Accessing All Conquering Power by Faith

UV 4146/10000 Accessing All Conquering Power by Faith Do not let your heart be troubled (afraid, cowardly). Believe (confidently) in God and trust in Him, ( have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going and) believe also in Me. John 14 v 1 In this uni-verse, Jesus is encouraging His disciples even after revealing to them all the troubling events of the coming days including His death, His betrayal, the denial by Peter. We are to be peaceful, joyful, calm not on account of our worldly circumstances but despite these. Our hearts will not be troubled if we wholeheartedly trust God and believe the words of Jesus. The antidote for our trials, our tribulations, our worries is faith in God and trust in Jesus. He, then manifests Himself to us as the Balm of Gilead to anoint, enable, empower, equip, strengthen us, to heal us, to restore us, to deliver us, to make us victorious over our own betrayals, denials and death. The greater the trouble we face, the closer we should cling to God, our Father and to Jesus. Then, the Holy Spirit will comfort us, encourage us, remind us of the love of the Father and the compassion of the Son. We can find rest, assurance, consolation and strength in the loving embrace of the Lord which will help us brace ourselves to face any situation, overcome any challenge. The ultimate weapon the enemy has is death and even that cannot sting us, harm us, hinder us. Indeed, many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him from them all. But total trust, complete obedience, dependence, surrender to the sovereign will of God is the precondition to our entering and remaining in the rest or peace of the Lord. Our minds should be anchored in the Lord in the midst of any storm. Our mind should be focused, fixed on Him, not mixed with the world. It is reflected in a life of dedication, a lifestyle of meditation on the word. The word, it is promised in the Psalms, will deliver us from all our self-destructions as well as natural and man-made disasters or troubles. No problem is too difficult for the Lord to handle, no crisis too great for Him to confront and resolve. His power is unlimited. His resources are infinite. His mercy and love are great. Hence, by our faith and trust in Him, we can scale any wall, any obstacle, any barrier. We can run through a troop and break through a phalanx of forces arrayed against us. Our prayer like a javelin, like the staff of Moses can break through the heart of the enemy.

Burn Your Old Yoke

UV 4145/10000 Burn Your Old Yoke Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me (following Me as My disciple), for I am gentle and humble in heart, and You will find rest ( renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. Matthew 11 v 29 The heavy yoke of religious practices universally followed will not give man peace and rest. The heavy yoke of old covenant or old testament rules ( followed till today by both Jews and Muslims) will not give rest and peace. Jesus offers the lighter yoke, the lighter burden. The heavy yoke Jesus referred to is the weight of human guilt, the weight of God-given and man-made laws and rituals. The heavy yoke is the weight of karma or the teaching that one needs to free oneself by good deeds. The lighter yoke is the mustard seed of faith in Jesus, the smallest of all seed, that is planted in the hearts and minds of man. It becomes the radiating nucleus of life, the central point, the focus of our lives and sets us free of all bondages of laws, curses, personal weaknesses, fears. Jesus took the heavy yoke of the cross upon His shoulders and once He shed His blood on the accursed wood to which He was nailed, each drop of His blood became the lighter yoke which gives birth to new life in all believers’ hearts. We find our rest, renewal, blessings, peace, Shalom, freedom, eternal and abundant life through faith in what He accomplished on the cross. There is no more burden to prove ourselves to God. We no longer need any validation or approval from other human beings. We only need to embrace, accept the lighter yoke of renewing our minds with the word and the Spirit of God to prove what is good, acceptable and perfect in the sight of God. The lighter yoke is to walk in the way the Holy Spirit indicates to us, day after day, saying, “ Walk in this path, the path of Jesus, the good path where you will find rest, peace, salvation for your souls, abundance of blessings”. We do not therefore, have a dead yoke placed on us but a living yoke placed inside us that is always pulsating, growing, fruitful. This living and lighter yoke is the word of God, living, active, deep penetrating our souls, releasing grace and power that makes our souls stronger than even our bones. There is a real danger of many new covenant believers living old testament lives. We need to burn the old ploughs ( yokes) that weigh us down like Elisha who burnt the old ploughs before following Elijah as his disciple. Likewise, when we decide to follow Jesus, we can burn our old yoke.

Strength and Weakness, Victory and Failure

UV 4144/10000 Strength and Weakness, Victory and Failure Keep actively watching and praying that you may not come into temptation the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26 v 41 The flesh is weak but the spirit and bones of man are strong. The flesh is overpowered by appetite, temptation, lust, weariness, laziness. The senses often overcome our scruples. Flesh wants to do what is opposite to the spirit. It does not want to do what the spirit wants. The flesh and spirit are often at cross purposes but the purpose of the cross is to reconcile God with man and incidentally, it also reconciles the spirit and flesh of man. The Spirit is reinstated as the one to supersede the flesh and direct the flesh. If the flesh embodies human weakness, the spirit constitutes grace or the strength of God manifested in a godly man, made godly by faith in Jesus. If flesh and bone and spirit co-exist side by side harmoniously, the purpose of God is fulfilled in our lives. Weakness and strength co-exist in our being. Hence, we need to seek strength of the Lord to overcome our inherent weaknesses of spirit, mind and body. The Lord gives us His grace and the Holy Spirit to overcome weaknesses of the flesh of the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye. He gives us grace to overcome the weakness of the spirit and mind which is the pride of life. Hence, we need not hide like Adam and Eve when our weaknesses are exposed. We should instead hide in the Lord, hide the word in our hearts to help us turn our weaknesses into strength. A man whose steps are ordered of the Lord or who lives according to the word will therefore, have the Spirit of God ruling over his own spirit, mind and body. Thereby, as Paul wrote, in our weaknesses will His grace and glory be revealed. In our ignorance and folly, is His wisdom manifested. The direction of Jesus in the uni-verse to his sleepy disciples who could not stay up to pray with Him even though they were willing in spirit to do so is to watch out for their weaknesses and to ask the Lord for grace and power to overcome these weaknesses. We also need to be alert and be forewarned of temptations, snares the enemy lays to catch our feet and pray proactively asking the Lord for strength to be aware, to detect the snares, to avoid and overcome these. The tempatation can come from within us, our own senses, our own desires, our own bodies and flesh or it can come from without. We need to be both aware and prayerful to overcome both types of temptations in this world as long as we live.

Enjoy, Apply, Teach

UV 4143/10000 Enjoy, Apply, Teach Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts. Jeremiah 15 v 16 We need to search for the word of the Lord. The word that is meant specifically for us is called the “rhema” word. By searching the logos or the general or whole word, we find the rhema, the specific word the Lord intends for us in a given situation on a given day or moment. This is why knowledge of the word is vital for salvation and for spiritual growth. Having found the word, we need to consume it, read, memorise, meditate on it with zeal or enthusiasm as we would a choice or favourite dish. Eating the word of God keeps us from eating our own words. For the Lord has called us His children. As our Father, He takes the responsibility to feed us, to guard us, to guide and defend us. He always has a whole standing army of angels to defend us for that is what the term “God of hosts” mean. Like there is a specific word, there is a specific angel for different tasks. The word “EAT” is an acronym for Enjoy, Apply, Teach. We need to enjoy learning the word, applying it in practical ways in our lives, delight in teaching it to others to equip them to lead godly lives. We are given a new identity as believers of Christ. We are given His name as His followers. We are sons and daughters of God. When we call out to Him, He will feed us with His divine manna- His word. Just as morsels of food after chewing are further digested in the stomach and then sent through the blood to all parts to provide energy for activity, protein for building the cells, regenerating the eroded parts, when we chew on the word, break it into smaller parts, cover it with digestive juices and then, it is ready to nourish our spiritual and inmost being. It becomes the delight of our hearts. It produces joy, peace, confidence, security, wisdom, knowledge in us which equip us for life, the abundant and eternal life in Christ. The word needs to be stored in the heart to keep us from falling into sin. What is bitter in the mouth and mind, becomes sweet as honey in our inner parts. We should not just feed on the lighter parts of the word which is like milk for the new born but delve deep, sink our teeth into the bone and meat of it to grow to maturity. The commands and warnings in the word produce discipline and wisdom in us while the promises produce hope, courage, faith, opportunities for the Lord to act in our lives. Each promise we believe and claim is like a door we leave in our hearts for the Lord to enter and work a miracle.

The Everlasting Son

UV 4142/10000 The Everlasting Son Your sun will no longer set, nor will your moon wane; For the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will be over. Isaiah 60 v 20 In the beginning the Lord had set the sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night, implying to provide light for all creation. The word “rule” implies to be light providers, problem solvers, positive influencers in the world. We have accepted the Lamb of God, Jesus to be our everlasting Lamp, too. He is the One who lights up both our days and our nights. As long as we walk in His light, with His word as our lamp to guide our steps, we will not be in darkness. God is our glory, our splendour, our cause and source of radiance. The word promises that His glory and brilliance will be seen on us, in us. Unlike the sun that leaves us in the darkness by night, Jesus is consistent in His leadership, guidance, teaching, love towards us. Unlike the moon that is not consistent in reflecting the sun's light, we should be consistent in reflecting the Son's Light. In Egypt at the time of Moses, there was darkness in all the land but in the Israelites homes, there was light. Likewise, while there is darkness all round, deep darkness as human values tumble, leaders stumble, the ones led by Christ have seen a great Light that cannot be extinguished. The Lord promises to glorify His Name through us. He is our everlasting Light. The word is the fuel in our lamp. The wick of our lamp will burn brightly, not flicker, never die even as the wicked, the ungodly, those who do not fear or trust God perish. The moon has no light of its own. It wanes and waxes as the earth casts its shadow upon it. So also the world cannot cast its shadow of death or destruction or defeat upon us as we reflect the light of Jesus with and in our lives. The Shadow of Jesus, of the Almighty is the only shadow that produces everlasting glory, effulgence, brightness, hope, eternal life. We find our light, our warmth, our hope, our strength by continually dwelling in Him, covered by His presence, His radiance, His glory. Hence, no sorrow, no curse, no affliction can touch us, harm us permanently. His blood shed on the cross has become the gateway to flood our lives with joy and peace. The Holy Spirit, God in us, glorifies and radiates His grace in and through us.

Rescue from Death

UV 4141/10000 Rescue from Death O Lord, You have brought my life up from Sheol ( the nether world, the place of the dead); You have kept me alive, so that I would not go down to the pit ( grave). Psalm 30 v 3 Escape from premature or untimely death comes from the Lord. It is not as if we ourselves can escape but we are rescued by the hand of the Lord. It is been thirty years since the Lord spared my life in the human bomb assassination of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Psalm 30 ironically also records the reason why a man’s life is spared by the Lord- to praise Him, to declare His faithfulness to man. ( Psalm 30 v 9). We are taken to the very edge of life where human knowledge neither exists or works to realize that only the Lord could have saved us from such a calamity. The Lord lifts us up literally from the grave, the nether world, the place of the dead. He hears our cry for help and heals us of our pride, our sinfulness so that we lead godly lives, worthy of His calling and justifying His saving us. From the moment of so being saved providentially by the hand of the Lord, we will be so reverential that even at the very mention of the name of God, we will remember our debt to Him and offer spontaneous thanksgiving. We realize the truth of the scripture that says, “ His anger lasts for but a moment but His favour for a lifetime.” When all goes well for human beings, we tend to forget God and feel secure in our prosperity but the moment God hides His face for even a moment, we will be terrified. Once we recover from the trauma of suffering, our mourning will turn to joy and dancing and celebration of God’s grace and faithfulness to us proven in the very fact we are still living and well. Once we are saved from death by the Lord, we cannot be silent but we are filled with the joy of salvation that expresses itself in songs of praise to the Lord. We become living evidence for the existence of God and to attest that He is faithful and rewards our faith. Our scars remind us daily of the fact that the Lord has saved us. We are not ashamed to say so. We are also purged of the roots of evil in our human nature when we go through such life threatening experiences. We remain in our bodies so that we become embodiments of God’s truths and His love to the rest of mankind. We are divested of our mortal fears of death and instead, our confidence and trust in the Lord grows manifold.

Listen to Glisten

UV 4140/10000 Listen to Glisten Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him and obey Him!” Mark 9 v 7 The Father desires that we listen to Jesus and obey Him. We need to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit reminding us of the word of Jesus and get His help to obey it. When we do so, we please the Father. Like Peter, awed by the transfiguration and the appearance of Moses and Elijah on the mountain was blurting out whatever came to his mind. He said they would make three tabernacles or sacred tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. All the Lord wants us to do is not to do anything but to just listen to the Word ( Jesus) and obey Him. Like the cloud overshadowed them on the mountain, we need to be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. When Bezalel, the craftsman who made the Tabernacle according to the plan received through Moses, was so overshadowed by the Spirit of God, he was gifted with skills and cunning to work with all kinds of precious metals and materials used in the tabernacle. When Mary was overshadowed by the Spirit, she conceived the Messiah, Jesus. When we are overshadowed by the Spirit of God, we will be equipped to obey the Lord, to fulfill His will for our lives. We need to spend time listening to Jesus. We need to listen without interrupting with our own thoughts and ideas. We need to listen intently like Mary at His feet. Listening should be accompanied by the commitment to obey His directions, His teachings, His word. The Lord needs to say, “Ephatha” or open for our inner mind, our inner ears to open for we cannot listen with just our physical hearing. Our eyes should open to see Him in His glory like Peter, James and John saw Him radiant and glorious, as Daniel saw the awesome, resplendent vision of Jesus, as John, the Revelator saw Him in a vision, as Paul saw him on the road to Damascus, as Stephen saw Him in his dying moment. Our ears should open to hear and understand and receive His word. Our heart should commit to obey Him fully, not half -heartedly, not fearfully, not doubtfully, not hesitantly but wholeheartedly, enthusiastically, faithfully. When we so listen, so obey, our lives will shine for Jesus in this dark world. Our lives will be transformed and our bodies transfigured like Moses and Elijah. The appearance of Moses and Elijah, mortal men like us is a sign that we too will receive glorified bodies beyond death in the kingdom of God. Meanwhile, we have only two tasks- to listen, to obey.

Duality of Power of the Human Tongue

UV 4139/10000 Duality of Power of the Human Tongue The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18 v 21 The human tongue has powers that no other species can boast of. It can produce life and death and life or death for the speaker as well as the listener. As it is written in the book Deuteronomy, life and death is placed before us and we are urged to choose life. This applies more with regard to the tongue than with regard to anything else in life. We need to love making the right choice of words to speak before uttering it. A right word, the book of Proverbs says, is like an apple of gold in settings of silver. It implies that we should use silence to forge golden words. We should be passionate in speaking the right word at the right time. One word amiss can mean a relationship spoilt, an opportunity botched, a person discouraged, angered or provoked. A lot of care needs to go into purifying the word in the furnace of the mind, in refining it over and over again till it is ready to be expressed. A lot of love of the word of God is needed to shape our own words. The natural human tendency is to use our tongues unwisely, inappropriately, ineffectively. We need to love wisdom, love God, love life intensely, love people immensely not to hurt others, not to tear them down, not to make them feel dejected, not to displease them, not to insult, harm, discourage the listeners. We need to know that the power of communication is an awesome power that humans alone are given in order to exercise faith, build faith, express love, gratitude, appreciation, blessings and not to curse, blame, boast, exaggerate, criticize, accuse, argue, conflict. If we are lovers of great or good communication, we should desist from idle talk, thoughtless words, excess talk, gossip, malicious talk and the like. The fruit of the evil spirit and of the Holy Spirit are both expressed using the tongue. The tongue that is controlled and directed by the former revels in lies, abuse, hatred, dissensions, strife, putting down others, provoking others, destroying goodwill, making others to fight. The tongue that is controlled by the Holy Spirit expresses love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control. I heard yesterday of a herbal medicine that if placed under the tongue every half hour leads to covid affected critical patients with low oxygen saturation recovering to normal. Likewise, we should always keep a verse like the above under our tongue as a spiritual medicine continually to act as a rudder and a spur to speak wisely, aptly, correctly and consistently. For in the absence of such conscious guidance of the human tongue, it becomes a spark or flame that grows like a forest fire.

The Double Blessing

UV 4138/10000 The Double Blessing He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross ( willingly offering Himself on it, as on an altar of sacrifice), so that we may die to sin ( becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin) and live for righteousness; for by His wounds you ( who believe) have been healed. I Peter 3 v 24 Jesus by dying on the cross was not making a token payment for man’s sin but an absolute payment. He paid the cost by being separated from God during His time nailed to the cross. This is the reason the only time Jesus addressed God as God or Eli and not Father as was His custom is on the cross. He was separated in time and space for the first and only time from God, the Father paving the way for our union, our fellowship, our reconciliation, our personal relationship with God. God is no longer the fearful judge but our Father in heaven who relates to us on earth as a Father has compassion on His children. By the blood price paid by Jesus, the ultimate price, we were ransomed or freed from the enemy’s control. It was a willing and wholesome sacrifice, sufficient to pay for every act of absolute evil of man. Jesus made no attempt to defend Himself, to stave off the cruel punishment. As a result, we are freed from the penalty and power of sin though not from the presence of sin as long as we live in this body. We are united with the presence of God. God is present with us and in us. We are now a new creation with a new purpose and power working in us so that we live for righteousness even in the midst of sin. We are a race called out of all races to be perfected in Christ. We are called to declare the many excellencies of God. We are called out of darkness into His marvelous light. We are clothed with salvation. Since salvation is described as clothes, it is something we can take off us or keep on us. We are to maintain the cleanness of our clothes of salvation- that much is our responsibility. We should not return to the shame of nakedness since Christ became naked for our sake. His robe was also sold by the soldiers as a symbol of His having exchanged His glory for our shame. The crown of thorns that tore into His scalp is a symbol of the glorious crown He purchased for His own, those He chose and those who chose to believe in Him and live in Him. It is not an uneasy crown, a heavy crown that we wear but a crown that is easy for us to bear. It implies that leadership comes easy and naturally to the people of God, the children by faith in Jesus. The back of Jesus was as if it was ploughed. It was lacerated by the spired balls tied to the leather whip with which He was flogged, intended by Pilate to be a lesser penalty than death that could exculpate the One who was not guilty of any sin, any crime, who only lived righteously, the Only righteous One in human history. It turned out instead to be double jeopardy that the Lord God turned into a double Jesuspardy, a fountain, an eternal spring of blessings for mankind. The death on the cross obtained salvation for all who truly believed . The wounds on the back obtained healing for all who truly lived for righteousness in His name.

More than Conquerors

UV 4137/10000 More Than Conquerors They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you. Jeremiah 1 v 19 Peace is not the absence of conflict but a sense of confidence in God in the middle of the battle. Each of us has our own battle to fight. God does not take us out of the fight but assures us that He is with us and will rescue us. Even when the tide is rising, the odds are against us, hope is receding, the Lord holds the line and secures victory for us. His presence with us and in us is sufficient to guarantee victory in the temporal world and beyond in the eternal realms. Those who fight against us find they cannot overcome us. The might power of God that was employed in the resurrection of His Son Jesus from an unjust and cruel death is with us, working in us to do far more than we can imagine, think or ask. We are not to be passive or aggressive but we need to claim in faith victory. The Lord has vested four fold power in us- victory by the blood of Jesus, victory by the word, victory by the name of Jesus, victory by the Holy Spirit. We are declared more than conquerors for our victory is known even before the battle begins, our battle is fought by the Lord of hosts. Another reason we are called more than conquerors is that we do not have to shed our own blood except if we are called to be martyrs for Jesus. We are also more than conquerors as the Commander-in-Chief leads us from the front. We are more than conquerors as we fight a spiritual battle not a physical or military one. We fight not with flesh and blood but with the principalities and powers of darkness. We fight not with weapons of steel but with prayer and the word of God and the help of the Spirit of God. When we stand for the Light, we will need to fight for the right cause. We need the anointing or enablement and empowerment of the Lord to fight the battles of life. We are not anointed with oil but with the fire of the Holy Spirit. We do not rely on horses or chariots or swords or armies but on the Lord. He is with us as a mighty warrior. Hence, we overcome our fears, our worries, our weaknesses. Earthly or worldly conquerors are insecure but we are secure in the Lord. We are not as we know the battle belongs to the Lord. We only need to stand in faith, take our positions on the basis of the promises of God’s word and not even fight. The concept of defeat is defeated in the death of Jesus on the cross followed by His glorious resurrection. We are ever victorious regardless of the results of our earthly struggles- even if death beckons us.

A Strong and Living Framework

UV 4134/10000 A Strong and Living Framework Again He said to me, “ Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” Ezekiel 37 v 3 Dry bones are decayed or dead bones, the bones or skeleton of a dead person. Without faith in God, without hope in life, we resemble dead bones. Only God has complete knowledge of the roadmap, the plan, the blueprint of life for everyone in this world. Hence, we need to trust in Him. His hand needs to be upon us. His hand of protection, provision, care, guidance, wisdom, power is upon His own, those who love and trust Him, those who hear His word and believe it. When we believe and obey the word of the Lord, His breath or the Holy Spirit enters us and revives us. We are ready to soar like an eagle, roar like a lion regardless of whether His hand has placed us on the mountain top with beautiful views all round or in the valley of bones, full of skeletons. Jesus, called the Son of man though He is the Son of God holds us together like the sinews, muscles, nerves, joints of the body. He is our Anchor and strong Fulcrum. He lightens our load or yoke by increasing our strength, power to bear it. The power He releases into our lives is the same power that brought Him from death back to life. He gives us the grace or power and ability to overcome the circumstances of our lives. He brings us out of our “graves”, implying in areas where we have zero hope or dead wishes, He brings it out to live again. He proves time and time again that He is the Doer of the Impossible. Bones are also a metaphor for strong foundations. Like the foundations of a building, the bones are hidden deep inside. The Lord strengthens our spiritual and moral foundations, the deep and inner being. Hope and joy springs out of the deep and inner being to overflow over ground where it is visible and useful to quench the thirst of people. We become living, strong, connected like a whole and wholesome body. We realize that though the enemy is against us, the Lord wants to give us hope and a future and beyond that, life eternal.

Waiting for the Breath of God

UV 4133/10000 Waiting for the Breath of God But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria and even to the ends of the earth. Acts 1 v 8 The Lord Jesus before He ascended to heaven promised the disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon them. Jesus had spoken of the promise of the Father- the Holy Spirit. Once Jesus was unified with the Father in heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent upon the 120 who were waiting in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit is referred to in Hebrew as the Breath of God. This is relevant in the middle of this second wave of the covid 19 pandemic where people are struggling all over India to just breathe. Even the name Jehovah, the name of the Father implies the two movements of the breath – breathing in is Jah and breathing out is Vah or Veh. Once Jesus died on the cross shedding every drop of blood, blood being another life-carrier, the payment for man’s sin was completed in full. Now mankind or as Joel put it, all flesh was ready to receive an outpouring of the Spirit of God, the Ruach or Breath of God. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinitarian God. It is just as trinitarian as we humans are – spirit, mind and body. To use another metaphor, the three persons of the Trinity have the same DNA or divine nature just as water, ice and steam are composed of the same elements H2O. The Word or Jesus is the water of life to fulfill the supernatural thirst of mankind for eternal life or life forever. It was prophesied by the forerunner, the herald of Jesus, the King of Kings by John, the Baptist that He would baptize with fire. The fire is the metaphor for the Holy Spirit. During His thirty three year stint or life on earth, Jesus never baptized with the Spirit of God as mankind had not yet been justified and sanctified to be united, filled, empowered by the Spirit of God. Now that the 120 had been justified by their faith in Jesus and His death, the sacrificial aspect of His death on the cross and resurrection on the third day, they were getting ready for the baptism by fire. Yet, they were not yet ready even at the point of the ascension of Jesus to His throne at the right hand of the Father. It took days of waiting in the upper room, days of expectation, days of devotion to prayer and fellowship and the imparting of the word of God, It took ten days of conscious waiting and on the fiftieth day since the resurrection, there was the rushing of the wind, the manifestation of the mighty Spirit of God as what appeared as tongues of fire touched the ones gathered and waiting in the upper room. The whole gathering of 120 believers, followers of Jesus who were in one accord were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, hitherto unknown to them but understood by people from different provinces of the Roman empire. They were mocked and made fun of by unbelievers and bystanders that they were drunk at noon. Peter, no longer the fickle, temperamental disciple empowered by the Holy Spirit stood and explained the phenomenon, the experience of the Divine inhabiting and filling the human body and taking control of their intellects and tongues. As Jesus prophesied, they had received power or the ability to be witnesses from God, the power to be a witness by character, a witness emboldened, empowered, enabled, a witness by miraculous expression in unknown languages. They were now ready for a dispersal across the length and breadth of Israel and across the world, to the uttermost parts of the world. The role and functions of the Holy Spirit were described by Jesus to be the Comforter, the Counsellor, the Encourager, the Enabler, the Empowerer, the Sustainer, the Advocate, the Helper, the Intercessor, God on earth, God in us, the Convictor, the Revelator. The Father is God for us, Jesus is God with us and the Holy Spirit is God in us.

Becoming A Tall and Transformed Leader

UV 4132/10000 Becoming a Tall and Transformed Leader So he ran ahead ( of the crowd) and climbed up a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass that way. Luke 19 v 4 Zaccheus had many things going against him – his short stature- a natural impediment, his corrupt practices and bad reputation. But, it all changed the day Zaccheus ran after Jesus just to catch a glimpse of Him. His enthusiasm changed his destiny. Instead of being condemned, he was saved for Jesus after entering his house said of him, “ Today salvation has come to this household for he, too, is a son of Abraham”. The tree of knowledge led to the fall of man but a tree led to Zaccheus gaining favour with the Lord. We will become tall leaders regardless of our past, regardless of our status or stature if we connect with the tallest leader of history- Jesus Christ. The words of Jesus, the friendship of Jesus transformed the heart and life of Zaccheus from being a hardened, confirmed, unrepentant sinner to a being a spiritual person, a friend of God like Abraham. He repented of his acts of corruption and cheating and immediately wanted to give back four times what he had obtained by fraud from others. He committed to giving half his wealth to the poor as restitution. When we run after Jesus, welcome Him into our hearts like Zaccheus, our lives will be transformed. The grace of God had helped Zaccheus overcome the negative words, vibes and reputation he had among the common people. Zaccheus hurried to obey Jesus. He opened his house to Jesus and His disciples without counting the cost or grudging the effort and expenditure on this hospitality. Zaccheus, the antisocial miser had become hospitable. The materialistic Zaccheus had become spiritual and gave first priority to Jesus in his house and his life. Likewise, instead of hardening our hearts with disobedience and disbelief, we should respond to the call of Jesus, the move of the Holy Spirit with speed or alacrity. We should soften our hearts and rely on the Lord to grow, to gain stature, to get a glimpse of Him daily in our lives. Seeing, hearing and obeying Jesus should be the chief joy of our lives. The anointing of Jesus overflowed and touched every life He came in contact with. When we continually fellowship with Jesus, we will be moved to action by His word, to put into practice what we have learnt from Him about truth, about our sinful past, about our relationship with the Father, about love and peace and grace.

Shining in Reflected Glory

UV 4131/10000 Shining in Reflected Glory The light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days ( concentrated in one), in the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heal the wound He has inflicted ( because of their sins). Isaiah 30 v 26 The follower of Jesus, the worshipper of Jehovah is like the full moon, reflecting the glory of the sun. The Son’s light will be intensified and brighten our lives in all aspects. The Lord promises in this uni-verse to bind the fractured limb, to heal the wound with which we are afflicted. God is a God of justice and He longs to reveal His abundant grace to us. The world may frown on us but the Lord’s face shines on us as we walk in faith and obedience to His will and His word. He hides His face from the world but never hides from us. At the sound of our cry, He will hear us. He rushes to our help whatever be the situation we are facing. When our need is greater, the Lord intensifies His grace towards us. It is as if He has multiplied the rays of His light of truth, mercy and grace by seven times. During the time, that Moses called the plagues upon Egypt, it was dark inside the Egyptian houses but it was like daylight in the houses of the Hebrew slaves. We need to always be aware, thankful and joyful that the Lord is the source of light and life in our lives. He is the One who sends down a shower of blessing upon the seed we sow in every domain. He is the One who determines which will succeed, flourish, grow, multiply and which will be barren or perish. The times and season of our lives are in His hands. Like the moon, we should be content to faithfully reflect the light He sends into our lives. The full moon in the uni-verse is a metaphor for using our full potential to serve God, to magnify His name. To magnify is to concentrate, to focus more of our energy and attention combined with God’s grace and guidance to a limited area or domain of activity. As the moon is held in place, in orbit by the sun and earth’s gravitational pull, we should be drawn more to the Lord and His word than to this world. In comparison for our love for God, our earthly affections should diminish to seem almost as hatred. Jesus is the center of the spiritual universe and He holds us in place as we orbit around Him like millions of stars and heavenly bodies orbit around the core of the universe. The closer we are to Him, the more brightly we shine for Him. The more we understand, remember, apply, obey, share His word, the more strength, victory and joy we experience in this life.

Law Replaced by Love

UV 4130/10000 Law Replaced by Love Nor is new wine put into old wineskins ( that have lost their elasticity); otherwise the wineskins burst, and the (fermenting) wine spills and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, so both are preserved. Matthew 9 v 17 In this uni-verse, Jesus is telling the disciples of John the Baptist that under the new covenant of love instituted by Him, everything is to be new. They were intrigued that the disciples of Jesus were not fasting but feasting. For they were often fasting like the Pharisees, the teachers of the law. Jesus indicated that with Him there is to be a break in traditions. Both the container and the contents- the wineskin and the wine are to be new. Both our inner attitudes, our aspirations, our habits, our lifestyle, our actions and reactions are to be renewed in the spirit. It is not a mix and match of old covenant and new covenant values. It is not a patchwork but wholesome change or transformation from within. The way we think, speak, relate, communicate is to conform to the pattern of the word and not the pattern of the world. There is stress when a bit of the old man co-exists with the new Christ-created new man in us. The old man has to die. The new creation has to live and thrive. We are to consciously put to death the old habits that are not pleasing to the Lord, the old ways of thinking and communicating are to cease. A radical change from the root of our faith in Christ should begin and encompass our lives and not just a superficial show of change in terms of clothing or name change and so on. We are to willingly yield to the Holy Spirit as He grooms and shapes us from within and not resist His promptings. The word is the chisel with which the Spirit sculpts us and changes us from within to free us from pride, from lust of the eye and of the flesh. We need to yield our weaknesses to the Lord so that He enables us by grace to overcome these. These weaknesses do not become cracks in the old wineskin from which the fermented wine leak. Vestiges of tradition, the old covenant practices are to be replaced with the love and wisdom of Jesus. Law is replaced by love. Hence, we are not to be judgemental, legalistic or rigid. As the Spirit leads, we need to follow.

Single Minded and Wholehearted Devotion

UV 4129/10000 Single Minded and Wholehearted Devotion No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon ( money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord). Matthew 6 v 24 We need to prioritise God over all else in life including our own life, our family, our children, our possessions, our position, our reputation, our security, our ambitions. These are to have value only in as much as it serves to help us serve and honour God better or more effectively. If we prioritise any of these over God, we provoke His “jealousy” for the word clearly says, He is a jealous God. We are created in this way so that we can serve only God as master. All the rest are our servants and also to be used to serve the Lord God. We should not set great store by it and know that these are gifts given by the Lord to enable us to fulfill our purpose in life. Job was first given all these things -status, wealth, possessions, prominence, family, security - but even when it was all taken away and was urged by others like even his wife to curse God, he faithfully refused and continued to honour the Lord. In the midst of this second wave, many men and women of God are afflicted and even men who are believers have lost their lives. Yet we who serve God wholeheartedly cannot question His sovereign will. Like Job, we need to affirm, “ The Lord has given and He has taken.” We cannot question the timing when He takes away what He has given us. We need to be single minded and whole hearted in our devotion to the Lord. We cannot be double minded, fickle hearted, divided in our dedication and devotion to Him. The first commandment of Jesus subsumes the ten commandments given through Moses- love the Lord your God with all your heart ( all your emotions), with all your mind ( with all your thoughts, goals and decisions), with all your strength ( with all your physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual abilities and resources). Making anything else more precious to us than His word, His will, His person, His promises, His name is amounting to bowing to idols. We know we cannot gain mastery over our own lives for we do not know ourselves or our inner being that well. We know we owe everything we are and ever will be to Him. We have both life and eternal life in Him. we live and move and exist in Him and for Him.

Partnering with The Lord

UV 4128/10000 Partnering with the Lord I have seen the task which God has given to the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. Ecclesiastes 3 v 10 The profession or occupation we have is given to us by God. He has placed in us a certain skill set that matches the occupation. He gives us wisdom, knowledge and understanding generously as we ask Him and depend on Him. If we make Him a partner in our business or profession, He will enable us by His marvelous and awesome power do remarkably well such that His name is glorified and our testimonies stand out. He will establish the work of our hands and enable us to enjoy the fruit of our labour. One entrepreneur I know refers to Jesus as his Chairman. He is the CEO of His enterprise. Christ being the wonderful counsellor that He is, can help us turn round difficult situations. He will give us the word of wisdom and knowledge to be able to tackle the challenges we face. He is the Lord of the harvest and hence, can bless our harvest to be many fold or a hundred fold of the time, energy and resources we invested in it. Even our failures and setbacks will be for our good and we will not be despondent or depressed when we experience a downturn, knowing that the Lord will use it for our good. The Lord will bring the opportunities our way as long as we are faithful, grateful and diligent. Our organization will be a Christ-enabled organization. We rely on His grace and guidance for every step we plan and take. The Lord will enable us to achieve our goals and fulfill the purpose for which we are called. Whether He fills our nets to the point of bursting or whether at times we draw an empty net, the Lord will meet our need. He will be with us during turbulent times, during the storms.

Vessels of Clay

UV 4127/10000 Vessels of Clay Stop regarding man, whose breath ( of life ) is in his nostrils ( for so little time); For why should he be esteemed? Isaiah 2 v 22 This uni-verse states that man being mortal and vulnerable should not be revered, respected, esteemed. Such reverence, respect and esteem belongs only to the Lord. We should realize how small, vulnerable, fallible each of us is and desist from being in awe of human accomplishment, talent, riches, position, beauty, power, strength or wisdom for we are like a mere wisp of breath in comparison with the infinite and eternal Creator and Redeemer. We are to utterly humble ourselves before the Lord and be in awe of His wisdom, His power, His greatness, His love, His mercy. When we do so, we empty ourselves of vanity, pride, arrogance, ego with all the attendant ills. We are not to be full of ourselves but empty ourselves out so that the grace of Christ fills us and our cup is full of His grace, His power, His wisdom. We need to remind ourselves often of the scripture that says that we are like the grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, the flowers that fade. In our weakness is His strength displayed, in our folly, His wisdom, in our inadequacies, His power. We are vessels and in order to be vessels fit for the King of Kings to use, we need to understand our purpose, our limitations as human beings and as individuals. We are broken vessels, clay pots with cracks not proud golden vessels. The Lord’s love, power, wisdom and grace need to ooze through the pores of this earthen vessel. As earthen vessels, we contain the treasures of the love, wisdom and glory of the Lord. The more we yield ourselves to the Spirit of God, the more the Lord can use us. Every day, however some trash also tries to creep into us and we need to be aware and request the Holy Spirit to cleanse us with water( the word) from the inside. Faith is the golden vein that heals, mends, repairs the cracks in us. We are to overflow with the anointing, love, grace and mercy of the Lord.

My Cup Overflows

4126/10000 My Cup Overflows You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed and refreshed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Psalm 23 v 5 The process of maximizing our lives or fulfilling our God-given potential is based on extracting from the word of God – a maxim to guide us in our walk with God, in our daily lives. The maxim extracted from the above uni-verse is : “MY CUP OVERFLOWS.” Our cup is not half empty or half full but it overflows with mercy, grace, healing, blessing, deliverance, joy, peace, hope. We are not to believe in the human philosophy of either optimism or pessimism but have confidence in the Lord that He has provided all that is needed in abundance. Jesus often asked His disciples if they could drink the cup He was to drink- the one of extreme suffering and sacrifice. Many of His first disciples did drink of it, too and were martyred. But, today, the Lord asks us to rejoice, to be filled with positivity to the brim and beyond. We have traded, indeed our sorrows for His joy, our weaknesses for His strength, our sinfulness for His grace and holiness, our defeat for His victory. Our cup is not containing a mixture of joy and sorrow, faith and doubt. It is a cup the Lord has filled. It is our portion or the inheritance of blessings we have from the Lord. It is a cup overflowing with love. It is a cup overflowing with hope. It is a cup overflowing with faith. We have this cup served to us at the Lord’s table. We have this cup of joy as we have anchored our lives in the relationship we have with God through Christ Jesus, His Son. Jesus said, “ I have come to bring you life in all its abundance.” The cup contains an abundance of all that we need to live a victorious life. Like Jesus was anointed, prepared to be Messiah for all humanity, we are anointed to be part of His body, the church, to serve the world as His representatives on earth. We are anointed with “fire’ of the Holy Spirit by Jesus. When at first, God, the Father breathed into man, he began to live. When Jesus breathes on us, we receive the Holy Spirit. If our cup is to be full with what Jesus has intended and prepared for us, we should empty it of our own selves, our egos, our weaknesses, our fears, our insecurities and fill it with His strength, power, love, grace and mercy.

Maximizing Our Lives with Maxims and Habits

UV 4125/10000 Maximizing our Lives with Habits We have therefore been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory and power of the Father, we too might walk habitually in newness of life ( abandoning our old ways). Romans 6 v 4 We are dead to sin and temptation as symbolized by our baptism in water where we identified with the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. We are deemed sinless though in actual point of fact as long as we dwell in this body of flesh and senses, we cannot be sinless. We cannot be sinless but we can sin less. The same glory, greatness, power, grace of the Father that resurrected Jesus from death and restored Him to glory of God, works in us who believe. We are to appropriate that power every day, every moment to resist temptation, to overcome it, to be victorious. We are to surrender every member of our bodies, every organ, every part of our lives to God through Jesus as a living sacrifice. Sacrificing the option to sin is no sacrifice at all but the word calls it “sacrifice”. Sinning or continuing in righteousness is no longer an option. IN that sense, our freedom is restricted and we are slaves to righteousness, slaves to the Lord but in losing such freedom, we gain eternity and eternal rewards. Total obedience is expected of a slave. In all aspects of our lives, we are to maximize the manifestation of the glory and greatness of our Father in heaven, His Son Jesus, Our Saviour, the Holy Spirit, our Empowerer. The way to maximize our lives is to adopt maxims that are evolved or derived from the word of God. The maxims of man itself makes a person wise and more effective, how much more the maxims derived from the wisdom, revelation and word of God. Internalising and abiding by the maxims or principles based on the word are, therefore, a source of great power to live the new life in Christ. Another way to live a life of righteousness is indicated in the use of the word “habitually” in the uni-verse. We are to evolve, develop, maintain habits of righteousness like starting each day with a time of communion with the Master, our Lord and God. We are to spend time at His feet, spend a fixed amount of time habitually and daily in studying diligently the word to derive maxims of personal conduct and to then, go ahead and act in accordance with these biblical principles. We are to apply these principles in our relationships, our work, our interactions habitually, never departing from it.

Seeking the Favour of God

UV 4124/10000 Seeking the Favour of God How can you believe ( in Me) , when you (seek and) receive glory and approval from one another, and yet do not seek the glory and approval which comes from the one and only God. John 5 v 44 Our focus should not be fame, popularity or validation of others. We should seek the approval of the Lord alone. We are to be God-pleasers not people-pleasers. We need to seek the esteem of God like Daniel or Joseph. These were men who excelled in their work but also were obsessed with seeking and living in the grace or favour of God. They aligned their lives, lifestyles, habits, aspirations with the will and word of the Lord. Jesus Himself is the exemplar of One who continually and consistently sought the approval of the Father. Faced with the ignominy and pain of the cross, He cried out , “Yet not my will but Yours, O Lord.” If we do seek approval of men, it should be with the intent to glorify the name of God for Jesus said, “ Let your light so shine that men might see it and glorify God.” We are not to sin but to shine before men so that they attribute our light to the grace and greatness of God in us, God with us. Paul also exhorted the early believers to be like a skilled workman who is not ashamed of his tools. Our tools are our bodies, our intellects, our talents, abilities, knowledge, wisdom, understanding. Every “tool” should be fully utilized to magnify the name of the Lord, to show the world that He is truly awesome. The glory and approval of man is fickle, transient, unreliable. The glory and approval of God is eternal, permanent, long lasting, reliable. We need to seek His glory and approval with all our hearts and minds. The Lord should testify about us as He did of His Son Jesus, “ Listen to Him, He is My own beloved Son.” The sign of God’s favour resting on both Daniel and Joseph was manifested in their ability to interpret dreams and visions. Whatever Jesus did and spoke, He attributed all glory and greatness to the Father. Likewise, if there is anything good that we have said or done, we should attribute it to our Father in heaven and to the grace of Jesus, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.