Transcription
I want to share with you how to flow with the Holy Spirit. These are deep spiritual realities that are rarely talked about, but every believer should know how to flow with the Holy Spirit, not just in life, but also in ministry. When you're ministering on a platform, when you're ministering in the streets, when you're ministering to a loved one, these are simple, basic biblical principles that you can apply to your life immediately. And as you begin to apply these truths to your life, you'll begin to see that it's actually quite easy to flow with the Holy Spirit. Look, we complicate it in the flesh, we complicate things, but in the spirit, that's where things are simplified.
So, number one, you want to flow with the Holy Spirit. Number one, you have to forget about yourself. Now, I'm not saying that God doesn't care about you. I'm not saying that God doesn't want to move in your life or God doesn't want to give you breakthrough. When you're flowing with the Holy Spirit, sometimes you can become a distraction to you. Sometimes you can be so focused on what you're feeling or not feeling, what you're experiencing or not experiencing, what you desire, what you think. Sometimes you get in your own way.
Let me show you something here. Go with me to Isaiah chapter 6, and I want to show you what happened to the prophet when he was initiated in his calling. Isaiah chapter 6, beginning at verse number one: "It was the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew."
So here already, we see the heavenly realm opening. Verse three: "They were calling out to each other: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven's armies; the whole Earth is filled with his glory.' Their voices shook the temple to its foundation." I love that. "And the entire building was filled with smoke."
So here we see Isaiah the prophet carrying out his duties. He's being responsible, he's at work for the sake of God's glory. Then all of a sudden, in the middle of a seemingly mundane day, the heavens are open. He catches a glimpse of God's glory. God begins to reveal himself to Isaiah in a way he had never seen before. He looks and he sees angelic beings, heavenly hosts, and as they speak, their voices are so powerful that the temple is shaken to its foundations.
Now, of course, he's frightened by this. But verse five, we see how Isaiah responds. Now, imagine this. Here is a man who is witnessing something that is divine. What is his first response? Well, his first response is often our response whenever we encounter the Living God, or whenever God is trying to walk us through something. Verse five: "Then I said, 'It's over! It's all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven's armies.'"
You notice here that he's very focused on self. "I, I, I, I." He's thinking of his inadequacies. He's probably afraid that he's going to be judged because of those inadequacies. He probably doesn't feel worthy of having this experience because he is so focused on self. He's not fully able to experience, enjoy, or focus on the heavenly display that's before him.
And so, you and I often will run into the awareness of our inadequacies, the constant questions that berate our minds, the doubts that berate our minds, um, even to the point where we're so focused on what we're experiencing that we can break that experience. For example, there have been times when I'm flowing in prayer and I begin to sense physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit's power. Some people report feeling like a wind blow through the room. Sometimes they feel like a heat or electricity. I, at sometimes I've felt all those things, and other times I feel like I'm wading water, like you can feel like currents or waves flowing through the room. And sometimes I turn my focus from the Lord, from trying to see his heart, from trying to commune with him, to focusing on what I'm experiencing in that moment. And the moment I become more concerned about what I'm experiencing, well, now I've just unplugged from the source of that experience, and so the experience dissipates.
So when you're flowing with the Holy Spirit in your life, whether that be as a parent, as a spouse, as a minister, as a business person, as a student, whatever capacity you're feeling, God fills you in that capacity. Let me say that again: whatever capacity you're feeling, God fills you in that capacity. And so we can flow with the Holy Spirit in our schooling, we can flow with the Holy Spirit, and of course, we know this in our preaching, when we're praying for others, when we're evangelizing, when we're ministering, when we're moving in the spiritual gifts. But we can also flow in the Holy Spirit when we're being a spouse, when we're being a parent, when we're being a child or a child to a parent. Some of you, of course, watching this are fully grown, and so you're not a child anymore, but you can still be a good son and daughter and flow in the spirit in that capacity.
But in order to do this, you must learn to forget about yourself. You must learn to take your eyes off of your inadequacies, take your eyes off of those things that you think disqualify you, take your eyes off of your past, take your eyes off of how you want things to go, how you think things should go, off of all of the questions that you have. And there's a time for questions, of course, but when you're flowing with the Holy Spirit, you have to get out of your own way. Many times we pray, "Fill me, Holy Spirit," and that's very difficult at moments because we're so full of ourselves. We are so crowded in our lives with our self, with "I," with ego, with pride, with doubt, with guilt, with whatever you want to call it, that's preventing you from experiencing the fullness of that flow. That's what blocks us from being able to just flow with the spirit. And again, we complicate these things. We get all tangled up in our own emotions. We get all tangled up within self.
I want to flow with the spirit. I want to turn my focus from self to Jesus. I want you to write that in the comment section if that's your prayer. Just write, "Help me focus." Those three simple words. Let that be a public prayer, a public declaration. "Help me focus." If that's your prayer, that you want to turn your eyes to Jesus and off of self.
Number two, and I think I'm going to spend a little more time on this point than I did on the previous one because this one gets complicated. But I'm about to share with you, it's difficult, especially for those who are in public ministry. You're a preacher, you're a teacher, you have an online ministry, maybe a Bible club at school, maybe you write or you post things on social media in an attempt to spread the kingdom of God through evangelism. Well, number two is, you have to forget about others, both compliments and criticisms.
There's a popular phrase, and I agree with it, though I don't know exactly how to quote it. It goes something to the effect of, "If you live by their compliments, you will die by their criticisms." And this is true. We become so consumed with compliments and criticism that we begin to be taken off course. We forget who we are in Christ. We limit the unique expression of the anointing in our own lives because we're trying to match up with what people will perceive us to be, what people want us to be, what people will pressure us into being.
If you're not careful when you're preaching, you're going to be thinking of the critics or of those who will give you a compliment. If you're preaching because you want to hear compliments, if you're praying because you want to hear compliments, if you're moving in the gifts because you want to hear compliments, then you're going to be broken the day that criticisms come. We can't do this for the praise of man. If you do this for the praise of man, you will always fear man because you receive your, your foundation of approval, you receive your confidence, you receive your affirmation from people instead of God. So then when people stop affirming what you're saying, you adjust to try to get their affirmation again.
We, as preachers of the Gospel, have one responsibility, and that is to say what God says, how God says it, and when God says to say it. We can't be so consumed by the opinions of others, whether that be compliments or criticisms, that we begin to change our message or even hesitate in the way we say something. Now, look, I'm not saying that you can be rude. In fact, I think preachers today, for the most part, are a little meaner than they have to be, and to some extent, we celebrate that. The more mean someone says something, the more we equate that with them being truthful. But to be truthful, you don't always have to be mean. Rather, what you should do is just speak the truth in love. Speak the truth with boldness, and don't attempt to offend people, but don't attempt to not offend people either. One shouldn't matter to you. Don't be antagonistic, and don't be apologetic. Instead, be focused on what God has said, what the scripture says, and say what that says, and leave the results to God.
Let me show you something in Mark chapter 5. Go there now. Mark chapter 5. We're going to read a very popular narrative here. Mark chapter 5. This is when Jesus drives a legion of demons out of a demoniac. "So they arrived on the other side of the lake. When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. Whenever he was put into chains and shackles, as he often was, he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No, no one was strong enough to subdue him. Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones."
Verse 6: "When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. With a shriek, he screamed, 'Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don't torture me!' For Jesus had already said to the spirit, 'Come out of the man, you evil spirit!' Then Jesus demanded, 'What is your name?' And he replied, 'My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.' Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place."
Now, this is where it gets interesting. As if that wasn't interesting enough, there happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. "Send us into those pigs," the spirits begged. "Let us enter them." So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water. The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the Legion of demons. He was sitting there, fully clothed and perfect, perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs."
Now, watch this. Here we see a powerful miracle. Jesus demonstrates his absolute authority over demonic forces. Jesus speaks a simple command and drives a legion of demons out of a human vessel. Now, the man, of course, in his right mind now, was thanking Jesus. Later was pleading to be able to follow him and go with him. His life was forever transformed. But instead of seeing the miracle, the people in the town saw the mess. And they said in verse 17: "And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone." Can you imagine that? Here he performs a miracle, but he performs it in a way that they did not prefer.
Now, I imagine that this possibly affected their economy, at least to some extent, uh, because this was, of course, uh, the having pigs, this was a part of a business that maybe somebody was running. And so the people were very upset at the mess that resulted from the miracle, at the, at the side effects, if you will, of what was happening. And sometimes moves of the Holy Spirit can be perceived as chaotic. People often criticize moves of the Holy Spirit by saying something like, "Well, God is a God of order," and that's true. Or, "The Spirit gives you self-control," and that's true. But what they're doing when they say things like that is they're twisting those biblical truths to imply that everything that God will ever do will always make us comfortable, will always be perceived as us by orderly. Yes, God is a God of order, but that doesn't mean he does everything that we perceive to be orderly. He has his own order, he has his own way, he has his own agenda, and sometimes that's going to contradict the agenda of man. So instead of saying God is being disorderly, rather, we should get on board with what God is doing and fall in line with his order.
And here we see the people were upset. "Go away from us, leave us alone." They didn't want anything to do with this. And that's what happens when God begins to use you. People will misunderstand you. People will place on you a pressure to perform. People will place on you a pressure to please them. People will place on you this pressure to fit into their box. People are going to misunderstand you. In fact, let me just put it to you bluntly: there are people who are intent on misunderstanding you. There are people who will take no explanation that you give them, no clarification you can possibly present, will cause them to perceive you as a servant of God. You will be called a false prophet. You will be called a false teacher. Well, at least if you become effective. The more effective you become, the more you begin to draw criticism.
But if you're going to flow with the Holy Spirit, you have to forget about what others say. And again, not just their criticisms, but also their compliments. There will be people who try to manipulate you, who will say things to you like, "You know, I'm, I'm following you," and they, they'll point it out. "I'm following you because I've watched everything you said, and everything you say so far aligns with everything that I believe. So for now, I'll follow you." What they're saying is, "Don't you dare say anything that I don't agree with, because then I'm going to publicly unfollow you." Or there'll be people who say things like, "You know, you've changed. You used to be so different," even though they probably didn't even really know your ministry that well. Like, for example, there are people who every week discover that I believe in the slaying power of the Holy Spirit. Maybe they watched me for six months, and finally they come across a video where someone's being slain in the spirit, and they'll say something like, "You've changed. Don't go down this path." And I'm thinking, "You do realize that was happening since the inception of the ministry for over 20 years now? Nothing's changed. It's just now you discovered something that you don't like."
And this by no means is unique to me. Everyone will face these things. So you have to make a determination up at the top that when those criticisms begin to come, you're not going to be moved by them. When those compliments come, you're not going to be trapped by them, because people will attempt to trap you in their compliments. They'll say, "I like that you're like this. I like that you say this. I like that you agree with me on all this." And they're basically, basically putting you in a box, saying, "Now don't you dare get out of that box, 'cause I paid you a compliment because you're lining with everything I like." Well, you can't flow with that.
If you're so concerned about the opinions of people, you'll never be concerned with the opinion of the Holy Spirit. Rather, you have to follow the scripture. What does the word of God say? And you have to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit spoken directly to your spirit. And as long as the Holy Spirit that you believe you're listening to isn't contradicting the word of God, then it is most likely the Holy Spirit. And you have to flow as God has anointed you to flow. People won't like your methods. People won't like the way you do things. People won't even, there are some people who just won't like your personality, and you're just going to have to get over that.
And it was funny because when I first began in ministry, I said, "No, I'm going to keep things so balanced that no one will take issue with the ministry." And I'm telling you right now, that's just not possible. Because the moment you begin to grow in influence, not that it's your influence, we understand it's the Lord's influence, the moment you begin to grow in fruitfulness and effectiveness and impact, there will always be criticisms that come your way. So you're just going to have to be okay with that. They're going to make fun of the way you look. They're going to make fun of what you wear. They're going to make fun of the way you sound. They're going to make fun of how you operate. But you have to forget about the criticisms, and you have to forget about the compliments. Again, I say, do not allow people to control you with their criticisms or to trap you in their compliments. You do what God called you to do.
So if you want to flow with the spirit, number one, forget about yourself. Number two, forget about others, both compliments and criticisms. And if you're enjoying this message and you think others would benefit from being able to hear it, make sure to leave a like on this video right now, and that single act will actually help to spread the content even further.
Number three, forget about your circumstances. Now, this is difficult, I must admit, uh, because sometimes when you're operating in ministry, and again, I'm not just talking about platform ministry, I'm using platform ministry as an example of how you might apply these various different keys, but I don't necessarily want you to just think in terms of platform ministry here, because again, you can flow with the Holy Spirit in various different capacities of life, not just in platform ministry. But let's take a look here real briefly at Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4. I'm going to read verses 12 and 13. Two simple verses here: "I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength."
Now, verse 13 is often misapplied to mean that anything you ever want to do or desire, uh, to become, that you go ahead and do it. Use this kind of as a self-help scripture, and anything that's in your heart, you go and do it. Christ is going to help you to do it. Now, this is talking about living for the will of God in every circumstance. And in every one of those situations, as you're continuing to fulfill God's will, he will give you the strength to accomplish that despite what you're facing. But many believers hesitate in their calling, in fact, will completely stop flowing in their calling, we'll stop flowing with the Holy Spirit, simply because of their circumstances. They'll say things like, "I know the Spirit is directing me here, but I want to wait till I've taken care of everything here." Now, I understand that there is something to be said of applying wisdom, but if you have an instruction from the Holy Spirit in terms of what you are to do, and the timing in which you are to do that, then you need to get moving, no matter what the circumstances are.
As you serve the Lord, you'll find that serving God isn't a shield that keeps away trials and tragedies and challenges. In fact, as you serve the Lord, you're going to come up against challenges, and those challenges will help to perfect your faith and will help to sharpen your character. But as you begin to flow with the Holy Spirit, you must learn to shut away all of these different circumstances that are attacking you or that are vying for your attention.
For example, when I stand on a platform to minister, I leave everything I'm facing backstage. When I step behind that platform, in fact, I step into the room, I can feel the anointing in the atmosphere. When I step in a place to minister, and I'm just, if you were to walk backstage, you would just see me pacing. I just kind of either will fold my arms like this and I just pace, or I'm holding my hands like this and I'm just pacing back and forth, back and forth, just communing with the Spirit, talking to him, um, H, H, asking for his help. "Help me to keep my mind focused. Help me to speak what you've told me to speak. Help me to be sensitive to what you're telling me about the people here present and the people watching online." And I'm just communing with the Holy Spirit, worshiping, praying in the Spirit, praying in tongues, um, just surrendering and asking him to help me. And I say the same thing to him every single time before I step onto the platform. I say, "Holy Spirit, if you don't go with me..." and I don't mean that literally, of course, he's in me, and so he goes with me everywhere I go. What I mean is, if he hasn't empowered me unto that moment, then there's nothing I can do for the people. So I say, "Holy Spirit, if you don't go with me, I have nothing to offer these people. They came for nothing."
And if you've been to one of our services, you know they come by the thousands. And there's a line hours before the service starts, and sometimes we don't even have enough space to fit everyone. People fly in from other countries for a single service. People drive 12, 14, 16 hours for a single service. People will come in and spend the night at a hotel and plan a whole trip around a single service that they're attending. Desperate parents with sick children will bring those children to that building. Desperate family members will bring their sick family members. People who are dying, people who are suffering, people who need deliverance, people who have addictions come expecting a touch of God. And I say, if I took any of that pressure onto myself, thinking I had anything to do with it, I'd be in trouble. So I say, "Lord, it's you and you alone."
And so I can't be focused on issues that I'm facing. I can't be focused with the on the stress and the pressures of my life. And I do have stresses, stress points, and pressure points in my life, of course, everyone does. Everyone has their challenges. Instead, I have to say, "Okay, Lord, help me to set this aside for now. I know it'll be here waiting for me when I come back to this part of the stage again." When I step out there, I want to just be focused on Jesus. So I'll step onto the platform, and I just forget about my circumstances. I forget about the trials. I forget about the heartaches I'm experiencing, and I just become focused on Jesus. I'm not worried about what the people are feeling or not feeling. I'm not worried about whether or not they're applauding for the message, or even if they are cheering. I can't let that sway me. I, I can't worry about why they're there or why they've come. I can't worry about what they think of me. I can't worry about my own inadequacies. I have to just focus on Jesus.
And the moment you begin to do that, you'll notice there's this flow that comes with the spirit to where you're not so focused on the things of the world that you're distracted from the heavenly realm. But now there's this flow that comes. Guys, I'm giving you secrets of ministry here, things that are rarely talked about. And you apply these simple keys, I'm telling you, it'll change the dynamic of the way you minister. It'll change the dynamic of the way you flow, even in everyday life, if you learn to just allow the Holy Spirit. I call it the inner stabilization, where he just grounds you inwardly, and you remove all of those things from your mind that that cause confusion or distraction, and you just allow the Holy Spirit to minister peace. You say, "How do I do that?" Well, I'm telling you, you have to forget about yourself. You have to forget about others. You have to forget about the circumstances, and focus on Jesus, and glorify Jesus, and talk to Jesus, and just be so captured by his image, so captured by his glorious person, that your mind has no room to focus on anything else. It's not about not focusing on these things, it's about focusing on Jesus with such intensity that these things disappear. And then, as you begin to minister in that state, as you begin to live in that state, there's this flow that comes that cannot be manufactured by your own attempt. It's simply moving out of your own way and allowing him to take over.
Romans chapter 8, please go there now. Romans chapter 8. I'm going to read verses 31-39: "What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?" That alone, right there, that that promise alone, that God is with you, you're with God, that alone should help you to forget about yourself, others, and circumstances. But let's keep reading. "If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son, but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?" Going back to that point about criticism, I want to stress this: you get into ministry, you start experiencing fruitfulness, you will always have critics. You will always have critics who've deemed themselves expert enough to dismiss you, expert enough to criticize you, and in their minds, they are the good guy. But you have to keep moving. You have to keep going forward. You have to stay focused on Jesus. "Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one, for God himself has given us right standing with himself. It's imputed righteousness. Who then will condemn us? No one, for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us."
Now, remember this whenever you face difficult trials. "Can anything ever, never separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death? As the scriptures say, 'For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.' No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us. And I am persuaded that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, nor our fears for today, nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." That alone should help you to focus on Jesus, forgetting about all those things that surround you and stress you, and just focus on where the Spirit is leading you.
One more portion of scripture, and I'll be reading this particular portion out of the King James Version. Galatians chapter 5. I'm going to read verses 16, 17, and 18. Remember, forget about yourself, forget about others, forget about circumstances. Watch this now. "This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the Flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law."
Look at what the scripture says here. "Walk in the Spirit." I love the way that's phrased, and that's very intentional the way that was written. You're not walking ahead of the Spirit, you're not lagging behind the Spirit, you're walking in the Spirit. When I was a little boy, my dad tried to teach me how to hit a baseball with a baseball bat. Now, I, I am what you would call, um, athletically challenged. I'm not the most coordinated individual. Uh, so these types of tasks don't come easy for me. Sports was never really my thing. I was decent at basketball because I was taller than all the kids for a season, and then once, uh, they all caught up to my height, I was no longer any good at that particular sport. Um, but my dad was teaching me how to play baseball in our backyard, or how to hit a ball with the baseball bat. And every time the ball was thrown at me, I would flinch, close my eyes, or or turn away, or try to run from the ball. I was just too scared to hit it. So my dad comes behind me, and he places his hands on my hands and grips the bat for me. He places his feet beside my feet to help me get the proper stance. And then my brother tossed the ball our way. And again, I tensed up. And I remember filling my father's hands tried to move the bat to hit the ball for me, but I was so tense, I was so afraid, that even though he tried to move the bat for me, I tensed up and wouldn't allow him. I prevented him from moving the bat. And so he told me, "Just relax. Just let go."
And so I remember closing my eyes and just going loose. And I didn't even know the timing of when my brother had thrown that ball. But I do remember filling my dad's hands move my hands. I didn't fight him. I just let him do what he needed to do. And, and as that ball came closer to us, my dad swung the bat using my hands, and I felt that connection between the bat and the ball. Ball went across the yard. I thought in my mind, "I, I, I did a great job." But you see, I was fighting the posture that my dad was trying to help me gain. I was fighting the movement. And this is what some of us do in our tension. We resist the flow of the Holy Spirit. So you want to flow with him. Don't fight him. If you know he wants to do something or he's nudging you to do it, don't fight him. Don't force him. If he's not in something, stop trying to force him to be in something. The Holy Spirit is not easily persuaded. The Holy Spirit cannot be pressured or manipulated. Don't try to force to do something he's not wanting to do, and don't try to get him to be involved in something he doesn't want to be involved in. Instead of fighting him and forcing him, just flow with him. Say, "Wherever you go, I go. I'm just going to loosen my stance, and you take me where you want me to go." Forget about yourself, forget about others, forget about circumstances.