Stillness and Sure Deliverance

UV 3388/10000 Stillness and Sure Deliverance

The Lord will fight for you while you (only need to) keep silent and remain calm.

Exodus 14 v 14

The hapless Israeli slaves just freed from captivity under Moses were facing a new and looming threat with Pharaoh’s cavalry in hot pursuit to take them captive again. At this point, the Lord gives them this awesome promise and assurance that He would fight for them and they only need to be “still.” Even in the face of impossible odds, we need to only trust the Lord completely and practice stillness or calmness. We do not need to panic when we are under attack or face imminent threats. We just need to silently whisper a prayer and keep moving on with our lives. The Lord promises us sure deliverance from the threat, danger or risk we are confronting.

While we remain calm and confident in the face of the threat, the Lord does not remain still. He sends His angels to ensure our deliverance as He sent the angel to produce a thick cloud that hid the Israelites while they had light on their side as they advanced towards the Red Sea. He then bid the angel to cause the parting of the Red Sea so that the Israelites could march through as if they were on dry land. Indeed, the unseen hand and immense power of the Lord is seen in the change in circumstances.

When we face persecution, resistance or hostility, we should remain calm and unperturbed for we know that the Lord is near and deliverance cannot be far behind. The deliverance might come from supernatural intervention as above or from an apparently natural change in circumstances to our favour. Hence, the Psalmist wrote, “ Be still and know that I am God. “ When we remain still or apparently inert but spiritually vigilant, we see the greatness or glory of God even as the ancient Israelites under Moses witnessed it and praised the Lord. Such deliverance strengthens our faith and draws us into a deeper and more intimate relationship with the Lord. It is proof or evidence that God not only exists but that He rewards our faith and cares for us deeply.

The Shalom of Jesus

UV 3387/10000 The Shalom of Jesus

The Lord will make you the head (leader) and not the tail ( follower); and you will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen and pay attention to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, to observe them carefully.
Deuteronomy 28 v 13

Very often in today’s world, we find that believers are not in the lead positions and are often sidelined because of the uncompromising principles and biblical values they stand for. So how does this uni-verse that promises that the faithful follower of Jesus will be the leader, who is always at the top and not at the bottom of the totem pole or hierarchy, play out in reality. The word “top” has a hidden meaning in it- “tabernacle of peace.” Since the Lord is “tabernacled” or resident in us, He is our ultimate as well as immediate leader. Regardless of the position we hold in this world, He will give us perfect peace which eludes the worldly. We are no longer the blind led by the partially blind but the visionaries of God led by the all knowing and all seeing Lord.

Being led by the Lord Himself, we have peace wherever we are or wherever we go and in whatever we do. Peace with God will enable us to be at peace with ourselves and others. This is the peace, Jesus said, that the world cannot give or take away. Our sense of purpose, power and direction is hinged on our paying careful attention to the word of the Lord. Peace or the Shalom of Jesus is a composite of all the blessings and promises of scripture. It is not the mere absence of conflict, stress or strife. It is the ultimate good. It is heaven’s currency that we amass here on earth. We can give it away or pass it on like a baton to others through our communications and our prayers.

Under the Old Covenant, people had to adhere or obey a whole host of commandments and rules which have been simplified, subsumed and reduced under the new covenant to just two commandments – love God totally and love others like we love ourselves. These two commandments should be our daily diet, our meditation day and night and we should do our best to adhere, practice, obey it wholeheartedly. The Word then promises that we will be the head, always at the TOP, never sidelined or sidetracked.

Showers and Powers of Blessings

UV 3386/10000 Showers and Powers of Blessings
I will make them and the places around My hill ( Jerusalem, Zion) a blessing. And I will make showers come down in their season; there will be (abundant) showers of blessing (divine favour).

Ezekiel 34 v 26


Often, we go out with an umbrella into the shower of blessings the Lord sends upon us. The Lord has promised in this uni-verse that He will make His flock of the faithful a blessing and that He would send abundant showers of blessing upon them. He will send us the spring or early rain as well as the latter rain or the blessings of our later days. We should drink upon His blessings to our fill. We should get soaked in His grace or favour. As we do, He will raise us up as His hill, the symbol or signboard pointing the way to the kingdom of heaven. When we live on the earth as If it is the kingdom of God, we are prepared and ready to enter the kingdom of Heaven.

Just as the rain penetrates the soil and reaches the depths to constitute underground rivers, pools and streams of ground water, the blessings of the Lord should penetrate our souls and cause it to be fertile soil for His seed to grow. We need a growth mind set and not set minds. With a growth mind set, we are ever willing to learn from the Teacher, the Holy Spirit. If He points out something negative, we should be willing to give it up for it is not the real “you” or “me”. These are weeds sown by the enemy in our fallen nature which unnoticed and unattended will overgrow the good seed of the Lord. Hence, we should not hold onto these, defend it or feed it but take divine or human feedback and just give it up.

We should not only count our blessings but also make our blessings count. Just as we harvest rain water to tide over periods of low or no rainfall, we should collect and conserve the blessings of the Lord as something precious and not allow it to drain off. When we recount the many mercies and grace that we have been recipients of, we would be filled with joy, praise and thanksgiving. Scripture says that this is what the kingdom of God is. It will nourish any dry root in us and cause us to grow splendidly, beautifully and bear much spiritual fruit for the glory of the Lord.

The Heart - the Inmost Being

UV 3385/10000 The Heart – The Inmost Being
Trust (confidently) in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him, God is a refuge for us.
Psalm 62 v 8


If we look at the word heart, it is the only word that can be formed from “earth”. The implication is that the only thing the Lord is deeply interested in on earth or in our lives is our heart. If we surrender our heart or the core or center of our being to Him, all the other spokes of life will connect from start to finish to Him. Our heart is where our true feelings and desires lie. It is our inmost being as distinguished from our superficial selves which others see on the outside. Prayer is a heart to heart conversation with God. The Lord sees if we trust Him with all of our heart at all times, not just when things are hunky dory or good but when things are sliding down. The way the Lord has fashioned our hearts, we have the Hobson’s choice of either trust Him or rust. Our confidence is not the arm of flesh or the weapon it wields. We trust Him for our protection, provision, promotion.


The heart is the repository of faith, hope and love. It is also the spring of the fruit of the spirit- of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and humility. Our hearts should not be hardened but always soft as liquid before the Lord. We should humble ourselves to acknowledge that we depend on Him and Him alone. He is our rock of refuge. We derive strength, comfort, guidance and wisdom from Him. We pour out our love, adoration, thanksgiving always from our hearts to the Lord. He will never neglect us or ignore our prayers. Scripture says that He always inclines His ear to hear our prayers and even the whisper of our hearts. The more we yield our heart to Him, the more He increases our yield.

The human heart is the sanctum sanctorum or the innermost part of our bodies, the living temple of God. Hence, our hearts should be undivided in its allegiance to the Lord and should be constantly sanctified by the Holy Spirit to be a suitable tabernacle or residence for the Lord. The Lord is the only One who reads and knows what lies in our hearts every moment of our lives. We need to pour out our hearts in prayer and reverence to ask the Lord to cleanse us of any hidden or wanton sin in our lives, to rid us of any anxious thought that is affecting our peace of mind.

Set Free

UV 3384/10000 Set Free

And you will know the truth (regarding salvation), and the truth will set you free

John 8 v 32


If we continue to heed and obey the word, we will know that Jesus is the truth, that He is the One who sets us free from the penalty of sin. We are set free from our guilt, set free from our shortcoming. We are fulfilled in Him.

Jesus has set us free from the yoke of judgment. The lighter yoke He gives us is the yoke or responsibility to be righteous. He has set us free from our personal demons. We are no longer slaves to sin and death. We are now servants of God, children of God. The children of God are taught by the Holy Spirit and great is their peace. True freedom and peace is experienced by those who follow Jesus. We are more than conquerors as conquerors are afraid of death and defeat while we are set free from all such fears. We are more than conquerors for conquerors need to fight battles while the Lord has fought the battle for us and declared us righteous , worthy of eternal life or salvation. He has declared us victorious.


Jesus has set us free from lust of the eye, lust of the flesh and pride of life. He has set mankind who were once captives to these temptations completely free. He has set us free from our insecurities and anxieties about the future and about eternity. He has set us free from our own inhibitions and compulsions. We should not like the ancient Israelites seek to return to our captivity. We should relish, cherish and enjoy the new freedom we have in Christ.

Faith Makes All Things Possible

UV3383/10000 Faith Makes All Things Possible

Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too difficult for Me?

Jeremiah 32 v 27

Hard work and soft prayer can break through any barrier, achieve anything. Hard work is our responsibility while answering our prayers lies with the Lord. He is the God of all flesh or of all creatures, of all mankind and not of a particular religion or sect. He hears the prayers of all and knows the burdens of their hearts. The Lord asks Jeremiah, the prophet the rhetorical question, “Is there anything too difficult for Me?” The answer, of course, is there is nothing impossible for the Lord. He delights in answering our prayers which ask for the difficult and impossible. It is a “God-honouring faith.” He makes the difficult and impossible appear as easy and simple as child’s play.

The boundaries of our faith and our prayer life keeps expanding the more we get to know the character and true nature of God. He is the “Great I Am” who brought all flesh into being. He has created us wonderfully and amazingly in His image, in the image of His Son Jesus. In all that He has created, there is no randomness, not only an intelligent design but a loving design. He made humans special among all of His creation. Recent research has found that the human skull alone among all species conforms to the golden ratio of 1.6, not a random fact of evolution but of deliberate design and creation with attention to the details. The ones who believe and love Him are even more special or dear to Him. The Word says that we are His “special or chosen possession.” He is not only the “I Am” or the Self Existent all knowing, all loving, all powerful Being but He is also the “ I Am” who says, “ I Am with you.”

God’s hand is not too short to perform that which He has promised. His abilities, intelligence, wisdom, commitment to us is more than adequate to fulfil our prayers based on His promises. Our faith needs to be strengthened, expanded and exercised like a muscle. We should not expect in faith or pray just for the mundane and ordinary. We should pray for what is on the heart of the Lord. When what is on the heart of God is established on the earth of man, the kingdom of God comes to earth. When we seek what is the will and priority of the Lord, it is promised that our mundane needs will be met.

The Power and Riches of Promises

UV 3382/10000 The Power And Riches of Promises
With promises like this to pull us on, dear friends, let’s make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts you, both within and without. Let’s make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God.

2 Corinthians 7 v 1

We are special purpose vehicles or vessels set apart for God. Hence, we should live a life of dedication or of focus on the locus- Jesus, the Starting point and central point of all creation. Just as the zeal of Jesus for His Father’ s house, made Him furious and caused Him to cleanse the temple, we should be full of zeal to keep our bodies clean and pure as a temple or tabernacle of the Lord. We should get rid of any attitudes, practices or habits that contaminate our bodies, minds or spirits. We should get rid of anything that defiles or damages or desecrates the image of God in us. The factors that defile us can lie within us or it could lie in the world outside us. People should be able to see the image of God mirrored in our lives.

We should not only avoid being affected by evil but we should be careful not to to be side tracked or distracted from our purpose of knowing and worshipping the Lord by the ways or wiles of the enemy of our souls. Since God has made our bodies and minds in an awesome or wonderful way, we have a duty to also behave and conduct ourselves in an unblemished way. Since we have the wonderful promises contained in the Word of God, we should always be full of hope, confidence, thanksgiving since His promises are trustworthy and the Lord is capable and willing to fulfill them.

Every aspect of our lives should be committed and dedicated to the Lord. There is a specific promise that we can claim for every situation and circumstance of life. The promises are meant for our encouragement, edification and upliftment. Remembering, meditating and claiming these promises is key to appropriating all that we need. Jesus is described as the “yes and Amen” to all God’s promises . He is the one who guarantees or underwrites these promises. The promises are solutions to our problems or needs. When we praise and worship the Lord for the provision of these promises, our spirits soar like eagles over the mountain tops. These promises provide us spiritual nourishment and strength so that we do not become “dry bones” or discouraged shadows of the people we are created to be.

B2B - Blessed to Bless

UV 3381/10000 B2B- Blessed to Bless
And I will bless ( do good for, benefit) those who bless you, and I will curse (that is, subject to my wrath and judgment) the one who curses (despises, dishonours, has contempt for you. And in you all the families ( nations) of the earth will be blessed.
Genesis 12 v 3

Though Jehovah (God, the Father) had blessed Israel, the descendants of Abraham, the father or progenitor of faith) , why did the descendants suffer repeated invasions, genocide at the hands of Hitler and Germany? The answer lies that in the trial of Jesus not only did they choose to have Jesus, the Son of God to be crucified who is absolutely innocent and pure, they cursed themselves by telling the reluctant Pilate, “ Let His blood be upon us and our children..” If the Jews knew for certain that Jesus is the Messiah prophesied by Isaiah and other prophets including David, they would not have crucified Him. Their eyes to this day are blinded to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah as they have not yet repented for the killing of Jesus and for bringing the curse upon themselves and their generation. If the minority of Messianic Jews repent in this day and time of this huge sin and curse they brought upon themselves, their eyes will be opened and then the prophesy will come true that people of every nation would like to hold onto their coat tails to be blessed.

The believers of Jesus are now walking in the inheritance of blessings of Israel. We are justified and declared or deemed righteous by our faith in the shed blood of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead. Those who bless us are blessed and those who curse us stand cursed. The words, “ And in you all the families or nations of the earth will be blessed” implies that we are called to be world shakers and changers. We are called to bless the world through our faith, our prayers, our ideas, the global solutions the Lord places on our hearts and minds. We are to pray globally and act locally.

The Lord’s greatest desire is to bless, prosper us , to give us hope and a future that continues into eternity and the heavenly realms. Once God prospers us, our hearts should not be where our treasure is. We need to consider like St Paul all our worldly gain or success or accomplishments as filthy garbage without the knowledge and practice of the agape love of God. We are to share our blessings with our less fortunate brethren, even the least among them. When we do so, we prosper not just in our finances but in our health, our happiness and our souls.

The Principle of Exchange and Substitution

UV 3380/10000 The Principle of Exchange and Substitution
Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver, and instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. And instead of the tyranny of the present I will appoint peace as your officers, and righteousness as your rulers.

Isaiah 60 v 17

Exchange and substitution does not exist only in human interactions but in the spiritual realms as foreshadowed by the sacrifice of animals and birds under the old covenant relationship. In this uni-verse, the Lord is promising to bring, into our lives through the new covenant relationship, the most precious instead of the cheap, useless and barren things that we filled our lives with in the past. Instead of the mixed up and man-made ideas and man-made religion and ideologies, the Lord will bring into our lives pure faith which is like gold. He will also test and refine our faith like gold in a furnace of afflictions that we come out of it reflecting the image of God in our lives. Like silver is purified seven times in fire and then is cooled in water, He will cause us to go through fire and water. He will cause the impact of our lives and our legacy to endure and not to end abruptly.

The Lord will save us from the tyranny of our present selfishness, the tyranny of our own desires and whims. He will deliver us from the arbitrariness and fickleness of the opinion and judgement of others. He will deliver us from the tyranny of the fear of death and punishment. He delivers us from the tyranny of the curse of sin or “hamartia”, the tyranny of an uneasy conscience that weighs us down with guilt. He delivers us from the tyranny of our own flaws and weaknesses, anxieties, addictions and bad habits. He delivers us from the tyranny of the wicked and powerful of the land as well as the tyranny of the lifeless system. He replaces or substitutes our myriad insecurities, real and imagined with the certainty, peace and security of faith.

We cannot know the Lord as our personal Saviour, be freed from our insecurities and return to be our default selves. Jesus, the Prince of heaven was sent , historically speaking, to purchase our eternal peace and our earthly peace. This is why He is referred to as Prince of Peace, by Isaiah the prophet, long before His birth on earth. The healing we need is obtained from the 39 lashes of the spired iron ball attached to the leather thong that constituted the Roman whip, the Roman instrument of punishment Jesus received prior to being nailed to the cross, the Roman instrument of execution. The mental peace is obtained from the crown of thorns that pierced the scalp and head of Jesus all round. His death on the cross obtained for us eternal peace with God. Peace then becomes our governor, all round, 360 degrees, both internally, externally. We can make peace with our past, present and future. Righteousness or integrity is our new ruler which rules us from within and establishes His kingdom and His righteousness within us.

His Presence- The Source of Power, Provision, Victory

UV 3379/10000 His Presence- The Source of Power, Provision, Victory

No man will be able to stand before you (to oppose you) as long as you live. Just as I was (present) with Moses, so will I be with you; I will not fail you or abandon you.

Joshua 1 v 5

God was with Moses in a special way. The word says Moses spoke face to face with Jehovah, the I Am. God invested him with power to represent and speak on His behalf. Moses was led by God step by step on the journey to freedom and the promised land. He did mighty miracles through him and for him. He sent ten plagues on those who opposed him. He gave him victory in battles. He rebuked even his brother Aaron and Miriam for speaking ill of him. He parted the Red Sea when the army of Pharaoh was in hot pursuit of the former slaves. The presence of God was with Moses. He did the same with Joshua. Today, the same God is with us who believe in Jesus. He leads us and deals with those who oppose us. No man or forces of darkness will be able to stand before us.


The presence of God is promised to us in the words, “ …so I will be with you: I will not fail you or abandon you.” His presence with us or our personal relationship with the Lord God is the source of our empowerment, our contentment, our happiness, our victory, our deliverance, our blessings and our strength. As long as He is our first love, we are assured of His presence. First love implies that we love Him more than we love ourselves, more than we love dear life. We can be strong, resilient, courageous as God is with us. We can be confident that He will lead us to victory and that He will provide whatever we need for our journey.

We confront different challenges in life for which we find a similar situation confronting a faith hero in the Bible. According to the challenge, we can ask and believe, for instance, that the God of Gideon is with us, the God of Joseph is with us, the God who resurrected His Son Jesus is with us, the God of Elijah who provided for him is with us.. God manifest His love, grace, wisdom and power in different ways with these faith heroes. According to our need, we can pray and ask the God of… to be with us.

The Word and the World

UV 3378/10000 The Word and the World
So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me void ( useless without result), without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55 v 11

The Lord promises in this uni-verse that He is the guarantor of His word. Once He has spoken the word, it will not return without watering or softening the souls of the receiver, the believer. It will cause the spiritual seed of His truth and wisdom to be sown in us, cause it to take root in us, grow and bear fruit. It will accomplish the desire of the Lord in our lives. It is unfailing and infallible. If we cling to His spoken word, a word spoken to us through another, or what we had read, it will surely prosper in our lives.

The word reveals to us the thoughts and ways of God. If we discipline ourselves to honour these thoughts and ways in our lives, there is nothing in the world that can prevent it from fructifying in our lives. Our lives which were like thorn bushes that do not grow much, are stunted, barren of fruit and purpose, prickly and not useful to others, will be transformed like a cyprus tree that is known for its luxuriant growth and stature or like the myrtle tree which flourishes. Our lives will be a sign or testimony of His mercy and grace. Our lives will not be cut down by sin, death or disaster.

For these blessings to pursue us, we need to cling to the word of God even as we repulse the world and its pulls and pressures. We need to hang on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, eager to abide and obey it just as the parts of the human body obey the head. If the head says go to a particular place, we go. If it says to remain silent, we remain so. If it says to walk, we walk. Likewise, we need to align our thoughts, aspirations, behaviour and actions with the principles and precepts of the Word. The word will insulate us from the evils in this world even as it enables us to inherit and enjoy the bounties and blessings of this world.

How to Make Victory Certain

UV 3377/10000 How to Make Victory Certain
Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do everything in accordance with the entire law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you may prosper and be successful wherever you go.

Joshua 1 v 7


God’s prescription for human success is given in this uni-verse. Like Joshua we need to be strong and very courageous. Faith in God and His word gives us that kind of spiritual strength and courage. It gives us access to the infinite strength and power of God. That fills us with confidence and courage to face heavy odds, impossible challenges, deadly foes and forces. When we are faithful, we are assured of the presence of the God of Moses and Joshua. As He was with Moses and Joshua, He is with us today.

We as believers of Jesus do not subscribe to rightist or leftist ideology and their world views. We view the world through the prism of the Word of God. We constantly exercise an unflinching, unswerving and unshakeable faith in His word. We try to conform all our thoughts, words and actions to the patterns or models of the Word. In addition to strength and courage, we therefore have access to infinite wisdom and grace. We have moved from the paradigm of ‘hamartia’ or scarcity to ‘hyperbole’ or abundance. The Lord is our partner in all that we aspire and do. Hence, we cannot fail. We prosper and succeed in all that we do. Many laws were given through Moses for the Israelites to study, meditate and obey. But, under the new covenant, we only need to obey the two commands of Jesus- Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as your self. Our wholehearted love for God is the meaning of the first command. While not thinking, saying or doing anything hurtful to others and rather, thinking, saying and doing things helpful to others is the meaning of the second command. When we obey these two commands the presence and the power of God is with us. The kingdom of God is in us and with us when we obey these two commands fully and continually. Victory is certain if we obey the two command given by Jesus.

Since we have overcome the fear of failure, every time we fall or make a mistake or fall short of our targets, we just get up, dust ourselves, learn from the temporary setback and go on to aim higher and do better. Joshua defeated 31 kings in his battles to take the promised land. The promised land was not given to him and the Israelites on a platter. They fought hard, they marched for long days, strategized, planned, prayed, thanked and worshipped God. We too, need to demonstrate due diligence, walk the extra mile, never failing to envision ultimate success. The victory the Lord gives us is a testimony of His faithfulness but whatever lies with us, we need to do.

The Rewards of Persistence

UV 3376/10000 The Rewards of Persistence
To those who by persistence in doing good seek (unseen but certain heavenly) glory, honour and immortality, (He will give the gift of ) eternal life.

Romans 2 v 8

Instead of nurturing our own selfish ambitions and interests, if we persist in seeking God, His righteousness in following principles of integrity in our work, communication and in our relationships, we will be rewarded in eternity. We must not give up at the first hurdle we face or even at the last. We must have the confidence that “ we shall overcome” even as Jesus overcame every obstacle, every hardship and trial. We need to focus on the unfading crown with which He rewards His faithful.

Persistence is also required to avoid the distractions and allurements of this world. Persistence pays and the persistent pray. We need the grace and empowerment of the Lord to hold onto our faith and not be discouraged on the way. Often when we see no signs of a breakthrough in what we are hoping or praying for, the enemy induces doubts in our minds. Worry and anxiety is another form of assault on our minds. We need to believe that God exists, He loves us and that He rewards the faithful despite the circumstances, what others say, despite the lack of physical evidence to the contrary. Jesus continues to be our heavenly Advocate at the right hand of God, the Father and He intercedes day and night on our behalf.

The difficulty of belief is the invisibility and intangibility of the eternal truths, rewards and blessings. We are conditioned to believe only what we see, touch and experience. If we want to change our condition, we should change our conditioning. We need to believe that what we cannot see- God and His truths are more dependable than what we see and sense. Faith requires this reversal of our reliance on our senses to relying on Jesus, the immutability of His word, the invincibility of His power. The universal human condition then changes to seeking not our earthly power, glory, immortality, honour for all these do not sustain or endure in anyone’s experience. We seek earnestly, actively and persistently His glory, becoming instruments and channels of His goodness and thereby, we find immortality and honour for ourselves. WE are the medium to carry the message of the eternal word of God, the vessels of honour to hold the treasures of God.

The Mastery of Self with the Help of the Master

UV3375/10000 The Mastery of Self with the Help of the Master

If you do well (believing Me and doing what is acceptable and pleasing to Me), will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well (but ignore My instruction), sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you (to overpower you), but you must master it.”

Genesis 4 v 7

Doing well requires us to believe God and then to go on and do what is acceptable and pleasing in His sight, not our sight or that of others. We are to be God pleasers not self pleasers or ‘people pleasers’. An important principle in this uni-verse is that sin or the enemy or temptation is always crouching at the door our hearts, minds and mouths. Satan had moved from crouching on a tree to tempt the first man and woman to tempting their first son right from his heart attitudes. This is the reality now- the enemy is knocking at the door of our hearts, minds and mouths to be allowed in. God is also knocking on the door of our hearts. Whose voice would we listen to – the enemy of humanity or God and His truths, both hidden and revealed in His Son, His Word.

Sin is overpowering in its influence. But the Lord has given us grace to overcome it one thought at a time, one emotion at a time, one decision at a time. It requires us to be watchful and pray all the time. A moment’s weakness or our guard is down and we will lose the plot. God expects us to master our self, our passions, our feelings, our reasoning, our bodies, our communication with His help and in accordance with the instructions in His manual, the Word of God. We have the Holy Spirit to help us identify, thwart, overcome the wiles and deceit of the enemy.

Cain had no peace like all the people who succumb to momentary temptations. He had succumbed to the temptation of hurt pride and envy of a brother whom he should have actually helped and protected. He did the opposite of what he was called to do. He killed his brother Abel. He lost His peace with God. When I was very young, I used to frequently read a quote my father hung up as a painting next to our bed: “Poise is a great power derived from the mastery of self.” I would now modify it as “ Peace is a great power derived from the mastery of self.” We cannot our master our hidden pride, our deceitful lusts on our own strength but the Master Jesus will be with us to help us close the door on temptation, to overcome our own inner drives and weaknesses, to be victorious in our private lives even as we aim to be successful in our public lives for the two are intimately connected in the sight of the Lord. Jesus gives us peace with God.

The Multiplier Effect

UV 3374/10000 The Multiplier Effect

For by Me ( wisdom from God) your days will be multiplied and years of life shall be increased.

Proverbs 9 v 11

When we read this uni-verse along with Psalm 90 v 12 - “So teach us to number our days, that we may cultivate and bring to you a heart of wisdom,” we obtain understanding of a powerful truth. God alone can add life to our years and years to our lives. He transforms the quantity and quality, the longevity and the joy of being, productivity as well as creativity of our lives. Every day and in every new experience, He teaches us valuable lessons of life. Our lives are prolonged experiments to discover the truths of His word. He by His wisdom and grace transforms the apparent vanity and futulity of our earthly lives into meaningful and purposeful ones. He impacts our character so that we will be long on patience and short on disbelief, doubt, fear and every other negativity of life. He builds the kingdom of God in us. We are not self taught, self built or self realized but God --taught,- built and -realized.

As we count our days, we experience the countless blessings of knowing and loving God through Jesus. Our paths become brighter as we go and not darker as it is with those who are devoid of the wisdom and grace of the Lord. He multiplies our pleasures for the Psalmist records that there are “pleasures forevermore at His right hand.” He helps us overcome our sorrows and weaknesses as we avail His wisdom and grace. His wisdom enables us to make the right choices and we avoid the needless pains of folly and vanity. He prospers our plans as we acknowledge and depend upon His infinite and unfailing wisdom. We gain significance despite the apparent insignificance of all earthly acquisitions and attainments without the personal knowledge of God. Every little thing that happens in our lives acquires a new meaning and purpose in the light of our faith. We combat and win against a legion of uncertainties with the one certainty that Christ died for our sins and is alive and ruling today from the eternal realm. We realize that we are called not to be successful but victorious in His name.

He multiplies our strength, our abilities, our wisdom, our power to face the challenges of this life. He also divides the ranks of those who oppose and attack us without any reason. As we advance in years, we look forward to leaving our earthly bodies and abodes and joining the Lord. We have no fear of death as we know that eternal life is ours to claim and enjoy right from the moment we believe and receive Jesus as our personal Savior. We look with hope to receive the unfading crown, the prize for a life live by faith in Christ, the Overcomer.

Intentionally Living A Life of Integrity

UV3373/10000 Intentionally Living A Life of Integrity

He who walks righteously and speaks with integrity, who rejects gain from fraud and from oppression, who shakes his hand free from the taking of bribes, who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed and shuts his eyes to avoid looking upon evil;

Isaiah 33 v 15

Oneness with God through Christ produces in us the desire to be one whole person with wholesome thoughts, emotions, actions, decisions and not a fraction- a person at war with his own spirit and soul. The uni-verse details principles of righteous living and righteous speech. Our words should be wholesome and helpful to others, not harmful, sarcastic, negative, hurting. In order to produce this kind of speech, we need to send every word we speak through a sieve of wisdom and allow ourselves to speak only such words that pass the test or the filter of the Holy Spirit. We should hate covetous or wrongful gain, refuse to take bribes. We should avoid violence and oppression of others. We should keep our eyes from seeing or enjoying evil like pornography as it corrupts the mind.

If we live in this manner, the Word promises that we would live on the “heights”. The Lord will defend us like a fortress built on rocks. Our needs would be met. Apart from promotion, protection and provision, we will move into a new paradigm of our relationship with the Lord, the divine, the infinite, the Almighty. We will be able to perceive and experience the Lord God in the beauty of His holiness and not just in the light of our own righteousness. He will be our Judge, Ruler, King and Savior. The enemy cannot plunder our lives and rob us of our peace.

My life this far is a testimony of the truth of the above uni-verse. As we praise Him, He raises us to new heights of experience in our lives. As we live a life inspired and equipped by the Word, we enjoy an amazing sense of security which nothing else (not wealth, fame, power, status, charisma, strength) can give. His word becomes our light, our oxygen, our armour, our sword, our food. Our faith requires us to live a life of integrity. Integrity is not an accident but a series of deliberate choices we make based on the guidance we receive from the word of God.

The Process of Refining, Sifting and Perfecting

UV3371/10000 The Process of Refining, Sifting and Shifting
For behold, I am commanding, and I shall shake and sift the house of Israel among all nations and cause it to tremble like grain is shaken in a sieve removing the chaff, but not a kernel of the faithful remnant shall fall to the ground and be lost.

Amos 9 v 9

The Lord is always involved in process of refining, sifting, perfecting the faithful. Though we are saved by faith in Jesus and His finished sacrifice, we are not to be complacent but eager to change ourselves to conform to the image of God, the image of Christ imprinted in us. Our perspective alters our paradigm of thinking, feeling and behaviour. It is also called "leader-shift". We are to voluntarily and enthusiastically participate in the refining process, upward shifting of our perspectives and paradigms, getting rid of the chaff or the wasteful aspects of our lives. Then the enemy will not get permission to sift us. If we do not, things will happen that might shake our faith.

Instead of inviting the disciplining of the Lord, we should subject ourselves voluntarily to discipline. By staying focused on the locus of life- Jesus, His word and His ways, we can avoid many of the locusts that eat the grain and lay waste whole fields of crops. We can ask the Holy Spirit to show us the areas in which we need to change, the things we need to get rid of lock, stock and barrel, root, shoot and branches. The more we yield to the Lord, the more He will increase our yield. Simultaneously, we also need to resist the enemy of our souls.

The uni-verse promises us that if we remain faithful, not a grain will be lost. When we go through difficult times, instead of chafing against the Lord, we should only examine ourselves and get rid of the chaff. Instead of struggling with God like Jacob or running in the opposite direction to His call like Jonah, we need to obey His will with regard to our sanctification and growth to spiritual maturity. The process becomes less painful and long drawn when we remain sensitive at all times to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us.

Power to Plant and Uproot

UV 3370/10000 Power to Plant and Uproot
And the Lord said, “ If you have confidence, abiding faith in God even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree which has very strong roots, “ Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea’: and if the request was in agreement with the will of God, it would have obeyed you.

Luke 17 v 6



A one per cent faith in the Lord can produce a hundred per cent change of reality. A small seed of faith planted in the right place can move a mountain of an obstacle in our lives. We have power both to plant and to uproot. We plant the seed of faith in a particular situation, difficulty, challenge or problem by praying. With faith in Christ, we can uproot the deeply rooted strongholds of this world. The only precondition or prerequisite is that our prayer should be in accordance with the Word of God and therefore, of the specific will of God. Sin takes root in us like a mulberry tree. When we cast it out of us into the sea, we are causing it to perish, to be eradicated or removed by its roots. If cast into the sea, it will never be seen again, never reappear in our lives in any form. As we yield to the Lord and resist the enemy, Jesus becomes our shield and His word becomes the sword we wield. The mulberry tree cannot grow in the sea and hence, the same offence cannot grow in us again as its roots are dead. The visible (the tree) problem or issue will become an invisible one ( drowned in the sea). Just as the sea is capacious and can hold any number of things, our faith as it expands can cast, command, overthrow, uproot a large number of issues.

We can use this precept or teaching contained in this uni-verse to first and foremost usher in the kingdom of God into our hearts and souls. We can uproot anger, lust, bitterness, pride which are the deep roots the enemy has sown in our fallen nature by commanding, rebuking, casting out through faith in the power of Jesus. We can deal with threats, fears, worries likewise by taking these on with the authority of Jesus. He as the Author of life has invested the power and authority to dispel these forces of darkness. They may attack us in one direction but we can shatter and scatter these in seven directions or helter skelter.

Jesus told His disciples that satan was asking permission to sift them like wheat, implying to test their thoughts, intentions and emotions to separate the wheat from the chaff. He had taught them to pray, “ Lead us not into temptation.” It means that we should pray with faith that the Lord does not permit satan to test us with evil temptations or sift us with trials. He has given us supernatural power over all the ways and wiles of the common enemy of humanity.

Filters of Speech

UV3369/10000 Filters of Speech
Let your speech at all times be gracious and pleasant, seasoned with salt, so that you will know how to answer each one who questions you.
Colossians 4 v 6

We need to use many filters for our speech or we will falter in the impact of our communication and our relationships. The filters we can use are questions we ask ourselves before we speak- is it true? Is it necessary? Is it useful? Is it the right time? To borrow a line from the character King Lear of Shakespeare, “ We need to mend our speech lest it mar our fortunes.” Every day we need to start it with a prayer, “Lord, keep a sentry at the door of my lips.” That guard the Lord places at our mouths is none other than the Holy Spirit. For the unruly tongue can only be ruled by the great power and wisdom of the third member of the Trinity.
It is also written in scripture that the lips of a priest preserves life. What we speak should save lives, enhance lives, deliver people. Our words have power to heal or harm, bless or curse. St James equates blameless speech with perfection of the individual. It is through the lips that the fruit of the Holy Spirit- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control – manifest. St James also states that the same mouth that prays or praises the Lord cannot pour forth bitter water along with sweet water. Our lips need to be dedicated to pour forth gracious and pleasant speech, truthful and effective speech that saves lives.

For speech to be gracious, pleasant, truthful and powerful, it needs a deep work of the Holy Spirit. He needs to teach us how to be humble and gentle like Jesus. We need to align our hearts, minds and mouths with the Word. We should also have self control so that we do not return evil for evil or insults for insults. Hence, the book of Proverbs gives us a guideline that the wise learn to ignore or overlook an insult. The uni-verse above states that we need to be gracious and pleasant at all times and not occasionally. We can use the thumb rule of good speech that if our words do not add value to a conversation or discussion, we should choose to keep silent. Knowing when to speak and when to remain silent is itself a difficult art. Our speech being “seasoned with salt” implies our words should emanate from wisdom, maturity, gentleness and the desire to make what we say attractive or persuasive to others. Our speech should be backed by knowledge so that we know how to answer the questions people ask of us. Both the content and the manner of our speaking is important. We need to speak with care not to hurt the feelings of others and with respect for all.

The First D

UV 3368/10000 The First D

Be persistent and devoted to prayer, being alert and focused in your prayer life with an attitude of thanksgiving.

Colossians 4 v 2


For believers, the goal in life is not to be successful but to be victorious. To lead a five dimensional victorious life, the first D is devotion. We need to be devoted to prayer. Prayer opens the portals of heaven on earth. We ought to be persistent and consistent in our prayer life. Prayer is the spiritual equivalent of breathing in the physical realm. If breathing ceases, we physically die. If prayer ceases, we spiritually die. We need to be mentally and spiritually alert and sensitive to the things the Holy Spirit places on our hearts to pray for. Prayer is the least thing we can do for others but it is also the greatest thing we can do for them. Jesus, despite being God Himself, prayed for His followers that none of them be lost.

Once devotion is in place, the other four D’s needed for a victorious life – dedication, determination, discipline and diligence will fall in place. The Lord will bless the work of our hands and establish us in our work place. He will enable us to achieve the goals we set for ourselves in different domains. We will be focused and discipline ourselves so that we do not get distracted by the world and its ways. We will learn to be diligent and be diligent in studying the Word to understand the ways of the Lord and to follow it scrupulously.

Praise and prayer emanating from a grateful heart is most pleasing to the Lord and invariably rewarded with His response. Gratitude is a great attitude that we should always practice. Gratitude fills our hearts with both joy and humility. We attribute everything to the grace of the Lord. Like the returning leper grateful for the healing he received from Jesus, like the man born blind who leapt and praised God when he received sight, we should be filled with both thanksgiving and joy.

The 360 Degree Shield

UV 3367/10000 The 360 Degree Shield

The Lord has taken away the judgements against you; He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, even the Lord (Himself) is in your midst; You will no longer fear disaster.

Zephaniah 3 v 15

This uni-verse is a 360 Degree Shield- internal, external, eternal, natural and supernatural. Since Jesus took all judgements upon Himself and He became our scapegoat, there are no judgements of sin against us. Rather, the Lord reserves judgements of rewards for good deeds done in obedience to His word. He has gone ahead of us to clear the mines planted by the enemy of our souls against us. The enemy’s power to harm us comes from our sin. He has the power to kill, steal, rob, destroy. The Jesus ‘heel of salvation’ has crushed the power of the enemy. We need to no longer fear the enemy but stamp on him with the shoes of salvation on our soles as we would a scorpion or some insect that has a sting. The sting with which the enemy hurt us was death but now we have victory over death. The sting of death has lost its power to harm us. It is utterly destroyed with the Resurrection of Jesus and He has now given us the same hope and power of resurrection.

Just as we do not have to fear death, we need not fear in life for the Lord is in our midst. We are part of His kingdom rule. As the King of hearts, He rules over ours. His kingdom power is available and accessible to us. He is only one prayer away. He enables and ensures we are victorious in all of life’s great challenges. He fights or battles the enemy on our behalf. We only need to hold onto our position of faith in His word, His presence and His grace. The enemy will attempt to rob our salvation, steal our peace and blessings, kill our joy but as long as we use the shield of faith to ward off His attempts and speak the sword of faith – the Word of God, we can defeat and hold him at bay.

We no longer have to fear disasters or overwhelming events that overtake mankind from time to time in the form of natural phenomena, financial upheavals, terrorism and so on. We are empowered for a zero worry, hundred per cent thankful and worshipful lives. Even if we face difficulties, challenges, problems, we can rest assured that we will have victory at the end, either in this lifetime or in eternity. The trouble is most of us do not have patience to wait for either a lifetime or for eternity. I am one of those who does not have this kind of patience. I recognized that the Lord is not only a covenant keeping God but a covenant making One. So I entered into a personal covenant with the Lord after a series of troubles that broke me down. I prayed, “Lord, whatever You tell me I will do . If I do not , please send me small warnings like dashing my feet against an object and I will heed.” The Lord has kept His part of the covenant while I try to keep mine.

Pair Up with God to Prevent or Overcome Despair

UV 3366/10000 Pair up With God to Prevent Despair

I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Psalm 27 v 13


Faith is our safety net when we go in for a free fall in life. There seems to be nothing to hold us and prevent disaster from overtaking us. Just then the Lord intervenes and saves us. When we make a “ faith pair” with the Lord, we never have to despair. He is waiting in the wings to reveal one more act of His goodness and grace, one more miracle, one more rescue. He keeps us from the grave and keeps us from losing hope. The Lord knows that there is neither hope, enterprise nor appreciation of His greatness in the grave. Hope is the rope the Lord throws us when we have lost our footing on the edge of the cliff of life. It may come in the form of a prayer we whisper or a promise verse the Lord speaks into our lives at that juncture or even earlier. We get a fresh experience and insight into the goodness of the Lord.

Edge of life experiences are what gives us the knowledge of who God is and what He can do for us. Hence, there is a lot of excitement of new discovery and growth reserved for the believer. We can never anticipate what the Lord has in mind and what He is going to do in, with and for us. We however should not wait till we hit a crisis to look for the Lord. We like the five maids who kept their lamps well fuelled with oil, should fuel the flame of faith and build it over our lifetime. Even the word “fuel” has God in it for “El” in Hebrew means God. Faith is the oil in our lamps that He provides. It is incipient or present in some form in every human heart but the Lord Himself, the word says, hardens the hearts of the unbeliever and softens or prepares the heart of the believer. The “heart” the only word that can be formed from the word “Earth” is precious to God. It lies in His hands whether He wants to open ‘the eyes of the heart’ to give it a revelation of His goodness or not.

The Lord strengthens our hearts and give us courage when our own innate strength and courage are failing and flailing. This is when the world expects us to crash, He causes us to rise on wings like an eagle which has re-grown its feathers after having lost it for a time. Our worst fears evaporate. We sense a growing joy in our hearts and an understanding that our faith fathers or ancestors had – that His goodness is better than anything that life on Earth has to offer.

To Lead with Diligence, To Serve with Joy

UV 3365/10000 To Lead With Diligence, To Serve With Joy

Or he who encourages, in the act of encouragement; he who gives, with generousity; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy ( in caring for others), with cheerfulness.

Romans 12 v 8

Each of us have a different calling in accordance with the natural and spiritual gifts the Lord has endowed in us. We are to exercise the gift in proportion to our growing faith and His unlimited grace. The picture St Paul draws is one of interdependence of the body of Christ, the spiritual church just as the different members of the body depend on each other. We are not given these gifts to be used only for our benefit but for mutual benefit. There are some who are called to be in the ministry of encouragement. Barnabas the disciple who replaced Judas was known as an encourager. There are some who are called to bless others with giving and they need to give generously as the Spirit leads.

There are some who are called to be leaders, godly leaders. They need to lead with diligence. They need to study the patterns of leadership of the Lord, the leadership of the patriarchs, the leadership of the kings of the Old Testament, the leadership of the apostles and emulate their models. They should not spare any efforts to groom, shape and mould those who follow them by example and precept. Leadership on the pattern of Jesus is servant leadership, not meant to dominate and be served but to serve the led. Such leaders should also study the models that we should avoid, the pitfalls of leadership that we should pre-empt, the weaknesses that should be overcome, the challenges of human nature that should be confronted.

We should care for others ungrudgingly as if we are caring for ourselves. Our attitude while we are doing all these things is as important as what we do. We should show such care not with a wearisome but a cheerful attitude. It is apparent that it is impossible to do all this without the grace of the Lord. He anoints, equips, empowers and enables us. We should return again and again to the Lord to draw from Him both stability and ability. Some of the tasks and goals we confront are far beyond our human abilities but the Lord will lend us wisdom, power, resources, people and ability to execute it by His grace.

Casting Off the Veils of the World, Perceiving and Reflecting the Lord

UV 3364/10000 Casting Off the Veils of the World, Perceiving the Lord
And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from one degree of glory to even more glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3 v 18

Moses entered the presence of God unveiled but he left the presence of God with his face veiled in order to hide it from the Israelites. We, however, under the new covenant enter His presence unveiled. He never leaves us nor do we who are faithful ever leave His presence. We see His glory in the Word of God which is like a mirror reflecting it. We see His image in the mirror of the Word. As we see it, we too are being transformed from within. Each of us is at different degrees of growth and development but the Holy Spirit works on us from the inside and perfects us for His glory. The more clearly we perceive the Lord, the more we will reflect His character, His power, His grace in and through our lives.

The more time we spend in the Word of God, the more we grow and develop in the image of the Lord. The more we apply or obey the Word, the more blessed we are. We need to get rid of the veils of deception of this world that prevent us from seeing, knowing and obeying the truth of God. Anything that blinkers our vision, obstructs our clear understanding of the Lord and His will for our lives, we should cast off from our lives. When we do the radiance of the Lord’s image will shine forth like the noon day sun on, in and from our lives. We will experience the awesome or Shekinah glory of the Lord in the different areas and aspects of our lives, family and ministry.

Our transformation from the old nature to the new nature in Christ is not an overnight happening but a lifelong progressive process. The Lord is patient with us and we too need to be patient with ourselves and with each other, praying for more and more grace to change in accordance with the image of Christ. By cooperating or resisting the Spirit, we either accelerate or decelerate our transformation. The Lord is most concerned with our character and communication transformation while we are more focused on our career transformation. We need to align our hearts and priorities with the Lord and instead of growing and glowing in fits and starts like a glowworm, we will reflect the true glory of the Lord in a consistent and progressive way.

Celebrating and Practicing Death as A Process for Growth and Fruitfulness

UV 3363/10000 Celebrating and Practicing Death as A Process for Growth and Fruitfulness
I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone ( just one grain and no more). But if it dies, it produces much grain and yields a harvest.

John 12 v 24

Death is universally feared and abhorred. Jesus is the first and only one to expound the principle that death is both necessary and useful for growth, fruitfulness and multiplication. It is also a prophetic utterance as the death of Jesus willingly on the cross prepared and enabled our lives to be fruitful and blessed. Dying is not something we involuntarily experience once at the end of our earthly lives but it is a process we need to practice willingly, wilfully and consciously every day and every moment of our lives. It should be concomitant with our lives. This uni-verse contains an eternal principle that we can apply effectively in different areas of our lives. We need to die to lust and pride. We need to die to indiscreet speech. We need to die to anger and bitterness. We need to die to selfish ambition. We need to die to envy. When we so die or utterly end these negativities of our lives, we live the abundant life in Christ. We will produce a rich harvest of the spiritual fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and humility in our inner nature.

Our dying to our egos, will enable us to love the Lord as well as our neighbor wholeheartedly. Our dying to our biases and prejudices will help us relate to all people without prejudging them. Dying involves a process of “ falling” to the ground like a grain of wheat. The grain then gets covered with the soil. It slowly but completely dies even as it turns around to allow the tiny root to push out of its outer covering and grow downwards. Likewise, our souls should die to itself, our desires, our fears, our emotions and turn around to send forth its roots into the fertile soil of the Word. Once the tiny root is watered and nourished it springs forth with its shoot and eventually produces much fruit or grain.

The dead grain produces a living root. The living root in union with the soil and other conditions grows to produce grain- a hundred fold or more. Likewise, the new root in our nature nurtured by the Holy Spirit and growing in the soil of the Word grows, flourishes and multiplies. We can imitate this process in the different aspects of our personal and corporate lives to produce abundance.