During my communion time with the Holy Spirit, the Lord emphasised the importance of how we as followers of Jesus use the spiritual gifts and inheritance He has already provided us to make us successful in life.

The Holy Spirit revealed that our success or failure in many areas of life is not determined by whether we possess spiritual gifts, but by how we actively use them as He intended to make our way prosperous and find good success. The divine provision the Lord gives us alone does not produce spiritual maturity but our intentional participation through taking the relevant action and obedience to do what we are told is what means we experience what the Lord purposed for us.

The Holy Spirit then drew my attention to Jude’s exhortation in his letter about us building ourselves up on our most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit. He then asked me an important question saying: Are we merely grateful that we can pray in the Spirit, or are we actually using this gift to build ourselves up? Do we really understand what it means to build up oneself? There is a significant difference between possessing the ability to pray in the Spirit and consistently exercising your praying it with understanding so that spiritual strength is developed which impacts your spiritual results.

To illustrate this truth, the Holy Spirit compared spiritual gifts with gym equipment. One having access to exercise equipment does not automatically strengthen the body but only regular use of the equipment develops muscles and produces a healthy physique. Likewise, the Holy Spirit has given us the ability to pray in the Spirit, but only our consistent practice of doing it daily is what builds up our inner man and strengthens our faith to lay hold of the blessings from the Lord.

The Holy Spirit then directed my attention to John 7:37–38, where Jesus declared these words: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me… out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” The Holy Spirit then asked more searching questions such as are we allowing these rivers of living water to flow freely from our hearts to minister life to others? Or are we continually coming to Jesus thirsty in ourselves to drink from the river of life so that our own rivers remain full? Or are our spiritual rivers overflowing, or have they become shallow because we have neglected fellowship in our praying in the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit emphasised the fact that we as followers of Jesus must continually return to Jesus to drink in more deeper of the Spirit so that our lives overflow with living water capable of refreshing and ministering to nations of people. As I reflected on over 34 years of walking with the Holy Spirit, this message affirms that everything Jesus speaks is true, dependable, and confirmed throughout Scripture.

The Holy Spirit always reveals truth so we Jesus’s followers may possess an unwavering confidence in His ability to do the impossible. This confidence is reflected in 2 Timothy 1:12, where Paul declares these words that: “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”

Meaning that the truths of the Holy Spirit are not merely theories or religious ideas we do but they are living realities that consistently produce results when applied according to the pattern ordained by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then expanded my understanding of the “living water” Jesus described in John 7:37–38 by tracing its heavenly source throughout the Book of Revelation: In Revelation 1:15 – Jesus’ voice is described as the sound of many waters.

In Revelation 4:6 we see that before the Lord’s throne is a sea of glass like crystal. In Revelation 7:17 we find the Lamb leading His people to living fountains of waters. In Revelation 14:2 we see Heaven’s voice is heard like the sound of many waters and in Revelation 22:1 we see A pure river of the water of life proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. The Holy Spirit revealed the fact that every voice proceeding from heaven carries the sound of these living waters flowing directly from God’s throne.

Therefore, when Jesus said that rivers of living water should flow from us His followers, He intended that His people would become earthly channels through whom heaven’s life, truth, and power flow into every situation on earth. So returning again to Jude’s instruction, the Holy Spirit stressed that we Jesus’s followers are responsible for building ourselves up through praying in the Holy Spirit. The Lord supplies the river, but each of us must choose to drink and continually draw from it.

The Lord will not pray in the Holy Spirit on our behalf because He has already provided the gift of speaking in other tongues, but we must faithfully yield our tongues to speak the words He gives us. Spiritual growth only comes through us exercising what the Lord has entrusted to us. The Holy Spirit reminded me of a personal testimony during a prolonged season of consistently praying in the Spirit, how the Holy Spirit granted me a vision in which I saw a single flowing river gradually expanding into a vast oasis with abundant cascading waters flowing in from every direction.

Following this encounter with the Holy Spirit, there was an extraordinary increase in my ministry effectiveness, including numerous deliverances in peoples lives and a remarkable outpouring of miraculous works I had never experienced before. This experience confirmed the fact that faithfully exercising the gift of praying in the Spirit produces greater spiritual capacity, authority, and fruitfulness through greater manifestations of the operation of the Hoy Spirit through signs, wonders and miracles which began happening in my life on a daily basis.

The Holy Spirit concluded this time by reminding us the followers of Jesus of the fact that spiritual gifts are not given merely to be admired or appreciated but that they have been are given to be used to bring deliverance to men. So just as exercise equipment fulfils its purpose only when used to exercise our bodies, spiritual gifts only fulfil their purpose through our faithful daily practice of using them in prayer.

The Lord desires His people to remain spiritually built up, by continually being prepared, and ready for every good work He appoints us to carry out on His behalf. Finally, this message calls for us as followers of Jesus to return to the passion and diligence we had when we first began praying in the Spirit. It is an invitation to for us to experience a fresh awakening, with renewed intensity, and deeper fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

As we the followers of Jesus faithfully use what the Lord has already placed within us, we will become all the more spiritually strengthened, equipped for service, and increasingly available for the Holy Spirit to accomplish miracles, by fulfilling the Lord’s purposes and plans in our lives, and bring our lives into rich spiritual fulfilment.

In the mighty name of Jesus, I declare that you will no longer neglect the inheritance the Holy Spirit has placed within you. Grace is being released for you now to build yourself up daily through praying in the Holy Spirit. May the rivers of living water flowing from the throne of God overflow through your life with fresh power, wisdom, revelation, and compassion.

May every place of spiritual dryness in your life be transformed into an oasis of the Holy Spirit’s presence. I declare that your inner man is being strengthened, your faith is increasing, and your first love is being rekindled. I declare that you shall become a vessel through whom the life of heaven flows freely, bringing healing, deliverance, miracles, and hope to many.

May you remain continually prepared for every good work, by walking on purpose in the fullness of your divine inheritance and accomplishing all that Jesus has ordained for your life, to the glory of His Name. Amen.