Don't shy away from testing

The letter of the Apostle Santiago is a collection of advice from a pastor, a very pastoral man. The Apostle Santiago was the brother of Jesus Christ and it is a letter that contains advice of different types, different things. He goes to one thing and then he goes to another, it's like having a very wise father or a very wise grandfather who sits down with you and begins to give you advice and the advice directed by the Holy Spirit comes out in a very nice way.

Sometimes it seems like they are not linked to each other, but they are just like jewels, pearls on a necklace and each one of them has its own life and its own coherence. But one of the things that strikes me because Santiago writes to Christian Jews who were in different cities and different parts. That is why he tells them, those who are in the dispersion, the diaspora, were in different cities, and that many of them were under persecution for being Christians specifically.

And that's why I think he begins by talking about trials and difficulties. The Lord has put it in my heart that we talk a little bit because I know that many of us have burdens and difficulties and sometimes we see the burdens and difficulties and the tests that we are going through as where is God, what has happened, why not He hears me, he does not respond to my cry. It's that he doesn't love me, it's that I'm in sin, it's that I'm not praying enough, why God allows me to go through this time of drought. Or why God allows trials in the lives of God's children. It is not because God does not love us, it is not because God is not powerful, it is not because God fails in his promises, it is because trials and difficulties play a positive role in the lives of God's children.

Trials are no exception to God's love in our lives. Sometimes God has to bring trials because they are part of God's deal and work in us. Remember that each one of us when we come to the Gospel and even sometimes when we have grown in the Gospel, there are all kinds of attitudes, characteristics, traits of our character, of our personality that adhere to us, or that are generated in us by experiences that we have had, circumstances that are negative things that harm our lives and that sometimes lead us to harm others, sometimes prevent us from hearing from the Lord, sometimes they are stumbling blocks in our lives.

And then the question is how is God going to get those things out of us and form in us the character of Jesus Christ. Interestingly, one of the things that God uses to train his children is tests. Many times trials and difficulties kind of put us in a position that we have to look up or inward.

You know when you are sometimes going through tests, you kind of don't want to be around a lot of people, parties, it's like you are directed inward to seek more of him and to inquire more about yourself. Tests are designed by God and the most powerful and graphic instrument that illustrates the positive power of tests is the cross of Jesus Christ.

Because on the cross, which was the most terrible suffering that a human being could go through, God through that terribly gloomy and sinister instrument, God used it to generate the greatest amount of blessing that the universe has ever experienced. Through the crucifixion of his Son the Lord released power, healing, for humanity, destruction and defeat of the powers of the devil and Satan's legal right over humanity, using precisely the greatest suffering that a human being has ever had. experienced.

And so I believe that through this, God gave us a very powerful image of the fact that sometimes the most terrible pains and the greatest sufferings can, in the hands of God, be used for our blessing and the blessing of others.

Many times when we are going through trials, we do not think that God forgot about me, but rather the opposite. Many times it is when God is closest to us. And that is why this Jesus, for example, in Gethsemane, suffering that cross that was coming, alone, abandoned by his companions, is like a sample of the believer, when he is going through difficult situations and it seems that God forgot, but that God is there because God was with Jesus at that moment, like at no other time in history, preparing his Son to be…

That was the highlight of Jesus' entire career and what he came to earth for. We Christians, when we enter into the economy of the Kingdom of God and the Gospel, remember that one of the most powerful purposes that God has is to form us according to the image of his Son Jesus Christ.

And that is something that I do not find that is preached a lot in churches many times. And certainly in the Pentecostal churches and churches of faith and victory and power as we have confessed, the teaching of the cross as an element of formation of the children of God is lacking and conspicuous by its absence.

You know that I see that most of the sufferings that the children of God go through in the church of Jesus Christ are not because they come from the devil, but are due to things that exist in us that are not treated by the Holy Spirit. You know what I mean, right?

There are traits that we do not give to the Lord and pastors generally do not teach about this dimension of Christian life, we do not teach about the place that God wants to form Christ in us.

Look, the most important thing for you as a child of God is not that you have money, or that you have fame, or that you find the person of your dreams, or that you have a big house, or even that you have victory over your illness, the purpose God's greatest blessing is that Christ be formed in you, and that you come to reflect the character of Jesus.

What is the character of Jesus? The fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, patience, humility, kindness, joy, peace. And you can't get to any of those things unless you're put through the cross and you don't experience certain things that God is going to set up as a treatment for you, so that you become like Christ.

And paradoxically, ironically, that being passed through the trap of tests, if you pass them in the spirit, when you come out of them, you come out stronger and more powerful than ever. And then God can do great miracles through your life. So, God can speak with authority through your life, so you can advise someone, you can witness to people with authority about Jesus Christ.

That's why don't shy away from trials, don't shy away from difficulties because if you look at all the disciples, all the Apostles went through tests. Almost all died assassinated and martyred, almost all the Apostles, including Santiago. The Apostle Paul died beheaded, did you know that? A man as powerful as Pablo. Peter died crucified, John writes his epistle of Revelation, do you know where? On a desert island where he was exiled, Padmos, the island of Padmos. They exiled him to a rocky island in the middle of the sea, with very few people there, they put him there. And almost all the disciples went through different tests.

Do you think that if those great men of God passed the test, we are going to be exempt? No. And the tests are part... Now, it does not mean that the Christian life is only a test, brothers, no, on the contrary. The life of the Christian is power, it is victory, but it includes trials. And if you want one thing, you need the other too. He who wants power and authority also needs proof, because it is part of the training.

How is a soldier formed? Do you think a soldier trains on a golf course playing golf and then going to the club for a margarita and a steak all the time? Where is a warrior formed? It is formed on the battlefield. It is formed in training, in exercises, in the discipline of a soldier. Why put them through those exercises? To form in them the character of a soldier.

Have you seen a soldier being trained with a platoon sergeant yelling at him and spitting at him while insulting him? Why do they do that to you? Because they want to form manhood in him, they want to take away everything of the baby and the spoiled boy and form a warrior man who can face the enemy.

The same thing happens when we enter the Gospel we do not enter simply to have a good time. That is a mistake that exists today. People are told, come to Christ and everything will be fine. Is a lie. And then you know what happens? When people go through trials they don't know what to do with them. There are many churches that, as only people are taught, God will always heal you and many times people have faith, pray, fast, come to church, give, serve, shout, cry out, go back and fast, God does not He heals them, and they say, God doesn't love me.

But they are not told that there are times when God is going to use those things for his glory and his honor, to form you. Now, when you have an illness, cry out to the Lord, ask him to heal you, keep crying out, but you know that if he doesn't, that doesn't mean that he doesn't love you and that he doesn't have purposes in your life. He is using these things as well to bless and strengthen you.

That is why I want this teaching to be recorded and I am going to be working on it. That is everywhere in the Scripture, look, for example, a single passage that I am going to use, Luke, chapter 13, there is a parable, and if you do not understand these things like that, they will happen to you at 100 miles per hour above your head and you won't know what you're talking about. Luke, chapter 13, verse 6 to 9, the parable of the barren fig tree. I'm going to show you where the proof is here.

“…He also told this parable, a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find it…”

Serious problem, when there is no fruit the Lord gets upset. Remember the barren fig tree with which it had a lot of leaves and the Lord reached in to look for a fruit, a fig, and there was nothing. It was all leafy, very leafy, very beautiful, but it had no fruit. When I was in Puerto Rico in my father-in-law's yard there was a lemon plant and he tells me that it hasn't been bearing fruit for a year or so, it hasn't produced any lemons, he's on strike. And I said, wow, even if it's something, there must be a little lemon somewhere. Let me see, maybe there's something.

I began to search, I got on a chair, I searched leaf by leaf and I did not find a holy lemon in the entire plant. That kill was really on strike. I prayed that the Lord would give it fruit and we will see the next time I go. What a pity! You know what I had to do, he has another plant of sour oranges, I was desperate for a little toy, and I took two sour oranges, I squeezed them and added sugar until I couldn't, until there was no more and at some point I found what sweet from the orange, and it was delicious. Has anyone ever had orange juice? It is the best, it tastes very rich. A little thing there.

It says that “….he came looking for fruit in it and did not find it. And he said to the vinedresser – the vinedresser is the one who attends, the farmer who was the laborer who worked for the owner of the vineyard – and he said to the vinedresser, 'behold, three years ago I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and I have not I find it. Cut it off. Why useless the earth too.' He then answered him, 'Lord, leave it still this year until I dig around it and fertilize it...'

Holy! Lucy already…

“…. Until I dig around it and fertilize it, and if it bears fruit, well, and if not, you will cut it down later…”

Examine yourself a little. Look what it says here. What is that fig tree? Who is that fig? You, me, we are the fig tree. And what does the Lord expect of you and me? fruits. And what are those fruits? What are the fruits that God expects in us?

It says that God has appointed us to bear much fruit. What are the fruits? Souls, okay, may we win souls plus the Gospel. What else? What other future can we give? Compassion for others. What other things? Love, service, patience, faith, all of these are fruits, works for the Gospel, support for the church of Jesus Christ, giving to the Lord in different ways. Do whatever it takes to advance the Kingdom of God. Bearing fruit means that your life is a resource for humanity and for the Kingdom of God, that when God needs you for something, he has you there ready as an instrument to be used.

And people do not understand that we are placed in the Kingdom of God to bear fruit. You are not put there to vegetate, to be a parasite. Many people come to church to see what the church is going to do for them. If the pastor is going to visit them, if he is going to greet them and they are like children who have to be changing their diapers.

Imagine an adult changing her diapers, how unpleasant that must be, right? But there are people like that, they are adults, they are old in the Gospel and they still have to be changing their diapers. But do you know why God calls us? It is to bear fruit. It is to be a soldier, warriors, instruments, servants of the Lord. And the church is the place where you train. Understand that.

If people entered the Gospel with that mentality that it is to serve and bear fruit, not so that they give to me, and of course one receives. That is the good thing about the Gospel, you receive and you give, you receive and you give, you give and you receive, you give and you receive. So, understand this, that fig tree is planted so that it bears fruit and the owner of the fig tree, from time to time, goes to the vineyard and goes to see, okay, I want to take a few figs home and can't find them. He doesn't find them. And then the employee of the vineyard, the worker, the one who attends directly... the vinedresser.

One question, who is the vinedresser here? Jesus. And what do you think if we also put the Holy Spirit. Because God puts the Holy Spirit in us to form us, to work in us and also the Holy Spirit is Jesus Christ who dwells within us. But I would say that the vinedresser is, either Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, it is that power of God that is in us to form us.

What does a farmer do? Take care of the fig tree, prune it, work it, fertilize it so that it bears fruit. His calling is to work with that fig tree. What does the paracletos do? the dildo, is precisely that. The Holy Spirit is there to guide us towards all truth, to teach us everything that God wants from us. I often don't like that word dildo, it's a badly translated word. Paracletos, which translates into Spanish dildo, people think dildo thinks the one with a handkerchief so you can blow your nose when you're crying. That is not the Holy Spirit. The paracletos in Greek means the one who stands next to you and supports you and supports you and pushes you and encourages you.

The Holy Spirit is like in the football game, the cheerleader, is the one who is saying, yes, go ahead, hit it hard if you can. He is the one who is animated, I would rather say the animator. The Holy Spirit is your coach, the Holy Spirit is the coach, the encourager, the discipler, the disciplinarian, that's what the Holy Spirit does rather. That is why he says the vinedresser is the one who makes sure that the vineyard, the fig tree, bears fruit.

The owner who is in this case the Father, tells the Holy Spirit or the Son, three years ago, how many Christians are there in the church, brothers, who do not bear fruit? They don't do anything, they're lazier than the [inaudible] above, they don't move. They do not do anything. They just come on Sunday, sit down, don't even sing. At least do something, go out of tune but do something that says he's alive. No, they don't do anything. They come to church and they think flattened to get there and sit there, like I already paid so God, you have to give me what I need. You have to bear fruit.

The Lord is continually examining our life. How are you growing? Are you knowing more of the word of God? are you praying Are you feeling his presence? You are changing? Are you surrendering part of your being? Are you acquiring more Christ-like qualities? Is God using you to evangelize someone? Do you bring your glory to the Lord with your character? Are you giving your characteristics that are not pleasing to him so that he will exchange them for others? What are you doing to bear fruit?

Fruit is everything that pleases the Lord, everything that brings him pleasure, everything that brings pride to the Father when he looks at you and says, that's my daughter, that's my son, how good, look how he's growing, look how he's doing being used for my glory!

And God wants, when he comes in one direction and visits you, it's like he's saying, son, what are you doing to grow? What are you doing to be more like my Son Jesus Christ? So, that idea of the owner who comes to the vineyard and looks for fruit, is the Father who is always looking at us who expects us to teach him something that we have learned and that we have grown.

What's going on? That this man every time he comes is a barren fig tree, he doesn't find it, and so he gets upset with the fig tree. Remember what I said last Sunday, that the father has two speeds, one is grace, he invites you to eat, he opens the doors for you, he invites you to his house, he prepares dinner for you, but if you despise him, he gets angry.

And that's what people don't understand, that not bearing fruit is not like God saying, well, you know what? It's okay, the poor thing, it doesn't bear fruit, it's useless. Amen. What I can do? He's a boy… okay, don't worry, he's still there. No. God gets upset.

What other example of that, how in the parable of the unfaithful servant, the son gives a mina to each of his 10 servants. He leaves and returns and asks them to account for what they did. One day we will talk about it. He asks them to account for what each one of them did with that gift, that talent that he gave them. One, with the mine they give you 10 more mines. Mine is like an amount of money, let's say $300 and one of those $300 turned into $3000. And when the owner comes and says, what did you do with my money? Sir, your money earned 10 times more, I'm multiplying it by 1000 percent. Wow, he says, amen, good and faithful servant.

Another, says Lord, your $300 earned $1500, five times as much. Thank you, my son, very well done! Because the Lord doesn't care... there are different endowments. Maybe God gave you so many gifts that you're going to be a Billy Graham and you're going to win 10 million people to Christ. But perhaps he gave to another simply to win 100 souls in his whole soul, or 50 or 20. God does not care so much about the absolute number of things you do, what God cares about is that you do the best you can. you can, with what he has given you.

It says, according to the gift you have received, according to the measure of faith you have received. God gives different measures of faith to different people. Not all are going to be pastors, not all are going to be evangelists, not all are going to be directors of a great international mission. One person in your staff is going to be an intercessor, and no one is going to realize that person is in the church, but that person is going to bear fruit because that church is unknowingly being strengthened by that person's prayers. And that's all that person is going to do. She will never give a sermon, she will never preach at a conference, but she is a faithful advocate. There are different gifts, different things. What matters to God is that you make an effort.

Look, I command you to make an effort and be brave. What's going on? That there was a third servant, who said, Lord, here are the $300 that you gave me, because I know that you are a severe man and that you go where you have to go and even if there is nothing, you do it and you are a demanding being, so I was afraid and instead of investing this in a business, what I did was I put it in a handkerchief, all greasy and I put it under the mattress, so here it is.

And do you know what the Lord tells you? Bad servant, because your words I judge you. How do you say that I am a severe being? And it's true, why then didn't you choose the money and even put it in the bank so that it earns 3 percent interest. You would have given me even $305 or $310, but even $10, you should have done something.

Note that the reaction is what is interesting about the owner, the executive. It's not a reaction of, ah, poor thing, it's okay, I know you were scared, don't worry, next time. No. he gets excessively upset. He gets angry, he gets angry with this man who instead of working what the owner gave him, he simply put him to stagnate. And says:

“…Take it away and give it to the one who has 10. And the others are scandalized, Lord, but if they have 10, how are you going to take one away to give it to the one who has so much? He says, no, because more will be given to those who have much, and to those who still do not have what little they have will be taken away. Because it is that God expects us to work and he gets angry and upset.

A sterile Christian nauseates God, brothers. That is why we have to… the spirit that God has placed in us is a spirit of greatness, excellence, power, and if we do not use it, we are wasting the power of God. That is why Christ says that he who does not share with me scatters and wastes, because there are only two alternatives.

God has put a spirit in you of power. That's why my dear sister... I asked you to pray, no, I can't, no... but when you started to flow they came out... you could have continued praying for two hours. It is that we have to dare. The spirit is within us. If I had time, I would prove to you word where Paul says, I pray that you understand the great power that God has caused to dwell among you, which is the same power that raised Christ from the dead.

All of us have an endowment of power and if we do not use it, we are wasting the grace and power of God, we are insulting the God who endowed us with the power of his son and then God expects you to work because he says… I know what that I put in you, do not tell me that... no, that I am a poor devil. No, I gave you power. And if you don't use it, it's because of your bad head and it's bothering me.

He says, “…cut it down, for it will also make the earth useless? And so here is the key, says the vinedresser, the Holy Spirit who is the intercessor, Christ who intercedes for us, says, ...leave it still this year, give it one more chance until I dig around it and fertilize it..."

Dig. You know what happens... digging and fertilizing, that's what many times when one prunes, I told them I think it was the last time about pruning a bush. When a bush is pruned, violence is done to the bush, its branches are cut, its beauty is taken away. Digging means… the land around it to do violence to the land that is around it, fertilize it, work it. That's where God often digs in around us, takes away our supports. There are times when we have things around us that strengthen us: money, friends, health.

And that makes us very self-sufficient, very sure of ourselves. What's more, sometimes there is land around us, good behavior, there are people who all their lives in faith have behaved very well, like Simon, the Pharisee, and they have not broken a single plate. And you know what that leads to? Many times it leads to self-sufficiency, pride and when someone falls or has a problem... look at that stupid, why does he do that? That sinner... instead of having mercy, they judge him, because they are judging according to his condition. And then they don't have mercy, they don't have compassion, they don't have patience, they don't have love towards others. And God says, you know what? I'm going to dig around him a little bit, I'm going to take a little bit of that self-sufficiency away from him, and sometimes there's a fall. Listen to me. God allows that sometimes, because the devil is always around trying to…

Sometimes a fall can come, a difficult situation can come in a person's life and it is part of God's work. I know that this sounds difficult for you, brothers, but I tell you, I have already clearly understood that there are things sometimes that God chooses and I can prove it to you, if you want, give me two more minutes.

Paul had a thorn in the flesh, no one knows what the thorn in the flesh is, but Paul calls him an angelos satan, Greek for an angel of Satan. It is translated a messenger because I think the translators did not like that idea of God sending an angel from Satan. What is what? A demon. God sent me a sting, a messenger, an angel. The word angelos in the original Greek means either angel or messenger. So they chose the softest one, a messenger, because it's more poetic, less scandalous.

I believe God sometimes even uses demons, gentlemen, again I don't have that much time, but believe me, I'm not drinking any tea, the only thing I'm drinking right now... there are cases in the Bible in which God uses a spirit, for example, lying, as in the case of Ahab, he sent a lying spirit to make this man stumble.

God sometimes there are strange dialogues, Job, God dialogues, he says that one day the sons of God came to appear before him, among whom our friend came, God rebuke him, Satan. He appeared and God dialogues with him. There are many mysterious things, brothers, in the world about how… one day we will understand, there are mysteries.

So Pablo… I believe that the sting that Pablo had was a sting… an internal struggle that he had. I think it was a struggle of his thoughts. I don't know, he says, but from what he says, it was a satanic force that was fighting with him, with this great servant of God. Because? Because it says that God gave Paul such great revelations that he couldn't even share them with any human being, because God took him to the third heaven. He says that he heard things there that he wasn't even allowed to share with anyone. He says, and so that the greatness of the revelations would not make me inordinately proud, is the word he uses, God sent me a stinger, a messenger from Satan, to slap me. Yes or no? am I making it up or read it there? Second Corinthians, chapter 12.

"... regarding which I have asked him three times to take it from me and three times he has answered me, my grace is sufficient for you because my power is perfected in weakness..."

Why my grace? Because this great man of God, so powerful, so enlightened, with so much supernatural experience, listening to the voice of Christ himself, needed something that would make him more humble. Because if he was proud of the great revelations he had received, the devil was going to hit him even harder. Then God preemptively sends him a scourge, a fight to keep him short, humble and dependent on God's grace and mercy, so that he can have compassion on others as well, brothers.

Many times the servants of God, the priests of God have to have internal struggles to have mercy on others. That is why great men of God like Martin Luther, the great reformer, suffered from terrible depressions that made him useless for days and days. Charles Spurgeon, one of the great preachers of the 19th century suffered from terrible depressions as well. Mother Teresa, a woman of God, knows that when Mother Teresa died, she asked that her diary, the spiritual diary, never be published. And the Catholic Church, for you to see this, decided that it was necessary for humanity to see the inner life of this woman and in her diary Mother Teresa talks about her great spiritual sterility. She would go through periods where she believed that God did not love her. buy it.

These great people, servants of God, often go through difficult situations. And God sometimes allows test situations, difficulties because it is the way in which these people are formed to be compassionate people, merciful, humble advisers, because otherwise pride makes them easy prey to the devil, as it did with Peter.

Peter, when the Lord says, all of you are going to abandon me, and Peter, full of self-sufficiency says, Lord, even if all these cowards abandon you, I will never abandon you. And the Lord laughed at him and said, Peter, Peter, you are not only going to deny me once, you are going to deny me three times before dawn. And Peter 3 times... and the third time, he cursed so they would believe him. I know this one... Jesus. He says, and once you have been strengthened, go and strengthen your brothers.

And God allowed Peter to go through the terrible test of knowing that he denied his Master to humiliate him. And that's why that scene when the Lord says to Peter, Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. Three times he denied it and three times the Lord gave him the opportunity to say, yes, I love you, Lord. Because the Lord has mysterious ways of working with us.

Look, brothers, learn about the mystery of God's dealings. God deals with you in the smallest things in your life. I have learned in my life that the Lord is inside the most secret neurons of my brain. He knows every cell of my being by name and there are billions and billions of cells, trillions that I have inside my body. And I think he knows every one of them. God gets into your life, your affairs. He manages every minute, every detail of your life and he is interested in one thing, and that is working for you, training you, guiding you.

I have learned that every minute I have God watching me and working with me and talking to me, every moment. So I don't take anything for granted. Everything that happens in my life I take it as, Lord, okay, what are you up to? What are you doing right now in my life? All.

When it says here that I'm going to dig around it, it means that. Many times God is going to dig around your life, he is going to remove supports. That's why many times a person full of money, full of fame, and at the moment a bankruptcy, everything collapses, and that's where they meet Christ, or that's where they say, wow, really I was so far from God . And in that test, if they pass it with God, because the key is that, you can do two things when the test comes to you, either kiss the hand of God that slapped you or curse him and say, I'm outta here. It depends on how you work.

If you use the trial to your advantage and bless God as he goes through it, that trial will be the most precious thing that will happen to you in your life. Now, if you curse it and reject it, it becomes a dagger that embitters and destroys you. Which of the two are you going to use? If you use the tests positively, those tests will bless you, they will strengthen you, they will dig you up, they will prune you, but then they will allow you to bear fruit.

Then he says, “dig around it, let me fertilize it, and if it bears good fruit and if not then cut it down.”

What does the Bible say? If it doesn't bear fruit, they cut it down and throw it into the fire. The salt if it loses its flavor is useless, you have to throw it away.

Remember that. That digging, that pruning of God is the treatment of the crucifixion of the self, the grain of wheat that falls to the ground. Another beautiful image of this, he says, if the grain of wheat does not fall to the ground and die, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. The grain has to be broken, the outer shell so that the life that is within it can come out. When a grain of wheat falls, or any grain of beans or whatever, on the ground, it starts to rot, the moisture in the ground, the chemicals break down the grain so that then life, the genetics of that seed start to sprout and a bush sprouts that produces a lot of grain.

But if it remains whole and does not break, only one grain remains. Likewise with your life, your character, the outer crust, the things you love, your humanity, your carnality, that is the grain of the outer crust. Many times God has to break it and it has to bring forth tears, blood, suffering, agony, but from there your soul breaks and the life of God that is within you comes out and then there comes the blessing, there comes the bearing of fruit, there joy comes, victory comes, lightness comes.

The trials in my life have produced a man, I believe, a little better than before them and I still have a long way to go, brothers. But I have already learned that despite the pain and suffering I have to say, Lord, I want to go through this test with you, I'm going to get in there, I'm going to hold on to you until the storm passes and then later I'm going to open the window and I'm going to bless you and I'm going to hear the birds singing and I'm going to be more useful to you and I'm going to have more joy in my life, I'm going to be lighter.

So, let God dig around you and prune you so that you can bear more fruit and be more like Christ. Amen. That is part of the tests, brothers. Glory to the Lord. I hope we are blessed with this word.

Stand up, receive this teaching. Ask the Lord to give you discernment tonight. Father, I bless your people. Give us discernment to know when to war, when to resist, and when to bow our heads and let you shape us. I bless your sons and your daughters tonight, Father. Shower your grace on them and send them off with your blessing in Jesus name. Amen and amen.