Silence and Stillness: The Gateway to Divine Revelation with @DavidDigaHernandez

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I'll say it like this.

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We have to leave

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pagan beliefs with the pagans.

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We have to leave the beliefs of the occult

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with witches and warlocks.

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We have to leave the beliefs

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of New Ageism with New Agers.

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What begins to happen

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sometimes, and it all comes out of pure

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motives, and that's why I want to deal

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gently with this, because I think all

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believers can agree we want to see victory.

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David Digger Hernandez, it's great to have you

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here on Charisma News to be able to talk

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about what God is doing

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in this upcoming year, 2024,

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what God's been speaking to you, and

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you have a vantage point about

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spiritual warfare that is

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really impactful, and so

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we're going to talk about this

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area in a little bit later, but

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welcome to the broadcast.

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Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate

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the opportunity.

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So, David, you've written a lot of

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books about spiritual warfare,

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and Glory Carriers

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is one of the ones that has stuck

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out to me as well.

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You are somebody that

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I look to and say, he hears the

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voice of God very well, and you're helping

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other people understand that. So one of the

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first things that I like to talk with you about

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is, how do you know

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whether what you're hearing

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is the voice of the Lord, or

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it's just your own thoughts? Because

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I know sometimes for me, it's like, I

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know the right things, but I'm not sure if this

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is me or this is God, and

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sometimes I feel like I just don't

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know how to

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distinguish between that. I know if I'm

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feeling that, then there's a lot of people that are probably

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feeling that as well.

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Well, 2 Timothy, chapter

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3, verses 16 and 17

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make it clear that the word of God

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is the foundation

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for the voice of the Holy Spirit, for really

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the voice of God in the life of the believer.

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And the word of God

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is profitable for every

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good work, and that includes hearing the

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Holy Spirit. But something that we have

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to remember is that the moment

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that we are born again,

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we receive the Holy Spirit, Romans chapter

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8, verse 9. And

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when we are born of

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the Spirit, we are born

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again with new senses.

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So, hearing the voice of the

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Holy Spirit is not a

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skill to be learned.

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It's a sense to be sharpened.

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The difference being that if you imagine

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that it's a skill that you have to acquire,

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then you think that you have to work

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a certain amount of hours or contribute

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a certain amount of good works before

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God will reward you with his voice.

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But really, it's something that you're

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born with. Jesus said, my sheep

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hear my voice. And so

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the question isn't, can I hear

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the voice of God, or am I

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hearing the voice of God, or

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how do I hear the voice of God? The question

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is, am I a sheep? Do I belong

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to him? And if you belong to him,

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then the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, even

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now, the Holy Spirit is

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speaking to you. Even now, the Holy Spirit

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is instructing you. So

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it's not a matter of getting him to

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speak to you. It's a matter

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of being silent and still enough

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that you might hear the voice of the Holy Spirit

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clearly among the other voices.

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The Satanic speaks,

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the secular speaks,

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the flesh speaks,

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or self speaks, and then the Spirit

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speaks. And so all of these

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voices are constantly coming at you,

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vying for your attention, trying

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to get you to focus on what it is that they're

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speaking to you. So the

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key is to cause the other voices

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to go silent. You do this,

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number one, through reading the Word of God.

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And reading the Word of God really becomes the

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foundation. It is the grounding.

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If we are not basing

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what we hear and know of the Lord

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on the Word of God, then

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we are left to

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very strange things. We're left

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to very unstable beliefs.

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We're left to emotionalism

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and hype and fanaticism.

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When we are grounded on the Word, we're grounded on

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Christ himself through his Word.

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Then we are stable enough in the Spirit

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realm to hear God clearly

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in a practical way that can affect us in our

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everyday lives. So we

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must know the Word of God. If you're

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serious about hearing the voice of

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the Holy Spirit, you'll get serious

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about knowing the Word of God. So that's number one.

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Number two, we have to

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practice silence and stillness.

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Now, silence is easy.

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Matthew chapter 6 verse 6, Jesus

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tells us that when you pray, go away to a quiet

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place. Go away privately.

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And your father who sees you praying privately

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will reward you. So

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there is this element to prayer that

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requires that we schedule it, that we have

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some seclusion to that schedule,

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and that we drown out all the other

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voices. That silence is practical.

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Setting aside your cell phone, telling your

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loved ones you're not available for a certain amount of time.

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Making sure that things in your

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everyday life are contributing ultimately

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to the prioritization of prayer.

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And so once you've gone away to this

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place of prayer, and now you

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yourself are committed to that place of

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silence, that's where God will begin to speak to you.

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Now, this is what's interesting, is that

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many times when believers come into this place

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of silence, suddenly now they begin

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to hear what I call the inner chaos.

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That's the chatter of life, responsibilities,

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all of the different things that flow through their mind about

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what they have to do, or what they haven't

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done yet, or what's bothering them,

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or what's bothering them from their past,

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or their future, or even their present.

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And all of these things produce

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anxiety. All of these things produce the

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busyness of mind. And so

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believers will say things like, well,

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it's interesting, none of that

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chaos, none of that inner chatter, none of

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that noise was there until

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I began to pray, and then they want to blame the enemy

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for trying to distract them from prayer.

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But it's not that that inner chaos

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suddenly showed up when you decided

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to pray. It's that that inner chaos

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was revealed when you went to pray.

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That inner chaos is your inner

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dialogue 24-7.

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You're just never silent enough to actually hear what's going on

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within yourself. And only when you commit to

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that place of prayer where you're silent,

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do you now begin to hear what's happening

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inside of you. Well, no wonder many believers

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are walking around with depression,

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and anxiety, and confusion, and distraction,

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and worldliness,

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because of all that turmoil inside. So

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number one, silence and stillness, silence,

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the second point I'm making, silence and stillness.

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Silence is the setting aside of outer

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distraction, but stillness

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is the quieting of the soul.

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Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,

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whose mind is stayed on thee,

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because he trusteth in thee.

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When we learn to focus

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on Jesus in prayer,

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that is when that inner chaos begins

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to become dealt with. You ever notice

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that you can sing and

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dance and jump up and down in church and there's no

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issue? You can even to some extent

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study the word of God and there's no issue.

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You can participate in ministry and

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there's no issue. You can participate

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in the feeding of the homeless and there's

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no issue. You can do good works and there is no

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issue. But the moment you go to

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pray, the flesh starts to squirm.

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Why? Jesus said the spirit

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is willing, but the flesh is weak. It's

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that weakness in the flesh that pulls

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you from the places of prayer. Why?

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Because prayer is the death of the

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flesh. And only when we come

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to that place of prayer where our eyes and our

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attention is focused on Jesus,

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can we begin to see the weakening,

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the dwindling effect of the flesh's

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influence. And now that

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begins to become weaker and the spirit

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gains more influence in your

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life. That's through silence and stillness.

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And this, of course, clears the way

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of all that inner chaos. And of course, you're able now

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to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with greater

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clarity. The third thing that we need to do to be able

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to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with greater measures

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of clarity is live righteously.

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The steps of the righteous, the Scripture

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says, are ordered by the Lord.

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So if you lack righteousness, you'll probably

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lack direction. Because why

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is the Holy Spirit going to tell you step

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three if you have yet to obey step one?

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Why is the Holy Spirit going to give you the

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Rhema word if you haven't obeyed the written

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word? Why is the Holy Spirit going to give you

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a specific instruction if you haven't

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acted on His general commands in

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Scripture? So, number one,

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know the word. Number two,

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practice silence and stillness. And number three,

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walk in obedience. You do those three

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practical things and the voices

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of secularism, the voices

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of the satanic, the voices of the

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sinful are going to begin to grow silent

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and the voice of the Spirit

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will begin to speak. And you will

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hear with clarity if you simply do

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those basic practices.

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That is very well

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put. And I love how you

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described about this inner chaos

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because I think that's one of the things

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where a lot of people don't

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hear teaching about that and how

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there is this inner

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chaos in there and we're trying to just rebuke

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that. But I love how you said

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that's one of the first times that we actually

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are still enough for those

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things to actually come up.

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But that's what's always going on.

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And yeah, that does make so much sense

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why there is anxiety and depression in the body

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of Christ because we're not practicing

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the presence of God like we should

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be. You know, what are some

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of the things that, what are some of the

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practical things that have helped

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you deal with these

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inner

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chaos things? I know I heard one

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teacher, I think it was

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Graham Cook said

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the Holy Spirit wants to go

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with you to deal with some of those things

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and then bring back

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your attention. What are some of the

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practical things that we can do? Because there's

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not as much teaching about this whole

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inner chaos thing than there should be.

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Well,

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James chapter four, verse seven

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tells us that if we submit

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to God, resist the devil

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and he will flee. That submission

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to God is ultimately what

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leads to being able to work through

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these different areas of the flesh that are

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ultimately distracting us from the things of God.

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So

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practically that looks

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like living right. Practically

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that looks like saying yes to the Holy Spirit

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and no to the flesh. Practically

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that looks like implementing a

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discipline of daily prayer. And these

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are things often that we don't want to hear because

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that requires some action

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on our part. Remember this, when it comes

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to the realm of the spirit or spiritual

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acts, the Holy Spirit

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will give you the desire.

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You must implement

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the decision and the discipline.

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So he gives you

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the desires. He gives you the willingness.

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But if we are not acting

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on the desires that the Holy Spirit gives to us,

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we can't expect that anything will come about as a result

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of the influence of his power in our lives.

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And so we as

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believers have to respond.

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Psalm 80, 18 says, quicken

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us and we will call unto thee.

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That is the quickening of the Holy Spirit.

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He quickens us, gives us the

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desire, gives us the strength, gives

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us a new nature, and we must choose

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to act upon that new nature. So

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people want hands laid upon them

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and to have discipline imparted.

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Discipline is not something that can be imparted.

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I can't lay hands on you

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and make you pray more. I can't lay hands

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on you and make you read the word.

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I can't lay hands on you and make you

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choose to obey God. We

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have to act based upon

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what the Spirit is telling us to do.

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We have to act based upon

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the desires that the Holy Spirit is giving to us.

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And as we begin to do this, we will

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see a breaking of those

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strongholds in our lives. We will see

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the diminishing of the work of the enemy

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in our lives and we'll begin to actually see

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a fruitfulness of the Holy Spirit begin

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to develop. And that really

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again comes down to what we call the spiritual

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basics. What people don't want to hear about the spiritual

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basics because the spiritual basics to many

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sadly are boring.

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They're not as exciting as saying

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well, it's something you have to break

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in your family bloodline. It's not as exciting

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as saying well perhaps there's some hidden

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object in your home. And to some

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degree I think that believers sadly

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are satiating a hunger that they have for darkness.

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They can't watch scary movies anymore.

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So what we do in the body of Christ is we create

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our own version of Dungeons and Dragons and call it

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a spiritual warfare.

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And then now we're interested in the demonic. We're interested

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in the power of the enemy. We're interested in blaming demons

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when what we should be doing is living

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a life unto the Spirit for the life of the believer

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is one of victory and choosing

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to implement these very practical spiritual

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disciplines and then seeing those things

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begin to bear fruit in our lives. That's why

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the scripture tells us, Galatians chapter

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5 verses 22 and 23

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about the fruit of the Spirit, which is the character

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and the nature of Christ. As we abide in the Spirit

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we begin to see that nature develop

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within us. And so we as believers

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have to implement those practical things.

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How do you pray more? Well you have to

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choose to pray more.

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How do you pray daily?

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You have to choose to pray

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daily. How do you read the word of God

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more often? You have to choose to read

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the word of God more often.

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These are things you have to implement.

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And then here's the thing is believers get discouraged.

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They say well it didn't work. It's not helping.

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I'm not seeing really anything in my life

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that's transforming as about as a result

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of what's happening in my spiritual discipline.

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This is why you have to practice faithfulness.

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Galatians chapter 6 verse 9

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makes it very clear that as we

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practice that which we are supposed to

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practice that eventually we

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will reap the harvest. We will gain

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what we are supposed to gain from that.

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But it's not going to happen if you just

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say well you know I want to do it once and

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then like a magic trick I want everything in my

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life to be transformed. Now we understand that I'm not

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by any means downplaying the fact

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that the Holy Spirit can do a miracle like he

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did in the life of Saul turning him into Paul

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and various other key figures in the

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scripture that experience the life transforming

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power of the Holy Spirit in an instant

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that bore immediate results. That of course

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can happen. But in a more practical

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sense all of us have experienced that

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regeneration when we were born again and

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received Christ and now it's up for

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up to us to choose to walk in

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the Spirit is what Galatians 5 says.

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Let the Holy Spirit guide your life.

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It's something you have to choose to do.

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And as you do that daily consistently

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you're going to begin to

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experience that freedom that

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comes from walking in the Spirit. So

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you want to see that fruit begin to bear out.

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You want to see God begin to do this work

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and you are going to have to implement those

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daily spiritual disciplines and

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from there you'll begin to see

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transformation. Is there room for spiritual

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warfare? Absolutely.

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Does the enemy attack us? Absolutely.

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Are there demonic strongholds

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we need to break? Of course.

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Do Christians sometimes need

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00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,000
deliverance different from exorcism?

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Absolutely, positively yes

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00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,000
to all these things. But 99%

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of your spiritual problems will be

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solved if you simply implemented

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the basics. And again, believers don't

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want to do that because then they have to bear

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the responsibility for that.

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That's so good. David

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we're going to talk about

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spiritual warfare in just a second and kind of

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as a transition here. I was in

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YWAM for eight years and we always

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had a week about spiritual

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warfare. And one of my favorite

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00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,000
teachers that we had come in to talk

436
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about this, he said something that has always

437
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stuck with me and I think you just kind

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of echoed it in a lot of different ways there.

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But basically it's, I'd rather

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deal with a demon any day because

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00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:46,000
it has to come, you know, come

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00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,000
under the submission of the name of Jesus.

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But your flesh, you have to deal

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with that by yourself

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00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,000
and through discipline. And so even though it was

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00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,000
spiritual warfare week, we ended up

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spending more time about spiritual

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00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,000
disciplines and focusing

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00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,000
on that. But I do want

450
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,000
to talk about some of those other

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00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,000
things that you talked about, you

452
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,000
know, deliverance. And I know you

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00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,000
have written several books about spiritual

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warfare and that's one of the things that God's really calling you

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00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,000
into to focus on right now.

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And you got to publish

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one of the books with us, 25 Truths

458
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,000
about Demons and Spiritual Warfare.

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What are some of the misconceptions

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00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,000
that people have about spiritual

461
00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,000
warfare that you like to address?

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00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,000
Oh, boy.

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Yeah,

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I mean, that's been a major part

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of the ministry that God's given me in terms of

466
00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:36,000
teaching on spiritual warfare is dealing with a lot of

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these misconceptions. I'll say it like this.

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We have to leave

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pagan beliefs

470
00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,000
with the pagans.

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We have to leave the beliefs

472
00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:48,000
of the occult with witches and warlocks.

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We have to leave

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the beliefs of New Ageism

475
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,000
with New Agers.

476
00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,000
What begins to happen sometimes, and it all

477
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comes out of pure motives. And that's why

478
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I want to deal gently with this because I think

479
00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,000
all believers can agree we want to see

480
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,000
victory. Second Corinthians

481
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,000
chapter 3 verse 17 tells us

482
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:08,000
that where the Spirit of the

483
00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,000
Lord is, there is liberty.

484
00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,000
John chapter 8 verse 36,

485
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,000
if the sun sets you free, you'll be free

486
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,000
indeed. So we have to start from this point.

487
00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:18,000
The life of the believer

488
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,000
is one of victory.

489
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The life of the believer is

490
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,000
one of peace, not necessarily

491
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,000
perfect existence to where

492
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:28,000
you're not dealing with any trials or tragedies

493
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:30,000
or circumstances.

494
00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,000
That all on the exterior,

495
00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,000
yes, can be happening. Just ask Paul the apostle.

496
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,000
He was shipwrecked three times.

497
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,000
He was whipped. He was beaten. He was imprisoned.

498
00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:40,000
He was rejected. He was lied

499
00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:42,000
about. He was ridiculed.

500
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Did he think he was under some

501
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:46,000
curse? No, he called himself blessed

502
00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,000
even in the midst of those difficult trials.

503
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,000
It's that inner victory that we're talking

504
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,000
about. So we start here.

505
00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,000
The life of the believer is one

506
00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:56,000
of victory. If

507
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,000
you are in bondage,

508
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,000
you are not living the Christian life.

509
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,000
Now, here's what people hear when I say that.

510
00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:04,000
David, are you saying I'm not a Christian

511
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,000
if I struggle spiritually? That's

512
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,000
not what I said. I said, if

513
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:10,000
you are in bondage,

514
00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,000
spiritual bondage, you are not

515
00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,000
living the Christian life. Why?

516
00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:16,000
Because that is not the standard to which

517
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,000
we must aspire. Now, that's not a statement

518
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,000
of condemnation. That's a statement

519
00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,000
of hopefulness. Why? Because

520
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,000
this means that you don't have to

521
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,000
settle for spiritual bondage. This is

522
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,000
the lie that many believers have bought into.

523
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,000
They accept

524
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,000
spiritual defeat as if

525
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,000
it's a part of the Christian experience.

526
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,000
And we even hide behind

527
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,000
our bondage

528
00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,000
while using spiritual sounding

529
00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,000
excuses like, well,

530
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,000
the enemy's only beating me up so badly

531
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:46,000
because he knows how much of a threat I am.

532
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,000
Bullies don't beat up people they think

533
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,000
are threats. They beat up people

534
00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,000
who don't know how to fight back.

535
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,000
And the scripture tells us very clearly that if

536
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:56,000
you submit to God, resist the devil, the devil

537
00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,000
flees, he doesn't fight. So, again,

538
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:00,000
I'm not saying the believer won't struggle.

539
00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,000
I'm not saying the believer won't be attacked

540
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,000
spiritually. I'm saying living in the place

541
00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,000
of defeat is a problem.

542
00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,000
It's not what God called you to do. Now, getting back

543
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:10,000
to the point I was making just a few moments ago,

544
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,000
we need to leave paganism with pagans.

545
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,000
Because what happens is,

546
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,000
especially if somebody is born

547
00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,000
again and they're saved, let's say,

548
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,000
from New Ageism or they're saved

549
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,000
from paganism or they're saved from the occult.

550
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,000
What we attempt to do in that

551
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:26,000
case is we take the belief

552
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,000
systems of those demonic

553
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,000
doctrines and we,

554
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,000
instead of leaving them behind and saying,

555
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,000
well, they need to stay there and be

556
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:36,000
considered the lies that they are,

557
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,000
we take from those belief

558
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:40,000
systems, call it spiritual

559
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,000
intel, reverse

560
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,000
engineer the teachings of the occult

561
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:46,000
and then call it deliverance doctrine.

562
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,000
Here's the thing.

563
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,000
We do not need to supplement

564
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:52,000
the teachings of the word of God inspired

565
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:54,000
by the precious Holy Spirit

566
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,000
with the teachings of paganism.

567
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,000
We do not need to supplement

568
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,000
the precious word of God with

569
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,000
the teachings of the occult. And

570
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,000
when you have that mixture, that's where you

571
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,000
have confusion. And then you

572
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:08,000
get believers to approach spiritual warfare

573
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,000
as if it's transactional

574
00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:12,000
like they teach in the occult,

575
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,000
as if it's some legal process like

576
00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:16,000
they teach in the occult, as if it's

577
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:18,000
something where they have to go through some minute

578
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,000
details. I mean, what if I don't have

579
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,000
a membership to ancestry.com

580
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,000
and I'm not able to research all of the

581
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,000
sins of my grandfathers and great

582
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,000
grandparents and then the generations

583
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,000
before them? How then do I destroy

584
00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:32,000
what some would call this legal right?

585
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:34,000
And I understand about family bloodlines

586
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,000
and I am not saying, and this I have to be

587
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,000
clear on because there's a lot of nuance to what I'm saying.

588
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,000
I'm not saying that demons

589
00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:42,000
don't strategize against believers

590
00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,000
generationally. They absolutely strategize

591
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,000
against believers generationally.

592
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,000
But I would rather call this generational consequence.

593
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,000
Why? Because the word

594
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,000
curse implies that I can't

595
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,000
be free unless I solve

596
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,000
or unlock some demonic mystery

597
00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:58,000
hidden in ancient times past.

598
00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,000
As if God is looking over from the

599
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,000
balconies of heaven with his arms folded saying,

600
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,000
I would set you free, but you

601
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,000
didn't name that sin that your great great grandmother

602
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,000
committed and therefore my Holy Spirit

603
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,000
is powerless to work in your life.

604
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,000
That doesn't line up at all with the teachings

605
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,000
of scripture. That lines up with the teachings of

606
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,000
the occult with paganism. And

607
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:18,000
again, we have this mixture and that's why believers

608
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,000
are stuck in bondage. And I know what

609
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,000
I'm saying is not popular and it may

610
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,000
not be trendy, but it is the truth.

611
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,000
And I know this because I used to try to defend

612
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,000
those worldviews and teach them as

613
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:30,000
if they were biblical until I began to study

614
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,000
for myself to say, I'm going to study the scripture

615
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,000
so that I can have a robust defense

616
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,000
of these doctrines that I support.

617
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,000
And as I began to study the scripture looking for

618
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,000
that robust defense, I began to find

619
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,000
that a lot of these things were based on proof text,

620
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,000
using scripture out of context,

621
00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,000
and a misapplication

622
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,000
of some of the truths that are actually given to

623
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,000
us in scripture. And again, let me

624
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,000
say this for clarity sake. I'm not

625
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,000
saying that demons do not

626
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,000
strategize generationally against us. I know I said

627
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,000
that already, but with things like this, you have to be

628
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:00,000
careful because if people hear what you're not saying,

629
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,000
they tune out what you are saying. I'm

630
00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,000
saying that as those demons strategize

631
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:06,000
against generationally,

632
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,000
they only have as much power as

633
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,000
your decision will give them. I have a scripture

634
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,000
here I wrote down. Ezekiel chapter

635
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:14,000
18 verses 20 to 25

636
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,000
really

637
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,000
makes it clear that God does not

638
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,000
punish us for the sins of our

639
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:22,000
fathers and mothers. And you may be able to reference

640
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,000
something from the Old Testament where it

641
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,000
says that, you know, it'll be

642
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,000
visited upon generations or

643
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,000
I will punish the sons and the daughters,

644
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,000
but this has to do with God dealing

645
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:34,000
with the nation of Israel whenever they would fall into

646
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,000
idolatry. He would cause one of

647
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:38,000
the surrounding pagan nations to overtake

648
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:40,000
them and keep them subjected under

649
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,000
slavery. And in so doing, that

650
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,000
would naturally affect the generations, but those

651
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:46,000
were consequences of the choices that the parents made

652
00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,000
not in the spiritual realm, but manifesting

653
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,000
in the natural. Secondly, that's

654
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:52,000
not a demonic curse, that's a curse from God.

655
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:54,000
And who among us can break a curse from

656
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,000
God if God

657
00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,000
put it there? I mean, so we don't have to worry

658
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,000
necessarily about that, especially if we're born again,

659
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,000
for Jesus broke the curse of the law.

660
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,000
Now, I understand about family

661
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,000
bloodlines, but there's something

662
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,000
else we need to consider. Yes, you may

663
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,000
have some issue with your family bloodline, but I promise

664
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:12,000
you, no matter what your family bloodline

665
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,000
is, there is more power

666
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,000
in the blood of Jesus. So it all comes

667
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,000
down to what I would call fighting strongholds.

668
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,000
Spiritual warfare,

669
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,000
summarized, is simply the fight to

670
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,000
believe God's truth over the enemy's

671
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,000
lies. Second Corinthians, chapter 10,

672
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,000
verses four and five tells us, we use

673
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,000
God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons,

674
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:32,000
to knock down strongholds of human

675
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,000
reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

676
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,000
We destroy every proud obstacle

677
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,000
that keeps people from knowing

678
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,000
God. We capture their rebellious

679
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,000
thoughts and teach them to obey

680
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,000
Christ. We can break this down.

681
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,000
You have weapons are not carnal. This

682
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,000
means that this is not battled

683
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,000
by physical means, by any means.

684
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,000
The enemy does not fret when

685
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,000
we raise our voices or shout at him

686
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:56,000
or scream at him. You can't

687
00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,000
fight the darkness by punching the darkness.

688
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,000
You fight the darkness by turning on the

689
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,000
light. Then the scripture says mighty through God.

690
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,000
This means literally

691
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,000
effective for the cause of God. This is

692
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,000
effective unto the purposes of God.

693
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,000
To the pulling down of strongholds,

694
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,000
I like the language here, because

695
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,000
what the Greek is implying is

696
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,000
the utter destruction and removal

697
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,000
of a barrier in that

698
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,000
when the stronghold is removed,

699
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,000
such as is being described in the scripture here,

700
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,000
there's not one stone left upon

701
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,000
the other to where when you're overtaking

702
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:28,000
the enemy's ground and you're stepping into new territory,

703
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,000
you don't even have to worry about getting a

704
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,000
pebble in your shoe because there's absolutely

705
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,000
nothing left of the stronghold, completely

706
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,000
obliterated, casting down imaginations.

707
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,000
These are reasonings, deceptive

708
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,000
paradigms, mindsets. Now,

709
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,000
in the context of what we just reference

710
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,000
there, Paul the apostle is

711
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,000
basically defending his apostolic authority

712
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,000
against pretenders who were

713
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,000
saying that Paul the apostle wasn't who he said he was.

714
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:52,000
And so in his defense, he

715
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,000
likens their deceptive reasonings and

716
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,000
lies to strongholds, which

717
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,000
is where we get this analogy from. For

718
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:00,000
every high thing that exalts

719
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,000
itself against the knowledge of God, this is

720
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,000
the truth about God or the truth that

721
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,000
helps you to know God, and that's still debated

722
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,000
among some scholarship.

723
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,000
Bringing into captivity every

724
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,000
thought. I love this because

725
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,000
we can now take captivity

726
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:16,000
of the thought. We can now take the thought

727
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,000
captive once the stronghold

728
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,000
is taken down. What is a stronghold?

729
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,000
It's a thought pattern. So it would look something like

730
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,000
this. A lie

731
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,000
doesn't become deception until you believe

732
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,000
it. So John, if I sit here and

733
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,000
tell you that I'm wearing a red shirt right

734
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,000
now, that's a lie. But because you

735
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,000
can see plainly the truth, you

736
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,000
don't believe the lie that I'm communicating to

737
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,000
you. Instead, you say, no, David, you're

738
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,000
wearing a blue shirt. Well,

739
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,000
so that lie didn't become deception, did

740
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,000
it? So a lie doesn't become

741
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,000
deception until it's believed.

742
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,000
If I lied to you and you don't believe me, I lied

743
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,000
to you, but I didn't deceive you.

744
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,000
So once we embrace a lie of the enemy,

745
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,000
this leads to deception. That

746
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,000
deception produces thought patterns

747
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,000
and feelings that ultimately

748
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,000
produce actions. Those actions

749
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,000
become cycles and habits.

750
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,000
Those habits and cycles are what we refer to as

751
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,000
spiritual bondage. The problem is

752
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,000
many believers try to address

753
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:10,000
the symptom, not the source. The result

754
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,000
instead of the root. They try

755
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,000
to address the action or they try

756
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:16,000
to address the feeling rather than

757
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:18,000
getting to the root of the lie that they're believing.

758
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,000
For instance, many Christians believe

759
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,000
that they have to accept just some form

760
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,000
of spiritual bondage in their life, and that's just

761
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,000
the normal part of the Christian life. Well,

762
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,000
if you grant that premise,

763
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,000
then from the very get-go,

764
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,000
the enemy has you bound. And again, people might be

765
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,000
confused because they say, well, I live clean,

766
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:36,000
I live right, I'm in the Word, yet I still

767
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,000
struggle or I still have tragedy

768
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,000
or why are my finances in order

769
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:42,000
or why are my loved ones not serving the Lord

770
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,000
or why am I still sick? And this is to confuse

771
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,000
a trial for a bondage or a

772
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,000
curse. When the book of James tells us to rejoice

773
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,000
in those trials because those trials

774
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,000
are the purification of our faith, the strengthening

775
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,000
of our faith. This is not to say that

776
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:56,000
we pray for trials

777
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,000
or that we pray that we're not blessed

778
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,000
because many times that's just the ebb and flow

779
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,000
of the Christian life. The rain

780
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,000
falls on the just and the unjust alike.

781
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,000
That's part of life. You're going to experience ups

782
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,000
and downs. But the believer looks

783
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,000
at these trials and sees them as opportunities

784
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:12,000
for growth. And thus, even in the midst

785
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,000
of struggle, they are victorious.

786
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,000
So never mind with these exterior circumstances.

787
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,000
Spiritual warfare is that fight

788
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,000
to believe God's truth over the enemy's

789
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,000
lies and that battle, that

790
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,000
to claim that belief

791
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,000
in the truth of the Word of God. To choose,

792
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,000
no, I am not

793
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,000
going to believe what the enemy says

794
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,000
even though I feel this way.

795
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,000
I'm not going to believe what the enemy

796
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,000
says even though this is going on in my

797
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,000
life. Consider the power of the endorsement.

798
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,000
If an unknown political

799
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,000
figure is endorsed by a well

800
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,000
known established political figure, that can

801
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,000
help to win them an election. If

802
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,000
a new clothing company

803
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,000
is endorsed by some famous athlete,

804
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,000
that can skyrocket sales. Same

805
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,000
is true for an unknown author and a best

806
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:56,000
selling author. If that best selling author endorses

807
00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:58,000
an unknown author, that can cause them

808
00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,000
to become a best seller. That's the power of an

809
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,000
endorsement. And so what the enemy tries

810
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,000
to do is use our circumstances

811
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,000
to endorse his lies. So when he

812
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,000
lies to you and says, I have you,

813
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,000
you're bound, the curse wasn't broken

814
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,000
when you were born again. Well, he's going to

815
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,000
point to your circumstances. He'll say, see, look,

816
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:16,000
your finances aren't good. Look, you're

817
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,000
sick. Look, your family doesn't serve the Lord.

818
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:20,000
And if you're not careful, you can allow

819
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,000
him to use those circumstances to

820
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,000
endorse that lie that you're defeated.

821
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,000
Or to endorse using your

822
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,000
emotions to where you feel down one day.

823
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:30,000
Or you feel like quitting. Or you

824
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,000
feel like you're not enough. And then the enemy takes

825
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,000
those feelings and says, see, God has rejected

826
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:36,000
you. And because we feel and we see

827
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,000
in the natural, ultimately we say, okay,

828
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,000
I grant the premise, you have

829
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,000
the victory. And the enemy has

830
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,000
no victory. Now, there's a popular

831
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,000
saying that says the enemy doesn't own anything.

832
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:48,000
This isn't true. You can reference Romans

833
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,000
chapter 8 verse 9 that tells us that if you

834
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,000
don't have the Holy Spirit, you're not born again, you don't belong

835
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:54,000
to God at all. Think about what Jesus

836
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:56,000
told the Pharisees, I think, was

837
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,000
in Matthew or John chapter 8 verse 44

838
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,000
where he tells them that you belong

839
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,000
to your father, the devil, because you're all

840
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:04,000
liars. In the book of Acts where the Bible

841
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,000
talks about having been rescued from the

842
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:08,000
enemy himself and being under his

843
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,000
rulership. So yeah, the enemy does own

844
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,000
the unbeliever, but he does not own

845
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:14,000
or possess or have power over

846
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,000
the believer themselves. And

847
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,000
that is the lie he tells them. I have

848
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,000
a right. I have the power. I have

849
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,000
the influence. And this is

850
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:24,000
why Christians get stuck in

851
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,000
perpetual bondage. They go from

852
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,000
deliverance to deliverance instead of from

853
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,000
glory to glory, because though

854
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,000
they may experience some encounter with the

855
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,000
Holy Spirit's power, though they may experience

856
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,000
some relief for a week or two,

857
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,000
ultimately, at the very

858
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,000
source, they believe that the enemy

859
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:42,000
has some right in their life.

860
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,000
Wow.

861
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:46,000
David, you've broken that down

862
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,000
quite extensively, and I really

863
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,000
appreciate all the verses

864
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,000
that you've given us to... I

865
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,000
want to encourage everybody to go look those verses

866
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,000
up for yourself, because what David is

867
00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:58,000
saying, he's making a great

868
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,000
case and a great...

869
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,000
I don't know what the opposite

870
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,000
of a stronghold is, but I guess a

871
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,000
righteous stronghold as opposed to an

872
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:08,000
unrighteous demonic stronghold,

873
00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:10,000
because if we have a stronghold,

874
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:12,000
we've got that place that we

875
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,000
can go to, that we can, you know,

876
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,000
I think David says in the Psalms,

877
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,000
the Lord is my rock, my fortress,

878
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:20,000
my deliverer, my God,

879
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,000
and my strength, in whom I will trust.

880
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:24,000
Psalm 18, verse 2,

881
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,000
you know, that fortress

882
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,000
as opposed to a stronghold. So

883
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,000
use those verses that David just gave

884
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,000
and to help build that fortress

885
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:34,000
that the Lord is allowing

886
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:36,000
you to find your

887
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,000
solace in. You know, David, we've

888
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,000
talked a bit about

889
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,000
the disciplines

890
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:44,000
and the things that we need to do

891
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,000
as believers and, you know,

892
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,000
not get caught up in the cessation

893
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,000
or the sensationalism

894
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:52,000
or cessationist. That's a different story.

895
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,000
We're not going to go there in this conversation.

896
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:56,000
That's a different stronghold, very much.

897
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,000
But one of the things that,

898
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,000
you know, we're heading into the

899
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,000
year 2024. This is at the beginning

900
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:04,000
of the year is when people, they're going to

901
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,000
get fit, they're going to eat right, they're going to do

902
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:08,000
all these good things, they're going to start reading their Bible

903
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,000
more, you know, they're going to start

904
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:12,000
doing all these things.

905
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,000
What is God saying to you

906
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,000
about the year 2024 and

907
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,000
what we have in front of us? And I know

908
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:20,000
you've given some practical tips

909
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:22,000
and practical advice about

910
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,000
what Christians should be doing

911
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,000
in 2024.

912
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,000
Well, in that teaching

913
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,000
I gave, and I'm just going to be very honest

914
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,000
with you, I gave practical, basic

915
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,000
spiritual disciplines that we should be

916
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,000
practicing every single year.

917
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,000
And so some might criticize and say,

918
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,000
well, why does this only apply to 2024?

919
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,000
I didn't say it only applied to 2024.

920
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,000
I said we should definitely do this in 2024.

921
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,000
And some might say we should do it all the time.

922
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,000
I say, I agree, all the time, even in 2024.

923
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,000
But, you know,

924
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,000
it comes back down to those

925
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,000
spiritual basics. Read the Word every day.

926
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,000
I'm going to say this.

927
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,000
Read the Word and pray every day.

928
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,000
Just try this challenge.

929
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,000
I have very rarely, I can't say I've

930
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,000
ever met a believer

931
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:06,000
who was bound internally. Again,

932
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,000
when we confuse external circumstances

933
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,000
for bondage, that's when we can begin

934
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,000
to grant the premise that we're bound.

935
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,000
I'm talking about joy

936
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,000
in the midst of tragedy.

937
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,000
Love in the midst of opposition.

938
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,000
Peace in the midst of chaos.

939
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,000
When we have that internal

940
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,000
grounding, that's when we walk in victory.

941
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,000
No matter what happens around us,

942
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,000
there's victory and life flowing within us.

943
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:30,000
But if you

944
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,000
will commit yourself,

945
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:34,000
I'll just say these two things, I guess,

946
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,000
for 2024, to reading the

947
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:38,000
Scripture every day.

948
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,000
To committing to prayer

949
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,000
every single day.

950
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:44,000
You do those two things, and that's

951
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,000
going to solve a bulk of your problems.

952
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,000
Think about the fact that if you

953
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,000
go and see your primary care

954
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,000
physician, and you tell your

955
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,000
doctor, listen, I have

956
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,000
aches, I have pains,

957
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,000
I don't feel

958
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,000
right, something is off.

959
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:02,000
The doctor is going to ask

960
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,000
you a few things. What are your

961
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,000
sleep patterns like?

962
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,000
Are you drinking plenty of water?

963
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,000
What's your diet like these days?

964
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,000
Are you exercising?

965
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,000
Usually, they'll go through those four basic

966
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:16,000
questions because they want to get a

967
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,000
baseline for your general health.

968
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,000
And by doing

969
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,000
those few things, sleep,

970
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,000
sleeping correctly, not just

971
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,000
sporadically, drinking

972
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:28,000
plenty of water, eating correctly,

973
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,000
exercising regularly, just by

974
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,000
doing those basic things, you're going to

975
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,000
solve or prevent a lot of physical

976
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,000
problems. And so

977
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,000
it's the same in the Spirit.

978
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:40,000
You pray and read the word daily.

979
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,000
And I mean, not just like where

980
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,000
Jesus said where people babble or they

981
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,000
just kind of go through the motions of it.

982
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,000
Not praying and reading because you're trying to check

983
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,000
it off some list of obligations that you have

984
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:52,000
to do in order to earn God's favor. No, you already

985
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,000
have God's favor. That's why you can pray in the first

986
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,000
place. But going to it,

987
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,000
praying and reading every day, committing

988
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,000
to that, do it for one year.

989
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,000
And if you're not completely

990
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,000
transformed,

991
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,000
then let God be

992
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,000
true and every man a liar.

993
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:10,000
Just like when my wife likes this documentary

994
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,000
where these people try

995
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,000
to lose a lot of weight. And when they go

996
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,000
in to see their physician for the weigh-in,

997
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:18,000
sometimes they actually gain some weight

998
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:20,000
and they'll say, well, I stuck to the diet.

999
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,000
I did everything I could. And the doctor

1000
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,000
will always tell them, no, I'm looking at it right now.

1001
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,000
Like the scale doesn't lie.

1002
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:28,000
You are lying to me. You are lying to yourself.

1003
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:30,000
And that's what we do. We lie to ourselves

1004
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,000
about how committed we are to the word

1005
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:34,000
and to prayer. And then, of course,

1006
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,000
we don't reap the results that we want.

1007
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,000
I'll say this, John chapter 8, verse 32.

1008
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:40,000
And you will know the truth

1009
00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,000
and the truth will set you free.

1010
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,000
If you are

1011
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,000
still bound,

1012
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,000
then there's a truth you have not yet come to believe.

1013
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,000
And you can only know

1014
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,000
that truth by getting in the word,

1015
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:54,000
by bringing it full circle,

1016
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,000
hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit,

1017
00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:58,000
coming back to this place where you're committed

1018
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,000
to fellowship with him.

1019
00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,000
I mean, no

1020
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,000
demonic bondage or demon can swim in the

1021
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,000
depths of the glory of God. You walk

1022
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:08,000
in the Holy Spirit, you're going to walk in freedom.

1023
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:10,000
You walk with the Holy Spirit

1024
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,000
as you should. You're going to live the Christian life.

1025
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:14,000
And so you need to come back to that

1026
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,000
place where you can hear his voice. I'll

1027
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,000
give them, I want to give them just one quick little breakdown

1028
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,000
here. There are

1029
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:22,000
degrees of hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. The first

1030
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,000
is the word. The word

1031
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:26,000
is the primary way we hear him.

1032
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:28,000
That's the foundation. And everything

1033
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,000
else we hear from him is measured by that

1034
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:32,000
standard. Now, there are some

1035
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:34,000
people, not such as we have in the cessationist camp,

1036
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:36,000
as you referenced just a moment ago,

1037
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:38,000
who will say, well,

1038
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,000
if God said it in his word, he doesn't need

1039
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:42,000
to speak it to you in

1040
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,000
your heart and in your spirit. And if God

1041
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:46,000
didn't say it in his word,

1042
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,000
he wouldn't speak it to your heart or to your

1043
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,000
spirit. But that thinking

1044
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,000
fails to take into account the very specific

1045
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,000
directions that we need for everyday life.

1046
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,000
You cannot find chapter and verse,

1047
00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:58,000
what state you should live in, what job you should take,

1048
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,000
what spouse you should marry. Sure, in the Scripture

1049
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,000
we find groupings of wisdom that can

1050
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,000
ultimately help to guide your decision-making process

1051
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,000
in those areas. But you are going

1052
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:08,000
to need to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and discern

1053
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:10,000
those things for yourself on a very personal

1054
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,000
level. And then some might ask, is the

1055
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:14,000
word of God not sufficient? I would say

1056
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:16,000
it's because the word of God is sufficient

1057
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,000
that we can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit

1058
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,000
in our spirits, because it did its

1059
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,000
job and connected us to him, and God didn't go

1060
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,000
mute. So number one is the word.

1061
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:26,000
Number two is wisdom.

1062
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:28,000
Wisdom is a result

1063
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:30,000
of the word. Wisdom is

1064
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,000
that purposeful pool of God on your

1065
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:34,000
life. It's not necessarily a specific

1066
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,000
instruction to your heart. It's

1067
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,000
a knowing. It's a way

1068
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:40,000
of thinking. It's the divine reasoning

1069
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:42,000
of God through the Holy Spirit

1070
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,000
in you. So the more

1071
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,000
you're in the word, the greater your wisdom

1072
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:48,000
will grow. And that wisdom is a form

1073
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,000
of the Holy Spirit speaking. So the

1074
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:52,000
word is the most reliable. The second most

1075
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,000
reliable is wisdom, because wisdom comes

1076
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,000
from the word. Then there's

1077
00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,000
what I call the whisper. This is where

1078
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,000
the Holy Spirit will begin to speak to you

1079
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,000
directly and begin to talk to you.

1080
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,000
Now, he will speak more often

1081
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,000
to the word and wisdom than he does to the whisper,

1082
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,000
but he still will occasionally speak to the

1083
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:10,000
whisper. People who think they hear the whisper

1084
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:12,000
all the time are probably mistaking

1085
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:14,000
that for wisdom. And then

1086
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:16,000
there are wonders. Wonders

1087
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:18,000
is the prophetic.

1088
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,000
God speaking through another individual. Signs

1089
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,000
and wonders. And that is,

1090
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:24,000
I put it this way, I'm not necessarily

1091
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:26,000
trying to be negative in my description

1092
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,000
of this, but it is the least reliable

1093
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:30,000
way to hear God, because even Satan can duplicate

1094
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,000
wonders. Now, I believe in healing

1095
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,000
deliverance, signs, wonders, the

1096
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:36,000
prophetic. I'm in the healing ministry.

1097
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,000
Many of you watch and see

1098
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,000
the healing testimonies coming from our ministry.

1099
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:42,000
Many of you also don't, but for reference,

1100
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:44,000
that's where I stand in it. So I'm not by any

1101
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:46,000
means, and I'm not saying that to brag,

1102
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:48,000
I'm saying that so that you understand that I'm not by any

1103
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:50,000
means downplaying the

1104
00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:52,000
role of wonders. Now, some Christians

1105
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:54,000
reverse that. They try to live based

1106
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,000
on wonders and the whisper, and

1107
00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:58,000
look at wisdom and the word as just restrictive

1108
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:00,000
ways that the

1109
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,000
distractions come. When it's actually

1110
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:04,000
the opposite, you begin with the word,

1111
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,000
then wisdom, then whispers,

1112
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:08,000
and then wonders. And you live that way,

1113
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,000
and going into 2024, you're going

1114
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,000
to notice a stability coming upon

1115
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,000
your life, and a real confidence

1116
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:16,000
in the voice of the Holy Spirit, a deeper

1117
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:18,000
fellowship with him, greater demonstrations

1118
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:20,000
of power. And I'm not talking

1119
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:22,000
about just gifts, I'm talking about glory.

1120
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,000
People can move in power, but do they carry

1121
00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:26,000
the presence? And there will be that

1122
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,000
beautiful resting of the glory of

1123
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,000
God on your life and being in such a way

1124
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:32,000
that it begins to transform you internally

1125
00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:34,000
and even those around you.

1126
00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:36,000
Yeah, that's so good. David,

1127
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,000
thank you so much for sharing about those

1128
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:40,000
tips about what we need

1129
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,000
to be doing in 2024,

1130
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:44,000
and really every year. I mean, those are so

1131
00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:46,000
practical, and I love how you gave those

1132
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:48,000
the word, wisdom,

1133
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,000
and whispers, and wonders.

1134
00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:52,000
I love alliteration like that. That's really

1135
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,000
helpful.

1136
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:56,000
Could you just tell people where they can find more

1137
00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:58,000
information about you, your social

1138
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:00,000
media, and things like that, if they want to follow your

1139
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:02,000
ministry more?

1140
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,000
Well, primarily, I suggest our YouTube

1141
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:06,000
page. You can just type in my name,

1142
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:08,000
David Diger Hernandez, David D-I-G-A

1143
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:10,000
Hernandez, on

1144
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,000
YouTube, and you'll get our

1145
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:14,000
YouTube page. And as you

1146
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,000
connect with the YouTube page, you're going to

1147
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:18,000
obviously be connected naturally

1148
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:20,000
as time goes on with our various other means

1149
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:22,000
of communication.

1150
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:24,000
But I tell people all the time that

1151
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,000
subscribing to that channel

1152
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,000
will benefit you because I release teachings

1153
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,000
on the Holy Spirit, prayer, spiritual

1154
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:32,000
warfare, and similar topics.

1155
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,000
We also show footage and live

1156
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:36,000
streams from events that we do around the world,

1157
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:38,000
where people are saved,

1158
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:40,000
healed, delivered,

1159
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:42,000
and empowered. And you can witness

1160
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:44,000
the power of the Holy Spirit in action.

1161
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:46,000
We actually capture

1162
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:48,000
some of those moments on footage. So that's

1163
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,000
all there at the YouTube channel, David Diger Hernandez.

1164
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,000
And when you do subscribe, make

1165
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:54,000
sure you click the notification bell so that you can

1166
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,000
receive notices whenever we release new content.

1167
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,000
I'll make sure to put a link to

1168
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,000
your channel on YouTube

1169
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,000
in the description or tag that

1170
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:04,000
in the title as well.

1171
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:06,000
David, it's been a pleasure to be able to talk

1172
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,000
with you. I know our time has come

1173
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,000
to an end, and I hope that we can do this again

1174
00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:12,000
sometime soon.

1175
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:14,000
Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it.