David Diga Hernandez - The Ministry of the Holy Spirit - Part 1

Hello, this is David Diga Hernandez, and you are watching Spirit Church here on the Encounter TV Network. You know I love talking about the person of the Holy Spirit, and I know that you love hearing about Him. So right now, I want to talk to you about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. There are many things that He does for the believer, and I’m going to discuss a few of those things. But first, Steven Moaz Zuma is here with me; he’s going to lead you in some very anointed worship, and then we’re going to get right into this message.

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So, what is it that the Holy Spirit does in our lives? Well, there are many things that He does, but I want you to imagine Jesus standing in front of you in physical form. There are times when the presence of Jesus becomes so real that there is a tangible sense of His presence, and that is a result of the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who, I like to say, vivifies the Savior; He intensifies the reality of Christ. Why is that? Well, that’s because the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and the Father are one, so the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. You’ve often heard it said, «Well, if only Jesus was here, I could face my situation with a little more faith,» or «If only Jesus was here, then as I read the Scriptures, He would be able to teach me what He meant.» But you don’t have to wonder what it would be like to walk with Jesus because the Holy Spirit is the presence of Jesus in your life. The Holy Spirit is the literal spiritual presence of Jesus abiding with you 24/7, so you don’t have to ask what it would be like to walk with Jesus—He walks with you now through His Holy Spirit. I’ll never forget the time in my life when I first really began to dig into the Word and into prayer. I committed myself to prayer, and I committed myself to the Word, and I always saw that there was room for growth. But I’ll never forget that first season of my life when prayer began to permeate my being. I remember looking around me; I saw the ministry, I saw the church, I saw believers, and I saw pastors, and it all seemed like one thing to me—it was Christianity. But in that season of my life, there was something deep inside of me that said there has to be more than this. There was this stirring, this fire that I could not ignore or extinguish. It was a fire that was growing within my spirit, and everything within me cried out for something more. Now, the Holy Spirit is a Someone, but that something more comes from Him; He is that something more. I remember I was standing with some ministry volunteers, and we were about to put on this ministry event. I was going to preach the gospel and pray for the sick, and they were all surrounding me as we prayed, believing God for miracles. We joined hands and began to seek the Lord; the service was to start in about an hour, and we began to pray. All of a sudden, this boldness came upon me; this realization came over me: Jesus is here! I said it loudly and boldly—I said, «Jesus is here!» One of the team members said, «Amen.» I said, «No, no, no; you don’t understand, Jesus is here!» As I began to make that declaration, the presence of Jesus intensified in that room. The intensification grew to such a point that those who were praying with me were on their faces, weeping before God and trembling under the anointing as I declared, «Jesus is here.» Why? Because Jesus walked into that room. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, so we have Him with us. If the Son of God relied upon the power of the Holy Spirit when He walked here on earth, how much more should we? If Jesus needed the power of the Holy Spirit, how much more do we? The early church was empowered by Him; the apostles were empowered by Him; the Son of God was empowered by Him. We need the Holy Spirit in our lives. Here are some of the things that He does: Number one, He helps us pray. The Scripture calls Him the Spirit of Prayer. In Zechariah 12:10, the Bible says that «I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me, whom they have pierced, and mourn for Him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for Him as for a firstborn son who has died.» Now, I want you to notice a few things: number one, it calls Him the Spirit of Prayer; number two, He is called the Spirit of Grace. I heard a preacher once say he’s not the grace Spirit, he’s the Holy Spirit, and it was to push a legalistic message that he made that declaration. But in fact, the Scripture refers to Him as the grace Spirit. Thirdly, I want you to notice from this portion of Scripture that the Holy Spirit caused the people to look to the Cross. Let’s read it again: «They will look on me, whom they have pierced, and mourn for Him as for an only son.» Here, when the Spirit of Prayer comes on an individual, it points their attention to Jesus; it points their attention to the finished work of the Cross. That’s what that power does. The Holy Spirit gives us that power to pray. If you’ve ever run into a situation where you’re seeking God and you don’t know what to pray, you don’t know how to pray, you don’t know what specific words you should speak, you might wonder: «Should I worship? Should I pray in tongues? Should I read the Bible? Should I lay down? Should I kneel? How do I pray?» The Holy Spirit will help you; all you have to do is ask for His help. All you have to do is say, «Holy Spirit, guide me, direct me, lead me,» and He will help you to pray. Number two…