David Diga Hernandez - It's Actually Easy to Flow with the Holy Spirit, Here's How

I want to share with you how to flow with the Holy Spirit. These are deep spiritual realities that are rarely talked about, but every believer should know how to flow with the Holy Spirit—not just in life, but also in ministry. Whether you're ministering on a platform, in the streets, or to a loved one, these are simple, basic biblical principles that you can apply to your life immediately. As you begin to apply these truths, you'll see that flowing with the Holy Spirit is actually quite simple. We often complicate things in the flesh, but in the spirit, everything becomes simpler.

The first key to flowing with the Holy Spirit is forgetting about yourself. Now, I'm not saying God doesn't care about you, or that He doesn't want to move in your life or give you breakthrough. But when you're flowing with the Holy Spirit, sometimes you can become your own distraction. You might get too focused on what you're feeling or not feeling, what you're experiencing or not experiencing, or what you desire and think. Sometimes, you simply get in your own way.

Let me show you something in Isaiah chapter 6. I want to show you what happened to the prophet when he was initiated in his calling. Starting at verse one: "It was the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Attending Him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew."

Already we see the heavenly realm opening. Verse three continues: "They were calling out to each other, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven's armies! The whole earth is filled with His glory!' Their voices shook the temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke."

Here we see Isaiah the prophet carrying out his duties, being responsible, working for God's glory. Then suddenly, in the middle of what seemed like a mundane day, the heavens opened. He caught a glimpse of God's glory. God revealed Himself to Isaiah in an unprecedented way. He saw angelic beings, heavenly hosts, and their voices were so powerful that they shook the temple to its foundations.

In verse 5, we see Isaiah's response. Imagine this: here's a man witnessing something divine, and what's his first response? It's often our same response when we encounter the living God or when He's trying to guide us through something. Isaiah says, "It's over! It's all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven's armies!"

Notice how focused he is on himself: "I, I, I, I." He's thinking about his inadequacies, probably afraid of judgment because of them. He likely doesn't feel worthy of this experience. Because he's so focused on himself, he can't fully experience, enjoy, or focus on the heavenly display before him.

You and I often encounter this same awareness of our inadequacies—the constant questions and doubts that berate our minds. We can become so focused on what we're experiencing that we break the experience itself. For example, there have been times when I'm flowing in prayer and begin to sense physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit's power. Some people report feeling like a wind blowing through the room, sometimes they feel heat or electricity. I've felt all these things, and other times, I've felt like I'm wading through water—feeling currents or waves flowing through the room.

Sometimes I shift my focus from the Lord, from trying to see His heart and commune with Him, to focusing on what I'm experiencing in that moment. The moment I become more concerned about the experience itself, I've unplugged from its source, and the experience dissipates.

When you're flowing with the Holy Spirit in your life—whether as a parent, spouse, minister, business person, or student—remember this: whatever capacity you're filling, God fills you in that capacity. We can flow with the Holy Spirit in our schooling, in our preaching, when praying for others, evangelizing, ministering, moving in spiritual gifts, being a spouse, being a parent, or being a child to a parent. Some of you watching this are fully grown, but you can still be a good son or daughter and flow in the Spirit in that capacity.

To do this effectively, you must learn to forget about yourself. Take your eyes off your inadequacies, off the things you think disqualify you, off your past, off how you want things to go or think they should go, and off all your questions. Yes, there's a time for questions, but when you're flowing with the Holy Spirit, you have to get out of your own way.

Many times we pray, "Fill me, Holy Spirit," but that's difficult because we're so full of ourselves. Our lives are crowded with self, ego, pride, doubt, and guilt—whatever you want to call it—that prevents us from experiencing the fullness of that flow. That's what blocks us from being able to just flow with the Spirit. Again, we complicate these things, getting tangled up in our emotions and self-focus.

I want to flow with the Spirit. I want to turn my focus from self to Jesus. If that's your prayer, just write "Help me focus" in the comment section—those three simple words. Let that be a public prayer, a public declaration.

The second point—and I'll spend more time on this because it gets complicated, especially for those in public ministry—is that you have to forget about others, both their compliments and criticisms. There's a popular phrase that goes something like, "If you live by their compliments, you will die by their criticisms." This is true. We can become so consumed with compliments and criticism that we lose our course, forgetting who we are in Christ. We limit the unique expression of the anointing in our lives because we're trying to match others' expectations or pressures.

If you're not careful when preaching, you'll be thinking of the critics or those who might compliment you. If you're preaching, praying, or moving in the gifts just to hear compliments, you'll be broken when criticisms come. We can't do this for human praise. If you do, you'll always fear people because you're receiving your foundation of approval, confidence, and affirmation from them instead of God. Then when people stop affirming what you're saying, you adjust to try to regain their approval.

As preachers of the Gospel, we have one responsibility: to say what God says, how He says it, and when He says to say it. We can't be so consumed by others' opinions—whether compliments or criticisms—that we change our message or hesitate in our delivery. I'm not saying you should be rude; in fact, I think preachers today are often meaner than necessary, and sometimes we even celebrate that. The harsher someone delivers a message, the more we equate it with truth. But being truthful doesn't require being mean. Instead, speak the truth in love, speak with boldness, and don't try to either offend or not offend people. Neither should matter to you. Don't be antagonistic or apologetic—just focus on what Scripture says and leave the results to God.

Let me show you something in Mark chapter 5. This is the narrative where Jesus drives a legion of demons out of a demoniac: "They arrived on the other side of the lake, and when Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with chains. Whenever he was put into chains and shackles, as he often was, he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones. When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. With a shriek, he screamed..."