the river god

Says the word of the Lord this afternoon, "Then he made me return to the entrance of the house and, behold, waters came out from under the threshold of the house towards the east, because the facade of the house was to the east and the waters descended from below, towards the right side of the house, south of the altar.

And he brought me out by the way of the north gate and made me go around the outer way outside the gate, to the way that faces the east and I saw that the waters were coming out from the right side. And the man went out toward the east, lifting up a line in his hand, and measured a thousand cubits, and led me through the water up to my ankles. He measured another thousand and led me through knee-deep water.

Then he measured another thousand and made me pass through the water up to my loins. He measured another thousand and it was already a river that I could not cross because the waters had grown in such a way that the river could not be crossed except by swimming. And he said to me, 'Have you seen, son of man?' Then he took me and made me go back along the river bank and when I came back I saw that on the river bank there were many trees on either side, and he said to me, 'these The waters come out to the eastern region and will descend into the lava and enter the sea and when they enter the sea the waters will receive healing and every living soul that swims wherever it enters these rivers will live and there will be many fish for having entered these rivers there. waters and they will receive healing and everything that enters this river will live.

And next to him will be the fishermen and from En-Gadi to En-eglaim will be his nets and by their species the fish will be as numerous as the fish of the Great Sea. Its swamps and its lagoons will not be cleaned up, they will remain for salt flats. And next to the river on the bank on one side and on the other side all kinds of fruit trees will grow, their leaves will never fall nor will their fruit lack. In due time it will mature because its waters come out of the sanctuary and its fruit will be for eating and its leaf for medicine.”

God bless your word this afternoon. If I told you this afternoon that God has a body of water in which he wants you to immerse yourself. And when we talk about a body of water, our mind immediately goes to a river or the sea. A reference that we have here in the United States of a river is the Mississippi River, where the Mississippi River begins its width is not more than 3 feet, where that river originates is not more than 3 feet, but we all know when that river ends how great and powerful it is. When a lot of rain falls, it gets out of its way and affects the entire region that is nearby.

But in this context that we are talking about, what would happen if we entered those waters like Ezekiel? The difference between the Mississippi River and these rushing waters is that these waters come from the threshold of God's altar. and that composition is completely different. These waters do not have any special, human addition, these waters have not been prepared in a laboratory, these waters come from the throne of the Lord.

If you allow me to make a spiritual explanation of these verses, I want us to connect with this river this afternoon and how entering this river will improve where we are. The truth is that we all have room to improve. Believe me we can improve or continue to improve. This afternoon I want to challenge you not to stay on the shore, watching how the river develops, not to stay looking at how powerful, how strong, how big, how spectacular this river is. Don't stay as a spectator.

I want to challenge you that the man who speaks here in this passage makes to Ezekiel, and what does that imply for our lives. Coming from God, these waters do not require any type of filter, they are pure waters, they are special waters, they are superior waters, they are waters that have authority. And in this time in which we are living, the circumstances that surround us, the events beyond our reach, have made many of us develop a trench mentality so that nobody takes me, so that nothing affects me, so that nothing knocks me down, so that nothing hurt me, I'm going to stay still, I'm going to entrench myself, but I'm not going to move.

I want you to think this afternoon, this is not the time to be entrenched. This is not the time to stand around and see what happens. This is not the time to admire the river as if it were a museum artifact or a piece or a work of art. It is the time to begin to enter that water, because once, brothers and sisters and friends, that you enter that water as the prophet Ezekiel entered, we entered at the ankles and you can feel that the river has strength, but you are still at the ankles.

The magnificent thing about this river is that its course and direction have already been determined. If you could see the geography how this river moves in this vision that Ezekiel has from the threshold of the altar to the Dead Sea, you will see that this is impossible. But it is that our God is the God of the impossible.

So, if the course of this river nothing can affect it and nothing can change it, what are you waiting for to enter the river? Because once in the river, the course of your life and the direction of your life nothing will be able to change it because nothing will be able to affect the course of that river.

The Mississippi is fed by streams, as it grows there are other bodies of water that feed it, but this river that Ezekiel is seeing does not have to be fed because it has already been fed by the throne of God.

He says that this river has the authority to heal broken hearts. He has authority to heal broken lives. It has authority to lead you to achieve your goals. He has the authority to take you to your full potential within that river. In the trenches you will not achieve anything, you will see others who progress, others who push forward, others who have well-being, others who reach their future. It doesn't matter where you are, it doesn't matter how you are, what matters is that this river has left the throne of God and it will reach you and one that reaches you will change your life. And once your life changes, you will never be the same person.

So this river changes salt water into fresh water. No other river can do that, on the contrary, it becomes salty, but this river is different. And he made me cross the water which came to my ankles. Ezequiel is already entering the first part, he feels that water on his ankles, but Ezequiel is still standing on his feet in the river, he can still get out of the river. He can still decide what he is going to do inside the river, he can return to the shore and not continue.

And it is there that I see a reference to something that I observed in New York. Sometimes I see the brothers of the churches as children who go to a swimming pool and do not want to get into the water that is in the pool. But they are seeing that other children are in the pool playing with toys that are for the pool. And sometimes these children who don't want to get into the pool don't want to get wet, you can tell them, 'but little boy, get in, try the water, it's cold, you won't drown, it's not a deep pool,' the most What they do is sit on the edge of the pool and put their feet in the water. But they want the toys of the children who are in the pool and those children begin to scream, cry, kick, pull, in a bad mood, they want to leave, they are not happy. And we are not different.

We just want to get our feet wet without going into the water, without taking the risk of trusting in the Lord and then we get upset with our brothers and sisters who are enjoying themselves, they are playing in that river but since I don't want to get in, because I don't want to risk, I don't even want to get wet, it creates a completely selfish attitude in me, because I want to play with the water toys in the trench, but the water toys are for playing in the water.

The benefits of the kingdom are for those who are submerged in the water. God's blessing within his covenants is reserved for the one who is committed to taking the risk and diving in. We want the benefits but we don't want the risks. And then we criticize those who take risks.

We raise voices of complaint to those brothers and sisters who risk it because of our lack of faith that we do not understand that while we are on the shore, dry, we will never feel or experience what it is like to be wet in the presence of that spirit of God.

Decisions are not made on the shore, they are made in the river. If you aspire to leadership, to positions in our church, leave the shore, break with that generational pattern and enter the water, submit to the presence of the Lord, submit to that faith, take the risk that in the water you will never be disappointed. Get out of the trench.

If you are only left touching the water with your ankles, you still have control over your life. What God wants is for you to leave control of your life to him. If we only stay with the water in the ankles we do not advance to the next step. you stagnate You cannot grow, you are delaying your call to serve.

Imagine that if we do not advance or we are stagnant and cannot grow, therefore, we are affecting the growth of the Kingdom of God, because we are stagnant. That is what we project and stuck like that you are affecting your family, you are affecting your life, you are affecting everything you touch because your vision is completely submerged and limited to the shore and a trench.

Let the river, when you begin to enter and move forward, change the course of your life, change the course of your family so that you join the course where that river goes. Now he makes Ezequiel go back into the water, now the water is up to his knees, it is no longer his ankles. I would say that this is a spiritual way of saying that it is time to learn that one is higher in the kingdom of heaven when we are on our knees than when we are standing on our feet.

We are greater in the Lord when our height is measured by our knees and we learn that in the river. When we are standing on our knees it affects us and polishes us and removes a skin that we have on our knees called arrogance/pride, because that is what I can do, 'hey, I'm in the river, I have an idea, I have a plan, I have a purpose.” Brothers and sisters, the river came out of the throne with a purpose, with a plan and with a course and direction.

He asks that you join that river. They taught me in Puerto Rico when I was taking swimming classes, when you're on the beach, the bottom of the beach is uneven, it can be even, don't go deeper than your chest, that's the safe part. But there are beaches that you walk on thinking that you are level and at the moment you leave, in a hole. And I went through the experience when I was 11 years old, being on the beach in Isla Verde.

My friends invited me to the beach, they were the youth leaders in the church, I was an 11-year-old boy. They convinced my dad and my mom to let me go to the beach and that I wasn't going to get in the water. My dad told me, 'Isaías, I'm going to let you go but don't go in the water.' I told him, 'no, no, look, I'm not wearing a bathing suit.' Which was the truth, I didn't wear a bathing suit , but my friends had extra bathing suit. He didn't ask me if I had an extra bathing suit, so I didn't bring my bathing suit. So when we got to the beach I changed, I have my bathing suit. They are adults, they are swimming, I am on the shore. They swam and looked at me, 'stay on the shore.' I, 'yes, yes,' if I went in a little, I would come out. I notice that there are some stones on my right hand that no one was swimming there, what do you think I did? I climbed on the rocks and I have to try this water, and when I jumped in, it was very deep and I didn't know how to swim.

Thank the Lord that when I jumped in there were some people taking scuba diving classes down there, and they saw this boy and they were able to pull me out. We now come to the river that he enters and the water reaches his chest. He still has the willpower to get out of the water, but he feels the river stronger, much stronger.

At that moment the other phase of our lives begins, when the water reaches my chest. Those who are on the shore only see a little bit of me, they don't see my whole body. Spiritually speaking when I am in the river of the Lord and the world to whom I minister or serve or work only sees a small part of my body, it is because I am showing the whole body and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and I am not important because I am going under so that he can come out of the water and people will see that he is the Lord and King of us all.

Some would say, not me, that if I am submerged up to here my pockets are submerged. Puerto Rico would say, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! But the idea is, my commitment can't just be spiritual, my commitment can't just be my mind, it has to be a complete physical and emotional commitment. I am going to enter the water but I am going to enter completely.

When Ezequiel is told in the last way to enter the river, he realizes that the river has grown, he can no longer cross it because now if he enters the river it will take him wherever he goes, in other words, not we have control or power over this river. We no longer have to cross, now we have to swim. Now comes the best of this part.

Once I decide in my advancement of the Gospel, that I am going to depend completely on the river, that I can drown, it is the moment that I am not going to drown, it is the moment that I am going to float in the river. And sister, brother friend, when you put yourself and put your whole body to float in the river, you are saying, 'Lord, where you take me, I go. Wherever you want to take me in my spiritual, ministerial life, as a person, as a leader, I go. I am giving you my life and I am also giving you my family, and I am giving you what I am ministering to because I am on the river, I have no control. I have handed over to you supreme control, for you know best where we are going.'

Who can stop a river like that? Who will be able to stop the advance of that river-based Kingdom of God? The attacks will come. The war is going to get more difficult. There are times when we are going to love each other... we have lost the sense of really being faithful to the Lord because what they have done to us hurts us, what we have been through, we do not know what to do. The storms will continue to come but the León de Judá church, I am telling you this afternoon, and listen carefully, define your individual life, define your life as a family, define your life as a church. Leader, define your life, define your family. Pastors, let's define our lives, let's define our families and let's tell the enemy in this spiritual warfare, we are floating in the river of God and nothing will be able to stop the course of the river of God.

Because what we decided to do, we have not done it on the shore, we have done it floating in the spirit of the Lord. Raise your hands this afternoon and praise his glory. Brothers, we are floating on that river, yes. We will go through valleys of shadow and death, but we are floating on the river, nothing can touch us, nothing can stop us, nothing is going to stop the advance of this church and this ministry because we are floating on the river. To reach your personal goal you have to float in the river.

God is great. He is the God of the river. When we are floating, I wrote last night, we have moved beyond our ability, we have left the safety of our lives in the hands of the Lord. God does not want to take me where I can go, God wants to take me where I cannot go. He doesn't want to take me to the possible, he wants to take me to the impossible.

If you are on the shore you will not understand that. if you are on the shore you will not understand the plans or the course of history that arises when you are floating in the water. God wants us to learn to rest in him, in this depth of floating in the water is when we realize that I cannot rely on my own human tools, that I cannot rely on my knowledge or my experience, that I have to rest on the river waters, realizing that I am not in command and have no power. The river is in command and has the power.

I would ask this afternoon how deep you are in this river. Are you still on the shore or are you floating on the river? We need a deeper walk with our Lord, but to do that I want you to consider the following: first, we have to be sure that we are in the river. Second, we need to get away from the shore and move into deeper water. Third, we have to get to the place where the river is in absolute control and not us. Where are you today?

At the end of this vision, the Lord shows Ezekiel, in verse 12, next to the river, on the banks on either side, all kinds of fruit trees will grow, their leaves will never fall nor will their fruit be lacking. In due time it will mature because its waters come out of the sanctuary and its fruit will be for eating and its leaf for medicine.

In other words, while Ezekiel stayed inside the river, God took care of the rest of what would happen on the shore because God has always been in control, and will always be in control. Your mission this afternoon is join me, join this church and get in that water, in that river and dive until it floats.

God bless you. God save us. Let's pray this afternoon. Lord we thank you because you have sent a mighty river, a river not of works of hands, a river that has been forged in heaven. Give us the strength, give us the wisdom to be able to enter the waters and not stay on the shore, so that we can reach a sufficient degree of maturity so that floating in you, resting in you, you do the rest. Do our part, but Lord, you do yours. In your hands I place this town and I place this challenge, Lord Jesus, amen.