Trials Come into Our Lives—the Question Is, What Are We Going to Do?

This morning I read today’s reading and the meditation we have on our God Speaks Today page. Today’s lesson was about this very passage concerning the widow, and it was a selection from a sermon preached by the great English preacher Charles Spurgeon, one of the great, great proclaimers of the Word of God in London.

And he spoke about the Lord’s blessings, obviously, and His provision through this message about the widow. And I decided—I felt it from the Lord, because I was looking for something that would give you encouragement and hope for this coming year, something that would give us a little dose of vitamins, right? Especially on a day like today, when it is cold and it is somewhat difficult for people to come to church. But how wonderful that you are here and that we have a full house. Glory to God for that.

The point is that I decided to use that reading as a starting point. And I want to share with you some lessons from this meditation. The first thing we see here is that this woman finds herself in a very serious crisis. She is a servant of God; she has served the Lord all her life. Her husband was a servant of God. In our time, we would have said that he was a pastor, an evangelist, or someone who worked full-time in the service of the Lord, in ministry.

This man has just passed away, he has just died, and he left debts behind. So now the creditors, the companies, and the people—MasterCard and Visa—come knocking on her door, but not as politely as they sometimes do here. Instead, they have come to take away her two sons. They are coming to take away her two sons and make them work in servitude, in slavery, until the debt is paid. They are also going to leave her destitute and in even greater poverty than she was already experiencing.

In other words, this is a critical situation; it is a very, very serious situation. And the first thing I want you to see here—the first lesson I personally draw from this passage—is precisely the situation in which this servant of God finds herself. Sometimes we think, goodness, if I serve the Lord, God is going to protect me from every hardship, from every difficult situation; He will not let anything bad happen to me. I will not have problems, I will not have debts, and everything will be riches. And unfortunately, in their preaching, there are many people involved in what is called the prosperity gospel who are willing to encourage us in that belief.

I believe in prosperity; I absolutely believe in blessing for the children of God, and that is precisely why I am preaching this sermon. But it is also important for us to understand that trials and difficulties can come upon the children of God as well. How many of you know that? Isn’t that right? And we must also be prepared when difficulties come. I believe there is nothing wrong with telling the people of God: Hey, we live in a fallen world. It is a dangerous world; there are difficulties. Every time you move, you move against gravity; right there you already have difficulty and resistance—just imagine. That is what the conditions of this world are like.

And Christ Himself said it in His memorable words: “In the world you will have affliction.” Thank God He did not stop there with that negative diagnosis, but also said: “Take heart; I have overcome the world.” But sometimes we do not dwell long enough on “you will have affliction” and move quickly on to the other part. We are like little children who lick off the jam but do not eat the bread, and then give the bread to Mom so she can put more jam on it. Mom says, “No, you have to eat the bread too,” right? Sometimes we must also reflect on that aspect of life: there are difficult situations in life.

And these servants of God were going through a crisis. This man had passed away. There are losses in life; there are difficulties in life. I live out my gospel, I believe, in a realistic way. I know there is an element of struggle in this life, but God has given me the strength to go through those struggles and come out more than a conqueror. Amen? But it is good to be realistic in life. This very year, I know that many of you have suffered different kinds of losses; there have been difficulties.

Just this past week—this past week—we officiated at or attended at least three or four funerals. This congregation has now reached a certain size; people grow old, they die, and that is the way it is. This week, a man we loved very much, Brother Pedro, who was with us for many years and was relatively young—this man grew here in our congregation, served the Lord, and we married him here to his beautiful wife, Margarita. And they grew a great deal here.

And at one point he decided that he wanted to go to another church, and very properly he came to me and said, “Pastor, I feel that God is calling us.” There was a small church in Dedham, and they felt that God was calling them to help that little church that was getting established, to work with the young people in that church. And he thought, “Well, my church has many resources, and we can help this church.” And with great joy I blessed them, we said goodbye to them, and they went to serve in this small congregation. They served faithfully for many years. He always stayed in touch with many people from our congregation.

And about eight months ago, more or less, something like that, we were notified that he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer. And this young man, practically a newlywed, received a death sentence from the doctors. They told him, “You have six to eight months to live, no more than a year.” And indeed, the diagnosis was fulfilled just that way. So this past week we attended—we were there at his funeral—and we commended him to the Lord. Members of our congregation and pastors from our church were there.

And the point is that one would think, “Well, why does this happen to a person who is serving God, who is giving himself to the Lord, devoted to the Lord?” That is the condition of life, brothers and sisters. We live in a world filled with mystery. God chooses to heal some, and He does not heal others. Even the great servants of God can suffer misfortunes.

Elisha himself, this great man of God, this prophet—the Bible says that this very man who helps this widow through an incredible miracle—the Bible says, “Now Elisha had become sick with the illness from which he died.” Even he suffered his illness and passed away. But we know that this is the nature of life: difficult situations come into our lives. And you know what? It is precisely in those moments that we must decide, “What am I going to do with this situation? Am I going to stay down? Am I going to remain discouraged? Am I going to begin railing against God? Am I going to doubt His mercy? Am I going to doubt His faithfulness? Or am I going to believe that my God is powerful enough to carry me through?”

The important thing, as I say, is what we are going to do when those moments come. Some people become depressed, let their arms fall, become angry with God, and stop praying, going to church, and growing in the Lord. Others rise up, gird their loins, cry out to the Lord, and launch themselves into the search for the blessing and the medicine God has for their situation. We, the children of God, do not stay down; we get back up.

This very morning, when you look out the window and see all that snow, you have two options. Either you say, “You know what? It is too cold, there is too much ice out there, and I have worked too hard this week to venture outside. I think the servant of God can take a little vacation today. I’m going to watch the program online, amen.” If you are watching it, do not think I am taking an indirect jab at anyone, just in case, all right? Some did not come for very legitimate, very valid reasons: they do not have transportation; they are single mothers with babies who would have to take a van, a bus, or whatever. We understand that, right?

But there are others who perhaps—look—could have been here. Glory to the Lord that you are here; that encourages us and gives us joy. Amen? It is always good when there is that remnant. People tell me, “Pastor, close the church because there is too much snow.” I say, “No, Lord. Even if I have to come by sleigh like Santa Claus, I am going to make it.” The church does not close unless there is a flood or some gigantic cataclysm, right?

Because you have to choose, amen? When trials come, you have to say, “In the name of the Lord, I am going to overcome them.” You have to press forward. Trials will come; it is inevitable. Difficulties come into the lives of the children of God, but the question is: What am I going to do when those trials come? Am I going to stay down, or am I going to open my medicine cabinet containing the medicines and weapons God gives me so I can keep moving forward?

The apostle Paul tells us to put on the whole armor of God. He tells us to stand firm and, having done everything, to keep standing firm. There are times in life when trials and difficulties come, and all you can do is plant both feet firmly and hold your ground there in the name of the Lord until the storm passes—confessing blessing, waiting on the Lord, engaging in spiritual warfare, crying out to God, and confessing the Word of God. And you know what? At some point, the devil does this: he tucks his little tail between his legs and goes away defeated. And you open the windows again, and once again the Lord’s blessing comes in.

We must trust, and sometimes we will truly have to take up the sling like David, hurl the stone right at the giant’s forehead, and bring him down without allowing him to frighten us. I like Job’s words in chapter 19 of his book, a tremendously beautiful book. Job, as you know, was a man of God, blameless in his ways. Nothing bad could be found in him. God had blessed him in an enormous way, and the devil says to the Lord, “Yes, he blesses You and serves You because You have given him everything: riches, children, prosperity, and a great reputation. Now take some of that away from him and see whether he does not curse You.”

And the Lord says, “Oh, is that how it is? Let’s see.” And you know the story: the trial began in Job’s life. He lost all his money, then his children in a tragedy, and finally his health. But Job remained firm through it all, even when his own wife said to him, “You know what? That God you serve so faithfully is good for nothing. Curse Him and die already.” And these are Job’s words in the midst of his great loss and tribulation: “I know that my Redeemer lives.”

I talk about those “I knows” in the Word of the Lord. There are many times when the Bible says, “I know,” and it is like hurling a stone straight at the giant’s forehead. It is a defiant “I know.” It is an “I know” that says, “You know what? Even though I am going through trials and difficulties, even though everything is not going well for me, even though the fig tree does not blossom, I know that my God is behind that tragedy. I know that the sun is behind those clouds. I know that the day of my redemption is coming, and in the meantime I am not going to lose heart, as Puerto Ricans say. I am going to hold fast to my confession. I am going to believe that God is good and that He knows what He is doing.”

Listen, many times you will have to fight against your emotions, against your own brain, against your own biology, which rebels against that God whom you think “does not listen to me,” right? “He does not care about me; He is not as faithful as He says He is.” You have to rise above that, hold fast to your confession, and continue seeking Him. Who knows whether, in that next-to-last prayer, or that final prayer that you believe will truly be the last one you say before giving up, the blessing will come at that very moment. God, you know, waits until the darkest hour before dawn to answer our prayers.

Then Job says, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last He will rise upon the dust. And after this skin of mine has been destroyed, in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold Him, and not another.” And notice the interesting thing he says: “Though my heart faints within me.” Wow. There are times when you are swallowing your tears at the corner of your mouth, and you have to say, “I know that my Redeemer lives. Lord, I believe that You have good purposes for my life. I am going to continue serving You, I am going to be faithful, and I know that this will not last forever.”

The people I know who are great and powerful in the Lord are people who have gone through their tribulations and losses. They have gone through many trials, but they have remained firm; they have not given up. And when the storm passed, the blessing of God came.

I love those words from Psalm 42, I believe it is, which say: “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined to me and heard my cry, and He brought me up out of the pit of despair, out of the miry clay. He set my feet upon a rock and made my steps firm. Then He put a new song in my mouth, praise to our God. Many will see this and fear and trust in the Lord.”

I like that final part. The psalmist says, “Many will see this and fear and trust in the Lord.” Why does the psalmist say that? Because, you know what? Many times, when you are going through trials and difficulties, people say, “Look at that evangelical who supposedly has God with him, who is always in church and confessing blessing. Look at him now, how he is suffering.” And they are waiting to see what you are going to do in the midst of the trial: whether you are going to curse God, whether you are going to abandon the things of the Lord, whether your spirits will sink, whether you will become ill-tempered and bitter, or whether you will continue serving the Lord and giving yourself to Him.

And people see that; many will see it. And you know what? When they see the Lord rise up and bless your life, bring you out of the trial, cast aside the giants that are threatening you, and bring you once again into God’s blessing and restore your spirits, then, it says, they will fear and trust in Jehovah. Because we always have a cloud of witnesses around us, watching what we are going to do and how we make it through the trial; always remember that. But if you wait patiently for the Lord in the midst of the trial, I assure you that the Lord will not fall short, and He will bless you. Trials will come, but you will rise above the trials.

The apostle Paul also says: “Nay, in all these things”—what are all these things? Tribulation or death, or hunger or nakedness, or danger or sword. He says: “Neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor things to come nor things past shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.” That is why he says: “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors.”

How will God’s mercy be fulfilled in your life if you do not have to go through a trial that puts God’s mercy on display? How are you going to be a person of faith if you do not go through some struggles? How can an athlete become a great athlete without first going through great deprivation, difficulties, and training? Life demands this, brothers and sisters, and I believe that we do, as they say, a disservice—we do God’s people harm—by telling them that everything is easy, that everything will go well for them, and that they will never suffer problems. No, what you have to tell them is: problems come, but Christ is more powerful than the problems. As that chorus used to say: if God is for us, who can be against me?

When you have a problem, my brother or sister, do as the widow did. Do not just give up and die; do not stay at home getting depressed, putting on some gloomy music to sink even deeper into your pain. Do not shut yourself away at home; do not stop answering the phone; do not stop seeking out a sister or brother with whom to pray; do not stop seeking the Church; do not stop crying out to the Lord, praying, and seeking His face, because that is the only hope you have.

When you have a problem or suffer a loss, grieve, but only for a little while, okay? Mourn for a short time; that is all right. Cry a little; have your pity party for five minutes by the clock, okay? And then, you know, that’s enough: go to the bathroom, put on your lipstick, wash your face, put on a pretty outfit, and go out, even if it is only for a walk around the block, and proclaim the Lord’s coming blessing over your life. Do not remain in lamentation, mourning, and suffering.

I have never been able to mourn for too long, brothers and sisters, especially when our loved ones die in the Lord and are covered by the Lord. I already know that I will see them someday, and what I have to do is keep moving forward. When a crisis or loss comes into your life, shake it off and keep moving forward in the name of the Lord; look toward the future. I press on toward the goal, toward the mark the Lord has appointed for me. That is what a son or a servant of God does, no matter how many struggles and trials you endure.

When you have a problem, I say here, do not lament; do not remain surprised or dumbfounded as though what is happening to you were something strange. If you are alive, you are going to suffer difficult situations. Now, if you are dead, then you will not have any problems, you know? But if you are alive and in the world, you will have to battle these things, so do not be surprised. That is what the apostle Peter tells his readers in 1 Peter, chapter 4, verse 12, and he says it to you and me: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you.”

Did you endure a trial this year? Did you endure hardship this year? Peter says, “Do not be surprised at that fiery trial.” He says: “As though some strange thing were happening to you.” Look at what it says here: “But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings.” That “rejoice,” as I said on another occasion, like Paul says in Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord; again I say, rejoice”—that rejoicing is not an easy kind of rejoicing, like the kind where I ate a piece of cake and it was so delicious that I rejoice. It is rejoicing in the spirit. It is the rejoicing of a person who knows that behind the cloud and the trial comes the blessing, and there is the Presence of God.

It says: “Rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings.” Do you know, my brother or sister, that Jesus the Lord, by His very nature, suffered greatly here on Earth? It says that He was a man acquainted with sorrows. The Lord was born under difficult conditions and died under even worse conditions; nevertheless, no one was more powerful than He, and no one accomplished more than He did. He suffered a great many things here in the world. And that is why one understands. The apostle Paul says that when you are going through trials, look at it in a spiritual sense: recognize that you are identifying with a very essential part of the life and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are coming to know Him.

Paul says that he wants to know Christ in His resurrection, but also in His sufferings. Then Peter says: you are participating in the Lord’s very essence. He says: “So that when His Glory is revealed, you may also rejoice with great joy.” Hey, to enjoy the Lord’s great things, you must also go through tribulations. And verse 14 says: “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.”

You know that when you are undergoing a trial and standing firm in the Lord, confessing His faithfulness, in some mysterious way the wings of the Spirit of God come to rest upon you. God is with you; God is accompanying you; He is strengthening you and guiding you through the trial. The Lord will be there to comfort you. Do not just give up and die when difficult situations come; instead, confess that God is with you.

This woman was a servant of God; this man who died was a faithful servant of God; this family is going through trials—but glory to the Lord that she did not remain there. The second point I want to emphasize to you is that this woman sought a solution. She stood firm in the Lord and spent a little time perhaps saying, “What do I do?” And then she said, “You know what? I am going to the source of power; I am going to God’s prophet.”

Remember that in those days it was not like now, when we can, as it says, go directly to the Throne of Grace. In those days, the only thing this woman could think of was, “I am going to the prophet; he has the Word, he has the...” You have to go to the source of power. This woman went to where Elisha was, and 2 Kings, chapter 4, says: “She cried out to Elisha, saying, ‘Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared Jehovah.’” She cried out; she went and presented her need, presented her petition to the Lord, and that is what I suggest we must do.

When we are going through difficulties, let us cry out to the Lord; let us take action; let us seek a solution to the problem. That phrase “cried out” sticks in my mind, because crying out is not an indifferent, casual kind of asking; it is something resolute, focused, clear, and determined, and I think we need to meditate on that. The Bible says again and again that we must cry out and He will answer us. God does not answer unless you cry out.

The Lord Jesus Christ says: “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.” It is a life verse for me; there is a part that I have to do. James says that we do not receive. Why? Because we do not ask. The Lord Jesus Christ tells us: come, draw near boldly to the Throne of Grace. We must draw near to the Throne of Grace. The Lord is there waiting, but there is a part that we must do. We must present our need to Him. We must cry out to Him; we must seek a solution that comes from Him.

There are so many verses that invite us to cry out and ask, and I want to encourage you with them. Look, for example, at John, chapter 14, verses 13 and 14. It says: “And whatever you ask the Father in My Name, I will do.” Whatever you do—what? Whatever you ask; pardon the inelegance of the bottle—whatever you ask in My Name, I will do. I have learned that the secret of victory is found in prayer. And not one of those religious prayers, but a prayer that is a cry to the Lord.

I have to season every project in my life with prayer, and sometimes I have to do so preventively, before the projects even begin. And sometimes, while they are underway, I have to go back and give the crank another turn to send more strength. Do you know how often I pray for our project? Every morning and many times throughout the day, in minute detail. When there is a specific, delicate operation to perform, I bring it to the Lord, and my vitamins are being poured upon that place daily, and the Lord answers our prayers and brings us to victory.

If your children are having problems and difficulties, look: present them to the Lord continually. Bathe your finances in prayer. Do not wait until they send you a letter saying that they are going to bring the marshal over there to put you in jail because you are not paying the debt—no. When you are in a better financial position, pray preventively so that the Lord will bless your finances. As for your health, pray in minute detail over every bone. Look, get yourself an anatomy book, learn all the parts of your body, and name every one of them that you can remember, from the gallbladder to the spinal column, or dorsal spine, or whatever it is called, okay? From that little bone you have there that keeps your balance to whatever else—bathe it in prayer.

God likes specific requests; God likes people who cry out to Him continually. If a father knows how to give good things to his children, how much more will the Lord give to those who cry out to Him day and night? But we have to fill ourselves with this idea: if I cry out to the Lord, He will answer me.

And it is full of passages like that. Look at John, chapter 16. These are the Lord’s own words; I want to fasten them there in your heart so that you will be filled with them. John 16:23 says: “On that day you will ask Me nothing”—speaking of when He had gone to heaven and we were here simply with the Holy Spirit, which is what we have now. It says: “On that day you will ask Me nothing. Truly I tell you, truly, truly I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My Name, He will give you.”

It says: “Until now you have asked nothing in My Name,” because they had Christ there with them and spoke directly to Him. “Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” If you trace the words ask, pray, and seek through the Bible using a concordance, you will see how many invitations there are from God Himself for you to ask the Lord. Listen, if God tells you to ask, why not ask? Why not take advantage of that opportunity? Why not take advantage of that opportunity? Why not develop a habit of prayer and crying out?

Again, not pious, religious prayers, but prayers of warfare, prayers that reach the Throne of God and move the Lord’s heart. There are many, many affirmations of this principle of crying out to the Lord effectively. All those texts emphasize the need to ask as a prerequisite for receiving what we need, and when James, in chapter 1, says that we should ask in faith, he encourages us to exercise faith, to believe that if we ask, we will receive what we ask for.

I say here that faith is an attitude of trust. It is something that grows with exercise. You know, faith is like a muscle: if you exercise it, it grows. Why does it grow? Because when you exercise even the tiniest bit of faith, you will see the tiniest bit of a result. And when you see that small result, your faith will grow, and then you will dare to ask the Lord for greater and greater things, and you will dare to undertake gigantic things.

But begin. Faith, it says, comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of the Lord; it is an attitude that is cultivated. It grows as we gradually replace depressive and timid attitudes with an attitude of hope and militancy in God.

A sister who generally sits here behind me during the nine o’clock service was telling me this morning how she feels that God has been strengthening her in recent months and how she has been growing in the Lord. She told me that her mindset has been changing. It seems that she had suffered several losses before, and she said, “I allowed life’s crises to take away my faith and my joy in the Lord, but I am recovering,” she told me. “I am growing, and I am trusting the Lord more.”

And my advice to her was exactly that: sister, believe in the Lord; believe that God is with you; believe that God has good things for you. Look, your life will be according to your belief—listen to me. The outcome you obtain will be according to your faith. And we have to become magnets for God’s blessings. You are a magnet for good things or bad things, according to what you believe there in your spirit. I believe that you should take an X-ray of all your thoughts and all your expectations, and even take an X-ray of everything that has happened in your life.

Because many times what happens is that many of us have sometimes had such a negative life and have sometimes suffered so many losses because we are in the Lord but did not know how to use the weapons of faith, because one has to be instructed in this, that the devil has struck us so many blows on the back that we have already stopped believing that God has good things for us. And so we go to church as something defensive, but not as something active and offensive.

So you have to ask the Lord to replace your thoughts, to replace the very structures of your mind, your heart, your emotions. You have to go on a diet of faith, read good books that encourage you, read positive material, read passages of the Bible where people overcome, go through trials, and come through victoriously, read the promises of Scripture, and that will reprogram your brain; it will reprogram your mind.

Because when your mind begins to think positive thoughts and you begin to have positive expectations, it is incredible, but you will realize that the conditions around you will gradually begin to change, and as the months go by, what used to be a series of negative reports one after another will turn into positive things, blessings from God, progress, provision. God will change your marriage, He will change your children, He will change your finances, He will change your health, He will give you vigor, He will give you the ability to bounce back in the midst of life's circumstances, He will give you solutions and wise thoughts for solving the problems in your life.

But everything begins with reprogramming your brain. Believe the Lord, expect good things from the Lord, and start studying, believing that if you do your part, God will do His. Believe that if you take that English course, you will not come away ashamed, but you will succeed. Believe that if you set your mind on learning to drive, that police officer who is so unpleasant and difficult will give you your license, even if it is only so that you will not come back anymore.

We have to believe, brothers and sisters, and we have to make an effort; we have to do our part; we have to study. But you make your effort with the expectation that God will bless it and that failure is not possible for your life, and in that way you will see that God proves Himself faithful. Everything begins with reprogramming the brain and the mind. That is why it says, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Faith grows as we gradually replace depressive and timid attitudes with an attitude of hope and militancy in God. You have to believe in order to ask, and you have to ask in order to receive, and you also have to believe in order to receive. As you begin to see God answering your prayers and expectations, your faith will grow and become more powerful.

So, number one: trials come into life; difficulties come to the children of God. The question is, what are we going to do? We are going to cry out, we are going to take action in the name of the Lord, we are going to rise up in strength, and then the Lord will give us what we need.

One last point I want to make with you is that when this woman cries out to Elisha, a process begins that I believe it is important for us to understand, because that is generally what happens in our lives as well. When you ask the Lord, God then begins not only to give you what you need, but He also wants you to collaborate with Him, to grow spiritually, and also to develop skills and abilities in your life that will make you a stronger believer.

Look at what it says here in this passage. When she asks him for what she needs, Elisha says to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” There is a question. Do you remember that whenever someone who was sick approached the Lord, the Lord would ask, “What do you want Me to do for you? What do you need from Me?” Blind Bartimaeus approaches, and the Lord says to him, “What do you want?” Well, Lord, that I may see. Right? The Lord wants to hear from us; He wants us to participate too.

“What do you have in the house?” When the Lord tells the disciples to feed the multitude, the disciples say—they say, “No, we have nothing.” He says, “No, there is something; look among the crowd.” When they go and search, they return with a small core of possibilities: five loaves and two fish. You know, what you can bring to the Lord is far less than what you need, but that is what God needs as a basis for performing the miracle that God wants to perform in your life.

I have learned in my life that if I want blessing, there is something I have to contribute. God is not going to give me everything, because He does not want me to be a parasite but a warrior, and therefore He is going to put me through exercises and demand that I go through struggles and tribulations so that I may be strengthened in the process, but He always gives me what I ask Him for. So He says to her, “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”

Do you know that there is something in your life? There is always something you can use to bring about a solution. My motto in life is: there is always a solution to everything. God never leaves us without solutions. So Elisha says to her, “Look, search your house; think: what is in your house?” There is something God wants you to do in your life: to reflect, to recognize the resources you have, to explore within yourself. There is a calling God has placed on your life; there is a gift; there is a possibility within you; there is potential inside you even if you do not know it, and God can use that to carry out the great miracles He wants to perform in your life.

Then it says that she answers him, “Well, your servant has nothing at all in the house—oh, except a jar of oil.” A jar of oil is what she has, but that was not enough to pay, nor was it what she needed. The creditors were not going to accept a jar of oil as payment for her debt, but it was the only thing she had. And then Elisha says to her, “Go and borrow vessels from all your neighbors—vessels, and not a few.” That is the solution for the miracle.

There is something in your life; you have to discover it, bring it to the Lord, present it to the Lord. I see here what I call a shared miracle: there is a part that we have to do, and that should always govern our lives in order to make us enterprising people. God wants to create in us a strong, battle-hardened church. God wants young people who study hard and spend hours studying, who do not expect God to do everything or their parents to do everything. There is a part that God is not going to do for you, and only you can do it.

There are people who want to preach and be great preachers, but they are not willing to go to a seminary, study the Bible, read the Word, or read a boring book. But He says, “No, you have to do your part.” For some people, God has a good job for you somewhere, but you have to get up in the morning, go out into the street, knock on doors, and search. God is not going to bring the boss there to knock on your door and say, “Look, I want to give you a job.” There is a part that we have to do. You will go through ten rejections, and the eleventh time will be the charm, and then the blessing will come into your life.

But we have to make an effort. Again, when I look at that work we are building over there, God has taught me that He does not do everything for us. There have been many struggles and much effort, but God has given us the victory. And I have learned so many things that are helping me grow as a pastor and as a professional; it has been a tremendous blessing. I thank the Lord for being part of something as wonderful as that project, brothers and sisters. I, who am intimately involved in it, know that it is training for this church and for my life, and that is how it has to be, because I believe the blessing that is coming is great, and a price must be paid for it.

By the way, I encourage you to read an article that has just appeared in the Christian Science Monitor. Unfortunately, it is only in English, but I encourage you to learn English so that, while you are at it, you can read it. The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper. There it is—wow, did you know I was going to talk about that? Well, I talked about it this morning, so perhaps that is why. How nice. Is that picture from here, of someone from the church?

Well, it is an article that has appeared all over the Internet; I have seen many, many pages that carry it, and in English it is called “Who Is Filling America's Church Pews?” Who is filling the pews of America's churches? And it is an article that talks about how many churches today are closing their doors and losing large numbers of parishioners, while there are other kinds of churches throughout the United States and here in New England, which is a graveyard of churches. The writer—a secular writer, not necessarily a Christian, or at least his interest was not to write a Christian article—writes for a very international, secular newspaper.

Then he points out that the churches that are growing are the churches that are holding on to the Word of the Bible as it is—not the churches that are becoming liberal and watering down the message, but solid, biblical churches. And one would think it should be the opposite, because in this world, as people become more liberal and reject the Gospel, what many churches are doing is adapting so as not to lose people. But the writer says that, paradoxically, the churches that are growing are churches that are maintaining their faith as it is. I am not going to say “traditional,” because that is not the word. It is the true faith, the faith of the Word of God.

So they were here about three weeks ago—I do not know whether you remember someone taking pictures and all that. They were these people from the Christian Science Monitor, and one of the churches prominently featured in this article is ours. I say this with no sense of pride. No, I do not think so. The truth is that, frankly, brothers and sisters—frankly, that does not give me any kind of pride; I say it before God. The only thing it gives me is joy, in the sense of knowing that God honors His Word and that when a church and a believer live out the Word of the Lord, God blesses them; God honors them in the long run.

You see all this talk about America moving farther and farther to the left and toward secularism every day, and that the churches are going to disappear. Those are lies from the devil, because he knows there is blessing for the people of God, and one has to stand firm, keep moving forward, and bless the nations. I believe God has wonderful things for us, but we have to do our part. Blessings and prosperity do not come as a result of an indolent people; they come when people roll up their sleeves and move forward in the name of the Lord.

God does not want partners; He does not want mere objects that receive and receive and receive. God wants men and women full of faith who give to the Kingdom of God, who advance the Kingdom of God here on Earth. That is why I encourage you, my brothers and sisters, to keep your faith high. Please do not let your faith decline; we are more than victorious. And I tell you that God has some wonderful things for us just around the corner; there is going to be a great harvest of souls.

This year I am preparing myself to work hard at evangelizing, bringing souls to the knowledge of the Lord, and making good use of our sanctuary. I encourage you to keep giving to the Lord, to remain committed, growing, and preparing yourselves, because we are going to need many people to disciple these souls, bring them in, and establish them in the ways of God. God wants prepared people. Take your discipleship courses, read your Bible, pray, be filled with the power of God, give to the Lord, practice the tools of faith. Those are the people God wants to use to carry out His great works; those are the people who receive the largest helping when the devil wants to afflict and destroy our lives.

To me, this woman stands out as an example of that. Elisha says to her, “Okay, do you have a need? Okay, what do you have in your house? Look for what you have, go through the neighborhood, find more vessels, make sure they are empty, and bring them.” It says, “Vessels, and not a few.” That word remains engraved in my mind, that expression: “not a few.” Do you know how many times in the Bible there are calls from God to seek not a few things, not to be stingy, not to be timid in life, not to settle for just a little?

Do you know why God does not bless many of us Christians more? Because we do not dare to believe the Lord for more; we do not dare to give more to the Lord; we do not invest more; we are not more generous with the Lord. The Bible says that whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will reap generously.

Brothers and sisters, I tell you without a doubt that the people I see who are blessed and prosperous in the ways of the Lord are enterprising people, daring people, committed people, people who are generous toward the Lord, people who have no ambiguity toward the Lord; they give everything to the Lord. Their life belongs to God, their property belongs to God, their time belongs to God, their body belongs to God, their family belongs to God.

I see that the people who do not prosper in the Gospel, the pastors whom God does not bless, are those who say, “Nine to five—they pay me for forty hours, so I give forty hours,” and when they have to give more: “Oh, that is not in my job description.” They take care of their children as though they were little jewels, so they will not break, and in the end the children turn out more fragile than anything else. Children have to be brought into the ministry too, so that they become involved with the people, learn to live and coexist with the people of God, become warriors, and love the Lord.

And one has to give to the Lord, be generous with God, expect great things from the Lord. Give to the Lord a measure pressed down, do not keep accounts with God, and then the Lord will not grow tired of blessing you, blessing you, blessing you. Forget about what you have and what you are owed; give portions to seven and even to eight, says the Lord, and that is what will turn you into a magnet for God’s blessing.

He tells her: do not be stingy; go find all the vessels you can. Do you know that the blessing you receive will depend on your investment? If this woman had been able to see into the future what was going to happen, because it says that when she brought all the vessels and began pouring oil from one into another, it did not run out, and she poured from one into another, the blessing was so great that she said: well, boys, bring me still more vessels; but Mom, we have run out of vessels—and the oil ran out; it stopped.

Do you know that you have the power to limit God’s blessings in your life? According to your faith, according to your investment, according to your capacity to believe the Lord for great things? Exchange your small vision for a great vision of the Lord. Ask the Lord to reprogram your brain.

Do you remember the story of King Joash? Elisha told him: “Strike the ground with the arrows you have in your hand,” and Joash, who was a man of mediocre faith, struck it—how many times, does anyone remember? Three times. And what did Elisha—this very same Elisha—tell him? If you had struck the ground five or six times, not three as you did—just two more times—you would have defeated the Syrians until not a single one remained, but now you will defeat them only three times.

One of the things that awes me is that I have so much authority before God that I can limit Him or release Him in my life, depending on how seriously I take Him and how bold I am in expecting great things from the Lord. In this coming year, 2013, I want to encourage all of you to enlarge the place of your tent, to believe God for great things in your lives, great blessings that God has for you.

Brothers and sisters, I want to encourage you to become people of faith, warrior people. Please put religion aside; religion has never saved anyone. Put false piety aside, put aside this business of coming to church on Sundays, and become a warrior of God, a woman, a man devoted to the Lord—amen? Yes.

Let us live the Christian life seriously, okay? Let us grow in the Lord. If you do not have a Bible, buy one before you leave today. Put it in a designated place; get up half an hour earlier. Look, a little less sleep never hurt anyone, you know? And many of you could benefit from a little less sleep, I think. Get up a little earlier and entrust your family to the Lord. Pray for your family; pray for your day. Read six verses from the Bible, a short passage. Come to church in the middle of the week and renew your strength.

Cry out to the Lord, serve the Lord, give to the Lord, work for the Lord, surrender your whole life to the Lord, and live the Christian life genuinely and authentically, and I promise you in the name of the Lord that you will see a radical change in your life. This year will be a year of blessing for you; say it that way, confess it that way. Far more powerful is He who is with us and in us than the one who is out there in the world. No weapon forged against you shall prosper, says the Lord. They will come out against you by one road and flee by seven roads.

The Lord will not allow your basket to lack bread or food, says the Lord. He has called you to blessing; He has called you to life, not to defeat. You will wonder where your enemies are and will not find them, says the Lord. You will forget the days of drought and affliction because God will replace them with days of blessing and joy.

You will grow in the things of the Lord; His Word will be strong as a foundation beneath you. Believe Him; He has good things. “For I know the thoughts that I have toward you, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you the end you hope for,” says the Lord. Stand up; receive the Lord’s purposes. If trials come, I have a very big bat right there to knock them out of the park with a home run. If difficulties come, the Lord is more than powerful. “Cry out to Me and I will answer you, and I will show you great and hidden things that you do not know.” Cry out to the Lord; let Him carry you through the struggles. He will bring you out into a safe valley and set you on firm and secure ground.

Father: I bless these people this morning; I bless my brothers and sisters. Every family represented here, Lord, every individual who is here representing a neighborhood, a family name, a people, a country, and I declare grace upon grace over this sea of people, upstairs and downstairs, Lord, every one of them with their individual needs, which You know very well, their struggles, their afflictions, their trials, and their shortcomings as well, Father.

And I declare a net of blessing over them, Father; I declare Your mighty breath resting upon every one of them, Lord; I declare Your Spirit over this congregation, Father. Not only will we not perish, but we will prosper and grow and become strong, and we will conquer the Land because You are with us. Not only will we not live hand to mouth, but we will sit down because You prepare a table before us even in the presence of those who trouble us, Lord.

And not only will we receive enough wisdom to solve a little problem, but You will give us abundant knowledge, a spirit of revelation, knowledge, and understanding so that we may know how to make good decisions. You will bless our young people, Lord; they will prosper, become strong, be successful students, earn the respect of their teachers, be spiritual leaders, and walk with angels around them. No harm will befall them because Your blessing will be with them, Lord.

Our children will not be touched by a harmful hand. Their minds will not be contaminated with improper thoughts, Lord. The influences that enter their hearts will be good influences, and they will grow like plants beside flowing waters, strong and secure. You will bless our marriages, Lord; You will bless our homes. Our families, in whatever country they may be, will be reached by Your blessing. Our children, whom perhaps we have not seen for a long time, You will raise them up, bless them, prosper them, and provide for them.

And these people will rise like a battle-hardened and mighty army. These people will conquer nations; these people will perform mighty deeds in the name of the Lord. These people will walk among the rubble and restore the fallen walls and rebuild the ruined cities. They will be a blessing to many and will receive the Spirit of Jehovah, who will make them strong and appealing, and a song will rise from this place, a song of triumph and joy. A song in the midst of the night that will banish the darkness. A song of victory in the midst of struggles and trials. A song of the poor man who has been enriched, of the weak man who has been strengthened because his God has taken him by the hand and led him forward.

And all the years of waiting will find their fulfillment because You will give us according to what You placed in our hearts years ago. As we walk through the Land and traverse it and mark it, You will bring us into it so that we may eat fresh bread—that land flowing with milk and honey, where we will inhabit houses we did not build, drink from wells we did not dig, cultivate land we did not work, and eat from it, because Your blessing will have been with us.

Lord, I bless these people; I bless this coming year, Father, and we will be looking toward the heights. We will lift up our eyes to the mountains. From where will our help come? Our help comes from Jehovah, who made heaven and earth. He will not let our foot slip, nor will He who watches over us sleep. Behold, He who watches over His people, the Lion of Judah Congregation, who watches over Israel, will neither slumber nor sleep. Thank You, Lord; thank You, Lord. We bless You, Lord; we declare victory, Father, in the name of Jesus.