David Diga Hernandez - Holy Spirit: Keeper of the Call

The Holy Spirit isn’t going to fail you; He is going to do everything in His power to ensure that you fulfill the assignment God has placed upon your life. He’s your partner, your advocate, your help, your companion, and your friend. He is not just with you in the good times, nor is He just with you when you’re the best version of yourself. The Holy Spirit abides with you even when you mess up; the Holy Spirit abides with you even when you lose strength—especially when you lose strength. You see, when we respond to the call of God, the enemy responds to our response. There is always opposition to those who are pursuing the call of God in their lives. Therefore, there is this fear in Christianity, a fear among those who are pursuing that call of God, that they might have missed their call or lost it due to some mistake they’ve made in their past. So, I am speaking to those of you who think you’ve missed the call of God or lost it, and to those of you who know there is a call of God on your life. Because even if you feel you’ve lost it or missed it, at some point you may arrive at a place where you feel like giving up. At some point, you may feel as though you’ve been disqualified. So, even if you’ve never experienced that sense of loss, even if you’ve never felt uncertain about the call of God, you need to hear this because it will help you to stay rooted. It’s important that we, as ministers, stay focused. We, as those who carry the anointing, must remain focused. I’m not just talking to pastors; I’m talking to evangelists, teachers, prophets, apostles, and those with gifts that serve in the church. We need to stay focused and realize that no matter what our task is—whether in an official ministry position or just living for Jesus—when we’re anointed and doing something for God, it’s still possible for us to go astray. The flesh is so prone to stray, to leave its place of purpose. The flesh is so easily distracted; it is so easily lured into other things. Now, I want to look at the Book of Jonah because in this book we see that there was a prophet whom God has called to go to the city of Nineveh. But instead of going to Nineveh to preach the gospel, he flees; he gets in a boat and intentionally leaves the call of God. Now, not all of us have gone to that extreme where we have fought against the call of God. By the way, I love what Jesus says to Saul before he became Paul in the New Living Translation. He basically tells us it is pointless for you to resist My will; there’s no reason for you to do it; it’s not going to work. However, there are these seasons when we may feel distracted, when we may feel distant, or maybe you are someone who has gone to that extreme where you’ve purposely, intentionally, and stubbornly resisted the call of God. This is what Jonah did; he was a prophet of God, yet here he is resisting the call of God. The scripture says he was supposed to go to Nineveh; instead, he goes to Tarshish. He abandons ship, so to speak; he leaves his call, where he is supposed to be going. The scripture says in Jonah chapter 1, verse 3, «But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord.» I found that interesting; I wondered why he would want to get away from the Lord. Some Bible scholars suggest that it is possible Jonah didn’t want to preach to the Ninevites because of their history or because of how violent and wicked the people were. Whatever the reason, Jonah is resisting; he doesn’t want to pursue the call of God on his life. If we go down to verse 4, we find that the Lord prevents Jonah from running, from fleeing. Now, most of you know Jonah and have heard his name mentioned along with a whale—you hear «Jonah and the whale.» However, what I find even more interesting than Jonah and the whale is Jonah and the wind. Look at what the scripture says in verse 4: «But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart.» I love that because remember, as I discussed in a series I did called Symbols of the Holy Spirit, one of the symbols for the presence of the Holy Spirit is wind. The Holy Spirit is the breath of God; He’s the wind of heaven; He is that corrective force in our lives. Here we see this wind from heaven, from the Lord, proceeding to cross the sea and knock Jonah off his course of rebellion. I find this amazing because we see an analogy, a symbol, a parallel of the presence of the Holy Spirit in action in our own lives. When we try to go astray, the Holy Spirit moves and disrupts our means of rebellion. I love the fact that the wind was threatening to break the ship apart. What does this tell me? It means God will destroy whatever He has to destroy to get your attention. I want you to hear what I’m saying and hear.