Three Levels of Security

UV 631/10,000 Three levels of Security And he said: “ The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;” 2 Samuel 22 v 2 Once David experienced victory over all his foes and from the hand of Saul, he confessed in this manner his faith in the Lord God. Who do you and I say God is to us? What we believe in our heart and say with our mouth is our faith. This is the essence of our lives that God takes into account. God told Moses, “ I Am who I Am.” It meant that He is the self-sustainer and uncreated one. But man in philosophy defines himself in different ways: As they say in French, “ Je pense, donc je suis”or I think, therefore I am. “ Je sens, donc je suis” or I feel, therefore I am. Some say, “ Je fais, donc je suis” or I do, therefore I am. But, the most essential way to define us individually and collectively is belief: “ Je crois, donc je suis” or I believe therefore I am. David experienced great victories from the time of his youth. Was God partial to him? No, it was because David spent time in the presence of God even as he tended his father’s sheep. He worshipped God with Psalms he composed and sang, accompanied by music from his harp. Therefore, the anointing and the hand of God was upon him. He had a personal relationship with God. The book of Psalms is a testament to the whole gamut of situations and emotions David went through in the course of his life, ranging from triumphant worship as in this uni-verse to sheer despair and depression at times. Everything else in life can change but the stable and constant factor in his life giving him an anchor, a source of stability was God as his rock. God is compared to a mighty rock that cannot be shaken. He is the Rock as His work is perfect, all His ways are just and He is without iniquity or shortcoming. So when we embed ourselves in this unique Rock, we too cannot be shaken, despite change and challenge in our lives. He is the continual source of our strength. We will be strategically located or positioned. Our foundations and our framework for decision making will be ever strong. Our lifework will also begin to be perfect. Our ways too will be just and we will be without “hamartia” or shortcoming. The Lord’s flag will be flying as a banner over all we are and all we do. On the Rock, the fortress or mountain fastness rises, impregnable in security and majestic in splendour. We build the walls of this fortress over a whole lifetime with our thoughts, words and deeds. The fortress does not belong to us. The master of the fortress is the deliverer,the defender, the Saviour Jesus. Three levels of security the Lord has built around us: the inanimate rock and fortress and the living person of the Saviour to defend us. It is our faith that secures us and causes us to be triumphant in life. I believe Jesus, therefore, I am. Everything I think, feel, speak and do is defined and circumscribed by this faith like the solid walls and ramparts of an ancient mountain fortress. Prateep V Philip

Hunger Games

UV 630/10,000 Hunger Games Jesus answered, “ It is written: “ Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Mathew 4 v 4 Without the Bible as the software and operating system and without God as the operator, mankind are a lot of hardware floating around for some time till someone presses the self-destruction button. Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness of the desert. He was hungry and satan knowing the extent of His hunger tempted Him, saying, “ If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Satan was challenging Jesus to prove His identity as the Son of God, knowing full well that Jesus was the Son indeed and that He was capable of doing the impossible of transmuting stones into bread. The very word, “ person”, that each of us is, points to the Son. Jesus knew who He is and did not wish to prove any point to the tempter. He instead relied on scripture to answer satan. We too need to rely on scripture to answer the fundamental questions of life as well as to face the challenges of daily living. Jesus said, “ Man does not live on bread alone”. In these words, He was acknowledging that though He is Son of God or fully eternal, divine and spiritual being, He was also fully human. He submitted to the laws of nature that the Father in Heaven had put in place and though He could have transcended the laws to meet His immediate need of satisfying His great hunger, He chose not to. These words also point out a truth that physical resources like bread enable us to merely exist but in order to live and live fully and well, we need the spiritual bread of the Word. This is the bread from Heaven. Jesus Himself is metaphorically described as the Bread from Heaven that will fully satisfy the spiritual hunger that is there in all mankind, regardless of religious background. By using the words, “ Man does not live on bread alone”, Jesus is also acknowledging the reality of our physical need for food, shelter and clothing and material things. But these material things though necessary should not be given top priority in our lives. We should not be obsessed with money and what it can buy, the modern slang for money being “ bread.” In other words, we can possess money but not obsess over it. We can also play a game saying, our hunger is satisfied by the physical or psychological and deny that our spiritual hunger even exists. The priority in our lives, the ruling obsession or passion in our lives should be the Word of God. God is not visible nor do we hear His voice nor can we touch Him. But, He has made Himself visible in the printed or written Word. This Word has come from the very mouth of God in the sense, chosen people through the ages have penned down what they heard from the Spirit of God. What comes from the mouth of man is fallible and prone to error. But what comes from the mouth of God is infallible, eternal, true and practical. Whatever is written in scripture, according to St Paul, is “written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” Every word contains the hidden manna. We need to search out this hidden manna, manna that will not spoil if saved and stored in our hearts and minds, not for a lifetime, nay not even for eternity. For Scripture says, “ Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Word shall not pass away.” Near the Police Academy where I was working, there are some thirty odd lions in a “rescue camp” of the nearby zoo. It is quite a sight to see them at lunch hour. When the van bringing in meat comes around mid-morning, all the hungry lions as if on cue, rush to the entrance of their respective enclosures, literally baying in sync for food. We need to have that kind of hunger for the Word. The Word will guide, lead and instruct us in how to satisfy even our physical, emotional, psychological, social as well as spiritual hunger. In every uni-verse, I am led of the Spirit to analyse every word of every verse and study every related verse in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I then relate it to my past experiences and real-time life to superimpose the Word upon our world. Every uni-verse throws up a management principle for life, a template to employ in our daily life. Prateep V Philip

The Lap of Victory

UV 629/10,000 The Lap of Victory So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “ Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.” Judges 7 v 5 The Lord choses His army from those who lap His Word like a dog. The whole Word is like a river of living water and the portion that applies to us every day is like the water that is cupped in the hands and from which we lap up that portion. The cup of our hands will become in time the cup of joy of our lives. The word “ lap” in this context means to learn enthusiastically and apply wholeheartedly the commands of God as well as to learn joyfully and and appropriate expectantly the promises of God. We learn and apply the commands of God in order to prove we are obedient servants and soldiers of God. We learn and appropriate the promises of God in order to garner strength to serve and to fight in God’s army. Obeying the commands of God gives us blessings of being chosen or anointed. Claiming the promises of God births victory. The Lord has given me this uni-verse saying, “ You are like a dog that laps the milk.” The Word of God is not just living water but pure spiritual milk that strengthens us ahead of the fight and challenges that lie before us every day. Like a dog relishes and laps up every drop of milk, we need to relish every word of the Word. Just as Gideon took the men down to the water, we should lead people to the Word. How we respond to the Word of God will determine whether we are chosen of God, by God and for God. Many are called and few are chosen. Gideon weeded out twenty two thousand men by giving those who listened to their fears the option to leave. God does not operate like us in the flesh and rely on more numbers. He wants to accomplish more with less. He does not want us to blow our own trumpet that we have accomplished something on account of our own strength and wisdom. He does not want us to kneel before anything or anyone else to fulfill our need. This uni-verse reveals the secret of how God chooses His fighters. He asked Gideon to separate the 300 men who lapped the water from the cup of their hands from the rest of the ten thousand left after the first round of selection. The rest drank the water routinely and without much zeal or enthusiasm. Godly leaders need to separate their teams on the basis of the discernment of their zeal for receiving and obeying the Word of God. God promised Gideon that He would deliver the Midianites into his hands and save Israel. He encouraged Gideon with a prophetic dream and its interpretation. Emboldened by the dream and its interpretation, Gideon first worshipped God and then made a strategy for “ attack”. Gideon divided the three hundred men into three companies. They were armed only with an earthen jar, a torch and a trumpet. The three companies surrounded the Midianites camp. When the jars were broken, the flares burning all round in the dead of night and the 300 Israelites gave a shout of victory, the Midianites were taken by surprise. They panicked and started attacking and killing each other. Similarly, we are each like a burning torch inside the earthen jars of our bodies. When we declare the Word of God, we are blowing His trumpet. Spiritual warfare is unarmed combat. Victory is assured. He that is with us is greater than they that are with them. The round loaf of bread that strikes the enemy’s camp throwing it into disarray is the Word of God. Prateep V Philip

Rich Reward

UV 628/10,000 Rich Reward “ May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Ruth 2 v 12 The Lord God is no man’s debtor. He is quick to reward whomever, whenever and wherever He sees faithfulness. Ruth clung to her husband’s people even though death had separated her from her husband. She continued to serve Naomi, her hapless mother-in-law who had lost both her husband and her sons. Ruth could have thought like most people do to this day that some curse afflicts Naomi and left her lest it affect her further. But, she swore her allegiance and said, “ Your people will be my people and your God my God.” She continued to serve Naomi by gleaning grain from the fields of Boaz to feed her mother- in -law and herself. Boaz had heard about Ruth’s faithfulness and was impressed. He blessed her with this uni-verse. The rest is history. Boaz being her redeemer-kinsman married Ruth and out of their wedlock was born the forebears of the Messiah. Ruth was the good root in the family tree. She enjoyed a status of a refugee, an alien, less than the servants of Boaz. Yet the Lord saw her faith and rewarded her by enabling her to find grace in the eyes of Boaz to become his wife. When we take refuge under the two wings of faith: prayer and the Word of God, we will be greatly blessed. When we obey the Word and act in faith, we will be richly rewarded. Even if we give a glass of cold water to refresh a disciple of Christ or even in the name of Christ, we will be rewarded. The Lord will send us times of refreshing. The greater the proportion of our faith, the richer will be the reward. There are two types of reward: reward on earth and reward in heaven. Whenever we do an act or say something in faith, it is an investment in the Kingdom of God. There are no secret kick-backs but huge and visible payback. This has been the experience of my life: I gave the Queen of the UK a Bible as a gift and the Lord paid me back with the Queen’s Award worth GBP 15,000! God used Boaz, the very man who blessed Ruth in this manner to be her greatest reward- the source of her sustenance and fulfillment of purpose in life. He first gave her his patronage, protection and the right to glean from his fields. He then accepted her hand in marriage. Similarly, the Lord gives us His patronage, protection and the right to glean from His spiritual fields, the 66 books of the Bible. Gleaning is an activity that needs to be done daily and not once in a way. As I glean from the Scriptures day after day, He uses it to feed a lot of believers as well as seekers world-wide even as my own spiritual hunger and thirst is satisfied. As He draws us closer and closer, we will enjoy a relationship closer than any marriage can lead up to. The very presence of the Lord in our lives is our richest reward. From that reward will flow a cornucopia of rewards, temporal and eternal. Prateep V Philip

Absolute Security, Perfect Immunity

UV 627/10,000 Absolute Security, Perfect Immunity “No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord Isaiah 54 v 17 Our righteousness is because of our faith in God and His Son Jesus. Hence, when someone accuses us, he or she is accusing God. Satan is accuser of the brethren. He inspires many to rise up against the people of God. The Lord knows of every weapon in the enemy’s arsenal. Such knowledge enables Him to neutralize every type of weapon, spiritual, intellectual, physical or verbal in the appropriate way at the apt time. He acts as our bulwark and strong defence. The Lord will enable us to defend ourselves against false accusations. He will give us the words to speak. He will vindicate us. He will ensure that we obtain justice. This uni-verse speaks of such an awesome heritage. It is called heritage as it is inherited from the Lord Himself. A heritage is something valuable like an heirloom. Similarly, the rise and deliverance from weapon attacks of different kinds is the material of human testimonies. These testimonies are precious and are part of our spiritual faith inheritance. They are to be cherished and recounted from time to time to bolster our faith and glorify God. We are the apple of God’s eye. Hence, any one who tries to harm us is trying to touch the very eye of God. He knows when a weapon is secretly being forged or made even in the minds of the enemy. He declares that it will not prosper or develop in such a way as to harm us in any way. When people meet and conspire against us, the Lord will bring about their fall and the foiling of their wicked plans. When Moses was born, the Lord protected his life by sending the infant into the very lap of the adversary when Pharaoh’s daughter saw the floating baby and adopted him. Daniel and his companions were saved from both the furnace and from the lions’ den. When Jesus was born, the Lord protected the baby from Herod’s evil plan to kill Him as He perceived a threat to his position. The Lord sent a dream to Joseph to warn him to take Mary and the baby Jesus into Egypt. When the Christ child Himself was not spared such threats and assaults, we too will not be spared the threats but what is assured is deliverance and a victorious outcome. Such a sense of absolute security or protection from hidden conspiracies, secret weapons and open accusations as well as less obvious insinuations is part of the right of inheritance of the children of God. We have spiritual immunity from assaults on our reputation, our physical well being and the well being of our families. When a coterie of officers conspired to stop an initiative that I started to create positive change in the police, the Lord miraculously prevented them from doing so. At a top level conference, He gave me the opening and the words to speak to defend it successfully. When some officers, senior in rank and age, tried to make me a scapegoat for the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, He again without my knowing it protected me and preserved my career. For seven years I faced various high profile enquiries but the Lord vindicated my honour even though I did the unusual thing of dispensing with all defence witnesses. Very often the Lord will give us the wisdom or shrewdness to speak the right word or to do the right thing to deal with both accusations and assaults. Prateep V Philip

A Capsule of the Infinite

UV 626/10,000 A Capsule of the Infinite “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55 v 9 The universe is God’s canvas. It reflects His ways and His grace. It is made so vast that scientists are not able to ascertain where it begins and where it ends. It is infinite like God Himself. Similarly, God’s ways are infinitely higher than our ways. His thoughts are infinitely greater than our thoughts. Yet, He has written His ways and thoughts in our DNA as well as in the Word. He has captured and summed it up in a capsule. Even one rhema verse or uni-verse contains the essence of God. When we swallow and digest this capsule every day, we get access to the infinite love, infinite wisdom, infinite power, infinite riches, infinite grace and mercy of God. It is a spiritual multi-vitamin. I cycled early this morning to the beach near our house to reflect on the ways and thoughts of God. At the beach, I raised my voice and my hands like a mindless man and worshipped Infinite God. It is written in the Psalms, “ Thy way is in the sea, thy path in the great waters and thy footsteps are not known.” The sea is pulled one moment towards its center and the next it is pushed outward. This produces waves. Each wave of the sea is different. Some are gentle waves, some are waves of warning followed by waves of wrath. Every force in the universe has an inward pull and an outward push. It is the balance between the inward pull and the outward push that creates equilibrium or balance in the universe. Similarly, we are inwardly pulled towards God’s love, grace, wisdom and power and then we are given a gentle shove, an outward push to go and reflect or radiate the love, grace, wisdom and power that we have absorbed. God’s faithfulness is described as being as high as the clouds. This implies that while the extent of His mercy cannot be measured, His faithfulness can be perceived and experienced. The gentle waves of the sea are the waves of mercy. Scripture says that “ His mercy is as high as the heavens are above the earth towards them that fear Him.” The high waves of warning are meant for those who do not fear Him. When people do not heed the many waves of warning, it is followed by the fearsome waves of wrath. The depth of the sea reflects the depth of the riches of wisdom and knowledge of God. Yet mighty as the sea is, it is only symbolic for the depth of the seas can be plumbed and measured by sonar devices. But, God’s judgements can neither be plumbed nor discovered. His ways cannot be found out. Our response is to believe and to trust and to allow spontaneous and constant streams of praise, awe and thanksgiving to flow from our hearts and minds. Just as the waves never cease, our praise and awestruck worship should never cease in the inward and outward pull and push of life. Prateep V Philip

Circumcision of the Unnecessary

UV 625/10,000 The Circumcision of the Unnecessary “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh.” Jeremiah 9 v 25 Circumcision was a Hebrew practice to cut away unnecessary skin. It is a metaphor to show that we need to cut off or incise and remove what is unnecessary in our lives. The Lord desires not a physical circumcision as people of some faiths practice to this day but circumcision of the heart: the ‘surgical’ removal of unnecessary emotions associated with fear, hatred, lust, jealousy, unforgiveness, pride, covetousness, self righteousness and so on. It is a parting with clinical precision from those things that hinder our faith and obstruct our spiritual growth to maturity. This is what is implied in Jesus teaching us that it is better to loose an eye or a limb or any organ that causes us to sin rather than loose our whole souls. The negative emotions that rage in the human heart keep us from experiencing closeness or oneness with God. We need a daily circumcision of our hearts and minds. We need to daily place on the sacred altar of fire that burns deep inside our souls the negative factors that hold us back in our relationship with our beloved Creator- Saviour. Circumcision of the heart implies disciplining our bodies and discipling our souls to obey the Lord and His Word. It means exercising kindness, justice and righteousness in which the Lord delights. The apostle Paul wrote in the book of Romans that the true Jew is the one who experiences circumcision in heart and spirit. Circumcision of the heart is allowing the sword of the Word to cut out all the things that displease the Lord from our lives. Circumcision of the spirit is listening to the move of the Holy Spirit to die to those things that displease the Lord and live to those that please Him. It is not done under anaesthesia and hence, the process of discipling in this manner means that we need to go through a time of pain. Such pain is often a great educator of our souls and spirits. We do not undergo it under compulsion that we go through it crying and squealing but we submit to the disciplining willingly. Prateep V Philip