aware of the unconscious

Last Wednesday, we were talking about we all need another chance. We used the parable in which Jesus was talking about the fig tree, an owner who planted a fig tree in his vineyard, after several years, he went looking for fruit and could not find it. And he thought of removing it, but the vinedresser said, "No, look, let me dig around it one more time, fertilize it and if it bears fruit, well, fine, it stays there, if it doesn't bear fruit, then we remove it." But what the vinedresser did was intercede for one more opportunity.

And I kept thinking about this, reflecting on it. I asked myself, Lord, how can I elaborate a little more on this topic. And thinking about that idea of one more opportunity, I don't know why, but the Lord led me to think about how aware we are of the unconscious. And that is the title that I gave to today's message, "Aware of the unconscious." I know it sounds like a tongue twister, but please stay with me, stay with me, I'm going to try to be as clear and direct as possible.

What do I mean by us being aware of the unconscious? If I speak the conscious, the conscious side of us is those things of which we have control, we are aware of it. If I blink now, I am aware that I am blinking and I am doing it knowingly. That is my conscious side. I am aware that with my hand I am making these gestures, that my feet are moving from one direction to another, that I intentionally look at some people, because I know that this word is going to go directly to them. But unconsciously I don't know how people are interpreting my looking at someone that way.

The unconscious part is the part that I have no control over. I can't do anything for it. Or I can make it do it, it's something else, because it's something like it's already working there. Right now as I'm talking to you, my brain is sending out nerve signals that I'm not in control of, but it is. My heart is sending blood around my whole body and it's doing it, I'm unaware of it, but it's doing it so that my body can then function.

When I am aware of that is when I stop and make a total silence that I can even feel the beating of my heart. So, it is when I only become aware of something that is unconscious, but it is unconscious because it is there. I have no control of it. If I try to hold my breath, what happens? What will happen to your heart? It's going to start to beat very fast but suddenly it's going to slow down, slowing down until you... you have to call 911, or Nelva, we have her here, and Nelva is in charge of giving her a good blow to the chest to make her heart start again. beat.

But that is the unconscious, it is the complete opposite of the conscious. Those things that we seem to have no control over, however, are operating despite our awareness. I can say, my brothers, that a large part of our behavior, our way of acting in life, without a doubt, is determined by those things that we are aware of. follow me there

Much of how we proceed in life is determined by our awareness of how we proceed. I can make a conscious decision if I am going to greet Medrac today or not, and I proceed accordingly, because I decide accordingly. Valme the prayer we did just now. I can realize that maybe there is someone I haven't seen for a long time and I can consciously make the decision whether to call that person or not.

But also a large part of our behavior in life is also determined by those parts that are unconscious, which are aspects of our life that are there and when we least expect it there is something that happens and it's like, damn, and where does that come from? he left? And why did I say that, when I didn't mean it?

And this can be very dangerous when we are ignorant of this way of proceeding. How many people, my brothers, could have gotten rid of a slightly harmful love relationship, because they thought love is blind? But I add to that, yes, love will be blind but it is not ignorant and much less the love of God. That one is not ignorant at all, and less blind, exactly. That love is not blind.

But think about that my brothers, there are times when one unconsciously acts, proceeds according to feelings of which one is not fully aware, but which are feelings that are there, no matter what.

And those feelings are there because we ourselves have forged them, we have raised them, we have educated them, we have given them food in some way or another and that, as they grow up, forms into something more habitual. And when you come to see, it's already something that happens so unconsciously that after what happened, one realizes like, oops, and how did I get there? And why did I say what I said to this person, when what I wanted to say was something else?

You suddenly find yourself in a discussion and before you get to that very heated discussion, you had already thought beforehand, I'm going to stay calm, I'm going to stay calm, I'm not going to raise my voice, because This is what I want to say, this is what I want to achieve. But suddenly, what happens? When you are in the heat of the conversation, you see that the other person starts to climb on top of you like a wheelie and you, like, on this wheelie yes or no. And then you get agitated later and when you come to see everything that you had thought to say, it went to one side and you reacted in an unconscious way to something that was happening in front of you.

Consciously you had thought about doing things one way, but suddenly your emotions took control and you unconsciously acted the way you didn't want to act.

How many times are you in a job, or we have been in a job and you have the opportunity to climb the ladder, so to speak, and to be able to earn a little more, and you see your need and talk to your family and, well , look, yes, this opportunity presented itself, I can start earning a little more now. And you kind of fall in love with this dream, with this vision, and it's like you look at everything we can achieve if I manage to have this job. And you let yourself be carried away by those emotions that are there, but in some way or another they are unconsciously taking control of your decision, that you go down that path, something that seemed to be promising.

But two or three months, or six months later, oops, you realize that this job has stolen your time to be with your family, it has stolen your time to be with God, it has stolen your time even to with yourself, and you realize then that you are living to work instead of working to live.

Unconsciously you let yourself be carried away by this image that looked very promising, but you were not conscious in knowing how to decide to go in the direction that seemed best, according to God's purposes.

Look, one of the important things that I want us to learn, my brothers, from this, - and I am going to go to the Bible now, it is not that I am just talking, I am going to go to the Bible - It is that we can learn or we have to learn to be aware, in touch with those things that are unconscious to us.

We have to know that there is a reality beyond what our conscious actions, our five senses, can tell us, and we have to learn to be in touch with those other areas that we cannot necessarily measure with our senses, but that if we ignore them our life can suffer a little more.

Meanwhile if we are aware of these things, our life can be a little more bearable. Because we are then going to be in tune with some realities that are there, but in an unconscious way and that we cannot necessarily see.

Let's go to the Bible with me. There are two biblical stories that are very revealing to me. One is found in Second Kings, Chapter 6, here comes the story of how the Syrian King wanted to get in trouble with the King of Israel and is looking for him and everywhere he goes to look for him, for some reason or another, when he gets there he does not find the king of Israel.

And the reason why he does not find it is because Elisha, one of the prophets of Israel, receives a revelation from God that the king of the Syrians wanted to come against the king of Israel, and he warns the king of Israel letting him know, look, get out of here because the king of the Syrians is looking for you. And it happened on different occasions until the king of the Syrians asked, come here, who is disseminating information about us that the king of Israel always finds out when I am going to look for him, at what time and in what place and in what place? And that's where they told him, no, it's that he has a prophet of God there and he is the one who is telling him. Ah, well, we are going to look for that prophet and we are going to eliminate him so that he does not continue damaging my plans.

What happened? The king of Syria comes looking for Elisha and suddenly the servant, Elisha's servant, when he realizes what is happening, look how he says, verse 15:

“…And when the man of God got up early and went out, the army besieged the city with horsemen and chariots. Then, his servant told him, “oh, my lord, and now what are we going to do?!” – the red grasshopper learned this from the Bible, oh, and now who can defend me? – Elisha told him, “Look, don't be afraid because there are more who are with us than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed and said, "I pray, O Lord, open his eyes that he may see." Then the Lord opened the eyes of the servant and looked, and behold, the mountain was full of horsemen and chariots of fire around Elisha..."

Look what a beautiful revelation. This boy had his eyes veiled by the reality of what he was seeing in front of him. Consciously, what he saw was the Syrian army that was coming to fall on them. But unconsciously/consciously Elisha was seeing a larger army that was beyond them. And that's where Elisha had to intercede so that this boy's eyes could see what Elisha was seeing.

As if to say, God, do me a favor, change his perspective of what he is seeing consciously and allow him to connect with those unconscious things where you are, so that he can see what you are doing and he can be there. don't worry. That's story number one.

Second story, let's go to Luke, Chapter 24. This is another favorite passage of mine. This is the story of the road to Emmaus. Two of Jesus' disciples after everything that happened to Jesus had happened, his death on the cross, and now he was supposedly in the tomb, after the third day, Jesus had already risen, but these two disciples were still lamenting what was happening. What does the story say, verse 15:

“…It happened that while they were talking and arguing among themselves, Jesus himself came up and walked with them. – look here where the conspiracy of heaven is, so to speak. – …But their eyes were veiled so that they would not know him…”

I mean, here I see a conspiracy by God, or by Jesus himself, Jesus did something that blinded these two boys so they couldn't identify him. So, that already makes me understand that Jesus intentionally already had a plan, a purpose behind this, that he wanted to teach these two boys. The story continues and Jesus pretended to be a fool, as if he didn't know what had happened and they told him, "Hey, you're the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have happened in it and that have happened in this days?" “Ah, what things are you talking about? Tell me, I want to know the gossip." So, there something gave Jesús a bochinchero too. No, forgive me God.

The issue is that they begin to speak to him and they begin to speak to him according to what they understood that Jesus was going to do. They were speaking according to what they could consciously understand of what Jesus was going to do on earth. Look how verse 21 says:

“…But we hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel…”

What that phrase means is that they thought that he was going to free Israel from the people of the Romans, or from the power of the Romans and that he was going to take charge of ruling all of Israel, that he was going to be, like who it says, the lineage of David, that he was going to be the next king of Israel so that they would then be delivered from the rule of the Romans.

But consciously they were seeing Jesus in the wrong way. What happened? Jesus had to correct them. He tells them about the entire biblical story from Moses to his time and what he did was gradually revealing to them the purposes that God had behind his death. There comes a moment in the story where they reached a point on the road where Jesus was going to continue in another direction, and they were going to go theirs and since it was already so late, they said to Jesus, "Ah, come stay with me." we." "Okay, I'll stay with you." Look how interesting, verse 30 says:

“…And it came to pass, as he sat with them at the table, he took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave them…”

That symbol of Jesus taking the bread, blessing it, breaking it and handing it over to them, was the symbol that removed the veil from their eyes and they could see that it was Jesus who was with them. Now I ask this question. What is the purpose of this? What is the idea behind that there are things that for us are hidden from our eyes for a while so that later our eyes are revealed and we can know what was really there all the time. Do you follow me with my question?

I can say, my brothers, I identify with you, many times in our life we make decisions where we know only half, it is as if we are seeing with only one eye. And we pray, no, Lord, I want to see things the way you want. I want to be in your will, Lord. I want to walk in your purposes. I need you to talk to me, that you give me with luxuries of details, what is the plan that I have ahead.

But look, my brothers, not all the time God works like this. There are times when God, as in this case of Jesus, he walks with you for a while and allows your eyes to see only something limited. The disciples knew that they were walking with a third person, there was someone who was walking with them, but they could not see who he really was.

Likewise God with us, many times does things the same. Don't ask me why? Ask him, not me. But many times God allows us to make decisions, that we do things that we think we are walking well, but we are seeing halfway. And later on comes the moment where Jesus says, okay, let me take off the blindfold so that you can see clearly what you are doing, or where you are going and that you will not fall.

That was what Jesus did with his disciples. His disciples had a completely wrong perspective of who Jesus was and what he was going to do. Therefore, Jesus had to let them know, “no, no, guys, I didn't come here to get rid of Rome and be king over you. I am not talking about an earthly government, I am talking about a heavenly government that is much greater than any government in this world. That was what I came to establish. I am making you ambassadors of that kingdom that is above all else."

In Elisha's account it is also the same. Elisha had to intercede with God so that his servant could see what God was really doing behind those things that this boy had before his eyes. And although he didn't stop him, the boy felt threatened at one point, seeing all this army come to capture them, who knows if to kill them too. One will feel intimidated by the situation, but in the face of such intimidation God is doing something beyond. And we have to live our life believing that it is so.

You in the life situation in which you find yourself, perhaps you are facing a situation now that can be very threatening, something also intimidating, and one like that, and now what do I do? And now who can defend me? And it is necessary for God to remove those blindfolds from our eyes so that then we can see before the threat falls on you and then God frees you from anything.

But look what happened. What happened in the account of Second Kings, Chapter 6? I liked this part of this story, it fascinated me. It's been a while since I read it and when I read it today it was like, this is revealing. And I want to say it, so they give me five more minutes. Look what happened.

When Elisha's servant saw the army of angels around them, what happened? Elisha then prayed that the eyes of the Syrians would be blinded when they came upon them.

“…And after the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to Jehovah and said, “I beg you, smite these people with blindness,” and he smote them with blindness according to Elisha's request. Then Elisha told them…”

Imagine this, you have the king of the Syrians with all his army in front of you, looking for Elisha and you are Elisha, but they don't know that you are Elisha. Because that's what happened in the story. It is identical to the situation of Jesus with the two disciples who were on their way to Emmaus. They were talking about Jesus but they did not know that the one who was there was Jesus. So, the Syrians came looking for Elisha, but they did not know that the one in front of him was Elisha, because his eyes were blinded.

And Eliseo tells them, I don't know how many of you saw the Star Wars movie, a power that the Jedi had and that was like making the person do or say as they said. We are not the ones you are looking for, no, no we are not the ones you are looking for. They can go their way. Yes, we will continue on our way. And they were leaving. I close the illustration, so you can see the movie. It's in the theater now just in case.

Elisha tells them, "boys, this is not the way." And the king of the Syrians like a blind man, this is not the way. Nor is this the city. Follow me and I will guide you to the man you are looking for. And he led them to Samaria where the king of Israel was. And when they arrived, Elisha said, "Jehovah, now open their eyes so they can see where they are in trouble." When they realize, damn, this man put us in the lion's den.

“…When the king of Israel had seen them, verse 21, he said to Elisha, “Now I can kill them, right?” and what did Elisha say to them, “Don't kill them, will you kill those you took captive with your sword and with your boat? Set before them bread and water so that they may eat and drink and return to their masters”…”

Look at this, how interesting. This to me was super revealing. Talking about other opportunities, new opportunities. When God gives you a new opportunity, when God removes the veil from your eyes and reveals something new to you, what are you going to do with it? Are you going to cut off the head of everyone in front of you? Or are you going to serve? You are going to give love, you are going to give an opportunity to the opportunity that has been given to you.

The same thing happened with Jesus. When Jesus gave the disciples that new opportunity, what happened to them? They didn't stay lamenting that they killed Jesus, I don't have my leader, I don't have my boss or my spiritual mentor. No, they said, what did they do? They returned to their disciples and said, look, we have seen it, yes, we can confirm what Martha and Mary had said. And now, because they saw that, they became much stronger ambassadors of the message of Jesus and that heavenly kingdom that he wanted to establish here on earth. Therefore, we are here now. Because there were people thousands of years ago that the blindfold was removed, that they became aware of the unconscious, they were in contact with those things that their eyes could not see and because they knew how to connect with that, they became much more effective people in their way of living and in their way of being able to carry out their ministry.

In the same way, my brothers, all of us including me, starting with me, we need to be aware of those things that are unconscious. I know how that applies to my life, how it applies to your life, no one is going to know better than you. But each one of us, my brothers, we have to open ourselves to the reality of what God is trying to make known to me behind the x, y, z, situation that you are experiencing right now.

Are you in a conflict with one person or with a group of people? Subconsciously your reaction is to cut everyone's head off. Connect with that side of what God wants you to do, and see if your response will be different. Are you in a hurry to get to church? Is your spouse at work? Connect with that side that is beyond to know then how to respond to a situation like that.

Because you don't know what God is doing on the other side too. If it were by our own whim, we would be surrounded in our own world, what I see from the front. Ah, here comes that army to make my life impossible. Ah, they took Jesus from me. But if we become aware of this other reality that surrounds us, which is tangible, if we become aware of this, and live in line with what it requires of our lives as well.

Look, my brothers, I dare to say that our lives would be totally different. Now, I'm not saying that you get schizophrenic and start saying, “Ah, Pastor Omar, I'm hearing voices at night.” No, because if it comes with that, then I know where I am going to consciously send it, I know where I am going to send it. We have very good contacts for that and they are very close to here.

But yes, my brothers, I believe that we have to learn to ask God, "God, look, if I am in the middle of a situation and I am not seeing things correctly, remove from my eyes what prevents me from seeing things the way you want me to see them." And when you do that, the revelation that you give me, Lord, teach me to know how to live according to those things that you have revealed to me about the unknown and you have made me know it in my very small mind, help me, then I align my life to that new revelation that you have given me.

That is where I see that new opportunity. Are you one of those people who spends his time reconciling with God every three months because you keep falling into the same thing, into the same thing. Look, ask God to open your eyes wide so that you have a new opportunity and that you do not fall into the same hole again, but that you can walk in a firmer and more constant direction towards what God wants for you.

We have to make ourselves aware of those things that are unconscious. We have to be aware, alert, my brothers, of what God is doing in our midst. In other words, it is not only, amen, but it is not only, my brothers, to be aware of this, but also that our actions align with this new reality.

That is where we are truly going to discover the validity of being able to be in contact with those things. So, my brothers, I believe that each day is a new opportunity for us to become aware of what God is doing. And I am cured of health by saying this, it is not that we are going to know everything perfectly, but I do believe that God is giving his revelation little by little.

Jesus himself told his disciples, in the book of John, Chapter 16, he tells them, "... I still have many things to tell you but for now you cannot bear them..."

For me, that verse is key in my life, because my conscious side tells me, no, you have to know everything. But in my unconscious side the Lord tells me, you cannot bear all the things that I want to let you know. But the spirit of truth, he who knows what is in my heart will let you know what you need to know in your heart when the time is right.

In the meantime, keep walking, keep being aware of what I am going to let you know, because you never know how, when and where that revelation that God wants to bring into your life is going to arrive. Amen.

We are going to stand up, my brothers, and we are going to pray. Father, you know that my desire as I preach these messages, which can be a bit difficult to follow, my desire, Lord, is that my brothers and sisters can open up, God, even more to the things that you have for each one of us.

And not necessarily be living life according to our own whims or our own perspectives, or perceptions of life, but that we learn to consider even more the perceptions that you have for us in life, Lord. Father, look, your word is filled with a wealth of truths that we still have to learn.

As Paul rightly says, in part we know, Lord, our eyes are still veiled and we believe that the time will come when you will remove that veil and we will be able to see you as you are and we will know you as you know us.

But in this meantime, Lord, here in life where we are, I only ask you, Lord, to help us be aware of those things that we cannot measure with our 5 senses, that we can only measure with direction. of your Holy Spirit in the midst of our lives. There is a cloud of angels that you put around us and many times in life you walk, you are with us, in the midst of difficult situations and we cannot distinguish that you are there, but you are, and we believe so by faith.

But I ask you, Lord, to the extent that you understand how, that you remove that veil from our eyes so that we can see you in the midst of our lives, in the midst of the circumstances that we encounter, Lord, in the things in those that we are going to face in the future, Lord, open our eyes, open our ears, my God, open our spirit so that we can be in total harmony with you and know how to take advantage of these new opportunities that you give us to make a difference, Lord , and a difference for good, a difference to glorify your name at all times.

Father, I leave my brothers and sisters in your hands. And I pray that these words that we have shared tonight, Lord, please continue to echo in our lives and that you use them to give us direction in all the things that we may be doing right now or that we are going to do in the future. . We bless your name and now take us to our homes with goodness, with your protection, Lord, and that tomorrow if you allow it, we can use what tomorrow brings and do the best for you, for your son Jesus we pray and we thank you. Amen, Lord, amen. God bless you, my brothers, forward in the Lord.