David Diga Hernandez - Prayers of the Holy Spirit - Part 2

I’m going to pray with you. I’m going to teach you throughout this lesson, and after this lesson is finished, I will begin teaching a brand new series on the Holy Spirit next week. I have often said that there’s so much to the Holy Spirit—his person, his nature, and his power—that I could probably teach a message on the Holy Spirit every single week for the rest of my life and never really run out of material. There is that much to him. So next week, I’ll begin a new lesson series on the person of the Holy Spirit. But now, I want to recap. We prayed and taught on how to hear his voice, obey his leading, receive his power, and understand his revelation. Now I’m starting this part, part two, with how to believe his truth, or the need for us to believe his truth. Then I will pray with you that he would help you to believe his truth. You understand his revelation when you hear his voice, obey his leading, and receive his power, but there is often a struggle in the believer to accept that truth in such a way that it impacts the way you think and feel. For example, I often receive prayer requests from people who are struggling and feeling defeated. They talk about how they are down, depressed, and anxious. I don’t mean to trivialize those feelings or make it sound like you’re not spiritual for struggling, but some believers live in a constant state of struggle, without joy, peace, or love. There is no magnetism about their spirituality. The Holy Spirit is colorful; he is wonderful, full of power and mystery. There is life in him and a vibrancy to him, so those who are filled with the Holy Spirit, those who have him, possess a charisma that attracts people. There is life in them. When I mention this part of the lesson, I am specifically referring to those who feel mentally defeated, emotionally defeated, and verbally defeated. Everything about them exudes darkness, heaviness, and a cry for help, and they lack power, peace, and joy. I wonder how people can live in such a way. You see, they are waiting for God to dramatically change everything around them: «Lord, change my circumstances, change my life, change my situation, give me a miracle. Once you perform that miracle, once you transform my situation, once you get me to the place where I want to be, then I will begin to believe what your word says.» But God reverses it on us. We say, «Lord, show me, and I’ll believe,» but God says, «Believe, and I’ll show you.» This is the battle—the fight to believe his truth. While we pray for a dramatic transformation of our outer circumstances, God is trying to get us to make a small inner shift. Scripture says in 1 Timothy 6:12, «Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto you are also called and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.» Fight to believe what God has said. Fight to exist in your new spiritual reality. Fight to exist as a new creation. You can be forgiven and still feel guilty; you can be loved and still feel rejected; you can strive for holiness and still feel like a hypocrite. What happens when your new mind seems to be thinking old thoughts, or when your new nature seems to be embracing old patterns? You have to fight the fight of faith; you must fight to believe what he says, and that is what the Holy Spirit helps us to do. In fact, it’s one of his primary focuses—to get us to believe the truth over the lie. Scripture says in Romans 8:15, «For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, 'Abba, Father.'» By the Holy Spirit, he’s the one who convinces us of our new status as sons and daughters of God. He’s the one who convinces us to believe what the word says. He takes the truth and makes it our reality. The Holy Spirit wants you to believe the truth. Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, «Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.» We are to take those thoughts that are contrary to what the Word of God says and cast them down. It is only by the Spirit, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that we believe his truth. I want to pray with you now. This first prayer is to believe his truth. If you’re struggling and saying, «Lord, I’m wavering,» you see, the fight is not necessarily against sin. As a mature believer, you should have a handle on sin. Yes, you make mistakes daily, but you should have a handle on sin and not live a sinful lifestyle. As a mature believer, you are not to fear demonic powers— you should have power over both sin and demonic beings. What, then, is our fight? Our fight as mature believers is simply to have faith. Sometimes, the most difficult…