Proof of Salvation

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

God of Rescue

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

The Nature of Effective Prayer

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

Leading with Diligence

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

The Inheritance of Abundance

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

Supernatural Power

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

F.A.S.T.

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