 A single moment spent in the presence of the Holy Spirit can transform your life, but a life spent in the presence of the Holy Spirit can transform the nation. Through prayer, you become a carrier of the glory and you impact the world around you. I want to show you from Scripture how to encounter God's presence through prayer. One touch can change everything. One encounter in the glory of God. The presence of the Holy Spirit is what transforms us, changes your nature, changes your mind, breaks the power of sin and temptation, empowers you unto your calling and spiritual gifts. You want to encounter God in prayer. I want you to write this in the comment section, whether you're watching live or on the replay, right? As this, keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. This, by the way, is a promise. This is Jesus telling us of prayer. Keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. Everyone who seeks finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be open. Verse nine, you parents, if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not. So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give good gifts to those who ask him? Jesus tells us that when we pray, we ought to do so with persistence. Persistence is a demonstration of faith. Many believers approach prayer as if it's something that they can attempt one time and then give up on if they don't see the results that they want to see right away. Now, if you desire an encounter with God, you desire a good thing. If you want to know his power, you want to experience his presence, if you want to know his mind, his will, understand the depths of his glory, you desire a good thing, you want to go deeper, you want to go to higher places. Going to take some diligence in prayer. Now, God can do whatever he wants, but generally speaking, he requires of us persistence. And when you persist in prayer, don't give up. You have to be convinced of this promise that if you only persist, that you will see the result of what you're praying for. The Bible says this in Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 13, If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. That's a promise. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. So, if somebody says, I did look for God wholeheartedly and I didn't find him, the Bible says, let God be true and every man a liar. If the promise that God gave is, if you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. Then if someone hasn't found him, if someone hasn't encountered him, then they haven't truly yet looked for him wholeheartedly. Now, to look for God wholeheartedly doesn't mean to elevate your emotion. It doesn't mean to have a pity party and say, God, why don't you ever do it for me? Or God, why don't you ever come through? Or God, why do you always ignore me? That's self pity. That's not persistence. That's not faith. But if you search for God with all that you are and everything in you desires to know and you apply that desire to the persistence of your prayer life and you spend time locked away with the presence of God and you spend time pouring over the scriptures and you spend time worshiping the Lord in the secret place, then sooner or later you're going to have a supernatural encounter. It has to be the case or else Jesus was a liar and we know he wasn't a liar. It has to be the case that if you keep knocking, that door is going to be opened. Don't be distracted by the results that you're not seeing. Don't be distracted by the timing that God chooses. Don't be distracted by the lies of the enemy that tell you to give up. Keep on seeking. Keep on asking. Keep on knocking. Persistence in prayer is key. When I first began to seek the Lord, this was just maybe a matter of months after I was born again. There was this season of my life that I entered where I was praying four to eight hours a day, reading dozens of chapters of the Bible a day. Now, I'm not bragging on this. I was very young. I wasn't even a teenager yet, so I had the time to be able to do it. But I remember that there was this season of life where I had to apply persistence in prayer and this persistence and this frustration with not being able to see the encounter that I wanted all culminated into one night. You know, I would hear these stories from preachers who would talk to me about these encounters that they had with the Lord and my holy jealousy was stirred. Something in me said, Lord, I want that too. I want that encounter in your presence. I would hear stories and sermons. I would read of people's encounters and books. I read of how God used many great revivalists of time past and I said, Lord, I want more than anything. I want your presence, not just to know your presence intellectually, not just to be aware that you exist. But Lord, I want to know you as a friend. I want to come near to you. I want to have encounters in your presence that mark my life forever. I want to have encounters in your presence that make your presence evident on my life. I want you to use me. I want you to cause me to be an atmosphere of heaven. I want you to cause me to be a host of your glory, causing me to walk in your power wherever I go. You know, when you do that, when you become a carrier of the glory like that, when you enter rooms, the atmosphere shifts. This is why people are uncomfortable around you sometimes, but that's a different subject for another day. But it all culminated to this moment where I decided, Lord, I want to know you and I'm not going to let anything get in my way. I want to know you and I'm going to set aside everything that would distract me. And so what I did is I went into my room, I shut the door and I locked it. And then I stood in the middle of my room and I said to the Lord, Lord, I'm not going to sleep. I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to leave this room until I have an encounter in your presence. Now I'm not encouraging you to go on a hunger strike in an attempt to get God to move. This was just what I prayed partially in my ignorance, but still there was a real hunger that was genuinely being demonstrated there. And so I began to seek the face of God. I remember I had my ceiling fan turned on to help keep the room cool, but it was making a little bit of noise. The light was on so that I could read the scriptures and I had worship music playing in the background. Well, I went to pray and I'm praying and I'm praying and I'm praying and I'm seeking the face of God. For that first hour, nothing happened. No glorious encounter, no heavenly vision, no angelic visitation, not even a demonic manifestation. It was just the plain ordinary settings of my room. Nothing seemed to be happening. And so what did I do? I reached for emotion. I tried to manipulate God into a response. God, don't you hear me? God, why don't you respond? God, don't you love me? And I tried to make up for in emotion what I lacked in faith. That connection is of the spirit, not of the flesh. And I was seeking God in the flesh by applying my emotions. That didn't work even after an hour. Also in that time of prayer, I attempted to reach for the more aggressive aspects of prayer, intercessory prayer and spiritual warfare prayer. I was breaking curses and renouncing generations of sin. I was rebuking the enemy. If there was an adjective, I used the adjective and attached it to a demon that probably didn't even exist. The spirit of this, the spirit of that, the spirit of distraction and prayer, the spirit of not having an encounter with God, you can believe that any demon that could have been made up, I was making it up. I was rebuking the devil for preventing me from having an encounter with God. Everything I had learned in the spiritual warfare books I applied. Nothing happened. So now I'm beginning to be frustrated and fret. I also in that time of prayer reached for intellect, theology, applying all of the techniques and lessons that I had learned about prayer, the glory of God, and encountering his presence. I applied all that I knew to apply. It was information that I received, I used it. And if it were possible, if it were possible to enter the presence of God, to exercise of knowledge, I would have entered the presence of God then. If it were possible to enter the presence of God through emotion, I would have been in. If it were possible to rebuke my way into the presence of God, I would have rebuke my way into the presence of God. Willpower failed, intellect failed, emotion failed. Now when I talk of entering into the presence of God, of course we understand that the Holy Spirit abides in us. God is omnipresent everywhere at all times. What I wanted, what I was seeking, and likely what you're seeking if you're watching this broadcast right now, what you're seeking is a manifested encounter in the glory of God. You want to sense him and feel him. You desire a good thing. But here's what happened in that moment. So for four hours I'm praying. Nothing. I applied everything I knew. I waited and I started to regret my ultimatum. I'll be honest with you. I started saying, well, gee, maybe I shouldn't have told the Lord I'm not leaving here until I eat because I was getting a little hungry. And then something happened. In that moment, after having exhausted myself of all emotion, all information, all physical strength, I mean, when I tell you physical strength was exhausted, I mean it. There were moments in that time of prayer where I was on the floor facedown with my tears wetting the carpet, like the carpet was drenched. My body was tense because I so deeply desired to just know him, to have an encounter in his presence, like I heard of when others would talk about him. So that moment after having exhausted myself, utterly exhausted myself, I gave up. You know, in times when we have given all that we can give, in those moments of desperation, in those moments where we have nothing else in our own strength to offer, that's when the Holy Spirit shows up. Now in a moment, I'll talk about the difference between hunger and desperation and why desperation isn't necessarily the best way to live. First, I have to acknowledge that desperation has its place. It did, at least in my story, I read scriptures and different accounts of various different Bible characters and I can see how they found themselves in desperate situations. And in those desperate situations, they were moved to call upon the Lord and the Lord responded to the cries of their desperation. So desperation has its place for sure. In that moment, I gave up. I was done and I lifted my hands and I just began to weep. And these weren't tears like of me working up emotion. These were just tears of just, I was so frustrated. I was just thinking, maybe God doesn't want anything to do with me. Maybe, maybe, and it wasn't self-pity. It really was. I was wondering, maybe, maybe I did something that the Lord was just so displeased with or maybe I'm not chosen to have encounters with God like that. Maybe that's just for those special Christians. You know, we think like that sometimes. And so, I began to cry. And as tears streamed down my face, I said, Lord, Holy Spirit, I don't know how to pray. I don't know how to find Jesus. Help me find Jesus. And the gentle leading of the Holy Spirit instructed me to do a few things. Number one, the Holy Spirit told me, and by the way, what I'm about to give you isn't a script for encountering God. You cannot systemize the voice of the Spirit. You can't systemize spiritual encounters. That is the very basis of religious, powerless legalism. And so, I remember, the Holy Spirit tells me, turn off the fan. It's making too much noise. And I thought that's an odd instruction, turn off the fan. And so I turned off the fan, turned off the light. The Holy Spirit spoke to me, for now, close the scripture, just for now. You know, sometimes we read the scripture, sometimes we pray, sometimes we worship. And in that moment, just for that moment, the Holy Spirit had me close the scripture, and man, was I hesitant to do that. And then the Holy Spirit tells me, turn off the music. I kid you not, in my own religious programming, I said, but you can't move without the music. And the Holy Spirit said, turn it off. So I turned off the music. And there in that moment, standing in the middle of my room, hands lifted, eyes closed, tears streaming down my face. Having done all that I knew to do, having given all that I had to give, all I could do was surrender. I stopped trying to have an encounter with God, and I realized I can't do anything to cause an encounter. I stopped trying to feel something and realized I can't make myself feel what isn't happening. So in that moment, the presence of God descended on my room. The plain, ordinary settings of my bedroom turned into heaven on earth. With my eyes closed and hands lifted, I've up and down my physical body, like a fast pulsing. And I felt a weight come over me, much like what people describe in the services that we have, that we host around the world. People describe it. Well, that's what I encountered in my room. And I remember sensing such overwhelming peace, such overwhelming joy, such overwhelming love, like the atmosphere had shifted. I felt like I was standing in darkness and someone had suddenly turned on a bright light. Everything changed in that moment. And the encounter was so intense, so vivid, so real, so tangible that with my hands outstretched, I was afraid to move because I thought that if I moved to abruptly, I might feel my hand brush up against his robe. I was that afraid that his presence was so real. I felt like he was standing like right in front of me, looking right at me. And I thought if I open my eyes, I would see him staring right back at me. And I knew that if I saw that or felt that, that I would be so distracted by the fact that I was having that encounter that I would probably be broken out of that experience. I didn't even move it. I stood still. And that encounter lasted, gee, I couldn't even tell you how long, maybe a minute or two, four hours of seeking a minute or two of encounter. And I could tell you that had I searched for him a hundred years, one minute of that would have been worth it. One minute of that would have been worth it. I can't even tell you what it was like. I can use language that maybe we understand, but that fails to convey what had happened in my room that day. It was heaven on earth, a different dimension of his presence. That's the beauty of his glory. Now, this encounter marked my life, like utterly transformed me. And from that day forward, there were encounters in his presence that just began to happen. And I remember this overflow begin to affect everything about my life. And I'm telling you that that one encounter to this day, I can still look back at and say that was a day that marked me forever. And I believe God wants to give that to you too. I believe God wants to give you an encounter like that in his presence. You're not after feelings, you're after his presence, but with his presence, with the manifested presence of God will often come encounters like this. Now, I'm talking about persistence, but as I talk about persistence, it's important that you know the difference between hunger and desperation. Now, what I'm about to say many people might not like. This will offend some people, but I need you to hear this because it's important. There is a difference between hunger and desperation. Desperation is a great initiator, like people who are really into the world get so far or aren't a sin and carried away that they become desperate for a touch of God or maybe a believer who's living right, but experiences so much heartache and tragedy that they get placed in a desperate situation. That happens sometimes. Desperation is a great initiator, but it's not a good lifestyle. Desperation implies that I don't have. Desperation implies distance. Desperation implies disconnect. You should not be living in such a way that you're so disconnected from God that you're desperate for him, but you should be living in such a way that you're eating of his presence so that you're developing a healthy spiritual appetite. The difference between desire and desperation is the same difference between hunger and starvation. If you're hungry, it means you ate yesterday. If you're starving, it means you haven't eaten in a while. If you desire the presence of God, it means you're living in the awareness of his presence. If you're desperate for the presence of God, it means you're not living in that awareness. And in order to live in that awareness, in order to walk in that true balance of divine spiritual hunger, then you must learn to be persistent in your prayer. Don't accept no for an answer. Knock, knock, knock. And by the way, it's not as if God is withholding his presence from us just because he enjoys it. He doesn't withhold his presence from us. Often we imagine that when we approach the Lord asking him for an encounter that his arms are folded, he's looking over the balconies of heaven and saying, one more hour, and then I'll show you what's up. Or if you, during worship, you know, if you jumped just six inches higher than you jumped, or if you, if you shouted just a little louder, or if you danced a little more foolishly, or not that dancing in and of itself is foolish, but you know what I mean? Sometimes we say things like that. If you want to encounter God, you have to be foolish. Okay, maybe to some degree, that's true. But it's not as though he's standing there waiting for us to enact or to perform these certain protocols and rituals before we can enter his presence. That's not at all. Rather, when you are persistent in prayer, please hear this, this is so important, you hear this. What persistence does, it doesn't convince God to suddenly respond. Persistence isn't about twisting God's arm. Persistence is about destroying the influence of the flesh. And as you persist in prayer, the flesh becomes weak. And as the flesh becomes weak, then suddenly you become aware of his presence. Suddenly you begin to sense him. Suddenly you become aware of the manifestation of his power. Persistent prayer doesn't bring God closer. God lives within you. Rather, persistent prayer causes you to become more aware of his presence. It causes you to become more aware of his presence, which is always there. The omnipresence of God, everywhere at all times, there's nowhere that you can go to escape the presence of God. Then why don't we always feel him? Well, that's because there's a difference between the omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God. You see, the omnipresence of God is God's awareness of everything. The manifest presence of God is your awareness of him. The omnipresence of God is God everywhere at all times. The indwelling presence of God is the Holy Spirit in you, in your physical being as well. But the manifest presence of God is what occurs when you become aware of his presence that is in you and around you, and suddenly you can sense him. So, we have to change the way we think about this, especially when it comes to persistence. We're not trying to get closer to him. We're already connected. But persistent prayer sheds the flesh, weakens its influence, removes the power of the carnal nature, and causes the spiritual sense to come to the forefront so that you can sense his nearness. So, that's number one is persistence. If this is helping you, just type Amen in the comment section where they're live on replay. Number two is faith. Hebrews 4, 14 through 16 says this, So then, since we have a great high priest who has entered heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This is talking about the sacrifice that Christ has made. He is now our high priest, and he is our mediator between us and God. Verse 15, this high priest of ours understands our weaknesses, where he faced all the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. Verse 16, watch this now. So, let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. Say that boldly. Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Now, in the Old Testament, the presence of God was made manifest in the Ark of the Covenant, and the children of Israel would have to carefully carry the Ark of the Covenant with them everywhere that they went. Why? Because were they to touch the Ark of the Covenant? They would be immediately struck down. They would have died if they touched the glory of God. Only certain people, at certain times, after having undergone the proper protocols, could come near to that Ark, but no one was allowed to just irreverently come up to it and touch it. It would kill them. That's how intense the physical presence of God was. Yet today, because of what Christ has offered, we don't come with shaky hands and shaky knees. We don't come second-guessing ourselves. We don't approach the Lord wondering if he's going to accept us. We don't approach the Lord with fear that we may be struck dead. We approach the Lord with boldness, with confidence, not because of what we have done, but because of what Christ has done. Jesus said, when you pray, pray like this, our Father who art in heaven. Well, how did he begin that prayer? Did he begin that prayer by saying, God, if you hear me, please respond? Or God, if you're not angry with me, if you still love me, I hope I can approach. Is this okay, Lord? I can enter. Is that fine? And we so often approach the Lord like that. Look, maybe you made a sinful mistake, and so now you think that God doesn't want to hear from you, that he's angry with you. Maybe you haven't been keeping up with the spiritual disciplines, like reading the Word and approaching the Lord in prayer daily. And so now you think that you have to work to regain the connection, or work to regain your friendship with God, or work to climb back up that ladder closer to him. Or maybe you think that because you missed prayer for a whole week, that it disqualifies you from praying this week. We imagine sometimes that when we approach the throne of God, that as we approach, he goes, oh, look who decided to suddenly show up. Oh, look who decided to show their face. No, he doesn't mock you when you miss days of prayer. He comes to you just as the Father came to the prodigal son. He sees you coming off in the distance, and he runs to you, embracing you, accepting you, and letting you know that you are his. He doesn't become angry when we approach him, even after compromise and mistakes and inconsistency. Rather, he runs to us. Look, no matter how far you think you've gone, a single moment of repentance can bring you all the way home. He doesn't keep a list of your mistakes right next to him, and every time you come near to him, he says, well, we got to talk about this list first. No, when you approach the Lord, he's joyful to see you. He's happy to see you approach him in prayer. We can't think of our relationship with God as if it's hanging by a thread. That's what some Christians think. They think that God is just on his last leg with him, like, oh, you know, I love you, but I don't like you. I love you, but I don't really tolerate you. And we imagine that God is just barely putting up with us. We imagine that God just is barely tolerating us. We imagine that we're one mistake away from just receiving the full wrath of God, and him just washing his hands of us and abandoning us to our own ways. No, my friend, that's not the Lord. His mercies are new every morning. His compassion, they don't fail. The Lord is full of grace. He's quick to forgive, and he's also quick to forget. He's slow to anger. He's patient with you. He abides near you. He understands your weaknesses. He makes up for your faults and failings, and he doesn't abandon you to fight this battle alone. So when you approach him in prayer, don't approach him wondering if he's going to hear you or begging him to hear you. Imagine how much frustration you could save in prayer. If instead of begging God to hear you, you simply believe that he already does. If instead of begging God to notice you, you simply recognize that he already does. Our Father who art in heaven, recognize who he is to you. He's your Father. Recognize your citizenship. I belong in heaven with my Father God. Recognize that what Christ did on the cross was enough to connect you with Father God, and therefore you don't come to him based on your own accomplishments. You don't come to him based on your own record. Rather when you approach him, you come to him in faith, and so many people are missing out on encounters with God because when they approach him, they can't get past their own doubt. They can't get past the idea that he's angry with them. They can't get past the idea that he's going to reject them. Look, he's not like your earthly Father was. He's not like those people treated you. He's not like those who treated you with spiritual abuse. God is a holy God, loving and patient and kind, and when you come to the Lord full of doubt, wondering if he's going to hear you, or second guessing you're standing with him, the moment you do that, you've already lost half the battle. And this is why so many people don't have encounters with God because they're so focused on themselves that they fail to connect with God. Well, isn't that what happened with Isaiah? Isaiah chapter six, when the glory of God appeared before him, what did he say? Did he rejoice and say, well, what a wonderful presence? No, what did he say? He said, woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. So Isaiah the prophet, standing in the midst of a heavenly encounter, Isaiah the prophet, standing in the midst of a manifestation of God's glory, instead of looking to the glory of God and rejoicing, instead of enjoying the encounter that he was having, instead of welcoming the presence of God with worship, what did he do? Instead of looking at the glory, he looked at his guilt. Instead of looking at the spirit, he looked at himself. Instead of paying attention to God, he paid attention to his flaws. And so Isaiah, even though he was aware he was having an encounter with God, even though he was aware he was having an encounter with God, he could not just enjoy that encounter. Why? Because he was looking at himself. And that's what many of us do. We're in the presence of God. He's already accepted us. He's already forgiven us. His spirit dwells within us. He loves us with an everlasting love. He wants to give us peace and joy. He's there to give us power. He's there to be near to us. He's there to be praised and worshiped by us. And what do we do instead? Oh, woe is me. Does God love me? Has God accepted me? Has God rejected me? Am I on the list of people he's rejected? My friend, you've got to stop looking at your relationship with God as if it's based on your credentials and your performance. That is legalism. Instead, approach him in faith. What does the Bible say? Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There, we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. So number one is persistence. Number two is faith. Number three is focus. Now, this is where many of us need help. In fact, all of these, we all could use some help in all these areas. Myself included. The Holy Spirit helps me with all of these. 2 Corinthians chapter three, verses 16, 17 and 18. Three powerful verses. Check these out. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the spirit and wherever the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. Watch this now. And the Lord who is the spirit makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. What a powerful truth. God the Father has commissioned a work of art. Jesus is the model. The Holy Spirit is the painter. And your life when it is surrendered to the Holy Spirit is the blank canvas upon which the Holy Spirit can paint the beautiful countenance of Christ. When we surrender our lives, we become clay in the Father God's hands and he begins to mold us and shape us and conform us to the image of his son Jesus. So when we go to have an encounter with God, here's what many of us do. We kind of pray with one eye open to see if anything's going to happen. You know, we go in, we pray, Lord, I thank you. I pray I encounter your presence and we stop, we look around. Am I feeling anything? Is there a heavenly cloud opening? Is there an angel somewhere around here? Is there an intense physical sensation of electricity on my body? You know, we start to think of all the stories that everyone told us and that can happen to you, sure. But then here's what gets in the way. Your intense desire for an encounter with Jesus itself becomes a distraction of you having an encounter with Jesus. Imagine I go on a date with my Jessica and the whole time there at date night I'm just saying, Jess, can we go on a date? Jess, can we have date night? Jess, are we having a date right now? Jess, are we having a good time? Jess, are we enjoying this? Jess, are we on a date night? Are we at a restaurant, Jessica? Are we taking a drive, Jess? Are we listening to a song together? Is this happening? Are we on a date? What if I did that the whole time? I promise you she wouldn't find that very fun. It would be rather irritating, I'm sure. Well, that's what we do to the Lord. Lord, I'm having an encounter with you. Am I feeling anything yet? And we're so focused on the feelings that we forget to just have faith. Here's the problem. You're waiting for your feelings to confirm to you what you should already know through the Scripture. You trust more in your feelings than you do the Word of God. I know that's not what we want to hear, but here's the reality. Many of us trust more in our feelings than we do the Word of God. We trust more what we feel than what the Word of God reveals. So I know the Word of God says that he's near. I know the Word of God says that the Holy Spirit dwells in me. I know that the Word of God says that God will never leave me nor forsake me. I know the Word of God says that he loves me with an everlasting love, but I don't feel him and therefore I doubt him. Wow. Think about how insulting that is to God. I know your Word says it, but my feelings don't, and therefore I have to deny that reality. I know your Word promised it, but my feelings don't sense it. Because my feelings don't sense it. I can't believe it yet. We're like Thomas. I'll believe when I can touch the nail scars myself. And so we wait what? For our feelings to confirm to us what we should already know by faith. And what happens then is our focus turns from Jesus to encounters. Here's the problem. When we turn our focus from the heart of Jesus to the hand of Jesus, we're distracted. When we turn our focus from who he is to what he does, the moment we do that, we're in danger. Why? Because then it becomes about the result rather than the relationship. Then it becomes about what he can do rather than who he is. Then it comes about receiving from him rather than enjoying him. It becomes about his power rather than his presence. Don't seek healing. Seek Jesus. Don't seek deliverance. Seek Jesus. Don't seek prophetic encounters. Seek Jesus. Don't seek the supernatural. Seek Jesus. Don't seek encounters. Seek Jesus. Don't seek faith. Seek Jesus. The moment it becomes about the healing, or the deliverance, or the prophetic encounter, or the angelic encounter, or the supernatural experience, or the physical sensations that we might experience in the glory of God, the moment it becomes about those things, now it's about results, not relationship. Now it's about power, not his presence. Now it's about his hand, not his heart. And the moment your focus turns to those things, well, now you're missing out. The moment your focus turns to those things, now you're distracted from what really matters. You're like Martha, preparing to encounter him rather than just enjoying him. Now I know this can seem somewhat like a contradiction, but it is really simple. In other words, just trust him. If you just trusted him and you stopped waiting for your feelings to validate what his word says, then encounters would abound. Think about what the Scripture says here. All of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. So the Holy Spirit brings freedom. So the Bible says where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom. He removes that veil, so now we can see him clearly by the Spirit. And as we see him and that light shines on us, we become a reflection of that light. We become a reflection of his nature. And the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. This encounter comes when we focus on him. That transformation comes when we're focused on Jesus. When you focus on Jesus, not on what he does, look, healing is great. I'm in the healing ministry. Deliverance is great. I pray for deliverance all the time for people. The prophetic is great. I love the prophetic. I love the spiritual gifts. I love the supernatural. But that's not my pursuit. My pursuit is Jesus. He's the substance. He's the foundation. He's what keeps us centered in the midst of all of this. Focus on him and encounters will abound. And even as I say that, here's what's funny. As many people will take what I just said right now and go, okay, so if I go focus on him, I can have an encounter and then they'll go and pray and focus on Jesus in the back of their mind going, oh, now I'm going to have an encounter. That defeats the purpose. That's how deceptive the flesh can be. I know it's a little bit a harsh way to word it, but that's true. It's how deceptive the flesh can be. Kind of praying, which is when I open, hoping we can catch a glimpse. Just seek Jesus. Stop complicating it. Stop having a pity party because your story's not the same as someone else's. Stop waiting for your feelings to validate what you should know by the word. That you would encounter the glory of God. That's going to be my prayer for you, but I don't want you asking for an encounter. I want you to just focus on Jesus right now. I want you to stay persistent. I want you to believe that he's with you now. You've not done anything to make him abandon you. I promise he's with you now. Believe that. And then I just want you to focus on Jesus. And as I begin to pray right now, I believe many of you are about to have encounters. Look, I believe the Lord brought you here for a reason. I know your flesh is tempted to be distracted and go do something else right now that possibly may be the case with you. There are so many things you can click on. There are so many things that are calling for your attention right in this moment, but learn to focus, focus, focus, fight the flesh. Fight the flesh. Don't let the flesh win this one. I want to pray with you. I want to ask the Lord's power to begin to overwhelm the Father in the name of Jesus. I thank you for that one receiving this prayer now. And I ask you Lord, to let your power and presence overwhelm them. Let the beauty of your glory fill the room. Let the glory of your presence surround them. Come like a mighty wind, precious Holy Spirit. Let them know greater dimensions of your power and glory I pray. Precious Holy Spirit, our wonderful friend. Make yourself known. In the room with them, now make yourself known. Some of you as we pray are going to begin to feel like a heat on your body. Others may feel like a weight coming on you. Some may also feel like electricity. Some may feel no physical sensations at all, but that's not the point. My point is, whether you feel something or not, the glory of God is there with you. Now close your eyes, believe that, receive that. I rebuke the lies of the enemy that would tell you other ones. Thank you Jesus. Let your power flow. I give you the glory and the honor of the Lord. Our flow like a river. Wow. Sensing like electricity coming on me. Father let your power flow like a river in the mighty name of Jesus. Touch your people I pray. I want you to say it because you believe it. Say amen. Well, I want to talk to you about something real briefly here. You know, the power of God, how can I describe it? I can't, but I want many more to experience this power. I want many more to experience this touch of the precious Holy Spirit. I want many more to know the power of the gospel, what it means to be delivered and set free. I want you to help me do that. Listen to this. Average American, $10 on Netflix a month, $15 on Hulu a month, $8 on Disney Plus a month, $12 on YouTube Premium a month, $11 on Apple Music a month, $10 on Spotify a month, $15 on Amazon Prime a month. And then I see on beverages like coffee, $60 a month. The gym, $30 a month and many people don't even use that gym membership. So total, this is about $3,000 a year that people spend on entertainment and extras. And I'm thinking the whole time, you know, I really do believe that we as people, as I was saying, who exist in this world, yes, we exist in this world, we function in the world, but think about how we give to so many of these other causes on a monthly basis. I want to encourage you to become a monthly ministry supporter of this ministry now. DavidHernandezMinistries.com slash partner. There's nothing wrong with all those other things, but I want to ask you to also contribute to the ministry, contribute to the gospel. Everyone needs to do their part to help this ministry continue to go and grow around the world. And as you're going to DavidHernandezMinistries.com slash donate or slash partner slash donate for a one-time gift slash partner for a monthly gift. I'll be able to see the names of the people contributing come across the phone so I can see some of the donations coming in through my phone here. Louise, thank you for your one-time gift. Elizabeth, thank you for becoming a partner. Sharon, thank you for becoming a partner. Jeremy, thank you for becoming a partner. I see Amy gave a gift. Steven became a partner. And then I also see many other gifts. Hope became a partner. Thank you. Brennan gave a single gift. Clark gave a single gift. Michelle gave a single gift. Shelley Ra, forgive me if I mispronounce that, also gave a single gift. Jean became a monthly supporter. Jose became a monthly supporter. Wow, God bless you all. Solman gave a single gift. So we have people giving from all around the world. Look, you've heard me talk about partnership. You've heard me talk about supporting the ministry. You've heard me talk about all the wonderful things that this ministry is doing. Now it's time to get involved. You've been blessed by the ministry and help us continue to be a blessing to others. Help support the live stream, the content, the events we do around the world, the Holy Spirit School online, all of it offered for free because of your generous support. You haven't done so yet. Sign up to become a monthly supporter. DavidHernandezministries.com slash partner. Now on the website here, you can actually see if you go to DavidHernandezministries.com slash partner, you can see the various different benefits that we offer for becoming a partner. Now these change from time to time, but at the time that I'm reading this, this includes a store discount, invitation to the monthly partner zooms, a Dove lapel pin that you can wear to show your support of the gospel, partner meet and greet access, invitation to partner's only retreats. That's at the $15 a month level, $30 a month or more. You get a signed book as a gift and then there's other giving tiers. But go right now, DavidHernandezministries.com slash partner. If you can support these things like streaming services and the gym and coffee and entertainment and gaming and hobbies, surely you can support the gospel. And if you're saying, well, I can't do both, well, then give up those things and switch your support over to the ministry. Help us continue to spread the gospel around the world. And also, if that's not something you're able to do right now, or you're still praying about monthly support, then right now at least do a single gift, DavidHernandezministries.com slash donate. If you're not quite ready yet to partner or maybe you are partnered and you just want to give a little something extra to the Lord's work, you can do that by going to DavidHernandezministries.com slash donate. But I'm asking everyone to do everything that they can. If everybody does their best, this ministry will continue to go and grow. So do that now. DavidHernandezministries.com slash donate or slash partner, however you're deciding to support us. But whatever you give, one time or monthly, large or small, it all helps. Don't forget to like this video if you enjoyed it so others can see it. And make sure you're also subscribed to the channel and do click that notification bell when you subscribe.