David Diga Hernandez - Persistent Prayer for the Prodigal

Today, as you worship the Lord and sing from your heart, everything within you is crying out for the presence of the Holy Spirit. Everything that is within you is longing for the depths of the things of God, thirsting for the presence of Jesus. Today, you would be filled, and as you watch this broadcast and join us here for Spirit Church, may God grant you the desires of your heart, and may those desires be for Him. As I mentioned, I have a very special guest with me today, and I’m very excited because we don’t know which direction this will take. My guest is gifted in many different areas. Now, before I introduce him, please help me out here: how long ago did we meet? Was it about two years ago? We met through a mutual friend, Prophet Rob Sanchez, and Cali Lori. For those of you who remember us from back when we were on Charter, which was about six years ago, Cali Lori was my first guest ever, wow, on Encounter TV. The viewers know Prophet Rob, but let me welcome Pastor David Harabedian to the program. Sir, thank you for being here. I’m excited. It’s good to have you here! You brought your wife along; she’s sitting there watching with my wife, and we are both newly married. You were married how long ago now? November 9th? Wow, so about seven months. That’s pretty exciting! I had the privilege of seeing you get married, and I’m glad to have you here today. As I was telling you, this man is gifted prophetically and possesses the gift of healing. I have seen the Lord move through him. One of the things I’ve always appreciated about your ministry is your openness to the move of the Holy Spirit. Your teaching is amazing, and your story is incredible. So, I just told you when you arrived that this is a free flow; take it where you want it to go; it’s all yours.

Amen! Well, what I want to share today is about my own spiritual formation because everybody has a story. There are many ways to Jesus, but Jesus is the only way to the Father. Everyone comes to the Lord differently, and as I share this story, I sense the Lord is going to encourage mothers of wayward sons and daughters right now. My mother raised me in church, and my father raised me in church, but it didn’t move me at the time. There wasn’t enough of the moving of the Holy Spirit in public settings. It is important that we nurture the gifts that God implants in our children. If we don’t nurture, develop, and celebrate those gifts, what happens is that children will seek the world, where someone will celebrate what they have.

There was a young boy who was about eight years old. This story goes that his father and mother came home one day, and his older brother had been babysitting him and had left him to his own devices. Long story short, the young boy came out with a skateboard that had some rough wheels and was made of a rough piece of wood. He had put this skateboard together, and his father was amazed. He asked, «Where did you get this skateboard?» The boy replied, «I made it in the garage.» The father looked at it and said, «Well, it’s a little rough, but oh my gosh, an eight-year-old made this?» The father then went into the garage and noticed a hole in the side where a piece of wood was missing, which was the size of the skateboard top.

The father had an opportunity right there to chastise his son or to celebrate his son’s carpentry and creativity gifts. The father looked at his son and said, «I’m amazed at what you’ve done! At eight years old, you have a tremendous gift brewing. Why don’t we go to the lumber yard, get some wood, and do a father-son project together? The first project we’ll do is repair the garage.»

In life, there are so many things that our children might do that we want to rebuke or chastise them for because their actions may appear to be wrong when, in reality, their gifts are starting to develop but just need some guidance. I had gifts as a child; I was a dreamer with very accurate prophetic dreams. However, there was nobody to guide or nurture that gift, so I faced challenges. Instead of being celebrated, nurtured, and guided in the prophetic, I was labeled a dreamer and rebuked. There are stories behind that which we won’t get into tonight, but the bottom line is I chose the wrong path. I was raised in church, with the right morals and standards, yet I turned to the world to develop my gifts rather than cultivating them within the church. We must celebrate our children and their gifts, even if we do not fully recognize them.