Embrace an Abundance Mindset

Let's go to the book of Numbers, Chapter 13, verses, beginning verse 17 and I'm going to jump to other verses as well. Says the word of the Lord: "So Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, telling them, go up from here to the Negev and go up to the mountain and observe the land as it is and the people who inhabit it, whether they are strong or weak, if few or numerous, how is the inhabited land, if it is good or bad and how are the inhabited cities, if they are camps or fortified squares, and how is the land, if it is fertile or barren, if in it there are trees or not, and be strong and take the fruit of the land. And it was the time of the first grapes…"

Let's go to verse 25 now, “…and they returned to spy out the land at the end of 40 days…” in other words, Moses sent them to go, look at the land where they were going to enter, God had promised them the land of Canaan and the He sent them to observe, spy on, reconnoitre the land and to bring a report of what that land was like to which God had to enter them.

Then “….they returned to spy out the land at the end of 40 days and they walked and came to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the desert of Paran, in Kadesh and they reported the information to them and to all the congregation…”

When he says congregation he is saying the whole town, the whole nation. "... and they showed them the fruit of the land and told them saying, we arrived at the land to which you sent us, which certainly flows with milk and honey and this is the fruit of it..." - there were very large clusters that they had brought, they realized that yes, the land was indeed very fertile. But look at what they said, “…more – that more is rather big as we are going to see in a moment – “…but the people who inhabit that land are strong and the cities are very large and fortified and we also saw there Anak's children… - they were very tall people, they were gigantic, they were people today, they would be basketball players, they would be in great demand because they were very tall people, of considerable height -…. Amalek lives in the Negev and the Aethean, and the Jebusite and the Amorite live in the mountains, and the Canaanite lives by the sea and on the banks of the Jordan..."

In other words, that land that God had promised them was full of very strong, very large people who were not going to give up their land so easily and were very capable in war, and these Hebrews had no experience in war. So they are saying, look, we went there, yes, it's true, the land is tremendously fertile and there is a lot of food, but the people who are there and who have said that nobody takes us out of here, they are very powerful people, very strong.

So, Caleb, there were among the 12 that were sent by Moses to reconnoitre the land where God had promised them that He would take them, among the 12, 10 are the ones who give this negative report, but there are 2, Joshua and Caleb, among those 12 spies that were sent, they have a different attitude. “….One of them, Caleb, silenced the people in front of Moses…., he told them, shshs, a minute, a minute,…..let's go up later and take possession of it because we can do more than they. But the men who went up with him said, We will not be able to go up against that people because they are stronger than us, and they spoke badly among the children of Israel about the land they had reconnoitered, saying, The land through which we passed to reconnoiter it is a land that swallows up its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in the midst of it are men of great stature, we also saw there giants, sons of Anak, races of giants. And we were like locusts in our opinion and that's how we seemed to them..."

The giants said, hey, who are these tadpoles that are going to take us out of this land? Come so that you can see what we are going to do to you.

We go to Chapter 14, starting with verse 4, and what happens. What is the reaction of the people? When they listen to their soldiers who were sent to reconnoitre that land where God had called them to inhabit it, they hear this and they are discouraged, they feel disappointed, they feel completely discouraged. They completely drop their spirits:

“…and they said to each other, let us appoint a captain and return to Egypt….”

Egypt, in case you don't know, is where God had originally brought them from. They had been slaves there, they had been oppressed there, they had toiled in Egypt and God mercifully took them out of there, but now they are saying, you know what, let's go back and find a different leader and go to Egypt again.

“…Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the multitude of the congregation of the children of Israel, and Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephone, who were of those who had spied out the land, broke their dresses…."

This was a sign of mourning, of spiritual scandal, of feeling that something terrible had been done spiritually by these people who were saying, let's go back to Egypt. They are scandalized to hear that and the Hebrew had a sign of extreme mourning, when they felt great pain, when someone they loved died, they tore their clothes. You can still see that a little bit in Palestine and Lebanon, when there is a terrorist attack or someone dies, women scream and throw themselves to the ground and tear their dresses. It is a way of teaching a great sense of scandal. They feel that God has been offended by this negative attitude of these people.

“…they tore their clothes and spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel saying, the land through which we passed to recognize it is a very good land, if the Lord is pleased with us, he will take us to this land and give it to us . Land flowing with milk and honey, therefore do not be rebellious against Jehovah and do not fear the people of this land, for we will eat them like bread. Their protection has departed from them and with us is Jehovah. Do not fear them, do not fear them, the Lord is with us….”

Why don't you say with me right now? Jehovah is with us. Once again, with us is Jehovah. Glory to the name of the Lord. Look, if you can understand that, and you receive it, you can stop right now and I'm not going to be offended, go home, because you no longer need a sermon, because that is the very essence of the life of a believer. . That is where we always stop. That is why the psalmist declares, although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because you will be with me. That sense of the permanent presence of God in our life, the company of God. God wants us to know that he is with us.

And when we know that he is with us, that should inspire us with confidence, faith, calmness, that is why the Lord Jesus Christ before leaving and ascending to heaven, after his resurrection, told the disciples, all power is given to me in the heaven and earth, therefore go, make disciples of all nations, etc. and says, behold, I am with you. When? Sunday at 12 noon when the service ends? Behold, I am with you every day. Even when? Until I get tired and no longer want to hear from you? Until the end of the world.

That sense of the permanent presence of God with us is the essence of the posture of a daughter of God, a son of God, and that must continually fill our vision even in the midst of trials, tribulations, difficult times, dark clouds around us, announcements of disaster. We have to say, the Lord is with me, the Lord is with us.

And that is what should govern the meaning of our life in all the situations in which we are going through. We as children of God have two options, two attitudes, what I call, two possible mentalities to live life: we can live life with a mentality of scarcity and timidity and littleness. That is an alternative, and many human beings live life like this, and still many Christians live life from a perspective of scarcity. There is another alternative, however, for the child of God, which I believe is the only one possible if you are going to live your life biblically and it is a posture of abundance and sufficiency in the Lord because God is with you.

And those are the only two possibilities: a possibility of timidity, pusillanimity, or a posture of faith and trust in the Lord and make that posture like a magnet that attracts the blessing. And the Bible is very clear, that according to what you think, so will your life. According to what you believe, so will your life be. The Lord told him, I don't remember if it was the Phoenician Syrian woman, according to your faith be it done to you. And several times we see the Lord say, let it be done according to your faith, let it be done according to what you believe.

Because one's faith, trust, mind, brothers, we have to always be examining our mind, we have to always be examining and making sure that our mind is in the right tune because in the mind is, I could say, in the heart , where the essence of our personality is, there according to the climate, according to the environment of your interior, of your inner being, that is how your life will proceed. That's why you always have to be examining, ok, how is my mind today? And how is my attitude this morning that I'm going to get up? Is my mind like a sponge prepared to receive God's blessing or is that dry and hard sponge unable to receive the rain that God has sent into my life? And you have to check that, and if your mind is not completely in tune with the word of God, with what God has declared, then you have to align your mind again, you have to recondition it. How is the mind reconditioned? Well, the only thing that helps me is, before beginning the day, to begin it in prayer, because that forces me to speak to the Lord and to put my needs and my struggles in a spiritual context, that reconditions my mind and it makes my thoughts orient themselves back to the spiritual reality in which I live.

And that you have to do continuously. Let me tell you, you don't have to answer me, but how many times a week do you bathe? Most of us bathe every day, I hope. And if not even if it's a cat bath we give ourselves, but something has to happen. How many times do we brush, how many times do we comb our hair? Because? Because the order of the world is chaos, you fix things and you always have to fix them again. You swept the house and after 3, 4 days, a week you have to sweep it again because the dust comes, the chairs get disorganized, the dishes get dirty, everything, the world, human life is a continuous fight against chaos. Chaos is always there around the corner waiting to take possession of human life again. And so it is with the mind too.

No matter how much we confess the truths of God, the natural order of the mind is like going back to doubt, distrust, fear, and then one has to go back, and that wild cow, we have to tie it up again and pull it again, and bring her back to the truth of God. You have to tie it up again, because the mind is always wandering and then the only thing that helps me is when I pray, you know, I pray, yes, to present my specific needs to the Lord, but I also pray to realign my mind with the God's mind. And when I confess the truth of God, when I tell him, Father, I know that there is a need but I believe that you are faithful and I need you and I tried and bless and I thank you, and this and that, and when I say these things in a field of faith, my mind goes again, like something happens, like a sirup bathes my interior and I kind of remember again, hey, God is in control. And that guides me and prepares me for my day and blesses me and my mind then comes back into alignment again. Because the mind is always doubting and so I believe that our position should always be, if my mind is focused on what God has said, if my mind is focused on the principles of Scripture, because as I say, that will depend on many things.

And in this passage I see two mentalities, two attitudes, two types of mentality that govern and determine what will happen in your life as a result of that. If the blessing of God is going to flow through your life, if you are going to cross the mountains that appear before you, if you are going to cross the stormy rivers that can come in life, if you are going to destroy the giants that to get in your way so that you do not reach the blessing that God has determined for you, or if you are going to succumb and you are going to slip into a corner to complain and live a life in defeat and not having reached the fullness that God needs that you reach

The destiny of these two mentalities is very clear in Scripture. Of those 12 spies who went to see the land that God had promised them on the other side of the Jordan River and who returned, depending on the attitudes they showed, determined what would happen to them. Of those 12 people who entered to see the promised land, only 2 managed to enter it in the end. Do you know who they were? Joshua and Caleb. The other 10, do you know where they ended up? Their bodies in the desert. They could not go to the promised land.

What's more, look at the power of faith that not even Moses had the privilege of stepping on the promised land, only Joshua and Caleb because the Bible says that there was a different spirit in them. What they believed, what they confessed, what they sustained determined their final destiny.

And I want to tell you, my brother, my sisters, that when times of trials and difficulties come, depending on the mentality that you adopt, a mentality of scarcity and insufficiency and timidity, or a mentality of abundance, of power that you can say, as the Apostle Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Before in all these things we are more than conquerors.

It says that therefore, neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor the future, nor what is to come, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is Christ Jesus.

That type of confession is what we have to continually rehearse in our minds and keep our minds bound in times of trial and difficulty, in times of storm clouds, in times of announcements of destruction. That mentality of sufficiency in Christ Jesus is so important, because otherwise we are going to be left in the desert. And in these times of great uncertainty in the nations, not only in the United States, in the nations, as I also said last Sunday, we are going to have to feed ourselves with a very strong, very powerful spiritual diet more than ever. These are times to return to the truths of God and live the Christian life at a very, very mature level.

Now, these two mentalities, the Joshua and Caleb mentality, or the 10 spies mentality, are reflected in the way they confront the situation ahead. When they enter the land that still, visualize this, visualize the Hebrews are, they have been practically circling in a desert for almost 40 years, God has not given them permission to enter. There is a river that is the Jordan River that acts as a dividing line between that place where they have been all this time and a place called Canaan that is a large, fertile, beautiful region and God brought them out of Egypt, where they were slaves , decades ago, and told them, I am going to take them to that land. That land is occupied by strong people who have inhabited that land for a long time, but these people have become corrupted, these people have sinned against me, these people have done atrocities, and I have been waiting until the peak level of their wickedness and their sin for me then to feel that I can remove them without any sense that I am committing an injustice. This is how God works. And God waited until the cup of wickedness of that people in Canaan was filled before saying, ok, now I can legitimately take them out and I'm going to enter my people, to create a new and different nation.

And God takes them out of Egypt, and now we enter the story when Moses is about to enter and tells them, go and see the land and tell us what you see there. When these men come, they come with a negative report. Or yes, the land is very fertile, they say, it is tremendous but there is a small problem is that there are giants there, who live there, who say they are going to cut off our heads if we go there to take the land from them. And then there it gets stuck. I mean, what happens brothers when you get sour pineapple? What do you do? Therein lies the question. So the way in which these two groups of people react to a challenge, to a negative situation that comes unexpectedly into their lives, will determine their final destiny.

The way we deal with situations that come into our lives, perhaps one of you has lost a job, for example, perhaps some of you are possibly facing the possibility of losing your home or losing your job, or perhaps there is illness in your life, or you are going through a difficult family situation, health, perhaps you are going through a stormy time in your life and there are difficult situations with which you are dealing at this time and we always have the option of confronting the situations of the life according to one of these two mentalities. The mentality that says, look, I didn't sign up for this, this wasn't in the contract. When I got into this as an evangelical they didn't tell me that this was going to be like this and like that, they told me to pray and God was going to give me a Cadillac and a big house and a pretty girlfriend, and it's the opposite.

Or you can say, you know what? I believe that God said he will bless me, and even if I go through difficult times I believe that when the bad day has passed, God will give me a blessing, that after the storm comes calm, peace comes, fortune comes of God, the blessing of God. I believe that and I am going to stay there and I am going to tie myself to a tree so that even if the storm rages, I can hold on well. And that tree, what is it? The word of God. Everything that God has said with his mouth, brothers.

God has not promised you or me a rose garden. Now, God has promised us the grace and power to get through whatever comes our way. That I can say. And he has told me and he has also told you that even if any trial comes in your life, even if times of difficulty come, God will help you move forward. The Lord says, even if you go through the fire you will not be burned and although the flame will not burn in you, even if you go through the rivers they will not drown you. In other words, we are going to sometimes go through rivers, sometimes we are going to go through fire, we are going to even smell a little smoky at the end, but you know what? The Lord says, but I am going to be with you and I am going to cross you, I am going to get you through. Glory to the Lord.

And you know what? the people who have experienced those times and come out of those trials are the people who can later testify of God's faithfulness to others. They are the people who, when they reach adulthood or old age, can advise the young and those new to the faith and remind them that yes, God is faithful, and they will say, oh, yes, I remember when in the year 2008... but God brought us forward and blessed us, etc. And you will be able to speak with confidence, you will be able to speak with confidence because that is the God that I have believed in and first we have to earn the blessings that we are going to use later to move forward.

And I'm thinking here, I'm looking because, yes, here is the message, what the Apostle Peter says in his First Epistle came to my mind while I was saying this, and perhaps I'm going to get out a little bit but it's all the same, it's the word of God calling us to hold on to our confession.

The Apostle Peter in First Peter, Chapter 1 speaks here that God has called us, verse 4, “….for an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled and unfading reserved in heaven for us who are kept by the power of God through faith ….”

We are kept by the power of God through what? Through faith. “…. To reach the salvation that is ready to be manifested in the last time…”

What he says there is a precious blessing: promise, God will keep you, God will strengthen you, God has an incorruptible, uncontaminated and unfading inheritance. And one could say, well, great, glory to God, great. Everything is going to be fine. But look at what he adds, he says:

“…. In which you rejoice although now... - there is the other part of the process -... although now for a little while.... – That little bit of time can be a week, it can be a year, it can be 3 years, brothers, I can't tell you how long because all of us have gone through situations and trials in life and we've been there for a while in the pot of pressure, simmering ourselves in our own juice many times, and one says, Lord, listen to me, look, the water is already reaching my neck, Lord, there isn't much more to go before my nose. And you are thinking, when the cavalry is going to arrive to save me and the Lord will still… that little time one never knows.

The Apostle Paul in Ephesians, Chapter 6 speaks of the evil day. It is not a 24-hour day, it is a time, a time. We do not know. But says:

“…although now for a little while if necessary…. – let me tell you, what we are going through at this time I think it is necessary. This nation and the nations have been living impiously, believing that they are already adults and can detach themselves from God and his grace, there is a lot of injustice in society, there is a lot of impiety, a lot of corruption, and God often sees that it is necessary to preserve lives to slap the man, the human being and leave him breathless so that when he is on the ground he looks up and looks towards God.

Because what use is it to a man, says the word, to a woman, if he wins the whole world and loses his soul, what interests God most is the soul, remember that, and many times there are people who go to go to hell with diamond rings and three-piece suits, and cars, which will be of no use to you when you get there to hell. And God wants to give life to humanity, and God wants his church to purify it too, and all these things are sometimes necessary to happen.

It says, "... so that your faith, much more precious than gold, which, although perishable, is tested with fire, may be found in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed..."

That is to say, brothers, perhaps God will often put you through a time of trial, and what are you going to do in that time? It is necessary that you determine, how am I going to pass the test in my life? How am I going to get through? Am I going to go through it with a scarcity mentality, with an abundance mentality?

Let me quickly give you some very basic principles and with that I end:

1. How does this difference in mentality manifest itself? Look at the following, first of all, these 10 spies, the first 10 spies look, they look at the enemy, at the opponent while Joshua and Caleb look at them, and I'm going to explain this: they, Joshua and Caleb look towards themselves, not in the sense that they are a big deal, but they look at what they have inside of them. They look at who they are in God. They set their sights on their identity as children of God while the 10 spies set their sights on the enemy.

Where do I see this? Look in Chapter 3, 28 and 29, the spies say, but the people who inhabit that land are strong, the cities are very large and fortified, and we also saw the children of Anak there, etc. and he mentions all the tribes that are waiting for them there to beat him up. They look at the enemy. However, Joshua and Caleb look at what it says in verse 30 of Chapter 13, it says, “…then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, let us go up later, let us take possession of it because we will be able to do more than they…”

Caleb and Josué look at us, we're going up. No, we are going up, we are going to take the land, we are more powerful. I mean, look towards... why were they looking towards themselves? Because they knew that God was with them.

And it is important, brother, that you understand that in your life you have something very powerful. You walk with all the presence of God within you. The Holy Spirit of God dwells within you. The resources of heaven walk where you go. The power of God can change circumstances in your life. God can turn difficult things into totally positive and prosperous things.

In Second Timothy, we go first to Ephesians, Chapter 1, the Apostle Paul prays, a passage that I always quote, Chapter 1, verse 17, Paul prays that the Lord would give the Ephesians a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, enlightening the eyes of the understanding of the Ephesians. So that? That they may know what is the hope to which God has called them and what is the richness of the glory of the inheritance that they have, and what is the exceeding greatness of God's power toward them that believe. In other words, Paul is saying, brothers, I am praying that you realize how great is the inheritance and the power that you have in God. The same power that raised Crisot from the dead, says Paul, to the Ephesians, is within you and I pray that you are aware of that.

Brother, when there are difficult situations in your life, don't look so much at the giants, look at the power of God within you, look at the endowment that you have received, look at the grace that God has made dwell in your life.

In second Timothy, Chapter 1, verse 6 and 7, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy, I think it is first Timothy. I always get confused between one and the other. Chapter 1, 6 and 7, someone help me there.

"... for which I advise you to fan the fire of the gift of God that is in you because God has not given us a spirit of cowardice but of power, love and self-control...."

In other words, brothers, sisters, don't get discouraged, don't get discouraged, don't look so much at the negative in life, don't look at the enemy, look at the power of God that is within you and let that power guide you and Use that power, use the power of God, the power of praise, of prayer, of crying out to destroy the giants. That will then allow you, as in this case, to say, you know what? I will own that land. That job I'm looking for, I lost the job, but it's okay, there are others. Or God wants another blessing in another way, God wants to strengthen me because God is with me and I know that I am going to get ahead. That is different. You are looking at the endowment of God within you and you are going to look for an alternative, a way out, a different way of acting instead of simply throwing yourself on the bed and depressing yourself because God has turned away from you.

2. The 10 spies look at the dangers and look at the obstacles. What's happening? They say, there are giants, they are going to kill us, they are going to destroy us, there are very strong people trained in war, the cities they have are very strong, very large, very fortified. They look at the dangers.

Joshua and Caleb look at the potential blessing, the promise, what that land offers. Look at Chapter 14, verse 7:

"... Joshua and Caleb spoke to all the congregation saying, the land where we passed to recognize it is a very good land..."

In other words, let's not dwell so much on giants and fortified cities and the number of warriors they have, let's look, this is a tremendous opportunity. Look what a blessing, look what a beautiful, more fertile land.

Brothers, and likewise we always have to look at the blessings, always look at the promise of God in our lives. God has called us. Christ says, I have come so that you may have life and have it to the full. Focus on the blessing that God has promised you. Focus on the fact that God has something good for you. If you stand firm in the promises of the Lord, the blessing will come. Don't worry about these times that are happening, don't worry about the difficulties. Many people sometimes only think about the negative and that is why they never reach the blessing that God has for them.

In the book of Ecclesiastes in Chapter 11, in verses 4 and 6, the writer says, "...he who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap..."

In other words, look, if you start to think about the obstacles of why something is not going to be successful and it is not going to work out, you will find 27 reasons not to do it. The people who don't go out and do nothing in life are the people who are always thinking about why something can't be done. Focus on this great blessing, it is important, this is what will make the difference.

An illustration of two shoe salesmen who sent it to a distant country comes to my mind, I'm not going to say which one, put the one you want there. Their Company sent them to open a shoe market and one of them sent a report to the Company, he says, people in this country don't wear shoes, so there's no chance of this, we're going to close, it's not worth our while here.

The other sent a letter saying, no one here wears shoes, it's a tremendous opportunity to sell shoes to everyone and make a million. One saw the negative, another saw the positive. And so it happens many times in our life, if we only concentrate on the why and the obstacles, and what happens if this and that happens, one will never do anything. Focus on the positive and God will use that to help you get ahead.

I ask the Lord, Father, always help me to think about the blessing that can come. I think of that sanctuary that God wants us to build and I think, look, Father, the lives that can enter the Kingdom of God. This morning at the service we had there, look, I had twenty thousand reasons not to do that, I don't have much time to explain, but until the last moment I got there and we started, I was, what's going to happen? It is a service in English, because I feel that the Lord, I believe that there is a great blessing in a ministry in English here and I believe that God wants that and that it can have a great impact in the city. And I see the possible blessing but look, I think, I don't have time, there are no resources, we don't have the pastoral resources, where is the space, what this and what the other, and one becomes a sea of negativity.

I say no, this, I feel that God has told me, it can be a great blessing. I am going to concentrate on that and even if I have scares and not everything turns out well, I am going to keep going because that is a blessing and God wants it.

Think positive and you can tell them that it was a tremendous blessing, much more than I expected, I tell you the truth. People left there happy, happy and I say, I have been telling many people for so many months, go to services in English, we suspended them for a while. And you know what? It's just that sometimes it's hard for people to see what you see. And I can see that if people dare, one starts, no, if now we start at 9 in the morning; oh, that I have to sleep a little extra, that this and that. Look, the sleepyhead is not going anywhere. The blessing comes when you wake up in the morning and go to the house of God. Look for the Lord, early I will look for you, says that choir. Seek the Lord early.

And young people, adults and others, people complain, oh, that there is nothing in English. Well, the church is offering something, look for the blessing and God will give it to you. Dare to seek the blessing, do not seek the obstacle, seek the blessing.

3. Positivity mindset. The 10 spies mouth negativity after negativity. Look at verse 31 of that same Chapter 13:

“…but the men who went up with him said, we will not be able to go up…. - do you see there? First error. They are already condemning themselves to failure. -... We will not be able to go up against them, against that people because they are stronger than us and they spoke evil among the children of Israel…. And he says,... the earth swallows its inhabitants, all the people that we saw in their midst are men of great stature... And they make a string of negative reasons why they can't get in.

And I have said, brothers, what we confess with our mouths has a lot of power. The mouth is a source of life or death. I tell people, for example, look, if you're going through a time of depression you may not be able to change the emotions you have inside, but you can change what you say with your mouth, and you can change your behavior too, you can change external actions. External actions are easier to manipulate than internal feelings. And you know what? many times when we change our confession the emotions adjust to the confession. That is a mystery of life.

I refer you to Isaiah 54 where he says to the barren woman, “…. Raise your voices, raise a song, you who were barren, who have no children….”

Why is a barren woman told to raise her voice and sing to the Lord? Because you know what? when you sing to the Lord in sterility, many times the fructification comes, the fruit comes, the blessing comes.

"... because you changed your confession..."

When you are in a trial, praise the Lord, when you are in difficulties, glorify the name of the Lord, when you feel bad put on a choir and fill your house with music and put on the best dress in the house and go out and have a coffee, a cappuccino somewhere and celebrate.

Declare the goodness of the Lord, do not be intimidated as we say, do not lie down to die, confess with your mouth the positive. God creates with his mouth and the people of God, made in the image and likeness of God also create with his mouth.

These are times not to be confessing, oh, God have mercy on us, the world, etc. no, it's okay if you say so, but say it too, but God is going to save us, God is powerful, God is going to bring us forward, God has good purposes. Confess positive with your mouth. Brothers, change your confession and your situation will change. Write that there somewhere. Change your confession and you will change your situation. That is the word of the Lord for this town. Declare that God has good things for you. In your life get used to speaking positively and when you make a negative confession, at least neutralize it with one of hope and positivity. That is a habit that you can create. And that is reconfiguring the interior. Little by little you will discover that your mind and emotions adjust to your confessions.

4. The 10 spies made a mistake, and it was that they trusted in their own strength. That is, they put their focus on their own strength and also on the rational principles that their own strength dictated to them. They looked at their ability versus the situation they were in. And of course, there was a very large deficit.

Chapter 13, the second part of verse 32, "... the land through which we pass is a land that swallows its inhabitants, there the men are of great stature and we, it says, in our opinion we were like locusts...", we were like tiny insects “…and so we also appeared to them…”

That is, of course, they looked, the Hebrews, the Jews are not very tall people by race and they had no training in warfare. These people were genetically very tall and they were people of bones, I imagine, strong and long and there was an incredible inequality. There is still in Israel, if you look at the map of Israel, Israel is a dot. And that always strikes me, when I look at a map of the world and I see what it is, do you know that Israel, brothers, is the size of Rhode Island? People hear so much about the power that Israel has to determine the state of nations and the world and they believe that Israel is one vast land. Israel is a little dot, brothers, on earth, and it is stuck there, surrounded by huge nations, Iraq, Iran, you see, Iran is an incredibly large nation compared to that little lump that is Israel. And the Jews are not very tall or very strong people either, however, they have the whole world in checkmate around them, the whole Arab world has them in a grip and they have not been able to destroy that nation, quite the opposite. That nation has prospered. Because? because the grace of the Lord in his mercy God has mercy on the Hebrews, because they are hard-hearted people but they have a purpose with that people.

And when you look at brothers many times, their negative condition, their life, I always tell the brothers, look, don't look at your past situation, don't look at your academic pedigree, don't look at your family heritage, see that God has said yes you are in Christ you are a new creature. You have to erase everything from the past, now it is simply God and you going forward with the full endowment of God's power within your life. And look, don't look at the deficit because if you look at the deficit you will never do anything. You have to tell young people that, don't look at the fact that studies are difficult and that you're not getting ahead or whatever, start believing by confessing positivity in your mouth, working hard and hard and doing your part and not looking your own strength.

What did Joshua and Caleb look at? Where did they put their focus? They put it in the Lord. The others put their focus on his lack of strength. Joshua and Caleb put him in the Lord and in the principles of the spirit.

Look at Chapter 14, verses 8 and 9, what did they say? That land is good and if Jehovah is the first time Jehovah is mentioned in all this diagnosis that has been made, "... if Jehovah is pleased with us he will take us to this land and deliver it to us..."

They put a spiritual principle against the rational principle and that is what we have to do in our life. Look for the spiritual principle, look for the promise of God, look for the principle that applies to your situation and like a lawyer use that principle to bring it to the Lord and say, Father, you told me in your word that such and such a situation you had an answer for her. Now, according to your word here it is, do what you have promised. You know what? that is a very powerful way of one to pray. Using the word of God, that is why it is important to know the word because that way you know what is the principle that applies to your situation and you can remind the Lord of it, in quotes remind him.

Remember the story of the Syrian Phoenician woman? She comes to Jesus, he told her, my daughter is oppressed by a demon. Heal him. The Lord came to her with a dismissive response and wanted to dismiss her saying, you know what? It is not legitimate to give, even insulting, the children's food to the dogs. That woman could have left all upset, cursing, swearing at Jesus, how he treated her badly, this and that, but you know what? she said, oh, yes you said you shouldn't feed puppies but you know what, sir? Even if it is, the dogs can eat the crumbs that fall from the table and that's where the Lord caught him, he grabbed him. She told him, well, that's fine, Lord, but at least let it be a little piece, give me a little something. And the Lord said, woman, great is your faith, let it be done according to your faith.

And the word says that at that very moment her daughter, who was at a distance, was healed of demonic contamination, she was healed. Because? because this woman found the beginning, and used the beginning to put a wrench in Jesus and say, yes but, and grab the Lord and the Lord laughed. You know what? God sometimes likes for us to catch him at his own word and put down the spiritual principle that applies to our situation.

And that was what Joshua and Caleb did. They said if the Lord is pleased with us, no matter what happens, we are going to enter that land, he is going to give it to us. “…. Therefore, he says, do not be rebellious against Jehovah and fear the people of that land, we will eat them like bread….”

Look at the positive confession, "...their shelter has departed from them..." They are giving themselves strength, they are confessing. God has abandoned them, and they are not with the Lord nor the Lord with them, but he is with us so we have every reason to win.

“…and the Lord is with us…” Three times Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah. The others, us, us, us. We can't, the situation isn't good, the city is big, this and that.

Brother, live the principles of the word of God. Don't be oriented by what you see around you. What is around is good to guide you and to orient you and to give you some coordinates, but the principle that should guide your life is the spiritual principle. What does God say? The doctors say this, the economists say the other, but what does God say? Until God has given his ruling, do not give up. It's very important.

5. And the last principle is that these men, the 10 Israelites focused on what I call the disorder of the process, the confusion, the complicatedness of God's processes. And they focused on the time that was taken, on the difficulties of things, on the unexpected factors, on the desert and on this data that was now emerging that there were strong people and a powerful army. And they focused on that and what about that? That they confess again, let's get out of here. How do they tell you?

"... why does Jehovah bring us to this land to fall by the sword and that our women and children be prey, wouldn't it be better to return to Egypt?..."

When things got difficult and complicated, when things didn't go as fast as they expected and confusion and complexity came, they gave up. But what do Joshua and Caleb do? They reduce everything, all that confusion they reduce to a central principle, if God is with us, if the Lord is pleased with us.

Brothers, look, life is complicated, God's processes are complicated, God's promises sometimes take years to be fulfilled, sometimes the blessing that God has declared over your life you will not see for 20, 25 years or 15 years later. How long has humanity been waiting for the second coming of Christ? And how many things have happened in the interim? Many difficulties, but that is why we cannot concentrate on the fluctuations of life. The needle of human life rises and falls mercurially. Today you can be in victory and prosperity, tomorrow comes a difficult time. Today your home can be a paragon of virtues and blessings, tomorrow everything may be turned upside down and difficulties come. If you concentrate on the fluctuations, on the vicissitudes, on the changes in life and when things are good, well, you are happy, when they are bad, you are submerged in depression; when a cloud comes you panic and when the sun is open well, you are completely animated and happy and positive. You're never going to do anything. The son of God, the daughter of God, concentrates on what God has declared, concentrates on God's faithfulness, concentrates on the fact that God has said, I will not leave you nor forsake you, and he clings to that even though Come what may, even if he sees what he sees, even if he hears what he hears, he remains focused on one thing: if God is with me, no one can against me. If God is with me I will get ahead. If God's promise is with me, I won't step off the floor. You stay there, in it, and you go ahead and you say to your emotions, hold on, to your mind, hold on, to circumstances, hold on. And you stay focused on what God has said. Those are the people who get ahead, those are the people who are blessed.

Behold, brothers, some of the elements that make up that mentality of abundance and that is the mentality that is going to cross you and me through these times and that is going to lead you to a life of fruit, of blessing.

I ask that the musicians come through here, please. I repeat, do not look at the enemy, look at the God that is within you. Number two, don't look at the obstacles and dangers, look at the blessing that God has promised you. Do not confess negativity but confess positively. Do not focus your mind on your own strength but focus it on the Lord and spiritual principles. And finally, don't be overwhelmed by the complexity of the process but simplify things and focus on what God has said and his presence in your life and his faithfulness.

How many can say love to these principles? Stand up with me. Glory to the Lord. And we are going to live that positive life, we are going to believe that the Lord is with us, that the Lord is going to help us out. I encourage you to set your sights on that positivity. Ask the Lord to transform your mind. Do not conform to the mind of the century, of this world, be transformed by the renewal of your understanding.

I ask the Lord to give this people a different understanding. As I was saying last Sunday, God is calling us to take seriously what we read in the word and to live consistent lives. These are times for either we believe or we do not believe, or we live or we do not live what we have confessed. These are times for you to live the Christian life in every sense, do not let your guard down, put on your armor, says the Lord, gird your loins, do not be led by your mind, do not be led by your emotions, do not be led by circumstances Don't get carried away by what others say, if necessary, look, or watch the news, forget about it. If you're going to get depressed, don't read them, focus on the Lord. Read your Bible more than the news.

Something occurs to me there, look at that, brothers, it is important. People talk about the difference between a thermostat and a thermometer: the thermometer only reads and records what is outside. If the thermometer is hot it goes up, if it is cold it goes down. He doesn't control anything, the thermostat controls the temperature, right? The Bible is the thermostat, the news is the thermometer. Which of these two instruments do you want to stick with rather and what do you want to fill your mind with, with what can change the circumstances or with what simply registers them?

Surrender your mind, fill yourself with the word of the Lord, fill yourself with the principles of God. Strengthen yourself with the word of God. Focus your mind on what God has declared. These are times that the brave take it away. He who has the strength of the Lord will survive and triumph even. I thank God for being able to live in times like this because here we can see the glory of the Lord manifested.

May the Lord this afternoon renew your mind and renew your spirit. Leave here strengthened, leave here confident, come what may, the Lord is with us and he is faithful. Father, we thank you because you are not a thermometer, you are a thermostat, Lord, you control the temperature of the universe inclusively, Father, you determine the events of history. You are not afraid of anything, nothing is taken by surprise, nothing is beyond your control, our lives are in your hands. The heart of kings is like water in your hands, you take it where you want and we thank you because we serve that Almighty God and our life is safe in him and we bless your people, Lord, I ask you to renew your spirit , the mind of your people, that they be an all-powerful people because they have an almighty God, that they be a victorious people, because they have a victorious God, that they be a people full of faith because their God has all the faith in the universe, that it be a people that wins over circumstances because God controls the circumstances, that is a prosperous people because God is the owner of gold and silver. Hallelujah!