Tag Archives: Jesus

Why carry the burden for two miles, when carrying it for one mile is sufficient?

And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

Matthew 5:41

Do not be surprised by the question, it is not an insolent question; the question is legitimate and is based on the context of the Mosaic Law of the religious thought of those who listened to the doctrine of Jesus; why carry the burden for two miles, if the Law authorizes us to carry it for one, when the case merits it?

The Jews, accustomed to doing all things based on some precept of the Law and the tradition of the elders, did not see Jesus’ instruction as an attack on their doctrinal foundation; Jesus’ instruction was not a new commandment, they knew perfectly well what Jesus was referring to, what was new about the instruction was that Jesus extended the permitted limits of how far they were obliged to do things. Why?

The reader can verify from the text of the account that Jesus’ instruction was established in teaching on the basis of, ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth‘, a statute of the Mosaic Law, better known as the law of restitution for the damage done to second and third persons. The precept of the law established that the restitution had to be of the same magnitude as the damage done. In the book of Leviticus we read the statement of this law:

17 And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. 18 And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast. 19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; 20 breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. 21 And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death. 22 Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 24:17-22

In that sense, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, means that any damage in which each one incurs will be amended in the same way, and in the same magnitude, of the damage produced; the law is clear in specifying that according to the injury that will have done to another, such will be done to him, and not for questions of revenge, but to mean that all damage has to be amended without leaving any consequence without rectifying. The law does not contemplate the possibility of ‘revenge’, it is not a law of revenge, on the contrary, it is a didactic law that established respect and that recognized the ‘right’ that everyone has to have his property respected.

The law was enacted not only as a tool to punish the conduct of those who inflicted harm on others; the law had the dual purpose of the people learning to set limits on their personal actions in relation to those closest to them, on the one hand; but, primarily, to bring the people to the understanding of the need to restitute those who fall into loss of property and disrepute of dignity; a purpose quite similar to that established with respect to the celebration of the Jubilee years, in which the restoration of the property and liberties of those who had fallen into slavery because of unpayable debts was enacted.

8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

Leviticus 25:8-10

When Jesus quotes the law, eye for an eye and tooth for tooth, and teaches about the virtue of carrying the burden for two miles, He is not establishing that the previous law ceased to have validity and meaning, He does it rather to establish a more excellent way in the path of justification by faith in God. Note in the account that just before establishing the teaching of carrying the burden for two miles, Jesus emphasized: Do not resist evil, meaning by this, do not seek to impose your right against the one who harms you. What is the more excellent way, in what does it consist? How does carrying the burden for two miles make me more righteous?

To carry the burden for the first mile when I do not want to do it, that is, when I am forced to do it, according to eye for eye and tooth for tooth, represents the ‘damage’ caused on my person; my right is represented in the first mile, I am in my right that the one who forces me to carry the burden should also pay in the same way, that is, that he also carries the burden for a mile. But Jesus said, do not seek to enforce your right against the one who harms you, which means, give up your right of restitution. Why give up my right?

In an alternate teaching Jesus taught that the damage that man suffers will not go unpunished, that his damage will be restored, and He taught that it is better to be restored by God Himself: thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly (6:4,6,18). From this teaching arises the following statute of faith:

Man receives from God what he is willing to give.

23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt…       32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses.

Matthew 18:23-35

What does the second mile mean? The second mile represents according to, eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, the mile that is due ‘to pay’ to the one who harmed you for having forced you to carry the burden for a mile; Jesus said: do not demand that he carry the burden for the mile that is due to him, do it for him. The second mile represents the evidence that you do not claim your right of restitution, and that you have decided to ‘forgive’ your offender.

The most excellent way to reach justification by faith in God, the doctrine of the Gospel, is called the law of love and forgiveness. LOVE is not a feeling, it is the decision of faith not to demand or demand my right of restitution, it is to yield it for the love of Jesus;[1] FORGIVENESS is not forgetting the wrong done to me, it is to continue to do good even when I continue to receive harm.[2]

Scripture quotations are taken from the Authorized King James Version, 1909 (AKJV).

Pastor Pedro Montoya

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[1]              Philippians 3:7-8: But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

[2]              Matthew 18:21-22: 21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

You are the Light of the world…

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Matthew 5:14
<p class="has-drop-cap" value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">Light is not a quality proper to the existence of this material world, we know it perfectly because we use its properties; however, Light is a spiritual quality that was introduced into this material world as an appendix of life when in Creation Jehovah- God 'spoke' so that it would be established as a natural element of this material creation.Light is not a quality proper to the existence of this material world, we know it perfectly because we use its properties; however, Light is a spiritual quality that was introduced into this material world as an appendix of life when in Creation Jehovah- God ‘spoke’ so that it would be established as a natural element of this material creation.

This is understandable when we verify that, indeed, the Light was introduced on the first day of Creation, while the great luminaries, those that feed the firmament with light, were created until the fourth day,

3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light …  5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Genesis 1:3-5

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Genesis 1:16-19

So, the Light referred to in the creation story of the first day was not a product of something emanating from it, that is, it was not a light created for the benefit of this material system, but Light entered from the environment of Eternity to delimit by it a space within which the Almighty would establish His field of action and Creation; the above has Truth and meaning from the use of the Word that Jehovah- God uses to ‘open’ that space of Eternity for the entry of Light, He says: יְהִ֣י (yehí: be), and the term used here is the same as Jehovah-God uses to reveal Himself to Moses as I am that I am (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה: eh-yeh); so then, יְהִ֣י (yehí: let there be) and (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה: eh-yeh: I am), from the Hebrew root היה ( ha-ya: to be), is a term that denotes ‘Eternity’ whose true meaning is, in the case of the name of Jehovah-God, I was-I am-I will be.[1] Light is the essence of Eternity where Jehovah- God moves, therefore it is the very manifestation of His Glory.

So, when Jehovah-God said, let there be light (וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר), He was with it, additionally, establishing ‘Eternity’ within Creation, and space also for angelic beings to cohabit within all of creation; Light is the very substance of the essence of spiritual life. Spiritual and angelic beings emanate Light, it is their natural state; the psalmist David recognizes the essence of Light that comes from Jehovah- God,

For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

Psalm 36:9

In the story of Job we find the testimony that everything that belongs to Eternity, its environment is Light,

2Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places. 3Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?

Job 25:2-3

We can now understand what it means that Jehovah-God imprisoned in chains of darkness the angels who had sinned, simply deprived them of the strength of His Presence and exposed them to material creation.

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

2 Peter 2:4

Light was established on this world as the basis of existence of all forms of life that were created. The natural light of the great luminaries of the fourth day was not introduced as a substitute for the Light of Eternity established on the first day, the natural light of the great luminaries was established only to mark cycles of life,

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Genesis 1:14

So, the Light of the first day is still in force, and remains active, only very few can see it, for the eyes of men are forbidden to see it. The apostle John writes in his gospel and gives testimony of His Presence among us, John defines it as the Principle of restoration and vivification of those who ‘hear’ the Voice of the Lord,

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not (has not overcome it: NIV).

John 1:5

The account speaks of the Presence of Jesus on earth, without discussion; however, the account also contains the testimony that in Adam, men despised that environment of Light in which Jehovah-God had placed them, and loved more the proposal of darkness, in deterioration of the Word of the Lord.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John 3:19

Thus, when Jesus said, “you are the Light of the world”, in principle, His statement was a re-creation of the process of Creation initiated when Light was brought in as the platform of all that was created; now, His statement was to “establish” the doctrinal teaching that in this new age of Revelation, Light would be brought by and through those who walk in the environment of light, i.e., those who walk according to the faith of Jesus,

Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

John 12:35

“You are the Light of the world” means to open windows of Revelation within the environments of darkness, and once done, to give life to those who are dead; darkness means death;[2] so then, re-phrasing the Words of Jesus according to their meaning, you are the Light of the world means: ‘you are the givers of life‘. Light is synonymous with Life,

or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

Job 3:16

Giving life is synonymous with ‘putting people free’.[3]  Giving life is a consequence of walking by the faith of Jesus, not a commission; this means that no one has to ‘strive’ to do, to say, to carry; there is not even a need to rebuke the spiritual hosts, the very presence of one who walks by the faith of Jesus establishes life and establishes liberation. Were not the sick healed when the shadow of the apostle Peter touched them?[4] Were not the sick and possessed at a distance healed when the apostle Paul prayed for cloths and shrouds that belonged to those in bed?[5]

During the violent incident that formed in Thessalonica because of the teachings of the Apostle Paul, there was a word that the main inhabitants of the city wanted to establish as an argument to attack the Apostle, the word was: These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;[6] however, if the reader reviews carefully the reading of the fact, he will see that it was not a great company, they were scarcely 3 or 4 men; in chapter 16 Timothy,[7] Silas[8] is mentioned, and if Luke accompanied them, they were in total together with Paul four people, however, the inhabitants of Thessalonica expressed themselves as: These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also, as if it were a great company that had come to trouble the city. What do you think? The above only confirms what Moses had established about those who walk in the light of the teachings,

29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! 30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

Deuteronomio 32:29-31

To walk according to the faith of Jesus does not consist of ‘adopting’ a lifestyle, but of being a link from Heaven on earth so that through the Revelation we receive as an Inheritance of Glory,[9] we can initiate a generation of the living –God is not God of the dead, but of the living– through our words: the Light was introduced by the Word, the Light responds to the Word.

“you are the light of the world” means to bring forth from the darkness and give life to the dead, and to initiate a new generation, a generation that lives according to the instructions of Jesus in conformity to the prophetic times in which we live; a generation that understands what Jehovah-God is doing, and where He is leading us.

A clear example is this time of pandemic we have lived. God closed churches, however many did not understand it that way, but they moved their services to the social pages and turned them into virtual services, is that what God wanted? Was that what God demanded that they do? No, nothing like that, but not understanding how Jehovah-God is moving in these times prevents us from moving the way He does, is this walking according to the faith of Jesus?

Not understanding the ways of the Lord has led many to engage in even apostasy, and not realize it.

To be the Light of the world is to react and respond immediately to the Word of Jesus given to His Church, the Spirit is moving not through the concepts of tradition according to which we have acted, the Spirit is “speaking” and giving instructions for us to act in unconventional ways, to establish the Kingdom not by preaching but by executions of faith; Jesus presented it in this way: A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, which means a commitment to live by the principles of Jesus’ teachings, even knowing that to live by them it may die. That is the commitment of the life of faith in Jesus.

You are the Light of the world is the greatest teaching that Jesus could have given to His saints; but it is wise that we should understand what it means, for if we do not, ignorance, naivety, and unawareness expose us to being trampled upon and taken hostage by darkness.

A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden, it discovers a commitment to the Word, to the Gospel, and to Jesus to live by faith in His name, and according to His teachings; but beware, the expression is also a warning that the light on the mountain exposes the city to those who seek to steal and do evil.

Never teach others what you have not established for your own life.

pastor Montoya

All biblical quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Pastor Pedro Montoya

Twitter: @pastormontoya

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[1] Revelation 1:8: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

[2] Psalm 23:4: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

[3] Isaiah 61; see also Luke 4:16-21

[4] Acts 5:15

[5] Idem 9:12

[6] Idem 17:6

[7] Idem 16:1-3

[8] Idem 16:19

[9] Ephesians 1:18: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Praying always at all times… Reading from Ephesians 6:18

praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Ephesians 6:18

How do we understand Ephesians 6:18 in relation to the groans by the Spirit that cannot be uttered of Romans 8?

In the previous teaching we reached the Revelation that the groanings that cannot be uttered is the communion with the Father that the Spirit engenders in the spirit of the Born-Again believer; we also found that this activity of the Spirit does not depend upon, nor does it originate from, the believer’s conscious activity of prayer. What remains to be understood, and is the purpose of this teaching, is that unutterable groans are not a substitute for the responsibility of the man/woman of faith to seek divine intervention through prayer.

The participation of the Holy Spirit in the being of a man or woman of faith is to give him or her the sustenance, of faith, precisely, so that the Born Again can stay alive in the face of the satanic manifestations that try to drown him or her. Faith is the life of the born-again, so the participation of the Holy Spirit in the being of a born-again is to keep him/her alive; if you look closely again at chapter eight of the apostle Paul’s epistle to the Romans, you will see that the apostle defined it as such on two occasions at the beginning of that chapter:

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:2

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Romans 8:6

The purpose of the Spirit is to give life, faith is life, therefore the Born Again is kept alive by faith; hence the need for the Born Again man and woman to grow in faith,

that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

1st. Peter 1:7

But faith is not of man, that is, it is not born of the religious activity of man and woman before the deities, nor is it even the product of the impact it may receive from the manifestation of God himself; faith belongs to God, God gives it through his Word:

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:17

In the previous paragraph we have even dared to assure that faith is not the product of the impact that man receives before a theophany, many examples in the pages of the Bible that certify it, the clearest case is that of the people who were taken out of the slavery of Egypt by Moses, so many extraordinary manifestations of the Power of Jehovah-God among them, however the great majority of them died in the desert, and it was because of their unbelief. Faith is born from the Word of God, to the extent that man is exposed to it. The only way to have faith is to expose oneself to the Word and to act according to the teaching and instruction that the Word establishes. Experiences can stimulate a man or woman of faith but they cannot generate faith; faith is not a stimulus or an impulse.

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Romans 12:3

From the teaching given by Jesus in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13), we learn that the Kingdom of Heaven is established in human beings through the Word of the Gospel; the parable presents the sower as the Son of Man (Matthew 13:37) who spreads the seed —the Word— over the whole world (Matthew 13: 38) but only germinates in those who accept it as God the Father’s instruction to act according to His Will; who do not want to understand it (Matthew 13:19), who are unwilling to suffer persecution because of the Word (Matthew 13:21), and/or attend to riches more than the Word (Matthew 13:22) make the Word unfruitful in them and drown the faith that God gave to them.

So, Man and woman of faith, faith is the life that the Spirit ‘breathes’ into the spirit of man and woman, faith is the unspeakable groans of the Spirit’s permanence within the being of one who has been born again from the Word. Faith is more than a knowledge or assurance developed from man’s own activity, faith does not germinate from what the man and woman of God do for themselves, this knowledge is the basis of deliverance that cuts through satanic chains and bondages however strong they may be.

It remains, now, Man and woman of faith, that we understand why some men and women of faith grow in faith more than others.

Man and woman of faith, the growth and progress of each one’s faith life depends on the prayer activity that each one develops before God, and that is where Ephesians 6:18 comes in.

 Jesus established as a principle of life and authority, in the case of Peter when Jesus was betrayed by Judas, that prayer is the basis for avoiding stagnation in the growth of faith.

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Matthew 26:41 (Mark 13:33; 14:38; Luke 22:40, 46)

Prayer was established by Jesus as a bond of justice and righteousness,

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Matthew 5:44 (Luke 6:28)

Prayer was also established as a prophetic bond to understand about the times,

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

Matthew 24:20 (Mark 13:18, 33)

In the book of Acts of the Apostles it is described that prayer was part of the active faith life of the believers,

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Acts 2:42

In fact, prayers were the basis of operation of many miracles operated within all faith communities,

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Acts 4:31

But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

Acts 9:40

And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.

Acts 10:4

Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

Acts 12:5

And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

Acts 13:3

And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

Acts 14:23

And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.

Acts 28:8

In the text of Ephesians 6:18 the apostle instructs the Ephesian community to pray for all the ‘saints’, meaning all those who are part of the Body of Christ Jesus; in another of his epistles, Paul instructs them to pray for the work of the Lord that they were doing even from prison,

17Pray without ceasing.…   25Brethren, pray for us.

1st. Thessalonians 5:17, 25

Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

Hebrews 13:18

Prayer is not, nor should it be, a selfish resource to ask for particular interests; such prayers do not prosper,

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

James 4:2-3

Prayer is not even to ask for our particular needs, God knows them,

Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Matthew 6:8

Man and woman of faith, the best way, and the best time to pray is in the moments we use to expose ourselves to the Word.

Finally, man and woman of faith, be careful not to develop religious pride; it is no more spiritual to kneel for two hours than to pray for 15 or 20 minutes; prayer is not measured by time spent in it, but by the purpose of discovering the next step of faith we have to take in witnessing to the Lord’s work. Peace.

If you have questions or would like us to go deeper into a topic or situation, please do not hesitate to write to us.

The biblical quotations are taken from the Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

Pastor Pedro Montoya

WhatsApp 1 (407) 764-2699

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Unspeakable groans… the groans that cannot be uttered that the Spirit make for us

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Romans 8.26

Man and woman of faith, the peace of the Lord with you. With regard to the ‘groanings which cannot be uttered’ of the Spirit, from the text in reference, in many Christian circles there is an interpretative tendency to see in them the tongues that arise from the baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4; 1 Corinthians 14:21); however, if you read the apostle’s full message throughout this chapter, you will see that the theme of teaching that the apostle is developing is about the ‘Law of the Spirit of life in Christ’:

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

(vers.2)

Therefore, the ”groans which cannot be uttered” to which the apostle is referring are not the ”new tongues” which have arisen from the experience of the Baptism in the Spirit; the apostle is referring rather to the communion which the Spirit develops in the spirit of the born-again believer, and which keeps him in constant spiritual contact with the Father even though he, the believer, may not be in prayer all day, the following verse clearly explains this:

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

(vers. 9)

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ states that whoever is born again ‘has’ the Spirit of Christ, and therefore ‘does not walk in the flesh’. This doctrine of ‘not walking in the flesh’ is not an allegorical way of referring to the adoption of faith in Jesus, but the true effect of regeneration on the nature of the believer; ‘regeneration’ being understood as recreation, or as John presents it, a ‘being born again’ of water and the Spirit (John 3:3-5). Paul emphasizes this doctrine in the following verses:

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 

(vers. 14-16)

So, we can already understand that the ‘groans that cannot be uttered’ do not have to do with speaking in ‘other tongues’, which for the effects of life in Christ are the visible manifestation of the Spirit, but, the ‘groans that cannot be uttered’ (στεναγμοις αλαλητοις), are the ‘hidden’ intervention of the Spirit in favor of the believer, that is, in most cases, the believer is not aware of such activity. The apostle’s expression for ‘groans that cannot be uttered’, in Greek, στεναγμοις αλαλητοις (stenagmis alalitis), has a meaning more like “breath sighs,” implying that just as a man and woman breathe constantly and continuously in order to exist physically, so ‘groans that cannot be uttered’ are the spiritual “breath” that keeps the believer’s spirit alive.

Why does Paul speak of ‘groans that cannot be uttered’ in this section? Because Paul understands that the sufferings provoked by the world to persecute the believer are not only aimed at tormenting him, but more so, at destroying his faith; Paul explains this in the following verses:

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

(vers. 18)

Now, Man and woman of faith, note the Apostle’s conclusion. The ‘groans which cannot be uttered’ is a spiritual ‘groan’, I insist, which the Believer does not realize; look at it as the Apostle passes from the development of the ‘groans which cannot be uttered’ to the teaching of how ‘we groan within ourselves’:

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.  …   26but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

(vers. 22 y 23)

So, as you can clearly see, the ‘groans that cannot be uttered’ are not the visible or conscious activity of the believers, but the hidden operation of the Spirit in their favour to keep them alive spiritually, and above all, to keep them strong to resist the persecution of the world; the only one who notices the ‘groans that cannot be uttered’ is the Father, who for the purposes of communication between the believer and Him, and by virtue of this, the Father guides them by His Will, thus concludes the apostle:

And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

(vers. 27)

Who is it that searches the hearts? The one who searches the hearts is the Father through His Holy Spirit, so He knows what the situation is under which everyone is, even before they are presented in prayer, just as Jesus Himself taught His disciples,

Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Mathew 6:8

Thus the ‘groans which cannot be uttered’ of the Spirit have united us to the Father, whom we call, Abba Father, and by whom we are constituted more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.

If you have questions or would like us to go deeper into a topic or situation, please do not hesitate to write to us.

The biblical quotations are taken from the Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

Pastor Pedro Montoya

WhatsApp 1 (407) 764-2699

Follow us on Twitter: @pastormontoya

Deliverance through the food we eat?

A pastor recently asked me about 1 Samuel 14:27, if the honey referred to God’s Revelation to man; this is the answer I gave him: The text refers to the deliverance that the man of faith can acquire through the food he eats, the Revelation, however, is established on the basis of the deliverance.

But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath: wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened. I Samuel 14:27

There is deliverance through food, and this is a clear example. Surely the reader will be familiar with issues such as the defilement that certain foods produce when they are eaten, because this is the counterpart issue, a little known issue, which highlights that God establishes deliverance through the food that He points out for that purpose.

God establishes a “diet” and He does it with the purpose of establishing operations of liberation, in and with, the people to whom He reveals them, such as Samson;

but he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. Judges 13:7

God provides a “diet” to establish operations of the Spirit, they are operations of Kingdom establishment through which precedents of faith are established in the regions, examples of which you read in the diet that He designed for Adam and Eve,

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. Genesis 1:11

You see it again in the wisdom that led Daniel and his companions not to contaminate themselves with the ration assigned to them,

12 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. 13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. 14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. 15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat. 16 Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. Daniel 1.12-16.

There will be people, however, who will highlight an intrinsic value in food, that is not the biblical teaching, food itself does not have a value independent of the Will of God.

God arranges a “diet” with the purpose of establishing and maintaining liberation in those who serve Him, because for there to be Revelation, it is necessary first to establish liberation, we see it in the diet that God determined to the priests and the Nazarites,

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord: 3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. 4 All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. Numbers 6:1-4

For that very reason, the recommendation that the church in Jerusalem gave to the church of the Gentiles was given precisely to cut the satanic bonds that are established in the person through food,

but that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. Acts 15.20

Many peoples of the earth have food contaminated with idols, and unfortunately the children of light continue to consume it. Foods based on the blood of animals, such as moronga (blood sausage) are consumed by people who claim to be followers of Jesus by arrogating to themselves a freedom that is not sustained by the Word.

whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. Philippians 3.19

I emphasize, the diet is established by God, not that man/woman should seek one according to the basis of science. There is deliverance through food, and in His grace, God gives revelation of how to use food.

Eating a lot of red meat is constituted in bonding and contamination. Spiritual bonding is established by what the animals carry. Animals perceive and dwell in unclean spirits much more readily than humans, the example being the demons that entered the herd of swine (Luke 8:32).

Not that red meat cannot be eaten, for in God’s commandment, animals are given to Noah to eat (Genesis 9:3-5), but they are not to be the food base of a man of faith. When you minister deliverance to someone, put them on a meat fast for at least a week, and you will see the results.

Remember, it is not just a matter of “stopping” certain foods, it is necessary to discover, and implement, God-revealed diets to fulfill purposes and operations of the Spirit. So, not only should pork be seen as “bad”, bad can be everything that feeds a person’s ego. How about coffee? How about mate? Do you understand? It is to understand that we eat not only to subsist, but also so that the human spirit can be quickened to “see”, like Jonathan’s case, what God is doing, or what God wants us to do.

The biblical quotations are taken from the Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

Pastor Pedro Montoya

WhatsApp 1 (407) 764-2699

Follow us on Twitter: @pastormontoya