David Diga Hernandez - 5 Things that Break the Holy Spirit's Heart

The Holy Spirit can be grieved. Ephesians 4:30 says, «And do not bring sorrow to God’s holy Spirit by the way you live.» Remember, He has identified you as His own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit is a person; that doesn’t mean He’s human, but it means He is personal. He has a mind, He has a will, and He has emotions. If the Holy Spirit loves you enough to be grieved by your disobedience, then that means He loves you enough to be pleased by your obedience. He has feelings; the things we do or don’t do can affect the way He feels. We can grieve the Holy Spirit of God. We can break His heart by what we do or don’t do. This is my greatest fear, and I pray that if we fear anything, we fear grieving the Holy Spirit. Don’t be afraid of the opinions of man. People will come against you when you speak the truth. People will attack you when you disrupt things by speaking what the Bible says or by speaking what the Holy Spirit says. When you follow the way of the Spirit, you’re going to be a disrupter. You’re going to say things that upset the religious; you’re going to say things that upset the establishment; you’re going to say things that upset the culture. You won’t always be accepted, and that’s okay. When we embrace the way of Christ, we embrace that cross, and often, that means persecution for standing in the truth, for walking in His power, for simply loving God, for declaring the gospel. We will be persecuted. Don’t fear man; don’t be afraid of man’s opinions. They can’t do anything to you ultimately. Ultimately, you’re in God’s hands. And don’t be afraid of demonic powers. Yes, you should be vigilant, but don’t be paranoid. Yes, we should be aware of the attacks of the enemy; yes, we should be aware of his deceptions; yes, we are engaged in a spiritual battle, and we ought not to be ignorant of that spiritual battle. I’m not saying to be apathetic toward the powers of darkness; I’m not saying to be apathetic toward the devil and demons. The Bible warns us that the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. But there’s a big difference between vigilance and paranoia. So yes, be aware of spiritual warfare, but don’t be afraid of demons. Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. Greater is He who is in you than he who is operating in the systems of the world. The Holy Spirit is more powerful than any spirit that might exist. There is no spirit more powerful than the Holy Spirit. So no, don’t be afraid of man’s opinions; don’t be afraid of the words they speak; don’t be afraid of the faces they’ll make at you for standing for truth or what they’ll think about you or how they’ll slander you or how they’ll come against you. Culture will come against you, the religious system will come against you, your family will come against you, and friends will come against you whenever you speak truth and walk with the Holy Spirit. But don’t be afraid of what man can do and say, and don’t be afraid of demons. Be aware, but don’t be afraid. Be afraid of one thing: grieving the precious Holy Spirit—not for fear of punishment, although there are consequences to sin, of course. We understand sin has very destructive power, and even believers who persist in sin will experience the fruit of destruction. But don’t fear anything but grieving the Holy Spirit. Don’t fear anything but grieving the Holy Spirit—not motivated by punishment, but motivated by love. That’s the life of the believer: to walk in a way knowing that what you do affects how He feels. Be motivated unto holiness by love. Perhaps you felt the sting of His pain and heartbreak from an act of disobedience. I know there were times in my life when I thought something, said something, or did something, or didn’t do something, that deeply grieved the precious Holy Spirit. I could sense the atmosphere shift around me, from the beauty of His presence—the glory resting on my life, that joy, that peace, that union, that perfect fellowship—to this agitated atmosphere, this broken heart, that I could sense, this heaviness, this weightiness. The psalmist wrote, «Your hand weighed heavily upon me.» That grieving of the Holy Spirit—I don’t want to grieve Him. I only fear grieving the precious Holy Spirit. I don’t want to break His heart. There are several things we do that grieve Him. I’ll name five.

Number one: sins of commission. These are the things we do that we know we should not do; these are the things that violate the word of God, the nature of God, and the instructions given to us by the Holy Spirit. When we do those things we know we shouldn’t do, we break His heart.

Number two, we grieve the Holy Spirit when we don’t do what He is telling us to do. «He that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin,» that’s what the Bible says. So when the Holy Spirit speaks to you to do something, and you know it’s Him, you have to be cautious. Sometimes, some people have the tendency to take every thought as an instruction from the Holy Spirit, leading them to live with what I call religious OCD. I am not mocking that syndrome or sickness; I am acknowledging that it’s a reality many believers suffer from because they obsessively fixate on various things they think the Holy Spirit is telling them to do: «Stand here for five minutes and don’t move,» «Get out of bed right now and stand in the middle of the floor,» «Don’t wear that blue shirt, wear the red shirt,» «Go to that gas station and look for someone who looks like this.» Sometimes, that is truly the Holy Spirit; many times, it is not. Don’t suffer under legalism by mistaking it for the voice of the Holy Spirit when it’s actually your own thoughts and emotions. The things we fail to do can grieve Him, breaking His heart. When He says, «Help that ministry,» and we refuse; when He says, «Witness to that person,» and we refuse; when He says, «Do this ministry,» and we refuse; when He says, «Go and perform this kind act,» and we refuse; when He calls us to prayer, reads the Word, and we refuse—these are sins of omission.

Number three, what grieves the Holy Spirit is when we ignore the reality of His abiding presence. The Holy Spirit is always there but rarely acknowledged. Don’t go through your life at such a busy pace that you can’t acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit. Don’t live in a way that makes you unaware of His nearness. The Holy Spirit is not far from any one of us; He abides in us and around us. He is the atmosphere that goes with us. As Moses said, «I’m not going to go anywhere without Your presence, because Your presence is what makes me distinct.» He makes you distinct. Some of us move through life at such a fast pace that we fail even to stop and recognize His nearness. Don’t ignore His presence. Continue to acknowledge Him. Don’t go the whole day without talking to Him. Don’t go the whole day without relying on Him. Involve Him; be aware of Him. Don’t ignore Him.

Number four, what grieves the Holy Spirit is division in His body. Now, let me make this very clear: there are times we need to divide. Jesus said, «I came not to bring peace but a sword.» Either you’re with Me or against Me. Jesus made it clear that He is the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father but by Him. So, there is a time for division. If someone is blatantly teaching heresy, something that contradicts one of the fundamentals of the faith, you have to call that out. If that person continues to do so, you must separate from them. If a believer continues to live in sexual sin without attempting repentance and just blatantly lives that lifestyle, the Scripture says to have nothing to do with that person. That’s not my word; that’s God’s word. So, there is a time for division. However, I think believers often divide because of their ego, sensitivity, pride, or fear, and they try to blame the Holy Spirit for being in the flesh. They say things like, «I just feel the Holy Spirit is grieved with you» or «Something doesn’t sit right about you in my spirit,» when what they really mean is, «I don’t like you.»

It’s interesting that when people argue, they often attempt to spiritualize their actions of the flesh. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen believers argue with one another, saying, «Well, you have a bad spirit.» It’s not merely a disagreement; it’s, «You have a bad spirit.» That’s not maturity. In fact, our unity can only come in proportion to our maturity. I’m not saying we embrace heresy or false teachers. I am saying that true brothers and sisters in Christ will upset us sometimes. True brothers and sisters in Christ will disagree with us sometimes. True brothers and sisters in Christ will offend us sometimes. When we let division create bitterness and separate us for reasons that are not biblical, we are grieving the Holy Spirit. Why? Because the Holy Spirit in me loves the Holy Spirit in you. The Holy Spirit in me is kindred to the Holy Spirit in you. «He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.» You’re one with the Holy Spirit; I’m one with the Holy Spirit, and therefore, through the Holy Spirit, we are one—we’re one body. So when we bicker and fight and carry bitterness, we should think about those people in our lives whom we’re bitter against, often forgetting why we’re mad at them. Think about those times you cut people off simply because they disagreed with you on something that wasn’t even a fundamental of the faith. That’s ego; that’s immaturity, and these are the things we do that grieve the Holy Spirit. Division is one of them, so we grieve.