A Glimpse into Our Destiny of Greatness

UV3243/10000 A Glimpse into Our Destiny of Greatness
Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look closely, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome and conquered! He can open the scroll and break its seven seals,”
Revelation 5 v 5

Jesus is described in this uni-verse as the Lion of Judah, the Root of David even though history records that He like David was born as a descendant of Judah, the eldest son of Jacob. He who is the root of David is also our good Root. As He has overcome and conquered sin and death and suffering, we too will overcome and conquer. He holds the key to our future and our eternity. He is possessed of complete knowledge, complete wisdom, complete power and complete love. As long as we are rooted and built in Him, we too have access to His complete knowledge, complete wisdom, complete power and complete love. God does not share His glory with anyone but He does share His greatness with us. Our destiny of greatness is not a distant dream but it accompanies us each moment of our lives as long as we stick to the Lord like leeches.

We need not weep, mourn, regret anything in our lives as Jesus as Lion of Judah has the power to reverse, restore, revive, redeem us. As we are continually connected to the Good Root through the Holy Spirit, the sap of His wisdom and knowledge and love is always rising in us, turning into the praiseworthy decisions, relationships, actions, results of our lives. As a member of Judah or praise, we offer all the praise, glory and honour to the Lord. He has declared us more than conquerors as we do not have to fight to conquer. We just need to be still, know that He is God and acknowledge and trust Him in all our ways. We are more than conquerors like King David or Alexander the Great as we do not have to marshall armies to conquer. We are more than conquerors as we do not suffer defeat or eternal death. We are more than conquerors as the weapons we carry give and enhance life and do not take away life or take away from life. Hence, we have many reasons to rejoice, as many as the moments we live, as many as our thoughts, as many as our days on Earth, as many as the promises of God in Christ.

A scroll in ancient days contained the decrees of the King. Till it was opened it remained secret and confidential. The Lord holds the seven scrolls or all that He has decreed for each of us individually as well as all of us collectively. He is sovereign and has the right and power to open the scroll of decree regarding our lives at the time of His choosing. We only need to submit to His royal decrees, His sovereign will knowing that He wants to give us hope in the present moment and a future in eternity.

Gainful Losing Versus Vain Gain

UV 3242/10000 Gainful Losing versus Vain Gains
Whoever finds his life (in this world) will (eventually) lose it (through death), and whoever loses his life (in this world) for My sake will find it ( that is, life with Me for all eternity).

Matthew 10 v 39


From our early childhood, we develop a zeal to gain things for ourselves. But this uni-verse asks us to develop the zeal to loosen the grip of such zeal and focus on losing things from our lives that Christ does not want us to have. Christ focused on losing His life in this world to redeem the whole world. In response, we need to focus on losing the things that He wants us to lose- our anger, our lust, our selfishness, our greed, our fears, our lack of sensitivity and gratitude, our discontentment, our hatred of others and our excessive love of ourselves, our pride, our egos, our desire to proven right all the time, our refusal and stubbornness in accepting correction, our foolishness, our hastiness to speak, take decisions and regret later.


When we develop this Christ-like laser focus on losing the things the world has conditioned us to accept, He will restore to us the true, new and eternal life that Jesus gives. He will add to our lives the things that we should gain- the nine fruit of the spirit, the gifts of the spirit, our true spiritual calling or office. Like St Paul we will consider the things that we have lost as garbage. Garbage out, God’s grace in- GIGO. We will be focused more on contributing, , sharing, giving, serving, edifying others and not on shoring ourselves up, on feathering our own nests.

Losing is a lot like pruning. The parts of our lives that are not fruitful are subject to pruning. We submit ourselves willingly and cheerfully to the Holy Spirit to examine us and to remove from our lives any dross of all that contaminates, all that displeases the Lord. Our bodies need an annual or biennial medical examination but our souls need a daily examination by the Spirit of God.

Unchanging Love, Irrevocable Authority, Constancy of Faith

UV3241/10000 Unchanging Love, Irrevocable Authority, Constancy of Faith

For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, nor will My covenant of peace be shaken,” says the Lord who has compassion on you.

Isaiah 54 v 10

The way the Lord has configured nature and our lives, some things are constant, stable and unchanging while some other aspects are variable, changing. His will is irrevocable, His authority is unshakable, His love is constant even if our circumstances of life are changing. No part of our lives is irredeemable in His love. Our covenant based relationship, His commitment to us is unalterable. His word is unchanging and powerful beyond the grasp of our three dimensional world. The peace He gives is like unchanging and unshakable rock. The world cannot take away the peace of Christ. Even in the midst of turmoil, the believer of Christ has perfect peace.

The authority the Lord has given us as kings and the grace or favour He has given us as His priests are unshakable, irrevocable. The constancy of our prayers and praise are the spiritual sacrifices and worship we offer up to the Lord in return for tasting of His grace, love and peace. Prayer is the equivalent of breathing in the spiritual realm while the word or scripture is the equivalent of food. As we fill our nostrils with the breath of God and fill our spiritual bowels with spiritual food, we are strengthened in the inner man and nothing can shake our faith.

The uni-verse says that everything else in this universe can be shaken. The Lord can flatten great mountains or obstacles in our paths. We only need to be consistent in our commitment to our covenant relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit through the Son. He knows the gaps in our knowledge, understanding and faith even as the enemy knows the chinks in our spiritual armour. Even if we have an iota of faith in His everlasting love and compassion, Jesus defends us against the accuser and remains as chief intercessor on behalf of our souls. The more we know Jesus and understand His incomprehensible love, the more we are set free from the bondages and burdens of this life, the more His love, grace and peace are manifest in our lives.

Transforming Zeroes into Heroes

UV3240/10000 Transforming Zeroes into Heroes
I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the renewed heavens and lay the foundations of the renewed earth, and to say to Zion( Jerusalem) , “ You are My people.”
Isaiah 51 v 16


The Lord puts words in our mouths according to the situation and He keeps us under His protective hand. He uses us to establish His kingdom on Earth. The earth when viewed from outer space appears as a tiny white dot against the infinitude of stars and heavenly bodies to prove the insignificance of human life that is unrelated or unconnected with the Lord God. We become significant only when we are in a personal relationship with the Lord. He uses us to lay afresh the foundations of wisdom of the Earth and of the kingdom of God. He affirms us by saying to us that we are His people. He adopts us through His first born, Jesus and pours on us the Spirit of adoption who enables us to call Him, “Abba, Father.” To be called His people, the people of God, His beloved is the greatest privilege, honour, blessing we can ever receive. God’s grace through Christ enables us to ace our lives. He will undertake for us, He will establish us in the right orbit as He has established the various heavenly bodies. His gravitational pull will keep us revolving around Him so that we neither fall like a meteor nor become a black hole so absorbed only in our own happiness, or a shooting star or comet that shines briefly and quickly dies. Instead of being a zero indicating insignificant in the whole scheme of creation, we become heroes or significant in the eyes of God. We will be a signboard of Jesus pointing all glory to the Lord and all people to the Way, the Truth and the Life eternal. We will simultaneously be the message, live the message and be a messenger from God. Our beginning and end lie with God while what lies in the middle is our responsibility.

We need to live and move and speak as if we obtain everything from our Heavenly Father. He is the one who shields us with His hand of favour upon us. He gives us wisdom to take the right decisions. As someone once said, with His help we can “positivise, prioritise and prayerise” everything in our lives. We do not express ourselves unless He puts words in our mouths. We invite the Holy Spirit to continually renew our minds in Christ. We are to be prepared by Him to be citizens of heaven, of the New Jerusalem.

Jesus is the Lion of Zion or the ruler of the kingdom of God. The enemy is described as the “roaring lion” who appears menacing but the Lion of Zion accomplishes His will quietly and gracefully, without much ado. Our submission to Jesus is out of love and unlike with other rulers – not with fear. As a sign of our submission, our obedience and our discipline, we should hold His word in our hearts and mouths. His word becomes the new sword or weapon in our mouths to deny the enemy victory and to claim victory for ourselves. This is the reason the human tongue is described a the source of life and death- we are to proclaim death for the forces of death and proclaim life for the forces of the new life.

Security in An Increasingly Insecure World

UV3239/10000 Security in an Insecure World

“And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; They will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, For I am with you always to save you and protect you,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah 15 v 20

Religion and identity politics are the number one threat to national security and international peace in this post modern world. Soon after the Christchurch brutal massacre, I had warned my kith and kin in Australia and New Zealand that reprisal attacks on churches would happen soon in different countries across the world. The serial suicide bomb attacks on Sri Lankan churches and hotels killing more than 350 people and wounding more than 500 people, most of whom were inside churches during Easter services is one of the most brutal attacks on innocent people in history. Against the backdrop of terrorism stalking innocent lives world-wide in the name of religion and race, the uni-verse promises that the Lord will make us a fortified wall of bronze, that they will fight against us, but they will not prevail over us for the Lord God is with us always to save and protect us. The carnage may leave us wondering how the Lord allowed this massacre to take place. Here we should recall that satan is described by Jesus as a killer, thief and robber. He plants the idea of revenge and massacre in the minds of the most unlikely persons, in the Sri Lankan case even a very affluent business family. The word tells us that the death of His saints is precious in His eyes, implying that the Lord would welcome them into the eternal realms and reward them duly for their faith that caused them to be martyrs along with all who have been slain for their faith beginning with Abel.



It is apparent that we are living in dangerous times. We need to believe and claim the complete 360 degree protection of the Lord. We need to be covered with the two wings of protection of prayer accompanied by the Word. The Lord promises that those opposed to us or those who hate us without cause will not prevail over us. We should not give in to hate and violence by consciously or unconsciously subscribing to the ideology of hatred. I myself being a survivor of the world’s first recorded human bomb assassination of a national leader can testify to the truth of the uni-verse of how He was a fortified bronze wall around me as a flail of steel pellets hit the people around apart from the lethal shock wave and direct impact of the powerful blast. When one survives such a traumatic and terrible experience, he understands the need and the possibility of hiding always in the shadow or presence of the Lord.


When we exercise our faith in the many promises and assurances of protection, preservation and deliverance of the Lord contained in His word, we are building the wall of bronze around. Bronze is an alloy of different metals. Likewise, we tap the power of prophylactic prayer or preventive and protective prayer in different high risk situations by alloying or mixing our faith with prayer and the word of God. The Lord is faithful to His promises. We need to hold it consistently and firmly as we would a bronze shield to protect us from the assaults of the enemy of our souls. Only our physical bodies can be killed and therefore, even if we are allowed to be killed, the Lord has decreed ultimate and complete victory for His children. Even though we are traversing the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord is with us. That being said, we also need to be careful and take physical measures for security. A mere awareness of the threat or risk often wards off such evil for the enemy likes surprise and once we are aware, spiritually armed and physically careful, he stays away.

Learning From Affliction

UV 3238/10000 Learning from Affliction
Though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of oppression, yet your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will (constantly) see your Teacher.

Isaiah 30 v 20

Adversity is a greater teacher of mankind than prosperity. Our pain, our loneliness, our sorrow, our sheer helplessness drives us in times of adversity to seek answers to such questions as to why it is happening to us, what is it that we did right or wrong for it to happen to us, how do we get out of it. At such times, the Teacher, meaning either Jesus or the Holy Spirit appears to us and He will walk us through the affliction, giving us answers as we go. We will hear His quiet voice whispering behind our ears, “ Take this path or that path.” The pain and the tears clears our vision and we begin to see the Teacher. We set aside our pride, our disbelief, our doubts, our fears to continually communicate and relate to the Teacher.

Extreme adversity causes us to pray without ceasing. The weakness of our flesh, the reluctance of our minds to believe and pray is overcome by the heavy odds of the reality we are facing- an encounter with death, a debilitating disease of a loved one, a financial crisis with no end in sight, bereavement and so on. Jesus who was called Rabbi or Teacher during His sojourn on Earth is the Wonderful Counsellor. He counsels us on what we should do. He sends us the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity as our Comforter and Remembrancer of what He has taught us.

Jesus does not promise us a rosy or utopian future. He told us that “ In this world, you will have many troubles but you will overcome even as I have overcome.” Jesus overcame by the power of God, of the Holy Spirit. Likewise, we too can overcome our troubles and trials and emerge victorious, better and not bitter as the enemy would like us to be. I do not believe in the make believe of religion but I do believe in "realigion" where God is a real, active partner and constant friend and guide with me in facing all of life’s challenges and difficulties. He equips me in real time, He teaches me to lean on Him and learn the lessons of life and of eternity through all the pain and suffering of afflictions as of good times. He imparts wisdom at a practical and real level. He gives me supernatural help and imbues me with supernatural grace or strength. He gives me the confidence and peace that however things go, it will end well either here on Earth or in eternity.

Being BUSY for God

UV 3237/ 10000 Being BUSY

You are my King, O God; Command victories and deliverance for Israel.

Psalm 44 v 4

We acknowledge God as our eternal King, our Ruler, Our Sovereign. We attribute all praise and thanks to Him. He is the One who commands victories and deliverance for us in all our struggles on Earth. We only need to approach Him and trust His promises to deliver us whatever be our crisis or challenge. He gives us the spiritual strength of a bull though we may be physically frail. We can trample down those who rise against us without cause or provocation. We do not trust in weapons or physical prowess. He will surely save us, rescue us from our spiritual and personal enemies and put them to shame. We are both soldier and commander. He is both shield and sword.

People have two options in life, encrypted in the word- BUSY. We can Be Under Saviour’s Yoke or Be under satan’s yoke. Being Under Saviour’s Yoke ensures we are victorious in our lives. Being Under satan’s yoke implies we are defeated, troubled and humiliated. All our lives we need to be BUSY for God. His hand or His power is not limited to help us overcome. We shall overcome all our life’s challenges by the grace of Christ Jesus in us. The yoke or burden He gives us is not only light, it is powerful, effective, productive, amazing, victorious. Among all the biblical and historical personalities, Jesus faced, endured and overcame the greatest challenges any human has ever faced and overcome. He obtained victory over sin, over satan, over death. These are the ultimate victories for all other victories are either Pyrrhic or in vain for eventual death annuls all glory of the victory. Hence, He is given the sovereign right to ordain victory for any other human being. He anointed His followers with the words, “You shall overcome even as I have overcome.” The cross, the symbol of ultimate humiliation became through Christ, the symbol of ultimate and absolute victory. But just as there is no cross without nails, we will have to endure pain and suffering in the process of commanding victory and deliverance for ourselves and others.

We are viceroys of God on Earth for the word “viceroy” means “in place of the King.” We represent Jesus, the King of Kings on Earth. We speak and act on His behalf. We can command victory and deliverance with the authority of the Author of Life and of Salvation of all mankind. The enemy is not put to rout in one shot like a knock out blow but in several bouts. We should start strong in whatever we are attempting, plod on in faith and finish well. The Lord can give us victory against many or few and with many or few on our side. He is not odd but He is the God of Impossible Odds. When the situation seems hopeless, He turns it around. We are not fighting our battles alone. He is by our side, fighting it in the spiritual realm while we do whatever lies within the realm of our responsibility. If required He commands His army of angels to come to our aid. He sends the Holy Spirit to empower, remind, comfort, strengthen us.

1-1-1 Doctor's Prescription

UV 3236/10000 1-1-1 Doctor’s Prescription

The (reverent) fear of the of the Lord is the beginning (the prerequisite, the absolute essential, the alphabet) of wisdom; A good understanding and a teachable heart are possessed by all those who do the will of the Lord; His praise endures forever.

Psalm 111 v 10

We humans in the ignorance of our arrogance have deigned to call ourselves “homo sapien”, the wise man , to distinguish ourselves from all previous specimens of man as well as other creatures. But in truth, history, both of the world and personal, has shown over and over again that we have been anything but wise. This uni-verse like a doctor’s prescription tells us how we can be wise. We need to be in awe of God, the Creator to even begin to be wise. We learn the basics of wisdom by revering God. We learn the alphabets of wisdom. Like alphabets are the building bricks of language, the thoughts, intent, emotions, energy of our inner being get interconnected in an integrated and holistic way. Forming words from the alphabets He teaches us is akin to learning the perfect will of God and doing the deeds of wisdom in accordance with it. When we do deeds of wisdom, we bring praise and honour to the Lord.

When we assume we are wise, when we are not, we become set in our stubborn ways. We do not learn and grow. But when we ask for wisdom from the source and fountainhead of all true spiritual wisdom, Christ who is the repository of all human wisdom since He became the true and only homo sapien- wise man, we are given a teachable heart and good understanding. Thereafter, what we do is not vain but brings lasting praise to the Lord.

Like a doctor writes a prescription 1-1-1 meaning we need to take the medicine he prescribed thrice daily, we need to feed on the word which is the printed wisdom of the Lord at least thrice daily. We need to pray for wisdom and grace to obey the word at least thrice daily like Daniel, the wise one – morning, afternoon and evening. This is the spiritual meal that brings healing and strength to our whole being. Having imbibed the wisdom of the Lord which is only the beginning, we need to then go out into the world and execute deeds in accordance with the specific directions of the Lord. When we do so, we are forming and communicating the Word of the Lord to the world. . We have now become “homo gracias” or gracious human.

Proportionate Decrease and Growth

UV 3235/10000 Proportionate Decrease and Growth

I must decrease but He must increase.
John 3 v 30

https://images.app.goo.gl/JUFUmYfBD2YbbA1y8

Like John, we are all just friends of the Bridegroom of Blood- Jesus. Whatever we do, we do it in His Name. Whatever we are, we owe it to Him. Our egos should decline and His glory should increase in and through us. He has proven that He is the only Messiah capable of taking us out of our mess. The message we give on His behalf does not make us anywhere near a Messiah. He is the source of all grace. We are restored to a loving relationship with the Father by Jesus. There is no intrinsic good in any of us. If we must boast, we need to speak only of His goodness and greatness.

Like John the Baptist was anointed or chosen by God to herald the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting God, we are anointed to hold His wake. We need to speak not of our own qualities or achievements or claims but we need to speak of how Jesus fulfilled all His claims. We should aim to be “ best men” for Jesus, the ones who know the Bridegroom well and make Him known to the world and to the church, His bride. We need to do the best for Him in all we attempt and never be satisfied with our best for He gave us all – His life, His word, the clothes of salvation for us to wear.

There are some practical ways we can decrease even as Jesus increases in us: for one thing, we can speak less, we can speak less about ourselves, we can think less about ourselves and our comforts, we can think more about others, be more sensitive to the physical, emotional, spiritual needs of others the Lord points to us. The proportion in which we decrease, the proportion in which we die to our former selves and live the new life in Christ, He increases in us, His wisdom, His grace, His power , His favour increases in us. The knowledge, love and charisma of Christ increases or grows in our lives. He becomes the First Person in our lives and we become the Third Person and everyone else becomes the Second Person in our lives.

The Son has Risen

UV 3234/10000 The Son has Risen


His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from His hand, where His power is hidden.

Habakkuk 3 v 4

Jesus is called the Daystar, not without reason for He is the Sun of Righteousness. In His death and resurrection, true and absolute righteousness dawned in our lives. Hence, every day we can say to ourselves, “Today is the day of salvation ( not damnation, not for curses, not for sin, not for failures, not for sulking, not for anger, not for sadness, not for complaining, not for speculating, not for day dreaming, not for conflict, not for strife, not for discontentment). It is the day to enjoy the blessings of the Lord, to experience His resurrection power that is hidden in His hands but flows to all who gladly believe and receive Him. It is a day to rejoice. It is a day to celebrate. It is a day to praise, thank and worship the Lord. Today is the day to enjoy fellowship with God, not tomorrow or day after or after a few years. We no longer have to postpone our happiness. As long as we know Jesus is shining on us and around us, we can be joyful.

Rays of healing, rays of power, rays of grace, rays of enlightenment, rays of inspiration, rays of blessing pour forth unceasingly from the presence and from the hands of the Lord. Satan and his agents on Earth had assumed that the Sun of Righteousness had been eclipsed forever by His death on the cross, a sinner’s death. Yes, there was a hiatus or gap in the eternal existence of Jesus as His body lay in honour in the rich man Joseph’s grave. But as He had taught, the Seed of God, the Seed of Eternal Life had to die and then come to life for the complete salvation of many, as many as believed and received Him into their hearts. The price had to be paid so that we have the prize of eternity that our hearts and souls long for.

We are now overcomers of darkness as we bask in the Light of the Saviour, as we savour His grace, bathed in the rays of His glorious presence and power. No longer have sin, death, curses, shortcomings of human nature have the capacity to hurt us permanently. Death being the sting in the tail of the enemy of our souls and it being overcome, our hearts sing, our minds rejoice as we partake of the everlasting pleasures and treasures at the right hand of the Lord. The Lord no longer hides the secrets of heaven from us but reveals it to us, one by one, as often as we need a particular key. He delights in revealing and manifesting His splendor in us and through us.

From Passion to Compassion

UV 3233/10000 From Passion to Compassion
The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has fulfilled and until He has accomplished the intent of His heart; in the latter days you will understand this.

Jeremiah 30 v24

God’s anger is righteous. It is called passion. His righteous anger with man’s sin led to the intent of His heart- to find a way to redeem all mankind. He expressed His passion as compassion. Hence, He sent the sinless Son Jesus to fulfill the mission of salvation, to accomplish all that the scriptures had said that He would do. We too are expected to possess passion or righteous anger in our lives and to manifest it as compassion. The same Jesus who drove out merchants, money changers and vendors of various goods and creatures for sacrifice in the Temple of His Father cried out to the Father as He lay nailed and suspended on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

We cannot be lukewarm or disinterested. We need to be passionate about just causes. We need to express righteous anger against the evils in the contemporary world. We need to drive out of our minds and hearts any thought or emotion that is not glorifying the Lord. We need to express our passion against anything that violates the purity of our temples- namely, our bodies and minds. The Lord will heal our wounds- mental, emotional and spiritual. He will bind or bandage it with His word and heal it with the 39 stripes He received from the metallic thongs tied to the Roman whip. His passion or righteous anger made Him refuse to compromise with sin or hamartia or the state of being that comes short of the perfection and justice of God. His compassion caused Him to take the pain and the penalty iupon Himself.

The Lord accomplished all the works for our complete salvation and deliverance as the intent was not of His mind but of His heart. The mind is the seat of reason. The heart is the seat of love. We cannot understand with our minds why Jesus, the Sinless, the Prince of Peace, the Son of God, the Lion of Zion who appeared meek but was absolutely powerful, died on the cross, a death apt for the worst of sinners. We can understand the intent or purpose of God, however, with our hearts. We need to constantly balance reason and love in dealing with people. Our emotions or passion should be aligned behind the intent of our hearts once it is formed. The Lord accomplished for all mankind what no one can individually venture to. He restored us to the glorious image of God in which we were created.

Mind Transplant

UV3232/10000 Mind Transplant

For who has known the mind and purposes of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ (to be guided by His thoughts and purposes.)

I Corinthians 2 v 16

The human mind consists of intellect, emotions and will. Our will is connected with purpose and objectives. Our intellect thinks things through, the pros and cons before arriving at a decision. The emotions signal which pros and cons we feel strongly about and enable us to shortlist our decision out of various options. The uni-verse asks the rhetorical question, who can instruct the Lord in the decisions He is to take and the things He should do. He is sovereign and above all and no man can ever hope to advice or influence His thoughts, emotions or decisions. His mind holds more treasures of wisdom than all that Solomon or any wise man in history could ever discover or unfold to humanity.

Yet, we who believe in Jesus have His thoughts, passion or energy and wisdom to lead and guide us. John F Kennedy once famously said, “ Today, we have guided missiles but misguided minds.”. Left to ourselves, we will be guided by our own whims and fancies or misled by the enemy of our souls to make the wrong choices. We do not have enough data or knowledge to back our decisions, whether it is good or bad for us in the short or long run. Our feelings and emotions hijack our wills and we make wrong, hasty, emotion coloured or driven decisions that we would regret later. For instance, the instinct to retaliate or to take revenge is a basic drive in human beings but Christ showed us how to forgive. He taught us to also forgive others as He forgives us. We are not naturally patient people but the Lord asks us to rein in our emotions of anger and irritability and be kind and patient with others. He gives us the spirit of self restraint or self control, the mastery over our own appetite, physical desires, emotions. He gives us the skills to ride our tongues as effectively as a horse rider trains it and on command asks it to trot, canter, gallop, stop, jump and so on. He lays bare to us His mind and all the mysteries of life through the Word of God. When we are saved, we have a heart transplant. But we also need a mind transplant- we need the mind of Christ to transplant and replace our own minds.

Christ replaces the complex or our strongholds of our negative emotions behind anger, pride, hatred, sadness, guilt, pessimism, fatalism, fears with the joy of salvation. He instructs and enables us to praise God continually, even and especially in adversities. He gives us the grace or inner strength to endure much hardship in this world. He teaches us to replace worry with worship. He teaches us that we have an eternal purpose of life far beyond the routine and mundane things of this life. He teaches us the impermanence of both success and failure in this lifetime and asks us to focus on the locus- the Lord within, the Alpha to Omega of our existence, being and well being. Apart from spiritual wisdom to deal with eternal matters, He imparts to us on a continual basis through the Holy Spirit the wisdom and grace to take the right decisions in all practical matters affecting our work, our families, our relationships, our health, our future, our contributions to others.

Faith Positions

UV 3231/10000 Faith Positions
You need not fight in this battle; take your positions, stand and witness the salvation of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.

2 Chronicles 20 v 17

The battle belongs truly to the Lord. We only need to take our faith positions: like soldiers take their position in trenches and behind ramparts and buttresses, we need to take our position on the basis of the promises of the Lord. From these battle trenches, with our knees on the floor or our whole bodies prostrate, we only need to offer up praise as a member of Judah, the House of Praise to receive victory, vindication, success, deliverance as a member of Jerusalem, the House of Peace. Praise ahead of the actual act of deliverance is a sign that we believe the Lord can do the impossible. As we praise God, we are established or strengthened in our faith positions so that we neither fear nor are we likely succumb to the spirit of disappointment. The victory is first won in our spirits, minds and hearts. We receive a specific word from the Lord to encourage us even as the King of Judah received a prophetic word of guidance and encouragement from the Lord through a Levite, Jahaziel.


The King Jehoshaphat called a fast through all his kingdom when he faced the heavy odds of battle with a formidable array of enemies- the armies of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir. He was taking a faith position in ordering a nation- wide fast. After receiving the word from the Lord, he and his people bowed and fell to the ground- again , a faith position indicating complete worship and surrender to the will and word of the Lord. The next day, they obeyed the prophetic word and proceeded to the valley of Beracah. There, they praised and worshipped the Lord. They gave thanks for His mercy and lovingkindness. They were again taking a faith position. The Lord then set ambushes against their enemies. He caused them to fight each other to death. Jehoshaphat and his army needed three days to collect the spoils of war.

The Lord is with us as Emmanuel. He is the source of our salvation and deliverance. We should not give room to doubt, fear, disappointment by filling our hearts and minds with praise, prayer and the word of God. Praise and worship ushers in the presence of God in the midst of our struggles and battles and releases unlimited power and grace, power to defeat our spiritual enemies and grace to strengthen us. In our “valley” moments and experiences, when we are so vulnerable, when the odds against us are so heavy and formidable, we seem helpless. At such times, we should take our faith positions and know the Lord fights our battles and that greater is He that is with us than they that are with them. When we do so, we are positioning ourselves for salvation, for victory, success, deliverance.

Vitamin D

UV 3230/10000 Vitamin D
God made the two great lights- the greater light(the sun) to rule the day, and the lesser light(the moon) to rule the night; He made the (galaxies of ) stars also (that is, all the amazing wonders in the heavens)

Genesis 1 v 16. The Amplified Version

It is the will and purpose of God that light should rule over darkness. The sun, a homonym and metaphor for His Son, Jesus, the Light of the world rules over the darkness and the moon, a satellite that has no light of its own, symbolizes us who believe in Jesus. We reflect His light in the contemporary darkness. The Lord God has separated us from the darkness. He created the sun, moon and stars on the third day which is symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus on the third Easter Sunday. His light ruled over darkness, His life rules over death.

In order for us to reflect more and more light of the Son, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to hover or brood over the darkness in our souls. He separates the light from the darkness in our souls. The Son rules over the Day, meaning He rules forever in the eternal realms where there is no darkness while He has anointed us, here and now , to rule over the darkness. The darkness cannot comprehend the light but the light disperses the darkness. We should not however feel superior or judgmental for we, too were once part of the darkness, once ruled by the forces of darkness and even now there is some amount of darkness in our souls that the Holy Spirit is still separating and distilling with His light.

We find our healing, our deliverance, our salvation, eternal life, our solace, our strength in the rays of light, the words of the Lord and those of His faithful servants right through history. We derive Vitamin D that stands for dedication, devotion, determination, discipline and diligence in the Light of the world. He, Jesus dedicated His pure life on this Earth to all humanity without distinction or discrimination. He devoted Himself to serve the Father and in uplifting all humanity. He was determined with the strength of flint stone to complete His mission on Earth. He disciplined His entire being to obey the Father and to comply with all the instructions He had received. He studied with diligence the scriptures to know how He should shine as the Light in this world. He has done amazing and countless wonders in our lives, hitherto and He will continue to shine forth from us.

Moving ON To Maturity and Completeness

UV 3229/10000 Moving on to Maturity and Completeness
Therefore let us get past the elementary stage in the teachings about the Christ, advancing on to maturity and perfection and spiritual completeness without laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.

Hebrews 6 v 1
Faith according to this uni-verse is like building a structure. The foundation is repentance from sin and believing in the salvation by faith in Christ, the One anointed and able to save us. Once this foundation of faith is laid, it cannot be laid again and we need to move on with completing the rest of the structure- the gates of praise, the walls of salvation, the roof of the love of the Lord. In other words, we need to keep growing till we rise to the stature of Christ in terms of character, good works and impact or influence. We need to move beyond the elementary truths and understand the deeper things about God and eternal life.

An incomplete structure is a disgrace. We need to cooperate with the Builder- The Holy Spirit and build brick by brick and fill the space or gaps in our knowledge of the Word and of the world. We need to build to design or in accordance with the plan the Architect has given us or reveals to us step by step, phase by phase. We need to use the resources the Builder provides for us. Since He is the Provider, we need not be distracted with anxious thoughts about possible scarcity for He undertakes to provide all that is needed to complete the structure of our lives. For effective and mature faith, we need to know the word and apply it to our situations in this world. We need to eat solid and balanced food, a metaphor for the Word, to gain maturity and not just milk. We need to keep growing in wisdom, in stature, in the grace of God and in terms of our social skills, the ability to communicate truths with grace and love.

The super structure needs to be super for that is why it is called so. It should be the load that our foundations can bear. We need to become both stable and able. We are to grow on towards maturity, perfection, completeness. Like the leaves of a palm tree, we need to grow in 360 degrees and excel in all our endeavours and relationships. The fruit of our lives or the net result of our thoughts, words and actions should not be “dead “ or effete works but like the nuts of a mature palm tree- hard on the outside to withstand the environmental pressures and soft on the inside to convey the compassion and love of the Lord. Perfection implies that we emulate the Lord in all His attributes. Completeness implies that our faith is not found lacking in either knowledge or zeal.

Authority Over Death

UV 3228/10000 Authority Over Death

Shouting, “ Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”
Luke 19 v 38

Other kings or leaders of humanity came on their own names or in their own authority to establish their own peace and greatness on Earth. Jesus alone came in the name of the Lord God of heaven and Earth. He, the Scion of Zion, the Lion of Zion, has the legitimate authority of the Father who sent Him on a mission to Earth to establish the peace of heaven on earth, attain the highest glory or greatness among all mankind ever born. Being the scion of Zion, He could have come on His own authority but He repeatedly said He came on the authority of the Father, to glorify His Name, not His. In so doing, He humbled Himself and glorified the Father in heaven. The peace of Heaven or the favour of the Father rested on Him.

The Palm Sunday procession marked the coronation of Jesus. He had no earthly crown or kingdom or courtiers but the common people who had seen, heard and experienced the impossible and glorious things He had done in the name of Jehovah voluntarily and wholeheartedly adored Him like no other earthly king. Everyone did what they could. The donkey’s owner lent the Creator His creature- the donkey. The disciples lent their robes and clothes to make a saddle for Him to sit. The common people laid down their robes on the road and waved branches of palm signifying that this King was enthroned in their hearts as the King of peace and righteousness. He came to serve and not to be served. He gave them the peace of Heaven and access to the glory, power, majesty of God.
Jesus the King of Kings did not come riding on a horse but humbly on the young colt of a donkey as it was prophesied by Zechariah, the prophet. The people were recognizing Jesus as their Messiah and Lord for He alone could resurrect the dead as He had called Lazarus from death. He had proved to all that He had authority over death even as He had authority over life. All kings had surrendered meekly to death but here was One who could order death around. He could therefore command His own death and resurrection. We who now believe in Him are greater than conquerors like Alexander, the Great for in identifying with His death and resurrection, we too have conquered death and the fear of death. Whatever be our first name and last names, our middle name is Lazarus. We have been authorized by Jesus to rise from death. We celebrate Jesus. Our praise lifelong is the rent we pay to Him for cultivating His vineyard.

The Thirst and The Thrust

UV 3227/10000 The Thirst and The Thrust
O God, You are my God; with deepest longing I will seek You; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs and sighs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 63 v 1

The desire to know God personally is the deepest longing in any human’s heart. Scripture says that God is a jealous God. We need to make Him the topmost priority of our lives and desire Him above all and above all things. There can be no competition for our attention and devotion with any other human or any other idea or material thing of this world or the world beyond. This world with all its attractions is compared with a dry and dreary desert in comparison with the Lord. Even if all the desires of our flesh are satisfied, there is an aching pain in the human heart. The thirst for God becomes the thrust or the driving force of our lives. The word or Jesus holds the water of eternal life that satisfies our souls and even the needs of our flesh are met in Him. This is the reason that when people thronged to satisfy their hungry souls, He chose to meet their physical need too by doing the miracle of multiplying the few loaves of bread and fish.

The empty philosophies and man-made religion cannot satisfy the deep longings of our souls. These can have a deceptive placebo effect for a time but we will realize in the end that we are as hungry and thirsty as before. When the Lord is the grand obsession of our lives, all of our need a la Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – our physical need, our need for security, our need for esteem and self actualization are met in Him. He fills the gaps in our resources and our aspirations, our abilities and our goals, our relationships and our happiness. Our thirst for God becomes passion and zeal, not mis-directed but guided and channelized by the Word. Whenever we feel exhausted, stressed, confused, frustrated, defeated, hopeless, we should return to the fountains of the Lord to drink deep and long from Him. He renews, reinvigorates, rejuvenates us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Instead of the spiritual dryness, our souls or our inner being will be watered by the nine rivers of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control. When the soil is watered, it becomes ready to allow all manner of plants to take root in it and bear fruit. When our souls are watered continually by the Lord with His word, we become fruit bearing trees of faith and righteousness.

The Shapiing of Time, The Moulding of Lives

UV3226/10000 The Shaping of Time, The Moulding of Lives

Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things which have not been done, saying , “My purpose will be established, and I will do all that pleases Me and fulfills My purpose,”
Isaiah 46 v 1
Only God knows the end from the beginning. He not only knows but He declares in advance what is yet to happen. He is the only One whose sovereign will rules over all of history. His knowledge is complete of events yet to unfold. He holds our future in His hands even as He holds us in the present and held us in the past.

Scripture holds the outline of history. Most of the unpredictable events of history, for instance that the nation of Israel would be formed against in this world after nearly 2000 years of the Jews being dispersed in all directions. Likewise, the manner of the birth of the God child Jesus, His life, death and resurrection were predicted centuries ahead of it. Through the exercise of the office and gift of prophecy, the Lord reveals ahead of time what is yet to happen. Before a moment in time occurs, it already is known in its totality by the Lord. He can prevent, pre-empt an event or He can cause it to happen. Nothing can thwart His will once He has set His mind to it. Yet it is amazing that prayers of frail people like us can have an influence or effect on Him to either expedite, prevent, permit, control an event. As a Father listens to His young children and grants their desires, The Lord makes Himself sensitive, responsive and vulnerable.

The Lord declares His purpose for our lives and we need to align our purpose and our plans with His plan and purpose. He is the prime mover of our lives and He decides what pleases Him. In alignment with God’s perfect will, Jesus did many difficult things like enduring the suffering preceding and during His painful agonizing crucifixion on the cross of Calvary, fasting and praying for forty days and nights, withstanding the temptations of the enemy of our souls. He also did many impossible things like walking on the water, multiplying loaves and fish to feed the hungry, giving sight to the blind, hearing and speech to the deaf and mute, healing the lame and paralysed, bringing to life the dead. The Lord did these difficult and impossible things to prove or establish the will of God that all mankind be saved from sin, judgment, curses, suffering and punishment. Even in our personal lives, the Lord has done many difficult and impossible things to prove and establish His purpose and carry His plan for our lives to fulfilment. In order to strengthen our faith, we need to remember the former things that He had declared in our lives and give thanks and praise for it whether it was a difficult trial that we endured by grace of the Lord or the impossible things that were done for or through us to reveal the glory or majesty, power and sovereignty of the Lord.

GIGO-God in , Got Out

UV 3225/10000 GIGO- God IN, GOd Out
Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your healing(restoration, new life) will quickly spring forth; Your righteousness will go before you (leading you to peace and prosperity), the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Isaiah 58 v 8 ( Amplified version)

This uni-verse contains a beautiful promise to the faithful and obedient. If we break every enslaving yoke, to set free the oppressed, divide our bread with the hungry, cover the naked, share our home with the homeless, avoid every form of wicked speech and malicious actions, then this promise will be fulfilled. The Lord will continually guide and guard us. He will strengthen our bones and make us like a well watered, well fenced and fruitful garden. He will restore us from the years and the things that the locusts had eaten. He will make up for the things we have lost in life this far. He will turn our regrets into hopes and our hopes into fulfilment. Our lives become lit up like the fullness of the sun at dawn, that disperses every trace of darkness or gloom or evil or harm. Every new day becomes an opportunity to experience the goodness of the Lord in a fresh way. Every day becomes an opportunity for us to stand as evidence of the reality of the agape love of God in Christ. We become part of the Light to fight for the right.
The new life that we have through faith in Jesus is based on the hope that we have in the words of eternal life that Jesus gives us. As long as we hold onto our hope in His word, the Shalom of God or peace and prosperity will take root in our lives. Nine rivers of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control flow from our hearts as we hold onto our hope in the word. These are the eternal springs that never dry, fed from the fountains of heaven. The word of our righteous and testimonial lives will go forth before us and reach even succeeding generations.

The glory of God or the absolute goodness, absolute power, the gentle presence of God, the absolute love of God envelops us. We are not consequently deterred by the odds against us in this world. The Lord covers our back from unseen dangers and threats from the spiritual and physical world. We are safely ensconced in the phalanx of His absolute security. He not only leads us at the frontline of the battles of life but He holds our rear, too. In computer language GIGO means garbage in, garbage out, meaning if we feed a wrong input , we will certainly get a wrong output. But for the believer GIGO means God in, God out, Grace in , Grace Out. Even our wrong inputs along with the light or grace of God becomes right input. He fills the gaps in our inputs and transforms the output. Jesus, the Light of the world, comes into the sinner and out comes the winner.

The Banner of Love, The Flag of Victory, the Wings of Refuge

UV3224/10000 The Banner of Love, the Flag of Victory, the Wings of Refuge

Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.

Psalm 61 v 4

When we dwell in the tabernacle of the Lord, all shall be well with us. We are to be tabernacled in the Lord even as a tent covers all who dwell within. The uni-verse describes our lives as “tents”. The tent protects us from the elements. The ropes and pegs that hold the tent from falling or being blown away are our heart attitudes and the three greatest things of our lives as Paul writes- our faith, hope and love. Our faith, hope and love are to be firmly entrenched in Christ. We are surrounded on all sides by Him. His presence covers us like the wings of a large bird. He is not a bird of prey but a Bird of Pray – one who responds to prayer. His presence covers us like a flag of victory. His presence is a banner of love. We are chased by many bird of prey or predators but He offers us refuge or shelter in His promises, His word.

In addition to the wings of prayer and the word, the Lord also sends us angels to protect, preserve and encourage us. The angels are so powerful that in one case that the scriptures narrate -an entire army of Assyria arrayed against Israel was slain by a single angel. Even as a hen protects its chicken from the swooping eagle by gathering them under her wings, Jesus gathers us under His wings of love and victory.

Many people complain that they do not experience the kind of divine protection and comfort that the Psalmist wrote about often as in the uni-verse above. The reason is there in Psalm 23. It begins with “ The Lord is my shepherd…” It means that if we have to enjoy any of these or all of the benefits of provision, protection, promotion and all other amazing promises of the Lord contained in the scriptures, we need to first acknowledge our deep, intimate, enduring relationship with the Lord. We need to humble ourselves and acknowledge our dependency on the Lord even as sheep acknowledge the Shepherd. Once the relationship is in place, the benefits will flow and overflow.

No Condemnation, No Guilt, No Shame

UV 3222/10000 No Condemnation, No Guilt, No Shame
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 8 v 1

The Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit has set us free from the law of sin and death. We no longer live according to the dictates of the law or of our flesh but we live by faith in Christ Jesus. Soon after the first man and woman sinned, the first emotions that drove them into hiding from God was guilt and shame. The law in the past, in our BC days before we believed in Jesus, made us feel guilty and condemned for our consciences kept reminding us that we had fallen short of the commands of God. It made us feel condemned or ashamed. We always lived in the shadow of “hamartia” or our shortcomings. Now, that we have come under the shadow of the Almighty, the mighty King Jesus who slew both sin and death in His own death and resurrection from a death of condemnation despite being sinless, we live in the shadow of grace, of “hyperbole” or abundance of peace and life. The same Spirit who resurrected Jesus lives and works in us who believe.

When the Lord has declared us justified or righteous by faith, then who are we to feel guilty or condemned or to condemn others? Jesus does not condemn us for that would defeat the very purpose of His death and resurrection. Scripture says that even now, He spends time interceding or praying for the triumph of those who trust in Him.

We have been set free from the spiritual law-“ as you sow, so you reap.”  We pass from death to eternal life, skipping the stage of the judgement of God by grace and faith in Christ.  We cannot be sinless as long as we live or walk in flesh and in this world but we can now  sin less as we listen keenly and obey the Spirit, as we intake of the Word and allow its light to guide our every step, every day and every moment of our lives.  Even should we fall, the Lord will cover us with His mercy and lift us up to walk again.

Buying the Priceless from God

UV 3221/10000 Buying The Priceless from God
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Revelation 3 v 18

It is said that the most valuable things in life like health, peace, love, wisdom, good will, joy cannot be bought with money. But the uni-verse above tells us that we can buy these with the currency of faith. Faith is the gold that is purified, tested, proven. We buy this kind of faith by appropriating the precious promises of God to which Christ is Yes, Amen and Lord. The process of “buying” from the Lord involves three steps- ‘b’ for believe in the promises of the Lord, “u’ for understand the word and apply it and finally, ‘y’ for yield to the will of God. We need to accumulate or amass this kind of spiritual wealth in our lives. It will stand us in good stead in this lifetime as well as for eternity. Neither satan nor thief nor rust nor moth can take away or destroy these. We can obtain our healing, our forgiveness, our security, our blessings, our longevity, our prosperity, our legacy through the use of such spiritual currency. The Lord will never tell us that any of these priceless and valuable things are out of stock with Him. Without these, whatever else we have in life, we are spiritually poor and naked. Jesus is called Lord Amen for He is the One who brings it to be- our spiritual nourishment, enrichment and enablement.

The white raiments referred to in the uni-verse are a metaphor for a lifestyle of obedience to the Word of God, of good works, of integrity and righteousness. Without these our faith would be considered barren, fruitless or ineffective. We can use our faith in the promises of God to acquire such accoutrements of faith that we will not seem naked and ashamed. Our spiritual clothes indicate whether we are rich in good works, rich towards God. Our good works are no longer filthy rags but a testament to our faith and our righteousness in Christ as our consciences and our whole beings have been washed and cleansed by the blood of the Lamb of God.

Finally, we need to “buy” from the Lord’ s store, eyesalve or ointment as the Balm of Gilead that will cure us of our purblindness, make us see and remove the planks in our own eyes so that our spiritual vision is not obstructed. When we look in the spiritual mirror of the scriptures, we will see ourselves as we are and then, we will be moved by the Spirit of God to think, say and do things that will make us conform to the image of Christ. We will see with clarity the purpose of life, the purpose of our lives, the big picture, the ultimate as well as immediate reality. Having seen the vision, we need to hasten to then go and execute things in such a way as to fulfill the vision the Lord has given us.

Principles of Wholesome Communication and Behaviour

UV 3220/10000 Principles of Wholesome Communication and Behaviour
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.
James 1 v 19

This short uni-verse reveals the principles not just of good and wholesome communication but of conduct as it were. Our tongues as also our pens or keyboards have the power of life and death. Words are double-edged and cause life or death, blessing or curses, benefits or harm. We are cautioned to first be quick to listen. We need to listen not just the words, but attempt to understand the spirit, the motivation, the attitudes, the background, the purpose, the emotions before and behind the words spoken by those we are listening to. We need to also discern the words not spoken, understand the silence of the communicator. We need to understand the body language or gestures of the speaker. Once we have understand all these nuances, only then we should venture to speak or communicate. In short, we need to listen not just with our ears but with our hearts and minds, too. We should always be in a state of readiness to listen while our default state is a readiness to speak. Words race off our tongues before we understand the consequences of what we speak.

If we continually endeavour to listen with our total being as described above, it would automatically and naturally slow down our speech. We will then have the time and space to choose our words carefully to fit the situation. Scripture says that a priest uses his lips or words to preserve and enhance life. A king speaks words with authority and rarely takes back what he speaks. Likewise, our speech should be salted with grace and truth, humility and authority. Speaking rashly, thoughtlessly, provocatively is called in scripture as the sacrifice of fools. Our speech in contrast should be God-honouring, edifying the listener or building him or her up in hope, confidence, understanding, wisdom and faith.

Not only should our speech be slow and deliberate but we should restrain our emotions, especially anger. Words once spoken cannot be recalled. It is written that anger rests in the bosom of fools. Our emotions being powerful drivers of speech should be harnessed and controlled by the reins of self control and the power of the Holy Spirit. We should bridle our control not only our tongues but our tempers too. In short, just as a strong and powerful horse is controlled by its rider, to move in the direction and pace the rider wants, we should control and ride our tongues and emotions, so that our days and lives are moving in the direction and pace that we want.

The Prize of Faithfulness

UV 3219/10000 The Prize of Faithfulness
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him.

James 1 v 12

While life frowns on us with trials and temptations, the Lord God waits with a crown of His glory to reward us when we emerge victorious from these trying times in our lives, our faith in tact. Such a person is blessed- implying he or she is happy, spiritually prosperous and favoured by God. The period of trial is tough but when the going gets tough, the faithful keep going. We endure with patient expectation till the end of the trouble or the end of our lives, whichever is earlier.

Trials and troubles are like the sculptor’s awl that etches the shape of our character. Unlike the lifeless sculpture, since we are flesh and blood, each stroke of the awl on us causes tremendous pain and suffering. It is intended to deal with our flaws and to make us blameless in the sight of the Lord. It is like the red heat of furnace fire that purifies silver and gold. Instead of resenting these, we should be thankful and glad that we are chosen by the Lord for His chastening. He promises not to test us beyond our strength to endure.
Trials and temptations are also needed to prove and strengthen our love for the Lord, to wean us away from the love and ways of the world. We need to love the Lord with all our strength, with all our hearts, minds and souls. Hence, our thoughts, emotions, intentions, desires need to be focused on the Lord. Such focus does not come with ease and comfort but by the trial of fire which burns what is not of God and burnishes what remains. Jesus who committed no sin, who did not need to be refined in any aspect whether of His speech, or of His attitudes, or of His actions and reactions, His intentions and desires, faced more intense trials and temptations than anyone else who walked in flesh and blood on this Earth. How much more should we ordinary mortals be tested, tried, refined? But Jesus promises us to be with us in the intense heat of the trial, at the point of temptation as He was the “fourth One who looked like a Son of God “ with Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego in the seven times over heated furnace ordered by Nebuchadnezzar, the king. When we emerge victorious from such trials and temptations, the Lord declares us blessed or ready to receive the crown of life, to be happy, spiritually prosperous and favoured by the Most High God. The crown of life is the victor’s prize- immortal, eternal, incorruptible, unfading. We need to run in such a way as to win it, fight the circumstances of life in such a way as to be declared winner.

Our Praisebook Account

UV3218/10000 Our Praisebook Account
The Lord has done great things for us;
We are glad.
Psalm 126 v 3

Often we take for granted and forget what the Lord has done for us so far in our lives. He has chosen us. We have not chosen Him. He has chosen us to be in personal relationship with Him. He has chosen us to share a spiritual inheritance of eternal life with His Son Jesus. He has chosen us to reign with Him as His viceroys on Earth and even share His power on the throne of heaven. He has chosen us to receive the crown of salvation and rich rewards for our good deeds. As it is written, “ Behold what manner of love the Father has shown us that we should be called the children of God.” Such a calling is higher than the highest title or status on Earth for the latter shall perish while the former will stand forever.
Even in our daily walk, He has done great things for us even as He did for the Israelites. He has done the equivalent of resurrecting me from the grave as He did to Lazarus who was bound in his grave clothes. Yet we walk around sad and mourning as if we have been bound in grave clothes. We need to free ourselves and be glad forever. He has done the equivalent of parting the Red Sea when our enemies were in hot pursuit of us. He has spared our lives from the hands of many an evil Haman. He has rescued us from mishaps and tragedies all through our lives. He has provided for us abundantly and generously to meet all our need and to be able to share some with the needy. He has healed us of all our diseases and kept us from the grave. He has filled our mouth with good news and our lives with benefits in accordance with His faithful promises. He has increased us step by step. He has guarded us against our own folly, pride and deceit. He has kept us from being ensnared by lust or temptations. He has strengthened us greatly to endure trials and troubles and to emerge victorious, stronger and unscathed.


We need to value our Praisebook account over our Facebook account and recount all the great things He has accomplished in our lives hitherto. This paves the way for our faith to sustain, to grow so that we are prepared or primed to believe and receive even more miracles and blessings in our lives. The more we remember, acknowledge the hand of the Lord in our lives, the more our hearts are glad and blessed. We will not “kill our temples” – our bodies and minds with needless worry, fears, discontentment, insecurity. Our hearts, minds and bodies are made or engineered for gladness not sadness. Pain and sadness are for the exceptional circumstance not the rule or routine. If we truly believe we are living in God’s realm- the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ, our hearts and minds should be ever flowing like a fountain with gladness and joy.

Fall and Rise

UV 3217/10000 Fall and Rise
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.

Micah 7 v 8

When the enemy gloats over the sight of our apparent defeat, the Lord helps us rise to our feet again. He is the source of our persistence, our resilience, our fortitude. He revives us and reinvigorates us. We experience the reality and power of the grace, compassion and righteousness of God in these moments of failure or defeat. We come to understand that His favour is upon us as He does not allow our enemies to triumph over us.

The light of the Lord, implying His love and His word , shines on us in our darkest moments. It imparts to us the wisdom and the strength to rise again. We only need to look to Him in prayer, wait expectantly and the Lord will surely hear us. He will rush to our assistance. We may fall multiple times but each time the Lord helps us rise up again. Each time we fall, we bounce back stronger than before, stronger in faith. Falling or failures or setbacks are therefore, very valuable in the lives of believers for from these we acquire spiritual dross-free gold- faith. The more we accumulate of such faith the better , the more blessed, the more resilient and effective we will be.

Instead of our enemies rejoicing over us, we will be the ones to rejoice in the salvation of the Lord. However gloomy our situation, we need to hold onto the glimmer of hope we have in the Lord. Instead of resenting such hardship, we begin to develop a joyful perspective when we undergo such setbacks and pitfalls. While history of the world and its people are written in terms of rise and fall, in our case it is written in terms of fall and rise. The higher they rise, the bigger the fall while, the greater the fall, the higher the man of faith rise.

Potential Realization

UV 3216/10000 Potential Realization

Is the seed still in the barn? As to the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree- they have not produced. Yet from this day on I will bless you.

Haggai 2 v 19

When we walk in the path indicated by the commandments of the Lord or the Word of the Lord, He will bless our days. He establishes His covenant in our lives. He proves Himself true to His promises. He will cause the seed or the goals and ideas that we have to germinate, to grow , to bear fruit and multiply. Yet our commitment to the Lord should not be contingent only on receiving these blessings from the hand of the Lord. As it is written in the book of Habakuk- “ Though the fig tree, the fruit trees, though the fields produce no crops, though there is no herd in the stalls, yet will I choose to rejoice in the Lord, to exult in His salvation. ”. It does not mean that God is not faithful to His word but that we value our salvation by grace, by faith in Jesus, more than any blessing in this world.

We live by faith and not by sight. Even if many things in our lives have not reached their full potential and remain only in seed form or as the Word of God, we believe in the Lord. We are sure of the things He has promised us and He will bring it to pass in due time. He will send the rain or shower of His blessings in due time, not early, not late. Meanwhile, we wait with patience and praise and thanksgiving. When the Lord provides us heavenly food we are not going to complain we do not have meat or earthly food or food and drink for our bodies. Like St Paul we have learnt to live joyfully and in faith in plenty and in sufficiency and in want.

We hold onto the promise of the Lord to bless us from the day we committed our lives to Him. We trust that He will do good unto us in all the days to come and forever in eternity. We do not place any earthly good above the Lord. Unlike the first man and woman, we will not choose knowledge over wisdom, the visible, tangible, substantial temptations over the unseen blessings. We will not follow the words of the enemy or of our fellow humans over the Word of God. Our brains or minds are the barns or storehouses of our ideas, projects, plans while our hearts are the barns or storehouses of our emotions or feelings. When we commit our hearts to the Lord, we are covenanting with Him to bring out of our barns only the good seed He has stored there and not the weeds of pride, lust, jealousy, hatred. When we commit our plans and ideas out of the storehouse or barns, we are covenanting with Him to bring out only the worthy ideas and projects. By the end of our days on Earth, all the good seed in our barns should be sown, put to use, grown to fruition or full potential in the Lord. As Jesus explained a seed grows by first dying to itself and then resurrecting from that death to live for God. Likewise, we need to die to the world and live for the Lord.

The Seed of Heaven is Our Need of God

UV 3215/10000 The Seed of Heaven is Our Need for God
When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

Isaiah 41 v 17

Water is to the body what the Lord is to our souls. We should thirst and hunger for God even as our bodies feel the pangs of hunger and thirst. Hence, the psalmist in David wrote, “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for Thee.” The Lord promises to fill us with His living water and bread. He promises to hear us, fill us and fulfill us. He will not leave us in times of famine or in the desert. He will cause rivers to rise in the barren heights of mountains or when we are at the very crescendo of our human challenges and difficulties. He will send us His living words to give us hope, to slake our spiritual thirst.

When Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that He could give her living water that would never make her thirst again, He was indicating to humanity that our most essential need in life is eternal life or knowing the Saviour Jesus. His words or His teachings will answer our lives’ deepest questions, help us in our most difficult moments, strengthen us in our weakest moments, satisfy us when we are anxious, desperate, frustrated, angry, sad or bitter. He will anoint us with the Holy Spirit who causes rivers of life giving water to flow from deep inside us to satisfy the thirst of others, to give hope to the hopeless, to encourage the weak, those who have failed, those who are struggling with different issues and challenges, those who live in captivity to fear and doubt.

We are the poor and needy, regardless of our station in life. The poverty line in the lexicon of God is when people live unaware of their deep need for the Creator and Redeemer in Christ. We cannot be smug and complacent like the rich man who boasted of his acquisitions. We need to daily come into the presence of the Lord and as often as we can to cry out to Him to fill our souls with His presence, our hearts and minds with His word. “Blessed are the poor and needy for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Then, as we cry out to the Lord desperately for Him, the kingdom of heaven descends to us , into us. We experience the river of joy flowing in our veins, the sensation of fulfilment and we can affirm with faith, “ The Lord is my shepherd who takes us to still, serene, pure waters to drink and to rest, to refresh and to renew ourselves. We have no want that He does not meet.”