How will this be? (Part 2)

I want to conclude the study that I began last week, or the meditation, and you will remember that the meditation is based on a question that Mary asked when the angel Gabriel announced to her that she was going to be a mother and that the being that was going to be born from her life would to be called the Son of the Most High who is a wonderful being that God has chosen for the healing of humanity, the promised Messiah. And Maria asks a key question and says, how will this be? What is going to happen? How is this going to happen?

There in verse 31, Luke 1:31 the angel tells her, “…and now you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, you will call his name Jesus, he will be great, he will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of David, his father,….” And he tells him a series of wonderful things that are going to emerge from the life of that supernatural being. "...He will reign over the house of Jacob, his kingdom will have no end..."

But upon hearing all those big promises that are going to come out of her womb, Maria asks that question, “…. Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I don't know a man?..." Then the angel gives her the answer and says, "-... the Holy Spirit will come upon you, will engender in you the life of God and as a result of From this treatment of God upon you a holy being will be born who will be called the Son of God.”

But the important thing about that passage is the question that Mary asks him, how will this be? And you remember that also before that, 5 months before, God had appeared to Zacharias, the priest, while he was preparing the incense that was to be offered to the Lord and he was alone in the holy place. The same angel had appeared to him and had told him something similar but on a smaller scale, he said, Zacharias, you and your wife are going to have a child too. And that man, that child, is going to be something wonderful, he is going to be a prophet of God. God is going to use him greatly, he is going to be prepared to open the way for the other being that is to come, who is the Messiah.

And it occurs to me as I say this that God always has a plan. It was a plan that was well conceived, first, he was going to announce, second, the one who was going to be announced, to give the floor and he had his way of preparing everything, at the right time. God always has a plan and the problem is that we often don't know what the plan is. He simply tells us this is going to happen, but we don't know how it's going to happen.

Now, look at the next thing that when the angel announces to Zacharias, you are going to have a son with your wife who has been called barren all her life, and they are already advanced in age, they are people already quite advanced in age, they have never had children and Zacharias comes up with a similar question to the angel. In verse 18 "... Zacharias said to the angel, how shall I know this?..."

When God brings an announcement into our life, as we said last Sunday, when God generates in us something of life and creativity and transformation, and the season of something new, a question always arises in us. Now, there is a qualitative difference in these two questions. Zacarías asks incredulously, how is that going to be? What sign are you going to give me? The Lord Jesus Christ said that the Jews were always asking for signs, they were always asking for signs so that God would confirm things. And there was a seed of doubt and resistance to God's move, of hardness of heart in those questions and those requests for signs. And God discerned, the angel discerned that in Zacharias' question there was doubt and questioning. And that is why the angel's reaction to that question from Zacharias is different from the reaction he has to Mary.

Zacharias, the angel tells him, since you doubted the Lord, you are going to be mute, you are going to be disciplined, and God the sign that he is going to give you is that you are going to be mute until the son we have promised you is born. And when he is born then you will be able to speak again. There is a discipline imposed on him. Because? When Maria asks the question, how will this be? Maria's question stems from a healthy curiosity, well, how is that going to be possible, what is God going to do in my life? There is not necessarily a questioning in it, but in Zacarías there is and I have said that always when God wants to do something in us, something of questioning or question will arise and it all depends on how we ask, how we react to the offer of God to do something different in us.

But the dynamic is similar, which is why it's here in Scripture. I have said that what these two stories suggest that is applicable to all generations is that God always wants to turn our sterility into creativity. God wants to turn our gaps into presences. God wants to turn our blind alleys into avenues for the flow of his spirit. God wants to turn our anonymity into news and something outstanding that is visible to all. God wants to turn our mediocrity into excellence.

And that is the essence of this passage, because both Mary and Elizabeth and Zacarías reflect what is stagnant, what is empty, what has no potentiality. Maria had not had contact with her fiancé, she could not conceive. Elizabeth was sterile, her whole life and both represent the voids that exist in our own life, the potentiality that is there without being activated. And just as God wanted to activate his life in Mary and Elizabeth and Zacharias, God wants to do the same in our lives.

You see, because the stories in the Bible are paradigms, they are models, they are examples that when we extract the structure that is underneath them we can apply that to our lives. And Christmas is partly that message that there is a God who is willing to descend into our reality and deposit his power in human life that is stuck, closed, empty and activate it with his power so that we give life. That is the incarnation, that is the advent, that is Christmas.

That is why we give, without knowing, the gifts. Humanity instinctively understands, yes, the wise men brought gifts, but behind that there was something of God's grace, of giving us things that we do not deserve, that we do not have, of enriching our lives, of increasing our wealth. For me, Christmas is increase, Christmas is life that is born from nothing, voids that become flowing sources. And that is what God wants to do in our lives. And God always, brothers, is encouraging us to believe that a miracle is going to happen in your life and in mine and we have to adopt a mentality that the blessing is just around the corner, that God wants to give me abundant life , that I have not been called to live from the plate to the mouth, as they say. Many of us come from backgrounds of poverty, from dysfunctional families, from marriages that perhaps did not exist in our parents, failures that we have had, lack, lack of education. We see so many people outside enjoying cars and houses, and stable families, and productive professions, and we say, well, that's for them, the white ones, the ones with blue eyes, the ones who speak English or German. or French, but it's not for me.

Brothers, God wants to turn your emptiness into fruit. God wants to turn your inactive womb into a womb that gives birth to the life of God. And it all depends on whether you believe that, that you change your mental model and that you believe that there is nothing impossible for him, that for him there is nothing, that, ah, well, you come from a dysfunctional family or that he never had a professional , or whatever. No, God can activate you, God can activate your mind, God can activate your life and that of sterility turned into productivity is throughout all of Scripture.

One of my favorite passages is Isaiah 54: “… rejoice, oh barren…” You see that same pattern there: “… rejoice, oh barren, the one who did not give birth, raise a song and shout for joy, the one who was never in labor for there are more children of the forsaken than those of the married, the Lord has said..."

And in preparation for that miracle he says, “…enlarge the place of your belly and let the curtains of your rooms be extended. Do not be scarce, lengthen your ropes, strengthen your stakes, because you will stretch out to the right hand and to the left hand and your descendants will inherit nations and inhabit the ravaged cities..."

Doesn't it bring you joy to hear that promise from God? But you see the same pattern playing out in the lives of Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, and in the lives of Mary, and in the lives of Sarah and Abraham, hundreds of years before, and in the lives of Samson's parents, who also could not have children. The same pattern of God who turns closed wombs into open wombs that give birth to life.

There is something in the mind of God that likes to turn the humble, the mediocre, the meaningless into something positive, coherent, beautiful, creative, productive of life. And that sounds very loud, very bombastic, very poetic, very symbolic, but that's your life, brother, my life. God can do things in you to fertilize you as well as he fertilized Mary. Everything is in that you believe as Maria believed, that you do not be incredulous.

I have also said, remember that, there are announcements, when God wants to do something in our lives, an angel or an archangel like Gabriel will not come to tell you, behold, this is what the Lord says to you, my daughter or my son. Many times God's announcement will be like an impulse within you, a concern, a thought, something that is born and you say, wow, where did that come from. How interesting, the first time that thought arises in your mind. That is God's announcement. And you have the same option that Mary had or that Zacharias had, you can dismiss God's announcement and say, well, those are vain dreams, and never think about it again. Or you can say, hmm, wait a minute, let me think a bit, maybe it's God speaking to me. And you can then enter into an action, into a relationship between the divine announcement that has been gestated within you, the restlessness of faith that God has placed, the embryonic life that God has placed in your mind, in your sensitivity, and begin Activate it and start working on it.

Don't you see what Paul told Timothy? He said to him, I advise you to fan the fire of the gift of God that is in you through the imposition of my hands, in one of the two passages where Paul says so to Timothy. In other words, Timothy had received a prophetic word from the Apostle Paul and Paul had given a gift in Timothy's life, it was a gift, perhaps a pastoral gift, a teacher's gift. But that gift was there, the announcement of God, the germ of God's life was already in Timothy, now it was Timothy's turn to fan that fire and make it a reality. It will have taken many years, but the life of God thus comes into our life and like a creature that takes 9 months to be born inside the mother, so sometimes our miracles that God wants to do will take time.

And the question that you have to ask God when that gesture of life comes within you is, Lord, how are you going to do this, what do you want me to do, what is the work that you and I are going to do together? ?

And that's where we ended up, I wanted, I'm going to go quickly, to give you a series of suggestions that I couldn't do last Sunday. Look here, this is the essential theme of my meditation: the question is this, when God announces a miracle in whatever way, when God announces his miraculous intention in our life, how should we react, what do we do with those creative concerns? that God puts in us. When God wants to fertilize us, what is our reaction or our work. And I want to give you some ideas about that, so if you have your pencil put it there or make a note because this is very important.

Well, okay, God has touched me, God has put a seed of life in me, a restlessness, some faith that has been born in me, an announcement that has come somehow, someone has told me, you can do this, a thought has crossed my mind, a pastor has prayed for me, someone has prophesied in my life. While I was washing the dishes, a concern came to my spirit and my heart, okay, what do you do with that, what do you do with this announcement from God in your life? If the angel has told you you can, you must, you will, what do you do with that? I want to give you some ideas here.

One of the questions, how do I know if this is from God or not. Many times, how do I know that this is not just something carnal in me, or whatever. Well, the first thing one does is discern if it comes from God or not. I believe that many people always ask me, well, pastor, how do I know how to discern God's will in my life, how can I choose between this or the other, if I move to such a city, if I stay here, if I choose one profession or another, if I marry so-and-so, if I buy a house or not, if I start this business or not. One question that people always ask is, well, how do I know, how can I discern.

Let me tell you, there will never be a one hundred percent certain answer because I believe that God's journeys are always journeys of faith, there will always be a certain degree of uncertainty and that is part of the journey of faith. I cannot say that I am going to calm all doubts or all fears in you and that there will be no restlessness, but I can help you, I believe in some things.

Well, ok, discern if it comes from God or not. How, what elements can we use to discern if it is from God or not?

1). You can ask a question and it is, is this concern according to the word of God. Because I believe that the impulses that we have at the very least must flow in harmony with the word of God. If it agrees with God's word then there's a good chance you're on the right track. Don't be like a lady someone here from the church told me, who approached a pastor we know in Puerto Rico and in a counseling session told him, pastor, the Lord has told me that you have to divorce your wife and marry me. That probably wasn't from God.

We have to examine concerns in the light of the word of the Lord, they have to flow first and having said this I also say something more concerning the word of God and that is why it is good to know the word of God, because many times when we pray It is good, in quotes, to remind God of what he has promised us. And use the Bible to underpin and support our prayers. How beautiful it is when one says to him, Father, you said such a thing in your word, you promised to give life to the dead, to generate life in the sterile. You promised that you have come to give us life in abundance, you said that we would pray for the sick and they would heal. Listen to me, that strengthens your faith and it is also a blessing for the Father who hears his word being returned to him. And that underpins our prayers.

So our desires, our impulses of faith have to flow according to the word. And that is why it is so important that we read the word so that God will have more like landing strips for his miraculous impulses. Am I clear? When the word is flowing and bubbling within you that allows the Holy Spirit to have more material to ignite the fire of faith within your life. In other words, for the purpose of discernment one must always ask oneself, well, does this flow according to the word of God.

2). You can ask yourself, does what I feel, what I want, what I am looking for glorify God or rather is it satisfying me and glorifying me? Because many times there are requests that we make to the Lord but in reality it is our flesh that is asking for it or there is pride in us or other things, but I believe that it does glorify God and we are seeking the glory, the honor of God and Even for example, if you want, let's say, okay, I want to go study. Well, why do I want to go study? Simply to have more money and have a degree that I am going to squeeze people in the face, look at me, the graduate; or it is for me to be able to better serve God, to bless my family, to bless my church, to glorify the Father who can do impossible things in barren lives. I believe that the main impulse should be the glory of God and then we have to examine our impulses to see what is there that can glorify God or glorify my own person.

3). And that leads me to a third thing in discerning God's purpose and that is that it is also good to ask yourself, well, does this impulse, this restlessness coincide with some weakness or quality of my character; or if it coincides with any weakness or goes contrary to weaknesses in my life. Why is that important? Because many times there are things that God puts in our mind or in our spirit that are so contrary to what we would normally do that it has to be from God, because there can be no other alternative.

There are things that God puts that one says, well, if this came to mind, you have to pay attention to it at least because it may be from God because I am a shy person or I have never studied or I have always thought that I could not learn a new language, or getting a promotion at work and when you discern that it is contrary to the natural flow of your flesh, you can say, look, let me give this a little more thought. On the other hand, many times there are desires in us that are rather an expression of defects in our character. There are people who say, oh, I'm going to move to another city or I'm going to buy a new car and many times there is impulsiveness in their character, rather it is a materialistic, consumerist, impulsive personality that has not thought things through. We must meditate well, that many times what we feel is God we do not confuse with what is rather of the flesh and we must ask the Lord again, Father, where am I with respect to that. You have to search, discern one thing from the other.

For example, I confess to you, in this matter of building a new sanctuary, I have had to ask God several times, Lord, is that a healthy desire to advance the destiny of this congregation and your kingdom above all or is it Roberto Mirando with a pharaonic complex of building new buildings and this and that? I have had to examine my own heart and in this time of financial difficulties I have had to re-examine myself and ask, is that me, Lord or is it you that you are talking about? And it seems to me something so, precisely, so difficult and so contrary to what you look at, it has to be God because time is not for fishing. The time is not for fishing as Pedro said. All night we have tried to fish and we have not caught a single fish but in your name I will cast the net.

I recently told the deacons, when we meet again we are going to analyze again if this project is from God, if we are sure that it is from God, because if it is from God it is done. You understand? You have to be sober, brothers. The life of faith is also a life of prudence and sobriety and you have to use these coordinates to throw them to have a clear idea. That is not in conflict with faith.

So, which coincides with another weakness. Another way to discern if it is from God, and this is very important, I am going to read it as I wrote it. Resist prayer, consultation with wise and mature people and above all waiting and the passage of time. When you receive something from God, many times, look, soak it there, soften it a bit like beans, put it in prayer right away and begin to gestate it in prayer and put the light of prayer on top of it. Father, I have received this, confirm it, clarify it for me, give me security. If it's not yours, I'll give it to you right now and get it off my mind. And if when you pray like this, now, if it's yours, confirm it and put in me an urgent need to carry it out. Don't allow my flesh or anything else to keep me from it.

Then you submit it to the furnace of prayer. And if in time you resist and you still have that impulse and feel it in your heart, look, follow him in the name of the Lord. And if you consult with a mature person, do not consult your dreams and your visions with everyone, because they will pour water on you many times and they will damage you in a moment. I have already learned that there are things that I only have to fight directly with God, he and I, because if I tell another person they may not understand and then it is not the time, you have to have it, but look, there is a pastor solid, a person mature in the faith, someone you know can withstand your inquiry. Consult with that person and submit your vision to a new sieve, because once again you have to look for all these resources.

Another thing, wait. There are things that can be expected and sometimes it is good to wait for a little while and you cool down, and if that is still there when you cool down, then that is possibly from God. Because sometimes we are impulsive and, ah, God spoke to me, we come in the afternoon and we tell the woman, take everything, pack it up because we are going to Chicago. God told me that we got there and God says who sent you here, I never told you that, boy.

We have to wait, we have to mature. Now, if your spiritual impulse, if what is inside you resists prayer, consultation with mature people, consultation with the word of God, waiting in the spirit and the passage of time, look, very possibly this is from God.

And finally in terms of discernment, we are still there, you may ask yourself, does it obey this impulse, this holy purpose, if you want to call it that, does it obey the miraculous patterns of the word of God? Because there are ways in which God works.

For example, I have told you one right now: the God who turns empty wombs into fruitful wombs. That's a pattern. Well, there is a way and this possibly, my life has never been, I have never studied, there has never been a professional, well, look, that is possibly from God. It's so crazy it has to be from God. Break a carnal pattern and establish a spiritual one. Ways to discern.

So, here you have, the first thing, when God puts an impulse in your life you feel something new, something different, something creative, something of faith, first discern it according to these patterns.

Now, second, did you think I was done? No, now I'm starting. We were talking about discernment, but second, I'm going to go fast. That was the longest going to take.

Do not dwell too long on thinking that it is too difficult, that it is not possible. Do not get lost in the technicalities of the matter because if you get entangled in the difficult, how many years, who are you going to talk to, where are you going to get the money, who is going to help you. Look, it is going to become a sea of impossibilities and it is not going to do anything. Do not linger too long on the difficulty of the matter.

Remember Joshua and Caleb. The 10 spies thought: impossible, great people, people with weapons of war, experienced in war. We don't even know how to use a stick. We will not be able to enter that promised land. Josué and Caleb said, look, if God is with us we are going to eat them like bread and butter. I add the butter to make it even easier. They thought of the power of God, they did not think of the obstacles. Don't get lost in how.

Look, when God's gesture comes, the impulse, the announcement of God, stop there only, if it is from God, God knows, God has the technique, God has the solution, God has the procedure as He had with Mary, as He I had… God always has the way out, God always has the rabbit inside the hat and he is going to take it out. You don't know how but he's going to get it out somehow. Don't complicate your life too much, yet, there will be time for that part later, there will be time for that. But don't focus too much in the moment on how hard it's going to be, or you'll immediately lose momentum. Don't stop long to think how it will be possible.

Third: very interesting this. When doubt comes to your heart and I say it will, if it is something from God, on a divine scale, the flesh is going to resist it a bit. When doubt comes to your heart, do not let yourself be dominated by it, but here is the key, continue taking steps of faith. Do not give in to criticism, fear, opposition, or the difficulties of the process, but simply go according to the operations manual. Keep walking in faith. Do what the manual says and let God lead the way before you. Do not give in to fear and doubt, or to criticism from people, or those who are going to tell you, this cannot be done, it cannot be done, it has never been done. If God confirmed it to you, even though your mind and emotions rebel, tell them, hey, hold on. I go after what God has said in my life.

What I was saying last Sunday, when I went there, they had already told me, it is not possible, the parking lots are closed, they already said no, the refusal was resounding. But I said, Lord, you can do something and every step I took in the middle of that snow and under that hail with rain that was falling, I thought, I'm going to make a fool of myself. They're going to tell me again, we didn't already tell Pastor that you couldn't park there. God did the miracle, brothers. And it came in the way that I did not expect. People were looking at me through the window 3 blocks away and they saw my destroyed face and said, this man has to be helped. We are going to put him out of his misery, we are going to give him a parking lot there for his people. I didn't know how the answer would be, but look how easy God made it.

Now, if I think about my temperament, the doubts, the fear, the negativity already received, I would not have done anything. One has to prevail over feelings. Brethren, the mature people of God, the creative people in the world are people who live by principles and not by emotions. Remember that. Your emotions are spoiled little animals. If you let them, they take over the house and they take you off the sofa and they sit down and they even turn on the television if they want and say, go to bed or whatever. Look, emotions are irredeemable, emotions are biology, carnality.

The Bible says that the human heart is the most deceitful thing in the world. We Christians have to learn to put our hearts and emotions in parentheses and act according to what the word of God says, even if your flesh yells at you, don't do it, you're going to fall off a cliff. If God has told you it can be done, look, walk ahead and the devil will have to step aside for you to pass. You have to believe the Lord. And don't pay too much attention to the meat.

Remember Esther. Esther said, look, no one has ever entered there without authority, into the king's hall. They have all been killed for daring but I am going to enter because there is a need and if I perish I perish. And she sent her friends to pray for her, to fast 3 days, all the Jews they could find, and when she entered the king extended his scepter to her, she has found grace before me.

You have to dare, brothers. Fear never... look, if I started to obey fear I wouldn't do anything. I would be tucked into a little corner of my house with the lights off, trembling with fear because I always feel it, whenever I stand here to preach I am afraid and I have doubts about whether God is going to bless me, whether I am going to make a fool of myself from the platform. But I do it because I believe that God is a provider, brothers.

Never let yourself be dominated by fear. Never let yourself be dominated by what has not happened in your life and what was not given, what they did not tell you, what they did not allow you to do. Trust that God has something new for your life. Don't pay attention to meat because that was never a good vehicle for God's miracles. The only vehicle for God's miracles, the only reliable landing strip, is the spirit. Says the Lord Jesus Christ, the flesh is weak but the spirit is always willing. Emotions are processed by the brain, reason, the nervous system. The spirit has another channel. Connect with your spirit, live according to the spirit, not according to the flesh. God's miracles will happen when we learn to move by what God has declared. Don't get too lost in criticism, fear, opposition, difficulties.

Fourth: do your part. Say with me, do your part. Very important, do your part so that God's miracle is completed. Generally there is a part, a certain effort that we have to execute so that God's miracle is confirmed in our life. If we do not participate, the miracle may not happen.

Remember there are many of these paradigms in Scripture, what happened when the Lord told the disciples, you feed the crowd? Do you remember the story? More than five thousand people at the end of the day without food in a deserted place and the Lord tells the disciples, hey, don't send them to the market basket, give them something to eat. And they tell him, but Lord if here there is not even a Latino bodeguita anywhere in this entire neighborhood. This is the desert here, the open country. Even if we had money there is nothing to buy. See, that's the narrow mentality. They remember the difference between the abundance mentality and the timid, narrow mentality. The disciples thought, we don't have, there isn't, we haven't, we can't, and the Lord had something there in his mind that he was already thinking about. And then what does he ask you, what do you have between you? They go and search, because the Lord always asks you that question, what is there?

When God puts a miraculous impulse in your life, look, generally there are things in your sphere of action, in your area of influence, or in your relational world that there are little things that God has put as little seeds so that you can walk and find the exit. You can always have someone in your church, you can consult with a pastor, with an elder, with someone from discipleship, with your cell leader, there is perhaps someone in your family who went to university and you can tell them, how you did it; maybe there is someone who works in a program like Herk or a person who is a professional, vocational counselor. There are people in your area that God has placed as secret angels waiting for you to go. I believe that the potentiality of God is among us, what happens is that sometimes we do not have eyes to see and we are not looking because we believe that if God is going to give it to me, he will come in a little bow, a well-wrapped box with wrapping paper and a very pretty ribbon and a bow on top and God is going to bring it down from heaven and put it in my hand. Look, generally God gives prefabricated miracles, so to speak, he gives them to you half done. And he says, now you finish it. There is a part that you have to do.

Do you remember those figurines that are sold over there and are bought by craft people and they finish painting them? The statuette is already made but it is in plaster and then the person finishes it with their little paintings and their little details. I would say that this is how God works, at least that is how he has worked in my life and I see him working in Scripture many times, it is that he gives you 80% but there is 20% that he wants you to do. And that's because he wants you to learn to fight, that you learn to use the principles of the kingdom, that you develop spiritual muscles, that you develop faith, patience, humility, dependence on him, prayer habits, persistence, all the elements that are necessary for a victorious life in the world. And if God gave you things one hundred percent done every time you open your mouth, you would never develop spiritual maturity, you would never develop spiritual muscles. God wants to train warriors, God wants to train people of power, God wants to train people of character and that is why he puts us to work many times and gives us semi-worked miracles so that we can finish them and he tells us, start looking there in your world there are things that I have already put. I have deposited them as one of those Easter games that where is the egg and they make the children look for it in the garden until they find the gift hidden there. Look, that's right, God has his games with his people and sometimes he tells us, look, I want you to make a little effort, sweat a little, look for the deposit, bring me the seed and I'll bless it.

They brought him 5 loaves and two fish, when they found the crowd, five loaves and two fish and they brought them to him, look Lord, the only thing we found. We branched everywhere, as the Dominicans say, and the only thing we found were 5 loaves of bread and two fish. Look, that's the only thing. We told you, nothing could be done. Give them to me, he took them, raised them to heaven, prayed, blessed him, they multiplied, thousands of people ate. Don't ask me how that happened, we'll see the video when we get to heaven. But thousands of people ate and there were 12 full baskets left over so that there would be no doubt that when God blesses there is sufficiency. But a deposit was required. There is a part that you have to do.

So when you feel that God tells you, look, I'm going to bless you, I'm going to make you a professional, I'm going to make you the first college graduate, the first pastor in your church, the first person that I I am going to use in evangelism in all your family. I am going to give you a raise in your salary, you are going to have that house, you are going to open that business, so there is a part that you are going to do in your life and then you are going to put your arm in the arm of God and they are going to say, together dad we are going to do it and God is going to say, come on boy, I am with you. Take the first step, indeed, the first step was already given by God, take the second step. And you hold on to God until you see that miracle done, don't stop doing your part. Do your part. That is another biblical pattern, do your part and God will complete what he has already placed in you.

Another thing, bathe the miracle with prayer. I only have two left. Bathe the miracle in prayer until it happens. Worship him in prayer. I don't know if that is part of some theological concept, but miracles must be seasoned. What happens when a woman or a man marinates a piece of meat, does he season it? Take the adobe, take the marinade, as they say, and they put the meat there so that it blends with the flavor of the species. Well, we have to season our miracles with prayer. You have to soften it up. Put that hard stone in boiling prayer water and it will soften even if it doesn't seem possible.

Look, when you receive the life of God within you begin to pray and you don't know how long you are going to have to wait but bless that miracle and while the miracle is becoming a complete life, bathe it with the life of God, declare victory, declare resources, ask for influences to come, ask for doors to be opened, ask for wisdom on your part, ask for discipline in getting things done, ask for miraculous circumstances to come your way, ask for physical energy, ask for persistence, ask for humility , ask for the spirit of prayer, ask for understanding, whatever, but begin to shower the miracle with all the things that you imagine they may need to become a reality. And bathe him in prayer day after day and just as you brush your teeth for discipline, pray to the Lord to do the miracle, present him with all the aspects of the miracle, visualize it in different ways and declare the life of God and bathe him in prayer and that will it will strengthen you too. Bathe the miracle in prayer.

Last but not least, this is very important. Declare it with your mouth. There will come a time when the miracle will have to leave the gestation process to the declaration process. Every miracle has, I would say, two parts: one part is the part of the matrix or under the earth. A plant first grows underground, the grain breaks, it takes root, it penetrates with the chemicals and nutrients of the earth and nobody sees anything for a few days, but under the earth there is life that is being formed and when God put a miracle in your life receive it and many times it is better to stay quiet for a little while. Gesture it in prayer, bathe it with the life of God, meditate, do these things that I said regarding discernment, present it to God, examine it and leave it there cultivating in the dark, like the child in its mother's womb before it appears.

Now, there will come a time when God will tell you, look, the time has come, start announcing it because it is coming. Elijah, or it was Elisha, when God arrived he said, it is going to rain on the earth, it was Elijah, it is going to rain on the earth and a little cloud is going to come there and you will see it and Elijah sent his servant several times to See if the cloud was coming. In one the servant told him, here is the cloud, I already saw it, a little thing. He said, let's run because the rain is coming. Many times God has said something and nothing can be seen on the surface, but under the earth, your earth, God is preparing everything for the miracle to come to light and you are going to feel a pressure that is growing inside of you. It is growing, it is growing and there comes a time when your spirit is going to tell you, now start announcing it and tell yourself to run because the miracle is already behind you.

It is so brothers. As the contractions in the woman's womb become more intense and more frequent: that means the child will be born soon. Start declaring it with your mouth. There are times when you have to open your mouth and say things that after you say them you get scared and want to send yourself running because you are afraid of yourself, but there are moments when the word announced, uttered, declared, confessed breaks the matrix to Let the baby come out, the water breaks. And sometimes God tells you, speak now and say, God is going to fertilize me, I am going to graduate, I am going to buy that house, that business is mine, that profession is mine, God promised me that raise, speak like a madman, a madwoman and let God take care of it. Those who trust in him will not be put to shame, says the word of the Lord.

And if you have submitted your miracle to all these processes and you have waited, if you have prayed, if you have consulted, if you have discerned, if you have paid the price, if you have done your part and the miracle still resists, and the baby is inside you, announce it, declare it, the Lord took time before saying, I am the Messiah, because God's miracles always take time and you have to wait for the right moment to shoot. But when God tells you now, start declaring it in the name of Jesus even if you don't feel one hundred percent sure, declare it in the name of the Lord.

And finally, this is very important, even if the miracle takes time, even if the process is longer than you thought, wait for it, don't falter, don't give up, don't say, well, I've waited long enough, God told me this and he hasn't come so I'm going home. God's miracles... I have learned brothers that God does not have the same agenda that we have. God thinks in eternal and cosmic terms, the scale of God's thought is infinitely larger than ours, so what seems to God an instant, a second, seems like an eternity to us. The prophet said it, one day for God is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. And we, our mind is short, our scales are very tiny. God tells us something and we believe that tomorrow it has to happen and if it didn't happen, then we're going to look for something else.

You know what? sometimes God tells you something and look, that's just a beginning, now comes the good, now comes the journey. Because we are impatient and we want things. But look, I have always said that God is not as interested in the result as in the process and God takes time for things. I ask the Lord, Father, always lengthen my vision so that I can think of the magnitude in which you think and not cower prematurely. Because many of the processes that we see in Scripture we read and it takes a page or two but it is somewhat condensed. If we could live it with those people who lived it, we would discover that many times it took decades. What seemed like three days, four days, that was decades. And God takes his time, he is doing things.

He offered a son to Abraham at the age of 75. Do you know how old Abraham was when he finally saw the son that God had promised him? 100 years, 25 years the poor man was waiting for the miracle that God offered him. And he got impatient along the way and look at all the trouble that Ishmael has caused, he's still causing it back in the Middle East. 25 years.

He commanded Samuel to anoint David and some think that between Samuel's anointing on David and the day he ascended to the kingdom, there are about 15 years. And you know how much David had to flee from Saul to get to the kingship and all the caves he had to visit, and all the trouble and humiliation he had to go through before he was crowned king, a long time.

Saul was found on the road to Damascus and the Bible says that after that he was hidden for a while in the Middle East, it is not known exactly how long, but years passed before Saul became the Apostle Paul. Many years. One wonders, well, why didn't God just wait a little longer and when he called him, well, he already sent him right away? processes.

And we are people who are short of attention, if God does not do it in the next 24 hours, forget about me because... and that is why there is no more wealth in our lives. I have learned one thing, mature people, creative people, people of power are capable of thinking in the long term. For me it is one of the great skills of the leader, the leader of God, can think long term, like you here who have taken a long term sermon now.

I ask that the musicians come here please. come. But, it will take time, brothers, if you take time, wait for it to come. I end with the words of Habakkuk in Chapter 2, verse 1, words of all vision, says Habakkuk:

“…I will be on my guard and I will establish my foot on the fortress, and I will watch to see what will be said to me and Jehovah answered me and said, write the vision…”

Brother, when you receive something from God, an impulse, a concern, a pregnant thought or whatever, write it down, write it down, point it out, put a bookmark in your mind, whatever, but point it out, underline it, put something on it, color it, whatever but write the vision.-

“…..declare it on tables, he says, so that he who reads in it may run…”

We need those visions that God has placed in us to guide us through life, to give us a course to follow. It says here, this is the key:

"...though the vision will take a while yet, he says, the more he hastens towards the end..."

what a contradiction It takes time and rushes. Brethren, don't try to figure out the heart and mind of God. Christ is coming soon and it has taken two thousand years to arrive. That's why you can't be putting clocks on God. If God put something in you, let that life, the births of God are not nine months, sometimes they are four years, or ten years or whatever. Don't put time into it, cultivate them, gestate them in prayer, in waiting, and let God use that vision to gradually form a man, a woman filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with the word of God, capable of doing great things beyond the world. immediate miracle.

Even if the vision still delayed for a while, it hastens towards the end and will not lie. God is not a man to lie, nor a son of man to repent. The gifts of God are irrevocable, the promises, the calls of God are inviolable. If God put something in you, a life, a promise of life, fall in love with it and stick with it until you see it fulfilled, even if it takes time, wait for it. Although it will take time, wait for it because it will certainly come. It will not be long, says the Lord.

Let's stand up, brothers. Let's stand up. And let us remember those lessons: be discerning, do not stop to think about what is difficult, when doubt comes, follow the manual, go ahead, do your part so that the miracle happens, shower the miracle with prayer, declare it with your mouth and finally, even if It's late wait for it because God doesn't lie. The miracle will come.

How many believe that this afternoon? Receive it, put whatever it is, put there what God has told you, put there the dreams of your life, put there the impulses of liberation, put there the needs that you have had, the dreams you have had, the giants with which you are still fighting, the demons that have not wanted to leave your family, the struggles in your home, the creativity that you have wanted to exercise in your life, professional, ministerial dreams, write whatever. If God has told you something, baptize it with the name of Jesus and bathe it in prayer and do not get rid of that branch until you see fruit in your life, even if you are an old man, keep greeting the miracle, keep pointing it out, keep waiting for it, keep confessing it With your mouth, as those great men and women of Hebrews 11 did, they greeted the miracle from afar. God gave them his miracles, they were healed of illnesses, the sick were healed, the dead were revived, they broke down walls, or they resisted evil, but God gave them what they needed for victory. God wants a fruitful life for you, brother, sister. God wants a blessed family, God wants you an outstanding professional, God wants you a woman filled with the Holy Spirit, God wants a blessed family for you, God wants physical health for you, God wants advice for others and evangelistic words for others . God wants to make you a healer of lives. Everything that God has said, he is going to give it to you but believe it in the name of Jesus. Celebrate it, visualize it, pray it, act it out and God will give you those holy babies, those wonderful beings that he has said, your womb will produce it. Believe it in Jesus name right now, live in that spirit, live in that spirit.

Father, I declare over your people right now miraculous gestures, miraculous actions in the name of Jesus, their wombs, Father, we impregnate them with the life of God, Lord. Send your spirit, Father, begin with me, Lord, unleash your life upon this community. Those who are near and those who are far, Lord, over this community of León de Judá, over the Latino community, Afro-American, white now sterile, Father, fruitful, multiply, make the sterile sing, make the sterile have more children than married women, Lord, in the name of Jesus. The homeless, Father, the homeless may be more prominent and more prosperous than the one who has wealth because you are the owner of the blessing.

Father, that is the God we serve, those are the patterns that you have made us wait for in your word. Lord, you yourself have opened in us that hunger and thirst and we remind you, Father, that you have told us that if we believe we will see the glory of God. We believe in miracles, we believe in something serious, great, terrible, Father, that you are going to do in this time, Lord. We believe in seas that are going to open before us, rocks that are going to gush water, Father, manna that is going to fall from heaven, Lord, houses that we have not built that we are going to inhabit, Lord, wells that we have not dug from which let's drink water Lord, professions that we do not work but that you are going to make possible in our lives, intelligence that is going to come, Lord, we do not know where it is going to come from, but you are going to give us the answer, you are going to give us the way out You are going to give us the details, you are going to give us the solution, Lord in the name of Jesus. Mighty God, thank you, Lord, thank you, we receive. Pregnant your people, Father, and fertilize your children, Father, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. We receive your life, Lord, for this word that has been uttered, Lord, we declare life in this nation that you are raising, this sacred family, Father, thank you, Lord, thank you.

Thank God for his purpose in your life. Say thank you to the Lord. Receive life from God. Amen and amen. Glory to God. Glory to the Lord.