David Diga Hernandez - Making Room for the Holy Spirit

If you’ll recall from previous lessons I’ve taught, the person of the Holy Spirit is often symbolized throughout Scripture as oil. In the Old Testament, we saw that many were anointed for various reasons: you could be anointed to be a priest, a king, or a prophet. The consecration that took place in the anointing ceremony was essentially God setting that individual apart. The anointing, when it comes upon a life, separates that person and makes them a unique vessel of God on the earth. The anointing not only separates you; it also positions you for power. Now, the anointing oil is symbolic of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because in Acts 10:38, we see that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit. That oil in the Old Testament was a type and shadow of the Holy Spirit’s presence, which was fully revealed in the New Testament. So keep in mind that the oil often represents, though not always, the presence of the Holy Spirit.

With that thought, I want to examine 2 Kings 4, where the Scripture states this, beginning at verse 1 and reading from the New Living Translation: «One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, 'My husband, who served you, is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.' 'What can I do to help you? ' Elisha asked. 'Tell me, what do you have in the house? ' 'Nothing at all except a flask of olive oil, ' she replied. Elisha said, 'Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.' So she did just as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Verse 6: 'Soon every container was full to the brim.' 'Bring me another jar, ' she said to one of her sons. 'There aren’t any more, ' he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.»

I want to tell you something about the Holy Spirit: the Holy Spirit is not pushy; He is pervasive. Now, that word «pervasive» is important for you to understand because when you do, you’ll grasp a character trait of the Holy Spirit. I mentioned I wanted to show you something that the Holy Spirit loves more than anything else. Something I’ve learned is that He loves spending time with you. When I first began to seek the Lord, I was about 11 or 12 years old. During that season in my prayer life, I was often called out of bed at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. I recall many instances where the presence of the Holy Spirit would invade my room in a tangible way. Responding to that call to pray, I became obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit. I learned to be sensitive to His voice, and that sensitivity is not just about how clearly you hear Him; it’s about how quickly you respond when you do. That sensitivity became like a spiritual reflex—when the Holy Spirit spoke, I would obey.

But there was something else I learned about the Holy Spirit during that season. You see, the Holy Spirit would call me to pray not just at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning; He would prompt me when I was at the movie theater, watching a film. He would speak to my heart, saying, «You don’t need this; come and be with me.» He would speak to me when I was out with friends, suggesting I leave a little earlier to go to my prayer room because He wanted to speak with me. So, at a very young age, I learned that the Holy Spirit loves spending time with you more than almost anything else. That really is the key; it’s the secret to everything. If you talk about power, that is the key to power. If you discuss influential ministry, that is the key to influential ministry. If you wish to become more like Jesus, the key to that is spending time with the Holy Spirit. I would dare say that the Holy Spirit wants to spend time with you more than you want to spend time with Him. He is always available, and He doesn’t just want to be available—He desires to be in your presence, to have your attention, to have your focus. Just as we are the apple of our Father’s eye, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit want to be the apple of our eye. Spending time in the presence of the Holy Spirit is one of the most powerful things you can do.

So, what does this have to do with the Scripture I read to you? Well, I want you to notice, first, that the oil represents the presence of the Holy Spirit. While there is much to this story that we could explore from various angles, and we could discuss it for hours, I want to point out a simple thought: the oil flowed until there was no place else for it to go. You see, a fundamental law of the Spirit is that that which…