Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Proof of Salvation

UV 4245/10000 Proof of Salvation Repent ( change your inner self – your old way of thinking, regret past sins, live your life in a way that proves repentance; seek God’s purpose for your life), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 3 v 2 John preached repentance while Jesus promised salvation. Repentance prepares the way for salvation. There can be no salvation of our souls without complete and effective change of our inner selves. We need to give up our old ways of thinking, speaking, acting, reacting. These are called the fruit of repentance and of salvation and are proof that we are actually saved. Not only do we have to give up our old ways which is repentance but we need to embrace or adopt new ways of living. We are to continually manifest the evidence of the control of our inner selves by the Holy Spirit or produce the fruit of the spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, humility and self control. We are to live lives marked by quiet wisdom. To live the new life, it requires us to submit to the Spirit of God on a moment to moment basis. We need to actively seek the will of God in our lives and fulfill it in all that we think, speak and do. Trust needs to replace lust in our lives and our relationships. Lust is often a lack of trust. When we do not trust God for our needs, we tend to get desperate and start hoarding the things of this world for ourselves. When we trust Him, we are able to live more contentedly and less contentiously. Living a testimonial life as evidence of God in our lives is not an option but it is mandated for a believer. The last aspect of the uni-verse is that the kingdom of heaven is placed near us. It is accessible by our souls. Heaven is attainable and in our hands and no longer an impossible destination or destiny. Jesus is our password and passport to heaven. We are to live conscious that the presence of God surrounds us as it is in heaven. We should speak or do nothing that will grieve the Holy Spirit who seals our relationship with the Lord under the new covenant. We live in the consciousness that Jesus is with us as Ebenezer or God with us, in us and for us. We live in the consciousness that we are citizens of heaven on earth. We are the ambassadors of heaven and of Christ on earth. We need to continually seek the face of the Lord, the glory of the Lord and His guiding hand in all that we do.

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

God of Rescue

UV 4244/10000 God of Rescue Call on Me in the day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you shall honour and glorify Me. Psalm 50 v 15 Troubles are occasions for us to draw close to God. It is an opportunity for us to taste and see that He is truly good. It is an opportunity to know Him better. It is an opportunity for the Lord to reveal His power and grace to us. When the Lord delivers us from any kind of trouble and we become aware that it is He who delivered us, we shall be grateful to Him, we shall honour Him and glorify the Father in heaven. Even Jesus, the only Son begotten, called out to the Lord in His day of trouble as He faced the greatest trial ever faced by any human on earth. Thereafter, Jesus magnified the name of the Father through the entire world after He was delivered from death and resurrected. In the same Psalm, it is written that he who offers a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving honours the Lord. He also “orders his way” to be in conformity with the word and will of God. Such a person does not deliberately fall into temptation or invite trouble on his head. Ordering one’s way is a beautiful biblical expression that implies that one is wise and careful with his words, actions and choices such that it does not bring trouble to himself or to others. The promise of rescue is topped up in the end of the Psalm that the Lord will show His salvation of God to such a person. In other words, it is not a man-made salvation or deliverance but a God-ordained, arranged deliverance. Every trouble He turns into a testimony, a cause for praise and thanksgiving. The Lord will hearken to our call or cry when we are attentive to His word and obey His word. If we are not mindful of this, He too will ignore our prayers in the time of our trouble. We cannot, therefore, like most of mankind wait for trouble to happen before we call out to the Lord for help. Those who have an intimate and personal relationship with the Lord can, however, rest assured that the Lord will not only hear our prayers but rush to our help. He is the God of Rescue. He revels in rescuing His own, His children. Once the trial or trouble is over, we should not forget the ways in which He has rescued us from every kind of torment and temptation. We should give thanks with a grateful heart to the Lord for every instance of deliverance. There is no trouble from which the Lord cannot deliver the faithful- be it financial, health-related, relationship, family crisis, physical threats or death threats, accidents or attacks of any kind. He delivered Paul from ship wreck, prison, snake bite, unjust punishment and so on. He delivered the companions of He delivered me from a human bomb, from a drowning death, from various other threats in the course of my thirty four year long career, ending tomorrow.

Sunday, September 26, 2021

The Nature of Effective Prayer

UV 4243/10000 The Nature of Effective Prayer “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?” Luke 11 v 11 Jesus asked this rhetorical question to reveal the loving and faithful nature of the Father in heaven. We are to ask specifically and we will receive specifically. Like human fathers our Father in heaven blesses His children with what they ask- fish when they ask for fish and not something that is poisonous, inedible or harmful to them. Hence, not only should we ask persistently but we should ask with faith and specifically that which we need in our lives. If we are in the habit of giving good gifts to our children, our Father in heaven will do much more than we ask of Him. Jesus ends this teaching by saying that if ask the Father to give us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, to guide us, to lead us, to comfort us, to strengthen and enable us to do His will and obey His word, the Father will do so. We need to ask persistently and specifically not for the gifts of the Holy Spirit but for the gift of the Holy Spirit Himself. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate gift mankind needs and should desire for He is the third person of the Trinity, God Himself. He will even teach us how to pray and what to pray for. Through this uni-verse, Jesus teaches us that our Father in heaven is not just awesome but He is approachable, accessible at all times, attentive to our pleas and prayers, sensitive to our human and earthly as well as holistic and spiritual needs. He is also able to satisfy us in every area of our need though the metaphor of fish and snake implies food. Jesus was weaning the Jews who were listening from their fear of approaching the Lord and the prayers of appeasement. The quality of our prayer life determines the quality of our lives in its entirety. The quality of our prayer life is dependent on the trust and intimacy we enjoy with our Father in heaven and His Son Jesus as well as the Holy Spirit.

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Leading with Diligence

UV 4242/10000 Leading with Diligence Or he who encourages, in the act of encouragement; he who gives, with generousity; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy ( in caring for others), with cheerfulness. Romans 12 v 8 We are expected to exercise our gifts faithfully as good stewards of His gifts. A leader should lead diligently. Leadership is an art that needs to be studied and honed. It implies that a leader should not take his role for granted or complacently or carelessly. He should devote time to understanding, learning, developing his leadership qualities over his whole lifetime. It requires much study of the word of God and other books on leadership and all manner of books related to communication, wisdom, knowledge and so on. It calls for application of the principles and ideas learnt in our role as leaders in our respective professions as well as in the church. We are to serve both the world and the body of believers with the skills we learn as leaders. The quality of diligence requires us to spend time thinking deeply or meditating on what the Lord wants us to do in specific situations, challenges we are confronting. A leader needs good connectivity between his head and heart. It requires equilibrium or effective and holistic balance between the domains of spirit, mind and body. For such equilibrium, on an average, I spend two hours every day in physical activities, sometimes accompanied by prayer, two hours in spiritual activities, two hours in intellectual and social activities. Diligence means that whatever we do, we do it as if for the Lord, with the Lord, through the Lord. We do our utmost, we are determined, devoted, dedicated, disciplined in all that we attempt. Diligence’s ultimate test is whether we are spending enough time in the presence of the Lord. Are we like Martha busy in our pursuits and professional engagements or are we spending time delighting at the feet of the Lord learning how to lead our lives as well as how to lead others? This morning the Lord revealed that 666 has another significance- spending 18 hours a day without acknowledging the Creator and Redeemer. We need to spend quality and quantity time with the Lord. Thought of Him needs to be uppermost in our minds and hearts and His thoughts must be in our minds all the time through the embedded, incarnated word.

Thursday, September 23, 2021

The Inheritance of Abundance

UV 4241/10000 The Inheritance of Abundance Just as it is written ( in Scripture), “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, ( a spiritual apathy hat has continued) to this very day. Romans 11 v 8 The Jews, yet do not know Jesus as their personal Saviour though He is their promised Messiah as their eyes are blinded, their ears do not hear. They still continue under the law even though we, who belong to all nations outside of Israel, have moved into grace. Our eyes are opened by the Holy Spirit to perceive the saving truths, our ears to hear the good news, and therefore, we experience by grace what eye has not seen, nor ear heard nor entered into the hearts of mankind, hitherto. We enjoy a heart to heart or personal and intimate relationship with the God of Israel, indeed God of the universe, the One who chose to reveal Himself to Israel first and through Israel to the rest of humanity. The universe does not conspire or orchestrate things in our lives as the new age philosophers teach but the God of the universe does so by means of our faith in the Word (both the flesh and blood version, Jesus and the word of God that has come down to us in the form of the Bible. In the same chapter of Romans, Paul quotes the psalmist David, “ Let their table (abundance) become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution to them.” It implies that in the abundance of tradition, religious pride, lust and worldly abundance of money and goods, people get blinded to think they do not need God in their lives. That becomes a barrier to their understanding, a stumbling block that causes them to fall, fail, flail around in the darkness and a foil to their hopes and aspirations. It burdens them with a heavy yoke. By such rejection, the gospel has spread to the so called gentile nations and all people of this world. The latter whose eyes and ears have been opened and are believers and followers of Jesus are the remnant that God has preserved for Himself to serve Him with their lives, to please Him with their faith, to be blessed forever. But we who belong to other nations need to now join hands and go on our knees to intercede for the reinstatement of the Jewish people, the restoration to their promised spiritual inheritance, the true abundance of earthly and eternal blessings. It is a mark of our gratitude to the Lord for His grace that we are enjoying that which was forfeited by the chosen, the Jews. They have chosen for themselves great tribulation, immense suffering and we need to pray for the touching of their hearts, the opening of their eyes and ears. As for ourselves, we should not get complacent with our comforts and privileges, be selfish with our blessings and abundant life but be fervent in faith, earnest in spirit, not apathetic but always full of zeal and knowledge of the Lord, sharing our faith and our abundance with those who have not come into their inheritance.

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Supernatural Power

UV 4240/10000 Supernatural Power Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember and trust in the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 20 v 7 Some trust in human power and strength, some in the power of nature but we, believers and followers place our supreme trust in Almighty GOD, in supernatural power. If we trust in God, we will remember His name at all times, it will be on our lips anytime, ready for dispatch like an arrow. We will remember His word and His commands and promises as well as precepts and examples at all times or as frequently as possible. The name of the Lord, the Psalmist says, is like a metaphoric tower of power where we can take cover any time we are under any kind of attack. The name of the Lord ( Jireh, Shalom, Rapha, El Shaddai, Adonai, Tsidkenu,…) has all the dimensions needed to serve or meet all of our human, spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational needs. The name of the Lord can help us internalize, personalize and share the supernatural power of God with others in our lives. His name is like a foil to our enemies even as David went forth to take on Goliath in the strength and power of the name of Jehovah El Shaddai, the Almighty God. It is a sword of attack even as it is a shield of defence. The name of the Lord gives us lasting victory in any struggle we face. This is the difference between sheep and people for the former do not know the name of the shepherd while we know the name of the Good Shepherd who guides, feeds, leads, defends, saves us. The name of a person symbolizes everything that person stands for. Likewise, the name of the Lord encompasses all the Lord is to us- a loving Father, a merciful Judge, a Protector, a Provider, a Lover, a Leader, a Defender, a Vindicator.. His name is like a password we have in our hearts and minds to access all the resources and power of heaven. It is the foundation of our personal and intimate relationship with the Sovereign and All loving and All powerful Lord. Remembering or meditating on His name, thanking Him for revealing His name as the I Am of our lives is a source of great blessing and power in our daily lives and struggles. His is one name we will not drop but always keep at the tip of our tongues, the core of our hearts and the depth of our minds for He will never fail, leave nor forsake those who cling to Him.

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

F.A.S.T.

UV 4239/10000 F.A.S.T. Think over the things I am saying (grasp their application), for the Lord will grant you insight and understanding in everything. 2 Timothy 2 v 7 Paul writes to his mentee Timothy to be strong, personally and spiritually. Then, he goes on to share the image of three professions that he would have him emulate. Though Paul mentions the farmer the last after the soldier and the athlete, the correct order to think about it is Farmer, Athlete, Soldier or FAS and since Paul asks to think over the precepts, let us add T for Thinker. Believers need to be also thinkers thinking of whatever is good,noble, beautiful in their lives and how to overcome the negative, ugly, sordid in life. Paul uses all pragmatic models that are easily understood and down to earth. The farmer is the least glamourous. As believers and followers of Christ, we need to be patient like the farmer to see the results or fruit or crop of our efforts. But the Lord will send rain or blessings and grace in due season, both the early rain for sowing and the latter rain for harvesting. He will also send seasons of dryness. We need to be diligent or dutiful through all the seasons and wait with hope and expectancy of our faith for the harvest. Next, we need to be focused like the athlete, persistent through many trials and failures to reach our goal of completing the race of grace victoriously. We need to be disciplined and determined, cutting out all distractions and disturbances in our training schedule, in our preparation or run up to the actual race. We should prepare, train, plan, work out with the crown of salvation in our hearts and minds. We should not spare any effort and endure every pain in order to gain the eternal prize. Thirdly, we need to emulate the soldier in bravery, boldness, aloofness from other activities and concerns in order to train and be ready for the good fight, bloodless but no less intense. We need to be obedient, mindful of the rules and precepts of conduct, so that we do not get entangled in worldly affairs. Finally, we should be thinking about all these things continually and intermittently so that we put it into practice and keep improving in all the aspects of life like a farmer, an athlete, a soldier. We need to move from belief to practice, from words and thoughts on the word to application such that the word becomes flesh or manifest to all. The uni-verse holds the promise that as we think on all these things, the Lord will give us wisdom, insight, grace to apply it, to make it part of our lives in everything we do and are.

Monday, September 20, 2021

Avoid Getting Entangled

UV 4238/10000 Avoid Getting Entangled For if, they have escaped the pollutions of the world by ( personal) knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, their last condition has become worse for them than the first. 2 Peter 2 v 20 The world is grossly imperfect and full of many moral and spiritual pollutants. The uni-verse states that our personal knowledge of God revealed through and in Christ Jesus acts as a shield or protective barrier from the pollutions of the world. Despite the protective power of the Word that is Christ, if we breach this layer of protection and allow us to be influenced or if we succumb to such influences and adulterations of this world, then Paul warns us we would be worse than before we met Christ, before we knew God. We would be like a dog that returns to its vomit and a pig that goes back after a nice wash to wallow in the miry pit. The stern warning is issued by the apostle to the church to keep us from being entangled again like the rest of the world. For we will be more miserable and cursed when we forsake Christ and embrace the world and its sins. This should be read in the context of a famous mega church founded in Australia being mired in a few sex scandals involving the founder’s family and others. The enemy accelerates the pace, intensity and frequency of bringing temptations our way but we need to be shrewd as a serpent in evading, avoiding, fleeing, distancing ourselves constantly from it. We cannot have a secret or double life that will disgrace our testimony and the fair name of the Lord. Once we allow ourselves to be overcome by such temptations, our condition will be worse than before we came to know the Lord. We need to set boundaries and firewalls to protect ourselves in practical ways from all such enticements of this world. Elsewhere in the epistles, Paul admonishes the early church to emulate the soldier in not getting entangled in ‘civilian affairs’, the athlete in disciplining his body, the farmer in being patient and contented. In spirit, courage, obedience, endurance and self control we should be like the soldier who obeys his commanding officer. In physical endurance, training, discipline, we should be like the athlete preparing for an event. In emotions and stability like the farmer. Instead of becoming worse, we should aim and work hard at getting better, degree by degree, day by day.

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Pleasing God, Not Grieving the Holy Spirit

UV 4237/10000 Pleasing God, Not Grieving the Holy Spirit And do not give the devil an opportunity ( to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harbouring resentment, or cultivating bitterness. Ephesians 4 v 27 We are situated on the earth, the footstool of worship of God. Hence, the enemy, the devil is always trying to kick the footstool away by gaining a foothold in our minds, our lives. The uni-verse shows how the foothold progresses or deteriorate from a merely holding a grudge or cause for grievance against someone for a wrong done to one to growing anger, then, it becomes deep -seated resentment and finally the festering wound of bitterness in our hearts. When our hearts become bitter, we cannot be fruitful for the Lord. We will grieve the Holy Spirit by our attitudes, words and actions driven by such bitterness. The Holy Spirit aids and helps us in the internal spiritual warfare with our old selves and to be overcomers and victorious like Christ. We need to get rid of all negativities in us and nurture, harbour and cultivate positive attitudes towards God, people, believers, authorities, all creatures and nature. In order to do so, we need to renew our minds continually in Christ, to have His mind or attitudes, to be renewed in the spirit of God and of the word of God. When we fail to do so, we grieve or hurt the super sensitive Holy Spirit who dwells in us from the time we made a commitment to Christ as a mark of our redemption. Paul gives us a practical way to deal with anger. He says we can have righteous anger like Jesus but it should not get the better of us or control us. We need to cease to be angry by sunset, implying carry no trace of anger or cause of anger into the next day or even into sleep that night. We need to start each day with a clean slate with no carry over of anger, resentment, bitterness from our past. Since we are forgiven freely, we too ought to forgive freely those who err against us. Our positive attitudes are our armour and our negative attitudes are the weapons that harm us. Hence, we need to put on the former and keep putting off or taking off the latter. The devil is very fond of the space between our two ears and evil is his byproduct. Hence, we need to avoid both the devil and evil thoughts, words and deeds. But, the supernatural or spiritual also abhors a vacuum just like nature. Hence, even as we get rid of the negative factors, thoughts, words, actions, reactions, habits, attitudes in our lives, we need to quickly fill or replace it with the positive, the wholesome, the beneficial both for us and others.

Saturday, September 18, 2021

Exalted But Humble

UV 4236/10000 Exalted But Humble “Therefore may it please You to bless the house (descendants) of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for what You bless, O Lord is blessed forever.” I Chronicles 17 v 27 It is striking that King David states in his prayer that “what You bless, is blessed forever.” David humbled himself before God as a king and as a shepherd boy and that is why it is said of him by Jehovah that David has a heart after God. David comprehended the fullness and greatness of the Lord. He praised Him from His heart, thanked Him in his soul all the time. He attributed all the accomplishments of his rise and rule to the Lord including the slaying of Goliath that first catapulted him to national prominence. In this uni-verse, he is interceding not for himself but for his descendants. The blessing of the Lord is not temporal or material but holistic and eternal. He blesses our legacy as He blessed the legacy of David. He blessed his descendants for out of the lineage of David came the greatest human, the greatest King, the Messiah, the Saviour of the world and ruler of the universe, Jesus Christ. Jesus came at a time when the house of David had almost been obliterated, forgotten, impoverished, reviving the house of David and fulfilling the uni-verse. Through the descendant of David, Jesus are all nations and all people and all the descendants to be blessed and blessed forever. Hence, through David and the promise obtained by him by earnest and humble prayer and adoration, the word given to Abraham is fulfilled- all nations shall be blessed and they are his spiritual seed or descendants, as numerous as the stars of heaven and dust of the seashore. David though a king always retained the servant heart. Jesus manifested the Servant King role to the hilt, to the last letter. Jesus though God Himself took the form of a humble servant. We are His children by faith and grace who have inherited His blessings. We are blessed forever in Him, by Him, for His sake. Our house or our descendants are also blessed by Him, in Him forever. The Lord accomplishes His will and word through us and our house. We only need to commit to be servants like David to the Lord and He will raise us as kings and priests. We inherit the mantle and anointing of Jesus, of king, priest, prophet by grace though we are only servants. Like Jesus we are exalted before God but humble before God and man. We should like David remember always our natural genesis as fallen sinners though we now enjoy the hope and reality of the revelation that we are victorious kings, priests and prophets before the Lord forever.

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Blessed are Those Who Give

UV 4234/10000 Blessed Are Those Who Give And God is able to make all grace ( every favour and earthly blessing) come in abundance to you, so that you may always (under all circumstances, regardless of the need) have complete sufficiency in everything ( being completely self -sufficient in Him), and have an abundance for every good work and act of charity. 2 Corinthians 9 v. 8 God blesses us abundantly in Christ so that our needs are met and over and beyond that we are able to be a channel of His blessing to meet the needs of others. It is not just material or monetary blessing but an abundance in terms of health, peace of mind, free time, support mechanisms, relationships and whatever else is needed to fulfill His purpose in our lives. The Lord is always directing some needed resources towards us as He is the Source of all resources. Our faith response is to always be thankful, contented, not worried or anxious about meeting our physical or other needs. We are also to be unselfish in distributing to the poor and needy not just the leftovers but sometimes in faith we can give beyond what we can afford. This is called bold and generous giving. I was glad to see in today’s social media message a photo of an expensive motorized wheelchair being gifted by a believer to a needy and challenged woman. He said he was inspired by me though I felt humbled by his statement. The Lord had actually blessed the young man’s business so that he responded obediently to the Spirit’s directive to buy the woman the motorized vehicle. Later this month I have directed the administrator of FOP or Friends of Poor , an NGO I founded twenty eight years ago to distribute shirts and clothes to the poor to mark the end of my thirty four year career in the Indian police service. It is a small gesture to acknowledge the Lord’s faithfulness to me in preserving my life in near death experiences and other dangers and threats in the profession. The gist of the uni-verse may be summed up in a beatitude like sentence- Blessed are those who give for they shall be given more than enough. They shall not suffer any want. In their hour of crisis or need, the Lord will rush to their aid for as the Psalmist wrote, they had shown concern and compassion to the needy. Scripture records that when we give to the poor, we are lending to the Lord and since He will not be any man’s debtor, He rushes to repay us many times over. Ultimately, however it is not what we have done or given or deserved but it is all grace of the Lord that He blesses us to be a blessing.

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

4 C's and 5 D's

UV 4233/10000 4 C’s and 5 D’s Therefore, believers, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you ( be sure that your behaviour reflects and confirms yours relationship with God); for by doing these things ( actively developing these virtues), you will never stumble ( in your spiritual growth and will live a life that leads others away from sin); 2 Peter 1 v 10 Spiritual maturity implies that we should reflect Christ in our character, conduct, communication and choices. These four C’s are vital or of utmost importance in confirming and witnessing that we, indeed have a personal relationship with God. If these qualities or spiritual fruit are not reflected in practical and visible ways in our lives, we are akin to the blind or shortsighted person, the immature child who is not growing emotionally and intellectually as well as physically. Paul emphasizes that though we are saved by faith and grace, it requires diligence or the highest level of attention, priority and effort to ensure that we are growing, maturing, moving away from our past sinful selves. Diligence implies that we should spare no effort to accomplish the will and calling of the Lord in our lives. The daily choices we make should be in line or alignment with the overall purpose or call on our lives. To ensure the four C’s mentioned above are truly in conformity with the image of Christ in which we are now being re-created or transformed degree by degree, day by day, we need five D’s to be in place: Devotion to the Lord, Dedication to the calling, Discipline in daily habits, Determination to do what we have decided to do in line with our calling, Diligence in studying the word, the world, the work to ensure we are walking in line with the will of God as it is revealed progressively to us. The five D’s are the aspect of the teaching that we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. It implies that we should not be presumptuous about eternal life or irresponsible such that we live any way we like and make no changes for the better, for growth, for maturity, for living the new life in Christ responding to the call or direction of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our partner in so “working out our salvation.” This is the progressive aspect of eternal or abundant life. We need to make every effort, Paul wrote, to not just diligently appropriate the divine promises and blessings contained in the promises of the Lord but also to develop moral excellence, spiritual knowledge ( knowledge of the power of God, the love of God, the will of God, the peace of God, the word of God), control of self by the Holy Spirit both to restrain us from negatives or evil and stimulate us to good, unselfish love, thinking and seeking the best for others the Lord has placed in our lives. These qualities are the evidence of our faith, the proof that our faith is not useless, barren, unproductive.

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Dealing with Fears, Leading with Courage

UV 4232/10000 Dealing with Fears, Leading with Courage I sought the Lord ( on the authority of His word), and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34 v 4 The Bible contains the words “Do not fear..” 365 times, it is said. This indicates that each human is assailed by one fear or other every single day and the Lord gives us the antidote to fear in His word. We are chosen of God in order that we choose Him. Once we choose Him, the real juice flows in our veins- courage, hope, joy, faith, love, peace. Neither any pain nor gain we suffer will be in vain as we seek the Lord and follow Him. He is our Ultimate Leader and He promises to deliver us from all our fears. The emphasis is on the word, ALL our fears. Faith in God counters all the fears. Only Jesus enables us to overcome the ultimate fear- the fear of death for He endured death and overcame it victoriously. It is said that no one comes out of this life alive but through our faith in Jesus, we can indeed come alive or be resurrected like Him. The other major fears like fear of disease, fear of defeat, fear of shame, fear of loss, fear of mishaps, fear of being in lack of money or something else also affects most of humanity. But as we seek the Lord, He answers us specifically and delivers us from each type and form of fear. The covid pandemic brought in its wake all kinds of fears- fear of death, fear of disease, fear of loss, fear of unemployment, fear of travelling, fear of any physical contact with others and so on. It is faith that enables us to thrive, to be joyful even in the middle of such a global outbreak of fear and panic cutting across nations. Fear paralyses people and reduces the scope of actions and decisions we can take. Christ promises us complete freedom from fear. He said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” The truth He spoke of is Himself, the word of God. We need to seek Him in His word daily in order to be set free from the fears that assail us each day of our lives. The fears are replaced by faith, by strength, by grace, by resilience, by hope and joy. This is the abundant and eternal life the Lord called us into.

Monday, September 13, 2021

As We Exist, Entry and Exit Are Blessed

UV 4231/10000 As We Exist, Entry and Exit are Blessed You will be blessed when you come in and you will be blessed when you go out. Deuteronomy 28 v 6 Deuteronomy chapter 28 is a charter of promises for our earthly life. This uni-verse promises that we are blessed as we come into the world and blessed as we go out or exit. We are indeed blessed as we come into anything new in our lives and blessed as we leave it. It might be a job, a career, a relationship, a project. The Lord is with us in any move we make and it is His presence with us that makes us blessed. It is our personal relationship with God that makes us truly blessed. We are raised up or lifted or exalted when we come in and when we exit. As long as we exist and even as we exit life we are blessed. The end of a thing will be blessed as its beginning. The Lord ordains that those who attack us without any reason or cause will be defeated. They will come in one direction but they will be scattered in seven directions or caused to flee helter skelter for God is our Shelter. He is with us in the middle of the battle, the storms, the trials of life as He was with Moses and Joshua as they battled 31 kings and defeated them before taking possession of the promised land. The God of Israel proves again and again to this day in our lives that He is real. He cares for the tiny details of our lives, our feelings, our future, our well being. Hence, we anchor not in a choppy sea of the storm but in hard, unshakeable Rock- Jesus. Nothing could shake Jesus- neither persecution, nor unjustified accusations, mock trials, cruelty, oppression or even death. In fact, we have more power and hope than Moses and Joshua to conquer our fears, threats and foes for we have resurrection power flowing in our veins. We only need to stick like a leech to the Lord, adhere to His word unswervingly and all the promises of the Lord will be true in our lives. He will establish us in our land. He will raise us up as leaders, unvanquished and vindicated in all situations of life. Those who oppose us will see that a mighty power is vested in us by virtue of our faith in the name of the Lord. They will be afraid, worried, perplexed as no weapon can be forged or prosper against us. They will be thrown into disarray. The Lord will send the early and the latter rain of blessings upon us and that which belongs to us. We will enjoy the inexhaustible treasures of His house obtained not by human effort but by faith in Jesus.

Sunday, September 12, 2021

The Lighthouse Shines

UV 4230/10000 The Lighthouse Shines They looked to Him and were radiant; Their faces will never blush in shame or confusion. Psalm 34 v 5 If we seek the Lord, study His word for solutions to our life’s issues and big questions, He promises our faces will shine. Indeed, our lives shine with the shekinah glory of God when we do not sin. The Aaronic priestly blessing oft quoted and prayed states that His face shines on us with favour or grace. Just as rays of light emanate from the core of the sun to light up the earth’s surface and all on it, grace emanates from the heart and face of the Lord towards His own, His children, His servants – those who fear and trust Him, love Him and serve Him. Our lives will then radiate with joy, peace, hope, love to all around us. Unlike young lions that rely on their physical prowess to get their supply of food, we depend on the Lord to both provide and defend us. Hence, our faces will never look down in either shame or confusion. Unlike Moses who under the old covenant went into the tent of meeting with the Lord or on the mountain of prayer and communion with the Lord and had his face shining, we meet with the Lord all the time in our thoughts and emotions. Our faces and lives shine all the time and not just when we are in prayer or meditation or communion with the Lord. He raises us up as an ensign, a banner of love as we praise Him all the time, thank Him from our hearts all the time. He vindicates us and saves us from all manner of troubles and trials. Even our sufferings are used to make us shine more for the Lord like refined gold shines most as it is taken out of the refining fire. On our part, we keep ourselves from evil, even pondering on evil or speaking deceitful things. The Lord preserves us in and from mishaps over which mankind has no control or inkling before it happens. He delivers us from all types of fears as we take constant refuge in Him. As the sun lights up the planets and moon, we are lit up, lifted up as a city on the hill, a lighthouse on the rocky shore of life. Like a good lighthouse, we occupy strategic locations where our light is seen by all mankind. Like a lighthouse, we are built on a rock foundation, that is stable, unchanging, faithful, strong, unmoved but compassionate to our weaknesses, our frailties, our needs. Like a lighthouse, we are not built overnight but brick by brick, block by block, moment by moment. The Holy Spirit is the fuel that burns in us. The many mirrors that magnify the light in all directions, 24 x 7 in 360 degrees are all the aspects or dimensions of our personal knowledge of God- the knowledge of the love of God, the knowledge of the word of God, the knowledge of the power of God, the knowledge of the wisdom of God, the knowledge of the peace of God, the knowledge of the will of God. The light in each of us reaches far beyond our own eyes can see.

New Life Habits

UV 4229/10000 New Life Habits Jesus said to him, “ You have answered correctly; Do this habitually and you will live.” Luke 10 v 28 In order to live eternally, Jesus told a certain lawyer who asked him how he could have eternal life, “ Love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as your self.” He asked him to do it habitually and he would have eternal life. As we increase in our love of God, we will also increase in our love of people. It is not as if head knowledge will save us but we need to transfer it to our hearts and love both God and man habitually, continually, consistently, persistently. Love of God and of people needs to become second nature, our new life in Christ. We need to love God with all our hearts and show it in practical ways in our love for people. The second flows from the first and we cannot do one without doing the other. Knowledge of the agape love of God has a transforming effect on our relationships and our lifestyle. We will begin to prioritise people over things, over work, over our goals and desires. Worship, thanksgiving and praise are lifelong habits that show that we give first priority to the Lord in our lives. Other habits that demonstrate our love for God are scripture reading, memorization, meditation and application. Praying continually is another habit that proves our love and devotion to the Lord. Overnight our love for God or man cannot be full blown but the secret lies in the word habit- we need to practice it bit by bit till it grows to become a habit, a character trait of our lives. We should not give up when we encounter failure, resistance, criticism or even attacks on us. Finally, it will become part of our spiritual DNA. The Holy Spirit will weave it into the warp and woof of the patterns of our lives. We need His grace and strength to manifest more and more love for God and others in our daily lives in real and practical ways.

Thursday, September 9, 2021

To Overflow with The Love of God

UV 4228/10000 Overflow with Love And this I pray, that your love may abound more and more ( displaying itself in greater depth) in real knowledge and practical insight, Philippians 1 v 9 Just as knowledge of the world is broken into so many different branches and subjects and topics, the personal knowledge of God is broken into different branches – knowledge of the power of God-this enables us to exercise our faith effectively, knowledge of the wisdom of God- this enables us to be wise and insightful in the conduct of our affairs, knowledge of the love of God- this enables us to truly grow in spiritual terms, in maturity, in fruitfulness. To be an effective man or woman of God, we need to grow in all three branches of personal knowledge of God- knowledge of the power of God, knowledge of the wisdom of God, knowledge of the love of God. Paul’s prayer for the early believers of Christ was that their love would increase and manifest itself in true knowledge and wisdom. Paul elsewhere upheld love as the most excellent of Christian virtue or fruit of the spirit. We are to be built up in the love of Christ, edified, strengthened. But our love should not just be emotional or intellectual but needs to be manifest in practical, real and sensible ways. In order to do so, we need spiritual discernment and insight. Our love for God needs to be growing even as His love for us is limitless and unfathomable. It needs to grow to the point of overflowing or being abundant in good deeds, practical ways of helping people around us or whom the Lord has placed in our lives. The uni-verse highlights the need for prayer for grace and help to be able to see the qualities of love manifested in our families, churches and in all our relationships. We need to pray for the increase in love of the people we are relating to. By knowing the extent of the love of Christ for us, we are able to grow in the insight of what love really means. We should know the length to which Christ would go to help us, to deliver us, to enable us. We know in our heart that there is no limit to His love for He went to the cross and then, the grave for our sakes. We should then ask if we ourselves are able to go the extra mile for others around us. We need to know the width of His love – how inclusive is His love, what are the aspects of our lives that are encompassed by His love. There is nothing that is excluded- our time, our abilities, our needs, our hopes, our ambitions, our fears, our desires, our thoughts. Likewise we ought to extend the boundaries of our love to include all people and all things. The third dimension of love of Christ that we need to understand and know is the depth. How deep is the love of Christ for us? Is our love superficial or deep for God and others? The fourth dimension is the height of love- are we prepared to follow and set a new benchmark in terms of our love for God and man? Our love needs to grow in terms of all these four dimensions, inward, outward, upward and sideways- in all directions. The Holy Spirit is able to reveal the practical ways we need to change in order to conform to the love of Christ. We only need to be sensible enough to practice it in our day to day lives.

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

24 x 7 Connectivity with God

UV 4227/10000 24 x 7 WIFI Connectivity with God You shall serve ( only) the Lord your God, and He shall bless your bread and water. I will also remove sickness from among you. Exodus 23 v 25 The only service we can do unto the Lord God is sincere worship and thanksgiving. It is the “ rent” we pay for occupying or residing on the Earth, His footstool. The footstool is designed so that a king can keep His feet on it and receive the acknowledgement and adoration of his subjects or servants. So also the Earth is designed as a footstool and our hearts are made in such a way that our lives are not complete unless we direct our worship where it is due- the Lord God. In return, the Lord promises amazing blessings- of blessing on our food and drink, of good health and removal of sickness, of making us fruitful in terms of children and of giving us a full lifespan on earth. The wages of sin, the Bible says is death but the wages of righteous worship and a right relationship with the Lord are internal, external and eternal blessings. Worship is our wifi connection with the Lord where wifi stands for “Worship the Infinite, Faithfully Indefinitely”. Our hearts are made small enough only that we worship the Lord but large enough that it can contain the infinite, all loving, all powerful God in it. Worship is not something we do off and on or even on a weekly basis on Sundays but it is our attitude of being a servant of God, of rendering unto Him such acts of adoration, service and gratitude. It is about humbling ourselves before the Lord and acknowledging Him in everything and at all points of our days and lives. We can ignore Him only to our own peril. For He is the source of all life and the source of all power, wisdom, well being and goodness. Our thoughts, emotions, actions and words should be focused on pleasing the Lord, in serving Him. Serving God is a privilege and not a chore or an onerous responsibility. It lightens our burden for Jesus said, “ I have come to lighten your yoke, the burdens that rest on your shoulders.” He lightens the burden of guilt, of fear, of sin, of anxiety about the future of ourselves and our offspring. Worship fills us with joy, exhilaration, satisfaction, freedom, appreciation of the finest things about the life we live in the Lord. Hence, some side should be set aside for individual and familial worship apart from cultivating an attitude of continual worship of the Lord God at all times. When we have such a 24 x 7 connectivity with the Lord, nothing can shake us. He fills the gaps in our knowledge, wisdom, understanding, strength, resources, health, relationships, work life and emotions.

Monday, September 6, 2021

The Nature of Authority

UV 4226/10000 The Nature of Authority Therefore I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You. But just speak a word, and my slave will be healed. Luke 7 v 7 The centurion though he was a man with immense power being in command of a hundred Roman soldiers, a man of status since he belonged to the ruling class and race, humbled himself before God and Jesus. He understood authority and respected the spiritual authority and sovereignty of God manifested in Jesus. He so humbled himself that he did not consider himself worthy to come to Jesus to request the help to heal his faithful and loyal servant who was sick. He believed, in fact, knew for fact that Jesus had authority to speak a word and the healing would happen. The centurion knew that Jesus had as much authority to tell the disease or sickness to go even as he had authority to tell his soldiers to go somewhere to do some bidding of his. He could have sent his soldiers to bring Jesus as a man of the world would do these days. But he out of utmost reverence found Jewish elders to go to Jesus and appeal humbly to come and heal the servant. Though not a Jew, he called Jesus, “Lord”. Jesus marvelled at his faith and said, “ I have not found such great faith in Israel.” Accordingly, Jesus honoured his faith and released healing upon the sick servant such that the messengers when they returned found the latter in good health. The centurion did not act presumptuously but thought himself accountable to authority rather than viewing himself as an independent authority. Just as there is hierarchy of authorities on earth, there is a hierarchy of powers and authorities in the spiritual realms with the Father and Jesus on the top. A mere word from Jesus or the Father is sufficient to release miracles of healing and deliverance in this dark, physical world. The physical is subject and accountable to the spiritual authority. Faith, sincere, reverential faith is needed to release divine power and authority for the well being of humans. Jesus has all authority, power and glory given to Him. He is to be acknowledged as the Lord and Author of Life.

Sunday, September 5, 2021

The Rock Foundation of Our Lives

UV 4225/10000 The Rock Foundation of Our Lives So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, will be like a wise man ( a far-sighted, practical, and sensible man) who built his house on the rock. Matthew 7 v 24 When our faith and obedience mix with the word of Jesus and becomes actionable, only then it becomes a concrete or rock foundation for our lives. Or else, if we are merely listening and not practicing the precepts of Jesus, it is a weak, sand foundation for our lives. Our spirituality and faith needs to be expressed in sensible and practical ways. Only then will it provide us the inner strength, the resilience, the ability to endure the storms of life. The certainty of the promises of God is matched by the certainty of the two commands of Jesus -to love God and to love man. We need to act on the word and not be a mere hearer or listener. We need to be doers, practitioners of faith if we are to be strong, blessed, victorious in life. We need to dig deep into the Word to discover and connect to the bedrock foundation. When we do so, the Word will inspire us with holistic and sound precepts, principles that are easy to practice, teach, communicate. James uses the image of a person who looks intently into the mirror and instead of correcting his grooming, goes away, forgetting what he looks like in the mirror. When we look intently into the Word, our spiritual mirror, we see the image of God, the image God wants us to be and our current image. We should then pray for wisdom and grace to make the necessary corrections in practical ways in our daily lives. The Holy Spirit will grant us the power, the grace to fill the gaps in our lives even as concrete is poured into foundations to make it rock solid. The word of God should saturate our thoughts such that we never forget it even for a moment. The Word influences our attitudes, decisions, behaviour, our priorities, our emotions, our impulses, our actions, our reactions, our speech. It fills us with boldness, courage, strength, wisdom so that we face the dilemmas, crises, conflicts of life and emerge victorious. When the foundation is strong and good, we can build a superb structure on top of it. We can build a befitting life, a life that matches the foundation in terms of strength, stability, power, impact.

Friday, September 3, 2021

The Heart-Mind-Tongue Combination

UV 4224/10000 The Heart-Mind-Tongue Combination But in your hearts set Christ apart (as holy-acknowledging Him, giving Him first place in your lives) as Lord. Always be ready to give a (logical) defence to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confident assurance (elicited by faith) that is within you, yet (do it) with gentleness and respect. I Peter 3 v 15 We need to set our hearts apart for Christ for as someone rightly said, “The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.” We reserve the “holy of holies” in our inner temple as a sanctified place for Christ Jesus. He is the One anointed to save us and therefore, we will do well to give Him first place in our hearts and lives. Seek first Christ every day and the kingdom of God is at hand and all the blessings promised in the beatitudes are fulfilled and guaranteed in Him for each of us. When we live like this, we will be able to defend our faith to anyone without even uttering a word. They will see us and sense the inner power and the grace of the Almighty upon our lives. The foremost task for our tongues is to explain clearly and with conviction, yet with courtesy, gentleness and all respect to people who have doubts about God. We need to curb or limit the other uses of the tongue such as to retaliate with insults when we are insulted, to argue, to be sarcastic, to be boastful or deceitful. Next to a sanctified heart is the sanctified tongue that is dedicated to serve the Lord. The highest, noblest and best use of the human tongue is to serve God with it. To connect the tongue to a sanctified mind is a powerful combination. We need to saturate our minds with the word of God. It will enable us to provide answers to the perplexing questions we ourselves have as well as those of others. We will be able to justify the hope we have of salvation in Christ with adequate and substantiating reasons. We should however avoid getting into controversies, quarrels, arguments over our beliefs but always speak with a gentle and persuasive manner not to win the argument but to win the person.

Thursday, September 2, 2021

The Spirit God has Given Us

UV 4223/10000 The Spirit God has Given Us For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but (He has given us a spirit) of power and love and of sound judgment and personal discipline (abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control). 2 Timothy 1 v 7 God has given us in Christ the spirit of power or His strength throbs in us and works all things out for His glory and our good. Our spirit of fear that dominated us in the natural has been replaced by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has given us the anointing or the power to be all that the Lord intends us to be, enables us to do all that the Lord empowers us to do. The magnitude of this power is beyond measure, beyond our imagination or our asking. It is able to do in us exceedingly, abundantly more than we think, ask or imagine. All the earthly and spiritual powers are subject and below this power. It is by means of such power that He has placed all powers and dominions under the feet of the believers. Hence, we have no reason or need to fear anything or anyone. We are to be brave, bold, fearless, courageous, confident. We should not allow fears to affect our inner peace or well being. We can be short of anything but we should not be short in faith, hope and trust in the Lord. Being people of faith, we should not however lose sight or hold of sound judgment, sound mind and self-control. We need to be wise in our decision making, heeding the guidance of the indwelling Spirit and the Word of God. We cannot be hasty, impulsive, angry or hatred-driven. We need to balance the unlimited, infinite spiritual power and responsibility placed in our hands with a sound mind, control of our emotions, constant self examination and regulation in the light of the word, not departing from the dictates or directions of our own spirit of discernment, self- restraint, wisdom. The third dimension that Paul emphasizes in his writing to the young mentee and future bishop of the early church is the need for personal discipline. We are to submit our various organs and faculties to the discipline of the Holy Spirit- our mouths, our appetite, our emotions, our speech, our desires. Control by the Spirit of God is central to exercising self-control in our lives. We need to run our words through the filters of the Word of God so that every word uttered is wholesome, edifying and beneficial to the hearer. We need to allow the Spirit to examine the motives behind every action of ours and accept constant and continuing instruction and correction.

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

From the Rock to Rocket

UV 4222/10000 From the Rock to Rocket “For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,” says the Lord, “ plans for peace and well being and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29 v 11 If we rely on God as the Rock foundation of our lives, we will refire like a rocket every time it seems like the end of the road. It is only the end of stage one of our trajectory. Now it is time to revive, refine, recharge and refire. We only need to submit our plans and goals into His capable and trustworthy hands. For as the uni-verse says, He has plans only for our our peace, well being and not to harm us, not to lead us into disaster or failure. We only need to call on Him and He will come to us even as we are praying. We can sense His peace and presence enveloping us with a sublime inexplicable peace. He will listen patiently and carefully to us without uttering a sound or a word. When we come to think of it, God is the best listener one can ever have. It is not as if the Lord has only one plan or goal for us. As long as the plans and goals fit within the overarching purpose of glorifying His name, fulfilling His will, in accordance with His word, He blesses our plans and thoughts so that it fructifies, gets executed successfully, often beyond our best expectations. Only the Lord knows the totality of our circumstances, reality, needs, desires, thoughts. Only He knows the obstacles, barriers, limitations, too. He gives us grace to overcome or handle the latter. Only He knows the future extending into eternity, beyond our lifetime, beyond time and space. Hence, He alone can place the seed of a plan or vision in our hearts and minds and He alone can help us execute it fully and satisfactorily. He literally becomes the Managing Partner of our lives and executes all the plans in all its fine details. He corrects our goals, aims and priorities in the course of our lives. He gives us the energy and enthusiasm to re-start whenever we hit a roadblock or a wall. With every challenge and difficulty, He takes us to the next level. Elsewhere in the book of Jeremiah in Chapter 33 v 3, it says, “ Call to Me and I will show you wonderful things of which you know nothing of.” In other words, the Lord reveals amazing things to us, He does awesome deeds in our lives, miracles of which we, limited humans, have absolutely no clue about. He is full of surprises and reserves exciting prospects for us in the future and in eternity. In return for being our Managing Partner, the Lord expects us only to be full of hope, faith, joy and thanksgiving. This is His ROI or return on investment and we cannot disappoint Him in this.