God Alone Completes Us

UV 4287/10000 God Alone Completes Us The One forming light and creating darkness; I am the Lord who does all these things. Isaiah 45 v 7 The Lord is sovereign. He is the One who is to be acknowledged in all our ways and on all our days from the rising of the sun to its setting. For He is the One who not only created light and darkness but is with us during the day and during the night, in matters known to us and matters hidden from us, not known to us. He is the One who wipes our tears, helps us solve our problems, heals our diseases, overcome the enemies who rise against us in different directions and domains. He is the One who is with us in peaceful times and during disasters. We are to walk in the footprints of Jesus. He shakes His hands at the enemies that rise against us and throws them into disarray. He sends His angels to guard and preserve our lives in all kinds of perils. He gives us the hidden riches and treasures out of darkness and secret places. He goes before us and levels the mountains before us, namely the huge challenges and difficulties we confront in our daily lives. He disarms powerful men and makes them vulnerable before us on account of His greater might and power. He has called us personally and by our names as He called Cyrus. He greatly strengthens us to perform His will and fulfill the vision the Lord gives us. If God can use a person who did not know Him like king Cyrus, how much more can He use us who know Him personally and intimately. Our rock foundation is Jesus and our strength and joy is derived from such a foundation. Like the fish move and exist in water and on account of the water and derives all it needs from the surrounding water, we live and move and exist in God through Jesus. Jesus is like the gills of the fish that enable us to live in and swim in Him and against the currents of this chaotic world. There is no substitute for God in our lives. He is the One who causes favourable circumstances in our lives and enable us to negotiate through difficult circumstances.

Leadership is Shepherding

UV 4286/10000 Leadership is Shepherding “I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 23 v 4 The Lord Jesus being the Good Shepherd that He is, sets up or anoints shepherds or leaders or pastors and mentors to take care of His sheep, the believers of Christ Jesus. These shepherds will feed them with knowledge and understanding of the scriptures. They will be fattened and strengthened spiritually such that no one can cause them to be afraid or terrify them. Not one of them will be lost or harmed or found missing. This is the solemn promise or unbreakable covenant of the Lord to husband or protect us to the very end and beyond as no human leader can. The Lord promises to gather His scattered sheep from all the lands or nations of the world and cause them to be fruitful and multiply., We need to be in submission to the spiritual mentors or leaders the Lord sets over us. Their guidance, teachings, encouragement and prayers will safeguard us from the evil one and lead us from victory to victory. We are secure on account of their care and love for us. From this uni-verse, we learn that true leadership is about being good shepherds in the mould and footsteps of Jesus Himself. David, the shepherd boy risked his life as he fought a lion and a bear to safeguard his sheep. Likewise, Jesus fought the roaring lion satan and his underlings to safeguard each one of us. He has wrested us from the mouth of the lion and the deadly claws and crushing embrace of the bear, metaphors for the real threats and dangers we encounter in our lives. A good shepherd also provides for the needs of the sheep. Likewise, the Lord provides abundantly for all our needs, spiritual, material, financial, social, emotional, intellectual such that we lack in nothing. Jesus trains His sheep also to be shepherds to others, to feed, nurture and secure them with the truths of the word that He taught them. The goal is none should be lost. We need to be caring, alert, skillful in the supernatural or spiritual just as the competent shepherd David was in the natural. Knowledge and understanding of the word of God and prayer are the principal weapons of defence and offence in our hands just as the staff and the sling were David’s chief weapons.

Fulfilling the Vision

UV 4285/10000 Fulfilling The Vision As for the gold, the silver, the bronze, and the iron, there is no limit. So arise and begin working, and may the Lord be with you.” I Chronicles 22 v 16 When God gives us a vision or a task to be fulfilled by us, He also will make the provision. The resources will be available once I start in right earnest obeying or carrying out the vision. David was exhorting the workers and the people assigned the task of building the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, stating that they can commence their work without worrying about whether there will be enough resources to execute it. All the gold and silver in the world belongs to the Lord since it is created by Him. Hence, we can be confident that we will not fall short of resources in the task we are assigned by the Lord. Unless the Lord be with us, our labour will be in vain. Hence, we need to work in close partnership with the Lord in any project we undertake in His name. We need to make a beginning without procrastinating. We need to work daily and consistently towards the goal, however big or distant or difficult it might seem. We need to believe that the Lord is faithful and He will bring it to fruition in His time. We need not be frustrated by the weaknesses, challenges, problems we confront as we go ahead with our mission. Finally, we need to set our hearts and minds to enquire, to seek of the Lord continual guidance and grace. He will send the Holy Spirit to counsel, empower and equip us. Whatever skill or ability we lack, He will provide in some way that He alone can. Whatever wisdom or knowledge we need we will find it in the Lord if we ask of Him. The anointing of the Lord will equip us for every task, however gigantic or insurmountable it might seem. David was praying for the various leaders and teams as they did the work of constructing the temple. Likewise, much prayer must both precede and accompany till the very end of any project we undertake. His power working in us is able to do exceedingly, abundantly more than we think, imagine or ask.

The Temple of Continual Worship

UV 4284/10000 The Temple of Continual Worship And they were continually in the temple blessing and praising God. Luke 24 v 53 When the disciples understood fully that Jesus lives and that He is the promised Messiah, the Son of God, they were filled with exceeding joy. Their joy overflowed into continual blessing and praising of God in the temple. Today, the new covenant temple is not a building built with human hands but our entire human bodies. Having understood the message of Jesus, being part of His purpose and mission fills us with joy that in turn, overflows into continual blessing and praising of God. Our entire being should be changed into a fountain of praise and blessing of the Lord. When we understand that Jesus did the greatest miracle in the three days since His death on the cross, that He changed our human destiny from hell-bound to heaven-bound, that He made available in abundance the three things that matter most in life- faith, hope and love. That in so doing He transformed both our eternal destiny and our earthly lives. Do we need to ask for anything more? Instead, we should turn our hearts and minds to continually bless and praise the Lord. When we continually rejoice in the Lord, again and again and praise Him continually, it becomes the spring, the source of further joy and blessings. The presence of the Lord in our lives will be ever stronger and we will be fully clothed or equipped with the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Whatever else that we might be doing, a continual stream of praise and thanksgiving should pour forth from our hearts and minds towards the Lord. Such expression of gratitude will transform our lives.

The Understanding of the Word

UV 4283/10000 The Understanding of the Word Then He opened their minds to (help them) understand the Scriptures. Luke 24 v 45 Our minds are closed systems. We can see only what the mind knows and what we know is limited. Scripture cannot be understood with only our natural minds. The Holy Spirit is needed to interpret its meaning to us in its context. The disciples did not fully believe Jesus or His words. It is in His post-resurrection ministry that Jesus convinced them of the truth of the gospel that He became sin so that man becomes sinless. The power of the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples with convicting power and transformed them from fearful disciples to fearless apostles. The disciples on the way to Emmaus who were perplexed by the events of the preceding week were helped by the resurrected Jesus to understand the scriptures concerning His death and resurrection. His words burned brightly in their hearts as He explained it to them. Their eyes were opened and they recognized that the unknown stranger who was accompanying them on the road to Emmaus was none other than the resurrected Jesus whom they were mourning. Jesus comforted them in their great distress with His appearance and His teaching that made them understand that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer such pain and trauma before being resurrected and seated in glory next to the Father. When man first sinned, the eternal breath of the Almighty Creator and Father was taken away. When we first believe in Jesus as the payment, the ransom for our sin and that He is now the risen Lord and Saviour, the eternal breath of the Father is restored to us. God breathes through our nostrils and His presence is in us. Now, a day without Jesus and God, the Father and the Holy Spirit is a day without food, without shelter, without inspiration, without joy, without purpose and power, without gain, a day wasted and vain. Since God is Emmanuel, He dwells in us as the Triune Person of God- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What we think and say, becomes virtually the decree, the declaration of God.

The Narrow Path

UV 4282/10000 The Narrow Path Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad and easy to travel is the path that leads the way to destruction and eternal loss, and there are many who enter through it. Matthew 7 v 13 Jesus is the narrow gate. He is the entry point into the kingdom of eternal life, the kingdom of God. Faith in Him is the way of righteousness. The narrow gate and the narrow way is the path less travelled, the less popular option of humanity. Yet, it is the way of eternal gain, not eternal loss. It is the path to fulfilment and eternal life. Any other option is the easier one. Most people opt for the easy way out, the path that looks smooth and not difficult, not having many challenges, not risky, not uncomfortable. The narrow wicket gate is not the gate the wicked of this world will take. Jesus declared that He is the door to eternal and abundant life but warns people that it is not an easy path. Following Jesus and obeying His teachings, applying the principles of Jesus to our every step is not the popular option but it is the only thing that leads to eternal life. As the path is narrow and rough, we might fall from time to time. Our progress might be slow and hindered but Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to encourage us, guide us, lead us, strengthen us. His word is our google map to help us find our way back whenever we appear lost. The alternatives to Jesus are many- the path of man-made religion, philosophies of this world that seem to help one make sense of this world and might even give us some strength and success in getting ahead. But eventually what comes of it is eternal loss and eternal death. The path is broad, the road is smooth but it ends in a steep precipice. The enemy deceives mankind to take this broad road with false signages saying, “Happiness, Prosperity, Peace.. “

Made for Greatness

UV 4281/10000 Made for Greatness Then God said, “ Let Us, ( Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to our likeness ( not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness); and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.” Genesis 1 v 26 God has made us great. Like Adam, we lost that greatness somewhere in our journey. Now, we have the opportunity in Christ to rediscover our greatness. We are called for leadership and excellence. Our greatness does not lie in our physical attributes, the positions and titles we have, the material wealth we accumulate but in our spiritual nature and our moral likeness to God, Our Creator, Our Redeemer. God made Jesus, the greatest of humans who never lost His greatness, to be like us so that we can be like Him. Let us face it – we are made for greatness and for enjoying complete authority over all the earth, over the rest of creation. We are not to strive for dominion over other humans but for dominion over all of nature. When we are restored to the Christ nature, the original image of God in which we were created by the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, we attain greatness, we fulfil the purpose of God, for which we were formed. Jesus derived His authority over nature from His spiritual and moral power- even the winds and waves obeyed Him. Recall the instance of the fish delivering a golden drachma to Peter, the former fisherman, so that they could pay their tax to Caesar’s representative. The fish would have obeyed no Caesar for they had lost their source of greatness, their moral authority. Today, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are involved in restoring us to our rightful greatness and authority. Our words release the power of God on earth. We become the instruments of God on earth to rule it and dominate it. We use power to serve humans and dominate nature- the evil nature sown in us by the enemy as well as the elements of nature. We are to dominate or defeat and rule over the evil manifested by human sin in this world. The Son -Jesus is described as the Word and hence, the word of God we read, the words that we think and speak have the power of God in it for life and eternity when directed by God and the power of death when it is directed by the devil. As children of God, we have the right to spiritual bread. Jesus said, “ Healing and deliverance is the children’s bread” or our right as children of God. The word of God is our spiritual bread. If we do not eat physical bread or food, our body crumbles or weakens. We cannot be healthy or strong without food. Likewise, we cannot be spiritually strong and healthy, we cannot discover or manifest our godlike greatness or exercise kingly authority or leadership without the divine manna, the word of God.