the gift of faith

First Corinthians, Chapter 12. Last Sunday you will remember that as a very blessed passing consequence of the presence of our brother Adlan Cruz with us, we had to preach a sermon that was more appropriate to the moment. We talk about the gifts but with respect to Second Timothy, Chapter 1 where Paul advises Timothy to fan into fire the gift of God that is in him. And we talked about the gifts that have to be exercised, developed in order to enter into their full manifestation.

And the Sunday before that we talked about two of the gifts that Paul mentions. There are 9 gifts that First Corinthians mentions, but they are not all the gifts that God distributes to his people.

If you read Romans, Chapter 12 there is another list of gifts there. Where gifts are mentioned that are much more humble, so to speak, than the gift of prophecy and the gift of miracles. There is, for example, the gift of teaching, or the gift of serving. Paul talks about many different gifts throughout Scripture. For example, there is the gift of continence, there is the gift of presiding and directing. There are gifts of administration, etc. So there are many different gifts. This is a list that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to list in an almost ad hoc fashion, that is, on the spot. It was simply examples that he was giving of how the spirit of God can manifest itself in many different ways and always remain one, the one spirit, the spirit of God manifesting itself upon His people in different ways.

Last Sunday we talked about two of the gifts. Do you remember what those two gifts were? The gift of wisdom and the gift of knowledge. Here in our Reina Valera translation it is called the gift of knowledge, but the original word in the Greek is 'gnoseos' which means knowledge, rather, from there comes the word gnostic, cognitive, etc. So I believe that the best translation is the gift of knowledge.

Now, Paul in verse 8 says: "... because this word of wisdom is given by the spirit, to another word of science or knowledge, according to the same spirit,...." And now in verse 9 there's a third gift that Paul points to, he says, “...to another, faith through the same spirit...”

Let's dwell a moment on the gift of faith. Now, remember that I am talking about these gifts not simply to inform you in a, let's say theoretical, academic way, because in reality what I want you to understand is that God determined those gifts for as long as the church was on the earth.

I rebuke that teaching that the gifts stopped working when the Scriptures were completed and what they call the canon was closed, that is to say that no more books of the Bible were added and then some say that we have the Bible we do not need the gifts. Some say that the gifts were only for the beginning of the history of the Christian church. That is absolutely, in my opinion and many others, unbiblical. It has no biblical foundation.

God gave the gifts so that while the church was on earth, it would have all the supernatural help it needed to carry out the tasks God had given it. Amen. That is very important for us to understand.

So, I say that because God wants you and I, the church of Jesus Christ to move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Every church and the church with a capital “I” in general has been gifted by God to be able to perform all the tasks that are offered to the church.

God wants a conquering church. God wants a church that is always moving forward. God wants a church that shows that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God wants a church that has musical gifts, that has gifts of prophecy to build up the church, that has gifts of knowledge for the tasks that the church has to carry out in its administration and other things. God wants a church that has gifts of miracles, because miracles are needed sometimes to be able to advance in the things of God.

So those gifts are for us. And you can be touched by the spirit of God to live and manifest one of these gifts, either through your life in a repetitive way or at a given moment in your life when the Lord needs you to do something in particular and God can activate that gift in your life.

The gift of faith is one of the most complex gifts and it is one of the gifts that is also often combined with other gifts. So, it is very difficult sometimes to separate the gift of faith, for example from the gift of miracles, or the faith that we receive from God from other things that God does, because faith is absolutely essential in the life of the believer.

I am struck by the fact that Paul speaks of a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, but then he says, “....and to another faith, by the same spirit....”

Because I believe that what Paul is trying to say is that God, at a given moment, can give any person a measure of faith, can give him a move of faith in his spirit for some task in a given moment, some situation of need, some crisis.

God can distribute the gift of faith instantly to a mother, for example, believing God to pray for her child to be healed when the doctors have given word that there is no chance.

For example, I think the Syro-Phoenician woman who approaches Jesus, this woman doesn't even know the Gospel. She is a foreign woman from another country, she is not Jewish and she approaches Jesus and says, 'Lord, my daughter is tormented by a demon and I believe that you can heal her and I ask you to heal her.'

And then the Lord starts a little game there telling her, 'no, I can't heal your daughter because I've been sent to the Jews, you're not a Jew, and the word says not to give food to the Jews. puppies'.

And it's almost like an insult, imagine, telling this woman, because you're not Jewish, you're like a little dog and I can't give you and your daughter the Father's food. And that woman, in a humble but very firm way, refutes what Jesus has just told her. He tells him, 'Yes, Lord, but even the little dogs have the right to eat the crumbs that fall from the table.'

And that shakes the Lord and says 'oh, woman your faith is great, your faith is great and by that word that you have said your daughter is healed at this very moment'. And when she comes back she finds that her daughter was healed the moment Jesus Christ said.

What happened there? I believe that woman was endowed with faith at that time, as Paul says. She received faith to hold on first to draw near to Jesus, and second to hold on to Jesus until she received what she knew Jesus had. Do not be intimidated by the answer that Jesus gives to prove it. Because that was only what the Lord did, but rather that at a given moment, God gave him faith to even... I could say that perhaps the gift of wisdom also operated there, who knows, because it was like a response from a lawyer. She used the same words as Jesus and seized him and said, 'ah yes, but even the little dogs that you say can't eat from the table can eat the crumbs, so if you give me a crumb and you're powerful with a crumb as well as with the whole delicacy, for then my daughter can be healed.

And he caught Jesus. As a judge is sometimes caught by a skilled lawyer who uses the law to give the answer that the judge cannot escape because he is caught by the law. I believe that woman also received an endowment of wisdom and the gift of faith operated there. And of course, I would also say that he operated through Jesus so that Jesus would say, 'Woman, right now your daughter is healed.'

You see that is the gift of faith. Note that it does not even say a gift of faith, it simply says '... faith is given to another by the same spirit....' and that faith can run in our lives. There are so many wonderful examples of faith in that sense, of a supernatural endowment from God and there are so many, I can pick at random: the woman with the issue of blood.

Look how faith works. This woman has an urgency to receive healing and receives faith from God for... it is a raw faith, it is a completely naked faith, it is a caveman faith, the faith of the woman with the issue of blood, because she was almost mixed with a bit of superstition, one might say. Because she gets into the crowd, she violates even the Jewish law that said she couldn't mix with people because she made them unclean by her blood flow. And she elbows between the people, she gets in and the only thing she can do is touch the hem of Jesus' cloak.

So what happens? There is a shudder in Jesus' body and she stole power from Jesus. Wow! It's like those people who get hit, there in Latin America, I hope no one has done that, but they hit the electricity cables and steal electricity. I know no one has ever done that. What's more, I know that this never even occurred to you, but it happens many times. Skilled people attach a cable to it and steal electricity and let those who have to pay for electricity make use of it as they can, right?

But this woman plugged herself by faith into the power that was in Jesus. She received faith and that faith sucked...it sucked energy from Jesus, so much so that the Lord trembled and said, 'who touched me?' And the disciples were there saying, like who touched you? Everyone has touched you here, there is a crowd that is pressing against you. No, someone touched me.... what he meant was with faith. Someone received faith and that faith was made like a conduit.

Because, brothers, that's the thing, when you receive faith from God, your faith is like... that's nuclear, that's atomic, it's like you put a straw to power of God and you directly pull the power of God. I wish God would help us live in that faith, brothers.

Because many times God is endowing us with faith but we do not dare to believe the Lord and we let a number of obstacles stand in our way.

I wonder how many things I have stopped receiving in my life or in my ministry because I did not have faith in the Lord. And God gave me faith but I did not dare to act on that faith and God's blessing was withheld. Because there are things that are like automatic.

In the dimension of faith it is like scientific principles. If you learn to move, and I'm not a Christian Scientist, understand me, but there are principles that operate and if you stick to those principles you receive faith and you receive the power of God through faith. And God has to respect that principle because God is a God of principles. And if you operate according to principles of faith, look brother, I believe that God is going to bless, God is going to honor your faith.

Now, if you are faint-hearted in your faith, then you are the loser. Because you know what? there is also a case, as well as people like her. And let me give you another case of strong faith, then give you a case of faint faith and look at the difference, look what happens. That's why I tell you brothers, let's be careful, I'm the first to tell myself this. Because I believe that God always wants to use us in greater and greater measures and we are often robbing God of the opportunity to use us as an instrument of his glory.

But think about the faith of the friends of the paralytic. These men have a friend who is paralyzed and they take him on a stretcher to a house where the Lord is preaching. And when they get there the house is packed with people, there's nowhere to go in and they get the bright idea, 'hey, why don't we peel off the roof and put it in there? They didn't think that was against the law. They did not think that the owner was going to get upset with them and that he was going to file a lawsuit against them. They did not think that the poor man could fall from the roof and kill himself and then they would have a big problem. They didn't think if the Lord was going to tell them how dare they interrupt me right now. They had faith to continue with their purpose. They go up to the roof, they go down to this poor man, who must have been saying, why did I get into this mess. And suddenly straws or paint begin to fall from the ceiling and the Lord stops and boom, here he is lowering this stretcher with a paralyzed man.

And the word says that when the Lord saw their faith, he was amazed and stopped what he was doing. Many times, brothers, there are moments when faith stops. I could even say divine processes, okay, that's terrible, I'm going to cover myself when I say that. But there are times when faith can be so powerful that, I am not going to say that it changes the purposes of God because God knows from the beginning to the end, but seen from the perspective of time and space it is as if the course of the purpose of God was changed.

And there are things that happen and God loves when one of his children puts him in those predicaments. Because when the woman with the issue of blood touched Jesus, the Lord was going to heal the daughter of Jairus, I think it was if I'm not mistaken, is that right? Now I'm somewhat capricious, every time I mention the... the Lord was going to heal the daughter of Jairus, an important man in the city. He wasn't out to heal anyone else, but when this woman got in his way and touched him, she stole his faith and stopped him and he had to talk to her, minister to her, and then he went on his way.

Because when a person has faith, look, God stops, brothers, in what he is doing. I'm going to put it in that poetic metaphorical way. You don't know the power that you have within you. The Lord said, look, if you have faith like a mustard seed....

Have you ever seen a mustard seed? If you have seen it, it is because you have good glasses or you have good eyesight, because a grain of mustard is a tiny thing and the Lord, using hyperbole, said, look, because the disciples said, 'Lord, increase our faith', and the The Lord told him 'hey, cretins, what faith or faith. If you had faith like a mustard seed...' is what he wanted to say, 'what faith am I going to increase if you don't have any. If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to that mountain, 'move and throw yourself to the bottom of the sea', and it would have to obey you.

That is faith. Brothers, I tell you, and that faith is among you. That faith is here in this Lion of Judah congregation. Oh, if we truly believed that. What happens is like in the case of Timothy, our faith is like a weak little arm that we have to fan, I advise you to fan the fire of the gift of God that is in you.

Many of us, God wants to bless us, God wants to bless us by giving us health. God wants to bless us by giving us financial solutions to our problems. God wants to bless us by giving us better jobs. God wants to bless us by healing our marriage and winning our children for the Kingdom of God. God wants to bless us by starting new ministries in our lives. God wants to bless us by bringing revelation in our dreams and releasing gifts.

But, brothers, many of us are sleepy. We are like the character in the parable of the talents, where God gave each one a talent. And he gave certain measures: to one he gave a certain amount, to another another, to another another, because God gives all his children something.

Paul talks about moving according to the measure of faith we have received. Each of you has a certain amount of faith and what can we do. Believing God and then beginning to move in the measure of faith that God has given us and beginning to surrender that faith and expand it, develop it more and more.

And while we move in faith, because look, faith is often not something you feel. Sometimes yes, I believe that God can, and perhaps I will have the opportunity to show you an example of this, sometimes God can put a fire in you that is explosive faith, it is faith that ignites, it is faith that roars like a lion, it is who dares to confront even the hosts of hell in the flesh if necessary, but there are times when faith is something that is within you and you are going to simply have to believe that God has given it to you and act purely on obedience.

And even if you don't feel anything, take a step and believe that God is with you. Sometimes God is going to ask you to go and talk to someone and share the Gospel with a person. And you're not going to feel any power, any special endowment, you're going to feel inadequate, but you have to choose whether you obey God at that moment or simply say, 'Well, I don't feel confident, I don't feel adequate. '.

And when you begin to walk, at the moment of walking, the power of God begins to flow into your life. And when you get close to that person and you start to stutter and talk to them, the power of God begins to move. Because the power of God moves in faith, for faith, for power.

When the 10 lepers say to Jesus Christ 'heal us,' the Lord tells them, 'all right, go away and report to the priests. And they must have said, "OK, but we didn't ask you to send us to the priests, we asked you to heal us." But you know what? They believed the Lord, because there was a procedure that when a person was healed of leprosy, they had to appear before the priests and they were the ones who certified that person was healed or not. Then the Lord sends them, he does not heal them, but he tells them, 'Go and present yourselves before the priests.' What's happening? It says, that while they were walking they were cleansed because it is when you obey the Lord that you begin to move.

I believe that in times like the ones we are living in history where the power of God is scarce and where the church has not been well instructed in the manifestations of God's power, faith is going to begin to flow like a weak trickle of water and as the people of God exercise their faith and do works of faith, that power of faith will grow and manifest itself in more spectacular and powerful ways. But in the meantime we have to proceed.

If God gives you the opportunity to pray for a sick person, lay hands on him in the name of the Lord, find yourself a bottle of Goya oil and always carry it in your bag, and if a cat moves and there is no hair, pray for him in the name of Jesus and ask the Lord to restore that cat's hair. If there is an opportunity to pray for someone, look, pray in the name of Jesus and say, I am a man, a woman of faith, I am a servant of the Kingdom of God, I have power in the name of Jesus and dare in the name of the Lord, dare to utter words of faith, dare to prophesy in the name of the Lord.

If you have a dream and you believe that dream has some meaning, pray to God, don't just say, well, I ate too much cake last night and that's why... No, believe, Lord, what are you saying to me with this? Write the dream. Ask the Lord for wisdom because many times God is giving us things and we do not believe them, we do not receive them and then we grieve the Holy Spirit and the power of God then does not manifest itself with more power in us. Because? Because the church of Jesus Christ is operating in a secular mindset at this time.

And if you say, oh, God doesn't move like that, well, look, that's how it's going to happen. God is not going to move like this because according to your faith it will be done to you, says the word of the Lord. And I preach this message in the name of Jesus to open our hearts. I preach it to myself, I ask you, Lord, that this does not remain just a mere theory, because we want to be a people of faith. We want to open our minds so that your power can manifest. We want to be empty vessels that you can fill with your grace and your power. Hallelujah!

God needs hungry vessels, eager for the power of God to be manifested. I want in the name of Jesus to activate our supernatural perspective through these sermons. I want us to become people who believe in God and many times believing God is going to mean walking for a while in the desert trying to do things and nothing happens, but you go on and on and on until you find out the pipe of heaven and the power of God begins to flow.

On many occasions we see that in Scripture, God told Elijah, it's going to rain because Elijah prophesied that when he said it was going to rain, it was going to rain. Do you remember the story? Elijah built an altar, the fire of the Lord came, the false prophets of Baal were destroyed and the people were ready to receive God's blessing. And what happened? Elías went to a mountain, from where he could see the sea, and he was waiting there and nothing happened. And he sent his servant several times and the servant went to see if there was a cloud, it had not rained in Israel for many years. There was not a cloud to be seen anywhere and the servant goes several times.

Why does God put those things there? Because, brothers, many times it is like this, faith depends on one wishing, on one daring, on one touching insistently, on one proving to God, so to speak, that I believe God enough to try a little more than that. the usual.

Listen, because if God gave us things immediately, you know what? our faith would always be a rickety faith. We would be like babies, that every time they cry, the mother comes to put the pacifier in their mouth at once. So what's up? The child does not develop emotional complexity, does not develop patience, does not learn to wait, does not learn to discipline himself in his sleep. And what does mom do? You let him cry there for a long time, don't you? And so the baby is learning that there is a difference between the mother and him. Babies often do not draw differences between their own personality and adults, they are like an extension of them, in their ultra-childish mind. But when they cry and the food doesn't come right away, they say, oh, wait, my mom is not me, they are two different things. There is the mother snoring freely and he there crying there. And the baby then learns.

Some of the young pastors here are recognizing exactly what I'm saying. I'm not even going to look that way over there, right? One sometimes sees them arrive like this with their eyes all ruined and there dragging their feet. They had a bad night.

But, brothers, God sometimes makes us wait and that the first steps we take are steps in the desert, and that we try and nothing is given and that we try and the blessing seems to not flow, but that we have to keep persisting, persisting, persisting.

There are so many passages in Scripture that tell us about the persistence of faith. Faith is linked to persistence. Faith is linked to initial efforts that do not bear fruit but that later if you maintain yourself, the Lord blesses and honors. That's why you can't give up right away, that's why you can't wait for a little angel to come and touch you with a magic wand and little stars come out of your head so you can give to the Lord and live a life of power, and faith, and authority, and boldness in the name of the Lord.

God tells you, No, first move in faith and then I will bless you. What does he do with the woman, the widow of Sarepta? When Elijah arrives at the house he tells him,... look how interesting this passage is, for example, God tells Elijah when he is at the Querit stream, he tells him, go to a widow in the city of Sarepta because I I have given orders that she feed you. And when Elías arrives at this woman's house, he entered mapquest into the computer, and they gave him her address, he arrives at this woman, this woman does not know who Elías is. God has not said anything to this woman, but God said, I have given the order that she feed you.

You see, brother, this is wonderful because there are so many things that God declares about his people and there are things that God has already declared about your life but now you need to pull the cable so that what God has declared in heaven, can come down to earth and bless your life. That wire is faith. That cable is to act even though your emotions, your mind, your will say, 'don't do it because there is danger, you're going to slip and you're going to break your head'. But you have to act in the name of the Lord because you have to believe that God has declared things over your life. God has declared gifts over your life. God wants to bless your life. God has called you not to be the tail, but to be the head, says the word of the Lord. God has said, because I know the thoughts I have for your life, thoughts of good and not of evil. And there you are complaining about how unfair the world is, how bad people are, how much they hate you, how little they understand you, your parents who abused you, who never said anything good about you, and God is saying, 'but I have the thoughts that I have for you, thoughts to bless you, thoughts to give you the end that you desire.'

And who are you going to believe? To your emotions, to your mind, to your experiences, or are you going to believe God who has said, 'I have given the order that you be fed and that you have everything you need.' < p> God told Elijah in an environment where there was drought, famine everywhere. Today, we hear about economic problems, recessions, deflations, inflations and all these kinds of things and we tremble. Brothers, when God wants to bless you, he can bless you in the middle of the desert. God can command ravens to bring you food. God can command Osama Bin Laden to come and bless you, if necessary.

God knows no limitations. If we believed in the Lord, if we armed ourselves with an aggressive faith that believes God and expects God's blessing. If there is something that I can say, brothers, I live believing that God is going to bless me, it is something that I have in my heart and in my spirit, that is why sometimes I get into so much trouble, because I believe that God has good things for me and that there are more blessings than I have already received and sometimes that allows me to dare to do things that do not seem very prudent, but I believe the Lord.

And when one lives with that expectation, that faith, it is a posture of faith. I believe that God gives us that kind of faith in different measures. That's why Paul says, '...to another faith by the same spirit...' but you have a measure of faith. There is in you a measure of faith to do great things, and a little bit of faith used by a man, or a woman who dares, that little bit of faith can change the history of humanity, if you believe God. There are moments like this when God speaks to us and we have to ask the Lord, 'Father, give me discernment to believe you and to believe.'

Raab, this woman also a foreigner, God gave her a measure of faith at one point. Jericho was set to be destroyed and God sends some Hebrew spies to come into the city and this woman is given faith to believe that these men are in fact from God and she had better make her peace with them. And when they come looking for them, because they find out in town that foreign men have come and they are spies, she hides them, but before hiding them she tells them, 'Look, I'm going to hide them, we're going to make a deal. : I hide you, but when you enter to possess the land, you are not going to kill me or my family, you are going to give me a resident visa here now in my town, and you are going to spare everyone's life my beloved ones'. They say, 'ok, let's do the deal.

She hides them. They come looking for them, she tells them a lie and protects them and then when they come to destroy Raab's family and Raab is left unharmed and that has changed the course of history, because Raab is still mentioned in the Bible and today we are mentioning her here three thousand plus years after she lived. This woman believed, received a measure of faith at one point to identify these men and to act on what she was feeling and seeing.

And so, brothers, God is continually speaking to us. God wants God's people to wake up. I feel that God is telling me right now, you brother, wake up my people, open your spiritual antennae. Live in the dimension of faith. Dare to believe me, undertake daring things. Take off the veil that covers your understanding, the secular veil, the rational veil, the conservative veil, the shy veil, the veil of counting your coins before launching yourself and believe me and live an aggressive life, live a daring life. Dare to believe me. Dare to think big things. Dare to conceive great projects. Dare to believe that your destiny is a great destiny and not an anonymous destiny and live each day waiting for a directive from me. Live each day with your orders in hand, waiting at any moment for me to activate them and do something great in your life. Always live in the expectation that I am going to speak into your life and I am going to bless you in some way, and I am going to use you in some way.

Brother, if you dare to believe God in this way activate God's faith in you, your life will change completely. Many of the things that I enjoy at this stage of my life is because years ago I dared to believe God about something, and still, I tell you, the best is ahead.

And I want to believe God more and more every day. These messages that I am giving, I am giving prophetically, inseminating the spirit of my brothers, impregnating the spirit of my brothers, with the prophetic word of God and unleashing those gifts in you.

There is faith that the person captures it and moves on it and that faith does great things, but many times there are things..... well, I left a little to one side... let me take I'm already tying up all these loose ends.

When Elijah goes to this widow of Sarepta, God has already given the order in the realm of the spirit, God already said, this woman has to feed you. But when Elijah arrives at the house, she in the realm of time, space, reason, human life, there has been no connection between what God says..... God wants to bless this woman and he wants to bless his prophet and wants to bless countless generations that will read this story that will be recorded with an illustration of faith in the Bible.

God has given all that, in his mind that is already registered but now all these connections need to be made on earth. Elías arrives at the house, the woman does not recognize him, but Elías tells her, "Look, woman, give me something to eat, give me something to eat." And this woman tells him, 'look brother, I feel it in my soul, the only thing we have left is a little bit of flour, a little bit of baking powder and I'm adding something there to the story, and a little bit of oil, and my son and I'm getting ready to do this, eat it and die because there's no more food on the whole earth.

You see, there are obstacles, God will sometimes even bring artificial obstacles for you to learn to build muscles. Many times God does not immediately answer what you long for because he wants you to develop muscles, because if he gives you immediately you do not develop those spiritual muscles. We see God over and over again making us wait because sometimes our minds are not prepared for what we are asking the Lord for, our emotions are not aligned with the magnitude of what we want to do, our faith has not reached that level. All justice has not been fulfilled, the controversy between God and the devil concerning that miracle that God wants to happen are not fully resolved, and God has to put all things, like a judge legally in order before releasing the blessing. That is why many times we ask the Lord, you do not know what struggles are taking place in the spiritual realm until you receive the blessing that God wants to give your life.

Job did not understand that what was happening in the human realm had to do with a legal controversy that was taking place in the spirit realm between God and Satan. There are things that God wants to give and release. I believe, for example, that León de Judá God has a purpose for this church and for this ministry. Last Sunday while I was sitting with Adlan's wife, that girl told me something that I saw in a dream years ago, she has gone to many churches traveling with her husband and feels oppressions that there are in those demonic churches. But she says that in this church she discerned a struggle. There is an oppression, the devil is struggling to prevent what God has declared about this church from being fulfilled.

And I know that there is a struggle in the realm of the spirit so that what God has declared about this ministry does not happen. Now, here in the realm of time and space we continue business as usual, we do the things we do: we preach, we come to church, we tithe, we sing, but I know that there is a dimension of power that God wants to release that we have not yet has been released and that has to do with a demonic fight that has to be resolved. There are oppressions, there are things that have to be fixed, there are legal issues that have to be resolved, do you understand?

Now, we keep working, I keep moving in all obedience to the Lord as much as I can, and sometimes I get impatient, but sometimes I understand. When I have understanding, I know that there is a dimension in which I myself cannot even enter. Now, we can do something, when God awakens the Lion of Judah and our people sanctify themselves, give themselves up, begin to fast, pray, not to lose heart, they come on a Wednesday when we call for prayer, but the next one has already spent their time. battery and the mood already falls.

But there are spiritual struggles, brothers, years ago I had a dream. If you have a moment, can I share it with you? I had a dream about 15 years ago: me for 3, and the dream happened in the cemetery behind Park Street Church, where people from the 18th and 17th centuries are buried. from New England, in revival, none of that stuff, I assure you. I was up there in Cambridge beginning my ministry.

In that dream, again, that colonial cemetery behind Park Street Church, and I think I understand why, now that I work with Coventant for New England and we talk about the revival that God wants to bring us to New England England, the Puritans, a number of things. But in that dream I saw in that colonial cemetery 3 little mounds that were like tombs, 3 little mounds like when a person is buried and the little mound of earth still remains, in those days when people were buried. There were no machines to press the earth, etc. And at the head of each of those 3 little piles there was a tombstone very similar to the tombstones that we see in those places already tuned by the wind and the rain, what remains is like a fine and thin plate because they have been hundreds of years old. being shaken by the wind and by the elements.

There were 3 tombstones like this, in front of each one of those piles and I began to pray that the Lord.... I knew that there had been 3 girls that had died and that they were buried there, so I I began to pray for those creatures to be revived, to be resurrected. And there was a shudder and what came out on top of the 3 tombstones were 3 dolls, they had no life. And I understood in the dream that Satan had spoiled the miracle. So I kept praying, and I kept praying and struggling and praying in tongues and those 3 dolls became 3 living, healthy, thriving creatures. And the Lord told me in my understanding that in the first time the devil had struggled, he had wanted to prevent the miracle from happening. He had not been able to completely prevent it, but he had prevented life from manifesting itself and finally we had to continue fighting for life to come to those creatures, like dry bones, which first had tendons and everything else but lacked the spirit of God.

And I clearly understood, God wants to bring miracles, God wants to bring signs, wonders, great revival, that those dolls, those dolls be revived and turned into life, but the devil knows what that implies and is struggling with all the power that he has to prevent the grace and power of God from manifesting for life, to prevent the revival that God wants to bring to this region from coming. You understand?

And so, brothers, in our lives, in the lives of each one of us many times there are demonic controversies, there are situations that first have to be fixed so that the blessing that God has comes into our lives. And what are we going to do? Are we going to fight, are we going to persist, are we going to pray, are we going to cry out, are we going to fix our lives, are we going to dare in the name of the Lord or are we going to lie faint-hearted and let the devil have his way? No way, in the name of the Lord, we are going to persist, we are going to fix our lives.

Here are warriors, here are men and women that God is going to do great things through them. Here are ministries that God is declaring and we have to choose whether we are going to stay small or we are going to throw ourselves after our blessing and we are going to snatch it away, like the woman with the issue of blood. We are going to take power away from God.

Otherwise the danger lies in that. I told them that I was going to give them a negative illustration and with that I will end. I don't want to end with a negative illustration, but I have always been captivated by the example of an Old Testament king who, when Elisha, the great prophet of God, is dying on his deathbed, this man who is a half believer, like so many evangelical and unfortunately some of our congregation. They are half believers, this king to his credit, he was not an idolatrous man, he was not a malevolent man like so many other kings of Israel, but he was not a believer of faith, he was not a man who lived a life that had intimate fellowship with God, but you have the courtesy to come visit Elisha on his deathbed. And Elisha, with the last charge of prophetic power that he has left, tells the king, 'Take a handful of arrows in your hand and hit the earth', and this king obeying the prophet but not understanding the key, strategic moment that is taking place Giving at that moment in his reign, not understanding that it is the power of God that is arranging a divine prophetic act, he takes the arrows in his hand and hits 3 times, as if to please this man since he is in the last stages and that perhaps he's a little senile, and that's why he's made him do that foolish thing. Hit the ground 3 times indifferently.

I imagine that the prophet with the last bit of strength he had left stood up on his bed and said to him, 'If you had struck the earth 4 or 5 times you would have destroyed the Syrians until they died. there will be none.

Syria was the enemy country that had the most fury against Israel. It was the goad of Israel. It was a powerful empire that later did terrible damage to the national life of Israel. And God at that time, used the prophet to give this king a gift to completely destroy that enemy nation until there were none left. Then, Elisha told him 'since you hit the earth only 3 times, 3 times you will defeat the Syrians, but if you had hit 4 or 5 times you would have totally defeated them and you would have removed this threat from your national life and from your government.

What's up, bro? You see, there are things that God wants to do in our lives. Compare the widow of Sarepta with this king. Both were asked to do different things, neither was guaranteed anything. They had nothing to guarantee one hundred percent that what they were going to do had meaning. The widow of Sarepta, Elijah, told her, 'Give me something to eat first and then you will see that you will not lack food for the rest of the time this drought lasts.' And she believed him and dared. I do not believe that she received a charge of spiritual power of faith at the moment, she simply dared to do it out of obedience and was blessed. Neither she nor her son ever lacked food for the rest of the time the famine lasted. What's more, in a moment his son dies and the prophet who is present revives him. Look what a great blessing.

The other king was mediocre. He didn't completely disobey, but he didn't obey enthusiastically either, and that's what happens in our lives. You see? You are here, you are receiving word, you come to your credit, you are here today instead of being in another place. You seek God, you love the Lord, but there are things in your life that you still haven't fully arranged. And as that prophet you will not be able to receive everything that God has. You are going to receive a generic measure of blessing, but not the specific, powerful, overwhelming, transformative blessing that God wants to bring into your life.

Only people who live in the supernatural realm, only people who dare to believe God. My brothers, God has many things that he wants to do in your life.

I ask the musicians to come over here. Oh, brothers, are you ready for the call of God? Are you willing to do what God has called you to do? There is a measure of faith that God has given to your life, are you willing to live in that measure of faith? Like the man who received his talent to multiply it. And when you die, there is a residue much greater than the original faith that God placed in your life, because that is what it is all about: taking the gift of God and multiplying it through action and daring, aggressive, militant exercise in faith. . Live your life in faith.

God has put a talent in you. God has given you a measure, with what excellence are you going to live the Christian life? With what level of delivery, with what level of daring, with what level of diligence? Brothers, God is asking a group of men and women to serve him carefully, to serve him excellently, to serve him as if God were in front of him every day.

I like how Elijah says, 'Lives the Lord, before whose presence I stand.' Brothers, listen if you and I lived the Christian life as if we were in the presence of God, if I carried out my gifts and my talents and my ministry as if I were always in the presence of God, do you think I would be here? That is what I want, and I have to strive in that direction. God would use me much more, God could use you much more for great and powerful and terrible things, but God is waiting for a man, a woman who will believe him.

God says in his word 'I looked for a man who would stand in the gap between me and the people so as not to destroy the earth and I did not find him'

This is the decisive time in the history of humanity and God is looking for men and women who dare to believe him and live life on the edge of the sword. Why don't you join that army. This afternoon I pour out faith in your life in the name of Jesus.

Stand up. Let's ask the Lord, (play something for me there with a little bit of faith, let my faith move me too. Amen) As Elisha told him, 'look for a singer over there, someone to play something for me so I can do what I have to do. Do in the name of Jesus.

Oh, let's ask the Lord to increase faith in us. We are going to ask the Lord for some encouragement of faith there. Ask the Lord to anoint you now with faith to touch that, there. Come on in the name of Jesus, let's ask the Lord to bring faith to his people. Raise your hands if you want and ask God, 'Lord, I want to be an empty vessel right now. Fill my vessel with your oil. Send your oil to my life, Lord, send your oil. Oh, we want the oil of God to descend on the people of God, in the name of Jesus.

Father, start with me, I ask your forgiveness for underestimating the seriousness of what you have called me to live and we ask your forgiveness as a church, Father, because we are not up to your excellence and your greatness , we are not up to the moment we are living, Father, by this proclaimed word, Lord, I ask in the name of Jesus that our sins be neutralized, Father, and that you open the bowels of our hearts, that you add capacity Lord, to our spirit to receive all that you have for us this afternoon, in the name of Jesus.

I declare the anointing of God, I declare the anointing of God on this people. Father, I unleash in the name of Jesus a supernatural move, a supernatural move. Father, I declare that minds open, intellects open, wills open, spirits open to understand what you are saying this afternoon and what you are doing this afternoon.

Father, I rebuke every spirit of dullness in the name of Jesus, every closed mind in the name of Christ right now. I declare to be open. Open up in the name of Jesus. I declare that the spirits open in the name of Jesus to receive the impregnation of the power of God over your life in the name of Christ. I tear down principalities and powers in the name of Jesus, every veil that covers the understanding of the people of God, I tear it down in the name of Christ right now.

Father, by your word that has been proclaimed, in the name of Jesus loose men and women of faith, men and women filled with the Holy Spirit, men and women with fire in their eyes, Lord, men and women like David who get fired up when Goliath is insulting the people of God and the God of hosts.

Oh, Lord, have mercy on us. We hunger and thirst for you. We hunger and thirst for you. We want more, Lord, we want more. Move with power. Help us to live lives that honor you, Father. Release what you are to release, Lord, take the lid off this congregation, Father. Stop the work of the devil, Lord, bind the principalities and powers, Lord. Take away, O God, the bronze roof, Father, let heaven be open, Lord, heaven be open, Father, so that your anointing may come down and our prayer may rise up to your throne, Lord.

Activate your power. Oh, we want more, Lord, we want more. We know that we are simply on the verge of something great that you have to give. We have not entered Canaan yet, Lord, we are not in your promised land, but we need and we know that you want us there, Lord. Move, Holy Spirit, move, move.

Oh, brother, agonize before God for a moment, agonize before God, may there not be a single soul that is not crying out to the Lord right now asking God for a fresh visitation of his spirit. We are going to cry out to the Lord, we are going to ask the Lord to move with power, to do the work in the midst of his people.

Father, I release the spirit of was, I release the gift of faith, I release the measure of faith, Lord. Oh, in the name of Jesus activate faith, activate faith, oh activate faith, Lord. Lord, distribute faith in the midst of your people, Father. Distribute faith in our midst, activate the power of faith, O Lord, to do great things.

Arise a congregation of faith, in the name of Jesus, I ask faith for myself and faith for my brothers. Oh, faith to believe you, Lord, faith to dare to undertake great things. Oh, faith to get me into trouble, Lord, that only you can get us out of, Father, in Jesus name.

Open the eyes, Lord, of our spiritual understanding. Receive, my brother, ask God to give you a gift, a special faith. Dare to believe God this afternoon. Dare to believe that God is doing something here and right now, right now, right now, right now, in the name of Jesus, right now, there is faith, there is faith that is moving in God's people.

There is a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit that is falling on the people of God. There is an anointing from God.

There is a fresh annointing of God falling on the people of God.

There is an anointing from God that is falling on the people of God. There is power, there is power. Receive the power in the name of Jesus. Receive the grace of the Lord, receive the grace of the Lord, receive faith in the name of Jesus Christ.

This is not mere emotion, this is the reality of God. We bind all the power of the devil that wants to prevent the miracle from happening in the people of God. I declare, in the name of Christ, power, power, faith to believe, minds are opened, all doubt is canceled in the name of Jesus. Faith flows, faith begins to flow in the people of God. That faith is activated in the name of Christ. I declare it by this word that I am saying in the name of Jesus. That word will not fall to the ground today, ministries are activated in this church, today the power of faith is activated in this church, today miracles and wonders and signs are activated, and healings that will arise as a result of this word that I am declaring in Jesus name.

The people of God are impregnated with faith, with miracles, with revelations, with God's move. God's people are imbued right now with the power of God. There in your entrails is the word of life, there is the seed of God, there is the seed of God, there is the seed of faith. The Lord impregnates you with his spirit. Now you move in that faith. Take steps of faith. Dare to believe God in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus.

Father, spiritual Christian giants rise now, oh God, men and women plod across the earth, hard to ignore. Hallelujah! We break chains, I break chains in the name of Jesus, right now. I tear down principalities, powers now in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah!

I break traps of the enemy, I undo ties in the name of Jesus here and out of here in the name of Christ. We declare the power of God moving and advancing and filling the earth. Hallelujah! An invasion of the power of God.

Glory to the name of Jesus. Glory to the name of Jesus. We receive a fresh anointing, we receive a fresh anointing from God this afternoon. Thank my Lord. Hallelujah! We are filled, our saddlebags are filled with your anointing, Father. Vessels full of God's anointing. Vessels full of God's anointing. Thanks, Dad. Thank you, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Give the Lord a round of applause. Receive that, that's from God.