Transcription
On further examination, she was married. So that didn't work out either. On further examination, she was married. So that didn't work out either. Um, that's also real. She's somewhat similar. That's always weird to me. That's a real person.
But so what's crazy, honestly, is this: then I meet a girl named Rebecca, who's now Rebecca, my wife. And I never prayed that prayer one single time. See, I start dating her. I'm getting to know her, and it's a really cool experience. And as I'm getting to know her, as I'm getting to know her story, I'm also learning my relationship with the Holy Spirit more and more. So, in the same way, I'm having a better relationship with Rebecca; I'm always gaining a better relationship with the Holy Spirit. This is what we all should be having.
And so, through this dating process, I'm feeling from the Holy Spirit that this is supposed to be my wife. Like, I am—it is clear, as I'm dating her—that the Holy Spirit told me, "This is your wife." Now, rule of thumb: if you're here and you're single and you meet somebody and you feel like God is telling you this person is the best person for you, you do not tell them that because it's super weird. Like, the weirdest thing you could possibly do. Like, for like, imagine this: I'm on day number two with my wife, Becca, and I'm like, "You know, hey, are you doing all this like awesome? How was your day? Like, the crazy thing, I was praying earlier to God," and she's like, "Oh, cool," and I'm like, "Yeah, you're—you're in for a treat. Uh, for real." And I'm like, "Hey, uh, God told me you're going to be my wife, so you're welcome. You know, like—like if I was to do that, honestly, there's like—I—I legitimately believe that she probably would have left the date. Like, 'cause that's straight up weird. Like, for real. And a relationship with the Holy Spirit is not weird or strange or bizarre. And I know this because the Holy Spirit is my friend, and he's not weird at all. And so, like, why would—why would his actions become it? It's not. And so, like, if you're single, do not tell them until you're like, "Hey, you're at like the wedding day, for real." And so, like, otherwise, it's weird pressure, and you become totally weird.
But so what's awesome, though, is that through dating Rebecca and hearing the Holy Spirit's voice, I'm living a totally different life than before. See, honestly, all these times I'm praying like in college and high school, I'm like, "Would you make this person my wife?" You know, I'm actually frustrated every time we break up because I'm like, "Man, like—like I got to pray this to you, and it didn't happen." And I would get so frustrated that God wasn't answering my prayers. But the truth is this: there are sometimes that God does not answer our prayers because he has better ones for us to pray. And when we have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, we can actually hear those prayers. We can hear what he wants us to have in our life. You know, like I was before—I was begging God to bless my relationships. But once I'm listening to the Holy Spirit's voice, having a relationship with him, like it goes from me begging God to bless it to walking in the blessing every single day. Because I was dating people and saying, "Hey, God, would you bless this?" But then God brings along a woman who is for me, my wife, and I don't have to beg God to bless it because anything from God is already blessed. And it's like, why would I beg God? Like, I don't have to pray for God to do something that he already wants to do. Like, I'm not begging him to do what he wants. So I'm like, "I'm just going to live it out."
And so, why have a relationship with the Holy Spirit? It's way better than a life on your own. It's way better. The third reason would be this: Why have a relationship with the Holy Spirit? It's because it's a miraculous life. Like, it's a miraculous life in the most normal way possible. You know, I even love this—this passage of scripture, one of—and there's so many—but Matthew chapter 10, verse 8 or verse 10:8 says, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy"—modern-day translation is, you know, "those who have cats"—and then, you know, "and drive—drive out demons; freely you have received, so give." Just one example of, okay, if you have Jesus in your life—which, by the Bible says, we only declare Jesus as Lord and Savior—we have a fresh indwelling of the Holy Spirit; we become the housing or the temple of the Holy Spirit, so wherever we're going, miracles should be normal for us, and they should be done in a very normal way. And so, why have a relationship with the Holy Spirit? Because it's a miraculous life. And I want to kind of illustrate this with just a real-life example that's super normal.
So, a couple—a couple months ago, I was going to Walmart, uh, just to get some normal toiletries, you know, some stuff—happening trip—and let's be honest, just going on whatever. And for the record, when we typically go to Walmart, it honestly kind of like loads and fishes—like, going for one thing, we kind of get 18 things. Like, let me go—a Bible joke—it's fine. And so, but so like we're going for like toothpaste, we kind of get toilet seats, inflatable pools, 'cause I got everything. But so this time it's just me by myself; I'm about to walk into Walmart, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I just feel this nudge from the Holy Spirit—say the nudge—nudge that was super lame—say the nudge—there, honestly, more than the second one, it was more like positive. And so, but the Holy Spirit kind of nudge—I actually—the person next to you, just a little nudge, like, yeah, we go. And so I—I—I felt this nudge kind of like you just—a moment ago—and about to walk into Walmart, and I feel this nudge, and what I'm saying is like a nudge is like how I hear from God; it's really kind of a thought; it's not this audible voice; it's nothing crazy; it's just like, you know what it is—a nudge in the right direction. And so I'm like, okay, I feel this nudge that the Holy Spirit was saying, like, "Hey, you cannot leave Walmart until you heal the sick," and I'm immediately like, "Can we chill? Like, for real, because that's heavy, and like I just want to get, you know, some—some deodorant and some Cocoa Puffs, for real." So, like, I'll be honest with you, because I have a plan: like, okay, I'm just going to obey, and there's two ways I can do this. There's two ways I can have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. I can be super weird, or I can be super normal. And so the weird way is—I can go into Walmart and every single person I see, I say, "Hey, I pray for you. Can I pray for you? Can I pray for you?" And honestly, every time I do things, whatever. But for me, like if the Holy Spirit is going to tell me to pray for someone, he's also going to tell me who that person is. So, not to be weird, trying to find out like on this scavenger hunt—like, I have a relationship with him, and he wants that person to get healed. So—so I'm walking through Walmart being very normal, getting some things and kind of wrapping up, and nothing's happening. That's totally okay. 'Cause honestly, just to tell you, if you're here and you're like you want to hear your Holy Spirit's voice in the past—if you heard it and you missed it, that's totally normal. See, the Holy Spirit speaking to us is communication. And where there's communication, there will always be a little bit of miscommunication. You know, me and my wife have been married for a little bit. And the longer we're married, the better our communication gets. And the biggest reason our communication gets better is because of the times that we miscommunicate because we can slow down, figure out, hey, where did I miss this, and then we can get better. It's the same way with the Holy Spirit. It's the absolute same way. So, so if I hear wrong, no big deal. I get to learn better next time.
But so I'm walking through Walmart, wrapping up, and then I feel this nudge again. Can—next one more time? Yeah. One last time. And so—so I feel this nudge again that—that—that the Holy Spirit's like, "Hey, in three aisles from now is the person I want you to pray for." So I'm like, "Okay, so in three aisles from now, it's the person I want you to pray for." And if you're wondering, well, how do you know it's the Holy Spirit? Well, number one, is it rooted in the word of God? And number two, you just straight up find out. Like, it's the only real way I know it's really the Holy Spirit is you find out. So I either walk forward three aisles, or I walk backwards and miss out on the entire thing God has for me. And so—and this time I did hear his voice right, and it was three aisles, and there's one person—it was actually a Walmart employee—and it was—of all things—real story—it was in the cereal aisle, and that's important because, on the real, if a miracle is going to happen at Walmart, it's going to happen in the cereal aisle, for real. Like—like I personally—I've never seen water trans wine, but I have seen milk trans milk, for real. Like—and so—and so I got my Cocoa Puffs—that's real. I put it in my cart, and—and I—and the lady—actually a worker—says, "Hey, um, is there anything else I can do for you?" And so she asked, and I'm like, "Yeah." And I want to even honestly demonstrate to you, and this is the only way—this is why I find the most like not awkward—best way to do this—and is how to pray for someone in public who probably doesn't know Jesus. And so I said this like, "Hey, yeah, this might be really weird to you, because it probably is." And I'm like, "Hey, this weird to you, but I have a relationship with God, and I'm trying to hear his voice better." And I just feel like I'm supposed to pray for you. Would that be okay? Like, would that be okay with you? And I'm asking permission because where there's permission, there is authority. And so I'm going to come up to Walmart. I'm going to be like, "In the name of Jesus"—like that would be weird. Like, that would be super—if someone did that to me at Walmart, I would have like knocked him out, like, for real. Like, I love Jesus, but you know, give me some space. And so I asked permission, and everything's going really well. She's like, "Yeah, you can totally pray for me." I mean, honestly, she's getting paid to give ministry, which is awesome. That's what's happening—happening right now. So whatever—and so like for real—and so not dig—and so—so I'm about to pray for her, but all this—I feel another nudge—more specifically, would be a word of knowledge. In First Corinthians chapter 12, it lists out nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, and a word of knowledge—that I felt—it was this nudge in another way you could say is I felt like she was in a car accident seven years ago, and this isn't for me to look spiritual to her; it's for her to know that God sees her; it's not for me to look cool, 'cause I mean, come on, like, for real—I either have it or I don't—and so like—like I want her to understand that God sees her situation, whether she knows God or not. And so like, "Hey, like, this might even be weird of you, but were you in a car accident like seven years ago?" And she starts to cry, and like, I never cry before, but like this is different. And so like, for real, and like—and for like even when I'm pranking with her, like I want to have fun with her—like, like I want her to laugh; I want her to have fun; have you know—it's like I'm—I'm even having fun with her—"Hey, like, that's something crazy, like, you know—did it happen in seven years?" She's like, "Yes"—like, "did it then cause like pain in your—in your lower back?" And then she's crying more. It was just—it's getting a lot out of hand, and so I'm kind of trying to wrap things up, but okay, so like, "Do you feel any pain right now in this moment?" She's like, "Yes, all the time." She's like, "I've been feeling pain on my back for seven years from this car accident," and I'm like, "Okay, one last time. Would it be okay if I pray for you? 'Cause I still—I want—I want to give her blessing and give that permission so I can operate in a better level of authority to her." And so—and here's how I pray for people in public. This has been really helpful for any of you—and God wants to pray for someone—and you're like, "Well, I want to be weird," then don't be weird. And so like—for—this is how I pray—with my hands in my pockets at Walmart—and I'm like—I pray just like this. Let's just say her name is Sarah, and I'm like, "Jesus, I thank you for my friend Sarah. She's so cool. God, you sent your son Jesus to die for her. You know, he—he lived a sinless life perfectly. He actually died for Sarah and me, and he rose three days later, and through that—yet you love her so much, you've made it so we can get healed from you—like, with you—and so, God, you be my friend. Amen." Like, it's like 15 seconds. I'm not shouting. I'm not, you know, shaking her. I'm not yelling at her. Like, okay, but on the real, if you're here and you're married, when is yelling anything better? Like—like ever. Like, for real. At least for me, it usually makes things worse. So like, why—why would my relationship with the Holy Spirit be any different from my relationship with my wife? Because the relationship I have with the Holy Spirit ends up going over and over in my relationship with my spouse. And so I'm like—I'm not going to be weird. So, hands in pockets, in a normal way. Nothing crazy is happening. No—no like weird feelings or anything—like, I didn't feel anything at all. And then she says, "Oh, snap." Says "Oh, snap." Not the exact words, but pretty close to it, honestly. Um, like, for real. Yeah. It's funny, but—but honestly, like it doesn't throw me off. I don't care, 'cause why would I expect a nonbeliever to act like a believer? That's stupid. I mean, be an idiot. And so like—so, you know, she says, "Oh, snap," so kind of thing. And then I'm like, "What's up?" And she's like, "You don't understand." And she starts trying to move around, and she's like, "I've been in pain for seven years, and this is the first time I've ever had no pain." And you know, and that's super cool. And okay, and for real, yeah, you can kind of like pity—it's cool. But like, no, for real, understand like you're not copying for me or you're copying for—like that same thing I'm telling you about—is not my story. It's—it's our story. So when you're at your office and you're meeting at your—your home—at your Walmart, these are your stories. Like, you can do this in the most normal way possible because when we have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, it's absolutely the most normal thing you can possibly do. These things become normal 'cause we're not chasing after miracles; they follow us. You know, we're not looking for these emotionally driven moments. Like, I want the knowledge that he's here whether I feel him or not, so he's going to operate like he's easier no matter what. And—and so that's what's amazing about it. So, I kind of like this. So I asked you to nudge the person next to you twice, and there were three categories of people that happened. Okay, when I do—there were three categories: some of you—like, you got really deep; you just went for it; like I saw—it was intense; I made it pretty quick. And some of you—like, kind of like a little tap. And then some of you didn't even do it, and I saw you—like, rude, for real, man. And so like—and so what's—here's the thing, though: the level—the level of nudge that you feel is determined by the level of relationship that you have. And so that's how it is right now—like, if you don't know the person next to you, I would hope you're not just digging in really hard; like, that'd be super weird; like that'd be so strange. But that's honestly exactly how it is—the Holy Spirit—the level of nudge that you feel is going to be determined by the level of relationship that you have. You know, and sometimes it is small—if it really is—and that's okay, too—and it grows us—for our friends—it's what's big. It's cool. But like, to feel a nudge at all is based off relationship. So we know why Jesus says to have a relationship. It's better than life on our own. And it's straight up miraculous.
So the last thing I'll talk about is this: Then how do we do this? How do we have a relationship with the Holy Spirit? How do I feel this nudge? Like, how do we do this? And—and honestly, it's one simple word. Like, how do we have a relationship with the Holy Spirit? It's one word: communication. Communication is—is the basis and the foundation for all relationships. Whether it's a text message, an email, an interview, or actual conversation. That's exactly how all relationships begin and continue and thrive. And so, how—how do you have a relationship with the Holy Spirit? You have communication. And in case you're wondering how we do that, it's three—three simple words, and we'll be done. Is this—it's three words. I want to say that after saying pages—pages—people, in prayer. Those are the three ways we communicate with the Holy Spirit. First of all, it's the pages of the word of God, because you have to understand the word of God is the foundation for all other godly communication. Like, 100%. So even—it doesn't matter who—in what position, what authority, what spiritual level, whatever that even means—like, someone comes to have a word for you. No matter who they are or what they say, I always take it to the word of God because it's the foundation for all godly communication, no matter what. So being rooted in the word of God is the most amazing thing because it changes this entire conversation. And then the second thing—there's pages, and then there's people—people of God. That's why being in a place like this is amazing because we have community, and being in a local church is the biggest deal. So we are held accountable—two ways—held accountable to saying, "Hey, the Holy Spirit is telling me I need to do this big thing in my life." They say, "Hey, are you still doing that thing? Are you accountable to that?" And we say, "Hey, I think the Holy Spirit is telling me to do this." They can say, "Hey, are you sure that's God? Did you take it to the word?" And so, how we have a relation to the Holy Spirit is through the communication through the pages of the word of God and through people of God. And sometimes they'll tell you less stuff, and that's amazing if we always still take it to the Lord. And then, lastly, we're going to do—for just like a couple seconds—is this: is prayer. There's pages, people, and then prayer. Just prayer to God. And if you're here and—like, no judgment at all, for real—if you're here like you don't fully understand how to pray, think of how you talk to your best friend and just talk to God that way, and he'll become your best friend.