The power of impotence

This morning I preached in the ministry in English about how to face crises and the topic I had chosen is when what you fear happens, how to deal with anxiety. And you know that's part of a series that I've been preaching on, how to deal with difficult situations. The word calls us not to be anxious about anything. The Lord says not to worry about our life, what we will eat, what we will drink. The position of the Christian, the default position as fundamental of the son of God, is a position of abandonment to the Lord, of absolute trust in the Lord. And I had several points that I wanted to touch on on that subject, but one of them, which I think sums it all up, is when we find ourselves in difficult, threatening situations, where we don't know how we will get to the other shore, the most powerful weapon that the world has. Christian - look, I'm going to tell you this and perhaps it will surprise you a little - is to admit powerlessness, to admit that we are defeated and then, refer our cause to the Lord. And we could title this thought “The power of impotence.”

David's words in Psalm 131 came to my mind, when he says "as a child weaned from its mother is my soul." And you think of that incredible warrior that was David, he defeated a giant, had great victories against armies much more powerful than his own and for this physically powerful man, of immense value, to reach that point in his life of comparing himself like a helpless child, an abandoned child like a baby who has to depend on the grace, the provision, the love, the protection of his mother. And that image must be with us through life. I believe that the entire Gospel and Scripture reside in this concept, when a man or a woman hangs up their arms, stops fighting and abandons themselves to the grace and mercy of God. I believe that of all the most powerful principles in the Bible there is that principle of when we reach the end of our abilities, when we stop fighting and when we simply become an empty vessel, devoid of thoughts, intentions, ambitions, personal agency, expectations. from God and then we simply become a receptacle, a vehicle, an empty vessel for the Lord to pour His oil into and then He can use us.

And I think there are so many stories, there are so many stories about that, of strong men, women that there came a time when they had to admit that they did not have what it took to do what had to be done. I think of the mighty Elijah when Jezebel threatens him with certain death, and Elijah reaches the extreme of his emotional capacities, his neurology is burnt out after having that great confrontation with the prophets of Baal, killing hundreds of these men or being part of that process. And Elijah is filled with fear and goes to the desert and says to the Lord, “Enough already, Lord, I am no better than my peers. Take my life." That powerful man of God who had just been the instrument for an incredible miracle, fire coming down from heaven, a great victory for the purposes of the Kingdom of God, and reaching its end. And the Lord puts him to sleep, you know the story. I believe that the dream that Elijah experienced was not simply a physical, natural dream, it was also a dream, I believe that God induces this man and ministers to Elijah. Twice Elijah falls into a total torpor and when he gets up there is an angel there ministering to him with a cake and a bowl of water and he falls again after eating. Sleep. He gets up again, there is the angel to minister to him. And God shows this powerful spiritual giant that there are times when we have to let ourselves be ministered to. We have to get to that point of saying, you know what? I do not have what is required and now it is time for me to receive and not so much to give.

And the Bible is full of such examples. Let's think of Jacob, this strong man, with human resources, cunning, he doesn't give up, he always gets it out somehow, he gets away with it, as he did with his father-in-law, and the moment comes when he fights with the angel and he uses his strength, his physical strength and he is binding the angel and he wants to extract a blessing from that angel. And finally, the angel dislodges his hip, weakens him, neutralizes him, and then blesses him. Interestingly, the angel says, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, Israel, because you have wrestled with God." In a sense Jacob overcame by letting himself be defeated. Jacob wins reaching the extreme of impotence. And then, God blesses him. Let's think about the Apostle Paul, Paul is struggling with a thorn in his flesh, we don't know what the nature of that thorn was. I think it was something he couldn't control, something in his life that forced him to be ashamed, that reminded him of his limitations. God induces you whatever so that you do not exaggerate excessively, says the word, because all the blessings you have received, the revelations, the divine experiences. The man, the woman naturally produces pride, as an athlete produces sweat. Pride is inevitable in the human being. And the Lord gives him a preventive antidote and gives him something that forces him to always remember that he is not the last Coca Cola in the desert, that he is obliged to depend on the grace of God. And you know the story, he says, "God sent me a messenger from Satan," this was not something simple as some have wanted... it was something that came from evil itself, God mysteriously used that to confront this man with his humanity and He says, "about which I have asked him three times to be free of it and three times God has repeated the same thing to me, "My grace is sufficient for you because my power - a paradox - is made perfect in weakness." So, Paul, confronted with the inevitability of that impotence, says, "Well, because of this I have learned to rejoice in weaknesses, because if when I am weak I am strong, then I am going to celebrate my incapacity, I am going to celebrate my dependence on grace." of God."

And brothers, I believe that here we have the very essence of the Christian story and the most powerful principle of all in Scripture, is that principle that when we reach the point of admitting that by our own resources we cannot provide ourselves with what we most want . And that is why I believe that the Lord has made the drama of salvation so paradoxical, the fact that everything is by grace. Because the Bible says, "not by works so that no one can boast." And then, we discover that everything is by grace and that we have to immerse ourselves in grace and depend less on ourselves and preemptively admit, before we even start the race, that we are already disqualified and that only by the mercy and grace of the Lord we can serve it. And God takes care of before using any person greatly, disqualifying him and showing him his impotence so that then, everything is by grace and not by works. Salvation is by grace.

Now what does all that have to do, brethren, with the idea of crises and anxieties and struggles? And it is that I think that one of the most powerful ways to deal with the crises in life is to let go of God and stop fighting. And when the time comes when everything you try to do does not give you results, and you have done everything in your power to change your situation, you have prayed, you have fasted, you have fought, you have rebuked, you have exercised spiritual warfare, you have confessed all the sins of which you remember yourself and the others you put there preventively too, and nothing works, what God wants is that you simply abandon yourself to the Lord like that weaned child. And he knows that there is terrible power in the impotence cultivated in the name of the Lord. Not the helplessness that comes from pessimism or a sense of failure or anything that admits defeat in a sterile way. No, it is the impotence that one cultivates so that the glory belongs to the Lord and not to us. And when we do that, we mobilize the power and resources of heaven, and then, he says, okay, that's where I wanted to go. Now, step aside, I'm going to work. And I will solve your situation. I will provide you with what you need.

And that is why I think it is so important, brothers, that we in our struggles... I believe in prayer, and part of my sermon that I had in mind was about that, about the resources that we can use as prayer. , such as confession, spiritual warfare and many other things that have their place without a doubt. But I have discovered through the years, brethren, and the longer I live and move in the ministry, that the greatest power a believer has is precisely when he is on his knees, when he admits his powerlessness, when he reaches that point. who declares, Lord, by myself I cannot. I believe, help my disbelief. And then the Lord says, "Okay, now I can dwell in you." Do you know that the image… What is the most powerful image in all of Scripture of power, of agency, of effectiveness against evil? Which is it? a man mounted on a cross, nailed without being able to move, totally powerless. And the Bible says that there the Lord defeated principalities and powers. There the Lord achieved the greatest victory that has occurred in the entire history of the universe, he won salvation, eternal life for us, without doing anything, simply allowing himself to be crucified, simply allowing himself to be destroyed and totally surrendering to impotence and obedience to the Father, it's true.

And that is the image that must accompany us, brothers, throughout our lives and that must be the foundation of everything we do. Oh yes, I believe in effort, I believe in excellence, I believe that we have to do everything possible to honor the Lord with our efforts and everything else. That's important, of course. One of the things you discover is that God takes us seriously and that He expects us to do our part, but guess what? Everything we do has to be based on this recognition of our structural weakness. The fact that by ourselves we can do nothing and that everything is of God, by God, for God, in God, and that we have to put aside all sense of self-sufficiency, of self-justice, all these things. When a human being cultivates that sense of dependence solely on God, then God covers him, will always cover him, and the devil will then have no reason to attack or destroy you. You may go through the fire, through the test, but God will always get you through. And you then, by entrusting yourself to the Lord, you become powerful. Because many times this secret pride that in the last instance I'm going to be worth it in some way, I'm going to go out, be it praying, turning the saint upside down, as we say over there, but I'm going to force God to give me what I need in some way, fasting, giving money, tithing, whatever, everything is work. There is always something that tells us that yes, I can do something to change my situation.

But ultimately, brothers, the most powerful position to get out of a crisis, to change our situations, to have powerful, indestructible, non-defeatable ministries [sic], is when we become fragile in the Lord and as if in our subconscious there is always that judicial admission almost, so to speak, that I can't, I don't know, I don't have, and it's all because of God. We cultivate that. The more God gives us blessings, success in life, wisdom, success in the ministry, whatever, brothers, the more we have to aim towards heaven, always, always. Every Christian, behind all his actions, must always have a hand pointed towards God so that the glory is only for Him. And when you live like this, cultivating that humility, cultivating that impotence, giving up from now on, and then undertaking your actions, having admitted your total defeat in God, then, you are indestructible. God then takes care of it. What most mobilizes the power of God in our crises, in our situations, is this admission of our radical powerlessness, our fundamental need, the grace, goodness and mercy of God.

And I hope that we as a congregation will always be a church of that mercy and that grace towards others, a pastoral church, a church that loves the fallen, that loves the weak, that loves those who struggle, that sympathizes with the weak. The Apostle Paul says, "My brethren, if anyone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual restore him with a spirit of meekness, seeing that you yourself do not fall." That spirit, brethren, that we give to ourselves, we assign to ourselves that mercy, that grace, because again, Psalm 103, “As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him, because He knows our condition and remembers that we are dust." And when we use that as the starting point for all our actions in life, we are dust. Man is like the flower of the field that flourished but one day perished and its place will no longer know it.

So that sense of inherent weakness has to go both ways. We have to assign ourselves mercy, grace, tolerance, commend our cause to the Lord, undertake our battles knowing that we do not have what we need or what is required, that we have disqualified ourselves, and then, also assigning that same grace to others. that mercy. He who has mercy will receive mercy. He who sympathizes with the poor and the weak will receive compassion in their time of need. And when we cry out to the Lord then, He will hear our prayers, He will defend us, He will fight for us, because that controversy that God has with pride in man, that has wounded the heart of God through the centuries and centuries, pride spiritual. He believes that we can do everything and that is why God is always in charge of humiliating a man, a woman, before blessing and using him. We could avoid a lot of pain if we simply allowed ourselves from the beginning, when I am weak then I am strong in the Lord, and that is why I entrust myself to his cause.

This afternoon I leave you with that thought in your heart. We are going to be an empty people, we are going to be empty vessels, that we recognize our need, that we glorify ourselves in our weaknesses, that we always look towards that Christ who is the origin of all triumph, all victory, and then that we extend to our brothers as well that same compassion, and that we be a people of love and mercy. And that will free us from many afflictions and give us power in our battles. Amen. So hang your head for a second with me. We thank the Lord for all the blessings received last night, today, our cups are full, overflowing. We thank God for the talent they give to bless God's people and we thank you, O Jehovah, Almighty God, the only one worthy of all praise, all glory and all honor. When we receive blessings that come from you as we have received this weekend, we know that the glory and honor are only for you.

I bless my brothers, each one of them who is here, with their struggles, their weaknesses, our weaknesses, our requests before you, all of us who are toiling, loaded, worked, trying to do what we can, our children, our finances, our health, Father, all the things that we cannot solve, come your glory, come your honor, come into action in these weak bodies, Lord, in these lives that we do the best we can and always fall short. But this afternoon we rejoice that we have a God of great mercy, of great love, and we rejoice in our afflictions, our weakness, and we glorify ourselves in our sufferings, Father, because your sufferings administered by your spirit produce wonderful things. We are more than conquerors in all these things, we will overcome by the grace of Christ that moves within us. Because of these crucifixions we will be more powerful and everything will redound in glory and honor for your name. Thank you. Give thanks to the Lord in your weakness and we will live powerful lives because of the God who moves within us and who embraces us in his grace. Thank you Father, in Jesus name, amen and amen. God bless you my brothers.