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UV 1578/10000 @
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Genesis 4 v 7
In this one uni-verse, the Lord makes it clear that it is our attitude quotient that makes all the difference between true success and fulfilment and failure. In the first instance of sibling rivalry in recorded history, Cain was angry that his sibling Abel had won favour with God with his sacrifice of the best in his view of the firstfruit of his flock as against Cain’s offering of some of his agricultural produce. Abel’s offering was wholehearted – he gave of his best. He did so out of his love and reverence for the Creator. Cain gave less than his best. If attitude quotient is represented by @ then Cain’s attitude is @=anger+sadness+resentment+jealousy=satan or sin ruling over his heart, mind and life. That kind of powerful cocktail of emotions tries to overpower him but God urges him to master or overcome it. Cain listens to the counsel of the wicked and commits the first murder in recorded history of Abel, his own brother. His motive and his emotions control his body and he does violence to his own. Cain allowed the enemy to occupy a part of his heart. With just a wedge or a toe hold, he can make a stronghold. A little compromise is sufficient to negate promise and potential. Thereafter, one can only seek comfort as Cain cried out to God as he could not bear the punishment for his crime. Abel’s blood itself became a precursor or foreshadow of the Messiah Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross.

If Cain’s attitude quotient was right, he had the equal opportunity of having good standing in the sight of God. Cain wanted to get even with Abel by eliminating him so that he would never be a threat to his well being again. In so doing, he sealed his fate literally. To this day, our attitude quotient determines our actions and the consequences we face in life. Lucifer representing rebellion, pride, ignorance, folly lies at the door of our hearts waiting to enter and dominate or lead us from within to become restless wanderers on earth. Jesus stands at the door of our hearts as a good Shepherd waiting to enter, help us, save us, lead us into eternal life.

Jesus spelt out what our attitude quotient should be. We should always be @peace,@humility,@righteousness,@mercy,@purity,@endurance,@joy,@contentment. These are the spiritual mail ids where the Lord delivers the promised blessings we are praying for and expecting. It is God’s will that we should do well, be blessed and live by grace. If we neglect our attitude quotient and be careless like Cain, we will be destined to be restless wanderers on this earth, finding neither rest nor peace on earth or in the life hereafter. One question we can keep asking ourselves is : what am I @ right now? Am I at peace with God and man? Am I humble? Am I faithful? Am I merciful? Am I pure? Am I contented? Then we will discern where we are. We can seek God’s grace to fill the gaps wherever and whenever we come short.

Prateep V Philip

A Telescoping Study of Life and Fulfilment-1-7-9-12

UV 1577/10000 A Telescoping Study of Life and Fulfilment:
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Exodus 3 v 14

We can telescope the revelation of God through His name Jehovah or “ I Am Who I Am” to the seven manifestations in Jesus when He claimed that He is the Bread of Life, the Light of Life, the Door, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way, the Truth and the Life and the True Vine. All our quotidian or daily need as well as eternal need is met in these seven manifestations. Further, let us telescope to Jesus’s statement that “rivers of life-giving water will flow out of our hearts” through the indwelling Holy Spirit. These rivers are manifested in the nine fruit of the spirit: love, joy , peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control. These are like nine streams flowing through our lives every day. Our spiritual being dries up when these rivers cease to flow.

Let us now telescope the vision to the final manifestation as revealed in the book of Revelations: As the nine rivers or stream flow unceasingly in our souls, twelve types of fruit are produced, one every month, implying that our lives will neither be vain, empty or barren but productive, creative and blessed. In these visions and manifestations, the Lord promises that all of our need- spirit, mind and body will be met in full. Our faith should have the quality of patience that even Abraham’s faith lacked- to wait till His will is revealed and His will is fulfilled. His will was revealed in a promise to Abraham and Sarah but His will takes time to get fulfilled at the divinely appointed hour. Many of us are not willing to wait during this gap period and try to jump the gun as Sarah did in offering Hagar her slave
as a kind of surrogate mother. Hagar’s son can only be Ishmael and not Isaac. He is not fully a legit son to Abraham but a “kind of” or a “ make do”- a substitute. God always does what is fully legit. He does not deal with a “kind of”. Sarah and Abraham did not have the fullest revelation of God that came with the manifestation of the seven identities of Jesus. They did not know that Jesus could bring her dead womb to life when she was close to hundred. They decided to go for a natural and rational substitute. Today, every need of every human being, every leader, every manager can be met fully in one or other or combination of the identities of Jesus. We have the Light of Life in us and hence,we are the light of life, we have the answer to every problem of darkness. We are God’s answer in today’s world to every problem of darkness. Since we have the light of life in us, we have the rivers of peace, joy, goodness, love flowing in our hearts. God gave the outline and Jesus filled in the details of our life and its fulfilment. The alternative is to go for less than legit natural substitutes like Abraham and Hagar did.

Prateep V Philip

The Internal Judge

UV 1577/10000 The Internal Judge
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart
Hebrews 4 v 12
The Word of God is effective. It is the sword of the Spirit. It is the weapon that the Spirit uses to shape our faith and our character. Unlike lethal weapons, it gives life and does not take life. Indeed, the most powerful weapons are not those that take life but give life and mould life to be what the Creator intended it to be. The Word in our mouths is a sword or a spiritual weapon that proceeds from our mouths. It is used to do spiritual surgery within our inmost being. It is double edged as it affects our present and our future. It affects the lives of the speaker and the listener. It penetrates the deepest part of our bodies, minds and souls.

The Word is alive and active. It is like an internal judge, coach and guide sitting inside us giving us a pre-view of life. The Word pre-judges us. In other words, when we willingly and gladly examine our lives with the help of the Word, we are judging ourselves according to the absolute standards of righteousness of the Lord. The Word says that “ If you judge yourself, you will not be judged.” It discerns or finds out the motives behind every thought, word and action. It throws light on the dark, subtle and secret parts of our inner being. It heals us of our sinful urges and proclivities. The Word acts quickly or in the twinkle of an eye. It acts promptly. It discerns our need and throws up the very answer we need. The Word is not about religion but about “realigion”.
We cannot discern where the mind ends and the spirit begins but the Word does a kind of forensic analysis of our being and shows us the finiteness of our mind and the infinite range and scope of the spirit. The Word offers real solutions to the problems and challenges we face in this world. The Word gives us access to supernatural grace and resources. Leadership and management literature does not give answers to how to resolve our inner issues, how to discern one’s own motives and the direction of one’s own conduct. Why would a nobel laureate sexually harass a junior colleague? Why would a World Bank President sexually assault a hotel maid? Why would a US President have clandestine contacts with an intern? The positions these persons occupied probably gave them a sense of immunity. They thought they would not be questioned or judged. They did not discern their own motives or actions resulting in huge damage to their reputations. Holding the Word in one’s heart for a long period of time is not a guarantee of moral preservation for the moment the Word departs from our hearts, we are level with everyone else and prone once again to misjudgement. David had all his youth kept himself from temptations but when he was at the height of his power and fame as a military conqueror and king, the Word departed from Him and he departed from the Word. He lost his path as he did not hold the Word to illumine every step he took as a man holds a lamp to light up the steps just ahead. We cannot see too far but just enough to move forward day by day, moment by moment. At each point of choice, the Word will tell us quite clearly, “Choose this way – it leads to life, abundant and eternal. Choose that way- it leads to death, misery and suffering.”

Prateep V Philip

A Cause To Celebrate

UV 1576/10000 A Cause to Celebrate
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
Luke 15 v 32
The younger son partied without cause and without restraint. He quickly ran out of the money he had collected from his father as his share of his inheritance. His father rejoiced on seeing him return alive though apparently downcast and depressed. He found it a cause for celebration and ordered a feast to mark the occasion. The lost son was found again. The dead son had come alive. Similarly, when we take what we have in this world and do just what we want, we are like the lost son. We are dead to the Father. But He rejoices when we return to Him and acknowledge that we have fallen short of his expectations. He will place on our finger again His signet ring- the sign that He has made us a ruler in His house- a house with many mansions. He gives us the new robes of salvation.

The experience of salvation is one of restoration. We are blind to the Father’s love. But now we see a whole new world open before our eyes. We will never leave the Father’s house again. It is one of resurrection- we are spiritually dead though physically alive. The Lord revives us and calls us to life. It is an experience of being lost without hope. But the Lord finds us while we are lost and enables us to find all that we were seeking in vain this far in His embrace. Salvation is a continual spiritual feast in the company of Jesus where we feast on the wonderful promises of God. We have a commitment to keep our newly gifted clothes clean. We have the authority delegated by the Father over the spiritual and material world. We have the spirit of gladness and the joy of salvation that no one can take away from us hereafter.

The younger son’s repentance brought more joy to the Father’s heart than the self righteousness of the elder. We cannot enter the presence of a perfect Father on the strength of our own goodness. But when we go to Him with a broken and contrite spirit, He more than restores us. He makes us feel like a returning hero. He does not remind us of our past but beckons us to enjoy the present and live forever. The younger son had violated every good principle the Father had taught him while he lived a wild life on his own. He had killed his conscience. Yet when he had hit rock bottom and lived off a pig sty, he remembered his Father’s house and had an urge to return. As long there is the urge to return, there is hope of salvation. The Father did not work up His feeling on seeing his son return but all along while his son lavished his passions and his money on a wasteful life, He remembered him and pined for him. The extent of the Father’s love enabled Him to forgive without limits: this is the meaning of grace. While the younger son lived in the Father’s house, he thought he was entitled to certain rights and privileges but when he returned, he knew he did not deserve anything. Whatever we receive from the Father is unmerited, undeserved and is grace. The Father celebrates with a feast but we celebrate with a feast of gratitude in our hearts for undeserved love, unmerited blessings and unearned promises.

Prateep V Philip

A Praising Tongue is A Discipled One

UV 1575/10000 A Praising Tongue is A Disciplined One
Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
Psalm 50 v 23
Praise is an offering of one’s soul. It is a recognition that he or she is unworthy of any kind of appreciation and the Lord alone is the object of adulation and worship. When we praise God, it pleases Him and it fulfils and blesses us. We are fulfilling the purpose of our being created and formed uniquely in His image. Our tongues or faculty of speech are formed not to criticise each other or to boast or to quarrel but to offer genuine thanksgiving from a heart of gratitude and authentic worship from a heart of reverence. Praise is a natural reflex to the awesomeness of God. It is motivated not out of fear or admiration but out of love for He first loved us and taught us to love in turn. The word “ whoso” implies that regardless of one’s background, race, class, religion or denomination, we have a natural tendency to worship God. Worship is in fact a deeper need and longing than even sex or hunger. In worship not just our tongues but our entire being is intermingled with the Lord. The human soul is satisfied in worship alone. The mainstream writing on management and leadership omits these elements of our communication addressed to God and to each other and that accounts for the fact that most leaders and people emerge half-baked and unfulfilled.

A tongue that is used for praise and worship is a tongue that is disciplined, whose speech is edifying or beneficial to hearers. It follows the disciplines of truth, love, kindness, humility and goodness. These disciplines are like filters that are applied to every word that is uttered. A disciplined tongue is also a discipled tongue. It implies that we learn the wholesome pattern of speech that Jesus used and that the apostles learnt at His feet. The same tongue that is consecrated for worship cannot obviously be used for less than noble purposes. As St James wrote, “ Sweet and bitter water cannot flow from the same spring.” Our hearts and minds are the spring of eternal life. From it should flow conversation that is orderly, pleasing, useful for building up the hope and faith of others. We should yield our tongues to the Holy Spirit to sanctify and discipline it. We cannot have a forked tongue, one part to speak good and another to spout venom. St James says rightly that if any of us lacks wisdom, he should ask the Lord who will liberally give wisdom. We need spiritual wisdom that is gentle, peaceable, kind, loving and humble in order to discipline our tongues.

The mouth will speak what the heart is full of. We should be wary of what we store in our hearts in terms of memories. If we store bitterness, it can only bring forth bitterness. If our heart is full of the treasures of the Word, it can bring forth the pure, unadulterated and living truths that apply to daily life, leadership and management. Our tongues should be used to magnify the Lord in the lives of people just as a magnifying lens focuses the light of the sun on a piece of paper or straw to set it on fire. When we so discipline our tongues or offer it to such discipline, the uni-verse holds the wonderful promise of the Lord that He will show us His salvation. Showing us His salvation implies that the Lord will manifest His mercy, grace, love and power- the very attributes that are the focus of our praise- in amazing ways in our lives.

Prateep V Philip

Faith, Image and Imagination

UV 1574/10000 Faith, Image and Imagination
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1 v 27

Man has taken the word “ image” and diluted or distorted it to mean only an impression, the outer view of a person or organisation. In the original, image is the real and authentic self, the inner being of a human, whether male or female. The parallel for this uni-verse is Jesus’s declaration that “ the kingdom of God lies within us and among us.” The divine image or the divine rule, vision,power, influence and leadership lies within us. Whether we chose to conform to this divine rule and leadership from within us or succumb to the call of the external forces and influences is entirely up to each individual. Whatever be our circumstances, we have a certain inner space to grow in the image of God as He has intended. Every human being is created in the image of God and that implies an inherent respect and love for our fellow beings and tolerance of our apparent differences. When we do violence in anything we think, speak and do to our fellow beings, we are doing violence to God Himself. Both male and female are created in the image of God and hence, it rules out gender disparity or discrimination. Since we are all created in the image of God, we are equal. Since we are created in the image of God, our greatest and most fulfilling relationship necessarily has to be with God Himself. Since we are created in the image of God, we have an inner urge to realize and release His goodness, power, wisdom, love and other attributes in our lives. Since we are created in His image, we too can be creative and create things from virtually nothing. Since we are created in His image, we have personal autonomy and are free to choose. We can make out that all the deep concepts of leadership and governance like freedom, equality, authority, fulfilment, development arise from this uni-verse.

Image, then is who we really are and the way God sees us. Do we see ourselves as a creation of God with a special calling, abilities, potential and destiny? Do we see ourselves as children of God? Do we see ourselves as servants of God who are executing His will in our lives? Do we look to God for our upliftment, our advancement, our source of help? Our sinful choices since birth for we are sinful from conception lead us away from the image of God and distorts His image. Jesus redeems our image and restores us to the very image of God. Like Jesus, today we are the visible image of the invisible God- a great and tremendous responsibility in which the Holy Spirit helps us in real time to fulfil.
Faith has a lot to do with imagination. Both faith and imagination thinks of things that are not as if they are already. Reason helps us to take patient and consistent steps to turn things that are not into a reality. Reason or rationality or the ability to think, to ask questions and find answers becomes a servant and not the master of our souls or our image. We have two types of DNA- the DNA of our parents that determine our sex, our features, colour, physical aspects of our bodies and the dna or divine nature of Christ in us who unifies us once again with the Father in heaven. Satan intended the fall of man to divorce God from man but it actually resulted in the Creator-creation relationship between God and man being deepened and transformed as Father-child relationship. The ability of man to fulfil or realize his divine nature became more feasible as all the resources of the Lord God are now accessible to every human being. Hamartia or shortcoming or the power of sin is banned forever. The grace or abundant power of God fills all the gaps between our need and the provision, between our goals and our abilities, between the reality of our human nature and the potential of our divine nature. We begin to resemble God in our thoughts, words and actions. We will only be never however be equal with God for we are only a reflection of the Creator and Redeemer both in His creative and redemptive functions.

Prateep V Philip

Eagle-like Leadership

UV 1573/10000 Eagle-like Leadership
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

Deuteronomy 31 v 11


An eagle is one of the strongest as well as most regal of birds. Though it is known for its ruthlessness with its prey, it is extremely caring as a parent to its young. The eagle has a long life of almost human life span of seventy years. Its wings are long and powerful. It can instantly move up to great heights and remain afloat close to the clouds. It is tireless. It is focussed on its objectives whether to obtain a prey or to train its young to fly. The eagle’s eye as the expression goes implies nothing escapes the attention of the eagle even as it hovers high above. The eagle makes its nest on the mountain cliff. Once the young eaglets are ready for flight in the judgement of the mother eagle, the eagle stirs its nest or disturbs it so that the young ones are forced to learn to fly. The parent eagle hovers over and catches the young on its pinions should they fall perilously down the cliff. Initially, the young eaglets go hurtling down the cliff before they pick up strength and courage to flap their own wings and attempt to fly.


In life and leadership, the Lord God deals with mankind as the mother eagle deals with its young. Apparently, the eagle cares for the eaglets and does not want the young to stay longer than necessary in the comfort of the nest. The eagle nudges the eaglets to venture to the edge of the nest and stirs or disturbs the soft upper layers of the nest so that the thorns and thistles in the lower levels make the nest even less comfortable and inviting to stay. Eaglets are born to fly or the inherent capacity to fly high in the skies. Even so we are born to lead. God has intended that every child of His discovers and fulfils his or her full potential. He hovers over us as we learn to live and lead even as the mother eagle looks out for other predators and threats to the lives of the eaglets. Once the eaglets have learnt to fly and are confident, the mother eagle moves away so that they too can form their own nest and have their own young

At times in its life, the eagle stays on the cliff and shed all its feathers and begin to grow new ones. Similarly, we too should return to the Lord and renew our strength, renew our hope, faith and joy. The Lord will bear us on the wings of prayer and the Word. His very shadow or presence in our lives is like a mountain fastness. An eagle is most powerful not when it is resting on a branch of a tree but while it is flying. Similarly, we are most formidable while we are praying, meditating or studying the Word. The eagle’s pinions are the long feathers of its wings. The pinions of the Lord on which He catches us while we are falling from great heights and in mid-flight are His promises. The curved beak and the talons of the eagle are its defence against more powerful predators. These are the tough side of our personalities which is seen when we have to take hard or tough decisions at certain points in our lives. The eagle takes its strong foes off the ground –for instance, a serpent is carried into the air where it is helpless against the eagle’s tearing beak and claws. A strong leader should also know what his or her advantages are and what strategies to adopt against different adversaries. We are called to be strong as the eagle and gentle as the dove. We are to love our enemies but to stay away from their claws and clutches.

Prateep V Philip