. I love this. And plenty left over to share with others. As the scriptures say, they share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. Verse 10. One more verse. For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, He will provide and increase your resources. So He provides your resources, and He increases your resources, and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
So it is true that when you give financially to support the work of the Kingdom, that God increases your resources. But what's the purpose of increasing your resources? Not so that we can consume it for ourselves. Sure, the Lord does give us things that we need for our enjoyment, as Timothy says, but primarily, God gives you increase so that you can continue to spread the gospel. So He looks and He sees. He says, "Okay, that individual." He might look at you when you give. He says, "Wow, they gave even when it was difficult. They gave even when it was a sacrifice. They gave out of their need." Or they gave, maybe some of you, you're living in an abundance right now, that's fine too. You can give in proportion to that abundance. But either way, God watches and He says, "I can trust that one with increase in resources."
So whether you're struggling financially or you're living in abundance right now, God gave that to you. The Bible says God provided that seed. God gave that to you. It's His, and He watches to see how you will take care of what He's given you. And if you give out of generosity, whether you're living in struggle or you're living in abundance, God will increase that. That's not why we give, but He will do that. Why? He does it so that we can further continue to spread the gospel message. That's why He increases us, so that we might continue to spread the gospel message.
Now, here's why I want to challenge you. I know sometimes it can take a little bit of a step of faith to do something like this. And I know that sometimes it's hard to trust people because many have abused the gospel message in times past. But I want to tell you this: When you give to this ministry, you're giving so that you can help us continue funding the live streams. You can help us continue to fund the content that we release, and so that you can continue to help us fund the events that we hold around the world, as well as all the administrative structural costs. Bottom line, you're funding the work of the Kingdom. You're helping us to spread the gospel all around the world through events and media.
Now, maybe you've been watching me for a while, a few months, and you say, "You know, I really like what I'm seeing. My life has been impacted. Now it's time to pay it forward." I'm asking you to do your part. Now, there's no magic to the numbers I'm going to list, and this is not a pressure tactic. As we just read, you shouldn't give in response to pressure. But I'm going to challenge some people here now to give certain amounts, not because they're magic, and not because, you know, um, if you don't do it, you're, you know, you're not a true servant of God. We don't teach that. That's that would be using guilt. But because I believe these are amounts that most people can do, and sometimes we just need a little nudge in the consideration of what we're doing.
So, will you consider right now becoming a monthly partner with our ministry for $15 a month, $30 a month, $60 a month, or $120 a month? Those are the amounts right there at the website, DavidHernandezMinistries.com/partner. It'll take no more than a minute or two. Whether you're watching live or on the replay, no more than a minute or two. If it takes you longer than that, then that's okay. We'll say five to 10 minutes the max, and that's if everything goes wrong. Um, we receive donations from all different parts of the world, so the form should work with your currency. So I'm challenging you to become a monthly partner now.
You don't want to become a monthly partner just yet. You're saying, "I'm still waiting to see." Well, I challenge you to give a one-time gift. Go to DavidHernandezMinistries.com/donate. Now, there are some of you who are struggling. Just do what the Holy Spirit puts on your heart. Some of you walking in abundance, just do what the Holy Spirit puts on your heart. But give in proportion to where you are. Some can do $25, some can do $100, some can do more. And as you begin to give, I want you to know that you're giving into the gospel. All of us coming together, all around the world, sacrificing, stepping out in faith, supporting this ministry that will make a difference. Don't say it will make a difference. Your giving counts, large or small, one-time or monthly. I'm asking you to give something today.
And in fact, as people give, I'm able to see many of the donations that come in right here on my phone. When you give on the website, I'm going to pull those up right now as you go and start to make your gifts. I'll be able to read those. On a side note, if our giving form on our website doesn't work for you, then you can use the YouTube or Facebook giving. But first, try the form before you give through YouTube or Facebook. Regina and Wallace and Sue's just became, and Cindy, thank you, Cindy, as well. Became monthly ministry supporters. God bless you. Christina, thank you for the one-time gift. God bless you. Brianna, thank you for the one-time gift. I see Rosemarie and Jung and Mercedes and Debbie and Jan and Zion and Joe. More names and Christina and Joven and Terrell all became monthly partners, and we certainly do appreciate that support.
One more time, guys, give a one-time gift or become a monthly supporter by going to DavidHernandezMinistries.com/partner for monthly gift, slash donate for a one-time gift. But again, one-time, large or small, or monthly, any type of gift, any type of frequency, it all counts.
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