Spiritual war

Chapter 20, First Kings. It says there: "....Then Ben Hadad, king of Syria gathered his entire army and with him 32 kings -imagine what a great army, 32 kings- with horses and chariots and went up and besieged Samaria and fought it.. .”

Samaria was the capital of the northern Jewish kingdom. Israel was divided into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom, whose capital was Samaria, and the southern kingdom, Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem. And this king of Syria comes and surrounds that city of Samaria and fights against it.

“....and he sent messengers, says verse 2, to the city to Ahab, king of Israel, saying 'thus said Ben Hadad: your silver and your gold are mine and your wives and your beautiful children are mine'. And the king of Israel responded and said "as you say king, my Lord, I am yours and all that I have." Returning the messengers again said 'thus said Ben Hadad: 'I sent you to say your silver and your gold and your women and your children you will give me, also tomorrow at this time I will send you my servants who will search your house and the houses of your servants and they will take and carry away everything precious that you have.

A second time, he saw, this time with more specificity. ".... Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the country, the rulers and told them 'understand and see now how this man seeks nothing but evil, for he has sent me for my wives and my children and for my money and for my gold, and I have not denied it. And all the elders and all the people answered him 'do not obey him or do what he asks of you'.

Then he replied to the ambassadors of Ben Hadad 'tell the king, my Lord, I will do what you commanded your servant at the beginning, but this I cannot do'. And the ambassadors went and told him the answer and Ben Hadad sent him again to say "so do the gods and add to me that the dust of Samaria will not be enough for the fists of all the people who follow me. "And the king of Israel responded and said 'tell him not to praise himself so much who girds on weapons as he who ungirds them'. And when he heard this word while drinking with the kings in the tents, he said to his servants 'be ready'.....”

And here is a prophet.....”, look at how the situation. The first part of this text that I have read has a discouraging tone, discouragement, threat, impotence, disaster that is coming. An army too powerful to possess a tiny city that does not have the power to resist it, but here is a twist in the story.

It says: “....And behold, a prophet came Ahab, king of Israel, and said to him, 'thus says the Lord, have you seen this great multitude? Behold, I will give it to you today in your hand so that you may know that I am Jehovah. And Ahab answered 'by whose hand?', and he said 'thus has the Lord said, by the hands of the servants of the princes of the provinces'. And Ahab said 'who will start the battle?', and he answered 'You'. Then he reviewed the servants of the princes of the provinces, who were 232. Then he reviewed all the people, all the children of Israel, who were 7,000. And they went out at noon and Ben Hadad was drinking and getting drunk in the tents, he and the 32 kings who had come to his aid, and the servants of the princes of the provinces came out first. And Ben Hadad had sent the one who gave him notice saying 'men have come out of Samaria'. He then said "if they have come out for peace, take them alive" - look how confident this king was - "and if they have come out to fight, also take them alive."

So the servants of the princes of the provinces came out of the city and the army followed them and killed each one who came against him; and the Syrians fled, followed by those of Israel. And the king of Syria,...., Ben Hadad escaped on a horse with some cavalry people. And the king of Israel came out and smote the horsemen and chariots and defeated the Syrians, causing them great destruction."

(Last verse 22 I will read it) "Then the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him –very sober words here- 'Go, strengthen yourself because after a year the king of Syria will come again against you".

The Lord bless his holy word. Father, we cover ourselves with your mantle of protection and anointing, Lord, as we declare your truth in Jesus name. Amen and amen.

I wanted to share with you in this transition that we are making from a series of sermons on living by design and living of success in the Lord, moving to another series when I return from vacation. Do you give me and my family permission to go on vacation, brothers? Some said 'what a good pastor who was on vacation in Mexico', we were working there. True, we took a couple of days off but because we had no more. But we are going on vacation so pray for us brothers.

The point is that we are making this transition and I hope to take a series of sermons when we return. But asking the Lord about what to share with you today, the Lord put this text on my heart. I don't think I've ever preached in the twenty-odd years I've been preaching in church on this particular text. But it is a beautiful text. And it is a text that lends itself a lot to meditation on spiritual warfare, on our struggle that we have with the powers of hell.

A couple of days after the campaign we had at the State House, at night, I had a nightmare, one of those nightmares that are actually very serious things and I know that God opens a little window for us of revelation.

Someone tells me in the dream, 'there is a spiritual being, a demon who is looking at you and is watching you'. And I go where they tell me this being is and what I find is a half-length painting of a man, but the eyes were alive, they were living eyes and they moved. And what that image was telling me in the dream was 'I'm watching you, I'm watching you. We have our eyes on you.' And several times those eyes were moving, fixed on my person, in this picture that was simply two dimensions, but the eyes were alive and they looked at me again and again, and they blinked and moved pointing at me 'we have our eyes on you.

I remember that Meche had to touch me because I was saying the name of Jesus and in the dream I also attacked what I could with the name of Jesus, against that image that was looking at me.

Brethren, we are in spiritual warfare. We Christians, the children of God, are always fighting against an enemy that wants to destroy us. And do you know why that doesn't bother me, that doesn't really worry me? No, because I am the big thing, but because I know that there is another one who watches over me called the Lion of the tribe of Judah, that is more powerful than any other gaze of the enemy.

And we have that mighty God looking down on us. Recently a sister actually, I don't know if she is here, but I went to a cell and she told me that one day she was here with another sister, it was night, they were praying, it seems that they were sitting right here, kneeling here praying; I don't know what the specific circumstance was, but the lights were off, and in a moment of prayer she opened her eyes and saw the eyes of a lion that was looking at her from a part of here, at her and those eyes were perched there on it: the lion of the tribe of Judah.

And she says she was so shocked that she wanted to touch to see where she was and she didn't feel anything material around her. And she looked again and there were still those eyes of that lion looking at her from the darkness of this part over here.

Because the Lion of the tribe of Judah looks on. I remember that when I had the dream that gave rise to the name of this church, Lion of Judah congregation, that I saw that scene of the city, you have heard the story, of skyscrapers covered with immense demonic entities and above them, very high above a lion's face that I understood was the lion of the tribe of Judah looking over those horrible animals, and his eyes were eyes of authority and power, and control while looking over them. And I said three times to that being 'you are the Lord', as if challenging those demonic beings by telling them 'the true Lord is you'.

Because the powers of the devil want to exercise dominion over the human race, they want to control, they want to govern, but we know that there is one who is much more powerful than them, his name is Christ Jesus, the Lord.

And we are at continual war, Israel has been at war since the beginning of its very history, continual enemy powers. Here we see Syria trying to destroy Israel, persecuting the children of God. Today the news tells us that there are still countries trying to destroy that people, and when it seems that everything has been settled and that the Jews can now breathe a little peace, a few months ago, you know, they handed over all the strip of Gaza, that part is called the Gaza Strip, a part that is part of the land that God himself gave to the Jewish people centuries ago. And the Jews in their desire to have peace, wanting to appease the Arabs, gave them that piece of their land.

Many Jews protested and they had to be dragged out of their houses and they evacuated that whole area, cleaned it up and left their houses there, their businesses and everything to hand it over to the Arabs, meaning 'look, we want peace' and we are willing to pay the additional price.'

However, do you know what happened recently? They came back again, invaded, kidnapped a soldier, killed two of them, and now the war continues. And now the war has broken out again. Because? Because the devil hates God's people.

Now that town is not perfect, it is a town that has become secularized. The Jews have been rebels, all their history they have been rebels. Israel is not a religious nation in a sense. Israel is a secular state and it is one of the most secular nations, in fact.

Yet God loves his people and has a plan for them. And that land that God gave them 3000 plus years ago, that land belongs to that people. I wish I could say 'no, the Arabs have a right to be there because they were there for hundreds of years, after the Jewish people were driven out, this and that, but it says the word 'that God's gifts are irrevocable'. God gave that land to his people, and he, who owns the entire universe and this entire land, has the right to say to whoever gives him whatever he wants.

That land belongs to the Jews. I know that they are not perfect, but there they fight with God, not with me. I simply obey what the word of the Lord says. God gave that land to the Hebrew people. But the devil is not happy and he keeps fighting the Jews, he keeps destroying them. Amalek centuries ago when Moses was still in the desert wanted to kill the Jews and persecuted them. Syria, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, all these powers have tried to destroy the people. In the 20th century Hitler with all his German might also wanted to destroy the Jewish people. But they have not been able to, but the devil has a controversy against the Hebrew people.

And you know what, brothers? He also has a controversy against the people of God, which is the church at this time. And every Christian, every believer by virtue of being a child of God and belonging to that chosen race of God is at war with Satan and Satan is at war with him or her as well. Even if you don't want to, if you are part of God's chosen people, you are going to be fighting and the enemy is going to have a war against you, he is going to have a fight against you. And although you are not aware of it, Satan is seeking to harm your life in some way.

I'm not saying this to scare you, understand me. I am not saying this to fill you with fear. You are not afraid of the devil, you are cautious, but you are not afraid of him because God has promised that he is more powerful, but you do have to be careful.

That is why the Apostle Peter said "be sober and watchful because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

This was not said by the Apostle Peter to scare us or to scare us or to make us give more tithes, he said it because there is a truth behind it. When you live life normally, working, going home, driving on the street, know that you move within a spiritual dimension too, and there are powers there, there are powers that want to harm your life. The enemy is looking for any little crack in your life to get in and destroy and do damage there.

How does a germ get into a person's life? Through a wound, when you cut yourself. Why do they put medicine there and cover it with a band-aid and... so that a germ does not enter through that crack in the skin and begin to enter the blood vessels and cause damage; because they enter through tears in the skin, through the holes in the face, that is where they enter the nervous system, or the tissue system of the human being.

It also goes to the spiritual level. How do the powers of the devil enter the life of a human being? For the openings that we opened for him. That is why the Apostle Peter says 'be sober and watchful' because we have to exercise care in the way we live, brothers, because the enemy is always looking for an excuse, he is always looking for a claim, he is always looking for a legal reason to come before God and say this person you have to release your grace and your protection because he has done this and this and the other and is out of your coverage.

The Lord Jesus Christ said to Jerusalem 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I wanted to cover and protect you as the hen covers her chicks and you did not leave me and that is why now you are going to be completely destroyed'. And indeed, shortly after the Lord was crucified, the Roman legions came and destroyed Israel, sowed the entire promised land with salt, and sent the Hebrews to roam the earth for almost two thousand years, until they became a nation again a little less than of a century, fifty-odd years, 59 years, 58.

Why? Because when you abandon the protection that only Christ can give, you open yourself up, and if you are a son of God, a daughter of God, the enemy has more viciousness against you. So if you are not living a life that is sober and careful of spiritual values, then you are open, you have the anger of the enemy against you and you do not have divine protection in favor of you, then you are in no man's land and the enemy can wreak havoc in your life.

That is why when one enters the ways of the Lord, brothers, above all, one has to understand that one already... the risks as well as the benefits are greatly increased and one has to walk with some caution You have to walk seriously, you have to walk with tremendous sobriety because the enemy is looking for any mistake, any transaction, even mental or emotional.

Do you know that sometimes you can open yourself to demonic attack because of a false belief, because of a false practice, because of a change in your spirit? I was speaking with the brothers last night I was preaching precisely about the special character of Jesus as savior, as the center of creation, as the one towards whom all the forces of history point: Christ the center of the cosmos, the foundation of human reality and universal. And I was saying that when one as a Christian begins to doubt that truth that the word says and begins to put Jesus as if he were simply another among a pantheon of different gods that can lead to salvation.

Since there are many so-called Christians out there, who believe that well, if I am a Christian and within my tradition, as they say, a Christian, then Christ saves. But a Buddhist can also be saved, or a Muslim, or a Hindu through their religion. I would like to believe that, but that is not what the word tells me. And when one abandons that special, unique character of Jesus, the image of the invisible God, as the word says, all the fullness of God dwells in him.

When one begins to relativize Jesus and put him in a secondary category, an opening has already opened within one, invisibly, without one realizing it, an opening through which the enemy can come and wreak havoc.

And this young lady was telling me just about that. She says 'pastor, a couple of years ago when I started to go to university, I began to doubt precisely that, with my studies in philosophy and religion and all this, I began to doubt the lordship of Christ and the uniqueness of Jesus, and I began to entertain the idea that there could be other saviors besides him.

And from there she says, I begin to see a change in my emotional state, anxieties and other things that have entered. I think that this has a lot to do, she told me, with many of the afflictions that I have been suffering in these months.

And it is so, because the enemy is only looking for, brothers, any area to enter and do damage in our lives. And we are at war. What's a soldier got to do? A soldier has to be sober, he has to walk carefully. When you are on the battlefield you have to keep your eyes on the watch because the enemy can come in any way and cause destruction in our lives. And that is why one must know the principles of the word of God to know how one can defend oneself.

And that's why this passage is so important because it teaches us how we fight Satan. The first thing I see here is that there is a much higher power against the people of God. Ben Hadad with his armies is far more powerful than Israel. Israel could not resist the enemy by its own strength. And that is the first thing we have to understand.

My brother, my sister, you cannot fight the devil by your own strength. Satan is much more powerful than you. The kingdom of darkness is stronger, more agile, more skilled, has more years on earth, knows human psychology. It is an enemy that you cannot see or smell, it does not sleep, it does not need to eat, it is just a pathological being that wants to kill you, destroy you, steal your soul. You have no power by yourself.

But the word of the Lord says that Christ Jesus dwells within you. And Christ says that he is more powerful. The word says that God gave him a name that is above all names. There is no demon that can resist the power of Christ within you.

So you have to cultivate the power of Christ within you, you have to cultivate the strength that God has placed in your life so that you can resist the works of the devil. You have to live filled with the holy spirit. You have to cultivate prayer. You have to live a life of cleanliness before God, clean your walk before the Lord, remove all impurity, everything that prevents God's blessing from flowing in your life, all negative attitudes, improper words, thoughts destructive, the treatment of others, that is oppressive to others. Sanctification has to be in all areas of life. And that is part of being sober and vigilant, taking care of our spiritual health, taking care of how we walk, taking care of our spiritual temperature.

Where are you at this stage of your life? Do you feel your love and passion for the things of God? When there is an invitation to pray, do you feel that enthusiasm of being there with your brothers praying and praising the Lord? Sundays are a burden for you, getting up and going to church, and you come when you can and when you can't, well, God understands. Or are you committed, you live for Christ, you passionately love the Kingdom of God, you know that before all things you are a spiritual being and that this world in all its other things is totally secondary. You are a spiritual being and you live for eternity. And to the extent that you love the Lord passionately and you give the Lord all your being and serve him with love, to that extent the Lord can cover you with his grace. You have to stay strong, brothers.

An athlete is continually doing his exercises to stay in shape. A doctor is always reading to keep up with what he needs. A Christian has to stay strong at all times in order to lash out and resist the powers of the devil. Be sober and vigilant, says the word of the Lord.

And in another passage, in Ephesians, Chapter 6 we are also spoken to. You know, Chapter 6 of Ephesians, verse I think is 10 and up. He says ".... for the rest, brothers, strengthen yourselves in the Lord and in the power of his might, put on the full armor of God so that you can stand firm against the wiles of the devil."

Look twice now, two Apostles, Peter and Paul, two good witnesses are telling us the same thing. One tells us 'be sober and vigilant'; another tells us 'strengthen yourselves against the wiles of the devil'. Do you see that idea? Pedro says they walk around looking for someone to devour. Here he is stalking.

So we have to put on the whole armor of God, we have to be strong, brothers. There are so many people who ignore the rules of a healthy spiritual life. A healthy spiritual life, a life of authority and power capable of resisting the devil does not happen simply because you come to church and spend a couple of hours, absent there thinking about other things, and already in some magical way the anointing of God will be with you. And when the crises of life come and the devil wants to destroy your life and wreak havoc, you will be strong and secure and determined.

No, exercise is required. Vigilance is required. It is required to stay in spiritual shape. It is required to eat good word of God. There is a price required to be paid, brethren. It requires being attentive to the truths of the Gospel. It is the only way that you will be able to resist the wiles of the devil.

And the Apostle Paul continues, he says “....for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, with the rulers of the darkness of this century, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly regions.

What Pablo did there was give us an X-ray of the reality that we inhabit. Right now you see columns and concrete and walls and wood, but if you could have x-rays at the moment this would open up and you would see another dimension, it's a spiritual dimension, with angels and also demons flying around or sitting there sitting next to you yours. The Lord rebukes them if they are demons, if they are angels, let them stay.

But there is always a different dimension that is... and Paul says 'hey, for that, take care of yourselves, for that reason strengthen yourselves because there are... the problems of life, says Paul in this passage, they are not due to merely human things, to human processes.' That's what it says, our fight is not against blood, nor against flesh. You see? The fight that you have in your home, with that rebellious son, is not against your son, it is against the power of the devil that is behind him wanting to steal his soul and also wanting to destabilize your life and make you doubt God.

Your marital problem is not only with your husband who is reluctant to come to church and who does not want to receive the word of God and who hates the things of the Lord, it is against the power of the devil who does not want to may that man be saved and may your house be dedicated to the Lord. So what are you going to do? Are you going to continue fighting against your husband, pestering your wife or are you going to start waging spiritual warfare to destroy the power of the enemy and fill yourself with the grace of the Lord, dedicate your house more to God, bend the knee more, live closer to of the Lord and claim your house for the Lord, claim your children for the Lord?

There are powers, brothers. Our fight is not against carnal, external things. It is against other things that are underneath it, those spiritual powers that are always doing mischief to destabilize our lives.

So that's why Paul says 'therefore, take up the whole armor of God so that you can resist on the evil day, and having finished everything, stand firm'.

Oh my brothers if only more of us were less ignorant. I am afraid that there are many Christians, I see them all the time, who do not understand the seriousness of what spiritual life is. They do not understand the serious dynamics of being a Christian and of this radioactive world that we inhabit, and that is why we have to be very clear about the patterns and principles that guide our lives, because we ignore them at too high a price.

So Ahab had a problem, he had a kingdom much more powerful than him that wanted what he had. The devil wants what you have. The devil wants your children, the devil wants your marriage, he wants your health, he wants your finances, he wants your emotional life, he wants your body, he wants your future, he wants your mind and you have to decide what you are going to do with that offer. that request that makes you an enemy more powerful than you.

The first thing I have already said: you have to strengthen yourself in the spirit. Ahab was an ignorant man. Ahab was a king who did not know about God, he did not know the word of God, he was in violation of the word of the Lord, that is precisely why he was fighting against such a strong enemy. And when the moment of crisis arrived, what does he do? The only thing he can do is simply wring his hands and say 'look how this man wants to hurt me'.

And so, many of us the only thing we can do when the devil comes into our life is what? Start complaining. Ah, the devil that is always against me, the people that don't love me, the church that doesn't pray for me or visit me. Complain. God, who promises things that he does not fulfill. When they told me to enter the Gospel, everything was going to go well for me and it is the opposite. I haven't gotten out of a problem since I've been in the Gospel.

We started to complain. We begin to question God's faithfulness. Because? Because we don't understand the principles. When we know the word of the Lord then we can counteract the devil's attacks.

Look at something interesting here. When Syria sends its ambassador to Ben Adad, it simply tells him "King Ben Adad says that all your properties belong to him, your women, your children, your money." Notice how interesting, he doesn't ask for any of that, but simply asks him to acknowledge that he belongs to the king of Syria. And that's what the devil does. That's how he operates. It is a principle that we have to understand.

Satan many times to gain entry into our life, what he will start with is something that seems symbolic, something that does not seem very compromising, a small slip, a small lie, a little drink, what does that matter? , a trip to a disco one night, a marijuana cigarette, after all that, what it does is that it makes you happy. I am not taking drugs, I am not injecting it.

But the devil begins, brothers, with a simple, seemingly harmless statement. But what he wants is for us to simply recognize a principle. What he wants is to establish a precedent, because in the realm of the spirit things operate like this, by law, by judicial principles. But when you recognized what he is telling you, you already opened the door to greater things. You already entered into dialogue with him. You already recognized its power. You already recognized his presence. You already legally admitted that he has influence over your life.

Let's be careful with the deals we make. Because sometimes there are deals that we make simply with a look, with a thought, with an action that no one saw and we almost didn't even realize, but that already opened the door to the enemy.

Today society is being asked to accept gay marriage. Four judges handed it down and people say to one, as they say to me, as I said this morning with the men 'why are you so opposed to a small group of homosexuals getting married, if that's good, that's the way it is They behave better, they are already married and they are less sensual and they give less loungers there? Don't you want people to get married? Why are you so opposed to these people being happy? And what I tell you brothers, I tell you, as I tell them: 'it's not so much those few people, that handful of homosexual people who get married. It's the spiritual principle behind it.'

When a society legally recognizes such behavior as a normal part of life, that's where it opens up a gap the size of... and that's where an 18-wheeler can enter, and the devil begins to take a little more, a little more, a little more. One day they will come to our churches and forbid us what we can preach. One day they will go to our house and tell us 'you have to let me rent there whether you want to or not'. One day they will come to our childcare places after school and tell us 'never mind, you are a public institution, you have to accept a homosexual teacher there'.

Not that we have anything against homosexuals, brothers, but we do believe in certain spiritual values that God has established. And we have to, when things start, we have to put our feet up and say 'no, we can't open the door because other worse things are coming.

Today our children are already being educated in schools about homosexual behavior and we already have to allow it. Before it was possible that if you did not want your son to receive homosexual indoctrination you could tell the teacher 'take my son out because I don't want him to be exposed to that'.

Nowadays, not even that can be done. A father recently wanted to do that and they put him in prison because he refused to leave school until the principal promised him that his son would not take that class. The principal told him 'I'm not going to do it because I don't feel like it'. He insisted, they called the police and arrested him. Because? Because things start, the enemy says 'no, all I want is for them to let me live'. But after you let him live then he says 'now I also want your house, I want your women, I want your money, I want everything'.

What happened here? He simply told him "I just want you to recognize that your wives and children are mine," and he told him "yes, Lord, I know they are yours," frightened by the force of the enemy. And what happened? The next day they came and told him "now, tomorrow we are going to come and get your money and your property and your house." The thing was no longer theoretical, now it was a reality. And so it is, brother, if you do not understand this spiritual principle.

That's why the Bible says 'do not give room to the devil', and the word that is translated into Spanish place, means..... in English I think they say 'do not give the devil a foot' hold, don't give the devil a little piece of ground where he can put his foot down because if you let him put his foot down, he's going to mess with all his demons too.

Do you see? We have to be careful because the Bible says that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. So we can't... the devil starts like that, with something harmless, something tiny but it comes back, comes back and comes back and then he begins to seize and possess and govern and establish authority. Because? Because there is a demonic spirit, our fight is not against homosexuals. Our fight is against the spirit of antichrist that is behind the homosexual movement, the anti-Christian spirit, anti-church, anti-morality, anti-caring for human values and the identity that God has placed in human beings, and that is why we fight against this. . It's not against them, it's against the power behind them. We have to be careful in spiritual warfare not to open any gaps for the enemy.

Notice that when Ahab complains that he doesn't know what to do, the elders tell him 'don't obey him or do what he asks.' That is the behavior that a Christian should have. When the enemy wants to take possession of your life, two things: do not obey him or do what he asks of you. Firmly resist the enemy.

The word says 'resist the devil and he will flee from you'. When temptation comes into our lives, let us stand firm in what the word of God has said. When the enemy wanted to tempt Jesus and make him obey him, and do all the things he wanted him to do, what did the Lord say? It is written. It is written. He resisted it with the word of God and we have to stand firm.

Satan has no power over the child of God. No matter how great his strength, he who is in us is mightier than he who is in the world. And that is why a prophet came, God sent a prophet in his mercy sent a prophet because Ahab did not deserve that kind of treatment from God. And the prophet came and told him 'look, the Lord says that you do not obey the enemy, that you resist him and that you wage war against him'.

I have always believed that, brothers, you don't run away from the enemy, you don't run away from the enemy... you don't let yourself be intimidated. You can't negotiate with the enemy, brothers, with the enemy you can't even be diplomatic, I believe more and more. Because what he does is take advantage of diplomacy to gain more ground and further entrench himself. That's the truth.

No, he told her to 'go, and mount the battle against the enemy'. "Behold, I will give it to you today in your hand so that you may know that I am Jehovah." Brother, no matter what... in your life, I want to tell you, no matter how big the problem is in your life, no matter what area the enemy is trying to wreak havoc in your life, no no matter how serious the problem, in a moment God can change everything.

In a moment God can touch the heart of a spouse, in a moment God can change a rebellious child, in a moment a health situation can change course when the Lord is in the matter, brothers. That is why we have to be praying, crying out, seeking God's anointing in our lives, day and night, asking the Lord to 'change the air'.

I ask the Lord to change the air in Massachusetts. I ask the Lord to change the air in the United States. I believe, brothers, that the visitation of the power of God is going to be so great one day that we are going to be amazed, how the hardness of heart of this culture is going to change. I believe it and I live for it and I am preparing for it. And I am preparing our church for that, brothers, because I believe that, no matter how serious the situation seems, God loves to wait for things to turn ant-colored and then appear with all the cavalry and break the hosts of the enemy. and bring salvation. I think so.

Sometimes God has to wait until things seem impossible to change anymore, then say 'I'm going to change it in a moment so they know I am Jehovah.' Put your situation, my brother, my sister, no matter how hard the battle is, you bend your knees more, you fast more, you cry out to the Lord more, you declare even if the words do not come out, but declare the lordship of God in your life, declare the seal of Christ on your house, declare God's ownership of your children, declare God's financial provision in your finances, declare that problem, that mountain is going to move and sink to the bottom of the sea, because my God is more powerful than the works of the enemy in my life.

If there is any problem in your life, anxiety, depression, neurosis of any kind, thoughts that haunt you, fears, in the name of the Lord say, I submit that land to the Lordship of Christ. There is no power that can resist, brothers, the power of God in our life. Let's believe it, let's confess it, let's live it. In an instant....

Notice that this king asks the prophet who will start the battle? And what does the prophet answer? You. Because sometimes we want it to be someone else. Ah, I have a problem, we are going to look for the pastor so that he can go, anoint us with oil, baptize me in the name of the father, of the son of the holy spirit, we are going to look for the elders of the church, we are going to look for that little missionary sister That one does know how to pray.... And do you know what God says? No, no, I want you to be the one to attack the enemy. I have given power to you. I have put my anointing on you.

Brethren, the pastor has no more holy spirit within him than you do. You received the same measure of the holy spirit that is in you. You have power. I, my sister, Mirna, I told her years ago, remember Mirna... Mirna, you can do it, you can do it, you can serve the Lord, you can be a cell teacher. You can have a cell in your house. And Mirna did not want to believe it and has become one of the most powerful cellists that León de Judá has. Because, brothers, there are no little Christians and little Christians unless their heart is not tiny. If your heart is capable of believing God, you have power against all the hosts of hell and Satan has no power over your life.

The question is how much capacity does your heart have to believe God? That is the question. How much can you believe God? Because if you are capable of believing that the Lord is with you, that God is powerful, that he is going to give you victory, you can attack the enemy.

Notice that they didn't have to wait for the enemy to come. God told him 'no, you go and persecute him'.

And there was the enemy all confident, all safe, drinking, getting drunk. Ben Hadad was so sure that when they told him the Israelites were coming, he said 'well, if they come in peace, take them alive, and even if they come in war, bring them back to me alive. What confidence. How confident the enemy is many times, but they came in the word of God. And they only had to kill those who came against them. Once they made the first confrontation all the others were sent to flee.

Because the devil takes advantage of your fear, you know? But God has already taken away the devil's strength, he has already taken away the sting of death. Satan no longer has power over the children of God. When you start and resist, when the people...

I say that to the church, if the church stood up in this time and dared to resist the enemy, brothers, in a One day everything would change in Massachusetts. The problem is not the enemy, the problem is the church. When the church takes the battle to the enemy, the enemy has to flee and what we do is just a symbolic fight, a few and everyone else starts to flee, because the devil has no power on his own.

The devil has the power that the church allows him, because the Lord already defeated him on the cross of Calvary, says the Bible. The devil has the power that you allow him in your life and that you falsely recognize him, or that you give him the legal right to wreak havoc. But if you stand firm on God's word and principles and you live your life within the Lord's principles, Satan has no power. When he comes and attacks he may do a little bit of damage, but you will go into function and anointing and counteract the power of the devil, and God will give you the land.

Create. The power of God is in you. The power of God is within you and even though the enemy comes like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, the Lord tells you 'I am with you.'

I don't think I'm preaching a general message today. I am preaching a prophetic word for the people of God. I don't know what awaits us there on the other side in these next few days, what attacks, what fights, what fights, but I know one thing that the one who started the good work will be faithful to finish it, that the God who told us "go ahead" , he will be there with us, that if God called you he will be faithful to complete what he has said that he is going to give you in your life.

God says I hasten to fulfill what I have promised. I'm with you. Do not fear or dismay because I will be with you, says the Lord, wherever you go.

Stand up, my brother, my sister. Though the enemy comes like a roaring lion, though he comes like a river, the Lord will make a wall between him and us.

What land does the enemy have that they shouldn't have? What areas of your life is the enemy dominating and wreaking havoc and we have left it? It is time that you begin to resist and reconquer that land in the name of the Lord. And the Lord tells you today 'if you believe it, I will be with you. If you believe my promises, I will be more than faithful. I will not let you be embarrassed.

The word says 'those who trust in him will not be put to shame'. So receive that word, take possession of it this afternoon in the name of the Lord.

Father, give me a double portion because I have preached the sermon twice. And help me to live that truth, Lord, and to immerse myself within it, as well as my brothers, each one of them, bless them this afternoon and pour out, Lord, your holy anointing on them.

Father, let this word fall on good ground, good ground, Lord, fertile ground, fertile ground. Remove all doubt from our hearts. Father, we take authority over family problems, we take authority over family problems, Lord, over illnesses, over finances, Lord. We take authority over our mental, emotional land, over the problems of neurosis, doubt, fear, loneliness, depression, anxiety, neurological problems of the brain. We take authority in the name of the Lord. Satan we command you 'out, in the name of Christ, you are defeated, in the name of the Lord.' We stand on the authority of God this afternoon and say 'Out of the land of God's people.'

We take power, we take authority in the name of Christ, we rebuke your deeds in the name of Jesus. In all this state of Massachusetts and in the land of the children of God we take authority this afternoon in the name of Christ. We rebuke principalities and powers that want to rule the lives of the children of God. We declare our children land possessed by God, our marriages healthy in the name of the Lord, our peaceful and restful sleep, our finances blessed in the name of Jesus. Oh in the name of Christ, we oblige the enemy.

Take your hands off the blessings God has declared upon God's people. Take your illegitimate hands off the promises we have received. Our inheritance, you have no right to touch it.

We claim our inheritance before God. Father, what you have declared to us, give it to us Lord and put handcuffs in the hands of the enemy. Bring it out, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Arrest him Lord, in the name of Christ. In the name of Christ, arrest Satan and get him out of this area. In the name of Jesus, bring out the powers of the devil, Lord. Your church, your church, your church cries out. Your church reclaims its land. Your church reclaims its land, Lord this afternoon.

We reclaim this nation from the USA. We claim the USA, sir. We claim the US government. We reclaim the US universities, sir. We claim this young generation in the name of Jesus. We declare that they will be soldiers of Christ, they will be spiritual warriors who will wreak havoc in the hosts of hell.

We declare that your church will be revived, Lord. We declare that the valley of dry bones will once again hear the sound of people walking, enlivened, resurrected by you, Father. Those bones will be covered with tendons, nerves, tissue, skin and you will place your spirit, Lord, in the valley of dry bones and a great multitude of warriors, Father, will rise to conquer the earth before the last coming of the Lord.

We declare a prophetic generation, Father, we declare the prophetic flow of your spirit in this church, Father. We declare the gifts of the holy spirit, Lord, flowing freely in this church, in the name of Jesus. We release, Lord, the blessing, we release the blessing. Hallelujah! we let go of the gifts of the spirit, God. Flow holy spirit.

Oh Lord we want more. We want more. We want more. Oh Lord, we won't be content with just spoonfuls there, Father, with a dropper. We want to open our mouths and that you send rivers of living water that run from within us, Lord. You do not give your spirit by measure, says the word, Lord. You give your spirit until it overflows, Father. You want us to immerse ourselves in the waters of your spirit. Father, your word speaks of being baptized with the holy spirit. It is not that he pours a little water on our heads, it is to be immersed in the holy spirit.

O Father fill us with your holy spirit, a fresh anointing, Lord, a fresh anointing we ask, Father so as not to fear the enemy.

Oh in the name of the Lord I rebuke every spirit of doubt in the people of God, every spirit of lukewarmness in the people of God, those who are here, those who are far away, those who are not here May the members of this spiritual community receive a fresh anointing from the Lord. fresh anointing. Fresh anointing. Fresh vision, oh in the name of Christ. Fresh passion, in the name of Jesus.

Oh Lord we want, we want more of you. We want more of you. We want to see your glory, Lord. Send your glory, send your glory, Father. Send your glory, Lord. We are thirsty for you. We are hungry for you, Lord. we desperately need a visitation from you, Father. Blow, Father, blow on that swarm of demons, Lord, who wants to take control of society.

Oh Lord send your wind. Look, look, rest your eyes, Lord, only on the situation. One look from you undoes all the devil's strategies. And we are covered in the blood of Jesus even as we proclaim your truth, Lord.

We declare that Satan has no power over our lives this afternoon. We are armored, we are covered, we are covered, we are covered with the armor of God.

You will have no power, our enemy, you will have no power because the Lord has defeated you and this afternoon we declare the power of Christ, we declare the power of Christ over this town, over this church, over this ministry , Mister. We declare your anointing, your anointing, we want your anointing. We want your anointing, Lord. we want more of you.

Oh Lord we hunger for you. Don't keep us waiting, Lord, don't keep us waiting, Father. We get up in the morning and go to bed late, Father, waiting for your visitation. We want to see your glory, Lord, we want that little cloud to appear in the firmament announcing the coming of your rain, Father. Send your spirit and visit us, Lord. Stoke your fire in us, put passion, put cry, put a spirit of cry.

Oh Lord kill the warmth. Father, kill conformism in us, Lord. kill shyness, kill indifference, Father. Oh Lord kill double mindedness. Father with one foot on earth and one foot in heaven, we cannot live like this, Lord. We want to be completely sold to you, enslaved in you, Father, delivered in you, Lord. Help us to live passionately for you, Lord.

We love your glory, Lord. We want to see your glory. Oh father you are so powerful. You are so powerful. We want to see your power, Lord. We want to live in the anointing of the holy spirit. Come spirit of God we need you Lord. We need you on this day spirit of God. Visit us, Lord. thanks, Dad. Thank you, thank you, Jesus. Amen and amen. Glory to the name of the Lord.