…to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:6
In this section, in which we present the spiritual man facing the demands of life and everyday living, we have wanted to reproduce a prophetic ministration that the Lord gave to our congregation through my mouth, which we faithfully transcribe. Although this message was given to us on a special occasion, it has seemed good to us, by the Holy Spirit, to share it with all the people of God, because its content agrees with this topic, and it is spoken with an impartation and inspiration of the Spirit that I am sure will reach the heart of every reader in an effective way. We reproduce it below.
Let us raise a cry to the God who examines our hearts and sees our need; to the God who hears our prayers; to the God who is constantly in this place, watching and listening to the supplications of His people. When the intercessors cry out all those hours, even if it is only one who is crying out (seemingly alone), we know that the angels of God are encamped all around, and the Holy Spirit keeps those prayers and carries them to the Father. That God will not leave a people humbled in His presence to be put to shame. A people who want to please Him; a people who, if they err, do so in ignorance, but with much reverent fear. The Lord knows the hearts and knows when someone wants to please Him.
Blessed is the people who know how to humble themselves before God. Blessed is the people in whom there is no pride or haughtiness, who know how to seek His face, who know how to obey Him. God wants you, church, to be that people, the people who always seek His face. He has mercy; He sees our distress and our needs. The Lord knows what is best for us. He is our Father, and He does not leave us in our wanderings. He has mercy and lifts up; He has mercy and speaks; He has mercy and visits; He has mercy and ministers. He instructs His people. That is our God.
Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in its time we will reap, if we do not faint (Galatians 6:9). Let us not surrender our hearts to discouragement or dejection. There are many things in your relationship and walk with God that you do not understand, but let not your heart be troubled; always give your God a vote of confidence, and say to Him:
“Lord, I do not understand anything that is happening. When I try to explain it, it may even contradict my faith, but I know that You live; I know that You are in the heavens and that nothing that happens is unknown to You. Your eyes see, Your eyelids examine the children of men, and evil will not prevail forever. I do not understand everything; I confess to You that many times my heart is troubled. There are many things You have said about me that are not coming to pass, and the things I am living seem contrary to the words that came out of Your mouth, and seeing that, my heart is troubled. The enemy wants to insinuate doubts to me, but I am not going to question You anymore. I am going to keep walking. I believe that You are God and You know all things. You cannot be overcome by evil, and Your Word is truth. I know and believe that Your purpose is eternal and there is no one who can alter it. Give me the patience to wait until things come to pass. Let me not demand that my eyes see; let me not demand that my ears hear; for the righteous will live by faith. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because it is necessary that he who draws near to God believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. By faith the ancients obtained great testimony, and faith pleases the heart of the Father. By faith we walk, and not by sight. Teach me to believe. Increase my faith. Help me to act even though I understand nothing; help me to obey even though I see nothing. Then my reward in heaven will be great. I know that one day my eyes will be opened and all things will be laid bare and open before those who have believed You.”
One day you will see your Lord. One day you will see God in the land of the living. One day you will experience that His Word is truth. Extend your hand today to your Father, and let Him guide you. God takes care of you and yours. He takes care of your family, of your house, of your children, as He has said today and will continue saying. Hear it well and understand it, church: God takes care of us. Wait on God, for you are yet to praise Him. Praise Him. There is blessedness in walking without seeing. The Father’s heart rejoices when our faith is unconditional, when our faith does not need evidence; that is the great reward. Praise your God.
May your heart be comforted in God; may your steps be firm; and your gaze fixed on the Invisible One, on Him who has never failed and cannot fail. The wicked will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived, but sooner or later, the truth will triumph. And those who are of the truth, like those who teach righteousness to the people, will shine like the firmament in all its splendor. Rejoice in the LORD your God. May your heart always take courage in Him. Keep growing and doing the work the Lord has entrusted to you. Do not take sides, and do not stop. Do not set your eyes on the abyss either, but march on.
Walk, God says to you; go on, follow the way… for what troubles you now will be a cause for celebration tomorrow. You will see your enemies at your feet. All those things that seemingly defeated you and conditioned you, including people, circumstances, and weaknesses, will one day be under your feet, if you persevere. The Lord says: “Abide in Me, and My Word will abide in you. Ask whatever you wish, and your joy will be fulfilled. In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and that you be thus My disciples” (John 15:8).
Let us praise God. Let us give our hearts to Him. Let us put on Him our frustrations, our struggles, our adversities, and our disturbances. Let us deposit everything in Him. Let us rest in the Lord. God is very interested, church, in your resting. He always spoke to you of rest, and He speaks to you of rest. He set the seventh day as a type of the eternal rest. As the book of Hebrews says: “And God rested from all His works on the seventh day” (4:4). And it says further on: “For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken afterward of another day. Therefore, there remains a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has also rested from his works, as God did from His own” (4:8-10). Let us strive to enter that rest. Hear it well, church, God tells you: Let us strive to enter that rest, that no one fall into the same example of disobedience, for “…the word of God is living and effective, and sharper than any two-edged sword; and it pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Let us strive, God says, to enter that rest.
Note that Israel did not enter into the rest when it was in the wilderness, even while going hand in hand with the Lord (Jeremiah 31:31), because of its disobedience and unbelief. But you, do not walk in unbelief, but in rest. Let us strive to enter the rest of faith. Rest is no longer hours that are kept; God showed that rest is a person. The Lord said: “Come to Me, all you who are toiling and burdened, and I will make you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Which is as if to say: “Place your yokes upon Me, all your burdens and anxieties, for I care for you.” Enter into the rest; God does not want you anxious or tense. Not even in the spiritual, with all its demands. God wants you to live eternal life, the life of the Father, restful, tranquil, in control of all things, not anxious about anything. The Lord said it: “Do not be anxious about anything, but let your requests be made known before God in every prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). “Give thanks to God in everything, for this is the will of God toward you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
Do not be anxious, nor worry about tomorrow, about what you will eat or what you will drink, because your heavenly Father knows the things that are necessary for life (Luke 12:29-30). Look at the lilies of the field: they do not work or spin, yet your Father clothes them, and not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of them (Luke 12:27-28). Are you not worth more than they? says the Lord. Look at the birds of the sky: they do not work or gather or store up, yet your Father feeds them (Luke 12:24); are you not worth much more than they?
It is the will of God that we not walk in anxieties, not even with spiritual burdens, for all things have already been done. Nor will there be anything that will not be done; all will be accomplished. In its due time everything will be done, says the Lord. Be diligent in all things, but without anxiety, without worry, at peace. Look at the Son: He had control over all things, and He did not go about running in a hurry, nor anxious, nor nervous. He did not fear the devil or the demons. He knew that His power was superior to hell itself; that is why He rested in the storm and walked upon it. And God wants to give us that same life, the life of the Son.
You live in a city that drinks up its inhabitants. Where men run here and there and are like machines whose only objective is to work. They call it “the capital of money” and “the capital of the world.” That is why the God of heaven wants to see you in peace, not letting yourself be affected by what happens around you. He wants you in tranquility, in stillness, in calm. Look at the rich men, how they toil over their riches, and try to guard them and increase them. They die of anxiety and cannot enjoy what they have for fear of losing it. They are owners of mansions, and perhaps (once or twice a year) they can enjoy them for a day or two at most, with the mobile phone (cell phone) in hand. They are constantly nervous and tense, hoping not to lose everything on the stock market or that their project will not fail. The thoughts of their minds and the longings of their hearts are devoted exclusively to business and their possessions. They can never rest, because their god is called wealth, and it has its foot on their head.
Look at the famous of the earth. They are applauded, they are every day in the mass media; they are flattered, they are imitated; their tastes and behaviors are what dictate the trend of fashion to society. But in the end, even having “everything” (fame, fortune, and power), they can never enjoy anything. Fame is like a drug, and without applause they cannot live. Look at their lives, immersed in witchcraft. Notice that they are involved in Santería and go about with necklaces around their necks, with amulets and quartz crystals, because they fear that envy will kill them. They are worthy of pity.
That is not the life I have given you, my little children. The world has to see that your life is superior to theirs; live it. I invite you —says the Lord— to live eternal life. I invite you to live it, in tranquility, in peace. Look at the example of Abraham: he did not have to plunge the knife into Isaac. I commanded him not to do it, for I knew he would obey me. You do not have to prove to me that you are faithful by doing works. I know whether you are or not. I even know how you would act if I placed you in different circumstances; you do not have to prove anything to me. I know your heart, and all things. I know that you want to please me; try to do so by being diligent in all things, doing your best, but do it in tranquility and in peace. Because faith does not fear, faith never walks in anxiety; and love can do all things, bears all things, endures all things. Love does not walk in suspicion or doubt, nor does it walk in distress. Love is tranquil; love always believes all things.
Peace, much peace have all who love my law, and for them there is no stumbling (Psalms 119:165). But you know that the law is following my instructions, obeying my word, living my peace. I lift my hand and once more I say to you: “Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; I do not give it to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor be afraid” (John 14:27). Peace, peace, peace…
See how things are. Look at how the church is. If you set your eyes on the church you will become discouraged. I have sent you to the nations and you have seen the condition my people are in. It is painful to see how my people have left me, the fountain of living water, and have gone to rites, to ceremonies, to diplomacy, to the worship of men, to religious culture, and to the spirits that captivated Judah (the spirit of Babylon, of Greece, of Rome, etc.), to humanism, to what is falsely called science, to human systems, etc. My people, do not set your eyes on the church, set your eyes on me, God says to you. The church is mine; I take care of it. Not all who are in the church are of it, nor are all who are of it in it, but I have a faithful remnant, says God. From among all peoples I have a faithful remnant. The Lord knows those who are His. I will do the work in its due time. I have control of all things.
Live in hope. Always expect the best from me; by faith announce the things that are to come, as the patriarchs did, who saw them from afar and greeted them. And they lived as pilgrims in the promised land, awaiting those things. Live that way, enjoying what I announced, enjoying it as if you were already living it, because faith is the certainty of what lies ahead, which I have already spoken. Faith gives you the ability to call those things that do not exist as though they did, and to live in them. Truly I say to you, faith is not an illusion, nor a mirage, nor a falsehood. Study history and see that my word has been fulfilled. And before heaven strikes the hour, and my Son descends, not one jot or tittle shall pass from my Word, and everything will be fulfilled.
I announce something to you: on the cross of Calvary, when my Son gave up His spirit and completed His redemptive work, He said with an air of victory: It is finished. And now the LORD, the God of Israel, reveals to you, church, that a day will come when the Spirit and the bride (that Holy Spirit who came to care for the bride of the Lamb, which is the church), in full understanding, will lift to heaven her voice of triumph and victory, which will resound throughout the universe, making the very vault of heaven tremble, when she says: It is finished. And the Holy Spirit will say: It is finished. I have finished the work You gave Me to do. And when I hear —says the Father— the Holy Spirit put into the church’s mouth (in full satisfaction and in the conviction that the work is finished) the phrase: “It is finished,” I will send my Son from heaven, and it will be the end of all things. I will fulfill my word, says God; I will fulfill it.
The LORD has spoken once, and twice I have heard this: In God is the power (Psalms 62:11); in God is the control of all things (Job 12:16). God wants a confident church; a church at rest; a secure church that advances; a church that does not let itself be affected by the world. A church that does not fear demons, a church that does not fear sickness, nor fear the future, nor fear bad news. God imparted to the church a spirit of peace, a spirit of rest, a spirit of tranquility. That does not mean you do not strive; that does not mean you are not diligent. No one was more diligent than Jesus, no one was more responsible than He, yet He was always at rest. He would rise from the storm and say: “Why are you so troubled? (Luke 24:38) Why are you sad? (Luke 24:17) Why are you anxious? (Luke 12:26) Where is your faith? (Luke 8:25)”
Beloved, let the Lord give you peace. Allow the Lord to minister directly to your life. That which takes your sleep away today will not be tomorrow, and then you will say: “If I had known, I would not have spent a sleepless night.” Faith lives tomorrow in today; therefore rest today, to celebrate tomorrow. And God wants to give you that rest and that life. That is the testimony of your faith; the world has to see it. Men are going to yoga, to meditation, to the so-called New Age; they are going to a great many things seeking an escape to meditate and be freed from stress and from what overwhelms them. And I say —says the Lord— have I not given my people peace, so that they may teach the world what peace is? Why do men have to go to demons to seek tranquility, when I have deposited my peace in the church? Why do they not come to you? I ask you, says the Lord. Why do they not come to you, church? Why do they go to the Buddhists to seek meditation, yoga, and who knows what else? What is happening, my church? says God. Where is your peace? Where is your solace?
There are many expectations in the church. There are those who keep men in expectation, announcing miracles, saying: “Come here to see the miracles.” I have seen it on the doors of many churches, signs that read: “Enter here so that God may solve your problem.” They invite men and draw their attention with noisy services and a lot of commotion, but the world is tired of the same thing. The world wants to see that you are victorious, not because you say so, not because you rebuke and speak harshly, but because in the face of adversity they see you calm, composed, confident.
Enough of so many rebukes of demons! Begin to live in tranquility, because there is nothing that disturbs demons more than a life that rests in God. The Word says: “… resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7), and the devil is resisted firm in the faith (1 Peter 5:8), in tranquility, in peace. The Bible says not to be moved by spirit, or by letter, or by word (2 Thessalonians 2:2), but to allow God to minister to you peace, tranquility, and stillness. The Lord has given you a new nature, through which you can live a victorious life here on earth. Not in temporary delights, but in the things that remain.
Let the Spirit give you the peace that God wants to minister to you and to your family. The Spirit of the LORD God says: I brought you here to make a covenant with you. And I brought your children, because I want reconciliation, forgiveness, and harmony in the home. I have been ministering to the home these days, because I want my eternal life, my peace, my tranquility, my faith, my hope to be lived in it. The world has to see that you are not bound by financial problems. I want you to be a good steward, not to spend more than you earn. I do not want you tied to credit cards; filling your house with things you cannot afford, to spend years in financial slavery, paying high interest, making yourself a slave to creditors, when I have called you to liberty (Galatians 5:13). I want a people free from debt, a people who know how to manage what they have, because the little that the righteous man has is worth more than the great riches of the wicked (Psalms 37:16).
Peace, says God, peace. You yourselves have let yourselves be provoked and have gotten into that economic culture of the man of today, of that spirit of debt. Do not be deceived, my people: Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Children’s Day were invented by merchants to make you incur debts. Every day should be Mother’s Day for you. Every day should be Father’s Day, every day should be Children’s Day. It does not have to be Christmas to give them a gift. Love them always, love them always! Do not let yourself be dragged along, because there is deceit behind all these things.
You are an understanding people, God says to you. You were called to lead the nations, not for the nations to lead you. Do not let yourself be dragged along by the culture of the world. I invite you to look at men. Look at technology, look at human achievements, look at so many advances. And notice that the man of today is more unhappy than the man of yesterday, and the man of tomorrow will be more unhappy than the man of today. Modern man is at a point of no return. He is destroying the waters, and does not know what to do, because stopping the pollution of the water means stopping the industries. And stopping the industries means ceasing to live at the pace and the standard of living they live. Gasoline pollutes the air, but there are great economic powers that keep gasoline in use, because shutting down the gas stations means destroying the economic world, a worldwide financial collapse. Modern man is at a point of no return; he is heading toward destruction. He recognizes it and does not know how to avoid it. He is not willing to go back to living a primitive life, because he has already entered the world of technology, which is his pride, and this very thing he has invented will be his destruction tomorrow.
But you are an understanding people. You cannot leave the world, but neither can you participate in its things, so you have to select very carefully those in which you will participate. Apply prudence and wisdom to use man’s advances without becoming a slave to them. Be wise, my people, be wise. You have a spirit of wisdom, my people; do not be deceived. There are things that are mirages, that seem very pretty, but with them you trade happiness for vanity, and joy for appearance. Be wise, my people, be wise. You have the wisdom that is not of this age; use it, use it. Be wise, do not be slaves of men. Do not enslave yourselves with debts, for appearance and vanity. Do not fall into competitions. Do not want to have what the neighbor has. Let your dream not be that of men, but mine.
God has a purpose. I am the Almighty God who blesses you today. The God who has blessed you with every spiritual blessing. I watch over your needs. Do not trade peace for comfort or for apparent comfort. Peace, family happiness, the true values of my kingdom, and order are worth more than any enjoyment that money, luxury, and temporary comforts can give you. Do not be impressed by advertisements. Be wise and selective. I want to set this world free, but I want to begin with you. An enslaved people cannot free anyone. Take hold of this principle: you are a slave to the one whom you obey (Romans 6:16). Hear it well, my people: you are a slave to the one whom you obey. If you obey the desire to buy, you are a slave to indebtedness. If you obey vanity, you are a slave to presumption. If you obey buying everything you fancy, you are a slave to greed. Wait to have the things, until I give them to you, and then enjoy them. Let not your heart be filled with anxiety to have things and to covet that which, in the end, is not the whole of man.
What does it profit a man to conquer the whole world if he loses his soul? (Matthew 16:26). Remember that I left an entire book, of the sixty-six of the Scriptures, called Ecclesiastes. And I gave Solomon all things, and he taught the disillusionment of the man who has tried everything and yet feels empty. The man who went to wisdom and inquired into it and searched it out, and was filled with it, and in the end said: Much knowledge is an affliction of the spirit (Ecclesiastes 1:18). Solomon was a man who lived pleasure, and he says he did not deny his eyes, or his ears, or his heart anything, but in the end, describing all the things of which he had grown weary, he said: “The end of the whole matter, once everything has been heard, is this: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is THE WHOLE of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Vanity of vanities, the book begins by saying: “Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). And it ends by saying that the conclusion of the whole matter is this, this is my conclusion: fear God and keep His commandments, because that is the whole of man.
Return to the simple life, my people. I am the simple God. I dwell in simplicity of heart. Return to the fruit of the Spirit, simplicity, peace, tranquility. Do not let yourselves be moved easily by any pressure or competition, whether commercial, social, or of any kind. Have mastery over all things. Be strong in the face of circumstances, be strong in the face of social pressures. Do not take a path because of pressure or need; make decisions based on principles, on my principles. This is how I instruct my people on this day. That is why I brought your children. I am the God who sets you free. You sometimes fall into slaveries, but I set you free today, says your God, I set you free today.
I am going to teach you a principle: The best way to get out of a hole is to be calm. The one who is in a pit and becomes restless sinks deeper, and never finds a way out. Do not be afraid of fear, for you will fall into a snare. Be still, and know that I am God (Psalms 46:10). I tell you this: most of your problems are solved by being calm. I repeat to you the simple principle, so simple that it seems simplistic and is therefore rejected: most of your problems are solved by being calm. Your problem is that you do not know how to deal with the problem. Your problem is that you throw yourselves at the problem, and with your worry you draw more problems upon yourselves.
Be still. Do not let circumstances provoke you. Nothing is going to happen to you. Most of the things you fear will never happen to you and never have. Why do you fear, if I watch over your sleep? Peace, peace. Go to bed saying: “In peace I will lie down, and likewise sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in confidence” (Psalms 4:8). Get up in the morning saying: “Thank You, Father, because sweet to You is the sleep of the worker, and here I am before You to begin a new day. I do not want to do the things that circumstances force me to do, nor will I go about running desperately trying to solve problems. I want to do today what You want me to do. Assign me today the labor of this day, so that I do not do more than I have to, nor less than my assignment. Teach me, God, to live in Your will.”
You have to learn to live in an evil and perverse age, where man himself has gotten into a point of no return and does not know how to go back to tranquility. He toils to have, even while having everything, and at the end of his days lives in stress, in anxiety. They die of heart attacks; the psychiatric facilities are full, and the hospitals are packed as well. Millions of neurotics end up in hospital beds every year. Man has much, but toils to have more; he has comforts and many things, and he is trading living itself for things that are not worth it. But I have made you a wise and understanding people, so that you may know how to live in this world.
Beloved, let the Lord instill His peace in you. Let Him give you tranquility. Ask God for it right now, right where you are; say to Him: “Lord, I want the life of Christ. I want not only the holiness of Jesus, I want the peace of Jesus. Father, my God, in the name of the Lord Jesus, overthrow human thrones, touch the hearts of the leaders of Your people so that they open their hearts to Your Word and to You. You said: ‘Peace I leave you, My peace I give you…’ (John 14:27); the peace is mine, You gave it to me. I want to live it. I do not want to say shalom with words when in reality I have no peace. I want to have peace, because the eternal life that You gave me is peace in itself, because You are peace.”
Ask God to minister that peace to you. Put your hand on your heart and ask God for that peace. Ask it for your children; they are going to pass to the next grade at school, and they will arrive where God wants them to arrive. Help them, teach them, discipline them, but do not pressure them or mistreat them. Do not begin to harm them from the start of their lives, teaching them through social pressures. Teach them to be responsible, to be diligent, but in peace. Not falling into stoicism, nor falling into conformism. If the peace you receive is the peace of the Spirit, do not be afraid of anything, because it is true peace. Peace that does not lead to any extreme, but leads to God, and leads to tranquility of spirit. Peace that accomplishes everything God says, but without anxiety, in tranquility, in faith. That is the life of God, the life according to the Spirit in the face of the demands of daily living. Peace, how sweet is the peace the Father gives us!
Excerpt from the book The Life in the Spirit by Pastor Juan Radhamés Fernández .
