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 DESTINY IMAGE BOOKS BY DAVID DIGA HERNANDEZ

Encountering the Holy Spirit in Every Book of the Bible

Carriers of the Glory

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Praying in the Holy Spirit_v4.indd 3 9/9/20 10:09 AM
 © Copyright 2020–David Diga Hernandez
All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of
America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The
use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permit-
ted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identified,
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996,
2004, 2015. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All
rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good
News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked
KJV are taken from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken
from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984, 2011 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights
reserved. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN
STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,
1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked BSB
are taken from the Berean Study Bible (BSB) © 2016 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. Used
by Permission. All rights Reserved. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from
the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permis-
sion. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message.
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress
Publishing Group. Please note that Destiny Image’s publishing style capitalizes certain
pronouns in Scripture that refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and may differ from
some publishers’ styles. Take note that the name satan and related names are not capital-
ized. We choose not to acknowledge him, even to the point of violating grammatical rules.
DESTINY IMAGE® PUBLISHERS, INC.
P.O. Box 310, Shippensburg, PA 17257-0310
“Promoting Inspired Lives.”
This book and all other Destiny Image and Destiny Image Fiction books are available at
Christian bookstores and distributors worldwide.
Cover design by Eileen Rockwell
Interior design by Terry Clifton
For more information on foreign distributors, call 717-532-3040.
Reach us on the Internet: www.destinyimage.com.
ISBN 13 TP: 978-0-7684-5261-7
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For Worldwide Distribution, Printed in the U.S.A.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 / 24 23 22 21 20

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 For my friend, the Holy Spirit.

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 Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge some of the amazing people who helped

to make this work a reality. God has favored me by surrounding me
with a company of supportive men and women.
I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to my number-one
supporter in everything, my wife Jessica. Jessica, you are the most
patient and understanding person I know. Thank you for sacrific-
ing so much of “our time” to allow me to finish this book. Thank
you for every sacrificed date night, for every cup of tea served to
aid me in my writing process, for every night I disrupted your sleep
by coming to bed so late, and for every prayer you prayed over me
as I dedicated myself to this almost two-year project. You are the
absolute prime example of what every man of God needs in a wife.
Thank you, my dear. I love you.
I would like to also thank everyone on my ministry team who
helped to ease the pressures of the day-to-day tasks: Ruben Vargas,
Tim Le, Isaiah Lopez, Jeremy Marquez, and all of the staff mem-
bers, our ministry family in both California and Texas.
I would like to also extend a special thanks to Steven Moc-
tezuma, Marcel Muniz, Michael Hernandez, and Ken Brown for

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 offering writing suggestions, theology notes, and general feedback
as I moved through the writing process.
I would like to thank the teams at both Destiny Image and the
It’s Supernatural Network for offering incredibly valuable input
during various phases of this project.
I also want to offer a special thanks to Tina Pugh, Tammy Fitz-
gerald, and Larry Sparks.

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 Author Note

There are a few core concepts that you will find repeated in both my
sermons and books. It’s my goal to always deliver fresh content to
you, especially if you’re reading different books of mine. But some
concepts are central, so important that they need to be repeated.
While I will often have to revisit key concepts, you’ll notice that
I write or speak about these key concepts from varying angles. So
even if some of the concepts in the following chapters seem familiar,
I encourage you to still give them your attention. They are addressed
in a fresh way, and they are foundational to your understanding of
prayer. Here are some of the core concepts I often use in books and
sermons that are also found in this book:

1. Body, Soul, Spirit

2. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit
3. Silence and Stillness

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 Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

CHAPTER ONE Oneness with the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . 5

CHAPTER TWO The Three Realms of Man. . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

CHAPTER THREE Unceasing Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

CHAPTER FOUR Intentional Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

CHAPTER FIVE Persistent Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

CHAPTER SIX Fasting: The Heavenly Practice. . . . . . . . . 87

CHAPTER SEVEN The Power of Fasting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

CHAPTER EIGHT How to Fast and Pray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

CHAPTER NINE The Baptism with the Holy Spirit. . . . . . 129

CHAPTER TEN The Language of the Holy Spirit. . . . . . . 143

CHAPTER ELEVEN Receiving Your Prayer Language. . . . . . . 153

CHAPTER TWELVE How to Hear the Holy Spirit. . . . . . . . . . 181

CHAPTER THIRTEEN The Inner Circle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

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 Introduction

What does it mean to pray in the Holy Spirit?

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith

and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of
God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads
to eternal life (Jude 1:20-21, ESV).
Dear reader, I want to take you through the Scriptures to dis-
cover the truth about praying in the Holy Spirit. Yes, we will explore
the Bible’s wonderful revelations concerning the gift of speaking in
tongues. Praying in tongues is most certainly a form of praying in
the Holy Spirit. However, praying in the Holy Spirit is more than
praying in tongues.
To pray in the Spirit is to desire in agreement with Heaven,
to speak aloud those petitions which originate in the will of the
Father. True prayer in the Spirit begins in union with God. Praying
in the Holy Spirit is praying in harmony with the will of the Holy
Spirit, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and in the power of the
Holy Spirit.

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 I pray that you would come to know the unshakable confidence
and unlimited power of praying in the Spirit. Once learned, this
godly practice will transform you. From day to day, you’ll grow spir-
itually to such a degree that you’ll look back at your former self and
find him or her to be unrecognizable. Never again will you become
stuck when praying. Never again will your prayer life be slowed or
weakened by doubt, fear, distraction, or the flesh.

Praying in the Holy Spirit is praying in

harmony with the will of the Holy Spirit,
with the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Whether you are just beginning to pray or are looking to rekin-

dle the fire of a once-burning prayer life, the biblical truths within
this book will cause you to soar to new heights in the Spirit. Even
those who are of the belief that the spiritual gifts, such as speaking
in tongues, are no longer in operation will be confronted by truths
(especially in chapter eleven) that will both challenge and inspire
them. This book is for every believer, of every denomination, of every
doctrinal inclination. All believers can receive breakthrough in their
prayer lives through the biblical truths contained in this work.
But, in order to gain momentum in your prayer life, you must act
upon what is revealed, and you must act faithfully. We must begin
with the foundations, work our way through important truths con-
cerning prayer, and then put God’s Word into daily practice—until
it sticks. And once you find the flow, you cannot be stopped. Once
you learn how to jump over the obstacles to prayer, you’ll know what
to do when you encounter them.

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 In this book, I have written to you about the realities of prayer.
We will explore those Holy Spirit-inspired words of Scripture and
discover the depths of prayer. Praying without ceasing, speaking in
tongues, intentional prayer, moving beyond mental and emotional
barriers, prayer and fasting, persistent prayer, and so much more—
this is a collection of writings on prayer that I believe will help and
inspire both experienced and new believers alike.
Spreading the gospel,
David Diga Hernandez
Friend of the Holy Spirit

Introduction  3

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 Chapter One

Oneness with the

Holy Spirit
All true prayer begins in oneness with the Holy Spirit.

Overtaken

It was as though someone else had taken over my mental and phys-
ical capacities. I listened as the words came out of my mouth. I, like
everyone in the congregation, was just an observer, a witness to the
Holy Spirit at work. The Holy Spirit possessed my very being. As I
stood there on the platform, no doubt or fear could cause even the
smallest measure of hesitation. I just knew that I knew that God
would do the miracle.
Only minutes before taking the platform, I had passed through
the church foyer filled with joyful greeters. One woman stood out
to me. Clenching a cane in her hand, she struggled to maintain her
balance. Seemingly unfazed by her physical affliction, she smiled at
me as I passed her.

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 Once I began to preach, my focus turned to the delivery of my
message. But I couldn’t finish the sermon. The Holy Spirit wouldn’t
allow me. Caught in the mighty flow of a divine stream, I was taken
by the will of the Spirit. Interrupting my own sermon, I began to
call out for the woman I had passed in the foyer. Speaking words
of faith into the atmosphere, something in me just knew that she
would be made whole.
Hobbling down the aisle, pressing weight on her cane, the
woman slowly approached the front of the stage. I stepped down
from the platform to meet her. The woman before me had suffered
for three years with paralysis on the right side of her body. She had
mobility issues with both her right arm and right leg. Thus, why she
used the cane.
Before I could analyze or doubt my own actions, I collected her
cane from her and set it aside.
And right before the witness of all who were gathered, move-
ment began to be restored to that woman’s body. She picked her leg
up and began to stretch out her hand. The crowd breathed a collec-
tive gasp, and then cheers filled the room as the woman began to do
other things—things that were impossible for her to do, things she
hadn’t done in over three years.
She jumped. She walked without her cane. She even began
to walk sideways (something she later revealed had been espe-
cially difficult). Overcome with awe and joy, she began to laugh.
The testimony of her miracle culminated later that week when she
stepped onto the platform and began to jump and worship during
the song service.
Though I often see the Holy Spirit work such miracles, I am just
as awed by today’s miracles as I was by the first miracles I ever saw.

6  PRAYING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

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 Looking back at that miraculous healing, I note that it was as
though I had gone into autopilot. No, it wasn’t a lack of self-control.
It was a partnership, a pairing with the Holy Spirit. In that moment,
and in other moments like it, I was in the Spirit. It was oneness.
Dear reader, if ever you are to truly pray in the Spirit, you must
discover this same oneness with the Holy Spirit. All true prayer pro-
ceeds from the depths of oneness with God.

All true prayer proceeds from the

depths of oneness with God.

Oneness
Oneness, as I am describing it here, is that flow of the Spirit that
is so natural that you don’t even know you’re flowing. It’s obedi-
ence inspired from such depth that you’re not even aware that you’re
obeying. In moments like those, there is no gap of time between
when the Spirit speaks and you respond. It just is.
Move your hand. Shift your eyes. Tilt your head. It’s so very nat-
ural. There is no thought given, no mechanics to be forced.
It’s just like that. When you realize oneness with the Spirit, it’s
as though you are a member of a great body, and the Spirit is the
mind that controls even the most subtle of movements. Your move-
ment becomes His movement. Your intent dissolves in God’s will.
Your presence and His presence become indistinguishable from one
another. Indeed, you are joined with the Lord. And in that union,
you find the beginning of true prayer.
You don’t pray to connect with God; you pray from connection
with God.

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 Desires of the Spirit
From your connection with God comes the desire to pray. In fact,
both the desire to pray and the power to pray come from the Holy
Spirit within you. All spiritual desires come from the Holy Spirit.
Your desire to be like the Lord, your desire to grow in patience, your
desire to overcome sin, your desire to know the Word and to pray,
your desire to be united with Christ—all of your godly desires come
from the Holy Spirit within you.

The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of

what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are
the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces
are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out
your good intentions (Galatians 5:17).
The Holy Spirit has desires and intentions. To pray in the Spirit
is to agree, in attitude and action, with the Holy Spirit’s desires.
To pray in the Spirit is to declare what the Holy Spirit is declaring
while sincerely wanting what the Holy Spirit wants. True prayer, in
its purest form, is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s desire in us.
The Holy Spirit desires His desires through us, in us, and for us. He
desires on our behalf. This is not the forcing of His will upon us, for
we must still choose to act upon His desiring through us.
This is why I love the prayers in the book of Psalms.

Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness

(Psalm 119:36, KJV).
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to
obey you (Psalm 51:12).
Bend me to your will, Lord. Incline my heart to your testimonies.
Make me willing to obey you. That’s praying in the Spirit. That’s

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 praying the Holy Spirit’s deepest desire. When you pray in the Holy
Spirit, agreeing with His prayers for you, transformation takes place.
When you pray, you become an agent of the Holy Spirit’s will.

Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area,
teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News
about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and
illness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them
because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a
shepherd. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but
the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the
harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields” (Matthew
9:35-38).
Jesus instructed the disciples to pray for God to send workers
into the ministry. Jesus told them to pray for more workers precisely
because it was God’s will to send more workers. Jesus stressed that
the harvest of souls was ready. The need was urgent. Pressing His
disciples to pray, Jesus set them up to become the answer. At the
beginning of the very next chapter of Matthew, the Bible says this:

Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them author-
ity to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and
illness. Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions:
“Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the
people of Israel—God’s lost sheep. Go and announce to them
that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the
dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as
freely as you have received!” (Matthew 10:1, 5-8)
Notice the sequence. The disciples prayed for God to send work-
ers, and then they became the workers God sent. The prayers they
prayed caused them to become the answer they requested.

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 Prayer is not all about receiving; it’s more about becoming. The
prayer of the disciples didn’t change the situation, it changed them.

The prayers they prayed caused them to

become the answer they requested.

Caught up in the overlap of Heaven and earth, you will find your-
self being transformed by your contact with the heavenly dimension.
It will change the substance of who you are—nature and character.
For every moment you are praying, you are changing, whether you
see the immediate evidence of that or not. That’s the power of pray-
ing in the Holy Spirit.

Disappearing in God
When you finally begin to live and pray from that place of oneness
with God, His presence overtakes all of you. I want to disappear in
the bigness of God. Jesus said, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the
Father” (see John 14:9). I want to be able to say, “If you’ve seen me,
you’ve seen the Son.” Of course, by that I do not mean that I want
to make a claim to divinity. I simply mean that I want to be like
Jesus. Think, for example, of the wonderful thing that happened
to Enoch.

And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three

hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: and all the days
of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: and Enoch
walked with God: and he was not; for God took him (Genesis
5:22-24, KJV).
Enoch walked in close fellowship with God for so long that he
simply was not. That’s what I desire. I want to be a “was not” too. I

10  PRAYING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

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 simply want to be an empty space for God to fill, a void on the earth
in which Heaven can exist. I want to be a tear in the fabric of this
reality through which Heaven can invade earth. I want to become
a portal through which the glory can touch the natural, transform-
ing all around me, conforming my surroundings to the will of the
Spirit. Like Moses, I want to disappear into the cloud as I ascend
to higher realms.

Then Moses disappeared into the cloud as he climbed higher up

the mountain. He remained on the mountain forty days and
forty nights (Exodus 24:18).

I want to become a portal through

which the glory can touch the natural,
transforming all around me, conforming
my surroundings to the will of the Spirit.

That desire for oneness with God is not just my desire, and it’s
not just the desire of every sincere, Bible-believing follower of Christ.
It’s the desire of the Lord Himself. Yes, He desires to be one with
you. In fact, it’s His prayer for you.

I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will
ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will
all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father,
and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will
believe you sent me (John 17:20-21).
Truly, you are counted among “all who will ever believe.” This
is not a new-age belief. This is not unorthodox theology. Those are
the very words of Jesus Himself. Oneness with God is obedience
toward God. Oneness with God is submission to the will of God.

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 Oneness with God is the wearing of Christlike character. Oneness
with God is holiness. Oneness with God is surrender to the Holy
Spirit. Oneness with God is what Jesus prayed for you, what He
died to give you.

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself
through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling
people to him (2 Corinthians 5:18).

Oneness with God is obedience toward God.

Oneness with God is not something on hold; it’s not a joy only to
be known or acquired in Heaven. It’s not some reality put off for the
distant future. You don’t have to wait. It’s yours, here and now. Be
certain of this: you can have it. For Jesus said that our oneness with
Him would be a sign to the unbelieving world: “so that the world
will believe you sent me.” How could your oneness with God possi-
bly be a sign to an unbelieving world if you couldn’t acquire it while
you’re here on earth with them? Let the matter be settled. Oneness
with your Creator is for here and now, for every moment.
When you learn to pray from that position of unity with God,
from that divine connection within, everything changes. Then, you
are truly praying in the Holy Spirit.

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 About David Diga
Hernandez

David Diga Hernandez is an evangelist, best-selling author,

YouTuber, healing minister, and friend of the Holy Spirit. His evan-
gelistic healing ministry holds miracle services all around the world
and reaches millions of people through media. David carries a grace
to evangelize the lost and to lead believers into closeness with the
Holy Spirit.

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