 I often don't even talk about this aspect of my testimony because I don't believe in magnifying demonic power. In fact I believe in the church today that one of the bigger issues is not so much demonic oppression rather it's demonic obsession. And sometimes we take on doctrines and theologies that so magnify the power of the enemy that we minimize the power of the Holy Spirit. So I want to remind you no matter what spirit is coming against you there is no spirit more powerful than the Holy Spirit. We have to stop talking as if we serve a little God and we're facing a big devil. Church the Scripture declares that when you resist the devil he will flee from you. The Bible doesn't say that if you resist the devil he fights it says you resist the devil and he will flee. That means he runs. Why? Because he recognizes that you finally know who you are. We have Christians bragging, bragging about their bondage while the Lord knows that the reason the enemy attacks me so much is because he knows how anointed and appointed and great I am he can see my destiny know my friend the reason that he can keep you in bondage is because he knows that you've already surrendered that area. Oh I can hear a groan I know we're just on the right vein here and we magnify the power of the enemy but I'm not sharing this to magnify the power of the enemy I want to share with you just how dark things were so that you can understand just how marvelous that light of the Holy Spirit truly is. So my great great grandfather was a warlock from Zacatecas Mexico he was also a politician very wealthy people come from all over the world and he would place curses on people and they would also bring him the sick that he might heal them but of course he used demonic power there was a report and we weren't able to verify this but there was a report from people in the area who said that he was able to call down fire from the sky this was great demonic power but again I'm not saying that to brag I'm not saying that to magnify the power of the enemy we recognize that we are in a spiritual battle and that demonic power is real so that's a part of the story. Now people ask me often David do you believe in generational curses I believe that the enemy will strategize against families generationally and as he strategizes against families generationally he recognizes what temptations work for that family and because of genetics because of tendencies because of social constructs and the way that these individuals are raised from generation to generation what worked on the father will work on the son what worked on the mother will work on the daughter this is why you'll see generations of alcoholism generations of drug addiction generations of adultery why because the enemy knows that if it worked on the previous generation it will likely work on this generation but we have to get this picture out of our mind of a demon waiting in the corner of a delivery room to jump on to the child and that as soon as the baby's born it jumps on that child and now it has it and there's nothing that can be done unless they solve some riddle so I believe in what's called generational attack and if we respond to the attack of the enemy with disobedience toward God then we have what's called generational consequence you say I don't like to use the term generational curse because the term generational curse implies that there's nothing I can do in my power to break it but when you recognize that it's generational consequence then you begin to see that the choices you make determine how much the enemy can get away with in your life when you say generational curse you blame your parents for your bondage and that's not biblical guys it's not biblical you point to the Old Testament scripture where the Bible talks about that generation being visited upon generation with that wrath and with that curse what's actually being talked about there is a nation that's experiencing captivity from the surrounding nation such as Babylon and when that nation was disobedient toward God they would go into slavery and therefore their children would be born into slavery it's not saying that if your parents sin that God's gonna hold you accountable for that nothing in the scripture like that in fact it says just the opposite and so once you begin to recognize that it's generational consequence and not generational curse you realize that the choices you make determine whether or not you're going to walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh the enemy will tempt you from generation to generation yes the enemy will attack you from generation to generation yes but you do not have to walk in the same bondage that your parents walked in if you begin to follow Jesus it's like we imagine that we have to solve some riddle like in some scary movie where the demonic power can't be broken unless they go far back in enough generations or read in some ancient books some code that finally breaks the power of the enemy my friend you don't need an ancestry calm to be free you don't need to go to the history channel and find out about your family you don't need to go through documents and layers and layers of genealogies in order to find your freedom the scripture declares where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty people say brother David what about the bloodline what about the bloodline my family bloodline my friend what about the blood of Jesus that breaks every curse so don't hear what I'm not saying I'm not denying that the enemy attacks generationally I'm saying that the way we think about those attacks have to change have to change and we have to align with what the scripture says but what's happened in the church is that we've taken teachings from the occult we've taken teachings from new age practices we reverse engineer them and then we call it deliverance doctrine we reverse engineer what the enemy says is true and then we try to apply it to a scriptural framework my friend when you get saved and you come out of the occult when you get saved and you come out of new age you don't take all the teachings from the occult and you don't take all the teachings from the new age you take just scripture and then you look at what the Bible says about me this is why there's so much confusion in this area and this is why so many remain perpetually bound going from deliverance to deliverance when they should be going from glory to glory now again this sounds a little bit different possibly than what you've been told and I'm telling you this it doesn't necessarily contradict what we've been taught but we have to change the way we think about the power of the enemy power of the enemy is real yes your tax generationally yes there are consequences to sin yes we can open doors and by that I mean we can cause areas in our lives to come under the influence of demonic attack and we can make ourselves susceptible to to deception by the way we live but we have to take what the scripture says and adjust what we think about the spiritual realm based on the scripture and the scripture alone the moment you begin to reach outside the scripture now you're beginning to take from other belief systems why would you take anything from a belief system that was founded upon demonic deception why would you take anything from the occult why would you take anything from new age reject it and follow the way of scripture now I say that because our family wrestled with this demonic attack like you wouldn't believe my friend I literally saw demonic beings in my room when I was a boy you want to talk about demonic attack I saw them not in a person there in manifested form in my room I would hear them whisper there was one instance where I at three o'clock in the morning turned over from my sleep and I saw sitting on a couch three old ladies and they were looking at me and whispering to each other about me I would see demonic manifestations faces in the wall now of course my grandparents were christians my parents were christians but this doesn't mean the enemy won't try to attack your family now whenever they would rebuke that power it would break in fact my parents rebuked it they prayed with me there was an instance where I was insisting that my dad when he was making church flyers I insisted that he handed a flyer to the man that was standing in the corner who I would often converse with and I can still see him in my head right now and I will not describe him but he was just it wasn't it wasn't an imaginary friend it this was someone I truly thought was there I would converse with this person often with his demonic entity and so once they realized what was happening they prayed and it stopped that level of demonic attack yes but it didn't stop what was happening in me because I'd yet to receive christ and so from the ages seven to 11 the attacks of demonic power began to intensify I suffered severely with depression and anxiety and you asked my grandparents this was generational this was a generational attack a strategy used against us and so because I had yet to receive the Lord this began to get worse and worse until one week my family went to a bible conference now if you're a pastor's kid you understand that sometimes the family vacation doubles as the bible conference and the bible conference doubles as the family vacation so this was bible conference slash family vacation and I remember standing in the back of the room as the people began to worship and I became upset like angry and I'm watching the people worship and I'm thinking God I want to be free like that why is my mind so tormented it was it was hellish it was intense but what the enemy meant for evil God turned around for good because this attack pushed me toward Jesus now here's something else I want to say and I want to be very careful a lot of what I say I'm asking that you listen carefully because it can be very nuanced and and and I don't say that to boast I say that because I want to be very careful with how I describe these things just like I mentioned a moment ago about curses and spiritual warfare yes different than what you've been told but not necessarily contradictory it's a challenge to think through biblical framework instead of through what we've been told and so I'm standing there the back of the room and I'm upset I'm upset that these people are worshiping and rejoicing and that attack intensified to the point where I got desperate now here's what I was going to say when I told you please don't hear what I'm not saying desperation has its place desperation can serve good purposes but while desperation is a great initiator it is not a great lifestyle let me explain because what some of you might have heard me say was are you saying we shouldn't be hungry for God no hungry for God is one thing desperate for God means you haven't been in touch with him desperate means I lack desperate means I'm without desperate means I'm in trouble now will you face trial and tragedy and trouble of course will you still find some desperate situations absolutely but the believer cannot be desperate for what he already has hungry for God yes the difference between hunger and starvation if I'm hungry for something it's because I've been eating I had breakfast lunch dinner hopefully and the next day I'm hungry again but if I'm starving it means I haven't eaten in a long time that's the difference between hunger and desperation so we get that confused hunger yes I'm hungry for you in worship I desire you in worship as the deer panted for the water so my soul long it after the we long for him we desire him but we are not desperate in the sense that we lack him now at that point I was desperate and that's why I say that desperate moments can push you into encounters with God but that doesn't mean you stay in desperation because you have to begin to get things in order and so I began to just wrestle with the Holy Spirit do you ever try that it's a losing battle and I know that I need to go talk to my dad and tell him that I need to get saved now I knew Jesus historically I could have told you all the stories about him I knew Jesus philosophically I could have told you all of his teachings in fact as a child I was taught to memorize the scripture I went to a Baptist school so a charismatic in a Baptist school and there you have my life story pretty much and so I had to memorize large portions of scripture I knew Jesus of course with his philosophy his teachings that was a part of me was a moral code a nice decoration that I wore part of my culture and identity and I knew Jesus socially because my family knew him but I did not know Jesus personally and here's the thing this is why it's so difficult for religious people to have encounters with God because in order to embrace the genuine you have to admit that what you had wasn't real and ego will keep you from doing that what I had was superficial what I had was intellectual but it was not true in deep and a part of who I was and so I call my dad into the broom I said dad I want to get saved I need Jesus I've not I've never been saved I need to be born again and so we sit down in the hotel room now if you've been in a hotel you know some rooms have double beds there were two beds on one bed my father sat facing the other bed on the other bed I sat facing my father he reached his hands out I grabbed his hands and he began to pray with me what many would refer to as the sinner's prayer now of course in the scripture we understand that there's no such thing as the sinner's prayer but I promise you in the scripture you'll find sinners who pray the bible talks about confession being an important component of the salvation experience so yes that's biblical and it doesn't mean you say a magic word and then all of a sudden you're saved there has to be something genuine happening there and so he begins to lead me in prayer and I remember that I began to sense the love of God come over me and as he's leading me in this prayer I'm trying to say the words and and as I'm praying my mouth is shaking I'm crying so much tears are streaming down my face I couldn't even get the words out I was sobbing but in my mind and in my heart I'm declaring and I'm calling out to Jesus to save me to rescue me my friend as he began to lead me in that prayer and as I began to surrender my heart I began to feel the love of God enveloped me I began to feel the peace of God calm me I began to feel the joy of the spirit well up from inside of me and the moment that Jesus walked in every demon ran out instant peace instant deliverance because where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty I experienced that touch of God on my life began to walk with him to know him and for the first time ever I knew in my heart I met Jesus and and we say that and it can become cliche but no my friend I met Jesus the son of the living God the same who walked the shores of Galilee the great I am the one who walked with the disciples Jesus I met him and I know him now I know Jesus what a joy from that moment on something began to transform in my heart there was a boldness that began to rise there was this hunger this spiritual vitality the breath of God this breath of life the wind of the spirit if you will that began to carry me and after this experience with meeting Jesus I began to desire to know this person they call the Holy Spirit now let me be clear Romans 8 9 makes it very very very clear that the moment you are born again you have the Holy Spirit so what then is to be said of this experience that we see for example in Acts 2 and Acts 4 where spirit-filled believers seem to receive again the Holy Spirit I like to use an analogy that helps to encapsulate the teachings of Scripture and that would be to say that the Holy Spirit or the experience of his presence is both a well and a river it's both an experience and a continual state of being at salvation the Holy Spirit feels you like water in a cup but for the rest of your life the Holy Spirit will fill you like wind in a sail this continual infilling Ephesians 5 18 this continual empowerment be filled it's a continuation of that which you experience so the question isn't do I have the Holy Spirit the question should be does the Holy Spirit have me at salvation you receive him for the rest of your life you surrender to him and I wanted this friendship with the Holy Spirit that so many had talked about I heard stories of preachers who would pray for hours and I would wonder what are you talking about for hours I really it was it wasn't like a cynical wondering I genuinely wanted to know what do you talk to God about for hours on at a time I had heard of other people's encounters in his presence and I longed for that too the fellowship of the Holy Spirit this oneness with God this connection with the Holy Spirit this having him as a friend for everyday living so determined to encounter the Holy Spirit I gave God somewhat of an ultimatum I don't recommend you do this let me say this very clearly this is my testimony this is not doctrine to follow okay I shut the door in my room right there Nani Papya twin palms apartment that room that had that wasn't really a room but had to be closed off that room I shut the door and I said to the Lord I'm not leaving here until I have an encounter with you I'm not going to eat I'm not going to sleep not until I experience the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit so I embark on this spiritual journey I begin to pray and pray and pray and I'm thinking man I must have been praying now for several hours I look at the clock and 10 minutes have passed so that first hour I'm praying just standard prayers talking to the Lord I set up my room just so my ceiling light was on the ceiling fan was on so that the room could stay comfortable my Bible was open this was before Instagram my Bible was open picture perfect I had music playing in the background and I was ready I had set the mood I was ready to encounter God one hour went by I became a little discouraged because nothing happened you ever you ever get those situations where you hear of other people's encounters and then you go expecting the same and it doesn't happen for you do you know why sometimes that is because an intense desire for an encounter with God or an experience a spiritual experience can sometimes itself become a distraction from God himself you're so worried about what you feel or don't feel you're so worried about what you're experiencing or not experiencing and you're waiting for your feelings and emotions to confirm what you should already believe from Scripture if you were to ask me in that moment is God near to you I would have said no because most believers live their lives imagining that God is a million miles away not recognizing that he's in you it's not about you getting more of the Holy Spirit it's about the Holy Spirit getting more of you that comes by way of surrender first hour went by nothing second hour I begin to pray now I begin to pray the spiritual warfare prayers and I begin to rebuke the spirit of this the spirit of that the spirit of I can't pray because I'm distracted I cast you out in Jesus name I'm pointing at corners and talking to imaginary beings and if there was an adjective I attached it to a demon and then rebuked it yes spiritual warfare is real yes we sometimes wrestle against demonic powers yes we ought to rebuke demonic beings yes we ought to practice deliverance and exorcism that's for today and if you don't believe that then you got to read the Scripture that wasn't what I was facing you see I thought I was fighting a demon at that time I didn't realize I was actually fighting the flesh you see you can cast the demon out but you can't cast you out of you the flesh doesn't come and go the flesh shrinks and grows depending upon how you live your life and I was so in the flesh I was relying upon my own strength that second hour goes by finally the third one comes and now I began to become a theologian all of the prayer techniques I had learned all of the prayer books I had read everything I knew about prayer I began to apply and an hour goes by and wouldn't you believe it nothing happens if it was at this point I really began to regret that ultimatum that I made before God I was like Lord would you mind if I just took a nap but I persisted and then I reached for emotion and I tried to manipulate God by way of using guilt into responding to me God can't you see me God don't you hear me and we do it all the time church I read it in the comment section I just know God's not going to do it for me he always ignores me and we think that God responds to emotions when actually he responds to faith and trust you see first first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23 talks about the body the soul and the spirit now as you begin to study the scripture you'll see that at least for the believer the soul and the spirit aren't necessarily perfectly divided with a bold and distinct line like we've sometimes imagined I have those illustrations in my books I think thinking about the human experience in compartments like that can be helpful for understanding certain doctrines but really the soul and the spirit are somewhat blended it's more of a gradient than it is a bold line between the two especially if you read in the Old Testament about these concepts you'll begin to see that there's more of a tie together than there is a separation and Jesus said in John chapter 7 verse 38 out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water and of course we know because the scripture plainly tells us that he was talking about the Holy Spirit so body soul spirit out of my innermost being will flow rivers of living water now I really want to challenge you here with this because that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the spirit is spirit Lord give us ears to hear nice to see that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the spirit is spirit if you begin prayer from the flesh you're praying in the flesh and many of us begin prayer and worship from the exterior instead of beginning from the spirit David what do you mean by that when we go to pray do I sit do I stand can I pace am I able to lie down do you want me on my face is it disrespectful if I sit do I have to pray out loud do I yell do I whisper can I think my own thoughts when do I pray in tongues and by the way can I think in tongues is that even biblical and we begin to try to connect with God from the exterior now again don't hear what I'm not saying when the Holy Spirit inspires you it is true that sometimes from the spirit will be inspired worship that causes you to shout and causes you to dance and causes you to sing and causes you to jump I don't care if you do cartwheels if it comes from the spirit it's worship and it's a beautiful thing to see however if you are trying to connect with God because of those things you missed it this is why you can sing and you can dance and you can even do good charity work but the moment you begin to pray your flesh starts to squirm why because prayer is the death of the flesh and so now we sometimes pray from the outside we think will be heard because we yell we think will be heard because we cry now again you can yell and you can cry if it begins from within but we do not pray to connect with God we pray from connection with God and that is the primary difference between praying in the flesh and praying in the spirit and so we try to we try to make up for something that we think we're lacking like when you get a bad call and the call starts to drop and the other person on the other end when you tell them that the call is dropping they start to scream at you but the issue is not the volume it's the connection and many times we try to make up for with emotional and physical volume what we don't recognize as spiritual connection and we pray from the exterior we shout to connect when we should connect when we should shout because we're connected and then we try to reach for emotions which is what I was doing Lord don't you hear me God can't you see me my friend I cried every tear I could cry my carpet was wet with tears my physical body was tense because I so wanted to encounter with God I wanted to experience what others had talked about still even after the fourth hour nothing happened and I became discouraged now let me tell you what I did my friend I finally gave up but not in the way you might think I was empty of myself it took me four hours but I finally got the flesh to be subjected because at that point my flesh was very strong four hours of fighting this thing exhausted of emotion exhausted of willpower exhausted of my own desire exhausted of physical strength that's when the Holy Ghost showed up I was done now that's the hard way the easier way is to just believe that you're already connected with him that's the ease that's why I often tell people imagine how much heartache in time you would save in prayer if instead of begging God to hear you you simply believe that he already did and so I was I was empty I lifted my hands and now real tears began to flow and I said Lord I don't know how to pray I don't know how to find Jesus please help me find Jesus and the Holy Spirit began to speak he told me to turn off the fan it was distracting turn off the light for now close the scripture a little uncomfortable with that but you see I had already read like 30 or 40 chapters of the bible that day and I did so and I'm going to say something it's going to sound like I'm joking but I'm being serious I had what I've coined this phrase and I call it a religious OCD where you're obsessively compulsive over certain acts and you read the bible not because you want to know him but because you fear that you didn't do your duty if you didn't read enough that day you pray for hours not because you love him but because you're afraid that you're going to be judged because you didn't pray enough hours that day that's not of the spirit that's where I came from so for now close the scripture and then he said turn off the music and this was my genuine response but you can't move without the music that's how programmed I was after a slight hesitation I just obeyed and then I closed my eyes and I just trusted him I didn't try to conjure we see we especially we as charismatic and I'm a charismatic we as charismatic we think we have to conjure things conjure an atmosphere conjure connection conjure a miracle my friend just rest in what he's done see see that's the difference for these meetings you want to know why the power of the holy ghost shows up so strong in these meetings it's because people are led with truth to just yield to the spirit and let them do it that's that fighting fighting fighting and I closed my eyes and the presence of the holy spirit filled my room it was as though the plan and mediocre settings of my bedroom had been lifted to a heavenly realm and I didn't work for it I didn't work for it and he wanted me to know that I couldn't work for it when you've got nothing left you've given all that you can give that's when god shows up because he wants you to know who deserves the credit for it and so I'm standing there presence of the holy spirit fills my being I began to feel pulses of electric currents move up and down my body heat enveloped me a weight filled the room and I remember I felt as though I was standing in a wave of water and I felt the love of god fill my heart peace joy it was euphoric this joy just it was like an explosion from my spirit just joy and it billowed out over me and I didn't want to move in that moment because I felt as though if I moved I might fill my hand to brush up against his robe that's how real the presence of Jesus had become I didn't want to open my eyes because I was certain if I open my eyes I would see Jesus staring right back at me and I didn't want to be startled and break that what I sensed in that moment lasted for just a couple of minutes but had I sought it for a hundred years it would have been worth every second and that marked my life as a result boldness came upon me a ministry was birthed not out of ministry politics and clever marketing but out of an encounter with Jesus a ministry was birthed I began to pray for the sick at my school miracles were happening in the school I recall one such instance where a kid was being healed of psoriasis people of god we watched as the skin disease disappeared from his arm and and there was there was a skeptic watching he's watching us like this with his arms folded and he's telling his friends something to the effect of this is all in their heads it's all fake and when I turned to explain to him that it's the real deal I felt a jolt of electricity jump out of my hand he hits the floor on a pile of bricks he gets up off the floor shaking his head going this isn't real this isn't real this isn't real this isn't real this isn't real that Thursday he was in church giving his heart to Jesus the power of god began to move it overflowed my life I began to see miracles and salvations there was a new way of thinking that had began to clarify things for me and I no longer looked at god as this angry person in the sky who wanted nothing to do with me I knew that he was my father I knew that he was for me I knew that he loved me there was a joy overflowing and it began to impact people around me and god took it from there Zachariah 12 10 we see that the holy spirit helps us to pray John 14 26 we see that the holy spirit helps to teach us the truth Galatians 5 16 shows us that the holy spirit is our power unto holiness some of you are so afraid of losing the holy spirit for every mistake that you make but I promise you god would not remove from you your only chance for being holy as a punishment for you not being holy what am I saying to you that you can go on sinning by no means I'm saying the holy spirit faithfully abides with you to help you get it right John 4 24 we must worship in the spirit and he helps us to do so Romans 8 15 he convinces us of our sonship Galatians 3 5 he performs the miraculous through us 2 Corinthians 4 13 he gives you faith acts to he gives you boldness Romans 5 5 he gives you a love for god and others John 15 26 he points to Jesus glorifies Jesus testifies of Jesus Romans 8 26 he prays for you and is your mighty intercessor John 14 15 to 18 he comforts you in times of heartache John 16 7 to 11 he's heaven's greatest evangelist John 14 12 and John 16 7 the holy spirit is the key the secret to greater works acts chapter 10 verse 38 he was the same spirit who empowered christ my friend he's the same holy spirit who hovered above the face of the deep and caused all things to come into existence he was the same holy spirit who inspired the craftsmen that they might make those items for the tabernacle with excellence he was the same holy spirit who interpreted dreams who inspired psalms who inspired the proverbs who moved the prophets of all to speak the oracles of god he's the same holy spirit who rested upon the 12 disciples and the scripture says he dwells in you talking to me about demons talk to me about the power of the holy ghost me then he that is in the world it's the presence of the holy ghost who abides in you and my prayer tonight for those present and those watching is that you would come into an encounter with the holy spirit that would utterly transform you you don't have to beg for it in fact even now it's begun you sense that inspiration of the spirit that's what happens when the truth is preached it liberates you spirit brings liberation how many of you are ready for an encounter with the holy spirit well if you enjoyed that message and you think that others need to hear it make sure that you leave a like to help spread the word and also make sure you subscribe to my channel to receive more content on the holy spirit now let's pray for you to have an encounter with the precious holy spirit i want you to let your faith rise father in the name of jesus i lift that one to you now who is hungry for a touch of your presence and power and precious holy spirit i pray that even now you would cause them to sense the nearness of your presence touch them with your power i pray make your presence known in their life and their mind and their heart i want you just to begin to receive that by faith receive the touch of the holy spirit's power remember he wants a friendship with you even more than you want a friendship with him holy spirit is not just a force or a feeling he's your friend he can be known holy spirit can sense your power some of you right now beginning to sense the weight of that glory that's the beauty of his presence thank you jesus touched our lives in a fresh way but some of you may even be sensing right now like a heat coming on your body or like a tris electricity moving up and down that's the touch of the holy spirit's power don't be afraid just receive that now i thank you lord for the weight of your glory in jesus name we pray i want you to say it because you believe it say amen well i know that you love the precious holy spirit and i want to invite you now to get involved with what this ministry is doing to help not only spread the gospel of jesus christ but also the message of friendship with the holy spirit closeness with the holy spirit of course i love to win souls we love to see people come to jesus but one of my great joys of ministry is introducing believers to the person of the holy spirit and so if you want to get involved with what we're doing i want to invite you to become a monthly ministry supporter by going to david hernan is ministries.com slash partner a monthly donation of any amount will help us in our mission to spread the gospel of jesus christ all around the world and the power of the holy spirit to events and media the contents free the events are free and it's all donors supported so let the holy spirit speak to you about becoming a partner right now you can also give a single donation by going to david hernan is ministries.com slash don't don't dismiss yourself don't think it doesn't matter i know that even in these times many might be afraid because of the many things that they're hearing in the news or on social media listen every phase of life every season every year every month really presents to us something that causes us to make a choice faith or fear there will always be something to fear there will always be naysayers and doomsday sayers we place our faith in the word we place our faith in christ and if we put the kingdom first he's going to take care of everything else so take a step of faith and support this great work i sure do appreciate you for it again partner by going to david hernan's ministries.com slash partner give a single donation by going to david hernan's ministries.com slash donate and until next time remember nothing is impossible with god