Letting yourself be conquered by God

There is a spiritual battle that each one of us has to lose and our opponent is not Satan, it is a battle against the being that loves us more than any other being in this universe. It is a battle with God and us. It is a battle against ourselves. Everyone, Gregory..... the pastor is looking on the Internet, don't say any more profanity.

Guess what? Before using you God has to conquer you. Before using you God has to conquer you. That is the most important battle, brothers. The other, everything else comes with it. if we fight this battle and if we lose and win this battle we can conquer in his name.

Guess what? Each one of us is a rebel, cheeky, stubborn, stubborn, I do whatever I want and no one is going to tell me what I have to do. Some of them look very cute sitting there, they look like very good people. They don't look that bad, but I know, they are bad. They are rebellious, they want to do what seems right to you and God has to break that pride, has to break and break this self-will before you can be a good soldier.

Those who have been in the army before fighting in the war, you go through training and your mortal enemy is the sergeant, the drill sargent, the sergeant there who puts you in the face, and it makes you scream, spitting in the face, yelling bad words. Forgive me Lord, saying that, to break your will. Because a soldier cannot be super independent, if we are all independent doing things the way we want we can die and kill others without wanting to.

I visualize a group of soldiers in a ditch, in the trench, they are there and the captain tells them 'look, everyone has to get out', although there are bullets, there are bombs, 'you have to get out of that trench, they have to get into this house'. And you, as an independent person, say 'look, captain, I don't know if it's a very good idea for us to do that. I don't know, there are bullets, there are bombs, there...' Bang,... and everyone dies. Because if we start talking to our captain, if we start talking we can die in the process. What God wants, He says 'look, get up, go there', and you say 'Yes, Lord, I'm going'. Amen.

God wants us to be an army of soldiers who say, like the saying in English, 'if God tells you to jump, you say how high'. If God tells you to jump, you say 'well, how high?' You don't say, why is it necessary to do that..... No, no, no He says and you do. And you do it. Amen. Yes sir.

How many of us know that an untamed horse does more harm than good? Many of us, I would say, all of us are wild horses. They all have their way, some are very kind, very cute, but they are wild horses. And God has to tame you so he can get on top of you and use you in war. Amen. Amen.

Before using you God has to conquer you. We are going to read about Joshua's conquest, not the conquest that Joshua made, but the conquest of Joshua, a great man of God who was prepared to conquer Jericho. We all know the story of the Sunday school, the city with the walls and all that and before the battle, look what happens:

Joshua 5, verse 13: “... and when Joshua was near Jericó raised his eyes and saw a man who was in front of him, who had a drawn sword in his hand and Joshua going towards him said to him "are you one of ours or of our enemies?" and the man replied "No, more As a prince of the army of Jehovah I have now come.' Then Joshua, falling on his face to the ground, worshiped him and said, 'What does my Lord say to his servant?' And the prince of the army of the Lord answered Joshua, 'Take off your shoes, for the place where you are is holy.' , and Joshua did so.”

We pray, Father in the name of Jesus. We believe that in the spirit there is Lord, warrior angels who are waging spiritual warfare at levels, Lord, higher than we can imagine. And you have called us to participate with you in this spiritual fight so that the walls around this city fall down, and you have come, the prince of the army of the Lord, and you are here before us with your drawn sword and Lord , you have a message for us. I ask that we listen, on this day, that it is your word speaking to us. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.

Joshua is walking and he sees a man with his sword. It's like us seeing a man with a gun there. You'll say? Are you for me, on my side or are you on the side of my enemy? And then they talk a bit and then Josué falls face down and says the word that he adored him. Who is that man? Who is that man?

Guess what? For a long time I thought it was an angel that appeared to Joshua in human form but then I realized: what is Joshua doing? What does the word say? Verse 14, "....worshipped him." No angel receives praise and adoration from the human being. You see the angels in the Bible, when a person sees it, he falls to the ground and tries to worship him and the angel says 'don't do it, I'm just an angel'. You have to worship God.

I believe that what we have here is a pre-incarnate manifestation of the Son of God himself. I believe that that angel of Jehovah is Jesus himself before arriving in human form, appearing and arriving as a prince of an army of angels who came to fight a war. Jesus himself. There is Josué and Josué tells him what anyone would say 'are you on my side or are you on the side of my enemies?'

Now, what do we expect him to say? If God is on my side or on the side of my enemies. What are we waiting for?'. I am on your side, I am with you. Amen. But what does it tell you? Look at him, he says 'are you for us or for our enemies', verse 14, and he replied, let's all say it together 'No, neither of us.' Jesus says in this case, the angel of Jehovah tells him 'I am not on your side nor on the side of your enemies. I am on my side.

Let's understand one thing very well. I am the God of the universe and you are not the owner of me. I am on my side and the angel says the question is not if I am on your side or your enemies, the question is if you are on my side. I don't know if I explain myself. It doesn't matter, it's not whether God is on my side or for my enemies. The question is whether I am on God's side, because we cannot take anything for granted.

If you are wrong, God will first turn against you, with discipline of love like a father with children, to teach you, to save you, not like Satan who wants to crush us. But we do not own God, He is bigger than anyone. And who's in charge? He rules.

They know that many of us want to be Christians in our own way. We say I am willing to serve God, to come to church, but stay out of my personal life. Look, this is my thing, there. Look, God, when your word on certain things, well, you're very old-fashioned. I want to serve you but in my own way.

And God says 'look, I'm in charge here, not you'. And then He gives you these crazy instructions. What does he say to Joshua? That he has to march around the city 7 times, after shouting, then he has to play the chofa, and all that kind of crazy stuff, and the walls are going to fall down and what a crazy thing... I don't care, God tells you sometimes do crazy things. Sometimes to test you, to see if you are willing to obey Him and not yourself.

When I was in Guatemala on a mission trip 10 years ago, I was with some missionaries, and we were in a car. I just arrived and there was a farmer sowing in the field far away. And they say 'look, gringo, Gregory, get out of this car and walk over... and give that farmer a treaty.' He appears in his field with such a little treatise. I did it, I walked ok in the field, there alone, excuse me, Mr. farmer, Jesus loves you. And he looks at me 'God bless you' and I came back. Give it a try, if you're willing to do anything. If you're willing to do the crazy thing. Obey God despite what you want.

But guess what? we are not like that. What we want to do many times is to use God and put him on our side to justify what we would like to do, right? Israel was like that. Do you know what they did once? We are going to look for it in First Samuel, 4, verse 1.

Before reading it, it was a time when the people of Israel worshiped and served God in their own way. Ok, there was a priest, whose name was Eli, he had two priest sons, bad, bad, bad priests. When sacrifices were offered, they would say 'I am hungry and the priests were allowed to remove the meat but allow the fat to burn in the sacrifice. Those priests said 'look, I want the fat, I want a good hamburger with fat, a good pastry. So I get the best for me. They did not respect the sacrifices of the holy people of God, right? and also these priests were sleeping with the girls who worked in the temple and believed that they could continue being priests, doing things in their own way. So they decided, 'We're going to fight a war against the Philistines, and God is with us. We are the people of God'. So they go out to fight and look what happens:

First Samuel 4, verse 1: “And Samuel spoke to all Israel. At that time Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped near Eben Ezer and the Philistines camped in Afec. And the Philistines presented the battle to Israel, and the combat locked, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who wounded in battle, in the field about 4000 men. And when the people returned to the camp, the elders of Israel said, 'Why has the LORD struck us today before the Philistines?' Save us from the hand of our enemies.

Let's stop there. I don't know if you have tried that, to use God for good luck. Have you ever tried this? Perhaps before being a Christian, no one, no one, wants to say they love that, right? I don't know if someone once brought you something, I don't know, maybe an amulet, a saint, something for good luck, or maybe the Bible.

Sometimes, well, if I go with my Bible, well, everything works fine for me, because I have it there, so everything works fine for me. I know a sister, I am not going to say the name or the details that a testimony shared with me that she said that once there was a very dangerous situation in her life and she was going to take her Bible with her, and in prayer she felt God say 'well, if you want to go around with the Bible, that's fine, read it, but if you leave it at home, that's fine, just the same because I'm going with you.' And I'm not in the pages, I'm not in the words and what it says and we must respect that book, but I am bigger than the book, right?

And what happens is that we want... I remember when I was young, when I had a big exam, oh, I would pray very hard, with my rosaries: Lord, Lord, help me, help me. Then one forgets about God. He helps you and then you forget him. We use it for good luck.

Do you know what Israel did in this case? They think: it doesn't matter how we are living if we have the ark. The ark was a holy piece of furniture, a piece of furniture like a piece of furniture that had some super sacred things on it. What was in the ark? Who remembers? Manna from the desert, what else?, the tables of Moses with the 10 commandments and Aaron's rod. We are talking about an important piece of furniture. Don't lose that piece of furniture, please don't put the coffee on it. This is holy. If you touch it you die. They think that by carrying the ark into battle they will win because it is good luck. And then look what happens. Let's read it again:

Verse 4 “...and the people sent to Shiloh and they brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts that dwelt between the cherubim and the 2 sons of Eli, our friends , Hofni and Pinchas were there with the ark of the covenant of God. And it came to pass that when the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came into the camp, all Israel shouted with great joy, that the earth trembled. And when the Philistines heard the voice of jubilation they said: 'What voice of great jubilation is this in the camp of the Hebrews? And they knew that the ark of the LORD had been brought into the camp. And the Philistines were afraid, because they said 'God has come to the camp' and they said 'woe to us, for before now it was not like that. Woe to us, who will deliver us from the hands of these mighty gods. These are the gods that smote Egypt with all plagues in the desert. Be strong, O Philistines and be men so that you do not serve the Hebrews as they have served you, be men and fight. So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated and each one fled to their tents and there was a great slaughter, for 30,000 footmen fell from Israel and the ark of God was taken and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed.

How many here have played sports, like football, basketball, I don't know what? Many times in sports you have as a man, a person dressed as an animal, as a mascot, I don't know, in these games with the universities playing basket ball. They have their mascot coming and they all shout and start celebrating: 'Our mascot is here, it represents us. We will win! Israel was treating the ark of Jehovah like a pet and God says 'I am not your pet. I am your boss. I am the holy Lord and here I come to command, not to be used so that you do what seems good to you'. Amen.

God is calling us to see Him with new eyes, to recognize 'God, you are the Lord, and you rule and not me'. Because God, before using you, has to conquer you, he has to conquer you. I'm not scolding you. I love. They know they are good people. I see, but God has to break that pride. We all have our area, where we say 'don't come there'. Me, here, this is mine. God says, 'I have to break you because I love you and I see what I'm going to do with your life and I love you too much to leave you as you are.'

God breaks and deals with every servant he calls to serve him. . How many here have experienced this? How many here have gone through God's treatment? They are in good company.

Moses, what happened to Moses? When he was young, he was the man, wasn't he? He grew up in the same palace with Pharaoh, grew up there. He was adopted by Pharaoh, grew up as a prince and felt the call of God for his life, he felt that God had a purpose for him, to save his people. So one day, he watches an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew and what does Moses do? Remember? Kill it, here I am. He kills the Egyptian and buries him. The next day, two Israelites fighting each other, Moses comes and says, 'Look, why are they fighting? why are they fighting like this? And they say 'and what about you?' you think you are the judge over us, who put you there? And what about Moses? You have to run into the desert for 40 years. Total anonymity for 40 years, passing through the school of God.

After 40 years God appears to Moses in the burning bush and calls him 'You are going to save my people'. And now Moses, what does he say? 'Finally, someone recognized my talent. At last God has realized the treasure that he has in me. He says who am I, who am I? And then God says 'you know what? Before I give you power I want to teach you two or three things. Take this rod that is in your hand, throw it on the ground, does anyone remember what happens to the rod? A snake, it starts to move and he runs. God teaches him, you know what? The power that you are going to use is bigger than you, it is bigger than you are. It is not your power to use. You are my rod in my hand and I want you to respect the power you have and not misuse it. And one time Moses, he used it more and was disciplined for it, but that's another story.

Then God says 'now I'm going to show you your heart. I want you to put your hand here inside the jacket, and Moises does. 'Now get it out', get your hand out, get it out. She is white with leprosy. Oh! and God is saying 'I want you to see your heart. You are not as pure as you think. Now put it back on and it's healthy, but don't forget, don't forget, that you're not a great thing, but I am great and I'm going to be with you, and I'm going to use you.

And Moses, the Bible says, was the meekest man on all the earth. And it was used to do great miracles. And they know that I have seen this: the men and women of God who do, who are truly used by the Lord, but you know them, you see that they have been broken, that they are humble. They know that they are nothing and that is why God gives them more and this is part of God's deal.

It also happened with Pedro, didn't it? Do you remember what happened with Pedro? When Jesus is in the sacrament, they are eating, Jesus says 'you know that all of you are going to deny me', and what does Peter say? 'Oh, not me. I am the rock, I am ..... everyone will deny you except me. I am the rock. And Jesus says: 'This very night you are going to ..... you are not such a big deal as you think.' And after screwing up, when you come back, strengthen your brothers. And then it was used by the Lord.

It also happened with other servants of God. The Apostle Paul, what happened to him? The Bible says that he received great revelations from the holy spirit, he saw things. How many of us know that it is possible to be proud of your spiritual gifts? Ah, God speaks to me! All. If you serve God and if God works miracles through you, it is natural to begin to feel pride.

Do you know what God says? Pablito, I love you so much that you know what? I'm going to give you a little present, my son, Pablito, I'm going to give you a goad for your flesh, so you don't feel proud. My Spanish language is my thorn in the flesh to keep me humble here believe me. It is a gift from God. Because he loves you and he doesn't want you to get all proud and then screw up and live in sin and then....... No, He loves you. He wants you to be well, so he gives you these gifts: thorn in the flesh.

Is there anyone here who might have a thorn in the flesh? Don't look at the husband or the children, I don't want any of that. The sting is here. We don't know what it is for Paul, but it had something to keep him humble before God. But he asked that it be removed, right? How many times does anyone remember? Three times. And what does God say? My grace is enough for you because my power is perfected in weakness. And he says 'And rather I'm going to be proud of my weaknesses, because when I'm weak, so I'm strong'. Amen.

If you feel weak you are fine. Strengthen yourself in the Lord, God has great things for you. What is your sting? I want you to think about that. What is God perhaps doing to make you more dependent on Him?

There is another who also asked three times for God to help him.

God bless you, well, bombs from the skies, a call, a call from the skies. Take care there please. We want you in the house of God but be careful with cell phones up there.

Well, what in the world was I just talking about? We are talking about that we all have our things, we all have our desert. We all have difficult situations that we go through that God uses to break us. And there is something I want to tell you: you are not alone in this. There is another who knows what you are going through and living. There is another who went through a situation that he did not want to go through and that he asked three times not to have to go through it. Who was? Where? In the Garden of Gethsemane, before the crucifixion, Jesus says 'My Father, 3 times, if it is possible that this cup may pass from me'. If it is possible for him to pass on me...... And he asked him three times, 'Lord, I don't want to go to the cross'. It was not just physical death. When Jesus died on the cross, he was separated from his Heavenly Father, he suffered an unimaginable separation, that we cannot even imagine. And he would say, 'Lord, if it is possible for this cup to pass from me.'

Have you prayed like this? Lord, if it's possible..... if it's possible..... And then he says something very powerful, he says 'but not my will but yours be done'. oh! All of us when we are in this fight, Jesus says 'I am with you'.

Guess what? When Jesus was at his trial with Pilate and he is there, he was totally calm. You do not remember? He is there and Pilate is looking at him in astonishment, saying 'How can it be that this man is there calmly, standing still, saying nothing? And he says 'Don't you understand that I have the power to kill you or let you live?' Do you remember what Jesus told him? 'You have no power or authority over me, if it were not given to you by God.' A resigned man, a strong man, a man standing firm, but he was able to do this, because he passed through the Garden of Gethsemane, he passed because of the suffering, he fought, he sweat blood, sweat with blood and for that reason he came out with new strength.

After conquering you, you become a conqueror. After being defeated by God, you become a victor, a victor. What happened to Israel? After Joshua stands there before the angel of Jehovah God gives him instructions. He says 'look, I'm not in charge here, you're in charge here.'

It's not a matter of being all weak or anything like that. You know that this is something that I am going to take advantage of to talk a little about our pastor since he is not here. Please turn off the computer if you are watching. There are some who have.... God has given them strong character, thank God, right? And God does it because they have to be leaders in a certain way and they are going to need a certain character to resist the devil. But you know what, and I see this in our pastor, that one can be strong-willed and as docile as a baby with God. And say, 'God, whatever you say, I do, whatever it is, even if it bothers me, even if I don't want to, if you say so, I'll do it the best I can, because I'm not in charge here, you're in charge' .

Lion of Judah if we are going to do the spiritual battle that we have to do, we have to be like children and not rebellious children, but subdued children, broken children, people who say 'Lord, here we are. ' We are strong, but we are weaker than ever. And you can ask us to do the craziest thing and if it comes from you we do it. And I do it in my life. God is calling you to be a conqueror, a conqueror. He is going to use you, God has chosen you. Everyone, everyone. Some who don't even know God yet how are you going to know him one day, but God has chosen you and wants to use you to do great things and He sees that you are going to conquer so He is now in the process of conquering you.

And I want us to start thinking. And I am going to invite the musicians and the others, we are finishing. But I want to invite you to think about your life. What are the areas in which you are not a subdued soldier? What are the areas of your life that you are still living your way and have not fallen on your face before a holy God to say 'this is your command, Lord?

And God is calling us with mercy because He helps us. Sometimes there are struggles, but if we come to the light, we seek mercy, there is mercy to help us and God knows you and He is going to fulfill his purpose in your life. He's going to use you, but first he's going to conquer you. And we are in a time of fasting and prayer. And you know what? It doesn't matter so much the details of your fast, some ask me, is it okay to drink juices, and orange juice? Is it okay to drink milk when I'm fasting? How about if I put a..... of sugar in my coffee? Is this a sin, when I am fasting?

Look, it doesn't matter, what matters is the heart. Jesus said 'what goes into your mouth does not defile you'. It is what comes out of the mouth. You can fast super well and you are cursing and talking like a sailor, treating your husband badly and this does cancel the fast. This yes, this is wrong, but the...... We are not going to be legalistic in these things.

But God is calling us to fast to submit, to submit the flesh, to come before Him and say 'Lord, we need you. We are not going to fight this battle ourselves, we need you, God. And that is why we seek you with fasting and prayers. Not to show off and say 'oh! We are the Pharisees. No, because I need you and when I fast I realize my human weakness, that I need my God, because without food I get tired, I am so fragile. No? And so we are.

And fasting we say 'God, here you are in charge of my life and you are going to make me a conqueror because I am in the process of being conquered by you'. Amen.

We are going to pray and I want to invite, let's all pray at some point but first I want to give chances. Are there some that you really want to accept Christ on this day? You mean 'I want to pray and receive Jesus. I don't want to wait any longer, I want to do it today. And we are going to pray and I am going to give you the opportunity to do so. So I invite you all to stand up and close your eyes.

And Lord we come before you this day. Lord, thank you that you are the Lord of hosts. You are, Lord, the captain of the heavenly soldiers of Jehovah and Lord, we are here before you, on this day and we want to know you better.