 So as you begin to spend time with the precious Holy Spirit, there are certain markers that begin to show in your life. There are certain signs that demonstrate that you have, in fact, been spending time in the presence of the Holy Spirit. And these markers, these signs, cause you to stand out. So as I begin to go through the Scripture and show you the various ways that the Holy Spirit's presence will mark you, I want you to do an honest evaluation of yourself. And I want you to see if you can recognize any of these things beginning to manifest in your life. But first, I want you to type in the comment section, I surrender Holy Spirit. Let that be your public prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to completely transform you as you surrender. Let's take a look at sign number one again. These are signs that you're spending time in the presence of the Holy Spirit because some people will go through the motions of prayer without really praying. Some people will go through the motions of, say, something like church attendance without really receiving from the Lord as they should as they surrender and trust and obey. Think, for instance, of the woman with the issue of blood. She came and touched the hem of Jesus' garment. And when she did, she was made completely whole. Then Jesus asks, Who touched me? The disciples said, Lord, look around you. Many people have touched you, the crowds. In fact, we're pressing on him. But that woman received a touch of power that the crowds did not because even though the crowds were in proximity to Jesus, they were not acting in faith and trust and therefore did not receive that same touch of power. So in the same way, we can go through the motions of Christianity without really being sincere in our prayer and our devotion to the word. And again, these are signs that you are actually spending time with the Holy Spirit in a way that is transforming you. That is, you are trusting, obeying and surrendering. Number one, the first sign is that you're grounded in chaotic situations. Now, we all know someone who when a chaotic situation arises, we can count on them to panic. Maybe you know someone, maybe it's you. But the fact of the matter is that people who live in anxiety, people who live with a lack of trust in God, their first response to trouble, their first response to maybe an inconvenience is to begin to become stressed and panicked and they begin to become all entangled in their own emotions and they live in that constant tension of anxious thinking. But those who are surrendered to the Holy Spirit, those who spend time with the person of the Holy Spirit begin to go at the pace of grace. They begin to walk with the Lord in surrender in such a way that they're not fighting against Him and they're not trying to force Him to do something. Rather, they are flowing with Him. And when you begin to flow with the Holy Spirit in that way, there's this great spiritual calm that grounds you in difficult times. When others are beginning to panic, when others are beginning to worry, when others begin to complain or become upset, become emotional, you, someone who spends time with the person of the Holy Spirit, can access that peace that goes beyond understanding and then you become stable. God uses you as an anchor in chaotic situations where others know that they can rely upon your prayers. Others know that they can present to you difficult circumstances and shocking information without fear that you're going to react in such a way that makes the situation worse. Look at Luke chapter 4 verses 28 through 30. Now, this takes place immediately after Jesus begins to share things that causes the people to become upset. They're offended by the things that He's saying. Luke chapter 4 beginning at verse 28, when they heard this that is the sayings that Jesus was telling them, the people in the synagogue were furious. Jumping up, they mobbed Him and forced Him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push Him over the cliff. So, before we read verse 30, I want you to picture this. Because of the teachings of Jesus, the people were stirred, they were angry, and they forced Jesus all the way to the edge of the hill. He's right on the cliff. And it's their intention to throw Him over. Watch what He does, verse 30. But He passed right through the crowd and went on His way. Now, when I read this, I believe the scripture here is describing something very supernatural, in that Jesus was able to move past them despite their physical efforts. Other scholars believe that maybe Jesus had a conversation with them or was able to calm the crowd himself. Whatever the interpretation you apply, it's quite obvious here, it's evident that Jesus is calm in the face of the threats, that Jesus is stable even though others are trying to do Him harm. He doesn't react in a way that's fearful or unreasonable or emotional. Instead, He just passes right through the crowd. And often, this is what we should do and what the Holy Spirit will help us do as we begin to ground ourselves in His presence and power, as we become more confident in who He is. Not necessarily that He needs our confidence and not that He wasn't trustworthy before, but we begin to learn to rely upon the Holy Spirit as we spend time with Him. And we can be as the Lord was, where we just pass through. They intend to do you harm, you just walk right by them. And this is something that only the Holy Spirit can give to you. This is something that only the Holy Spirit can cause to transpire in your heart. Where now you experience this great stability, emotionally, mentally, your impulses even are taken under control. Why? Because you walk in that peace because you know the Holy Spirit, because you trust Him, because you're confident in both His willingness and His ability to see you through. So that's number one. You're grounded in chaotic situations. And by the way, this is one of the reasons why you stand out, because others can see that difference. When everyone else is losing their minds, they can see the calm of the Spirit in you. Number two, you pursue excellence in all that you do. Now of course, let me just say this. Of course, there are things like holiness and bold evangelism and heartfelt worship. These are expressions of the Holy Spirit's presence and power that begin to manifest in your life as you surrender to Him, as you trust Him, as you obey Him, as you spend more meaningful time with Him. But I want to highlight some signs that maybe many believers have overlooked. So of course, let me just say that now. Holiness, bold evangelism, heartfelt worship. Those indeed are signs that you are spending time with the person of the Holy Spirit. After all, he is the holiness spirit. But again, I'm highlighting some things that maybe others might not have told you. Maybe you didn't think about or maybe you just haven't come across that in the Scripture yet. But number two, you pursue excellence in all you do. Look at Exodus chapter 31. I'm going to read verses one through five. And the Lord said to Moses, Look, I have specifically chosen Bezelal, son of Uri, grandson of her of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability and expertise in all kinds of crafts. He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver and bronze. He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is a master at every craft. Now here we see that this individual was being called upon by God to craft various items that were to be used in the tabernacle. And in order that he might fulfill this, the Holy Spirit marked his life in a very unique way. You see, yes, the Holy Spirit can empower you unto bold evangelism. Yes, the Holy Spirit can empower you unto holiness, breaking that power of sin in your life. Yes, the Holy Spirit can inspire worship and the prophetic and dreams and visions. All of these are wonderful expressions of the Holy Spirit's presence and power in our lives. But consider also that the Holy Spirit empowers you unto the seemingly mundane. He empowers you unto the practical. He doesn't just empower preachers and teachers and evangelists and apostles and prophets. The Holy Spirit also empowers students and business owners and parents and children and friends. In other words, he touches every aspect of your life. The influence of the Holy Spirit shouldn't be compartmentalized. In other words, we shouldn't just access his power or look to him when we go about those things that are obviously supernatural. But we should also consult with him. We should also look to him for help in carrying out those daily activities that seem to be of this earth. Because if the Holy Spirit can empower a craftsman to do the practical, then he can empower you to do the practical things that you have been called to do. And this is a mark of the Spirit filled, the excellence of the Spirit. The Spirit filled walk in excellence or excellence is a mark of the Spirit filled. They pay attention to detail. They do things correctly. They do things with integrity. They do things in a timely manner. They do things with a good attitude. They do things with order. Think about those who criticize order, saying things like, well, I'm not for organized religion, to which I often ask, are you for unorganized religion, chaotic religion? Name me one thing that God ever did that didn't have order to it. And so as you begin to pay attention to the way your life is structured and the way that you carry out certain tasks, you leave a room for opportunity for the Holy Spirit to demonstrate his excellence through you. Think about the King who was troubled by the handwriting on the wall that came from a detached hand from seemingly nowhere. Daniel was called to interpret. Look what was said of him in Daniel chapter 5 verses 11 and 12. There is a man in thy kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the holy gods. And in the days of thy Father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods. This is of course someone secular referring to a prophet of God was found in him whom the king Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, the king. I say thy father made a master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans and soothsayers. Verse 12, for as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding and interpreting of dreams and showing of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel. Now, let Daniel be called and he will show you the interpretation. So here they recognize the various different aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Daniel. One of those aspects was excellence. They saw the mark of excellence on Daniel. Colossians 3, 23 through 24. Work willingly at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward and that the master you are serving is Christ. The Holy Spirit's excellence in us produces attention to detail. It produces a good work ethic. It produces, I should say rather, it removes from us things like laziness. Not just laziness in action, laziness in thought. Some people don't even like to work their minds to figure things out because they don't want to put in the work that that takes. But the Holy Spirit inspires us unto excellence in all aspects of life. And as you begin to care about the details, as you begin to do things with integrity, you do it right, you do it on time with a good attitude, you pay attention to all of those things that are out of order and you seek to put them in order. That's one of the marks that you've been spending time in the presence of the Holy Spirit. And this again is one of the ways that you stand out. Let me know if that's challenging you. Tell me in the comment section. Number three, you demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. Now, point number three here really is going to be nine different points but we'll just kind of survey these real briefly. Galatians chapter five verses 22 through 24. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. Love, joy. I'm going to go over each one of these right now. Peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things. Those who belong to Christ have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. I love the prophetic. I love the gift of speaking in tongues. I love the gift of healing. I love deliverance ministry. But the greatest demonstration of the Holy Spirit's presence in your life isn't the demonstration of power. It's the demonstration of Christ's character which can be described here in Galatians chapter five. Love, what is love? Love is selflessness. Love is not an emotion. Love is not just a feeling because love has to sometimes act even though the feelings are not there. Love is simply selflessness. Greater love has no man than this and that he laid down his life for his friends. Well, what is that? That's an act of selflessness. If the greatest demonstration of love is the greatest demonstration of selflessness, then biblically speaking, we can conclude that selflessness is foundational to Godly love. Joy. Now, joy comes from inner contentment. Think about the fact that the people of the world have temporary joy. Why do they have temporary joy? They have temporary joy because their joy is based upon the things of this world and the things of this world are temporary. And so when you find inner contentment that is in the presence of God, Hebrews 13.5, be content with such things as you have for he has promised, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. So because I have his presence, that is what produces contentment in me. Inner contentment. I don't need the latest car, the nicest clothes, the latest phone. I don't need to live in the nicest house. I don't need to go to the nicest restaurants. My contentment is found in his presence. Even when things are going awry in my relationships, in business, in ministry, in maybe you're a student, in your academic efforts, maybe there are some troubles in those areas. Well, inner contentment, because that inner contentment is founded upon the presence of the Holy Spirit, you can have joy even in the midst of struggle in those other areas. And joy comes from inner connection. I'm confident in that connection I have with him. And then there's inner certainty. That is, you're hoping that no matter what you're facing, eventually everything works out together for your good. So joy comes from inner contentment. That is to be satisfied in his presence. When you are satisfied in his presence, the cravings for the things of this world begin to dwindle. Inner connection, that is to acknowledge that connection that you have with him. And inner certainty, that is to know that despite what you're facing now, the future is bright. Why? Because he is my future and there's nothing brighter than him. So my future is always bright if my future always includes the Lord. So inner contentment, inner connection, inner certainty, that is the essence of joy of the Spirit. Then there's peace. This is that inner calm, divine peace. Not just peace with yourself because many times the torment that affects your mind negatively comes from the dislike of yourself. Now, I want to be careful here not to prop up some type of new age teaching where I'm talking about the power of love for self. And I do think that to some degree, there needs to be some level of love for self. We need to think of ourselves soberly. I mean, after all, the Lord loves us and that should tell us something about who we are. I'm not talking about being self-centered. I'm talking about having a healthy perspective of yourself in comparison to who God is relative to who he is. And when you see who you are in him, this gives you a healthy, humble perspective of who you are. And I'll talk about meekness or gentleness in just a moment. But now that peace that I have, I no longer am confronted by the hatred of self or the dislike of self or maybe some shameful things that you're trying to forget about or maybe some ways about you that you're trying to maybe change that they're not possible to change. Maybe your appearance, maybe the way you sound. There could be a number of things that you're not at peace with completely. Now, to be clear, if we're talking about sin, yeah, you want to completely do away with sin. But there are some aspects of your personality that God did create. The way you look, the way you talk, the way you think in many regards, not in every regard, were designed by the Lord Himself. And so when you have the peace of the Spirit, you have that inner peace. You're at peace with self and you're at peace with God and you're at peace with your fellow man. That peace permeates every aspect of your life. Proper view of self, proper view of God, and that brings forth proper connection with others. And that is peace that touches every aspect of life. Patience, you're not quick-tempered. Now, think about this. Patience isn't just the ability to wait for long periods of time. Patience is additionally the ability to wait with a good attitude. Patience is not just about how long you're waiting, but what your attitude is like while you wait. And so a lot of believers say, well, I've been patient when really what they mean is that they've been consistent or that they've been waiting for a long time or that they've been serving the Lord for decades. Well, I know many believers who have served the Lord for decades, yet haven't grown. And so when I talk about the patience of the Spirit, I'm not just talking about the ability to wait. I'm talking about the ability to maintain a godly attitude and perspective even while you wait. Kindness, this is empathy for others where you can put yourself in their situation. Empathy, generosity, civility. So this is empathy, putting yourself in their situation. Generosity, doing something about their situation even if it affects you. And civility, this is just plain old being polite. How about we just be nice to people? Can we just agree on that? How about we as Christians just be nice to people like Christians should? I mean, this is one of the most basic things. Yet it's sad that we have to address this so often because many in the church are just mean. They're grumpy, they're moody. You never know if you're catching them on a good day or a bad day. Everything offends them. What about just being polite? What about when somebody's talking to you? You look at them and give them the attention that they deserve as God's creation. What about when someone brings something to your attention that they're struggling with instead of just being dismissive with them? You take the time to help them. What about just being polite? So kindness, empathy, generosity, civility. And then goodness. This is moral excellence or strong character being godly even when no one is looking. Now, when we use the word integrity it can be said that the demonstration of your integrity is your ability to live holy even when no one else is looking. That is true. So we make that very clear. I'm not saying that's not true. But I think that a clearer way to communicate what integrity is is to look at the word itself. When we say integrity, what are we talking about? Well, think about the fact that we use the word integrity to describe the foundation of a building or the structure itself. What does integrity mean? It means it holds up. It means it's reliable. It means it's consistent. So you know that it's not going to crumble. So when we talk about integrity of character we are saying that the character is able to hold up even under pressures. And so integrity means it's being able to withstand some of the exterior pressure. So do you have integrity of character? Moral excellence. Faithfulness. This is reliability. Consistency. Can people count on you? Are you always late? Do you constantly ignore phone calls and texts? Do you make commitments not follow through? And then completely, as they say, ghost the individual without ever getting back to them to tell them why you had to cancel? Do you back out of commitments easily? When you promise something, do people roll their eyes? When you promise something, do people know that they can actually count on that? Or do they go, well, you know how they are? These are things that demonstrate who we are in Christ. And they matter. Yes, those little things matter. Faithfulness. It's reliable and consistent. Gentleness. This is humility or treating others as equal, even often as better than yourself. Humility is not the hatred of self. Humility is to see yourself in the right perspective. Humility is to see yourself in reference to who God is. You see, when you see your identity through the perspective of God, you'll never have a problem with pride because you recognize you're just dust compared to him. But at the same time, you also see how much he loves you. And therefore you recognize your value and there is that balance. That's what humility is. Again, humility is not the hatred of self. Humility is not the inability to admit that you have a talent or you have a gift. You should admit when you have a talent. You should admit when you have a gift. You should admit when you're good at something. If my daughter comes to me proud of herself, Dad, look what I did. Didn't I draw this so good? I'm not going to take that drawing, crumble it up and say, watch that ego, young lady. You're drawing. Yes, it was good, but you don't need to go saying that out loud. No, she's excited. She's saying, look, I'm good at something. Look, I'm creative. Look, I'm demonstrating excellence in something. It's okay to acknowledge that you have skill. It's okay to acknowledge that you have value. It's okay to acknowledge that you're good at something. It's okay to acknowledge that God's anointed you. That's good. It's okay to acknowledge you're called, but we have to keep a healthy perspective lest we become prideful. So again, humility is not the hatred of self. It is simply the proper perspective of oneself in reference to God and treating others obviously as equal. And then we see self control. And this is the mastery of self, the mastery of your cravings. Do you have control over what you say? Or are you constantly gossiping? Are you constantly lying? Are you constantly saying things that you shouldn't say? Are you constantly giving away secrets that aren't yours to give away? Stop there just for a second. Many times people will tell you something in confidence and you'll go and tell people to pray about it while also giving away what they told you in confidence. Or you'll say, well, I'm just going to tell someone who I trust, but that's not your secret to give away. Maybe they're telling you something because they need help or they're going to you in confidence and you're over here just spreading it around. That's a demonstration of a lack of self control. This is the mastery of self and mastering the cravings. Not just things that are blatantly sinful but also things that are unhealthy. What you eat, what you consume, your sleep patterns, your discipline when it comes to work. These are all things that have to do with self control. So as someone who's spending time with the person of the Holy Spirit, you're going to demonstrate all nine. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Number four, you love with a divine love. If this is challenging you, let me know in the comment section right now. In fact, let me know which fruit of the spirit when I was talking about it. Let me know which one challenged you the most. Number four, you love with a divine love. Romans 5-5, one of my favorite portions of scripture. And this hope will not lead to disappointment for we know how dearly God loves us because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Notice that the Bible says with his love as the KJV words it, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. So it's his love that flows through us. Now, if we love with just our love, there are limitations to that love. But when you allow for the Holy Spirit's love to flow through you, there's no limit to that love. And as you begin to spend time in his presence, now again, I understand that according to Psalm 139 that the Holy Spirit is everywhere all the time. There's nowhere you can go to escape the Holy Spirit's presence. When I say spending time in the Holy Spirit's presence, I'm talking about surrendering. I'm talking about trusting. I'm talking about obeying. I'm talking about carving out chunks of the day in which you spend meaningful time with just you and the Holy Spirit free from all distractions of the world. And as you begin to do that rather than just going to the motions, that surrender begins to make way for the influence of the Holy Spirit. So his love is a love that flows through us and demonstrates who he is through us. Now, here's how you know it's a divine love. It's love that astounds and defies explanation. Love that astounds and defies explanation. Someone had sent me a video a while ago of a father who was speaking. I guess he was giving a statement during a court hearing. It was a trial and he was talking to the man who had taken the life of his daughter. And he begins to speak to that man not with anger. He wasn't cursing him. He wasn't wishing evil upon him. He wasn't tearing him down, telling him how despicable he was. He admitted it was difficult to love him. He began to express forgiveness to that man who had committed that horrible act. And as he began to express forgiveness to that man, that man began to break down. That love astounded those who watched. It defies explanation. It's otherworldly. It's divine. It's godly. It's of heaven. It's not like anything you can experience here on this earth. And when you allow that love to flow through you, it comes through you in ways that make people scratch their head and go, how could you love me despite what I did? How could you love me despite the way I treated you? I mean, so often we get caught up in our ego. Someone's a little rude with us. Someone's a little short with us. Someone's a little inconsiderate of us. Someone maybe is trying to intimidate us or one up us. And there's all this, especially in the workplace, there can be competition. Even among preachers, preachers try to intimidate others and they try to get the upper hand. What if we just loved in a way that astounded them? And our ego gets stirred in those moments, right? We want to say our peace. We want to be able to be vindicated. And yet here we see in Scripture the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. So when you spend time with the Holy Spirit, you become less concerned for your ego and your focus now is on that individual to where instead of saying things like, how dare you? Do you know who I am? Oh, you're lucky I'm not, you know, the person I used to be. We say things like that. Rather we say, I wonder why they're so hurt. Or I wonder what happened to them today that they're acting that way. And you begin to see their hurts, their pain, what maybe led them to do such things. Now I'm not saying that you let people abuse, you will walk all over you. Rather I'm saying that you love them in such a way that it has them scratching their heads. And that's love that transforms them. That's love that when they encounter it, they can't be the same. They will go away thinking about it going, what just happened there? Like hot coals on their head even sometimes. People trying to do you harm, trying to do you wrong. Or maybe in traffic treating you a certain way or maybe in line somewhere and they just cut in front of you and they're rude about it. And they're like, I was here first or something like that. And you say, oh, no worries. You have a good day. Not sarcastically, not self-righteously, not in a way where you're trying to jab them, but really sincerely loving them. They're going to go home at night and they're going to be going, they're going to sense that conviction and something will transform in the hearts. It's love that breaks stubborn hearts. Maybe your teenager, your son, your daughter is living in a wayward way. Maybe they're under the power of an addiction. Maybe they're spending time with the wrong people. Yeah, you could use harsh words and berate them and nag them. That's one way you can go. And I'm not saying you shouldn't preach the gospel to them, but there's a difference between preaching the gospel to someone and then trying to play the Holy Spirit and control every aspect of the way they think and behave. Sometimes we need to just let the Holy Spirit step in. Sometimes. And there's a time to step in, of course, but we need to be discerning of those moments. But when you love them, it breaks up stubbornness. There's a friend of mine who told me a story and he shared this publicly, so I know it's okay to share. And he's a preacher now. And he shared that he stole from his parents to help fulfill a drug addiction, the cravings of a drug addiction, I should say. When his dad sat him down, he didn't scream at him or yell at him. He told him he loved him. And he said that broke something in him that day that just he could not deny it. Today, he's a preacher. Today, he's one of the most successful people I know in every aspect of life. Marriage, children, ministry, everything. And one of the most respected people I know, too. But what happened there is that love broke through. Broke through a stubborn heart. This is love that heals deep wounds. There are people that go through life just being beaten down constantly. They can't seem to catch a break. Yet when they encounter you, that love should come through in such a way that it heals deep wounds. To where they say, I'm not the same anymore. To where they finally look and say, oh my goodness, all my life I've been mistreated. All my life I've been rejected. All my life I've been disappointed and hurt. Yet here now I see something real, something true, something deeply spiritual. That's what you have the opportunity to do when you spend time with the Holy Spirit and that love begins to pour over you and through you. Number five, you don't seek or avoid controversy. Paul the Apostle in Galatians 2 verses 11-13 details his confrontation of Peter. There was a major disagreement here. We'll read it now. But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn't eat with the Gentiles anymore. In other words, he was embarrassed to be seen with these individuals. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. So now, Peter was concerned with what the religious people were saying. People who were preaching a workspace gospel. He was concerned. He didn't want to be labeled a certain way. As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter's hypocrisy. And even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. Now, I know some who used this portion of scripture. I should say I know of some who will use this portion of scripture to justify drama. Well, Paul called people out, so I get to do it too. This is a situation that he was close to. He had the authority to do it. And ultimately, his intention was reconciliation and bringing things back into order as opposed to being right, winning a debate or anything like that. It was an ego. It was of the spirit. Still, when it was necessary, we see that Paul the apostle would confront people and he would address certain issues. Now, he's the same one here. We read now Philippians chapter 2 verses 1-4. This, by the way, being written from prison. Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don't be selfish. Don't try to impress others. Be humble. Thinking of others is better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too. By the way, on a side note, if you ever hear anybody tell you, well, that's none of your business. That's my problem. I'm dealing with it. Has nothing to do with you. They don't know biblical relationship. Why? Because biblical relationship is you bear one another's burdens. You are. You're not meddling in other people's business, but you're involved in it in such a way as to where it can affect you and where you can positively affect them. But still, the main point I'm making here is that we see Paul in two different scenarios. In one scenario, he's confronting. In another, he's calling for unity. In fact, we read in Romans chapter 12, verse 18, do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. In other words, confrontation, conflict, disruption. That should be a last resort as opposed to your first option. But we see a biblical balance here in the life of Paul. Not afraid to confront when necessary, but ultimately always seeking to maintain peace. So you don't seek controversy. Some people seek controversy because they think that if they get involved and can win the argument that it somehow gives them authority or establishes them as some apostolic authority or some apostolic figure. But here we see that he's doing it when it's absolutely necessary. On the other side, we see that he's calling for unity. But he's also avoiding the drama when he can. And therein we see the balance. Those who are filled with the Holy Spirit do not seek or avoid controversy. They simply seek truth. They simply seek after that which is right. And in doing so, sometimes when you seek after that which is right, it's gonna require a call to peace. It's gonna require avoiding the drama. It's gonna require keeping your mouth closed. Other times, it's gonna require that you speak up. When you begin to surrender to the Holy Spirit, you have boldness and compassion. You have the ability to confront and the ability to be quiet. And the Holy Spirit gives you the wisdom to know when to apply either one. So you don't seek or avoid controversy. That is another mark of the Spirit filled. Now let's look at number six. I was number five. So far, let's recap. You're grounded in chaotic situations. You pursue excellence in all you do. You demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. You love with the divine love. You don't seek or avoid controversy. Number six, I love this one. You love the Word. Those who spend time in the presence of the Holy Spirit, those who surrender to his influence in their lives, develop this hunger for the Word that cannot be quenched. You love the Scripture. You love to study. You even, you have fun reading Bible dictionaries because it brings you that much closer to understanding and rightly dividing the Word. People of the Spirit have a healthy hunger for God's Word. By the way, this is why when you notice that your discipline in the Word begins to diminish, take action immediately. This is for someone watching right now, I know it. When you notice that the Word of God as a discipline, that is reading the Word daily, not the Instagram and Twitter quote of the day, but actually digging into the Scripture, front to back, start to finish chapter by chapter in order. You begin to understand. You look at the plain meaning of the text. You look at what the writer intended. You look at the cultural backdrops, everything. You're digging in there. When you notice that that begins to diminish, that hunger, that desire begins to fade. That is a sign to you that you are beginning to experience a weakening in the Spirit because the first thing to go will be the Word. That guards everything. Okay, so your Word devotion is a primary indicator of your spiritual health. Look at Romans chapter 8 verses 5 through 9. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things. But those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your minds leads to death, but letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. But, and this is speaking of believers now, you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit. It's talking about you here. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all. So when you begin to walk with the Spirit, what your mind focuses on begins to change. When you begin to live in such a way that the influence of the Holy Spirit weakens again, I'm not saying the Holy Spirit leaves you. I'm saying that your lack of surrender limits what the Holy Spirit can do in your life. That's why the Scripture tells us to walk in the Spirit, to let the Holy Spirit guide our lives. It's in Galatians. Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. So it's something that requires your participation. When you begin to walk in disobedience, when you begin to neglect the basic spiritual disciplines that should be implemented in your daily routine, that's when you now begin to see your mind focusing on the things of the world rather than the things of the Spirit. But as you begin to surrender to the Spirit, you trust, you obey, you read the Word, you're obeying and reading the Word at the same time. Now there's this desire in your heart and mind that causes you to shift your focus from the things of this world to now the things of the Spirit. And naturally, that includes the Word of God. And so as you begin to let the Holy Spirit guide your life, as you begin to surrender through obedience and trust, now the focus of your mind and heart becomes the things of God. In fact, people will become offended, and maybe you've experienced this, let me know in the comments, people will become offended that you talk about Jesus so much, that you talk about the Word. Now there's nothing wrong with talking about the average everyday things. There's some wholesome fellowship that can take place in that regard. But also, do you talk about the Word? Is this at least a part of the conversation? Or do you become offended and bothered when people bring it up? Well, really do some self-evaluation. Be honest here. And even others may be offended at you because you talk about the Scripture so much. Now there's a difference in talking about the Scripture at a sincerity and bringing up the Scripture just to demonstrate how much you think you know about the Scripture. And people can usually tell the difference. So I'm not talking about being self-righteous and trying to show off and trying to appear more spiritual than you actually are. I'm talking about a genuine, sincere presentation of the Word, a genuine, sincere drawing to the Word of God, a genuine, sincere inclusion of the Word in your daily conversations. That right there is wholesome and true and right and of the Spirit. And sometimes when you begin to demonstrate that, people become bothered because it reveals in their life a lack of the Word. But those who are led by the Spirit, those who spend time with the precious Holy Spirit in the places of prayer, they have this real love for the Word of God that's just, it's a real marker on you. And you pour over the Scripture. You're delighted to get into the Word. You're delighted to hear of the teachings of the epistles. You're delighted to dig into the historical backdrops. You're delighted to read about even maybe the genealogies and the geography. It doesn't matter. There's this love for the Word and you're thinking about it and you're meditating on it and you're pouring over it and you're memorizing it and you're living in it and it permeates every aspect of your life. It's life and life abundantly. It's vitality in the Spirit. That is the sign that you're walking in the Holy Spirit's presence. Number seven, this one's very important. Very important. They're all very important. But this is the one I think that many believers struggle with the most. In my opinion, that's anecdotal. I don't have any statistics to support that. But in my experience, that's what I've seen. You are secure in your identity. You are secure in your identity. Here's how you know you're not secure in your identity. Just some things I've observed about people. You're clingy and you're needy. You're emotionally unstable. For example, you post things online. You probably shouldn't post online. You open your heart and mind too fast to people you hardly know. You're constantly questioning if you lost your salvation. You're constantly questioning if maybe you have a demon in you. You're constantly questioning if God rejected you. You're constantly questioning if you're going to be left behind in the rapture. You're constantly questioning everything about who you are in Christ. Now, we should maintain a healthy and biblical fear of the Lord. And by that, I'm talking about a reverence. And yes, of course, we should live holy. And yes, of course, we should look to the coming of the Lord. And yes, of course, we should set certain parameters that help to keep us walking in that purity. Absolutely positively. But there's a difference between vigilance and paranoia. And many Christians are walking in paranoia and calling it vigilance. Constantly looking over their shoulder. Constantly worried. Constantly tormented by the idea that maybe something has gone wrong. That maybe God is done with them. That is to lack in confidence in your identity. Romans chapter 8 verses 12 through 17. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Verse 15. So you have not received a Spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him Abba Father. Four, watch this, I love verse 16. Four, his Spirit joins with our Spirit to affirm that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Here the Scripture is describing this wonderful reality of the Holy Spirit affirming your sonship. Yes, I said sonship. If men can be called the bride of Christ, then the ladies watching can identify with that sonship. And of course, this is talking about position, not necessarily gender. And so here we see that the Scripture is describing this affirmation, this conviction, this convincing that the Holy Spirit does in our hearts and minds. And this is perhaps, and this is not hyperbole, this is perhaps one of the most important works that the Holy Spirit will do in you. In that he convinces you, reminds you, persuades you that you belong to God, that you are his child, that you are not a fearful slave, that you are not rejected, that you have not been abandoned, that you've not been left out, but rather that he is affirming you as his child, sonship. He affirms that we are the children of God. When your emotions say, God's rejected me, the Holy Spirit firmly disagrees and says, you belong to me. When the shame of your past says, you don't belong to God, the Holy Spirit takes issue with that and firmly insists you belong to me. When others reject you, God says, I accept you. When your circumstances make it seem as though you've been abandoned, the Holy Spirit whispers, I'm still there. He affirms that you are a child of God. And when you begin to lack in that confidence, if you'll just pause for a moment, remove distraction and be attentive to the voice of the precious Holy Spirit, you'll hear that quiet but firm instruction. You belong to me. And this is what people who live lives surrender to the Holy Spirit experience this unshakable grounded confidence in who they are in Christ. Ephesians 4, 29, and 30, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let me read that again. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. This is describing permanence. You are sealed by the Holy Ghost unto the day of redemption. What happens when you make a mistake? You grieve Him, but He abides not to affirm your sin, not to give you a license to sin, but rather to help you to overcome it. Grace is not the license to sin. Grace is the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit working with you to overcome it. And by the way, if you have no desire to live holy, you don't care about grieving the Holy Spirit, then you need to take a look and see if you've actually repented and received Christ as your Savior in the first place. Because those who belong to Him have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit begins to produce these new desires in them. But those who walk with Him, those who are consistent in their prayer lives, those who fellowship with Him, acknowledge His presence, trust Him, obey Him, surrender, they experience this security in their identity in Christ. And nothing can shake that. So Father, I pray you would help us to demonstrate all of these traits and attributes. Thank you, precious Holy Spirit. Just begin to thank Him right now. Don't be distracted by the things of this world. Even as we pray, your flesh maybe is looking for distraction, entertainment. Just focus right now. Let the Lord do this work in you. Lord, I pray that by your Holy Spirit, you would cause us to see evidence of your presence and power in our lives. Give us desires that are of you, Lord. Help us to focus on that which is heavenly, over that which is earthly. Lord, help us to evaluate ourselves, to admit where there needs to be repentance, and then to repent, to surrender, that you might begin to do your work in us afresh. Cause us, Lord, to be more like you. Cause us to demonstrate these signs that we're walking with you. We honor, we bless you. And Lord, I pray for healing virtue to begin to flow. Touch that one crying out for healing of sickness and disease. Bring deliverance to your people. Break every bondage, every addiction. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it. Say amen. If you enjoyed the message, you think others need to hear it, simply leave a like, yes, that will help to spread this video around. And don't forget to subscribe so that you can continue to receive content like this. Now I want to challenge you. Stick with me for a moment here. I know it's tempting to click on the next thing, but I want you to stick with me here and hear this challenge. We are in a cosmic conflict, a supernatural stirring. There is a battle for the soul of this generation. Now at times, as you look around the world, it may seem as though the enemy is winning. He's not. Trust me. Trust the word more importantly. He's not winning. The gospel is advancing. Light is advancing. Darkness is dissolving. But you may look around the world and you may say, I want to do something about this. You may see the way the systems of the world are developing and changing. You may see culture and power structures and people seeming to align with the enemy's plan and will. You may say, well, it doesn't seem like there's anything I can do. I promise you the church is not powerless. God gave unto the church the power of the gospel. Sin is still the problem. Jesus is still the answer. The gospel still has power. I know you love souls. I know you love the Lord. I know you love the gospel. I know you love the kingdom of God. And I know you desire to do something about what you're seeing happening in our world. And I'm here to tell you the good news there's something you can do. You can get directly involved with this ministry and our efforts to spread the light of the gospel. That's what it is. It's the light of the gospel in the dark places of this world. And guys, hear me now. It's working. We are seeing thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people saved, healed, delivered and empowered unto their callings. Maybe you've been blessed by this ministry. It's time to pay it forward. I want to challenge you to get involved. Forget about what the news says. Forget about what naysayers and doomsday sayers say about the economy and this and that. We have a job to do and we have faith in our God. So I'm asking you to step out in faith and in trust. Never mind what fear says. Listen to what the Holy Spirit says and get involved today. We as believers have a responsibility. Necessity is laid upon us to spread the gospel. We don't do it. If we don't spread the gospel, nobody will. If we as the church don't spread the gospel, nobody will. And so I want you to get involved. Become a monthly ministry supporter today by going to DavidHernandezministries.com slash partner there. You will see various different monthly giving options. Pick the one that the Holy Spirit leads you to do. You can also give a single donation by going to DavidHernandezministries.com slash donate. Everyone needs to do their part. It's time to do your part. Get involved. If you're already a partner, thank you. You've already planned on giving. Thank you. I'm also challenging those from around the world who've yet to do this. Now is the time. Get involved. Souls hang in the balance. The work of the kingdom is not a joke. The message of the gospel is not a joke. We have kingdom work to do. And despite what's going on in the world, we have to stay focused. That's what the enemy wants. He wants to distract us. He wants to fill us with fear. Say no to the flash. Yes to the spirit. Say no to fear. Yes to the spirit. You can give a single gift or become a monthly partner again. DavidHernandezministries.com slash partner. Sign up monthly. And I'm asking many of you to do that today. DavidHernandezministries.com slash donate to give a single gift. Whether you're giving a single gift or monthly gift large or small, it all counts. I'll also ask that if you're giving from a different country, a different nation, please do try our website first. We accept all sorts of currency, including cryptocurrency. Try the website first. If the website does not work for you, then you can give through Facebook and YouTube. 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