 Here are five keys to sharpening your spiritual hearing. Number one, speaking in tongues. Here's what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verses one through four. Let love be your highest goal, but you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives, especially the ability to prophesy. Now, as I read this, please understand that Paul the Apostle is not saying that speaking in tongues is not beneficial at all. He's saying that speaking in tongues is less beneficial compared to prophecy. Verse two, for if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God since people won't be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the Spirit or by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them and comforts them. Verse four, and this is key, a person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally. So here we do see there is a benefit to praying in tongues. But when who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church. So let me read to you also 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 14, where the Bible says, for if I pray in tongues, my Spirit is praying, but I don't understand what I'm saying. So when you begin to study the Scripture and tie together the threads of the various principles revealed throughout the Scripture, you see that, A, the Holy Spirit prays for you. We read that in Romans. You also see that when you pray in tongues, your Spirit is praying. So when you pray in tongues, you're using a spiritual gift, a personal prayer language, to come into agreement with what the Holy Spirit is praying over you. It is to pray in a way that is surrendered purely to the voice of the Holy Spirit. So then when you pray in tongues, the Bible clearly tells us that your Spirit is strengthened. Your Spirit man grows, or I should say, your Spirit man grows in influence. Really, your Spirit, which is one with the Holy Spirit, He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him. Your Spirit is connected to the Holy Spirit. Your Spirit is one with the Holy Spirit. You can't separate the two. And so in the Spirit, you are mature. In the Spirit, you know God. In the Spirit, you have perfect unhindered fellowship with Him. In the Spirit, you understand His will, His ways. In the Spirit, you have joy and peace and love and power. So when you grow spiritually, technically, it's not really your Spirit growing. Rather, it's your Spirit man gaining more influence over the other aspects of your person, namely the soul and the body. So when you pray in tongues, your Spirit is dominating. When you pray in tongues, the flesh is becoming weaker and the Spirit is becoming stronger. When you pray in tongues, the flesh begins to lose influence and the Spirit begins to grow in influence. So when you pray in tongues, you are sharpening everything that is spiritual about you. This includes your spiritual hearing. Now, in times past, I've covered some of the foundational keys to clearly hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. You can look up those teachings here on the channel. I've covered things like the word, silence and stillness and obedience. And these are foundational ways that we can clearly hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. In fact, we need to begin with the word because that's the safety net. That's the foundation. The Holy Spirit speaks primarily through the word. He will never contradict His word. And so we have to come to know the word first. So I've given those keys in the past and they are foundational. The word, silence and stillness and obedience. But now I want to give you five more keys to hearing the Holy Spirit. Write this in the comment section if you're ready to go deeper, two simple words. Deeper places. I want you to write that whether you're watching live or on the replay. Deeper places. Let that be a public prayer and let it be sincere. So number one, I just gave it to you speaking in tongues. When you begin to exercise that heavenly language, and by the way, the scripture very distinctly shows us various expressions of this gift. Like, for example, in Acts chapter two, we saw that when the early church began to pray in tongues, those who were surrounding the area supernaturally heard their own languages being spoken. So that's one form of the expression of the gift of tongues. And then we see, of course, in 1 Corinthians 14, there's a prophetic tongue that's to be used in the context of church gathering. This is the one that Paul put regulations on. Of course, this expression commands the collective attention of those attending that meeting. And therefore, it requires an interpretation because you're not going to disrupt the service. Call attention to what you're praying in tongues if you're not going to give something that actually edifies them. But what we're reading about here is the personal prayer language. And so when you make use of this personal prayer language, you are sharpening your spiritual hearing. I can tell you this in my own experience. I've seen this biblical principle come into play when I focus on praying in tongues. And this is what I actually do before a service. People ask me, what do you do before a church service or before you minister? I do a lot of resting, a lot of studying, and a lot of praying in tongues. And internally, I'm just fellowshiping with the Lord. It's all internal. And when I'm using the external prayer, which is the manifested gift of speaking in tongues, I'm exercising that which God gave to me. It's a special prayer language. And so I'm praying in my heavenly prayer language. And I'll notice the more I do this, the more often I do this, the longer periods of time I do this in, I begin to notice a keen awareness of the spiritual realm. I begin to hear things by the Spirit. And sometimes I'll say things to someone like, I'll maybe give a response to something I heard in the Spirit. I thought it was something they were actually saying. When, in fact, it was something I was hearing in the Spirit. And they kind of look at me like, how did you know to say that? Well, it has nothing to do with me. It's the Holy Spirit. And so when you begin to exercise this prayer language, you'll notice that you begin to hear the Lord even in passing. What do I mean by that? I mean that sometimes when we go to pray, we're very attentive. We focus in. We close our eyes, perhaps, and say something like, Lord, speak to me. I'm listening. Well, when you begin to pray in tongues regularly, you'll notice that you're actually able to hear him just in passing as you go on throughout your day. Often you might not even realize that he was the one who was speaking to you until you speak aloud that which was spoken. And then it begins to make sense or it affects someone around you. Or perhaps you kind of sense something on someone. Like this is with my team all the time. They'll tell you, I'll come in and I'll just say something that I think they need to hear. It's very specific for their day. That's the Holy Spirit. Again, not me. Any believer can do this. So this is not by any means me trying to bring attention to myself. I'm just saying I've seen this biblical principle at work in my own life. So I know it will work for you too. When you use your heavenly language on a regular basis and for extended periods of time, you're going to notice a sharpening in your spiritual hearing. Why is that? Well, because we see in the Scripture that when you pray in tongues, your spirit is praying and your spiritual influence is gaining power, that spiritual influence is being strengthened. And so whatever strengthens my spirit weakens my flesh. And when my spirit is strengthened, what happens is I become more keenly aware of the spiritual realm. So that's number one, praying in tongues. Number two, extended prayer. Now I want to be careful about the way I approach this because many believers get stuck in legalism and religion. And I think those terms more often than not are synonymous with one another. Many believers get stuck in legalism and they don't even realize it. So I've spoken to many believers who say something to the effect of, well, you know, I haven't been praying consistently. I haven't been reading the Bible consistently. So I wonder if I lost my salvation. Now, don't hear what I'm not saying. You should pray consistently. You should read the Bible consistently. And all true believers will have a desire for spiritual things. So you will have a desire to implement these spiritual disciplines in your everyday life. Of course, that's necessary. You have to have the word. You can't just go about your day and kind of like in a hippie-like state and just, well, I'm just kind of going with the wind, whatever the spirit speaks. To some degree, you need to be sensitive to the spirit in that manner, to some degree. But primarily, you have to be grounded on the word. So I'm not saying you shouldn't pray daily. I'm not saying you shouldn't read the word daily. I mean, this is something I often say, pray and read every day. Don't compromise that for anyone or anything. So you've heard me say this before, you know where I stand. But for the sake of clarity, I have to make sure that you know that I'm not encouraging you to slacken your prayer or in the reading of the word, having said that. Many believers approach the Lord on a performance-based relationship. Or at least I should say, they believe it to be a performance-based relationship so that they come up with questions like, well, I haven't prayed for a week. I haven't read the Bible in two or three days. Am I backslidden? Did I lose my salvation? Well, believers who are stuck in this mindset use their relationship with God as if they're climbing a ladder. So when they do good, they take a couple steps up the ladder. When they do bad, they climb down that ladder. And that's not at all how we are to live in Christ. He finished the work. We are saved when we place our faith in Him. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9. We are saved when we place our faith in the finished work of the cross. And so when I talk about extended prayer, I'm not talking about praying for extended periods of time in order to be saved. I'm not talking about praying for extended periods of time so that God won't be angry with you. No, there are benefits to praying for extended periods of time. See, many believers, what they'll do is they embrace a superficial prayer life so that every day they wake up, maybe in the morning they say, Lord, thank you for the day. Help me as I go on living. Make sure I'm mindful of you. And there are these good but shallow prayers. And at least you have to start somewhere, right? That's how I began my prayer life. It's shallow prayers. Lord, help me, be with me and so forth. And that's good. And you ought to do that. And you ought to acknowledge the presence of the Lord all throughout the day. And you ought to pray in the morning and in the evening and all throughout those special moments that you feel require a little more attentiveness to the presence of God. Of course, you ought to pray in that way. But add to your frequent prayer, deep prayer. What do I mean by deep prayer? I don't mean weird prayer. I just mean praying for extended periods of time. If you want longevity, pray frequently. If you want depth, pray for extended periods of time. I want to say that again. If you want longevity, pray frequently, daily, consistently. If you want depth, pray for extended periods of time. You see, each time you approach the Lord in prayer, you're beginning, and again, I want to be careful with the way I say this because I don't want you to get stuck in legalism or self-condemnation. You're beginning where you last left off. Let me tell you what I mean by that. When someone is digging a well, every shovel is full of dirt until they strike water. So they shovel once dirt. They throw that dirt to the side. Shovel twice dirt. They throw that dirt to the side. They repeat this several times over until finally strike water. Well, what's formed there is a reservoir now. It's a well that they form. And so we, with our prayer lives, form these spiritual wells. And those wells become places from which we can draw. So the first time you begin to develop a prayer life, on the onset, when you initially start to pray, when you begin a prayer life, you're going to find that there's a lot of dirt to uncover. That dirt represents the flesh, the influence of self, selfishness, distraction, short attention spans, and so forth. So that when you go to pray, maybe the first time, you'll find that you can only handle maybe five to 10 minutes before you start squirming and saying, okay, I got to get out of here. I need to give my mind something to do. I need something to distract myself with. Your flesh will crave distraction. But when you continue to pray, you continue to remove those layers of dirt. And so the first time you pray, it may have taken you hours to get into that place of flow in the spirit. The second time you pray may take one hour to get into that flow of the spirit. And then maybe it takes an hour every single day from then on for two weeks. And then suddenly you're finding that to go from the outside world, we will call it, to your prayer room takes just seconds. And now what used to take you hours, finding that flow which used to take long periods of time, now becomes easier and easier and takes just a few seconds. So when I talk about extended periods of prayer, I recognize that many are coming up against a very stubborn flesh. Why? Because the flesh dies in prayer. The flesh is weakened in the prayer place. So when you begin to pray, each time you go to pray, that battle with the flesh, please hear this now and I hope you're encouraged by this, that battle with the flesh will become shorter and shorter and shorter. First time you go to pray, three hours and then you're in the spirit. Second time, maybe it's three hours again. Third time, maybe it's an hour and a half. Fourth time, an hour. Fifth time, an hour. Sixth time, an hour still. Seventh time, an hour still. Eighth time, well it only took 30 minutes now. Ninth time, tenth time, so forth and so on, until you're down to being able to just walk into the room and enter. And by enter I mean enter that place of awareness because we know the Lord is omnipresent. Now watch this in Luke chapter six, verses 12 through 16. One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray. So here we see he secludes himself to pray and he prayed to God all night. So here we see seclusion and an extension of prayer. Why? Verse 13 reveals that at daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose 12 of them to be apostles. And then of course the scripture lists the 12 apostles. Here we see that before he selected his 12 disciples or his 12 apostles, he committed himself to an extended time in prayer. Why? Because it's in those extended times of prayer that we become more keenly aware of the voice of the Holy Spirit. So many believers want to hear the Holy Spirit with clarity but they're not willing to commit the time that it takes to weaken the flesh and find that flow in the Spirit. Now again, and I'll emphasize this one more time so that we're clear, I'm not talking about approaching the Lord in a legalistic way. And of course the Lord understands that many people find themselves in difficult circumstances that make it challenging to find these times to pray. Take for example the single mother who works two jobs. She gets up at 6 a.m. She comes back home at 10 p.m. By the time she gets back she has to maybe do a few things for the kids and starts all over again on her lunch break. Maybe she comes home to handle a couple more things and there's picking up the kids and so forth. So a single mom who works two jobs, the Lord will understand her situation. The scripture tells us that he understands that we're dust. He can sympathize with our weaknesses, the scripture tells. And so when the Lord sees that single mother working two jobs, he may not require of her that same extended prayer time as he would, let's say, of the full-time minister. Who has a portion of his or her day where they can dedicate to prayer alone. But wherever you are in your walk with Christ, whatever your responsibilities, yes, thank God for his grace. Yes, thank God for his understanding. But also don't allow your flesh to lie to you and excuse prayerlessness. All too often we're too easy on ourselves, I think. And this is why I balance this point with countering the heresy that is legalism, because I want us to find a balance. Not so legalistic that we think that our performance in prayer is what produces our salvation. That would be ridiculous. We understand that we are resting in the finished work of the cross. But out of our gratitude, our thankfulness for what he's accomplished, we do things like the spiritual disciplines. We do it as an offering back unto the Lord and also we do it for the benefit of connecting with God himself. What could be greater than that? And so when you go to pray, be honest with yourself. Are you slacking in prayer? Are you really praying as much as you can? Here we see again that example I showed you in Luke chapter 6, that we must commit ourselves not just to moments of prayer, but also extended moments of prayer. And you'll find that if you come into the place where say you're praying, if you can, two or three hours a day, you will notice there's a keen awareness that begins to be sharpened for the voice of the Holy Spirit to be more clearly heard. Number three is fasting. So number one, speaking in tongues. Number two, extended prayer. Number three, fasting. Here's what Acts chapter 13, verses 2 and 3 say, One day as these men were worshiping the Lord in fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them. So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way. Acts 14-23 says Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord in whom they had put their trust. So here not only do we see that the Lord has a specific order to how ministers are appointed, but also we see that there was a time of fasting that was given before appointing certain people. When you fast and pray, you are detaching from this world and ascending to greater places in the Spirit. Now, some people have issues with lingo like that. But what I'm really saying is that we weaken the influence of the world and strengthen the influence of heaven. I'll say that for those who are a bit more nitpicky until they mature in Christ, we'll say that you're weakening the influence of the world and you're strengthening the influence of heaven. Really, what you're doing is you're detaching from this world in the Spirit and you are ascending to places in the Spirit. You are telling the flesh, I'm not going to give you what you desire. In fact, I'm going to give you less than you're used to receiving. And you're telling the Spirit, I'm going to commit more to strengthening your influence. When you fast, whether it be for a day or three days or in some cases, as they do with food fast, some are able to do 40-day fast, whether you're abstaining from food or some other thing, that fasting is causing you to implement spiritual discipline. That fasting is causing you to focus more so now on the things of the Spirit rather than on the things of this earth. So when you fast, you are participating in a very powerful spiritual discipline. And this powerful spiritual discipline causes you to more clearly begin to hear in the realm of the Spirit. When you go on fast, your spiritual hearing is sharpened. Why? Not only does it work because you're detaching from the world, but you're also learning to steal the mind, not focus so much on entertainment, not focus so much on the distractions of this world, but instead turning your mind, turning your heart toward Jesus and allowing your heart to be lifted to heaven, allowing what you're aware of to be heavenly instead of earthly. And that truly is one of the most powerful things that we can experience here on this side of eternity, that detachment from the world, that elevation, that changing of altitude, that soaring above circumstance. People ask me all the time, how do you deal with attacks and criticism? How do you deal with trials and tragedies when you have to continue to minister? I can tell you, if you're not living in that realm, it can't affect you. If you don't live in that realm, it can't cause turmoil inside of you. You just rise above it. Live in peace, live in joy, knowing that if God is for me, who can be again? Knowing that if God is in it, no one can stop it. Knowing that if I just continue to surrender to the Lord, focus on him, he'll take care of it. In fact, he uses those things for my benefit and he uses them for your benefit too, but you can't always see that. And sometimes you need a change in perspective and fasting allows for that. You ascend to high places and those things look so small from there. They don't affect you. Really, most of what the enemy does against you anyway is just a threat. You'll find that many times the attacks of the enemy, we actually make it worse by allowing ourselves to be afraid of it when, if you would just stop panicking, you would allow your perspective to be changed, you would find that the enemy never really can do anything anyway. And so fasting is one of those keys to entering into that place where you are now hearing with spiritual clarity or greater spiritual clarity. So the Lord does speak to us and here's the reality, generally speaking, these are the ways you sharpen your spiritual hearing, but we also have to account for the sovereignty of God. God can speak to anyone he wants to very clearly any time, but the scripture also does account for these instances where believers are praying more, fasting more, and leaning into hearing the voice of God, committing themselves to be surrendered so that they might hear his instruction. That's a reality as well. And so we understand that it's up to us to do the possible, keep our responsibilities, and let God be God. God does the impossible. Number four, meditation on the word. Now, as I mentioned just a few moments ago, the word of God is the foundation for your ability to hear him. You have to know the word. You guys, ground yourself in the word. Study the scripture front to back. Don't be superstitious about it. Don't like flip through the pages, point at a scripture and say, well, God's speaking to me. No, no. Study the scripture. What is being communicated? What are the themes? What are the ideas? Study what the writers are actually attempting to communicate instead of forcing your own interpretation on these things. Study and know the word. Of course, I mentioned this before, but add to that. Number four, meditation on the word. Now, that word meditation freaks a lot of people out. There are certain buzzwords that freak people out and I don't think it should freak people out. Like if you say meditation, people go, oh, no, don't do that because now you're getting into the new age. Well, meditation is simply repetition and thought. Everybody meditates. Everybody repeats thoughts. Everybody focuses on something. Meditation isn't the issue. The issue is what are you meditating upon? And so in Joshua chapter one verse eight, the scripture says this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. And then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success. Psalm chapter one verses one through three says this. All the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or stand around with sinners or join in with mockers, but they delight in the law of the Lord meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the river bank. Easy for me to say. They are like trees planted along the river bank bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither and they prosper in all they do. Let me ask you something. What does the scripture say here? Does it say they prosper in some of the things they do? Half of the things they do? Very few of the things they do? No. The Bible says they prosper in all they do. Why? Because they're setting their mind on the word. When you meditate on the word, you're repeating the truths of scripture. And as you begin to align your thinking with the word, your thinking now doesn't contradict the word as much. This is something that is so important. I wish more believers would capture this. We are transformed by the renewing of our mind. Why do we need to renew our minds? Because the mind of the flesh runs contrary to what the Spirit is saying. And so when you align your mind set with what the Word of God says, actually says, then you now are aligning yourself with truth. And when you begin to think according to the truth, there is less friction between what you're saying in your mind and what the Word of God says. When you have less friction, there's less conflict and controversy and chaos in the mind. And now what begins to happen is you begin to think with greater clarity. And as you flow your mind, your thoughts flow with the truth that conflict diminishes. And now it's easier for you to hear according to the Word. It's easier for you to rehearse the truth of God's Word in your mind. That's the importance of meditating upon the Word. Not just reading a chapter or two, but diving in, understanding what is being communicated. What are the truths being delivered? Let me tell you something, please dive into the Word. Study, study, study, study, study, study the Word. Know why you believe what you believe. Align yourself with truth, meditate on it. So when you read, don't just, or when you listen to the Bible app, whatever is your preferred way of receiving the Scripture, just receive it. People ask me all the time, do I need to read it on a page or listen to it in audio? Either way is fine. Just receive the Word. Just receive the Word. And then make sure you're meditating on it. Don't just, just, just receive it in the mind. Consider it for a moment and then go on with your day. That would be like looking into a mirror, seeing your appearance, and then walking away doing nothing about it. Instead, what you ought to do is take the truths that have been communicated from the Scripture and hold, hold them in your mind, focus on them. Repeat it again and again. Just like you would repeat a song in your head, repeat the Scripture in your head. Just like you repeat conversations you have with people that maybe upset you in your head, repeat the Scripture in your head over and over and over again. And not in a superstitious way, because I, we won't go into that right now, but for now let me just make it clear that it's a matter of acknowledging and being mindful of the truth. That's really all there is to it. And as you begin to become mindful of the truth and repeat that truth again and again and again, it becomes a part of your thinking. And that alignment with what God has said removes the friction between what you're thinking and what the truth is. And therefore it becomes easier to hear what the Spirit is saying. Number five, and let me explain this one. Number five, rest in Christ. Mark chapter four, verses 18 and 19 say this, the seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God's word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life. The law of wealth and the desire for other things. So no fruit is produced. So when you receive the word, the word of God is received, but what begins to happen now is your mind becomes busy with the worries of this life. Worry is the flesh's powerless counterfeit for prayer. Worry is the opposite of prayer. Worry is a useless attempt at control. We imagine that if we could think about something enough, obsess about something enough, consider something from various different angles that we can somehow gain control. We are not in control. I'll tell you that right now. I'm not in control of anything. It's all an illusion. God is in control. And so when you worry, it's your attempt at gaining control over something because you think that if you're mindful of it, that you can keep it from harming you. And so that worry is really a fruitless exercise. It does nothing. It brings forth nothing. And the problem is when you're worried and distracted by the cares of this world, it chokes out God's word or the truth of God's word. Your mind is so busy with worry that it's hard to focus on what God has said. It's hard to think in faith when you're constantly thinking in worry. It's hard to praise when you're constantly complaining. It's difficult to see the truth when you're constantly questioning the truth. And so we need to come to the place where we are not so worried about everything around us, but instead what do we do? We rest in him. How do you do that? How do you receive that peace? Philippians chapter 4 verses 8 and 9. And now do your brothers and sisters one final thing. Fix your thoughts. By the way, let me stop there. When the scripture commands us to fix our thoughts, it's assuming that that's possible. So never mind these excuses that we hear when we tell ourselves that we can't control what we think. Never mind our excuses when we say things like, well, that's just a thought that keeps coming to my mind. I can't do anything about it. Or I can't change the way I think. Or I can't do anything about the way I was raised and how it formed my mind. Know, my friend, the scripture tells you, fix your thoughts. You choose what you think. Thoughts are the actions of the mind, just like you choose your actions with your physical body in this physical world. So you choose your thoughts. Even if it doesn't feel like that, even it may not always seem like that. You choose your thoughts. Fix your thoughts, the Bible says. You do it on what is what? True and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about these things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me, everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Then the God of peace. That's a condition. So you think on these things, you do what the scripture tells us, or in this case what had been instructed to the Philippians, and now you'll experience peace. Peace is conditional. Or I should say the realization of that peace is conditional. Look, the Lord has given you peace. Remember in your spirit, there's peace within. Why? Because the Holy Spirit dwells with you. Whether you make use of that peace or not is up to you. Like a bank account and a debit card. The accounts may be filled with funds, but if you're not using that debit card, it's not that you lack funds. It's that you're not using what has been given. This, by the way, is what we mean when we say things like activate. I call the Christian conspiracy community, with their tinfoil hats, when they hear words like activate, they freak out. Oh my goodness. Well, isn't that anti-biblical? Or why are you saying something? It sounds so new. Activate just simply means make use of what God gave you. That's literally all we mean when we say that. And so you make use of that peace by obeying God, by fixing your mind, choosing your thoughts, thinking on those things, and then that peace is yours. That peace is real life. That peace begins to actually affect things about you. It's not just the theory at that point. It's something that actually begins to affect your everyday life. When you're entangled in your emotions and stirred up by your worries, it's difficult to have sharp spiritual hearing. Look, as I said, God could speak to anyone he wants at any time. He speaks very clearly. But the Lord has made it so, as we read all throughout Scripture, that man's response is required on some things. Man must obey. Man must participate. We can't just be spiritually lazy, sit back and say, Okay, God, thanks for doing the finished work at the cross. Now I do nothing. No, we have to commit to growing spiritually and maturing. And so we have to be rid of this idea that because God is perfect, man can do whatever he wants and still receive of heavenly things. No, that's the abuse of God's grace. That's abuse of God's grace. So when we say things like, well, God can speak. You don't need to do anything. He's just going to speak when he wants to speak. Well, that's an abuse of the grace of God. That is to be ignorant of what the Scripture teaches. The Scripture makes it very clear that there is seeking. There is asking. There is knocking. There is committing to prayer. There is fasting. Why do these things if God can just speak? He can. But how does he choose to operate? He chooses to operate when we exercise our will, generally speaking. Of course, you can do whatever he wants at any time. But generally speaking, if we want to hear him more clearly, we must commit ourselves to the spiritual disciplines described in Scripture. And when you're entangled in your emotions and your worries, it's difficult to hear him. It's difficult to hear the Spirit when you're constantly listening to self. It's difficult to hear the truth when you're constantly worrying about everything around you and obsessing over the lies of the enemy and obsessing about all those things that need your attention and obsessing about all of the questions that we may have. I do it too. And this is where the Holy Spirit has to help me to fix my mind on what he has said. This, my friend, is how you clearly hear him. Some of the keys, the biblical keys. These aren't secrets. They're right there in Scripture. Number one, speaking in tongues. Number two, extended prayer or extended periods of prayer. Number three, fasting. Number four, meditation on the word. And number five, rest in Christ. Now, Father, I pray you would give your people the grace to put into practice that which they've received of your word. I pray, Lord, that you would cause truth to permeate their being. Let them be aware of that truth and Holy Spirit be their constant reminder. Father, we want to hear your voice. I want you to tell them this, right? Close your eyes and lift your hands. And I want you to tell them this. The Holy Spirit, to speak that out loud. Say, Holy Spirit, I invite you to speak to me. The same Spirit who speaks to me, he can speak to you. I just want you to say that. Say, Holy Spirit, I invite you to speak to me. I'm listening. Father, I pray you help them to hear. Help her to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. Give them spiritual hunger. Intensify their spiritual hunger. Increase that desire to hear your word. As they yield themselves to you now, begin to do a work in them. Father, make us a little more like Jesus today than we were yesterday. Help us to hear you. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it. Say, Amen. I want to read a portion of Scripture to you here. Go to Proverbs chapter 11. I'm going to show you some. Proverbs 11, I'm going to begin reading at verse number 24. Give freely and become more wealthy. Be stingy and lose everything. This is wisdom being given to us now. Give freely and become more wealthy. Be stingy and lose everything. You know, there was a season in my walk with the Lord and in ministry where we were lacking financially constantly. And this was probably, I want to say, maybe now 10 years ago or so, 10, 12 years ago. And in that season, it was very difficult for me to release. I remember that because I was very suspicious of people. They just want my money. I was very fearful. Well, if I give, I don't think I'll be able to have my needs met. And so it was very difficult for me to release and I would even become offended by preachers who would talk about it, right? So much. And I would say things like, oh, all you want is money and it's amazing to me that the more mature a believer becomes, the more they love to give. And the more someone matures in Christ, the less money matters to them so that they're not offended when somebody talks about it. That's where my heart was. And I thank God that he helped me to grow in this area. And you know, I've found that as I've learned to release, even in this season, this very month, the Lord has had me release things financially to other ministries, other people. And just by faith, I say, okay, Lord, you're going to take care of the need. Okay, Lord, you're going to do it. And I found this to be true, give freely and become more wealthy. Now, I don't think it's some, you know, as people would describe it as, as quote magic, unquote, right? What's actually happening here is as you become generous, it does something in your character that causes you to become the type of person who garners wealth or who understands money in greater ways. That generosity is very important to your character development so that you can become someone who begins to walk in greater financial blessing. Be stingy and lose everything. Watch this now, verse 25. The generous will prosper. Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. How true that is. How true that is. I found that if I just trust the Lord and refresh others as he leads me, that he causes it to happen for me. You know, the Lord will cause to happen for you what you will do for others. Many of us love when others bless us. And that's true. It's okay to enjoy the blessings of God as long as it doesn't become your focus. We know serving God is not about gain, but the truth of the matter is that the Bible does talk about these things so that when you give, God causes it to come back to you. Not always in the way we want it, not always when we want it, but God does bless good financial stewards. So people look at this ministry and they say, well, how did it get there? How does it do so well financially? And how does it grow so fast? How did it continue to grow even in the middle of a recession? Well, this is one of the principles I apply. Trust God and release. It's all God's anyway. So I want to challenge you today to help our ministry continue to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ all around the world in the power of the Holy Spirit through events and media. Maybe you've been watching for a while and you've been considering partnering with our ministry. I want you to go right now to davidhernanisministries.com. You might be right there in your heart you want to do it. You're maybe, maybe the flesh is making up excuses. Oh, it'll take too long. They might not take my payment. How will I meet this need and that need? Just trust the Lord. If we can trust the Lord even when we give to Netflix and Disney Plus and Hulu and gym membership and we buy coffee almost every day, right? We can do those things. Well, why not put some of those resources into the kingdom of God? Help us continue to make more content, host more live streams, do more events around the world. That's where your support goes. It helps to grow the ministry. And so you might be right on the fence there. There's something in your heart you're saying, I want to, I don't know. I want to, I'm going to tell you this. Just take that step of faithful. Just allow the Holy Spirit to have his way through you. Demonstrate God's generosity. Partner with us today on a monthly basis by going to davidhernandezministries.com slash partner. If you've already partnered, but you'd like to give a single gift to help support the stream, then go to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate. You can give a single gift there. But whether you give one time or whether you give monthly, whether you give large or whether you give small, I'm asking you to give right now. I'm asking you to give out of the kindness of your heart, for your love for souls, for your love of this ministry, for your love of the gospel. Help us spread this all around the world. We need ministries going out in the world, taking the media, and spreading the power of the Holy Spirit all over. That's what we need. And I want you to help me do it. So again, davidhernandezministries.com and I can actually see some of the giving coming in right now. I want to thank William for your one-time gift. That those single donations really help, guys. You may be right on the fence that, well, it's only 25, it's only 10. No, you're giving actually counts. I want to thank Charlene. Thank you, Charlene. That's a very generous gift. And we appreciate it. We'll put it to good use. Benjamin, thank you for your single gift. Hosanna and Kimberly and Darien partnered with the ministry. So did Kobe and so did Lou. Thank you so much. And Breanna gave a single gift. And also I see Samuel. Thank you for your support. I also see Alenor. Thank you for your support. Guys, again, all of this goes to help the ministry. Help us continue to go and grow. We've not even scratched the surface of where God is taking this ministry. We're seeing explosive growth. And as we continue to stay faithful to what God has called us to do, God is blessing the ministry. So one more time, davidhernandezministries.com slash partner to become a monthly supporter, slash donate to give a single gift. Don't forget to also leave a like on this video. Subscribe to my channel if you haven't to learn more about the Holy Spirit Prayer and spiritual warfare. And until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God.