The Alpha of Dealing with Darkness

UV2996/10000 The Alpha of Dealing with Darkness

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Isaiah 9 v 2


The great light that has driven away the shadows of sin, death and judgement is Jesus. Till the advent of Jesus into the world and into the lives of individuals, people walked in darkness. They did not know where they came from and where they were going. But Jesus came as the Daystar or Morning Star, the Sun of Righteousness. We no longer have an excuse to sit or walk in the darkness. We can see ourselves for who we are truly are in His light. We can see others too in His light. The light of His truth guides us on the paths we take, the choices we make. The light of His love warms our hearts. The light of His word heals us and nourishes us. His light liberates us. His light gives us a vision of our own lives, the ultimate purpose of our being. His light drives away the gloom of sadness and makes us joyful. His light gives us hope of eternity. His light is unlike that of the leading lights of this world who fade away with time. The glory of His light is ineffable or unfading.


The light that Jesus sheds on us makes death, the great unknown a mere shadow in our lives. He drives away our fears. The powers of darkness no longer have a claim on our lives and are terrified by our spiritual prowess and authority. We are no longer children of darkness but children of the light. We no longer play hide and seek with God but seek Him with all our heart and obey His leading in all things. No weapon forged in darkness holds any threat against us. We have no truck or connection with the agents and forces of darkness that are at work in this world.

Symbolically, when Jesus died on the cross, the earth was covered with darkness. But, on the third day when Jesus resurrected, spiritual darkness and its reign on earth was banished forever. Darkness cannot overcome light. Darkness cannot comprehend light but light can comprehend darkness. There is no element of darkness in His Light and likewise there should be no element of darkness in our lives. Every deed done in darkness is exposed and every deed we do as children of light is blessed and rewarded. Just as plants point their stems towards the sun and grows upward, we too should grow upwards towards Jesus. When we sit daily in His presence, we absorb His light and obtain our spiritual food even as plants obtain food through photosynthesis by absorbing the sun’s light.

The Alpha of Healing of Diseases

UV 2995 /10000 The Alpha of Healing of Diseases
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Matthew 4 v 23


Jesus is the Good Root or Alpha of healing of Diseases. He is the Balm of Gilead who can heal all manner of diseases and sicknesses. Jesus proved that He had authority and power to heal and deliver by healing people of all types of incurable diseases like leprosy, healed people of disabilities like blindness and deafness, called back the dead to life. He cast out demons, evil spirits, healed the demented and the broken hearted. To this day, doctors can by use of their medical knowledge heal some diseases but they cannot heal the broken hearted. Jesus proved that He is the Specialist of Specialists- no disease, no ailment or illness was beyond His power to heal or cure. He was full of the power of the Holy Spirit and of grace to execute healing by the mere utterance of the word of healing or by simple gestures like applying mud mixed with His saliva to a deaf man’s ears. He proved to all including the critics that He is the visible image of Jehovah Rapha- the Healer.

The Good Root imparts the same power of healing and deliverance to His branches, believers beginning with the apostles. The apostles could command the lame to walk. The mere shadow of Peter falling on people could heal them. Peter also brought the dead to life as in the case of Dorcas. To this day, many men and women of God have called into being the healing of all types of diseases in different parts of the world. In some documented cases, even the dead have come alive. Though some in our times have been given the supernatural gift of healing, we can all exercise faith to be personally healed as well as to call for the healing or deliverance of others whom we pray for. Healing occurs as we pray as a confirmation from the Lord that He is with us as the Holy Spirit.

The uni-verse states that Jesus focussed on teaching and preaching while miracles of healing accompanied or followed such sessions of teaching. Miracles of healing occur to meet the individual needs of the suffering in response to their cries and their faith that they can be healed by the divine touch or word as well as to demonstrate the power and sovereignty of the Lord. The Lord desires to heal in order to wipe the tears of suffering people and to fill them with joy. But above all and beyond mere healing of bodies or minds, He desires the salvation of their spirits. Even Lazarus who was resurrected by Jesus died eventually and was buried. It is not just healing or temporary resurrection that is intended by the Lord but that we share in the eternal resurrection, that we are forever part of the eternal kingdom of God.

The Alpha of Desire

UV 2994/10000 The Alpha of Desire
Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Psalm 37 v 4
Unlike Buddha who considered desire to be the root of evil, the Bible divides desires into good and evil desires. The way we are wired, each of us has many desires and types of desires- physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, social, financial. God does not grant our every desire as an over indulgent parent does to the detriment of his or her child. He grants the desires of our hearts- the desires that would contribute to building our character, our spiritual fruit. The condition is that we need to delight in the Lord as it is written in the Song of Solomon. We need to delight in the Lord as one would delight on an apple tree in the midst of the woods. We should love to rest in the shadow of the Almighty and we should find the spiritual fruit of love, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit sweet and delectable to taste. Our relationship with our Beloved- the Lord Jesus needs to be the outstanding relationship of our lives and all other relationships are mere branches of this fruitful tree.
The desires of our hearts are the true ones that contribute to building our faith and not harm or destroy it. When we delight in the word of the Lord, He gives us these heart-felt desires. We find our joy and strength in the hope we have in Jesus. Jesus said, “ If you abide in Me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will and it will be given unto you.” We need to delight in living in and with Jesus and delight in the living words of Jesus that live in us. The Lord desires are given priority over our own desires. He desires faith, truth, justice, righteousness and integrity in our lives. When we satisfy Him with such spiritual fruit abounding in our lives, He does not hesitate to satisfy our desires.

The Lord desires that our lives be overflowing with joy and He has no intention to depress or sadden us in any way. When we have the Alpha or the good root of faith in Jesus, it is bound to grow and bear good results or fruit. It is a good practice to write down our desires and our requests to the Lord to fulfil it. Over time and our lives, we will many desires fulfilled much more than we expected or asked or imagined. The Word ensures that our hearts are aligned with the heart of the Lord. Once our hearts are so aligned, the Lord will not withhold anything good that we desire or ask.

The Alpha of Duty

UV2993/10000 The Alpha of Duty
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man
Ecclesiastes 12 v 13

Scripture sums up the whole duty of man as a creature is not just to believe in God but to fear God. To fear God is to fear the consequences of evil or of being away from the source of all goodness in this universe. To avoid evil brings us understanding. It makes us wise and competent in all aspects of our lives. When we fear God, we keep His commandments to love Him with all our hearts and to love our fellow man as we love ourselves. When we fear God, we delight in both His commandments and His promises and precepts. Such wisdom and grace will add both quality, productivity and longevity to our lives. It teaches us to be just in all our affairs, not to behave in an ungodly way or to attempt to obtain dishonest gain.
The Lord will satisfy the desires of the ones who fears Him. He will save them and hear their cry for help . He will bless them and make them a blessing. When we fulfil our duty or obligation to God, we will not fail in our duty to man, whether it is to our own family, our neighbours or all those we encounter in our lives. When we fulfil our duty to God, we discover the purpose of our lives. Having found the purpose of life, we are focussed on pursuing and attaining the purpose. The Lord adds His grace or help to fulfil the purpose. The power of the Creator and the Saviour and of the Holy Spirit are made available to us to enable us to fulfill the purpose of our creation and our redemption in Christ. Normally, when we are continually engaged in doing our duties, we tend to get drained, tired, bored with the sheer drudgery of it but when we do our duty to the Lord, we enjoy the process or the experience. We get renewed, restored, revived, energised, transformed, empowered and equipped.

When we fear God wholeheartedly, we are humbling ourselves before Almighty God. We are acknowledging that He is sovereign in our lives, that nothing happens by chance or accident in our lives. In so doing, we are trusting the Lord for all the unknown aspects of our lives. When we truly revere the Lord, we will be watchful or careful in our thoughts, words, actions, habits, relationships. We end up doing whatever we are doing as diligently as possible and entrust the things that we cannot control to the Lord. This attitude of the believer makes him both responsive and responsible, responsive to the Lord in all things and responsible for all that lies in the human province to do. All one's duties to self, to family, to others, to working organisation, to nation and to humanity are subsumed in one's duty to God. These duties are fulfilled on a higher plane and with greater efficacy than if one were to focus only on these temporal duties

The Alpha of Devotion

UV 2992/10000 The Alpha of Devotion
A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always
Act 10 v 2

This uni-verse that describes the centurion Cornelius who though not a Jew pleased God with his devotion and people with his charity and sense of justice. His wisdom came from his intense fear of displeasing God. He therefore set an example before his whole household, both his family and his subordinates. He persisted in prayer and gave alms to the poor. He pleased God so much that He sent His angel to convey a message to him to meet the apostle Peter. It is an example in scripture of how sincere devotion without respect of persons or of race or religion or nationality or gender or station in life gets the attention and wins the favour of the Lord God.

Why did the Lord send His angel to him? To complete his faith by giving him a revelation of how the Son of God Jesus had died for the sins of all mankind who repented, feared God and walked in His ways. Cornelius had many servants but he himself chose to serve God. His reverence for God enabled him to be wise, just, humble, charitable. True devotion is seen in all aspects of our lives- in our prayer life, in our work life, in our acts of charity, in wisdom and justice. True devotion is seen and rewarded by the Lord Himself. The Lord causes His grace to abound in the lives of the devout. The devout will be led to a deeper understanding, knowledge and relationship with the Lord. The Lord unveils His face to the devout as He did with Moses, with Simeon and many others.

Our prayers must be accompanied by works of charity, kindness, goodness and service to humanity. When our faith is accompanied or followed by good works, we become a fruitful vine grafted onto the True Vine Jesus. Our prayers and our acts will come before the Lord as beautiful memorials or reminders to the Lord of our devotion to Him, of our love for Him and others, of our desire to serve Him in every way possible. We are building treasures in heaven that neither moth nor rust nor thief can destroy. The Lord promises to rush to our help when we are ourselves in any kind of distress. He sends His angels to encamp around those who are devoted to Him. It is written that when we give to the poor, we are lending to the Lord and He feeling indebted to us, will try to repay us as soon and as excessively as possible for the Lord cannot be in debt to anyone.

The Alpha of Dealing with Deceit

UV 2991/10000 The Alpha of Dealing with Deceit
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Ephesians 4 v 22

Our old nature, before we trusted Jesus with our lives is riddled with deceit brought on by our human vanity, the lust of our minds and bodies. We are to put off this old nature and live the new Christ nature. We do this by rooting out our inclination to obey the old deceitful lusts and being rooted in the Alpha of the Word. When we apply the Word in all aspects of our lives in 360 degrees or the Omega or completion of our faith, we will be sowing the righteous nature. Today, doctors can transplant virtually every internal organ but only Christ through the Holy Spirit can transplant our character or nature.

Sin is always deceitfully crouching at the door of the heart as it was said of Cain. Cain was deceived into thinking that by getting rid of Abel, his brother , his troubles in life would end. But it was only the beginning of his troubles. Before Cain, his parents, Adam and Eve, indeed the first parents of all mankind, were likewise deceived into thinking that they could become like God by disobeying His command. Christ taught us that it is by obedience of the Word that we become like God. Our lusts and its deceitfulness is so pervasive that at no point in our lives, we can say that we are beyond sin. Therefore, we need to be on guard and alert at all times. When David let down his guard momentarily, he was deceived into adultery with Bathsheba. Pride over one’s attainments or acquisitions, station in life, influence, power or abilities deceive people into thinking they are secure and immune from being detected or punished for even crimes and offences against the law of the land. The Lord who knows the absolute truth about all of us can strip away the veneer of deceit and we are easily exposed and vulnerable as the young ones of a bird that have no feathers and can not fly to escape the big, ruthless and evil predator.

Sin hardens the human heart through its deceitfulness and makes us callous and insensitive to the hurt we cause to the Lord, the Holy Spirit when our words and our conduct fall short of the standards of Jesus. We need to recognize this truth that our bodies were crucified with Christ and we should hereafter live not to the dictates of our flesh and mind but live in accordance with the mind of Christ. We need to silence and ignore the deceitful suggestions of the enemy of our souls and listen to the whispered counsel of the Holy Spirit. In this way, we can effectively and consistently avoid the deceitful lusts and pride of our old nature and allow our new nature to grow, thrive and bear abundant fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control.

The Alpha of Dealing with Doubt

UV2990/10000 The Alpha of Dealing with Doubt
Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done
Matthew 21 v 21

Faith starts as a small seed that is not very visible. The seed dies to itself and lives for the one who planted it and throws down roots that are not visible. Likewise, when we die to ourselves and live for the Lord, our Planter, the Alpha of faith or the root grows downward and becomes stronger and stronger but remains invisible to the human eye. Nothing stands in the way of the root. It pushes aside doubt like the root pushes aside stones or gravel to dig deeper and deeper into the soil. When the tree is full grown and bears the fruit of love and hope, the Omega of faith or the comprehensive and visible aspects and impact of faith are made visible to humanity.
We need to be hundred per cent certain, sincere and earnest of what and who we believe in. Being strong in faith implies that we do not consider the natural impediments or constraints even as Abraham did not consider that he and Sarah were too aged to bear a child, that the reproductive potential of their aged bodies was nil. They did not stagger at God’s promise out of doubt or unbelief but took the Lord at His word. We too should not hesitate or waver out of doubt in matters of our faith for if we do so we would be like the waves that are tossed about in all directions by the wind- a metaphor for the world. Our hearts and minds should be focussed, expectant, thankful and filled with awe and belief at the glory or greatness of God.
Faith bereft of doubt will enable us either to cross the mountain or solve the big problems and issues of life or tunnel through it or go around or under it. We can also command in the spirit and in faith and with God-given authority for the problem either not to appear or to disappear or fade away. We need to deal firmly and decisively with doubt even as Jesus rebuked satan by saying, “Get thee behind me. “ We need to put doubt regarding the existence of God, the power of God, the character of God, the grace of God behind us even as we advance towards Him and the kingdom of God. We need to believe as we pray, as we declare the truths of God that we have already received in the spirit or the fourth dimension that which we asked and we will receive in due course in the three dimensional natural world

The Alpha of Dominion

UV 2989 / 10000 The Alpha of Dominion
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Genesis 1 v 26

Dominion means leadership. God made man in His image or in His likeness with the mental, moral and social capacity for leadership of all other species. Like God, we can think, plan, create, communicate, judge, desire righteousness, know right from wrong. He placed everything else under the feet of man but man alone He placed directly under His own leadership. Since Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God, human beings are created in the image of Jesus. Therefore, our highest aspiration is to be or become as close as possible to the character of Jesus. Just as all other species are placed under the dominion of man, all mankind is placed under the dominion or leadership of Jesus. Just as all other species are tamed by man, our powerful organs and parts of life that are made in the likeness of God- our intellect, our tongues, our spirits, our attitudes, our talents and gifts are tamed, trained and used by Him. No one else in all of history fills this space as adequately as Jesus then as now. He is the prototype or model. We too are expected to be types of Christ even as Abel, Moses, Joseph, the apostles were types of Christ who either preceded Jesus on earth or followed after Him. Love is the essence of godly or Christ –like dominion or leadership. When we resist the dominion or leadership of God in our lives, we are kicking the thorns or in other words, hurting ourselves needlessly and pointlessly. When we yield to the leadership of God in our lives, we are uplifted, edified, ennobled, enabled, equipped, empowered. The Spirit of God dominates or rules over our thoughts, emotions, actions and reactions. We have the inner strength to endure great trials, difficulties, challenges and tests in this life.

Knowing what is right from wrong in the eyes of God and consistently seeking what is right is the trait of good and godly leaders. Dominion is to be first sought over one’s own self before we can lead or rule others. Dominion or power or influence is not sought for its own sake as the world’s leaders do but in order to pursue what is right and to avoid what is perceivably wrong. Great power and influence is released from the hands of the Lord onto, into and through the godly leader. He can command the elements of nature even as God can. His words have immense creative power. He has dominion over his own emotions, desires and motives. He voluntarily surrenders the dominion of his life either to the enemy of our souls or to the Lord God.
Jesus demonstrated through His own leadership style that dominion is not for abuse, exploitation or domination but to serve, to heal, to teach, to uplift, to encourage, to exhort, to warn, to build, to develop, to set free, to equip and to enable. All of our power, our gifts, our faculties, our talents, our opportunities, our resources are to be used likewise to serve God and people. Our power over nature is to be also used with a sense of responsibility and restraint.

The Alpha of Delight

UV 2988/10000 The Alpha of Delight
The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
Psalm 147 v 11

We are created not for our own pleasure as most of us naturally think and behave but for the pleasure or delight of the Lord, the Creator of the universe and the Giver of life and all good and perfect gifts in the natural and the supernatural. The key to finding our own pleasure or happiness does not lie in pursuit of our own happiness but in the pursuit of what pleases or delights the Lord. Instead of playing hide and seek with God like Adam and Eve did first and all mankind thereafter, the secret of human happiness lies in hiding in the Lord and seeking our pleasure in whatever pleases Him. This is the Alpha or root of happiness.
The Lord does not delight in either the possession of power or its exhibition but in people who fear Him and trust in His merciful nature. He delights in people who love His Son Jesus. He delights in people who delight in His Word, His commandments, precepts, examples and promises. He does not take pleasure in the strength of horses or of muscular men but in the humble and God fearing. He takes pleasure in the lives of those who lead their lives with a heart of integrity. He takes pleasure in those who value wisdom over knowledge, goodness over power, truth over falsehood, justice over oppression, mercy over truth and His will over our own wills.
The Lord delights in the extent our faith manifests in the shape of love and the fruit of the spirit or character of God in us. The more He finds pleasure in us, the more blessed and rewarded we are for we flourish in His grace. He delights in the prosperity or Shalom of His people as parents delight in the well being of their children. He delights in us when we give top priority to the Lord and the kingdom of God in our lives. He does not want us like a monk to blot out all other people and desires from our lives and hearts but He delights in giving us or fulfilling our hearts’ desires. He delights in our zeal for Him and rejoices in our conversations about Him. He delights when we reflect His qualities, attributes and attiitudes in our relationships and situations of life. He delights in us even when we mess up and seek His pardon without attempting to hide it from Him.

The Alpha of Discernment

UV 2987 /10000 The Alpha of Discretion
Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
Proverbs 2 v 11

Gaining a heart of wisdom should be a priority of our lives. For when we learn to be consistently wise, we will not say or do anything that will either embarrass us or cause antagonism or harm us in any way. Discretion that comes from a heart of wisdom is a life preserver. For our own tongues can cut off our career, our prospects, our future, our relationships. But if the ceaseless tongue has a word of wisdom on it always as a rudder, it will pass every word through several filters before uttering a word.

Discretion has a lot to do with discernment- the ability to judge well. We need to weigh our decisions and words and actions in the scales that the Lord has provided us in the form of His Word. Using our knowledge and experience so far to gain understanding gives us a discerning mind, spirit and heart. Scripture talks of discerning the times as well as discerning the spirits. We need to judge well if it is the apt time for a particular decision, action or word as well as we should be able to judge wisely the attitudes and values of the persons we are dealing with. The Holy Spirit also gives us wise counsel by whispering gently in our inner ears but we should be sensitive and responsive enough to hear Him and obey promptly.

Discretion is needed in the conduct of all human affairs. Scripture promises that if any of us lack wisdom, we should ask the Lord and He will give it generously. Wisdom or discretion then is a grace or gift from the Lord God. Being strongly anchored or rooted in the Alpha and Omega of discretion – Christ Jesus is key to our access to godly wisdom. When we receive Jesus who is synonymous with godly wisdom into our hearts and lives, the Alpha or good root is planted in us. We then need to diligently study the Word which again is synonymous with Jesus so the root or Alpha of discretion grows in us and envelops or influences all of our lives- the Omega. Discernment will keep us from evil, from harm and the displeasure of the Lord. It cures our flesh of its inherent hubris or weakness.

The Alpha of Deliverance

UV2986/10000 The Alpha of Deliverance
The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
Psalm 34 v 17
The believers who are righteous by faith not by deeds, by grace not works are more subject to all kinds of afflictions in the course of their life time. But each affliction brings them closer to the Lord as they cry out to the Lord with broken hearts. It becomes an opportunity for the Lord to pour in His grace and mercy and power and to give a revelation of His deep love and great power. The early apostles faced much trouble especially in terms of persecution. On one occasion, when Peter was imprisoned and held with two chains and as he slept between two guards, the Lord sent his angel to deliver him. The Lord was responding to the incessant prayer of the believers in the city. Paul was likewise afflicted in many ways but the Lord delivered him from prison, from ship wreck, from the venom of a poisonous snake, from being stoned, from torture at the hands of the Roman soldiers.

The means the Lord uses to deliver us from our troubles can be either natural or supernatural as cited in the instance above of Peter. Jesus could heal the centurion’s servant without visiting his house by merely speaking the word of healing. People could be healed by just His touch. When the hungry had to be fed , He just blessed and multiplied the available resources. When we face a financial or business crisis, He blesses our available resources or makes possible a miraculous turnaround. Sometimes, He delivers us from physical danger like accidents without even our knowledge or awareness. He delivers us from diseases either by miraculous healing or a natural process of medical healing or a combination of both. As such afflictions or troubles come our way not as a punishment but to reveal the wonderful works of the Lord.

The Lord delivers us from ALL of our troubles not just some of them. In many cases, He hears us even before or while we are praying for He knows all things affecting us. He does not willingly put us through such pain. But human nature is so fickle and superficial that we do need a deeper appreciation of the love of the Lord which we experience in times of trouble. For instance, when I lost my sleep due to a stomach upset, only then do I realize that sleep and good health are such great gifts of grace that nothing we do can earn or buy. When I am unjustly attacked or accused by rivals or foes, then I realize the amazing care and protection of the Lord.

The Alpha of the Divine Nature- or DNA

Uv2985 /10000 The Alpha of the Divine Nature or DNA
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
I John 3 v 3

Jesus is the first in history who taught us through the Lord’s prayer to call Almighty God as “our Father.” He is emphasising that our relationship with the Father that He has introduced us to is the most important or significant matter in the whole universe. Just as a child resembles the father or parent, we too need to resemble the Father in our nature or character. The highest form of empowerment is to be called a child of God. Jesus gave us this right and privilege to be the children of God and not just be called so. He being the first born and we are declared His brothers and sisters, heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus, we are to assimilate the DNA of Jesus or the divine nature of Jesus. Since we have the hope of being like Jesus when we meet Him face to face in eternity, we should purify ourselves of the dross of this world. We are to purify our motives, our speech, our actions and reactions.

It is said that faith can change even our physical DNA. The Lord renews our youth and enables us to run and not grow tired. Our physical DNA, our emotional DNA, our spiritual DNA should resemble the divine nature of Jesus, who being God became flesh and blood like any of us. Many impurities have crept into our lives as we conformed to the pattern of the world. We need to renew the image of Christ in us. We need to discard or eject from our lives the things that do not resemble the character of Christ. Our relationship with the Father through Jesus, the Mediator and the Holy Spirit, the Communicator defines all other aspects of our practical every day lives. As Jesus is merciful, we too need to be increasingly merciful in our transactions with other human beings. As Jesus is wise and gracious, we too need to be increasingly wise and gracious. As Jesus is loving and compassionate, we too need to be growing into more and more love and compassion. As Jesus is humble and gentle, we too need to learn from Him and increase in humility and gentleness.


The fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control tally more or less with the nine attitudes described by Jesus in the beatitudes or the Sermon on the Mount contained in Matthew chapter 5. We are to increasingly develop these attitudes and attributes of Jesus. We are to reflect the seven fold spirit of God described in Isaiah chapter 9- the spirit of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, the spirit of counsel and might and the fear of the Lord. Concomitantly with our attitudes and attributes, we are to grow in wisdom, in stature and in favour with God and man as Jesus grew. Our diligence and application can accelerate the pace of our conformity with Jesus. The constancy of faith reflected in persistent prayer and our further augmenting our faith by studying, meditating, obeying and claiming scripture will add to the pace and efficacy of the process of purification of our faith, love and hope.

The Alpha of Diligence

UV2984 /10000 The Alpha of Diligence
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Proverbs 4 v 23

The word “diligence” means to be careful and persistent. The uni-verse encourages us to keep our hearts with all diligence. We need to carefully examine our own hearts in the light of the Word to remove what is harmful or deceitful and to instil therein what is healthy and wholesome. The root or Alpha of all issues of life begin in the human heart. Our motives, our desires, our attitudes, our values, our goals- all have their root in the human heart. The Word acts as a plumb line to justify or straighten our inmost being. We can also ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate the dark corners or aspects of our hearts so that we deal effectively to root it out.
We need to lay bare our hearts before the Lord in our prayers of confession. When we seek His help to overcome some issue that we have been struggling with all our lives, He will surely give us grace to resist, defeat, end these habitual tendencies. All crimes, all conflicts, all misery has its source in the human heart. If the battle is fought and won in the heart, then our lives, our relationships, our communication will improve in many ways. Meditating on scripture and the models in scripture especially the life and teachings of Jesus would have certainly a salutary effect on our hearts. We need to study diligently our patterns of speech, our patterns of interaction with others including our near and dear ones, our pattern of relationships with seniors, juniors and colleagues as well as strangers. Our diligent study should lead us to change for the better whatever the Spirit of God points out to us.
Desires and emotions are interlocked in the human heart. A desire that is illegitimate in the eyes of the Lord manifests in different forms of lust. Pride and anger or arrogance are also interrelated. Our disappointments, regrets and negative experiences in life often give rise to the root of bitterness in our hearts preventing us from being fruitful. We need to be diligent in adding to our faith, a Christ-like consistency of character and conduct, knowledge of the world and the word, patience and perseverance in facing difficulties, challenges and problems of life. It requires diligence to keep renewing our minds so that our thoughts, emotions, decisions and actions are in alignment with the will of the Lord as revealed in His word. Apart from a moral diligence, we also need to be diligent in our workplace so that we excel in whatever we are doing.

The Alpha of the Power of Declaration

UV 2983/10000 The Alpha of the Power of Declaration
The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things
John 4 v 25

Jehovah declared to Moses His identity- “ I AM WHO I AM.” Jesus, the Son of God declared in seven “I Am “ statements that “ I am the True Vine,” “I am the Bread of Life”,” I Am the Truth, the Way and the Life”, “ I am the Good Shepherd”, “ I am the door of the sheep”, “I am the resurrection and the life” and “ I am the light of the world.” In these seven declarations, Jesus meets our personal needs. The True Vine declaration of Jesus implies that He gives us the true connection with God, that in being grafted onto this True Vine we will both grow and bear abundant fruit. We need to claim this promise by declaring to ourselves, “Jesus is my True Vine.” When we declare, Jesus is the Bread of my life, He promises to meet our physical, intellectual, spiritual, social and emotional needs. When we declare that He is the Truth, the Way and the Life, Jesus reveals the truth, the way to live and the mystery of life beyond this world. In short, the seven declarations of Jesus covers the Alpha to Omega needs, situations, desires, challenges of our lives. As the woman at the well testified of Him, He has told us all things we need to hear.

When we declare that Jesus is “My Good Shepherd, He guides us, He feeds us, He leads us, He protects us, He saves us as a shepherd protects the sheep from predators. When we declare that Jesus is the door of our lives, we do not enter anything without first seeking His approval. When we declare that He is my resurrection and my life, we are affirming our hope of eternal life as well as the strength of my current life. When we declare that Jesus is the light of our world, we are stating that we draw our knowledge, wisdom, grace, inspiration, energy, purpose to live from Him.

The power of declaration or decree is the power of kings. It is spoken with confidence and authority such that everyone who hears it or hears of it are compelled to execute or carry it out. It sets in motion a series of events and circumstances that will culminate in the fulfilment of the objective of the declaration. When we declare the seven “I Am “ statements of Jesus and personalise it, we are releasing His kingdom power in this world and in our lives. We can declare it to ourselves daily and regularly. We can declare it appropriately to others in different circumstances of life. Every day and indeed, every hour we have a specific and different need- according to the need of the hour or day, we should declare the personalised declarations of Jesus. If we have a financial need, we declare, Jesus is My Bread of Life. If we are in a state of fear or in need of guidance, we declare, "Jesus is my Good Shepherd," if desirous of growth and fruitfulness, "He is my True Vine." If looking out for opportunities, we declare, "He is my Door of Opportunity and He will open the right door for me." When we declare in faith, we are sowing the seed of truth in the soil and soul of need. What is sown as tiny as a mustard seed in this manner has the potential of growing into a great and strong and fruitful tree.

The Alpha of Decision Making

UV2982 /10000 The Alpha of Decision Making
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Genesis 4 v 7

If we believe the Lord and take decisions to please Him, we will be accepted by Him. But, if we instead listen to the enemy of our souls and his subtle suggestions, we make ourselves and our decisions unacceptable. The latter wants to conquer our hearts and minds and become master of our every decision and action but we should not let him in. The uni-verse above states that every moment the enemy , the author of sin is crouching at the door of our hearts. At the same time, the Lord and Giver of life, the author of faith is also standing at the door and knocking. Instead of inviting the One who is standing at the door, we should not bend down to invite the one who is crouching at the door. We miss seeing the Lord if we are looking in the wrong direction towards the floor and not right ahead of us. If we consistently listen to the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit and act in accordance, we keep the father of lies at a distance and live in communion and close fellowship of the Father of our lives, the Father of our spirits who breathed the spirit into us at the beginning of time. When we listen and abide by the words of Jesus, we excel in everything we do. The Saviour will also be Lord of our lives. He knows what is best for us and will both counsel and guide our steps, our decision making.
The book of Proverbs also asks us to surround us with a multitude of wise advisers before taking any decision. Their experience and expertise will help us avoid the pitfalls, mistakes or blunders that we would be prone to make otherwise. We gain a different perspective from each adviser and the inputs they give us will help us make a timely, wise and balanced decision. The advisers chosen must be people with enough knowledge or experience in the domain in which we are to take the decision. For instance, to build a house that will weather storms in a coastal area, we need to consult a structural engineer and architect who has worked on such buildings in coastal areas.
If the decision made is in alignment with the perfect or pleasing will of the Lord, not contrary to conscience, the law of the land and not encroaching on the well being of another person, the decision maker will have the peace that is beyond rational explanation or understanding. The soul of the person will be at peace with God and self and others. He will experience the continuing counsel, guidance and encouragement of the Lord, receive a confirmation from the Word that he is heading in the right direction. Sometimes, if we are still confused, we should seek a sign from the Lord to confirm if we are on the right track even as Gideon used the flax wool test with success. We should never take a decision when we are angry, over excited, emotional but wait for our emotions to cool down and view the matter more dispassionately and objectively, relying of course on the intuition that faith provides us. Cain decided not only not to be his brother’s keeper but to become his brother’s life taker on account of his anger and resentment that was fed by his jealousy. He did not examine his own motives or the reason why he was unduly upset with Abel, his brother. Abel in contrast was focussed on pleasing the Lord and was whole-hearted in his devotion. Once a decision is made, we should follow through despite any kind of obstacles or temporary setbacks with well thought out actions planned and intended to implement the decision taken.

The Alpha of Dealing with Death

UV 2980/10000 The Alpha of Dealing with Death
For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling

Psalm 116 v 8


Death is the scourge of mankind. It nullifies all the personal, individual and collective aspirations and achievements, rendering all that we seek on earth vain or empty and futile. Jesus by embracing death and overcoming it by His resurrection is the first and only one to give mankind hope of eternal life beyond death and the grave. Our faith in Him and His saving grace delivers our souls from death as nothing else and no one else can. When Jesus defined Himself as the Way, the Truth and the Life, He is stating that He is the way to deliverance from death, the way to eternal life and salvation. He is the way to learn all of the truth of life and death and eternity. While on earth, He delivers our eyes from tears or sorrows and gives us counsel and wisdom to keep our feet from stumbling.


When Jesus asked the rhetorical question- what does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul, He is offering Himself as the sole answer: if one gains Jesus, we have nothing to lose and we are declared winners, more than conquerors for we are given victory over death and victors in life. Jesus destroyed the power of death to harm, to terrify, to sadden humanity. In so doing, St Paul wrote that He removed the sting of death. Death is now only a pause, a comma mark in the punctuation of life. It is a transition, a necessary passage to a better world, the eternal realm of the kingdom of God where no sorrow exists and perfection exists. It is this living hope and confidence that enables martyrs to die with a smile and a song of praise and victory.


Jesus often referred to the dead whom He resurrected as merely sleeping for instance, the young girl to whom He said, “Tabitha, awaken. “ From His perspective, death or the first death is just the equivalent of sleeping. We too each night do a rehearsal for death when we go to sleep. It is a nightly reminder to prepare for our first death or physical death from which we wake up on the other side of eternity. Jesus came to deliver people from the more serious eternal or second death which is continual, terrible and forever. In raising many from the first death, Jesus revealed that He had authority to deliver people from the second death. He Himself tasted the first death on the cross for the sake of everyone, starting with the thief on the cross who reposed His faith in Him by calling Him sinless. It is this hope and confidence that death cannot hurt us in any way that forms the root or Alpha in our hearts and enables us to go out and boldly face life and the world in all its aspects. Like the deadly venom of a snake once removed is useful and only remedy to counter death by snake bite, the lethality of death is removed and now offered as a solution to the ills of this world in the power of the gospel.

The Alpha of Charisma

UV 2979/10000 The Alpha of Charisma

Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
2 Timothy 1 v 6


Charisma is not a physical attribute of a person but it is the anointing that flows through the human being when the Holy Spirit comes upon him. It might manifest in some supernatural gifts like visions, dreams, healing, deliverance, a word of knowledge or of wisdom, speaking in unknown tongues as well as a strange heavenly language. When the early apostles merely laid their hands upon people, charisma flowed from their hands onto those they prayed for and imparted a supernatural gift. But this gift needs to be put to use, developed or stirred up to its full potential.

The Father breathed into the first man He created. It is also written that He breathed scripture. He did not speak or write scripture but breathed it. It implies that scripture contains the life of the Triune God. He drew deep from within His Being to breathe scripture into the nostrils of man. We too draw on the same source of charisma when we breathe in the breath of God- the Holy Spirit and the Word. We receive an anointing of our flesh and blood and bone. Charisma begins to flow from deep within our being. The presence of the Great I am is ushered into our inmost being. The Alpha of life takes root deep within our souls and manifests as Omega or in 360 degrees, 365 days into 7x24 hours.
Charisma enables us to do the things Jesus would do routinely- bless people by just touching them, praying for blessing and seeing that which is so blessed- multiply, healing the sick, making whole the withered and diseased, causing the spiritually dead to come alive in Christ, speaking a word that is prophetic, speaking counsel that is apt and wise, solving problems wherever we go instead of creating them. If we do not use the gifts of the Spirit we lose them. We are exhorted in the uni-verse above to fan to full flame not only our faith but the spiritual gifts that we receive from the Lord.

The Alpha of Being Child-like

UV 2978/10000 The Alpha of Being Child-like
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein
Mark 10 v 15

A child-like faith is essential to believe and to enter the kingdom of God. The child trusts unquestioningly the words of the parent up to a certain age when his or her innocence ends. Adam and Eve’s innocence ended when they realized that both good and evil existed in the world. Our innocence in the eyes of God is restored when we receive the message of the second Adam- Jesus into our hearts. Our belief in the promises of God does not require us to ask for proof or evidence before we so believe and trust. In this sense, it is a kind of blind faith- the kind of blindness that comes from seeing the bright light of truth as Saul on the road to Damascus beheld the vision of Jesus and fell blinded to his feet. His spiritual eyes were opened even as his physical eyes were blinded. No longer did he hold onto his conditioned beliefs in the superiority of the Jewish faith that filled him with zeal and anger at the followers of Jesus that he wanted them killed and destroyed. Saul, the man of hardened heart had become Paul, the one with a child-like faith and gentle manners.

When we become child-like the source of our confidence and self esteem is not our own strength and accomplishments but the belief that we have a big and strong Father or Dad. While formerly, we had a bad dad in the enemy of our souls, now we have a good Dad. Our bloated egos get deflated as it is no longer reliant on who we are but whose we are. St Paul no longer saw or defined himself as a defender of the Jewish faith but as a servant of God. He had no aspiration for greatness like a child. He only sought to do the pleasing will of the Lord. He saw himself as the worst of sinners and defined himself as “ I am what I am but by the grace of God. “ Being child-like also means a willingness to re-learn all that one lives by. To give up our former ego, former pride, former covetousness, former lusts implies that one has to become a learner or a complete child once again. To be child-like is to not attempt to limit God with our reasoning, our experience or our knowledge. Being child-like is to experience the sense of awe and wonder at all that the Lord has done and is doing in our lives and in the world around. To have a spiritual curiousity that spurs our growth in understanding, experiencing and manifesting the grace and love of Christ. Being child-like is not the same as being childish. It is not opting out of the race for maturity and wisdom. It is an acknowledgement that our knowledge is never going to be complete, that we can mess up and yet find grace in the Father’s embrace to be more blessed for it.

Receiving the kingdom of God implies that the ‘word view’ becomes our world view. We see everything and attempt to understand everything through the lens of the scriptures. Often it requires us to suspend our disbelief and believe contrary to what we have been taught or understood this far. We should like Peter be willing to give up our past prejudices and biases. To be willing to take risks at the command of the Lord even as Peter tried to walk on water when Jesus beckoned him to come. Being child-like requires us to be dependent on the Lord and His grace all our lives and not try to branch out like the independent minded prodigal son to seek his fortune much to his own chagrin later in life. To commit to lifelong learning implies one needs to learn from the positive and negative experiences the Lord allows us to go through and as we go, we grow.

The Alpha of Communication

Uv2977/10000 The Alpha of Communication
Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
Colossians 4 v 6
The Lord God gives a lot of priority or importance to wholesome communication for He brought into being all of creation by His word. The single most important cause of human joy as well as misery is speech. Like the prophet Isaiah confessed, “ We are people of unclean lips.” We need a divine teaching, divine touching and training in righteous speech for our lips are naturally prone to lies, prone to using negative words, prone to foul language, prone to boastfulness and conceit, prone to give expression to anger, insults, retorts. Like a bit is used to control a powerful horse and make it go in the direction and speed the rider wants, so also we need to put the Word as a bit in our mouths to make our powerful but uncontrollable tongues take our lives in the right direction and pace. We need to train our tongues to take the negativity or power of death out of our mouths, tongues, hearts and lives and to be covered with positivity or the power of life. When I was in primary school, the class teacher would literally produce a soap for a student to wash his mouth if he happened to use a bad word or profanity or curse. We should constantly and daily wash our tongues with the Word and its alpha power or the power of God would be released to cleanse and make our mouths and tongues and vocal chords to act in unison with our hearts and minds to be agents of encouragement, edification, healing, deliverance and wisdom.

A young dance trainer came to invite me recently for a classical dance recital by her students. When I asked her the duration and process of the training her students went through, she replied that they first learn the alphabets of dancing- the various basics, gestures and movements before they master the nuances of language or dance proper. Likewise, on every aspect of life, the Word of God contains the alphabet or basics of that aspect. For instance, on communication, there are more than forty verses in scripture which includes admonitions, exhortations, models, guidelines, precepts, principles, promises, proverbs. When we refer to the Alpha of communication, we are speaking of the essence of these forty verses on good communication vide scripture.

In the above uni-verse, it asks us to ensure that our speech is _always_ gracious. Not sometimes or often but always. How do we do it? By training in righteous speech with the aid of the Word of God. The Word is the salt that makes our words tasty or gracious. The Word is the salt that enables us to use our words to preserve and promote peace and goodwill among men. The Word disinfects our tongues and speech of all that contaminates our lives. Our learning the alphabet of communication from the Word will enable us to apply the language of grace in all situations at all times or Omega- the completion or mastery of communication.

The Alpha of Dealing with Criticism

UV2966/10000 The Alpha of Dealing with Criticism
Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
Psalm 64 v 3

The human tongue is like a sword. The Word is also a sword. But the former is a life-taking sword if it is used only to criticise, demean, insult others, speak lies and abuse others. The latter is a life-giving sword. People sharpen their tongues with their intellect, their wits in order to use their tongues like a deadly sword. The untamed tongue is also a bow from which words are shot like arrows to hurt the hearts of others. The way to tame our tongues is to use the life-giving sword, the Alpha of the Word to blunt the rough edges of our tongues and make it smooth and powerful in building people up instead of pulling them down.

But how do we deal with people with untamed tongues? Do we turn a deaf ear to them or do we refuse to engage with such critical people? If there is an element of truth in the arrows they fire at us, we can learn from it. We can extract from their words whatever we find good, useful, constructive in their words even if the intent is to hurt or insult or humiliate us. We need to also discern the spirit or purpose behind the words. We need to be confident in our faith in the promise of the Lord that no tongue can stand in judgement against us. Since we are servants of the Lord and we make our tongues and limbs and minds to serve the Lord, we are subject only to the judgement of the Lord. Having said that, we can take feedback from the words of others to us.

We can emulate the example of Jesus. He faced criticism from the authorities of the day, criticism from the religious leaders of the day, criticism from common people and even from His own followers. But He faced it all with grace and answering all the critical questions and comments of different people with equanimity and even love. He did speak some hard words against the Pharisees. We too should not slink away from being truthful and speaking it when the situation warranted it. St James taught that the human tongue is naturally untameable. But with the grace of Jesus and the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit to tame our tongues so that we are neither hypocritical nor hyper critical. Our tongues according to St James is a rudder of our lives. Like a rudder, we need to balance our tongues so that we are neither sugar coating and glossing over the truth in order to be popular or to stay out of trouble with people or are we going around like a sharp open razor cutting people with whom we interact. A good way to avoid being over sensitive to the words of criticism or negative words of others and over critical on our part is to run the words we hear as well as the words we speak through several filters of questions like – is it true, is it necessary, is it timely or the right occasion, does it please the Lord, is it helpful or harmful to us, to others or to our relationships and prospects? These filters act as safety catches on our word-emotion triggers that work in us either as listeners or as speakers.

The Alpha of Dealing with Curses

UV 2965/10000 The Alpha of Dealing with Curses

However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord, your God loves you.

Deuteronomy 23 v 5

Just as God turned the cross on which Jesus was crucified into a source of redemption and salvation of all mankind so that instead of death smiling on us, we can smile on death, so also the Lord God has turned our curses into blessings, our weaknesses into strengths, our sorrows into joys, our failures into success. He turns our mourning into joy as written by the Psalmist David. Our ‘”hamartia” or tragic shortcomings are turned into “hyperbole” or the abundance of blessing of the Lord that comes out of His heart overflowing with love towards His own who believe and acknowledge Him in all their ways, from Alpha to the Omega of their lives.

Curses are the natural consequence of sin. Death, disease and decay became inevitable in the course of nature and human life. Christ turned our sin into “win” on the cross. He was judged by Pilate under Roman law and the Israelites under Hebraic law, the law of Moses as a blasphemer deserving of vilest form of cruelty-nailed and hung till death on two wooden pieces. He who is the source of all blessing was deemed a curse on behalf of all mankind, the consequences of all our sinful deeds and words rested on Him. Jesus by His resurrection negated judgement on all mankind who chose to believe in this act of redemption. He negated all curses for all time to come.

The negativities that assail us in our lives are often necessary to realize and experience the positivity of God’s love. In place of our sin and curses, God pours in His grace even as the Good Samaritan poured in the oil and the wine onto the wounds of the victim of wayside robbery. Likewise, while we are on the way in our journey of life, we encounter many setbacks. The Lord enables us to bounce back from these setbacks with a new sense of the reality of His love towards us. When our adversaries curse us in their hearts or openly, the Lord takes those curses and turns it into blessings as Balaam’s curses on Israel were turned into blessings. Even generational curses like childlessness, a particular hereditary disease, indebtedness, divorce happening in succeeding generations etc that come from our ancestors due to certain choices or deeds or commitments made knowingly or unwittingly by them have no power over us. The Alpha or Word of God and the redemptive power of the shed blood of Jesus breaks the power of these generational curses once we claim this promise of God contained in this uni-verse.

The Alpha of Conduct

UV 2964/10000 The Alpha of Conduct

Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel
Philippians 1 v 27

The word conversation in the uni-verse above is translated in modern versions of the Bible as “conduct.” Our conduct should be worthy of the good news that Jesus took away our sin and made us blemishless in the sight of God. Since we have so received the grace of God, we should reflect the grace of God in our speech and in our conduct. Since we are united in spirit into one body, the body cannot have more than one heart or one mind. We are to reflect the heart and mind of Christ in our daily lives. This is our reciprocal sacrifice back to Christ to offer our lives as a sacrifice that pleases Him. Our witness for Him therefore is not just verbal but non- verbal, too. Our thoughts, words and actions as well as reactions need to be pleasing to the Lord.

Once we have received the Alpha or the good root of faith in Christ our Saviour and Lord into our hearts, it should affect all aspects of our lives- or our Omega- 360 degrees of our conduct and all of our affairs. When people see us approaching, they should not say to themselves based on past experience, “Here comes bad news” , but instead they should think, “Here comes good news.” Here comes someone who has peace with God, peace with others and peace with self. Here comes someone who has faith in his heart, love in his actions and words and hope in his mind. As messengers of good news, our conduct should be a reflection of the love, grace and wisdom of Jesus just as a postman has to don the uniform of his department to be identified as one authorised to deliver important messages to everyone.

Our motives need to be pure. Our words should be run through several filters before we utter these. Our actions and reactions should not shame or hurt Jesus or the Holy Spirit in any way. If we follow the principles taught by Jesus in our daily conduct, people who are watching or listening to us will see a consistency in our lives. They will know that while it can be predicted that we would not engage with what is evil, the good that we do and can do is not exactly predictable. They will know that our behaviour is not accidental or sheer chance but produced by the churning of the Holy Spirit and the Word in our lives. They will know that our commitment to God rules our horizontal relationships with man.

The Alpha of Celebration

UV 2963/10000 The Alpha of Celebration
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found
Luke 15 v 32

The sacrifices under the Old Covenant are the foreshadow of the greatest sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that obviated the need for further sacrifices. The festivals of the Old Covenant like the Festival of Passover or of the Tabernacles are the foreshadow of the ongoing celebration in the life of the one who has been made alive spiritually by and in Christ Jesus. No further are we to clothe ourselves in ashes and sackcloth or mourn our dead past but live in the fullness and abundance of the life now provided to us by the grace and mercy of the Lord. In short, we are to be glad and celebrate like the father of the prodigal who had mourned his lost son for years but the moment he saw him return, he knew it was time to be glad and to celebrate again. To celebrate means to be glad internally for some reason, to share the joy with others, to manifest it in some physical way like singing, dancing, dining, laughing.


Jesus feasted often as per the record of the four gospels. He ended His earthly sojourn also appropriately with the Last Supper in the upper room with the disciples. We too are to celebrate the abundance of His love and mercy. We are to be glad in His presence every day of our lives hereafter. We are to offer praise and thanksgiving from our hearts to the Lord for so amazing a free gift as salvation or eternal life in Christ. We are to sing or hum along, if you like me are a poor singer, songs of praise. We are to invite guests to our homes and host dinners and meetings to celebrate the goodness of the Lord towards us. We are to share our blessings with others in terms of gifts to the poor, charity to the needy among us. We are to celebrate not just birthdays and anniversaries but every day, every happy occasion, every occasion we remember a great deliverance of the Lord as I remember how the Lord delivered me from two near death experiences. In so doing, we are setting up joyful milestones or fiestas or happy memorials all along our journey of life or what remains of it. We can set up our own personal or family festivals. The concept of a personal festival is that every day, we can ask ourselves- what do I want to celebrate today for the Lord? The Holy Spirit will give the answer- celebrate His wisdom, or celebrate His love, celebrate His grace towards you, celebrate His mercy, celebrate His peace, celebrate His gentleness, celebrate His faithfulness, celebrate His truthfulness.
As Christ has wiped every tear and removed every fear from our lives, we are to look on our new lives as a continual celebration. We are no longer to perceive life as either half full or half empty but to perceive that we are living in the overflow of His love, goodness and mercy. Every day we can find some new reason and way to celebrate a new mercy of the Lord towards us, a new sign of His goodness, a new experience or revelation of His grace. We are not to be bored and listless but full of gladness and everlasting joy. Our gladness is due to our current state of blessedness in the presence of the Lord while our everlasting joy is born out of our sure hope of eternal life in Christ.

The Alpha of Courage

UV 2962/10000 The Alpha of Courage
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Deuteronomy 31 v 6

Even if our strength fails us, if our courage remains we can emerge from any situation victorious. Courage, going by its etymology, comes from the root “couer”, the French word for heart. It is the strength of heart. If the strength of a person is the bow, the string with which every arrow of intention and action is released is our courage. Ours is a faith-inspired courage. It is a Christ-inspired courage. If Christ could conquer the weakness of human flesh with His strength and courage, we too can be conquerors in the realm of the spirit. We draw our courage from the fact that the Lord our God is present with us, that He will go with us wherever we go, that He will never fail us or forsake us.

We have courage as the Lord has spoken the word or Alpha to us to remove the bad root of fear and replace it with the good root of faith and courage. The Lord asks us not to fear not because there is nothing to fear in this life or the next but as He is with us. He will help us deal victoriously with every fear, every threat, every enemy, every foe, every risk and danger. Our courage is not based on our physical, intellectual, emotional or spiritual strength but on our relationship with the Lord. Yes, there are formidable enemies that cannot be wished away, there is the threat of perishing at their hands. There is a threat of failure, the threat of defeat, the threat of death, of loss, of shame, of pain. Even conquerors will shrink at the thought of their own deaths but Christ has made us more than conquerors. He has tasted death so that we will fear death no more. He heals His followers and the faithful of all types of afflictions.

It is clear that what we are talking about here is not mere physical courage- the courage to face physical threats and dangers that a fireman or a policeman or a soldier exhibits by virtue of their profession and training. It is not intellectual courage – the courage to speak the truth, to write what might offend the powerful- the courage characteristic of writers, activists, reformers. It is spiritual courage to remain undaunted in the face of all types of odds against us in life. Spiritual courage comes from strengthening oneself by feeding on the good root of the Word. It comes from hours spent in fervent prayer. It comes from remembering all the previous occasions, the Lord has helped us deal with our various fears and threats. Daniel and his three companions in exile in ancient Babylon exhibited such spiritual courage. Joseph is another model of spiritual courage even as David faced the challenge of Goliath boldly. The disciples who were initially terrified after the death of Jesus were also transformed to be bold apostles for the resurrected Christ.

The Alpha of Citizenship

UV 2961/10000 The Alpha of Citizenship
And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born
Acts 22 v 28
Roman citizenship could be obtained either by payment of a large sum of money or by virtue of birth. Paul was a Roman citizen by birth while the commander who had him chained had paid a large sum to obtain citizenship or the status of being a free man with all rights and the duty to fulfil all obligations of a citizen. Likewise, Christ had paid a huge price for our citizenship of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. We are no longer bond men but citizens by re-birth of faith. We now enjoy the privilege of fellowship with the Almighty and Triune God. We can live in the overflow of His love, power and grace. Christ has tasted death for every man who believes and set us free from the chains of sin, guilt, death and judgement. Being conscious of the huge price paid by Christ for our freedom and citizenship of heaven makes us responsible and grateful.

All humans are born in the chains of sin, death, disease, curses but the Lord Jesus as the Commander –in-chief of our lives has ordered us to be set free. We are citizens of heaven and strangers and pilgrims in this world. We obey a higher law- the law of Jesus summed up in the two greatest commands in which inhere all the laws and tenets of Moses. The laws of the Lord are written in our hearts and minds. We are possessed of a different spirit- the spirit of excellence. We are dead to the world and its lusts. The joy of the Lord or that which He delights in is our chief joy and source of strength and power. Our belief in Christ re-orients every aspect of our lives, the very purpose of our existence. It impacts our relationships and our decisions. We look for help not among the elite or the rulers of our countries but to the Maker of heaven and earth. Our vision is global. We pray globally and act locally to solve local problems, to improve the lot of our fellow beings.

We also owe it to the Lord to try to set as many people free from their chains and usher them into the freedom of citizenship of the kingdom of God. As believers of Christ, we have a dual citizenship. We are natural citizens of the country in which we are born, live and work and owe herr our loyalty, our duty to obey her laws. We are supernatural citizens of the kingdom of heaven. As citizens of heaven, our focus is not on consuming goods and services but in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.