UV 1258/10,000 The Secret to Glowing Health and Well Being
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.
Isaiah 58 v 8
Jesus said, “ I am the light of the world.” His other title is “the bright and morning star” or in other words the star that can be seen in the morning. Long before science discovered that the sun is just another star that is more proximate to the earth than other stars, scripture recognized the sun as a bright morning star and a symbol in the universe of the Son of God. A believer is like a prism through which His ‘sonlight’ breaks into its constituent seven colours of the spectrum. Each colour symbolizes a different type of blessing. He blesses the entire spectrum of our lives, our work and our relationships. The Lord revealed that one of the greatest blessings is health. Health is not just the absence of disease. It is well being of the spirit, mind and body and the health of relationships. The blessings in each of these areas will burst forth like a spring that never dries up. It will be like the sunrise that can be first seen as an orb of light in the distant horizon and then it grows brighter and brighter as the dawn of life advances and suddenly it is the full blaze of sunlight. The Lord will glorify His name in our lives in each area of our lives: spiritual, emotional, social, intellectual, physical, material, financial..
The righteousness of God goes before us like a standard bearer in a battle. It clears the path before us. It removes the obstacles, the hurdles, the barriers. But we are not to dam up or store up the light of grace, mercy and truth that He radiates into our hearts and minds. The Lord promises to satisfy us in a time of famine or drought if we open our souls and our resources to those who are needy, who are hungry physically, emotionally or spiritually. The Lord promises to so bless us if we make efforts to comfort the afflicted, the emotionally distressed and broken in heart. We will be glad when we are upright in heart. Our bones will be literally strengthened as we meditate on His Word and as His light penetrates our whole frame. We will not dry up in the heat of His presence but we will be like a well –watered garden. We will soak in His glory as we worship Him as a sponge absorbs water. The truth of the Word will be sown in us and we will bear fruit for the glory of God and the blessing of many.
Scripture promises that the Sun of righteousness will rise on us with healing in its wings. The wings are a reference to prayer and the Word. Even though we will go through times of pain and sickness, suffering and affliction, the Lord will send us relief from pain, healing in sickness and alleviation of our suffering. Our belief gives us relief. The Lord breathes on us and resuscitates us and gives us health in all aspects and areas of our lives. The Lord covers us just as a basket is used to cover and protect the chicken even as the mother hen cackles menacingly to ward off any predators. The glorious and gracious power of God surrounds us in all directions. The glory of God pilots us and escorts us.
Prateep V Philip
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Internalisation and Application
UV 1257/10,000 Internalisation and Application
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jeremiah 31 v 33
Any head knowledge or learning unless it is internalised and applied has little value in changing or impacting human lives. There has to be a two way transfer from a head that thinks to a heart that cares and vice versa, from a heart that cares to a head that thinks and carries out or implements the inclinations of the heart. Under the old covenant between Israel and Jehovah, the law was written on a stone tablet but under the new covenant, the relationship between God and people changed from that of a King and His subjects to that of a Father and His children. The hearts of people are now circumcised or focussed to love God with all their hearts, minds and strength. The stony hearts of people that were naturally inclined towards disobedience and rebellion were replaced with sensitive hearts that are naturally inclined towards obedience and submission to the word and will of God. There are different principles and precepts that apply to different parts of our bodies, minds and hearts. The Lord will help us to internalise these such that just as the blood reaches food and oxygen to different parts of the body, these will be applied aptly to the appropriate parts: when the principles and precepts relating to our tongues are applied, we become gentle men and women, when it is applied to our hearts and minds, we become wise men and women, when it is applied to our sexual organs, we become self controlled people, when it is applied to our moods and emotions, we become stable people. We do not need an external reminder for the Holy Spirit will remind us at the apt time.
Under the old covenant relationship, people did not feel they belonged to God. Now we feel we belong to God and God belongs to us. We delight in learning His law. He writes the law in our hearts and minds such that none of our steps will slide. We fear God’s righteous judgement but we do not fear the reproach or reviling of men. We are spiritually minded and not carnal. Just as He has written the laws of our growth and functioning into the genetic code of every cell of our being, He has wired our minds and hearts to delight in understanding and applying the Word of God. The Word will show us what is negative in the eyes of the Lord that we need to avoid, what is positive and pleasing to Him and what we need to practice in our lives. The negatives often stick to us naturally like a leech. Only salt if applied around a leech compels it to let go. Similarly, the Word acts as salt to let the negatives let go of us. The positives need to always be strapped to us like a life jacket. It needs to be internalised.
When the Word is inscribed in our hearts and minds, the voice of our consciences will be amplified. We will learn to walk in the paths and ways that please the Lord and to avoid those that do not please Him. The Lord will tabernacle with us or in other words our house will become His dwelling place. His presence will move ahead of us as a cloud by day giving us shelter from intense heat and a fire by night to protect us from the powers of darkness. The name “ Israel” means “struggle with God.” Instead of struggling with God we will have peace with God. When we have peace with God, will have peace with ourselves and when we have peace with ourselves, we will have peace with others.
Prateep V Philip
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jeremiah 31 v 33
Any head knowledge or learning unless it is internalised and applied has little value in changing or impacting human lives. There has to be a two way transfer from a head that thinks to a heart that cares and vice versa, from a heart that cares to a head that thinks and carries out or implements the inclinations of the heart. Under the old covenant between Israel and Jehovah, the law was written on a stone tablet but under the new covenant, the relationship between God and people changed from that of a King and His subjects to that of a Father and His children. The hearts of people are now circumcised or focussed to love God with all their hearts, minds and strength. The stony hearts of people that were naturally inclined towards disobedience and rebellion were replaced with sensitive hearts that are naturally inclined towards obedience and submission to the word and will of God. There are different principles and precepts that apply to different parts of our bodies, minds and hearts. The Lord will help us to internalise these such that just as the blood reaches food and oxygen to different parts of the body, these will be applied aptly to the appropriate parts: when the principles and precepts relating to our tongues are applied, we become gentle men and women, when it is applied to our hearts and minds, we become wise men and women, when it is applied to our sexual organs, we become self controlled people, when it is applied to our moods and emotions, we become stable people. We do not need an external reminder for the Holy Spirit will remind us at the apt time.
Under the old covenant relationship, people did not feel they belonged to God. Now we feel we belong to God and God belongs to us. We delight in learning His law. He writes the law in our hearts and minds such that none of our steps will slide. We fear God’s righteous judgement but we do not fear the reproach or reviling of men. We are spiritually minded and not carnal. Just as He has written the laws of our growth and functioning into the genetic code of every cell of our being, He has wired our minds and hearts to delight in understanding and applying the Word of God. The Word will show us what is negative in the eyes of the Lord that we need to avoid, what is positive and pleasing to Him and what we need to practice in our lives. The negatives often stick to us naturally like a leech. Only salt if applied around a leech compels it to let go. Similarly, the Word acts as salt to let the negatives let go of us. The positives need to always be strapped to us like a life jacket. It needs to be internalised.
When the Word is inscribed in our hearts and minds, the voice of our consciences will be amplified. We will learn to walk in the paths and ways that please the Lord and to avoid those that do not please Him. The Lord will tabernacle with us or in other words our house will become His dwelling place. His presence will move ahead of us as a cloud by day giving us shelter from intense heat and a fire by night to protect us from the powers of darkness. The name “ Israel” means “struggle with God.” Instead of struggling with God we will have peace with God. When we have peace with God, will have peace with ourselves and when we have peace with ourselves, we will have peace with others.
Prateep V Philip
Saturday, November 29, 2014
A Distinctive Spirit Gifted to Us
UV 1256/10,000 A Distinctive Spirit Gifted and Transplanted
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1 v 7
The perfect love of God made manifest in Christ Jesus casts out the spirit of fear in every human being. Adam and Eve were created free but once they sinned the spirit of fear, doubt, guilt, deception and shame entered their hearts. They hid themselves from God or at least they thought they could. We are by nature from birth afraid of the unknown, fearful of misfortune, calamities, evil, curses and ultimately afraid of facing life as well as death. We are fearful of success as well as failure. Our fears and phobias manifest in a variety of ways. Most of the fears and worries are real and imaginary, unlikely to happen. Some are real threats and dangers. The spirit of fear is one of weakness, hatred of oneself and others and of mental and emotional imbalances. But once we believe in Jesus and receive Him into our hearts the spirit of having been disowned by the Creator God, the spirit of being unworthy is replaced by the spirit of adoption. We have all heard of heart or liver transplant but this is a transplant of our spirit with the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is given or gifted to us as a deposit or an advance on the promises of God. The Holy Spirit enables us to discern that God is our Creator, Redeemer and Father by faith. God has adopted us as His children on account of our faith in His first and only born Son Jesus. We need not approach Him with fear any longer as wrongdoers and transgressors but we can approach His throne of grace with freedom and confidence. We can be honest with God about our failings and our shortcomings. We are no longer weak and vulnerable as we once were but we are clothed with the power of God El Shaddai.
We now have the spirit of courage and confidence, courage that we can like David face not only our imaginary fears but even real threats, dangers and challenges like the mighty Goliath with just stones and sticks since God is always mightier than our opposition, whoever or whatever it is. We have the confidence that our Father God hears us when we call out to Him , “Abba”, that He will not turn away from our cry just as even the most heartless of us would not turn away from our child who cries out to us for help or need. We are more powerful than the mightiest on earth. It is this spirit of courage and confidence that enabled Moses to confront the mighty Pharaoh, at the time the mightiest man on earth, to call plagues on him to soften his heart to “ let the people go.”
But we are not to be defined by our trust in the might of God alone but by the spirit of power, love and self control. Power, compassion and self control are to be held in balance. The word used “ a sound mind” implies the full use of human reasoning, our faculties,abilities and good sense. We are to use our intellect fully and effectively. We should not take leave of our senses at any time but to be always prudent and wise. Our thoughts, emotions and decisions should always reflect the power and love of God. The Holy Spirit will help us take captive every negative thought, every imaginary fear and imbue us with faith, courage and confidence to face the real threats. We can command every fear to depart from our lives. The qualities of agape or God-like love will be more and more manifest in our lives.
Prateep V Philip
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1 v 7
The perfect love of God made manifest in Christ Jesus casts out the spirit of fear in every human being. Adam and Eve were created free but once they sinned the spirit of fear, doubt, guilt, deception and shame entered their hearts. They hid themselves from God or at least they thought they could. We are by nature from birth afraid of the unknown, fearful of misfortune, calamities, evil, curses and ultimately afraid of facing life as well as death. We are fearful of success as well as failure. Our fears and phobias manifest in a variety of ways. Most of the fears and worries are real and imaginary, unlikely to happen. Some are real threats and dangers. The spirit of fear is one of weakness, hatred of oneself and others and of mental and emotional imbalances. But once we believe in Jesus and receive Him into our hearts the spirit of having been disowned by the Creator God, the spirit of being unworthy is replaced by the spirit of adoption. We have all heard of heart or liver transplant but this is a transplant of our spirit with the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is given or gifted to us as a deposit or an advance on the promises of God. The Holy Spirit enables us to discern that God is our Creator, Redeemer and Father by faith. God has adopted us as His children on account of our faith in His first and only born Son Jesus. We need not approach Him with fear any longer as wrongdoers and transgressors but we can approach His throne of grace with freedom and confidence. We can be honest with God about our failings and our shortcomings. We are no longer weak and vulnerable as we once were but we are clothed with the power of God El Shaddai.
We now have the spirit of courage and confidence, courage that we can like David face not only our imaginary fears but even real threats, dangers and challenges like the mighty Goliath with just stones and sticks since God is always mightier than our opposition, whoever or whatever it is. We have the confidence that our Father God hears us when we call out to Him , “Abba”, that He will not turn away from our cry just as even the most heartless of us would not turn away from our child who cries out to us for help or need. We are more powerful than the mightiest on earth. It is this spirit of courage and confidence that enabled Moses to confront the mighty Pharaoh, at the time the mightiest man on earth, to call plagues on him to soften his heart to “ let the people go.”
But we are not to be defined by our trust in the might of God alone but by the spirit of power, love and self control. Power, compassion and self control are to be held in balance. The word used “ a sound mind” implies the full use of human reasoning, our faculties,abilities and good sense. We are to use our intellect fully and effectively. We should not take leave of our senses at any time but to be always prudent and wise. Our thoughts, emotions and decisions should always reflect the power and love of God. The Holy Spirit will help us take captive every negative thought, every imaginary fear and imbue us with faith, courage and confidence to face the real threats. We can command every fear to depart from our lives. The qualities of agape or God-like love will be more and more manifest in our lives.
Prateep V Philip
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Life- A Process of Ploughing
UV 1255/10,000 Life- a Process of Ploughing
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Luke 9 v 62
The work of God in our lives is a lot like ploughing. It is hard work. It is time consuming. It is a slow and gradual process. The farmer bears intense heat while ploughing the dry field in summer. It proceeds blow by blow. The lives and hearts of people are not touched or changed in one go but it is a kind of ploughing. Just as ploughing tears up the top soil and exposes the layer under it, the ploughing that happens in our lives tears up the superficial, the cosmetic and goes to the root of life’s issues. The spiritual version of ploughing opens up our top soul and exposes the “under-soul”: the hurts, the pain, the anguish, the longing, the need for healing, the need for reconciliation, the loneliness, the fear, the guilt, the burdens. Ploughing breaks up the rough clods of soil and makes it possible for the tender crops to cast down roots into the soil, for water to drain into and collect in the tiny pits created by the sharp end of the plough. Similarly, ploughing creates pathways for the seed of the Word of God to grow in our hearts and lives.
Once a farmer sets his hand to the plough, he does not leave it or the field till he has completed his work. His focus is on completing the ploughing of the entire field. He does not sit down and wonder whether his work is worth his while and whether he should be actually doing something more enjoyable and less demanding. He does not return to the comfort zone of his house to sleep a little or to take rest. Similarly, once we have committed our hearts and our lives to God, there is no turning back. There is only one way- keep going forward with increasing enthusiasm. A plough is a stable and heavy instrument like no other. It has a heavy top that weighs down on fork like endings that dig into the soil and breaks it up. Our character and lifestyle is the heavy top that lends us stability and the edges are our communications of the Word of God.
God can use people without much talent or resources or education but He cannot use people who are vacillating, flinching in their faith and focus. Jesus set His face like flint towards the cross to complete the mission the Heavenly Father had given Him. He expects His followers not to be able but to be stable. He will supply the plough or the right equipment and the skill set required for the tasks He assigns us in His many fields. Like Elisha burned his ploughs before following Elijah the prophet, we will need to get rid of the kind of ploughs we were used to. He will tell us what crop to sow and in what season. He is the master of the harvest. He knows which way the wind blows and where it comes from. He does not want us to be like the wave in the sea that is tossed about by the wind, now heading in one direction and now in another. Determination, discipline, focus and faith till the finish are the marks of a true disciple. He will not be deterred by temporary hurdles but will plough on through it all. He will not be distracted by the seductions of pleasure or leisure. He will think and pray globally and plough locally. When we share our thoughts, our words and our lives, we might not sometimes see the results but we should know that it is part of the process of ploughing.
Prateep V Philip
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Luke 9 v 62
The work of God in our lives is a lot like ploughing. It is hard work. It is time consuming. It is a slow and gradual process. The farmer bears intense heat while ploughing the dry field in summer. It proceeds blow by blow. The lives and hearts of people are not touched or changed in one go but it is a kind of ploughing. Just as ploughing tears up the top soil and exposes the layer under it, the ploughing that happens in our lives tears up the superficial, the cosmetic and goes to the root of life’s issues. The spiritual version of ploughing opens up our top soul and exposes the “under-soul”: the hurts, the pain, the anguish, the longing, the need for healing, the need for reconciliation, the loneliness, the fear, the guilt, the burdens. Ploughing breaks up the rough clods of soil and makes it possible for the tender crops to cast down roots into the soil, for water to drain into and collect in the tiny pits created by the sharp end of the plough. Similarly, ploughing creates pathways for the seed of the Word of God to grow in our hearts and lives.
Once a farmer sets his hand to the plough, he does not leave it or the field till he has completed his work. His focus is on completing the ploughing of the entire field. He does not sit down and wonder whether his work is worth his while and whether he should be actually doing something more enjoyable and less demanding. He does not return to the comfort zone of his house to sleep a little or to take rest. Similarly, once we have committed our hearts and our lives to God, there is no turning back. There is only one way- keep going forward with increasing enthusiasm. A plough is a stable and heavy instrument like no other. It has a heavy top that weighs down on fork like endings that dig into the soil and breaks it up. Our character and lifestyle is the heavy top that lends us stability and the edges are our communications of the Word of God.
God can use people without much talent or resources or education but He cannot use people who are vacillating, flinching in their faith and focus. Jesus set His face like flint towards the cross to complete the mission the Heavenly Father had given Him. He expects His followers not to be able but to be stable. He will supply the plough or the right equipment and the skill set required for the tasks He assigns us in His many fields. Like Elisha burned his ploughs before following Elijah the prophet, we will need to get rid of the kind of ploughs we were used to. He will tell us what crop to sow and in what season. He is the master of the harvest. He knows which way the wind blows and where it comes from. He does not want us to be like the wave in the sea that is tossed about by the wind, now heading in one direction and now in another. Determination, discipline, focus and faith till the finish are the marks of a true disciple. He will not be deterred by temporary hurdles but will plough on through it all. He will not be distracted by the seductions of pleasure or leisure. He will think and pray globally and plough locally. When we share our thoughts, our words and our lives, we might not sometimes see the results but we should know that it is part of the process of ploughing.
Prateep V Philip
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
The Process of Divine Inheritance
UV 1254/10,000 The Process of Divine Inheritance
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hebrews 6 v 12
This uni-verse underlines three aspects of our testimonial lives: one, we should be diligent and persevering, two, we should exercise faith in who God is and what He has promised us in His Word, three, we should be patient to wait with unflagging hope for the fulfillment of the promises we have claimed. While we have the assurance of faith, we cannot make that an excuse not to do the best with what lies with us and what lies in us. We have to strain every nerve, stretch every muscle, use every talent, hone every ability, utilize every moment and every opportunity to fulfill our part of the covenant responsibilities.
Next, we need to exercise our faith fully, knowing that God can do all that He has promised. Just as we are breathing all the time, we need to be praying unceasingly. We need to PUSH or Pray Until the Specific Happens, Praise Until the Specific Happens, Proclaim Until the Specific Happens. The “specific” refers to our specific need or the specific hope we are holding on to. Persistence shows that we are indeed faithful. We are wrestling with God in a friendly match of course, not struggling like Jacob did. The Lord allows us to wrestle for some time as He wants our faith muscles to develop. The areas in which we are to exercise our faith are: spiritual – the salvation of many as possible, the growth to maturity of ourselves and others; character- the abundance and growth of the fruit of the spirit in our nature; the physical- healing, immunity, longevity, well being; the financial- having enough to meet our need and to bless others; the social- having good friends and increasing influence; the emotional- to be vibrant and joyful so people know that God rules in us; the intellectual- to be wise, insightful, understanding and knowledgeable. To our faith, we should add excellence, all round excellence. Faith transforms our perspectives, our perceptions, our priorities. It leads us to obey the expressed and revealed will of God in all our practical everyday situations.
Having triggered the hopes we have in prayer and sustaining it through persistent prayer holding on to the specific promises of God, we should have the patience to wait with buoyant hope. We cannot rush God with His plans or His time table for our lives. Patience is said to be the prince of virtues and God wants to see His princes and princesses showing plenty of patience. It shows maturity and the willingness to submit to God’s will and timing. Patience also implies that we endure the troubles we face in our lives. Diligence, faith and patience then characterize the process by which we inherit the riches of the promises of God that we obtain by our belief in Christ, the first born. Jacob had to wrest the rights, privileges and blessings of the first born Esau using deception and subterfuge. But Jesus shares the rights, privileges and blessings of the first born of God with all humanity who are ready to exercise diligence, faith and patience.
Prateep V Philip
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hebrews 6 v 12
This uni-verse underlines three aspects of our testimonial lives: one, we should be diligent and persevering, two, we should exercise faith in who God is and what He has promised us in His Word, three, we should be patient to wait with unflagging hope for the fulfillment of the promises we have claimed. While we have the assurance of faith, we cannot make that an excuse not to do the best with what lies with us and what lies in us. We have to strain every nerve, stretch every muscle, use every talent, hone every ability, utilize every moment and every opportunity to fulfill our part of the covenant responsibilities.
Next, we need to exercise our faith fully, knowing that God can do all that He has promised. Just as we are breathing all the time, we need to be praying unceasingly. We need to PUSH or Pray Until the Specific Happens, Praise Until the Specific Happens, Proclaim Until the Specific Happens. The “specific” refers to our specific need or the specific hope we are holding on to. Persistence shows that we are indeed faithful. We are wrestling with God in a friendly match of course, not struggling like Jacob did. The Lord allows us to wrestle for some time as He wants our faith muscles to develop. The areas in which we are to exercise our faith are: spiritual – the salvation of many as possible, the growth to maturity of ourselves and others; character- the abundance and growth of the fruit of the spirit in our nature; the physical- healing, immunity, longevity, well being; the financial- having enough to meet our need and to bless others; the social- having good friends and increasing influence; the emotional- to be vibrant and joyful so people know that God rules in us; the intellectual- to be wise, insightful, understanding and knowledgeable. To our faith, we should add excellence, all round excellence. Faith transforms our perspectives, our perceptions, our priorities. It leads us to obey the expressed and revealed will of God in all our practical everyday situations.
Having triggered the hopes we have in prayer and sustaining it through persistent prayer holding on to the specific promises of God, we should have the patience to wait with buoyant hope. We cannot rush God with His plans or His time table for our lives. Patience is said to be the prince of virtues and God wants to see His princes and princesses showing plenty of patience. It shows maturity and the willingness to submit to God’s will and timing. Patience also implies that we endure the troubles we face in our lives. Diligence, faith and patience then characterize the process by which we inherit the riches of the promises of God that we obtain by our belief in Christ, the first born. Jacob had to wrest the rights, privileges and blessings of the first born Esau using deception and subterfuge. But Jesus shares the rights, privileges and blessings of the first born of God with all humanity who are ready to exercise diligence, faith and patience.
Prateep V Philip
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
The X Factor
UV 1253/10,000 The X Factor
The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!
Deuteronomy 1 v 11
When we are faithful to God through many generations, the Lord will multiply us. He is the X Factor of History, Biology, Economics, Chemistry, Physics, you name it. The use of the term X Factor implies that He is invisible, mystical and mysterious. Yet He is clearly present in our lives and makes His presence evident in many ways. He multiplies us even as He blesses us. Increase comes from the Lord. Addition and multiplication is God’s math while division and subtraction is satan’s math. As long as we acknowledge with gratitude the hand of the Lord upon us and our families, the Lord remains faithful to His 10,000 plus promises. He fulfills these promises in our lifetime as well as in our succeeding physical and spiritual generations. Each of us has a physical generation, the biological offspring as well as a spiritual generation, the spiritual heirs of our faith.
We can legitimately expect and ask for a thousand fold blessing upon us in terms of our health, our longevity, our spiritual growth, the fruit of the spirit, our finances, our influence and impact in this generation. Abraham was a lone man with no physical heir. But today, he is hailed as the father of faith who pioneered the path of believing even before receiving. He has thousands upon thousands of successors or heirs, both physical and spiritual in all nations on the planet. He had been given the promise, “ Out of your seed, shall all nations be blessed.” This was fulfilled as Jesus, the promised Messiah of the Jews as well as of all nations was born in his lineage.
It is rightly said that we can count the seed in an apple but only God knows the number of the apples that come from each seed. Faith not only blesses us in our generation but it blesses thousands in succeeding generations. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the one who is consistently faithful to a thousand generations of those who fear, love and obey Him. Yet the way in which God blessed Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was different and unique. Their life stories took many turns, many detours, ups and downs. He not only blesses and multiplies us a thousand times but He also blesses and multiplies us in a thousand different ways. We have ten thousand reasons to be glad, ten thousand reasons to be thankful to the Lord and ten thousand praises to sing. Our lives short as it is is long enough for us to express these ten thousand expressions of thanks and praise in ten thousand different ways.
Prateep V Philip
Monday, November 24, 2014
Present-Minded and Eternity-Focussed
UV 1252-10,000 Present-Minded and Eternity-Focussed
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Philippians 3 v 13
Wherever we stand today in terms of our faith, our relationship with God and our station in life, we cannot think that we have arrived or achieved. We cannot rest on our oars of past attainments or endeavours. We cannot wallow or languish due to our past failures and failings. Winning is not all in the race of grace but finishing well is vital. All creatures including man have the eyes fitted in their sockets facing the front. Nobody has any eyes on the back of their heads. There is a lesson in this feature of our anatomy that God wants us to be always present-minded, future –ready and eternity-focussed. He will cover our backs where we cannot perceive. He has obliterated or blotted out the shortcomings of our past by applying the blood of the sacred Lamb, Jesus to our past. We need to now apply His word to our present and future. His Word becomes our veritable spiritual eyes to see what lies before us and far ahead of us. His Word transforms our perspectives and our perceptions. We are no longer hindered by the bad memories that haunt us from the past, the guilt of our past sins, the burden of a bad conscience. We can cast these burdens away and run free and uninhibited towards our goal. Our vision, our imagination and our energies are liberated to perform fully when we are freed from the burden of a bad conscience, the memories of our past limitations. The course might not be even or smooth but whatever hurdles or barriers we face, we know we are not running alone as thousands upon thousands who have gone before us and many multitudes are running alongside us-brothers and sisters by faith.
We are like the runner who no longer has his foot touched the ground, it is again in the air with increasing stride towards the goal. Now we can arch our bodies and both train and strain towards our present and future goals. In God’s race, it is not the speed with which we run but the direction in which we run that is important. Our feet take the wings of prayer and the Word. Our thoughts and dreams take wings. We are imbued with power from above and within. We are like arrows released by God flying towards its targets. Those whose souls are not yet saved are like the double-headed Greek god of legend- Janus who had one head facing towards the future and another in the opposite direction- the past. They would be pulled in opposite directions, now yielding to their spirits and now pandering to the passions of the body. Jesus restores integrity to the human soul. There is no more a tugging in opposite directions. There is neither a civil war between our various organs, a disconnect between our hearts and minds, a contradiction and conflict within our souls, a tug of war between our more sublime desires and our baser instincts. We have known the truth and the truth has set us free.
We are no longer “ orthodox” meaning stiff in form and spirit like our skeletons or bones (ortho) but “ paradox” , above forms or implying above the limitations imposed by our natural forms. We can now give our best for the highest and do our utmost in spirit, mind and body to attain the high calling the Lord has given us. We can now focus and persist on the things which are just before us as well as far ahead of us. We will not be side-tracked to take a detour by the red herrings the enemy of our souls places on our way. We do not need to look back to see if any other runner is close on our heels as our competition is not with others but with ourselves. We do not need to look back like Lot’s wife to see if all that we own in this world survives or is destroyed for we know a much brighter future and greater reward beyond comparison awaits us at the finishing line.
Prateep V Philip
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Philippians 3 v 13
Wherever we stand today in terms of our faith, our relationship with God and our station in life, we cannot think that we have arrived or achieved. We cannot rest on our oars of past attainments or endeavours. We cannot wallow or languish due to our past failures and failings. Winning is not all in the race of grace but finishing well is vital. All creatures including man have the eyes fitted in their sockets facing the front. Nobody has any eyes on the back of their heads. There is a lesson in this feature of our anatomy that God wants us to be always present-minded, future –ready and eternity-focussed. He will cover our backs where we cannot perceive. He has obliterated or blotted out the shortcomings of our past by applying the blood of the sacred Lamb, Jesus to our past. We need to now apply His word to our present and future. His Word becomes our veritable spiritual eyes to see what lies before us and far ahead of us. His Word transforms our perspectives and our perceptions. We are no longer hindered by the bad memories that haunt us from the past, the guilt of our past sins, the burden of a bad conscience. We can cast these burdens away and run free and uninhibited towards our goal. Our vision, our imagination and our energies are liberated to perform fully when we are freed from the burden of a bad conscience, the memories of our past limitations. The course might not be even or smooth but whatever hurdles or barriers we face, we know we are not running alone as thousands upon thousands who have gone before us and many multitudes are running alongside us-brothers and sisters by faith.
We are like the runner who no longer has his foot touched the ground, it is again in the air with increasing stride towards the goal. Now we can arch our bodies and both train and strain towards our present and future goals. In God’s race, it is not the speed with which we run but the direction in which we run that is important. Our feet take the wings of prayer and the Word. Our thoughts and dreams take wings. We are imbued with power from above and within. We are like arrows released by God flying towards its targets. Those whose souls are not yet saved are like the double-headed Greek god of legend- Janus who had one head facing towards the future and another in the opposite direction- the past. They would be pulled in opposite directions, now yielding to their spirits and now pandering to the passions of the body. Jesus restores integrity to the human soul. There is no more a tugging in opposite directions. There is neither a civil war between our various organs, a disconnect between our hearts and minds, a contradiction and conflict within our souls, a tug of war between our more sublime desires and our baser instincts. We have known the truth and the truth has set us free.
We are no longer “ orthodox” meaning stiff in form and spirit like our skeletons or bones (ortho) but “ paradox” , above forms or implying above the limitations imposed by our natural forms. We can now give our best for the highest and do our utmost in spirit, mind and body to attain the high calling the Lord has given us. We can now focus and persist on the things which are just before us as well as far ahead of us. We will not be side-tracked to take a detour by the red herrings the enemy of our souls places on our way. We do not need to look back to see if any other runner is close on our heels as our competition is not with others but with ourselves. We do not need to look back like Lot’s wife to see if all that we own in this world survives or is destroyed for we know a much brighter future and greater reward beyond comparison awaits us at the finishing line.
Prateep V Philip
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