The Snares of the Serpent Leader

UV 3456/10000 The Snares of the Serpent Leader
Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar (bitumen) pits; and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them. But the remainder (of the kings) who survived fled to the hill country.
Genesis 14 v 10

The Valley of Siddim was booby trapped with molten tar pits in which the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell and were trapped. The serpent leader uses a variety of snares to trap the faithful and people at large. The Servant Leader rescues us while the serpent leader ensnares and tries to trap us. The serpent leader these days does not use tar pits but he often uses our own thoughts, desires and words to trap us. The Servant Leader in contrast went down into a pit , the cave of burial in order to rescue us and set us free from all manner of traps the enemy has planned and planted against us.

Whenever we sense a trap, we should flee not to the hills but to the Messiah, the Servant Leader whose only purpose in coming down from heaven to earth is to rescue us. Having been rescued by faith and grace, we should not return to the ways and wiles of the serpent leader. Even the negative words we speak can become the writing against us. The enemy of our souls attempts to base his accusations on the things we speak and do. He also uses other deadly snares like the traditional 3 Ws or wine, women (can also be men) and wealth. Fame and consequent pride is another trap he uses to draw us in.

Like Joseph fled from the temptress, we need to set up boundaries of behaviour and protection, an early enough warning system to keep us from falling the way many have done. Sometimes, we unwittingly allow ourselves like sheep being led to the slaughter when our guard is down. The time to be most careful is when our influence and impact has grown tremendously. The serpent leader aims to bring us down at this very juncture when we are least suspecting, when we and others around us think we are not prone or vulnerable but firm and strong.

The Serpent Leader and Strife

UV 3455/10000 The Serpent Leader and Strife
So Abram said to Lot, “ Please let there be no strife and disagreement between you and me , nor between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, because we are relatives.”

Genesis 13 v 8

The serpent leader sows seeds of discord within families and among relatives through issues like property, inheritance and so on. When two brothers approached Jesus to solve their property dispute, Jesus declined to intervene. He expects us to resolve these differences among ourselves. Today, due to greed a large number of families are divided by the serpent leader on issues of sharing their inheritance especially with the women of the family. We should learn from the example of Abram aka Abraham who chose to point to his nephew Lot a just and acceptable solution.

The enemy’s goal is to cause strife and division. He likes to disturb or destroy the peace of homes. It then falls on the elders in the family to try to find an amicable solution without going to outsiders or the court for settlement which would prove protracted and expensive. The feeling of insecurity that one will not have enough for one’s own family or for later life often drives the family members exercising control to try to corner all the assets for themselves. Instead, if they settle it peacefully and quickly, they can avoid creating bad blood, curses and hatred among brothers and divert their attention and energy to constructive priorities.

Such lust of the flesh adversely affects families, congregations and communities. At such times, we should introspect, pray and seek the godly and wise counsel. Later , in the story we see how Abram also rescues Lot from destruction in Sodom. The unity of families should be maintained at any cost. The Servant Leader Jesus exhorted His followers to be always united, wary of the seed of discord the serpent leader was prone to sow.

Comfort Zone to Challenge Zone

UV 3454/10000 Comfort Zone to Challenge Zone

Now ( in Haran), the Lord had said to Abram, “Go away from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.
Genesis 12 v 1

The Servant Leader often calls people out of their comfort zones in order to bless them, to bring out the greatness of God in them. Abram was called out of Haran, his home, his kith and kin to travel to where the Lord led him. The serpent leader misguides and misleads while the Servant Leader guides, leads, protects. As a result, Abram’s name, his family, his progeny, his destiny, his finances were all blessed. Abram became Abraham, the father of faith and the father of many nations. Three world religions originate in Abraham. He is revered in many nations. He who was childless became a father. Through his faith, all families and nations of the earth are blessed. Those who bless him and Israel are blessed and those who curse him are cursed. The serpent leader inspired many in the world with anti-semitic hatred, leading to the rise of a cruel and monstrous leader like Hitler and many of his followers.

Abraham and Israel, the nation that was drawn from his loins are central to the destiny of humanity and indeed, of the earth. Israel as a political entity ceased to exist for nearly two thousand years and was re-formed in 1948 after the World War II as prophesied. Israel is a great nation. For one thing, Israel has the maximum number of Nobel Prize winners for such a small population. The greatest human acknowledged universally, Jesus Christ was born out of Israel and in Israel. Today, the Servant Leader blesses and heals us of our barrenness, our purposelessness, our powerlessness and hopelessness. What eye has not seen, nor ear heard nor entered in our imagation of our hearts and minds, the Lord causes to happen in our lives. He moves us out of our comfort zones into our challenge zones where we are transformed. We only need to be sure that like Abraham that God who called us to do so also moves with us. Abraham acknowledged the leadership of God, the presence and benefits he received from Him by building altars to worship and sacrifice to Him out of what He had provided for him on his journey.

When famine forced Abraham to seek refuge in Pharaoh’s Egypt, the Lord preserved the life of Abraham and Sarai, his wife. Abraham fearful of his wife being coveted for her beauty lied that she was his sister but the Lord visited Pharaoh and his household with plagues causing the latter to release her from his harem. These plagues are a foreshadow of the ten plagues on Egypt that caused a later Pharaoh to release the descendants of Abraham now multiplied to millions from the bondage of slavery in response to the call of Moses. When there is a call on our lives by the Servant Leader, it is to bless us, to liberate others while when the serpent leader comes calling, it is to curse, to drive into bondage.

Destructive and Creative Unity

UV 3453/10000 Destructive and Creative Unity

And the Lord said, “ Behold, they are one (unified) people, and they all have the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do ( in rebellion against Me), and now no evil thing they imagine they can do will be impossible for them.

Genesis 11 v 6

The serpent leader wants all humanity unified in disobedience to God while the Servant Leader Jesus prepares all humanity to be unified in obedience to Him. To this end, the serpent leader spreads lies and deception among all nations. He gets people to speak the language of lies and to disbelieve the word of God. He divides and rules through conflict and strife while the Servant Leader unifies and rules through love and peace. Today, mankind has acquired through such knowledge and unified action tremendous technological prowess to rule the skies, to rain death and destruction on the entire planet. The serpent leader gloats over the command he has over human hearts and imagination while the Servant Leader weeps over the future of humanity even as He wept over Jerusalem and He wants to take every human under His wings of protection and care.

When we work as teams and with unified vision under the Servant Leader, we exercise and employ life giving and life enhancing power. He leads us into eternal and abundant life even as the serpent leader draws people into more and more destructive ways. The serpent leader works on the inner drives of man to pander to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life and leads us to our fall. The Servant Leader in contrast sows the seed of the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self control and humility. The serpent leader draws more and more people to dwell under a curse while the Servant Leader wants to draw all humanity to dwell under the shadow of the Almighty and in His presence and blessing.

We need to recognize the patterns the enemy of our souls, the serpent leader weaves in our lives and move away for preservation and protection to the Servant Leader. Unlike the time of Noah, there is no Ark to preserve our kind but only the living Ark of Jesus that can hold not just seven pairs of all flesh but all who believe and trust Him. We gain nothing by unifying in disobedience and rebellion against the Lord but we regain eternal life by unifying in obedience to the Servant Leader.

The Ultimate Blood Price

UV 3452/10000 The Blood Price
Whoever sheds man’s blood (unlawfully), by man ( judicial government) shall his blood be shed, for in the  image of God He made man.

Genesis 9 v 6

The serpent leader instigates  people  in every generation to unjustly commit violence and murder.  In fact, God had made man in the image of God, the image of His Son Jesus. It implies that we are made in the likeness of the absolute true, holy, perfect, loving, merciful, all knowing, all powerful,good God. This is the reason we cannot make a likeness of God while we can aspire to be a likeness of God. Since the serpent leader tempted man and man succumbed, the image of God in man was distorted. We started dabbling in the relatively good and the relatively evil, a mix of the two in all that we think, speak and do. Sin is equated with death and hence, a blood price had to be paid for every human to live. Then, the Servant Leader Jesus was sent as Messiah to redeem man and restore him to the image of God.   The combination of God’s absolute love, justice and mercy required the redeeming  sacrifice to be made by the Servant Leader, Jesus as there was no other way to do it.    God had set a huge value for the life or blood of every human. The price for a man's life is too high and it cannot be paid by himself, wrote the Psalmist.  Of how much more value is the life or blood of the Servant Leader, Jesus!  It is enough to pay for the lives of all humanity who believes, receives and accepts it as their blood price. 

The irony is that the judicial government ordered the execution of the Servant Leader Jesus in an unjust, mock trial.  The serpent leader instigated the Jewish religious leaders and the local people to press for the crucifixion of Jesus. The prophet Isaiah’s words came true when He went like a sheep to be slaughtered without uttering a word to resist or protest the injustice.   He had done only good to people, healing, delivering, teaching everywhere He went during His earthly sojourn and yet, He was unjustly handed over to be put to death.  God would not allow His faithful Servant to rot in the grave and hence, He resurrected Jesus. The blood price had been paid, good had triumphed over evil, death had been put to death.

Blood price had been paid for each one of us. We who now believe and follow the Servant Leader have a duty to conform to the image of God, of Christ who showed the way and became the Way to eternal life.   Our thoughts, emotions, words, actions, desires should be like those of Jesus.  We should ourselves be servant leaders like Jesus and not have any truck or connection or leaning or influence of the serpent leader in our lives.  We should emulate Jesus who is both humble and gentle though He is God.  Of all His qualities, Jesus asks us to only focus on just two - humility and gentleness. When we are humble and gentle, we resemble Jesus or we become an image of the Servant Leader.

The Gender Question

UV 3451/10000 The Gender Question
Then Adam said, “ This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.”

Genesis 2 v 23

Woman was created to be a helper and suitable companion for man. Man was to regard woman as a complement or part of him. But due to the fall of man came the separation not only of man from God but also man from woman. The power struggle began between man and woman, egged on by the serpent leader. The Servant Leader, Jesus in contrast, did not make a difference between men and women. His most devout followers were women who did not abandon Him at the cross even when His disciples fled.

From that early genesis, the gulf between man and woman grew wider and wider. Women were increasingly looked upon as a possession, a property of man. The commodification of woman in modern times is another conspiracy of the serpent leader with woman projected only as an object of sexual desire. Men are to provide Christ-like leadership in their homes and not dominate, oppress, suppress or harass women in any way. The Servant Leader dealt with an even hand when it came to men or women. For instance, when they brought a woman who was caught in adultery, He reminded the men of their own adulterous thought life.

Men and women were created to complement and not to compete or supplement each other. Either have responsibilities that the other cannot fulfill adequately. Husbands are to serve their wives even as Christ served the body of believers by being a sacrifice for them. It implies that men are to make sacrifices of their time, efforts, attention in order to manifest their love for their wives. The relationship is based on mutual trust and forgiveness. No couple can live with each other unless they learn to forgive even as Jesus forgave. Just as a man or a woman does not regard his own bones or flesh as different or separated from self and tries to feed, nourish these, we are expected to be mutually inseparable, supportive and dependent on each other.

LIFEBOATS TO MEET THE RISING TIDE

UV 3450/10000 Lifeboats to Meet the Rising Tide

The Lord saw that the wickedness (depravity) of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination or intent of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually.
Genesis 6 v 5

The serpent leader works on the hearts and minds of people to turn them to wickedness or depravity. They were not evil just occasionally but continually. In contrast, the Servant Leader Jesus disciples and teaches us to continually living in reverence and obedience to the Lord. Even out of that wicked generation, Noah found favour with the Lord. Likewise, even in today’s equally wicked and depraved world where everyone follows their own illusions, desires, whims, evil intentions and imagination, those who follow the Servant Leader find favour with the Lord.

The cure for depravity to which our hearts are naturally inclined is to live like Noah in habitual fellowship with the Spirit of God. The Lord will then inspire and instruct us to build an ark of salvation with our whole lives. The planks with which we build our life arks are faith, gratitude, forgiveness, love, graciousness, generousity and hope. The people we in turn inspire and touch or influence to be like the Servant Leader will be saved along with us like Noah’s family was saved along with him from the great flood. The Lord will save us from the waters of destruction.

Noah followed the instructions of the Lord accurately in building the ark. Likeswise, we need to be diligent in studying the word of God and build our lives in accordance with it. Noah used pitch or bitumen to seal both the inside and outside of the ark to make it leak proof. Likewise, in order to prevent any leaks in our lives from the outer world to our inner being and from our inner being to the outer world, we need to be sealed by the Holy Spirit and apply the word both inside us and outside us. We need to build our lifeboats to meet the rising tide.

Resist the Serpent Leader

UV 3449/10000 Resist the Serpent Leader
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

The serpent leader crouches at the door of every man’s heart as he crouched at the door of Cain’s heart. Cain opened the door and let in envy, anger, hostility towards his own brother. We witness the genesis of sibling rivalry, the beginning of unrighteous anger and envy, the very first murder in history. The serpent leader overpowered Cain and his better intentions and self. The secret to overcoming temptation is to resist the serpent leader and to submit to the Servant Leader Jesus. When we resist the serpent leader, he will flee. In the Old Testament, Joseph had to flee from the temptation of seduction but today, the enemy will flee if we only resist him. Having tasted the fruit of knowledge of awareness of good and evil, we should now be wise to choose good over evil in the struggle of good versus evil in our own hearts.

The Servant Leader wants us to do what is good, acceptable and pleasing in the eyes of God. In order to know what is good, acceptable and pleasing to God, we need to study the teachings of Jesus, the Word of God. Our well being, both here and now and in eternity is determined by whom we believe and obey- the serpent leader or the Servant Leader. The Father Himself endorsed the Son Jesus and said, “ This is My own beloved Son. Listen to Him.” We are blessed when we believe Him, listen to His instruction and do what He says. We are cursed when we listen to the devious suggestion of the serpent leader and do what he says.

St Paul writes to the Romans that the very members or organs of our own bodies- our tongues, our minds, our sexual organs, our limbs are warring against us and cause us to do what our spirit does not want to do. The serpent leader takes advantage of this and takes advantage of our weaknesses. We need to resist what he wants us to say, what he wants us to do. We need to shut the door of our hearts firmly to him and open it for the Servant Leader, Jesus.

Bad and Sad News vs Good and Joyful News

UV3448/10000 Bad and Sad News Vs Good and Joyful News
And I will put enmity (open hostility) between you and the woman, and between your seed (offspring) and her Seed; He shall (fatally) bruise your head, and you shall (only) bruise His heel.”

Genesis 3 v 15

This uni-verse holds the promise of good news after the bad news of the curse on mankind were pronounced by God. The serpent leader was cursed to crawl in the dust or to be consigned to ultimate defeat. The ground was cursed. The tree was cursed. Life became nothing but progressive death for man and woman- a journey to the grave, to be the dust from which man was first formed. Life was to be full of sorrow, pain and travail. Mankind and the serpent leader became open or sworn enemies but at a subtle level there was a hidden friendship, a secret association with the serpent leader. There would be a struggle between the serpent leader and the Servant Leader, both would be bruised but the bruise of the Servant Leader would be temporary while the bruise of the serpent leader would be final and fatal. In accordance with this prophetic word, Jesus was bruised for our sake, flogged, humiliated and crucified. But the resurrection turned His injuries and death into something as light in historical perspective as a bruise on His heel. His death, a sacrifice ordained by God redeemed man of his curse, replaced “hamartia” or shortfall with “hyperbole” or abundance, the Earth or ground of its curse, sorrow and pain with enduring joy, the tree of its curse.

Evil had spread in all directions after the fall of man but good news implies goodness is restored in the north, east, west and south, in all directions and dimensions of existence. God had restored justice and goodness without compromising on the payment for it. The Servant Leader poured His life out as a libation, an offering to make absolutely good what was relatively evil- namely , man, the crown, the zenith, the summit of all of God’s creation. He paid the blood price for our lives. Only the serpent leader who is absolutely evil, the cause and source of all sin and curses was defeated and he fell like lightning to the earth.

The Servant Leader embraced and absorbed our sins, our sorrows, our pains, our curses for He alone has strength to overcome these. He overcame the strong one, the serpent leader and set us free. Dust is no longer our destiny but heaven is our ultimate destination and while we live here, we live as if this Earth is but an extension of His Kingdom. Before we read the (bad,sad) newspaper every day, we need to read the (good, glad) Word for it reminds us daily of the victory the Servant Leader won for us on the cross and warns us not to have any truck with the serpent leader, our common defeated foe.

The Serpent Leader and Blame Avoidance

UV 3447/10000 The Serpent Leader and Blame Avoidance
And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me- she gave me (fruit) from the tree, and I ate it.”

Genesis 3 v 12

In this one statement, we see the genesis of blame-avoiding behaviour for the first time as well as the beginnings of the gender conflict. The converse of blame avoidance is credit-seeking behaviour. Adam not just blamed Eve, his wife but also God for having given her to be with him. The woman, Eve in turn passed on the blame to the serpent leader. The buck stopped on the serpent leader’s table and he has no one to pass it on to. He does not even attempt a reply to defend his behaviour to the Almighty God. It implies that all blame for wrong doing rests ultimately not on people or humans but on the serpent leader. The Servant Leader, Jesus in contrast takes the rap and the blame for all the unworthy deeds of omission and commission of all humanity. The Servant Leader also gives the glory of His good deeds on Earth to the Father in heaven.

We, too should emulate the Servant Leader and avoid passing on the blame to others. Instead, we should check what is our responsibility and our response in a particular situation. We should also avoid credit-seeking behaviour as it sows the seed of rivalry and conflict. Like the Servant Leader we should aim to be self effacing, unassuming, not having any airs about ourselves or esteem ourselves more highly than we should. The Holy Spirit plants the fruit of humility in us so that we always regard ourselves unworthy of the grace and mercy of the Lord.

We should take responsibility for the decisions we take, the mistakes we make. Instead of passing on the blame, we should try to fix the problem or improve the situation. The Messiah will help us come out of the mess we find ourselves in. If we are tempted or tested by the serpent leader, we should seek out the wisdom, counsel, grace and help of the Lord to overcome it, not to succumb to it. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord and nothing is impossible for Him. He knows exactly what to do in crisis situations for instance, when the marriage banquet ran short of wine, He did not hesitate for a second. He gave specific directions to fill the six large stone jars with water. He then asked the servants to serve from it. He can surely help us address our shortcomings, our deficiencies, our shortages and scarcities specifically and effectively.

Hiding From God and Hiding in Him

UV 3446/10000 Hiding from God and Hiding in Him
He said, “ I heard the sound of You walking in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
Genesis 3 v 10

The serpent leader is the father of fear. Before man’s fall, he did not need to fear anything but after his fall, the awareness of evil overcame the awareness of good in him. On account his wrong doing or disobedience, man began to fear God for the first time. So he hid from God, the source of everything good and the very source of life. It became the cause of hostility between man and God. The sound of God walking in the garden should have produced assurance, confidence in man but it did the opposite. Hence, the source of all man-made religion is this primordial fear of God and of divine retribution or punishment for wrong doing. The Servant Leader is the author not of fear but of salvation. He redeems man from the dysfunctional fear of God. We can hide in Him as a shy child hides in the folds of his mother’s clothes.

Fear begets fear and sin begets sin. The separation of man from God is the separation from life itself or death. The Servant Leader came to set us free from fear for when we know Him as Truth, He sets us free from all our fears including the universal fear of mortality. The serpent leader led man into sin or separation and its deadly consequences while the Servant Leader leads man away from sin into righteousness. As St Paul wrote, sin came through the first Adam, the son of God and salvation came through the second Adam, Christ, the Son of God and of man.

Today, the followers of the Servant Leader hear the sound of God walking and talking in their hearts. We should hold nothing in our hearts that make us afraid to face Him. If we have, we can turn to the Servant Leader to confess, have ourselves cleansed of it and be strengthened not to repeat it. We can confide our deepest worries, anxieties, fears in Him who is our Advocate before the High Court of God, the One who is our Counsellor, the One who sent us the Comforter and Remebrancer, the Holy Spirit who aids us in the process of the sanctification of our lives, our souls. The awareness of the evil lurking in us, around us, in the world, the role the serpent leader plays in instigating, abetting and provoking evil in us to have us ensnared causes us to hide in our Redeemer, the Servant Leader.

Contrasting Models of Leadership

vUV 3445/10000 Contrasting Models of Leadership
But I am afraid that, even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted and led away from the simplicity of your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

2 Corinthians 11 v 3

Both the serpent leader and the Servant Leader are spiritual leaders but present contrasting models of leadership with different motives, methods, results. The serpent leader is extremely cunning. His chief goal is to cause people to stumble and fall. The Servant Leader is sincere, totally devoted to fulfilling the purpose set before Him by the Father. The serpent leader can be very persuasive and has a range of tricks up his sleeve to deceive, convince, persuade people. The Servant Leader convicts with simple truths. The serpent leader mixes good with evil and serves it up as something attractive to humans. The Servant Leader is absolutely sincere, pure, truthful. His words are spoken not from the cunningness of the mind but from the bottom of His heart.

The serpent leader’s goal is to divert people from being devoted to God, to attempt to rob the glory of God, to throw doubt on the authenticity of the Servant Leader. His modus operandi is duplicity. He causes people not only to doubt the word of God but to be double minded and to live a double life, to be one thing in public and quite another in private. The serpent leader reads people like we read books. He knows our shortcomings and how to exploit it. The Servant Leader helps us overcome our weaknesses, shortcomings and enables us to neutralize our threats. The serpent leader corrupts people while the Servant Leader refines and purifies people to present them blemishless before the Lord. Just the other day, I heard of the double life being led by someone many of us respected over the years. He was called for his knowledge of the word. But, unknown to even his family, the serpent leader beguiled him into believing in his immunity, that no one would know if he had a secret extramarital relationship with a series of women. The discerning now say that pride had first taken root in his heart before he succumbed to sexual temptation.

The serpent leader sends his pet little foxes of pride, envy, bitterness, hatred, folly into the vineyard of the faithful’s heart and tries to destroy the fruit of the Spirit. The Servant Leader guards us against such predatory emotions and motives. The Servant Leader builds our hearts as a tabernacle of joy, a temple of peace for the Lord to inhabit, to reside and preside over our lives. The serpent leader rejoices when we fail, when we are defeated while the Servant Leader rejoices when we succeed, when we are victorious in our struggles of life. The Servant Leader helps us at all times with His wonderful counsel and His strength.

The Serpent Leader and the Double Door

UV 3444/10000 The Serpent/Servant Leader and the Double Door
But the serpent said to the woman,” You will certainly not die!”

Genesis 3 v 4

The serpent leader contradicts God. In so doing, He leads people up a garden path to the very gate of hell. Death is a double door. For the believer and follower of the Servant Leader, it is the door to heaven. For the unbeliever and the one who follows the serpent leader, it is the door to hell. It is obvious that the one who disbelieves and disobeys the Almighty, Omnipotent, Omniscient God will suffer consequences. But the serpent leader deludes and deceives mankind. Hence, every man when he lives is under the illusion that he will not die, that he can live as if he can live forever. He is not prepared for the after life. He believes that even if he dies, it is just the end of life and suffering. The Servant Leader in contrast confirms the word of God, the plan of God, the will of God in our lives. As Lord Amen, His title in the book of Revelation, He fulfills the promises and vision of God in our lives. He becomes the Door to eternal life.

The serpent leader works on our belief system so that we believe lies to be truth while the Servant Leader tells or teaches us truths. In fact, He Himself became the personification and embodiment of Truth. Through the elements of the communion, He introduced He becomes our edible truth, the Bread of Life to prepare us for life as well as physical death. The serpent leader to this day works through deception and through deceivers. The Servant Leader empowers, enables, endows, equips us through true faith in Him and His word. The serpent leader teaches people to doubt, disbelieve and disobey the promises and commands of God while the Servant Leader teaches us to believe, treasure, honour the promises and commands of God.

The Servant Leader helps us to fulfill His purpose for our creation or our lives while the serpent leader prompts us to disbelieve in our higher purpose and our God given potential to fulfill it. The serpent leader wants us to fritter our time and energy. The Servant Leader wants us to use, utilize, invest our time, energy, talent, abilities, resources in building the kingdom of God. The serpent leader believes in anarchy while the Servant Leader believes in order, governance, fruitfulness. The serpent leader sows with his words and thoughts the seeds of uncertainty, fear, insecurity, doubt and hopelessness while the Servant Leader sows the seeds of certainty, assurance, comfort, security, deliverance, courage and hope.

The Serpent Leader vs the Servant Leader

UV 3443/10000 The Serpent Leader vs The Servant Leader
But only from the tree of knowledge (recognition) of good and evil you shall not eat, otherwise on the day that you eat from it, you shall most certainly die (because of your disobedience).
Genesis 2 v 17

God has from the beginning divided the world of options or choices into the permissible and the impermissible. The serpent leader focusses on the impermissible while the servant leader focusses on the permissible. For instance, sex within marriage is good and to be enjoyed but impermissible outside of marriage, legitimate gain through investment or hard work or enterprise is permissible but bribery, corruption, dishonest gain, thievery, robbery, extortion are not permissible. The serpent leader tempts people to do what is not permissible like adultery, rape, corruption, robbery and so on. The Servant Leader ( Jesus) through the guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit prompts people to do and enjoy the permissible including to enjoy good food, the fruits of their labour and so on.

The serpent leader tempts people to think that stolen fruit is sweeter and leads them to their moral downfall and eventual personal decay and death. The Servant Leader embraced death on the cross to enable people to overcome the presence and the power of sin in their lives. The Servant Leader teaches us to be aware like a serpent of the various forms of lurking or hidden evil as well as open or blatant evil in this world so that we do not fall a victim while at the same time to be like a dove in our being harmless, pure, untainted by sin. He wants us to be moral and spiritual victors in this world. The serpent leader distorts the image of God in which we were created but the Servant Leader restores us to that pristine and pure image. The Servant Leader wants us to enjoy legitimate pleasures without suffering long term or eternal consequences. He wants us to enjoy serenity and abundance. The serpent leader wants to imprison us with guilt, fear and negative emotions while the Servant Leader wants to liberate us.

The serpent leader gives people a false sense of immunity while they are doing the impermissible or the forbidden. He operates through the power of suggestion and our own thoughts and desires. He weakens us from inside by exploiting the chinks in our armour. The Servant Leader teaches us the higher ways of God that transcends the ways of human flesh. The serpent leader wants to shame and blackmail his followers while the Servant Leader leads, guides, protects and honours His followers.

The Serpent Leader vs The Servant Leader Paradigms

UV 3442/10000 The Serpent Leader vs The Servant Leader Paradigms
Now the serpent was more crafty (subtle, skilled in deceit) than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And the serpent (Satan) said to the woman, “ Can it really be that God has said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden.”

Genesis 3 v 1

Mankind has a choice to follow either the serpent leader (satan) or the Servant Leader ( Jesus). Unfortunately, from the beginning, man began following the former. The serpent leader is skilled in deceit. He wanted to prove that God is a liar. In modern times, he is convincing many that God is a lie. He twisted the word of God to suit his purpose. He fathered evil in this world. He made it appear as if God had prohibited man from eating from any tree when in truth, He had forbidden them to eat only of the knowledge of good and evil. In contrast, the Servant Leader confirmed the word of God. The serpent leader broke the faith that existed between Creator and man. The Servant Leader restores faith between the Father and mankind.

The serpent leader teaches mankind to deceive others and learn his subtle ways. The serpent leader teaches people to exploit others for their own benefit. The servant leader teaches mankind to serve others and to be truthful. Early this morning I received a frantic call from an airline employee. He said that a young woman employee working under him had deceived a lot of people by promising jobs and collecting money from them. She had tried to embroil her supervisor in the scam by saying that the money was paid to him. She and her boyfriend even informed the media to try to blackmail him. This is how the serpent leader destroys peace, reputations, careers and lives of people. The servant leader in contrast came to save people and give them hope and a future. He gave Himself in order to do so.

The serpent leader injects the poison of his envy and bitterness into his followers. He takes people into captivity through temptations while the Servant Leader gave Himself as a payment, a ransom to set all people free. The serpent leader induces pride in people and teaches them to steal the glory of God for themselves while the Servant Leader always gives all glory and praise and honour to the Father in heaven. The serpent leader makes people foolish and vain while the Servant Leader makes people wise and humble. The serpent leader teaches people to be violent and aggressive while the Servant Leader teaches people to be gentle or meek. The serpent leader brings disease and afflictions upon people to rob them of their well being and joy while the Servant Leader heals and delivers people. The serpent leader revels in causing pain to others while the Servant Leader relieves their pain and fills them with joy, peace and gladness. The serpent leader will use any means to achieve his end while the Servant Leader uses only righteous means to do the will of God. The serpent leader uses many masks to lure people while the Servant Leader is true, authentic and genuine in what He thinks, speaks and does. The serpent leader causes people to lust for what is not theirs while the Servant Leader teaches people to give of what is theirs to others in need. Today, we can analyse and recognize whether a particular leader or leadership style conforms to the serpent leadership paradigm or the servant leadership paradigm.

Living in the Shadow of God

UV 3441/10000 Living in the Shadow of God



He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty (whose power no enemy can withstand)



Psalm 91 v 1



The shadow of a person is the most insubstantial part or facet of him or her. In fact, it is not real but only a reflection of an object on the ground. Yet why does the Psalmist David refer to the shadow of the Almighty for He is also invisible and He is pure Light that cannot cast any shadow? It implies that even the shadow of the Almighty God is more real, substantial and powerful than even a solid fortress or any array of weapons that the enemy can organize against us. The shadow is always bigger than a person. The Almighty occupies the highest and most important place in one’s heart. Since He is pure Light and there is no darkness in Him, He overshadows us in all of our ways. The shadow follows a person faithfully wherever he goes. Likewise, the Lord follows us and watches over us day and night.



Since God is pure Light and Jesus defined Himself as the Light of the World, to live in the shadow of God is to live in absolute light. The shadow of the Lord is His presence, unseen but real that accompanies us wherever we go and whatever we do. We cannot hide from it even if we ascend the skies or descend to the bottom of the sea. We need to in fact, hide in His presence constantly, dwell or reside continually in Him so that He presides over our lives. He is a trap buster. He covers us under the pinions of His wings of prayer and the word. We are absolutely secure and safe, ensconced under Him. No weapon can prosper or develop against us without His knowledge or permission. He protects us from unknown and known threats and enemies, from visible and invisible ones. He preserves us from death till it is our appointed hour and after that gives us eternity as a reward and prize for our faith. We need not fear any evil or disease or foe. To live in the shadow of God is to continually resort to drawing wisdom from Him, power from Him, grace from Him, mercy from Him for our offences, big or small.



Like a shadow, He is not intrusive or obstructive. He gives us the freedom to choose what we wish to do with our time, our resources, our opportunities. But He remains at arm’s distance or only a prayer away. He is closest to us in our troubles and afflictions. He helps us deal and overcome open assaults like that of a lion and subtle, deceitful attacks as of a serpent. He rewards us with both long life on Earth and eternal life in Heaven. He rescues us and honours us in the course of our lifetime. We can always find our rest in His presence. His word and the Holy Spirit comfort us in our difficult hours. His presence turns these difficulties into blessings. He induces and infuses His strength and His power to enable us to surmount these challenges so that we emerge wiser, stronger, better at the end of our struggles.

Acknowledging Sovereignty and Availing His Power

UV 3440/10000 Acknowledging Sovereignty and Availing His Power
And we will do this ( that is, proceed to maturity), if God permits.

Hebrews 6 v 3

We should aim to do things in our lives only if it is the perfect or pleasing will of God. Even if it is something we greatly desire but if it does not seem to be His will for us, we should avoid it. We should be willing to drop a thing if the Lord indicates through His word, through counsel or as indicated by circumstances. “If God permits” or “Dei Vide” should be a constant refrain of our lives. Not a step we take or move we make should be without His specific permission. When He permits it, we know from the peace of God that pervades our souls. When He does not permit it, the Holy Spirit will forewarn us.

We ought not to resist the will of God but we should resist the enemy of our souls who is always persuading us to believe that God is a liar, to disbelieve His word. When we yield to the perfect will of God, He increases our yield. We should not boast that we will do this or that in the future but always be convinced that we will do it only if the Lord permits. When we do so, we are humbling ourselves before the Lord and He will surely bless whatever we are proposing or planning to do.
It amounts to acknowledging the sovereignty of the Lord when we constantly seek His approval for our every move. It shows we trust Him and Him alone with all our hearts. He will pour His grace and wisdom into all that we attempt and bring it to fruition. Surrendering our wills to the Lord amounts to dying to our own. It now becomes the responsibility of the Lord to enable, help us till the conclusion of whatever matter we are considering and even beyond. If God has permitted a thing, no one and nothing in this world or beyond can prevent it or hamper it. He will enable us to overcome any hidden hurdles or hindrances. When we say, “If God permits,..” we are invoking His presence and His power. No power on earth will now stand in the way. The Lord now partners with us in every aspect of it. At the end of the day, since we are conscious of His real time help and grace, we do not hesitate to give Him the thanksgiving and the glory.

Being A Prince With Principles

UV 3439/10000 Being a Prince with Principles
Each ( one of them) will be like a hiding place from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shade of a huge rock in a parched and weary land ( to those who turn to them).

Isaiah 32 v 2

Jesus as Kings of Kings, as eternal King, as King of righteousness, raises His children to be princes of His people. Moses was a prince of Israel, even as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. A prince by His definition is one who lives by His principles. Each believer is a prince. He is to be a hiding place or refuge to people affected by the storms of life. He is to comfort and strengthen them even as the Lord is a refuge and shelter to all who come to Him by faith. He is to refresh others even as he is refreshed by the Lord. He is to be the rock that provides shade in a dry and weary land even as Jesus is the Rock of Ages.

We are to be the channels of blessings we have received from the Lord to the world. The light we have received we are to transmit to the world. The wisdom and grace we have received we are to pass on to others in need. The prince of Jesus is in sharp contrast to the leaders of this world who in practice follow the precepts of Machiavelli advocated in his book, “The Prince.” The inheritance we share with the Prince of Peace is primarily spiritual and only physical and natural to the extent needed to serve the spiritual purpose. We are to arm ourselves with the strength of Jesus. We are to wear the full armour He provides in terms of defensive and offensive weapons. The principalities of darkness or the princes of darkness shudder with fear when we speak His word for it pierces these like a sword pierces human flesh. When we follow the principles of Jesus, we have the peace of God or the favour of God in all that we are and all that we do.

The metaphor of the “streams of water in a dry land” in contrast to the metaphor of “shade of a rock in a parched land” stands for the soft and hard principles we are to follow in our lives. We are to be hard with the hard and soft with the soft or hard where hardness is required and soft where softness is required. He equips and enables us for our context and circumstances. When we follow Him, we both flow like a river and stand still like a rock.

The Path of the Righteous by Faith

UV 3438/10000 The Path of the Righteous By Faith
Praise the Lord ! (Hallelujah) Blessed ( fortunate, prosperous, and favoured by God) is the man who fears the Lord (with awe-inspired reverence and worships Him with obedience), who delights greatly in His commandments.

Psalm 112 v 1

When we praise the Lord, He raises us in our lifetime on Earth and even raises us from the dead. We are blessed as it implies that the Lord has chosen us out of all mankind. We look to God for everything with a sense of awe, wonder, gratitude, expectation. He will not disappoint us. His word which contains both His promises to claim and His commandments to obey are the source of great delight to us. As long as we do these things, we live in extreme favour of the Lord. He will cause whatever we do to prosper. He will cause the dead things in our lives, dead hopes to come alive. Our hearts are circumcised by Christ and the Holy Spirit so that we serve the Lord wholeheartedly. The layer of deceit, pride, self will that covers the human heart is peeled off. When we walk in all His ways each and every day, it shows we respect the Lord. The Lord surround our circumstances even as our circumstances surround us. The salvation Jesus provides is 360 degrees or in every conceivable direction, in every situation we confront in our daily lives.

The marks of blessing of such a person are detailed in Psalm 112- His children and descendants will be mighty on earth, they will be blessed. He prospers financially, too. He believes passionately in God but behaves compassionately. He is generous and just. He will never be defeated or feel insecure. He leaves a legacy of memories of his good deeds and good nature. He will be honoured in public. He will not be overtaken by bad news. His heart is steadfast and he is consistent. His enemies will not triumph over him. He will be vindicated. He remains upright and values integrity over any temporary gain through wrongful means.

In contrast, the desire of the wicked will amount to nothing. He will perish along with his dreams. He will be full of bitterness, jealousy, anger, frustration like Cain when he saw Abel finding extreme favour with the Lord. The wicked will become proud and foolish leading to decisions and choices that will bring about his eventual downfall. They will be like the dust that the wind blows away with no trace as if they never existed. We realize that there is only one right path that we can take- follow the One who described Himself as The Way, The Truth and the Light. All other paths lead to pathology.

Learning from the Eternal Farmer

UV 3437/10000 Learning from the Divine Farmer
So teach us to number our days, that we may cultivate and bring to You a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90 v 12
We need to be taught to number our days. Naturally, we assume that we will live long and we can do the things that seem important later on. This gives rise to the spirit of procrastination. Naturally, we are under the illusion that we will live forever. We lack foresight as well as hindsight. Only when we listen to God and His word, will our hearts be quickened or made alive. When we come to grips with God, we come to take a grip on life. The Holy Spirit will teach us to know how finite, limited are our days on earth. He teaches us how mortal, how quickly our souls can depart from our bodies. He will teach us how infinite, how amazing is the wisdom and grace of God. He will teach us how to use our time and opportunities wisely and also get a time sense, how to do, say and decide the right thing at the right time. He will teach us not to set too much store by our earthly goals and results, whether good or bad but to judge ourselves in the light of eternity.


We are accountable for the days we spend on this planet. One of the chief purposes and one of the best ways we can spend it is by cultivating a heart of wisdom. Our hearts are naturally perverse and inclined to evil just as land left to itself will give rise to all kinds of weeds and wild plants. It requires thinking, careful consideration of what to cultivate to make even the most fertile land useful and beneficial to its owner. It requires planning. It requires consistent implementation of the plan. It requires devotion, determination, dedication, discipline and diligence. It requires ploughing, watering, fertilizing, removal of weeds, levelling and so on to make the land fruitful. So also we need to cultivate our minds and hearts to make it fruitful to the Lord. It requires a sense of vision. It requires patience as the vision grows and bears fruit.

We need to number our days as we are to be possessed of a sense not just of vision but of urgency. We need to make our hearts wise or productive within the days allotted to us, whether more or few. The Word is the best plough to create the furrows in our minds, the best leveler to level out our pride, arrogance and other angularities or irregularities. The Word is the best seed to plant in the heart and mind. The Word is the best manure to help us endure, the best fertilizer to multiply the results of our efforts. The Word is the water of life to our hearts to soften it to make conditions just ripe for the right seed to grow, mature and reproduce after its kind. We need to surrender our hearts to Jesus and the Holy Spirit for all these processes to take place, some simultaneously, some sequentially.

Right Attitudes towards Money

UV 3436/10000 Right Attitudes towards Money
But those who are not financially ethical and crave to get rich with a compulsive, greedy longing for wealth fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction leading to personal misery.
I Timothy 6 v 9

Rust destroys iron, lust destroys men. Money is a basic necessity but to lust for it or to give it too much importance that it replaces the love of God in our hearts is destructive. The uni-verse warns us not to love money for it leads to many snares or traps, many foolish decisions and temptations. We are to be contented if we have food and clothing and shelter. The craving to get rich quick has led many into pitfalls from which they could not escape. The craving to get rich somehow has led many to commit crimes and end up in jail. Just yesterday, a group of such crooks, who promised loans to builder and after taking some advance cheques towards interest did not release the amount promised, were raided, arrested and remanded to jail.

The need to be financially ethical cannot be over emphasized. Greed and gullibility of people go hand in hand today, leading to economic frauds and white collar crimes growing exponentially. The Bible is all for patient and ethical capitalism. It implies that honest gains made through hard work, long years of waiting for an asset to increase in value, the right type of investments under guidance from the spirit of God cannot be faulted. While unethical financial dealings sooner or later leads to personal misery, honest gains of labour and wise decisions are enjoyed with thankfulness and generousity to the needy. Money is a good servant but a bad master. It should not be allowed to dominate our thinking. We should use it wisely to serve our needs and the needs of others the Lord brings in our way or brings to our hearts.

We need to realize that money will come and go but the Lord’s grace is what remains with us. His faithfulness will cause us to be blessed with either little or more. The widow of Zarephath ‘s small quantity of flour and oil were caused to multiply and fill many containers so that it would feed both the prophet Elijah, the widow and her son. When the son stopped breathing, it is the Lord who gave the prophet Elijah the faith and power to raise him from the dead. The Lord is able to provide for our every need, whether small or great. We only need to trust Him and rely on His promises. Our hearts and minds should be maintained with the purity of rolled gold before the examining eyes of the Lord.

Being Spirit Led

UV 3435/10000 Being Spirit Led
For if you are living according to the impulses of the flesh, you are going to die. But if you are living by the power of the Holy Spirit you are habitually putting to death the sinful deeds of the body, you will really live forever.

Romans 8 v 13
If we are led by the Spirit of God, we are children of God. If we are children of God we will be led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will empower and enable us to habitually put to death sinful impulses of the body. We will not live according to the dictates of the latter- the impulses but we will subject or submit ourselves to spiritual leadership. Our souls are freed from the natural law of entropy or the bondage to decay inherent in all matter. Our bodies are subject to decay and death but not our spirits when we are led by the Holy Spirit.

When we are led by the Holy Spirit, He will fill our hearts and minds with love instead of lust, with humility instead of pride. Instead of the spirit of fear, we will have the spirit of adoption or the spirit of children of God. Instead of slavery to sin and consequent guilt and curse, we begin to enjoy glorious freedom of the children of the house and not the enforced fear of servants or slaves of God’s household. We enjoy the rights and blessings of being co-heirs with Christ.

If we are called to enjoy the privileges and rights of inheritance with Christ of the Father’s kingdom, we are also called to share in the fellowship of suffering that Christ underwent for our sake. The suffering purifies and perfects our faith. We begin to perceive the value of being led by the Holy Spirit and not follow our own whims or impulses. The Holy Spirit teaches and guides us how to pray and how to lead our lives. He shapes our inner being so that we are transformed and conform to the image of the first born- Son of God – Jesus.

More than Conquerors

UV 3434/10000 More than Conquerors
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

When we stand and witness about the salvation of the Lord, we are taking up a battle position. But the battle itself belongs to the Lord. Victory belongs to the Lord. The Lord is with us as a fortress, as a mighty warrior leading an army of angels. He asks us not to fear even formidable enemies. He fills our hearts with courage and confidence even as He filled the heart of David with courage that he was going to fight the giant Goliath in the name of Jehovah and therefore, he could not be defeated. The Holy Spirit whispered in David’s ear to use his sling and stone and not try to use a sword against the giant. Prayer is today our sling and our specific requests the stones with which the sling is loaded, one after another.

Our faith will not be belied. We will not be dismayed or disappointed for the Lord will more than fulfill our hope and trust in Him. We need to go into any battle-like situation with praise and thanksgiving even as Jehoshaphat had the singers and musicians going ahead of the army. They praised Him for His mercy, love and kindness. Even as they began singing, the Lord set up ambushes against the forces of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir. The latter were struck down. No one could escape. The army of Jehoshaphat did not have to fight. They only enjoyed the spoils of victory. Indeed, He has made us more than conquerors for without even needing to fight, the Lord will give us victory.

Praise is succeeded by victory and victory by peace. When we look back on our lives, we can rejoice in the Lord again and again without ceasing. We will have no regret for even the pain that we suffered was intended for our good and it chiseled our character to be pleasing to the Lord. We will dwell in peace and security. He will take us from the wilderness of Tekoa to the Valley of Beracah or blessing. The fear of the Lord will come upon those who fought with us.

The Realm of the Impossible

UV 3433/10000 The Realm of the Impossible
And Zachariah said to the angel, “How will I be certain of this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in age?”
Luke1 v 18

The Lord does many things in our lives as in the life of the aged priest Zachariah which are beyond the realm of natural possibility. Why does He choose to do it this way and not in some natural, normal way that we are accustomed to? He does it to prove to us that it is He and He alone who has done the miracles in our lives. Like us Zachariah was incredulous and found it difficult to believe that he and his wife would have a child in their old age. When he expressed this doubt and wanted some evidence of the the promise to be fulfilled, the angel revealed that He was Gabriel, the arch angel who ministered in the very presence of God. To this day, the Lord sends His messengers, either angels, prophets, servants of God to confirm His promises.

Zachariah’s wife conceived in a short time after the angelic revelation though Zachariah remained mute as a chastening by the angel for his disbelief and doubt. In the supernatural world, believing is seeing. We need to believe ahead of time the fulfilment of the promises of the Lord. Zachariah’s wife praised God for what was then thought to be a disgrace that she was barren was lifted. When the Lord looks on us with favour, He lifts our burdens and disgrace, even those that we have shared with no one. When it happens, our hearts are filled with joy, our minds with awe at the love and power of the Lord for though we know that nothing is impossible for Him that He has done it for us in real time is a sign of His extreme favour, His great and personal love for each of us.

The word “Gabriel” means God is my strength. We rely on Him for the fulfilment of our desires, wishes, dreams, potential, purpose. Today, under the new covenant, we have Jesus, the very Son of God ministering in the presence of God. How much more will His grace, power, love be made manifest in our lives! We need not like Zachariah ask for a sign but wait upon His will to be made manifest in the thing we are seeking, the burden that only He can lift, the issue that only He can solve. As long as we are in fellowship with Jesus through the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, we are living in extreme favour of the Lord. It is not as if we will only prosper in health and that we will have only favourable circumstances all the time but even if the unfavourable happens, the Lord will deliver, the Lord will give us strength to face it, overcome it, endure it and be the better for it. The Lord can speak life into a dead or barren womb. He can speak life into the worst situation. Our faith in His strength and trust in His love gives us earthly hope (in our current situations) and above all, eternal hope.

The Sandwich Process

UV 3432/10000 The Sandwich Process
I will multiply on you man and animal; and they will increase and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as you were formerly, and I will do better (things) for you than at your beginning. Then you will know (with great confidence) that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 36 v 11

When the Tri-une God inhabits us on our invitation by faith, He does better things for us than in our former days. He will cause us to excel, multiply, be fruitful. When we moved to our new house called The Tabernacle in 2001, along with a one year old baby added to our family in 2000, older daughter, we had a female Dalmatian brought in from Bangalore. The uni-verse literally came true for Spotty, the Dalmatian soon gave birth to a litter of beautiful pups, including one that had a spot over one eye, promptly called Dot-com. He had multiplied both man and animal in our home and caused us to inhabit the Tabernacle even as He co-habits with us.

God is the Lord of increase and multiplication even as the enemy of our souls believes only in division and subtraction. The Lord increases our traction or momentum in the right direction while the latter slows and hampers us with confused thinking, bad decisions, assaults of every kind imaginable even through human agencies. The Lord does so to boost our faith in Him, so that we know with increasing confidence that He is indeed the Lord and ruler of all things and all nations, all domains. He does it to encourage us. He does it so that we remain connected to the very source of eternal life.

When we look back, we should give thanks, honour, praise and glory continually to the Lord for all the multitude of blessings He has sent our way, for the things He has orchestrated in our lives without our even knowing or being aware. The promises of God remain inert in the Word if we do not appropriate it through what I call a “sandwich process”. The word of the Lord needs to speak to us in a specific situation and personal way. Then, we need to believe it, accept it, run it in our hearts and minds over and over again, treasure it in our hearts, thank the Lord for it. Then, the second slice of the sandwich process will fall in place, namely its fulfilment in real time in an amazing and wonderful way that cannot be logically or naturally explained or understood. We will now know for sure that it is the unseen hand of the Lord, the invisible grace and great love of the Lord for us that caused it to happen.

Unlimited but Practical Wisdom

UV 3431/10000 Unlimited but Practical Wisdom
But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God( revealing His plan of salvation), and righteousness (making us acceptable to God), and sanctification (making us holy and setting us apart for God), and redemption ( providing our ransom from the penalty for sin. )
I Corinthians 1 v 30

Jesus is the wisdom from God meant for our justification, sanctification and redemption. It implies that divine wisdom first on making us acceptable to God, then, it provides a way for being set apart or distinguished for God and finally, it provides redemption or salvation. Hence, justification is Chapter one in God’s plan, sanctification is chapter 2 and chapter 3 is salvation. Once we are justified or made acceptable by our personal acceptance of Jesus as a sacrifice for our sakes, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to point out the areas we need to change for the better, become like Jesus, perfect in real time like our Father in heaven. Since Christ Jesus dwells in our hearts, we have an obligation to reflect His image in our lives. He is the fountainhead and spring of the wisdom of God.

When Elisha, the follower of Elijah asked for a double anointing, the latter said it was difficult but possible when he was taken up. Elijah was a prophet while Jesus is God, Prophet, King. For Jesus to share His anointing of wisdom and power, it is not difficult. His anointing of infinite wisdom is unlimited and hence, we should be bold and confident in asking for more and more anointing and wisdom from the Lord. We have no excuse to lead an ordinary or insignificant or powerless life. We need to daily grow in His infinite but practical wisdom and manifest it in our lives. We need not limit ourselves to ask for a double anointing but with a divine discontentment and eagerness for more we can ask for more and more grace, power, wisdom and anointing of Christ in our lives.

We need a lot of wisdom to handle even our daily challenges. The good news is that the Lord has promised that if we ask for wisdom, He would invest it in us liberally or generously. The wisdom He gives us is not theoretical or philosophical wisdom or wisdom of the head but wisdom of the heart. It is not wisdom that comes from books or mentors or from reflection but wisdom that is gifted and that grows in us as we use it. The wisdom He gives is not flaunted but hidden and made manifest or visible in good fruit of spirit, character, words and deeds.

A View of the New

UV 3430/10000 A View of the New
Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing, now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even put a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43 v 19


God is the only Innovator par Perfection, not just excellence. He pioneers a new move in history as well as in our lives. He can make a way where no road or path exist. He can rivers to flow in deserts. He can do both the difficult and the impossible. While it is happening, we may not even perceive it. All the same, it is happening the moment we repose our faith in His word, His promise, His command, His precept, His servants, His example. It begins in eternity and hence, it transcends our time zones and our zone of perception. We need the patience of Jesus to wait with expectation like Simeon waited on the promise of the Messiah as the process of renewal, of newness, of transformation from famine to abundance, from desert to garden, from forest to civilization happens.

The Lord does new things in us, with us and for us. The new things “ in us” is the proliferation of the fruit of the Spirit or the character of God in us. This is His top pleasure and it should be our top priority in our lives. The kingdom of God is as large as our hearts and He focusses all night, all day on our hearts. Nothing is secret or hidden from Him. He reads what is written in our hearts. It either pleases or pains Him. If we pray earnestly, He will send the Holy Spirit to furnish our hearts, the residence of the Lord with love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control. We need to desire the fruit of the Spirit much more than we seek the demonstrable gifts of the Spirit.
He does new things with us. This is about the purpose for which we are created and for which we exist. He will do new things that will enable us to fulfill His purpose. Fulfilling His purpose is true wealth, happiness and prosperity. He also does new things for us- the benefits and blessings we so sorely need. With new things being done by the Lord in us, for us and with us, we are enabled, equipped to be the new creation He has called us to be in Christ. He gives us the double anointing or spiritual enablement by His grace or power. We, in turn, do new things in Christ, with Christ and for Christ. We are constantly and continually restored and renewed to the image of Christ.