The joy of the Lord is our strength

One is Galatians 5:22 which you already know. It is the origin of this theme of the fruit of the spirit. Paul says, "But the fruit of the spirit is love." Say everyone, love. Joy. Peace. No, but there are more people than I think I can hear a little better. say love Joy. Peace. Patience. Benignity. Goodness. Faith. Meekness. And temperance.

The Apostle Paul says that "against such things there is no law, there is no condemnation." He who lives in the fruit of the Holy Spirit is covered with a special bitumen, things slip, condemnation, the devil's attacks, because all that beauty of the fruit of the spirit keeps us healthy, keeps us invincible. So the first thing is that identification, the fruit of the spirit, love and after love, joy.

There is another text that I want to share with you that goes deeper into the subject of joy, which is Habakkuk, chapter 3, also a famous verse, or verses. Says:

"Even if the fig tree does not blossom..." and these things that he mentions are symbols of abundance, nutrition, prosperity, sufficiency. He says, even if these things are not present… So, he says, “Even if the fig tree does not bloom – by the way, Christ used the fig tree many times, it was one of those plants that was highly appreciated by the Hebrew people and throughout the Middle East, figs, imagine. Figs are rich, right?

But Habakkuk says, "Even if the fig tree does not blossom, - even if the fig tree does not come out this year - even if there are no fruits on the vines, - that is, imagine the wine, the grape, the fruit of the vine - even if the product is missing of the olive tree, – another great resource, the oil that was so precious to the Hebrews – and although the farms do not provide maintenance and the sheep are removed from the fold, and there are no cows in the corrals, with everything – say, with everything, yet, in spite of that, - I will rejoice in the Lord." Hallelujah!

You can go now. I fire them. Go home. “…yet I will rejoice in the Lord and be glad in the God of my salvation. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength, who makes my feet like servants' feet and makes me walk on my heights."

By the way, getting into the subject prematurely. He says that about making my feet like servants. You know that there are animals, the servants, that can walk on the very high rocks and do not fall, because they can hold on well. You have seen photos of that in nature, in nature and other things. These animals are very adept at walking in very rocky and dangerous places. And they walk because they have those servant feet. They can settle in well. So it's what he says, "The Lord, the Lord, is my strength, who makes my feet like servants' feet and makes me walk on my heights."

The person who decides to rejoice in the Lord, despite tribulations and trials, is a person who walks firmly. Even if you go through tribulations, even if you go through difficulties, even if you go through risks in life, you have some firmness. Joy is a wonderful thing. It is something we can never underestimate.

Some time ago I read an illustration of some miners in the 19th century when, during the gold rush, gold was discovered in California, and many people from different parts of the United States went to California at that time to seek their fortune, to seek gold. And it is said that there was a group of men who, while they were exploring for gold, discovered a large deposit of gold. And what they did was they said, well, here we have work for a long time. They returned to the nearest town, and they promised not to say anything about the gold they had found, because they wanted to be able to cultivate it by themselves, harvest it by themselves.

They went to the stores, they bought all the provisions they needed, the food, the tools, everything discreetly so that no one would realize that they had discovered gold. They made the journey back to the place where they found gold and at the moment they realized that people began to arrive from all over the place to also be part of the party to collect the gold. They got frustrated and started asking people, “How did you know there was gold here?” And they told him, "From the look in your eyes, from the joy that was seen in your eyes, we understood that you had discovered gold."

And brother, that's joy. It is something that when one has it, when one experiences it, it is difficult to hide it. Joy is contagious, it is attractive. People like to gravitate towards a person who is joyful. A joyful person in the Lord is a magnetic, attractive, charismatic person. People don't want to be where a person is out there with a runny nose, depressed all the time. People like the joyful person, the person who is celebrating the joy of the Lord. Joy is contagious. The opposite of joy, what is it? Sadness, negativity, depression.

I thought of Proverbs 17:22 which says, "A merry heart is a good medicine." How nice. Proverbs are very poetic. "A happy heart is a good remedy, but a sad spirit dries up the bones."

That's true. The opposite of joy is that sad spirit that dries up the bones. Joy has its own nutrients. Just thinking about the opposite of joy helps us understand why joy should be the spiritual state that normally accompanies the life of a son or daughter of God. A person who cannot express or experience the joy of the Lord, at some point, needs to re-evaluate their spiritual health and their relationship with the Lord.

We cannot get used to the lack of joy. We cannot get used to depression, to sadness. I know we all go through those times. That is natural. And there are people who, look, I tell them, that it's neurological, chemical issues that sometimes depression can be something medically very, very real. But at the same time, I believe that most of us who go through times of depression, sadness, anguish, and anguish, cannot settle for that. We have to be restless. When sadness, decay, depression visits your life, don't let it linger longer than necessary. Start at once. Find yourself a broom, over there and start giving brooms to sadness and depression. Don't settle for her. Understand that you have to go to war immediately then.

I am feeling this, I am feeling the other, but then, fast, pray, cry out, find yourself two or three people to accompany you and fight for your joy. Do not get used. Joy is not something that should be natural in the believer's life. God has called us to celebration rather. And that is important to remember.

It is possible to go through seasons of pain and anxiety. The Lord Himself sweat drops of blood and said, "My soul is anguished to death." It's natural. There may be anxiety, there may be sadness, there may be moments of depression. But they should be just that, seasons, temporary periods to be finally succeeded by joy again. We have to rescue joy. We may go through times of trial, loss, whatever, but know that sooner or later you are going to have to find joy again. See it simply as something temporary in which you come back to your natural state which is the joy of the Lord.

And I don't want to be simplistic here. When we talk about joy or joy, in biblical terms, we are not talking about a superficial emotional state. I said joy but it is not a correct word. Joy is something you feel when everything is fine, the opposite of Habakkuk, when the fridge is full of juice and meat, when you have a good job, when you have a good house and two cars in the driveway, when the children are they are behaving well and the husband is bringing flowers on Friday afternoon. So many people experience joy, experience contentment.

Joy is something deeper. That is why I chose the text of Habakkuk, it says, "Even if the fig tree does not blossom, even if there are no cows in the fold, even if everything is turned upside down, I will rejoice with everything," I am going to decide, because joy is a decision, knows? Joy is a decision.

Something that I have been writing this book that I am going to tell you more about later. I've read a little bit of him at times. And one of the things, through that sustained reflection, that has become clear to me, is that we have the power in our lives to decide many things, to determine what happens in our lives, because we have the power of God in us. we. We have the authority that Christ has given us. And many things depend on us, on what we decide, how we are going to live life, what we are going to feel, what we are going to experience.

When we believe that God has given me power and authority over my land, God supports me. And joy is one of those things. That we sometimes think that joy is something that happens to me, but no, joy is something that sometimes we have to grab by the bows and bring it into our lives and decide, I am going to live a joyful life. I am going to live a life of victory in Christ Jesus.

I love this sister here when she says amen with such enthusiasm. Let me tell you something about the Pentecostal churches and that is, amen, you know that one learns to be a Pentecostal to a certain point, people believe that there are things that to be a Pentecostal a little angel has to come and move its little tongue or make you jump. No, sometimes one has to decide to speak in tongues. Sometimes you have to decide to raise your hands. Sometimes one has to decide to take a little jump there. Sometimes one has to decide to say, glory to God, Hallelujah! Congregations have to learn to be Pentecostal. That's good. That's good.

Sometimes in the English service there's a kitten out there, amen. And everyone is silent. I mean, how good when the churches dare to say, glory to God, Hallelujah! And they use that fire that the Lord has put in our hearts. Joy is something that you have to rescue. You have to fight for your joy.

The mother of those young men that Saul killed, that he had to kill, came to mind right now. Not Saul but David, I think it was, because a famine came, because Saul had killed a tribe, a group, unjustly and God had executed them. And they said, "You have to give us the heads of these men who killed our brothers." And these men were executed and their heads were placed... And their mother says that she spent several days fighting against the eagles and birds of prey that came to eat the bodies of her children. And he was there day after day fighting for their bodies not to be raped.

And so it has to be with joy many times. Sometimes the devil's birds of prey want to steal your joy, they want to desecrate [sic] your spiritual ground. And you have to take the biggest hoe, the biggest bat and fight for your joy, rescue it. The devil wants to kill, steal, destroy, kill the visions of God for your life, the blessings that God has for you, but you have been given the authority to defend your joy, to defend your authority and your life.

You have authority and if you use it the Lord will give you more authority. We have authority, more authority than we think for many things in our lives, to defend our children, defend the peace of our home, defend our health, defend our joy, defend our effectiveness in preaching the Gospel, many things, but we have to take. "Look, I command you to make an effort and be brave."

Fan the fire of the gift of God that is in you, because God has not given you a spirit of cowardice but of power, love and self-control. You have the authority, now use it, use it. This is not the direction I was going to go but it is one of the things. We have to fight for our joy, we have to rescue our joy. I truly believe that only those who have been saved by Jesus Christ can experience the true joy that the Bible speaks of.

Because when people experience the healing, the transformation that comes through the entry of Christ into their lives, then they can feel grateful and joyful, because they know the before and the after. They know the contrast.

That is why when I read Isaiah 9, it says: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, light shone upon them, you multiplied the people, you increased their joy, they will rejoice before you as they rejoice in the harvest, as when they rejoice when they distribute the spoil, because you have broken their heavy yoke. and the staff of his shoulder, and the scepter of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.”

When Christ entered history he stole power from the devil. Satan had gloated over mankind for centuries but when Christ came He neutralized the power of evil. You know what the Bible says, it says, that "Christ came to undo the works of the devil." He came to disassemble the infernal, diabolical machinery, piece by piece. And on the cross, He dealt the death blow to death, to sin, to oppression, all of these things that have brought tragedy to humanity, and He saved us from all of these things.

So when a people experiences the liberation that comes from the entry of Christ into their life, that people can then know what joy is, because they know the darkness that existed before and the light that invaded after.

One can imagine the pagan world, before Christ came. Historians say, speaking about ancient times, if one reads writings from those times, the world was a terrible, dark place, demon gods, child sacrifices, wrathful gods and they did whatever they wanted. The gods of paganism, for example, Greek, Greek mythology, very sophisticated, but full of totally artificial gods and they did whatever they wanted. It didn't matter if it was fair or not. it was a world where people died and didn't know where they were really going. A world full of darkness, war, violence.

And Christ came into the world so that all that would end. And He came to undo those works of the devil. That is why Isaiah says that “…the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” When Christ entered the world, history began to change, to be something different. And we, who are the beneficiaries of that work of Christ, we who often live in darkness, he says, "immersed in our sins and crimes," says the Apostle Paul.

But now Christ has been sent. And you and I can understand what it is to live without Christ and with Christ. And then we can celebrate. I believe that there is no one more worthy of rejoicing in the world than a son, a daughter of God who has been forgiven, who has been redeemed, who has experienced the blessing and forgiveness of our God, who knows whether we die or that we live, we belong to the Lord. That to those who love God all things help good, that even though we go through tribulations, difficulties, everything has an end and the end is good.

Every day you have to take a pill of hope, of joy. Say, look, even though I'm going through this, this is going to happen. This too shall pass. God has something better for me. Don't lose hope. As a child of God you have a great inheritance and you should enjoy it.

The joy experienced by the believer, the daughter of God, is not a simple joy, it is not a simple and simplistic joy. It is joy, but it has a context around it. It is a complex joy. It is the joy of a person who has been sentenced to death and then at the last moment, when they are about to switch to the electric chair, he tells them, “Wait, the governor sent you a pardon. You can go home and you can live in peace because it was discovered that they were not guilty or that they have forgiven you and you can now be in peace."

Imagine such a person, who has been sentenced to death, is released at the last moment. Aren't you going to enjoy the rest of your life? Look, everything that comes from ñapa, everything else, he says, hey, this is free. This is how a person lives who has been… given an extension, a full pardon. And so are we the children of God. We have to understand that God has forgiven us, God has set us free, God has said, you know what? I had something against you but I'm calm now.

So, you have to cultivate that idea, see yourself as forgiven, accepted, restored, with a God who loves you, who has good purposes for you, who has already given you your passport to heaven and that everything that happens here is secondary. And that should be a source of joy and celebration for your life.

Another thing I want to add about joy is that Biblical joy is not something we can produce. I just said that joy must be rescued, that we have the authority to choose joy, but joy is not something that you produce by squeezing and squeezing yourself to produce it. It's not something that comes out of your psyche. It is not something that comes out of your human, biological, carnal mind. Joy is, the Bible says, the fruit of the spirit in you.

Joy is… visualize the Holy Spirit as a tree full of beautiful and beautiful fruits, like the tree in Eden, fruits of life. And that tree bears different kinds of fruit at different times in your life. You are not the one who produces joy, nor love, nor peace, nor meekness, nor temperance. It is the Holy Spirit within you… What you have to do is connect with the Holy Spirit, live in intensive communion with the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit is within you, it is producing its fruits, then you bear fruit easily. An apple tree, when apple season comes around, it bears fruit, and you don't see a tree out there squeezing and yelling, "I want to bear apples." No, the tree bears fruit because that is its nature, that is its genetics, it is its moment and the fruit comes from it in a natural way.

We have to understand that, that what we have to do is make sure that we are as close to the Holy Spirit as possible in our lives, have the greatest communion possible so that then, the Holy Spirit can manifest through us in joy, in peace. , in temperance, in meekness, in goodness, benignity, all those fruits of the spirit. It is the indwelling spirit of God that produces joy. What we have to do is channel it, let it pass through us, remove all obstacles and make our skin as thin as possible so that joy does not find any obstacle when it wants to come out through us.

Let us be filled with the Holy Spirit. God has spoken to me lately, more than ever, that I have always loved the Holy Spirit but there is a hunger, perhaps the spirit of God that is telling us, “Children, I want you to grow in me, to be filled with my spirit. ”

Lion of Judah, God is working in you. God is doing something and many of us are like a woman who is past 9 months and is about 12 or 15 months old and still hasn't given birth. imagine. If we don't give birth we are going to die soon like a mother. We have to give birth. I feel that God wants to give birth through us. God wants. And for this reason, brothers, we are going to seek more of the Holy Spirit, we are going to fast more, we are going to cry out more, we are going to tie our mouths a little bit and take time to seek the face of the Lord.

Get out one day, get out one morning, cry out to the Lord. Ask him to visit you, to fertilize you. I told Meche, there is a passage that one day I am going to have the courage to preach it in Cantares. Because God has given it to me as an example, I have never seen a comment about that passage in this way, as I see it. Perhaps there is because there is no new under the sun.

But that passage says, “We have a sister who doesn't have breasts, what shall we do to our sister when they talk about her? If it is a wall, we will put a silver tower on it. If it is - what is the other word? – Well, we will put… if it is like a board, we will garnish it with gold boards… A castle, we will put a silver tower on it, if it is a wall, we will garnish it with cedar boards. He says, I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers, when I was before his eyes like one who finds peace."

Complex. It is practically a poem, as is the entire book of Songs. But this idea that God wants to take over our sterility. A woman who does not have breasts for the Jews is… that is why this passage is difficult to preach. He has his things. But fertility. A woman who is not fertile does not have the adornment. And the Lord wants to adorn us.

Lion of Judah to a certain extent with all her beauty and all her things, she is like a sister who has no breasts. We have to be realist. With all the beauty that God has given to this congregation, all the wonderful things, the truth is that God wants to fecundate us. God wants our chests to be like towers. God wants our fertility to grow. And that fertility will come from that adornment of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us.

And we have to cry out to the Lord, “Father, visit us.” Because when you have the Holy Spirit within you, the Holy Spirit then manifests his gifts, manifests his fruit. You don't have to make an effort, that comes naturally.

People Lion of Judah, God is telling you, "Get into a corner with me and let us have love, you and I. I want to be intimate with you. I want to go to your store and have love with you.” But if you're out there doing the dishes with your bow all undone and a slipper all ugly, the groom won't be too thrilled. You have to get ready, you have to decorate yourself, you have to search, take a good bath, a little perfume, a little ointment, so that the groom falls in love with us. We have to search... I know that I am feeling that need, I have felt it for many years, but more than ever.

And God is calling us. "Become in touch with my spirit and I made sure that the fruit of the spirit manifested through you." The fruit of the spirit begins when you are blended with the Holy Spirit. It is not something of circumstances as Habacuc clarifies, it is something of the presence of God within you, the intimacy that you have with the spirit and then, that fruit of the spirit that will not depend then on circumstances, but on the presence of the spirit, is It will manifest freely in your life.

Joy is not necessarily connected with positive circumstances, financial prosperity, or physical health. None of these things can produce the joy of the Lord. Because it says “the joy of the Lord is your strength,” it is not your joy, it is the joy of the Lord. It is what the Lord deposits within you. It is the fruit of the spirit.

Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always,” meaning that it is in the Lord that joy is, not in you. It is not you who produces joy. It is the spirit that you allow to manifest within you that produces that joy. Joy is not a tickle there in the little ribs. No, it is a feeling, an experience that the Holy Spirit produces within you. Joy is not a passing emotional state, it is a deep and permanent feeling of fullness, of sufficiency that comes from having God's presence in your life.

Joy can break out when we feel the closeness of the Holy Spirit. When David broke out, for example, in a dance, he forgot his royal dignity. He forgot that he was in shorts, on world television and there with a little dress he began to dance like crazy in front of the entire crowd. His wife, who did not have the joy of the Lord, saw him and despised him. And when he got home from the happiest thing, he told him, "Hey, look how you got, like a random person there." And David rebuked her and that woman never had children. Mical was called, because he despised the Holy Spirit.

Because people who don't have joy, people who don't have the Holy Spirit, can't understand the joy that God puts in us. Because when the presence of God becomes close, when we are in a time of adoration, and the Lord enters and adoration and praise flow, we become almost transparent. Our skin becomes thin and thin and the Lord goes in and out through us. And we feel the joy of the Lord, his presence is there. All the problems go away, all the ailments, the rheumatism, everything goes away because you have the joy of the Lord within you.

That is why the writer says in Proverbs that "joy nourishes the bones while sadness dries them up." Oh Lord, give us the joy of your presence. Joy is not a simple experience. It will always be linked to something that has to do with eternity. The joy of the Lord and of the spirit. To the shepherds who heard the announcement of the birth of Jesus, he says, "Because I bring you tidings of great joy that will be for all the people," because eternity had invaded time and space.

Divinity had come to live with the fallen humanity of man. And it must have been something of great joy because when eternity enters and seeps into our existence, joy breaks through. And that's why joy is not necessarily linked to any emotional, biological thing. It goes deeper than that. That news of joy, that good news of joy, was because a Savior had been born, someone who would free the people from their captivity, from poverty, from ignorance, from hopelessness, from low self-esteem.

Once again the freedom of which Isaiah speaks, "the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." Joy invades, oppression leaves, fear, anguish and the celebration comes. Biblical joy will always be linked to the presence of Christ in us. That is why it is called the joy of the spirit. The Christ who dwells in us is the one who bears the fruit. He is the one who produces joy, not us. Just make yourself porous, make yourself penetrable, make yourself transmissible by the presence of God.

Joy resides in the spirit. It is always there along with love, peace, goodness, benevolence, all the other fruits that make up the character of the spirit. All of that is there within you. That is your legacy. That is your inheritance. When you enter into a relationship with Christ Jesus, along with Him come all those beautiful fruits, all that beauty comes and settles within you in potential.

Scientists talk about potential energy. A piece of coal has potential energy. Is there. Within that coal there is capacity to give heat. The tiniest thing in the universe, the atom has incredible stores of energy, so much so that it can produce an atomic bomb that can destroy a nation.

And the energy of God is within you in all its different manifestations, including joy. It is there. It is there like that healing that was in the pool of Bethesda, which the Bible says was there as a quiet deposit, but from time to time the angel came and moved it. And then it would acquire a capacity that was inside the pond, ready to sprout, but it needed to be moved. And then the first one to drop was healed.

I believe that within us it is like this: joy, peace, love, power, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are in us. We are like the pools of Bethesda. And we have to cooperate with the removal of those waters so that those gifts may sprout. Congregations have to be like that. We have to try new technology, we have to do exercises, we have to be like children experimenting with mud and rubber, silly putty. When we come to our service we have to deal with different things, as we did with praying with our sisters.

I believe that God wants us to start playing with the mud and with the dirt and the sand and that we start to see what God does. Let's see if something pops up. Because it is there. I rack my brains, but what can we do, Father, to find out? The gift is within us. The fruit is within us. Now, we are going to experiment, we are going to play, we are going to become like children. Let's see if something pops up. And we may be surprised at what God wants to do. If it is the moment, it is the moment and we will have results.

But you have to activate, you have to activate. You have to move. Congregation Lion of Judah, the power of God is within us. We are like a great atomic bomb that what it needs is a detonator to explode and take everything around us.

Father, help us and have mercy and break the inertia. Break the inertia because Satan wants to stop and kill the child before it is born. Satan wants to steal Moses' life before he can be the great deliverer of his people. Satan wants to kill the baby Jesus before he can be the healer of the nations. The devil comes to kill, steal, destroy, break, make ugly, ruin the great miracles that God wants to do. And we have to, like the mother of those boys, have our broom ready to scare away the birds of prey.

But there is something inside of us and we have to fight for our legacy, the call of God, the inheritance that God has given us. I will probably go to my grave but who knows if not long before then we will see the glory of God over the nations. We want to see something that is unprecedented. That's the problem with me. I believe so much in the glory of God that I am not satisfied with a small prize there of $5,000 dollars. I want a billion. I want the glory. I want what I have seen on the pages of Scripture, that is what we have to long for. We won't settle for less than that.

The devil is fighting and warring and forcing it not to happen, but we have to believe that we have to keep fighting. That woman has to keep bidding until the 14-pound guy comes out. You have to ask the Lord. Like the colors on a painter's palette – he knows that painters have that little platform and there they have white, black, blue, yellow, red, and they choose with their brush and paint with it. Well, the palette is held by the Holy Spirit and it is within you. It has all the colors. It has all the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, meekness, temperance, everything is there. And the Lord is going to use that deposit of colors and at times he is going to give you peace, at times he is going to give you love, at times he is going to give you... but it is there within you. The palette is pregnant with different colors.

Ask the Lord, Father, help me to use them. Help me put them in manifestation. In moments it may be the peace of God that manifests itself in your life. At times it will be the love you express to someone. At another time it may be the gift of the Holy Spirit, healing, miracle, interpretation of tongues, tongues, prophecy, revelation. That is all within us. God has been pleased to give us the kingdom, says the word. Everything is ours, says the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything belongs to us.

We have a God who has impregnated us with everything precious and admirable. And we have to become aware of that. Our problem is not so much that God puts in us the gifts and the fruit, it is that we recognize it within ourselves and that we remove all the obstacles that we artificially put in it.

You do not ultimately need to ask the Lord, "Lord, give me the gift of healing." Rather say, "Lord, make me so aware of the gift of healing in me that it manifests freely." That is the problem with us. We must ask the Lord to remove all the garbage that life and bad memories and terrible experiences from the past have thrown over our internal beauty. Take all that off and come the blessing and the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

That is what God wants for our lives. I believe that the children of God should be like those gold miners I spoke of at the beginning of the sermon. It should be hard for us to hide the fact that we know something most people don't. We must sit in a restaurant and people will think, “This guy is crazy,” because there is a twinkle in our eyes. We are eating the food as if it is something tasty and perfect, because there is something that we know that God has made in us.

We must have joy in our lives. We have a heritage that many times what we do is ignore or underestimate it. But it's there. People of God, we are going to ask the Lord, because that is the hallmark of the children of God.

Now, it's not like people have to be continually laughing their heads off in there in private. That is not what the Bible says. But yes, I believe that the children of God should laugh frequently, jokes should spring from us easily. We must laugh even at ourselves. Churches should be places of joy.

I love it when some sisters, I say sisters because so far the ones I have seen are sisters, I have yet to see a man come with bare feet in front. Usually it is the sisters who take off their shoes and come and dance and pray. I am filled with joy when I see that, because churches should be places of joy, they should be places of freedom where you can let your bow fall, if you have it. And I jumped like a child, he expressed himself as a child.

You know that, for example, speaking in tongues requires a child's mind many times, because the truth is that when you hear a person speaking in tongues you say, "This person must be crazy." But you have to be innocent to speak in tongues. You have to become crazy before the Lord. That's why David said to Michal, “Hey, you made yourself a slob,” he said, “Yeah, I slapped myself before God who made me king over my people.”

If you are not willing to pay the price of appearing crazy for the glory of God, then perhaps you do not deserve the gift. I ask the Lord, "Lord, make me simple," and God has not made me simple unfortunately. There is no one more tense than me in the world. But I know that's where I should go. And when you see me raise my hands, I'm paying a price, you know? Because otherwise the spirit will not flow through us. If you don't open your whole mouth you won't speak in tongues. If you don't say, be healthy, maybe the healing will not come. If God wants to heal, that's his business, but your part is to say, "Yes, be healed in Jesus' name." Your part is to pray for someone who needs prayer and leave the fruit to the Lord. He'll know what he's doing.

Pray for the sick and then send yourself to flee quickly. And let God take care of that. Forget the result. Believe the Lord. rejoice in the Lord. It produces joy in the spirit within you. Churches are to be places where people can worship the Lord.

León de Judá should be a place where people come with heavy loads and leave feeling lighter and full of hope. Churches should be places where jokes can be told and we can laugh with each other.

One person complained about C. H. Spurgeon, the great 19th century preacher, and said, “Mr. Spurgeon, I am very annoyed by the fact that you are always telling jokes when you preach. I should be a little more reverent." And Spurgeon told her, “Look lady, if you knew how many times I have to hold back from telling jokes, you would give me much more credit.” Because he was a man who had the joy of the Lord, although despite that he was a man who suffered from depression at times. C.H. Spurgeon had a depressive condition, as did Martin Luther. He suffered from many diseases, but he was a man who knew the joy of the Lord as well. His sermons are full of laughter, jokes, celebration because that part was also inside him.

To me, frankly, look, I tell you something, if I could I would raise all those curtains, all of them, so that the light enters. When we were designing this building, I sat down with the architect and said, "Glenn, put a lot of windows in the building." One of the things I like about the original sanctuary is that it has many windows, behind, on the sides, everything. And I like the light. I like to preach here and look out there and see clearly.

Churches must be places of light. Today it is sometimes the opposite. Churches today, pyues, we all want to be like nightclubs, all black, no windows, a lot of high tech, a lot of technology, but I believe that churches should be places where the light of God comes in and out and we can be in communication with nature. Because churches must be places of life, they must be places…

I believe that our music and our worship should reflect the innocence of children, the good humor of people who have been set free, who know they have a loving Father, who thinks well of them. The Lord was the first to call the Father, Aba, until then the Hebrews had God, Jehovah, they didn't even dare to mention the name, imagine. They did not put the vowels of the name of Jehovah because they were too sacred. They never mentioned the name of the Lord because they were afraid of him. And the Lord was the first to call Jehovah, Daddy, that means Aba, Daddy, Daddy. Imagine, what a bigger transgression.

Because the Lord knew, He had been in communion with the Father. Brothers, I believe that if we understood Papa's tenderness, it would frankly blow a fuse for us. God desperately loves us. There is a passage that says, "God will rejoice over us with songs." And when one understands that, then, one cannot be with those magic formulas of, “Oh, Great Creator of the universe, we go to you with fear and trembling. You who have created the stars and the cosmos…” No, one has to come, “Lord, hello, how are we? I'm here to have a coffee with you. Tell me. I want to hear you."

God likes simplicity. Sometimes I put aside grammatical correctness and speak in little sentences because the Lord knows what you're going to say anyway. That about languages. Languages is because everything you say is nonsense anyway, so speak in nonsense, you avoid a lot of problems and effort.

The Lord does not need your words. The Lord hears the groans of your spirit. When you speak simply, Dad is happy. What father wants his children to come dressed in three pieces and a bow tie and a bow to talk to them in the office. No, dad likes it when you get home from work and jump on him and dirty his pants. God is like that. God likes it when we approach Him freely, with all kinds of liberties.

Churches should be like that. Today, there is a lot of talk in theological circles about lament. It is a word that is very fashionable nowadays. And you may not have read that much about it, but when you read English, especially in the United States and in Europe, I regret, it's like we have to lament the terror of the world, all the sadness that there is in the world, the oppression, war, poverty. And it is true. All that is in the world and we have to recognize it.

This morning there was a time of intercession precisely for everything. This world needs liberation. The womb of the world needs to open now. And we recognized that. But also, brothers, there is time, as Solomon says, to cry and there is time to celebrate. There is time to lament what is happening in the world and there is also time to go to the beach and enjoy the water and eat a fried fish right there by the sea, on the sand. It's not that I'm hungry.

But there are many people who are full of regret. Lament. Like we have to lament the fall of creation and we have to live in lamentation. We can't eat a good steak with onions because if we eat there are Africans there who aren't eating anything and then I feel guilty. No. Eat your steak and send an offering to the Africans in need or the Indians or whatever, or the Latin Americans or whatever. You have to… you have to enjoy life. You have to choose freedom.

[A member of the audience speaks] Amen. I'm leaving too. [Laughs] You have to enjoy it. God wants you to enjoy this world. And it is not that you are going to ignore the suffering of the world, no, you have to serve the world. You have to love the fallen. What is happening in Ukraine right now is to be regretted. And thank God, you sent over $8,000 with the English ministry to Ukraine as well. Glory to God. That's good.

But one can do good and also enjoy good. Because God has set you free. Going back to Spurgeon, someone criticized him one day, they found him on a train going to a place where he was going to preach, and he was in the first-class cabin, and they said, “How is it, that a servant of God traveling in first class?" "Well, I have to take care of the servant of God and I have to take good care of him so that he can preach well when he arrives at his destination."

Do not worry. I'm not going to travel first class unless they give it to me for free. But yes, the idea is, we have to enjoy ourselves. Brothers, God has set us free. God has already accepted us. Look, we already passed the test and we have an A. Now all we do after that is yams, that's cream on the cake. God already approves your works, says Ecclesiastes. And the writer of Ecclesiastes says, "I have learned one thing," he says, "that there is nothing better than a man enjoying life, enjoying the woman God gave him in all the days of his youth, eating well , that there is never a lack of oil on his head, that he always dress in a white dress, because that is the end of man.” Therein lies the blessing.

Brother, God has placed you over the garden that is the earth. And that garden has a few withered little flowers, but it also has very good things. Enjoy them. When you leave here, go to Merengue or Doña Habana, wherever, and eat the best steak with onion or pigeon peas or sancocho that you can find, because that is your inheritance. That is your blessing.

He knows that when you die you're going to go to heaven, so everything that happens here, that is, you know, is a party. And many times the devil will come and whisper to you, “No, sorry. Look at your fallen condition. You are a sinner. You have offended God. This the other.”

Brothers, there are moments to remember our sins, but there are also moments to say, “Lord, thank you that you have set me free. Thank you because you have forgiven me. Thank you because you know that even when I am naughty and shameless, you still love me."

Because we cannot live all the time… there are brothers, there are people in this city, in this nation, who suffer from all kinds of mental temptations, sexual conflicts and other things, and they are struggling and sometimes they commit suicide and this and that. But also, you know, while you're struggling with your sting, learn to rejoice in the Lord. It's not that you minimize [sic] the importance of holiness. But look, if you're struggling with it and you're doing everything you can, then leave the rest to the Lord. Don't kill yourself. Don't shoot yourself. Don't live... The devil wants you to live continuously in fear, accusing yourself. No, do all you can in the spirit. Believe in the Lord's call to holiness, but also rest. Because God doesn't get anything out of you living your life there, lying on the floor, throwing dirt on your head all the time, guilty. You have to be practical in life. You have to know that God is merciful.

Paul asked the Lord, "Lord, deliver me from this sting." And God said to him, "Paul, be content with what I give you because my power is made perfect in your weakness." I am working on you. I'm doing something in your life. I'm bringing you closer to me. I am saving you from worse things. So rest.

People of God, God wants us to rest, even while we strive to please him, but there comes a time when you have to rest. If God did not heal your disease, still rejoice in the Lord. If God has not yet given you the deliverance you want, rejoice in the Lord. If God has not given you the job that you are longing for yet, rejoice and celebrate in the Lord, because when you are in heaven none of it will have meaning.

We have to learn to enjoy the joy of the Lord. In what is coming, the real, the true, rejoice here on earth. And do all the good that you can and obey the Lord, and have a voracious appetite for holiness, but also know that you are on earth and that your neurological system will betray you at times. And that the devil is going to send birds of prey to perch for a moment on your mind. But then, rest in the Lord, because the joy of the Lord will be your strength, not sadness, not self-accusation, not the whispers of condemnation and death, but the love of your Father who knows your condition, who knows that your You are dust, you know that you want to help as much as possible but sometimes you get muddy. Children, babies get muddy even if they don't want to and the mother instead of despising them, loves them more. Look what things.

You understand? This is quite complex. It is a mechanism that is tense and contradictory. But God wants us to be complex and God wants his people to live in joy, that in the midst of tribulation, losses, failures, struggles, waiting, nights that take longer than one would like, sleeplessness that haunts us, that in the midst of that, ah, let's take a deep breath and rest in the Lord.

Let's stop fighting. Let's stop fighting. Many times our greatest suffering comes because we fight too much. If we just gave up and stopped fighting... Lifeguards tell people, "Look, if you're just sinking, stop flapping your arms, just... and you'll float."

Sometimes the more one flutters, the more it sinks. And in life it is like that. We have to find that posture like a Zen Japanese, who simply learns to float in the Lord, to rest in the Lord. Do everything you can, pray, fast, ask the Lord, but if God did not give you the answer you needed, do like David when they told him "Your son is dead." After fasting and not bathing for several days, he said, "Okay, well, the Lord has given his ruling." Now I'm going to go to the bathroom, I'm going to put a little scented oil in the bathtub. I'm going to take a good bath. And cook me the best steak in the whole house. He ate, left, made love to his wife and from there a son was born, Solomon.

Brethren, I know that I am speaking to many here now. Some of you have had great losses, you have had great failures, the day that you have been asking the Lord for has not yet dawned. There are pains in your life, there are bad memories that you have. And you have a choice, you can either live continuously sorry for it, resentful and sad, or simply say, "I will rejoice in the Lord."

Forget sexual abuse, woman. Man, forget the failed marriage. Forget when you misbehaved with your kids or abused them or whatever. Forget all the years you wasted on alcoholism. Now is the time to celebrate the grace of the Lord in your life. Don't live under condemnation. rejoice in the Lord. That is the inheritance of the children of God. And I'm preaching to myself, more than you know.

I am overwhelmed by the grace of that God with whom I deal. When I think of God's great love, the truth is that it blows my brains out. The love of God is wonderful. Thank you. His kindness, his good intentions for us. God has good intentions for you.

If at any time you fell into a difficult situation, if you suffered something, a violation, decide, you have the power to decide, I am going to rejoice in the Lord and I am going to look ahead, or I am going to stay there stuck in that failure, whichever is. You have to smear a lot of shoe polish to make things slip on you, you know? We have to be resilient, come out ahead of everything, hit the devil with home runs everything that throws us in our direction. That is the inheritance.

Father, we adore you. we bless you Oh, receive the grace of the Lord now. Receive the love of your Father. It is God who is speaking to you, it is not me. God is saying to you, “Son, I love you more than you could ever imagine. I love you with an atomic love. I love you with a love greater than that of a super nova star when it explodes. My love for you is consuming. I repress it because if I felt it all, it would kill you, it would consume you. God's love is great for your life.

People, God loves you, God loves you. God loves you. God has good purposes for you. And with the help of the Lord, all that you have gone through, all that you have suffered, all that you have not been able to produce for the Lord, God says, “Don't worry, there is still time. Now enjoy yourself, celebrate, eat well, sleep well. Adore me."

Stand up and receive in the name of Jesus. Raise your hands. Father, I speak this pregnant word in your name. It is your life, Lord, in your children. Don't let Satan and the birds of prey steal that in flight. May a very strong, very vital seed reach the hearts of your children and go deep, deep, deep, and begin to sprout, Father, that green, beautiful plant that will bear fruit and fruit in abundance.

In the name of Jesus, make your people, Lord, a pregnant people, a fertile people, a people that bears fruit, like that woman who has no breasts, Father, but who explodes one day in fertility for the glory of your name.

And from now on, we celebrate your life in us, Father, your fertility in us. Oh, God, give us a day when we will die of surprise when we see what you have for this generation. We love you. We love you. Yes, thanks.

Brothers, if there is someone right now who has received a touch from the Lord in their life, if you want to accept Christ so that He fertilizes you, so that the groom par excellence touches you, I invite you right now to ask the Lord to come into your life, visit you.

If you want, you're going to have to raise your hand high so we can stand apart like the woman with the issue of blood, who stood apart among everyone who was there. If you want to invite Christ, you can come forward, you can raise your hand. Stop by here, or you just want a prayer to renew your pact with the Lord, here it is open.

Amen. Come here. Come on. We wait for it. Raise your hand. Whatever you want, kneel, shout, throw yourself on the ground, roll over, whatever, but give the Holy Spirit a sign. Remember what I said, we have power to do things in the name of the Lord.

Do you want to accept Christ? Raise your hand or come over here. Or else, we are going to pray for you, by faith. Thank you Lord, thank you, thank you. We rest in you. We give you glory, we give you honor. Thank you for this moment, Father. we bless you Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thank my Lord. Thank you.

Let no one leave here without marrying you this afternoon, Lord, without doing what they have to do. We declare the comb of your spirit combing your people, Lord. The rake of yours, raking the congregation, detecting where there is a need and doing the work in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah!

Distinguish the children who need a touch of your spirit this afternoon, Lord. We adore you. Worship the Lord. This is a time of worship, of spiritual harvest for what God has said. Worship, praise the Lord, people. We have the right to praise, we have the right to shout, we have the right to celebrate. Hallelujah! Father, make us partygoers in the spirit. Oh, that we can rejoice in what you are going to do, Lord. We adore you and we bless you, Jehovah. You are good. Hallelujah!

You deserve praise. You deserve glory, honor and honor. We adorn your throne with our worship, Father. Oh, God, let Boston feel the presence of God's spirit. Let healing come. May power come, a strong visitation of your spirit, Lord. Hallelujah! We rejoice in you. We adore you. we bless you We celebrate your presence. Hallelujah! Glory to the name of Jesus. Amen, amen. Glory to God.