I Am With You | Ps. Victor Amar

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Good morning.

Morning.

So good to be here.

I'm so honored to be here with you today.

I shared a few times already with some people that when I moved to the States, the one of the first things that I experienced in here was a joint worship night between Vita and celebration.

And it happened there at the place we have our services.

And it was so powerful to see two churches that understand the idea and the vision of the kingdom of God, that we are one kingdom, that we are saving the same God.

And it was so amazing to see that spirit of fellowship since there.

And it's a pleasure being here.

As Vinnie said, as you are already uh familiar with the Portuguese accent, so I please hope you'll be patient with me as well.

But Vinnie is it's a great speaker, he speaks really well, so big shoes to feed.

But it's it's great being here.

So as Vinnie said, a few years ago, God challenged me to uh leave the career I had in Brazil and everything that I had there, to move here and be part of the pastor's team at Vida.

It's been amazing, one of the greatest challenges, but one of the greatest, the most fulfilling things that I had ever the opportunity to do.

And it's been great being here with you guys, serving sometimes at worship and being here today.

Thank you for having me.

I'm I'm really honored to be here.

So if you could please open your Bibles with me on Joshua chapter 1, starting on verse 1.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Joshua 1 1.

We will read until the verse 9.

One of the things that I learned by about preaching in English is that I'm not as funny in English as I am in Portuguese.

I tried to do some jokes in English that I would do in Portuguese, nobody laughed.

So I'll I'll I'll try to hold those, okay?

And or maybe I wasn't even funny in Portuguese, but folks were just sympathetic, I don't know.

But anyway, I'll I'll try, I'll do my best, okay?

So Joshua chapter 1, it says the following After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses ate.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now then, you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land that I am about to give to them, the Israelites, to the Israelites.

I will give you every place where you set your food, as I promised Moses.

Your territory will extend from the deserts of the Lebanon and from the great river, the Euphrates, until the Hittite country to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life.

As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.

Be strong and very courageous.

Be careful to obey the law my servant Moses gave you.

Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

Keep this book of law always on your lips, meditate on it day and night, so you may be careful to do everything written in it.

Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Have I not commended you?

Be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.

For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for this morning.

Thank you for what you have prepared for us for this amazing time of worship and for your word.

I pray that you speak to us.

That I don't speak anything for myself, but may your Holy Spirit speak to us today.

You are the one who has the words of eternal life.

Yours, the voice that we want to hear today.

In the name of Jesus, amen.

Amen.

So the book of Joshua starts on a very important turning point of the history of the Israelites.

It is the first time that we have a transition of leadership.

So we see Moses getting out of the picture and Joshua starting.

But let's understand a little bit more.

We're talking about Moses.

Moses was a great and important figure in the history of the whole the Old Testament.

And even for the Jews, it is Moses is still a really important figure today.

He was the one who wrote the five first five books of the Bible, the guy who was used by God to bring ten different plagues against the Egyptians, and each one of those plagues can be related to each one of the fake divinities that the Egyptians would uh idolize at that time.

So God was showing that he was the only true God, and none of those many gods were actually real or could do anything against him.

So this was Moses, the one who was used by God to open the Red Sea, the one who led the people through 40 years in the desert.

That was Moses.

And during that time, we can go a little bit back to the Deuteronomy, and we will see that Joshua was appointed by God to serve under Moses and to be Moses' aide and to help and to be trained by Moses to eventually succeed him as a leader.

So Joshua was there, he was fighting some battles, leading the people in some battles.

God was training him, he was learning from Moses.

And but it is a lot easier if you were part of a team that has a great leader, someone who bears the responsibility, who knows the right answers, who could go to God and ask God face to face, and God would tell him what he should do.

And all the responsibility, things went well or went bad, were over Moses.

So when people were not happy, they were not threatening or they were not blaming Joshua, they were blaming Moses.

Moses had the responsibility.

If everything went wrong, it was Moses' fault.

If everything went well, praise the Lord, and let's go.

Now it was Joshua's time.

And God, one day, God comes to Joshua and says, You know what, Joshua, let me let me bring you some news.

Moses, my servant, is dead.

This means it's your turn.

You are you are now then the new leader of the Israelites.

And you know, they've been for 40 years doing almost the same thing.

You know, the the journey from Egypt to the promised land should take around a month.

It should not take 40 years.

But because the people were disobedient to God and they rebelled against God, they had to endure a 40 years' journey, and that sometimes is happening in our lives.

We go through seasons of hardships or situations that should be over a long time ago, but we keep experiencing them because we insist in not obeying God, in not listening to God, in not surrendering those areas of our lives to Him.

And we keep going through those things that should be over already.

But this is subject for a different uh sermon.

So let's get back here.

Uh so they spent 40 years, and and probably it was easy for Joshua to understand the rhythm that they were leaving, right?

He was in they were doing for 40 years the same thing set camp, spend some time there, collect manna, and and you know, get water from God from the rock or from somewhere.

And then when it is time to move, then there was a cloud protecting them from the sun.

At night there was a wall of fire hitting them, and so they were protected.

But now it was time, then they would lift camp, walk a little further, find water, find something, eventually fend some attackers, and then set camp again and lift camp and do that over and over again for 40 years.

So Joshua was kind of used to that dynamic, he knew how to coordinate people to do that.

He has been doing that for a long time.

But now God is not just telling him, you know, Moses is dead, now it is your turn to be the leader.

You know what?

We are changing things a little bit.

You are not just keep you will not keep just sat in camp and doing the same thing over and over.

You're not the area where you're comfortable.

No, now we are entering the promised land.

Now, in your turn, we are entering the promised land.

I can imagine the mind of Joshua going something like, Come on, God, on my turn, I have just got into the office.

I'm still setting up my table, I still organizing my things, I still putting my diploma at the wall.

And you know what?

My turn?

I'm no Moses.

I won a few battles in the desert, but this is not a military campaign to conquer a new land where there are cities with huge walls like Jericho, with their people that are established there for years and years that know the terrain, they know how to fight over there.

I'm not ready, I'm not enough, I'm not good enough.

And what I love about how God presents his character for scripture is that he knew Joshua's heart and he did not start reprimanding him, saying, You know what?

Come on, are you so you don't have faith?

Come on, you know what?

Why are you so cowardly trying to run away from your responsibilities?

Why are you afraid?

He was not scolding him because of that, he was actually encouraging him, helping him at that moment, and telling him, you know what?

In verse 5, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

The secret of Moses' success was not on his own abilities or on his vision or on his strategic thinking.

God was the secret to Moses' success.

If we go back a little bit to Exodus, we will see who Moses was before knowing God.

Moses was raised in Palace, and I don't know if you heard this expression before, it's something that we say in Portuguese.

When we wanna say that someone was raised in an apartment.

Have you heard that before?

No?

When someone, when we wanna say that someone is soft, you know, they they don't know how to they are not that tough.

They were raised in an apartment.

You know why?

Because apartment kids back in Brazil, they you know, they they live inside of the walls of the apartment, they only play with the kids from the apartment, they're everything over there, they play a lot of indoors, they don't play outdoors, they they don't climb trees, they don't they don't do those things.

So they are always um they are always inside the apartment, they're not playing outside, they're not going to parks, they are not doing that that thing that some people would there would say that were unsafe.

So that they would not uh lose a nail playing in the street and all that, you know, those things wouldn't happen to them.

So those childish memories.

Uh so anyway, Moses was probably a big child raised in an apartment.

He was raised in a palace, right?

He had all the comfort he needed, all the food he wanted, everything he needed.

He was the son of the daughter of the Pharaoh, and he was really comfortable, but he knew his origins.

So he knew who his people was.

And one day he was walking around, just you know, just chilling, and he decided to, he was, he saw an Egyptian beating on Hebrew.

And probably that was his moment trying to enact his sense of social justice.

He was going there to be the hero, and he ended up killing the Egyptian, hiding him in the sand, and I I'm trying to figure out Moses' uh thought process right there because you know, desert, wind, sand, and you are actually trying to hide something in the sand.

It's not kind of a good idea, but anyway, he does that, and he taught, and he thinks that because of that, the people, the Hebrews would think him, look to him as a hero, but they were actually spreading what he did, and they doesn't care why he did that, and they don't care, and they are not giving him a chance.

So he eventually had to run to save his own life.

So Moses was a murderer, a fugitive who starts rebuilding his life on a different land until the moment that he meets God.

And when he meets God, he starts trying to talk his way out of it.

He starts saying, God, you know what?

I'm not a good speaker, you know.

I that won't work.

People won't listen to me.

The for Pharaoh will not listen to me.

You know, he I'm not the good the right person.

But this, you know what, God, I guess you made a mistake.

You know, your plan is not as solid as you think.

So I'm not the right person.

And then because of God, and because of God's presence, and because of who God is, because he was exposing himself to God's presence and because he was obeying to what God called him to do, Moses was the Moses we know today.

He was because of God, not because Moses had something different in him that was much better than you and me.

Because sometimes we look to the Bible characters and we think, man, those were different types of human beings.

They are not regular people like me and you, and we cannot do the things we did.

Yes, we can, because we have the same God they had.

And especially when we look to the Old Testament, we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and and this is reason enough to understand that we can live what God called us to live.

So if today you were like Joshua facing the greatest challenge of your life, maybe a great moment of pain, of struggle, you're facing a giant that you don't know how to overcome, and at each step it looks bigger and more difficult to overcome.

Maybe you were changing states to go after something that God is preparing for you, and there are so many uncertainties and so many things going through.

You maybe you were going through a new challenge in your work and in your life, or the hardest moment of your life, the most difficult or painful moment of your life.

The Lord is telling us the same thing that He told Joshua.

If you are willing to trust me, to obey me, I will be with you.

I will provide everything you need to overcome whatever situations you are going through.

You don't need to be afraid, you don't need to worry because I am with you.

Just a moment.

Okay.

If you're willing to trust and obey, God will be with you, and he will provide everything.

In him, you will find everything you need to face those situations.

There are three important principles that God shares with Joshua in this passage that we read that are also important for us when going through moments like that.

The first one is be strong because I am with you.

God is not talking here about physical strength.

You know, like he's saying to Joe to Joshua, you know what, go hit the gym, take some protein shakes, you know, go build your strength, go get some muscle, train your fighting skills, become a better fighter.

In fact, the only person that we've seen in scripture that was born naturally and supernaturally strong, remember it was Samson?

God gave him supernatural strength because of his Holy Spirit in him since the day he was born, and he could rip out doors uh from from cities, he could fight thousands of warriors, and he was strong.

And he ended up his life.

He he had the the potential to set the Israelites free from all of their adversaries, but he ended up his he ended his life blind and humiliated because he was dominated by his own desires and impulses.

The point is that power without devotion is self-destructive.

The truth is that our strength is limited.

Doesn't matter how skillful we are, how many resources we have, doesn't matter how much what how much we can do, there is just so much we can do and bear.

And in life, we will frequently face situations that greatly surpass our capacity of controlling them, of solving the problem, of doing what we think we can do to handle the situation.

And if we keep trying to do that on our own strength, we will end up exhausted and defeated.

What God is telling Joshua is stop relying on your own strength and start accessing the infinite supply of strength that I can provide to you.

You don't need to do these things, you don't need to lead the people into the promised land with your own arms, with your own strength, but you can access the strength that I can give you to be successful on this challenge that I gave you.

We see that in the if you keep reading the book of Joshua, you will see that all of the victories that the Israelites had were based on God's favor.

Jericho and all others, the only situation that they were that we see them being defeated is when they disobey God, when they get what they shouldn't get, and then God let them do it with their own strength, and they were defeated.

And that's the point.

The victories and the conquering of the of the promised land were all based on God's favor upon his people.

Paul says the same on his letter to the Philippians, chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

He will say, I know what is to be in need, and I know what is to have plenty.

I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, I can do all things through him who gives me strength.

And that's the point.

Christian life is not just a life where everything goes well all the time and that's fine, and not.

This is not what this verse is saying.

This verse is saying, In Christ, if you are rooted in Christ, if your life belongs to him, if you live in fellowship with him, it doesn't matter what comes against you, doesn't matter what you are facing, he gives you the strength not to be overcame by those things, but to overcome them and to win and to keep following the purpose that he called you to have, to leave.

Because God gives you strength to endure, to bear, and to keep moving forward, even when things are far greater than what we can with our human strength to bear or or to hold.

In Christ we can face those.

And there are moments that God will take us through seasons of struggle or challenges that our only option will be to rely in Him.

And those seasons and those moments are important because what we need to understand is that our promised land is not this world.

Our promised land is not a wealthy bank account, it's not having everything resolved in our life, it's not achieving the financial stability or the other things that we are looking for.

Our goal is an eternity in heaven with our Father.

This is what he's preparing us to, this is where he's leading us, and he will add or take away everything he needs to add or take away to make sure that we safely arrive at the destination that he has for us, which is an eternity in fellowship with him.

This is the path that he's taking us to an eternal life with him.

And that's why sometimes he will have to take us through some rough patches, some difficult moments, so he can treat us, so he can teach us, so we can be more like Jesus, so we can get to where he has planned for us.

His thoughts for us are good, his plan for us is perfect, and it's better than our plan.

So we can say, like God, my ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.

But how can we access, like how we can access this supernatural strength that God has to offer us?

And poing his letter to the Ephesians help us to understand a little more.

He says the following I pray that out of his glorious reach, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being.

All we have to do is ask.

You know, the the point is the tricky part here is right the part of asking.

You know, when you surrendered your life to Jesus, as I said previously, you received the Holy Spirit.

You were saved, you were washed clean, you were forgiven of your sins, and you receive, we received the Holy Spirit inside of us.

God is living in us.

He decided He chose not to live in a building, doesn't matter how well prepared, but He chose to live in us.

We are the church.

Church is not a place we go, church is who we are as people of God, as kingdom of God in this earth.

So, what is you have the Holy Spirit, you have the power of God living inside of you, you have the Living God living in you, the power is available to you.

Jesus only starts his ministry after being baptized by the Holy Spirit because he was showing that although he was God, he would live his ministry and do his miracles, everything he was doing through the power of the Holy Spirit, the same power that is available to me and to you.

And what we have to do is ask is to develop an intense fellowship with God through prayer.

And how many times we neglect our life of prayer because we don't have enough time, because we are so anxious and so worried about everything that we live a shallow life of prayer.

And let me tell you, a Christian life without prayer is a life without power.

We need to invest more time praying.

And something amazing that that was ministered uh Paula during worship is that it is not that our spiritual performance will define God's favor in our life.

Hear me out.

God is not willing to bless you because of how many hours you spend praying.

Prayer is not about giving God a list of what we want or trying to build credit with God.

Prayer is about relationship.

God loves you, it's not about marriage, it's not about what you what we think we can do or offer to God, but it's about spending time with him.

Prayer is a conversation, it's about spending time with him, talking and listening.

It's not just delivering him a list.

God, this is the list for today.

Thank you.

On your earliest convenience, please.

Okay, and it's not about that, it's about spending time with him and growing on that.

And that will help us access this strength when we when you cannot hold anymore.

You need to say, God, I need you.

Father, please give me strength.

I cannot do this on my own.

I cannot keep doing this with my own strength.

I need your supernatural strength to go through this situation, and he will be there with you.

He will strengthen your hands when you cannot do that.

He's the one who is there at you, and those of you, those of you who work out, he's your gym bro who say, One more, one more, you can do it, you can do it, and he will help you lift, and he will be there with you.

You know, that's the Holy Spirit, he's there with you.

He's not trying, he's not the referee waiting for you to make a mistake to just eliminate you from the match.

He's there coaching you, helping you.

All we have to do is ask, and he will answer, and he will give you strength to overcome whatever situation.

The second principle that he gives to Joshua, that is also equally important to us, is be courageous because I am with you.

Fear is one of the greatest challenges, one of the greatest adversaries in Christian life.

Fear, and naturally, fear will be a self-preservation instinct, and that's okay.

You are not happily putting your hand in the fire, right?

You you will avoid things that are risky in that matter.

But the problem is when we act in fear, is that fear will lead us to take uh react to react in two different ways.

You're either either freezing and not moving and don't knowing what to do, or you were you start trying desperately to solve the the risk or the issue with your own hands, either by fighting or fleeing.

This is what we do either freeze or we try to do something about it with our own strength and desperately without thinking much about it.

And that's why the devil and our human nature, our sin, our sinful nature, we will try to use fear to paralyze us or to make us go after impulsive plans or decisions that will drive us away from what God is prepared for us.

Fear is directly related to our sense of security and safety.

I remember a situation, so I mentioned that I worked at IT in Brazil, and I started when I was still in college and I was doing the night shifts, so from uh midnight to 8 a.m.

And the the company shuttle would leave us, would drop me a few blocks from my house, and I would walk the remaining distance.

And one day I was there walking calmly, probably not thinking really straight because I was awake all then all night.

And I was there and a few houses before mine, there was this house with a fenced gate and a huge Rottweiler behind the gate.

And when the Rottweiler sees me approaching, it starts barking aggressively.

And oh well, I'm across the street, um, he's behind the gate, I'm comfortable, I'm having fun, and I well at a moment I look at him at it and say, Come on, bro, be quiet.

No, just having fun until at that moment that I say that, it hits its nose against the gate, and the gate opens, and it immediately stops barking and starts looking at me like you said what?

All I had time to think and to do say, God help.

That was all that crossed my mind at that moment.

I kept walking calmly, you know, without making sunny movements, and making sure that I could see a little bit of the gate just to make sure that I'm not being chased.

And well, if I'm here today, you know that everything ended up fine.

I got home.

I was not beaten by a dog.

Not that time, that was a different time, but I'll tell you guys that story another day.

But anyway, it is amazing how safe I felt about a gate that wasn't even locked.

And so many times we do the same things in our person in our personal lives.

We in our other areas of our lives, our perception is limited, and we put our trust and we believe that we are safe because we are trusting in things that are open gates, that are not locked, they don't provide any security.

But because the world says that you should be chasing those things, or because we believe those things will be able to make us secure, we are resting our lives on those things that are not firm foundations for us.

We think that if you we have enough money in our bank accounts, if when we achieve that dream job, when we get to that place, then we will start living, then our lives will be complete, then we have what it takes, then we'll be safe, secure when we get to that stage in our relationship, when we get at that stage in our lives, we'll be safe.

When if people like us or if we are skilled enough, we will be safe.

And the problem is that all of those things can be taken away from us so easily.

Well, God is instructing Joshua saying, you know what, Joshua, you are safe.

Not because you were a great leader, not because you have a great army, not because you have a lot of resources.

You are safe because I got your back.

You are safe.

They all and this is what God is telling us today.

You are not safe because what do you have or what you can do?

You are safe because God got your back.

The Almighty God, who does not change, who does not go back on his word, cares about you.

He's got your back.

You are not alone.

If your life is his, you are secure.

I need to start putting our trust in the Lord when we face challenges and giants that we don't have the courage that we freeze when we see them.

I remember this time I was, and my time is going away.

Um I was on a business travel, I went to China for a project, and we visited a uh a zoo, and there was a safari in there, and you could they got a van and they removed the walls and they put some some fences on the walls, and you could feed the animals, right?

Fun.

You got a stick with meat, and it would go through the fence.

And this tiger approached the car, and I said, Okay, let me fit it.

And I put it right there.

And I don't know why.

He decided that he needed to climb a little bit to do it.

So he raised both paws and placed them on the car.

The moment I saw it, it was like this for me.

I said, I froze.

There was nothing I could do or move or escape at that moment.

And so many times we get paralyzed with fear, thinking that there's no way we are escaping from that, there's no way we can solve that, there's no way we can overcome this.

And God is saying, I got you.

I'm there with you.

You need to start trusting in me.

You need to start believing that if I promised, I will be there with you.

Jesus said that to us.

He said, You know what?

I will be with you until the end of time.

I will not leave you, I will not forsake you.

God is with you.

Doesn't matter the challenge, you don't need to live in fear, but his perfect love will cast away all fear.

He will be there with you.

And a practical way of fighting fear and overcoming fear is immersing our minds and our hearts in the word of God.

And again, another area that is so easy for us to set aside or to spend a little time with the word of God.

Start immersing your mind with the word of God, with his promises, with who he is, because the more you go there, more you start knowing God for who he is, and more the word of God speaks to you and transforms us from the inside out.

And we start learning to believe and trust in God for who he is.

We see the same God who did in the past, who did and care and take and took care of those characters in the Bible, is the same God that is saying, I'm there for you, I'll be there, I'm with you.

And when fear comes and when the enemies start attacking you with doubts, with saying you that you were not enough, that it won't happen, the Holy Spirit will start bringing to your memory passages of scripture in which God is saying, I'm with you.

This is not going to destroy you.

The problem is that so many times we don't know the scripture well enough to have the answers for those attacks of fear that we received.

Start spending time, create, create a routine, a time in your day that you can spend with scripture, you and God, time with God for prayer, but also time with God for scripture.

And be wise with the content you consume.

You know, there was a there was this news in Brazil that uh we would say that it is it is better to watch a horror movie than watch the the news, that the show, because they were specialists in selecting only the worst and most violent.

You know, the 1% of extremely violent and worst case, they would select those.

And even if something great happened, someone won the Nobel Prize, you would never see that.

But you would see all of the worst.

So, and when those things start, be careful with what you were consuming, with time, where you spend your time with.

Start selecting songs that have lyrics that are biblical, like the one, like the ones that we that we sang today, and build a playlist that you can soak your mind in the word of God when you're working, traveling, driving, whenever you are.

Start making the word of God more frequent around you, wherever you are, and it will be as God instructed Josh Joshua.

It will be on your lips, you will be talking about it, you will be singing about it, you will be listening it, and you will be learning more about it.

And the more you know, the more you learn, more the word of God will create roots in your heart, and more you we will be transformed, and we will know God for who he really is.

And the final principle that God gives Joshua is practice my word, practice the word of God.

Don't let the word of God be just another intellectual topic that you have a good grasp on, that we know a lot about, that we can have long conversations about, but that don't affect the other areas of our lives.

Start practicing in all areas, the easy ones and the challenging ones.

Start putting the word of God first in your decisions.

Let the word of God define your worldview, your decision making, base that on the word of God, start practicing it.

And what it will do is that when you practice the word of God, you're you will make naturally better decisions.

When you have your heart saturated with the word of God, your decision making will be different.

And when you start practicing the word of God, you are making safe choices that will protect you, that will close any gaps that the enemy may have to attack you, that will close any gaps that anyone would may have to you trying to use as leverage against your life, you will be protected because you are obeying God's word, and that will grow your fellowship with God, that will allow you to experience more of his presence, more of his strength, more of his of the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Start practicing it daily.

With these three principles, God was saying, Again, this is not about performance, this is not about establishing uh a ritualistic rhythm every day as as you were like you were fulfilling obligations to get gain God's favor.

It's about relationship.

But as we grow in this relationship, knowing that we can be strong with the strength that God gives us, and that we can be courageous, like you know, that little kid that has his father as his hero, and that doesn't matter what comes, if his father is with him, he's courageous.

Or that little brother that is being picked by a bully in at the school, and when his bigger brother gets there, then he gets brave.

You know, God is uh is there for you.

You can be courageous because God got your back.

Don't let fear overcome your life.

Don't be paralyzed with fear, don't try to do everything by yourself, but go to God.

Ask God help, ask him to help you in those situations.

Can you stand up and like to pray with you?

I maybe you got here today in a situation similar to Joshua at that moment.

Maybe you are facing one of the most challenging phases of your life, one of the most challenging moments of your life.

Maybe you are struggling with pain, with fear, with things that you say, God, I cannot bear this.

There is no way I can overcome this.

God brought you here today to tell you, I am with you.

Doesn't matter where, doesn't matter what you are facing, I'm with you.

I have what you need to overcome those situations.

All you have to do is trust me, is let me help you.

Can we go to the Lord today?

What is the situation that is causing you fear?

What are what are your fears?

What are the situations that seem too big for you to overcome and to understand?

Let's talk to him, start presenting those to them.

He wants to hear your voice talking to him.

Your prayer has power.

Start accessing the power that he can give you.

Start praying.

Father, we present to you all of these situations that are bringing fear, frustration, that we don't think we are good enough to overcome, that we don't think that we are strong enough to do, because we know that we are not.

But we know who you are.

You are the Almighty God, creator of all things.

Nothing can resist to a word of you from you.

So we declare that we believe in you, we trust in you, and we ask, give us the strength, the strength that we have in you, that is available in you through your Holy Spirit into our inner being.

Give us strength to overcome whatever situation comes.

Give us strength to keep going on and keep bearing the cross that you gave us to bear.

Help us to keep going forward the way you called us to go, so we can reach our destination, which is our eternity with you.

Help us to be courageous, not because we have all the answers, but because you have all the answers.

May our courage be based because we are safe, because we have you, and you will not leave us, you'll not forsake us, because you promised that in your word.

You know us for who we are, and we'll you love us.

You know our defects, you know our qualities.

Your Holy Spirit is continuously transforming us and help us to change into more likely in the likeness of Jesus, but you love us today, knowing and you know our name, Father.

Our courage now is based in the fact that we have you and you got our back, that you have us in your hands.

Help us to go forward, help us to remember that you are with us every day, and to trust that even when everything around seems to be going sideways and that we are losing control, we don't have to maintain control of anything.

We give you all control because nothing can ever escape your control.

We trust in you, please, as we pray, I thank you because you are bringing peace to each heart here, saying, I got you, I'm with you.

I thank you for your peace, thank you for your joy.

Holy Spirit, bring comfort to hearts weaving here right now, bring comfort to hearts and pain right now, fighting, struggling with a disease, or struggling with something that you know and that they know them with faith, with grace, with supernatural strength, with feeling your power over them.

In the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

Thank you for joining us to learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

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