Promise Claiming to Proclaim the Glory of God

To proclaim the favourable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance and retribution of our God, to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61 v 2 The year of jubilee or the seventh year was in Jewish law and custom, the year of favour when the debts are cancelled and the mortage is lifted on land, the slaves were set free. The Lord Jesus was likewise declaring at the start of His public ministry that all people are set free from the mortgage of their souls, set free from the claims of satan on their lives and eternity. It was also the day of judgement for the Prince of Peace, Jesus was crushing the enemy's head under His heel as promised in the third chapter of Genesis. Jesus was also announcing the release of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter to comfort, assure, give hope, encourage all who believed in the truth- for Jesus is the very personification of truth. Instead of mourning, we can now rejoice in the Lord, again and again. He has anointed us with the spirit of joy and clothed us with the garment of praise. The crown of emotions, or the topmost emotion or feeling is joy. The Lord has anointed us - it implies that He has enabled us by the pouring of His spirit upon. The oil of joy is a metaphor referring to the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the chief source of our joy, for He has clothed us with salvation. He has declared us free from any charge or accusation that the enemy can bring against us. We,as the children of God, now have the power to decree or proclaim the Lord's favour upon other people. We have the power or right to bless people. Every day of our lives we need to walk in the grace or favour of the Lord. We do not need luck for the Lord's favour surrounds us. His love and kindness is better than life, sweeter than honey, more precious than gold. To proclaim is short for promise -claim. We taste the goodness of God, the power of God, the wisdom of God, the grace of Jesus, the comfort and encouragement of the Holy Spirit by claiming the promises of God contained in His word. Jesus, being the Yes and Amen to all God's promises, the Lord Amen or the One who fulfills all the promises of the Lord God is the One who stands as Guarantor of the new covenant promises.

Faith and Faithfulness

The king ended by saying, "But for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and kill them in my presence." Luke 19 v 27 In this parable of Jesus, we see that there are people who follow Him who lack in faithfulness and do not invest their lives well to serve His purpose and there are people who lack faith and refuse to serve Him. Unlike the story of talents where each servant was given a different number of talents of gold to invest, in this parable all ten servants are given ten minas or a hundred days of wages to keep. The lessons conveyed by the parable is that we should be faithful to the Lord in using whatever He has given us to magnify His name in and through our lives. Faith is needed in non believers in order to serve God while faithfulness is needed in believers to serve God. For all those who are not trusting God and His word, they should weigh all that they are and have in one hand and all that the kingdom of God offers in the other. It is worthwhile to exchange all that one has and is in order to obtain all that God has promised. For the former we cannot keep forever while what the Lord promises we have forever. Christ is the king who does not rule over terrritory but over the hearts and minds of people. The extent to which we submit our thoughts, desires, emotions to the Lord, to that extent we are ruled by Him. The more we yield to Him, the more He increases our yield. Faith and faithfulness are two sides of the same coin. One is not complete without the other. Once we surrender our lives to Jesus, we need to be increasingly and consistently faithful. The servant who did not invest the minna he got from the king did not know the true nature of the king. He disbelieved him, did not want to take any risk and hence, buried the minna so that he can return it to him on his coming back. But the king did not count this as faithfulness. He counted it as a lack of trust and obedience. He counted as faithfulness the actions of the other servant who invested the minna and gave him a ten fold increase on his coming back. Hence, the latter was made a ruler of ten cities. The people who serve Him faithfully are rewarded. The people who rebel and refuse to believe or serve Him lose eternal life.

Faith More Precious than Precious Metals

But Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have; but what I do have I give to you: In the name (authority, power) of Jesus CHrist the Nazarene- (begin now to) walk and go on walking!" Acts 3 v 6 Faith is more precious than gold and silver or even platinum for these precious but dead metals cannot cure the incurable, cannot give us what money or gold cannot buy -the love of God manifested in Christ Jesus. The crippled beggar never imagined that he would be delivered of his inability to walk which had afflicted him from birth. He only expected a few coins, even just nickel coins not even gold or silver. Peter had neither gold, silver or nickel coins with him that he could give. But he knew he had something more precious than all things that matters more than material riches. He exercised his faith to cause a great miracle to happen at the gate called Beautiful of the temple. The life of the nameless beggar which was miserable and ugly all the years of his life. He had to be set down every day at the gate of the temple to beg for alms, hoping worshippers of God will be charitable to him. But what Peter said and did turned his life into a beautiful life. Our ugly and miserable lives where we are merely begging God for something small and physical to meet our daily needs is transformed into a beautiful life when we receive the gift of faith in Jesus Christ. Just as the beggar who received healing not just of his crippled legs but of his entire being for he was healed of his inner blindness and ignorance of God, the Creator and Redeemer, the Healer and Deliverer, we receive the gift of faith. Faith in Jesus, in His authority as Author of our faith and Finisher of our Lives, meeting us at the point of our greatest need- the need to know and experience the love of God, is the Beautiful gate, the portal to a life of transformation, of significance, of power, of influence. Due to the faith imparted to us, we are no longer seekers of lucre, of gold and silver but we are seekers, worshippers of God revealed in and through Jesus Christ. Our faith is not crippled as it was from our birth but we are now enabled to walk by grace with God. We can walk and keep walking in the footsteps of Jesus, imparting the gift of faith, of healing and deliverance of all we encounter in our lives. We exercise power and authority like Peter did in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene.

The Favourable Time

UV 4260/10000 The Favourable Time Or Kairos Time But when ( in God's plan) the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the (regulations of the ) Law. Galatians 4 v 4 The Greek concept of time distinguishes between physical or quantitative time measured in seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, months, years or Chronos and Kairos or Quality or deep time, spiritual time measured in moments of reverence, wonder, joy, awe, thanksgiving, realization, victory, experiences of life, revelations.. Kairos is the time of God's favour. The time God considers the opportune moment to do or reveal something. It is the hour appointed for God to manifest Himself in human affairs. From the human perspective it is the most precious and memorable moments in our days, the memorable ones, the peaceful ones, the joyful ones, the turning points of our lives, the defining and refining moments of our lives. The birth of Jesus on earth altered the course of history of the world and of the nations as it did the lives of millions of individuals right through history. The birth of Jesus by faith in our hearts alters our individual destinies and enables us to experience the kairos dimensions of time,the miracle moments which transcend time, the laws and rules of nature. God with us, or Emmanuel alters our concept of time from chronos to kairos, for now time and space constraints do not hold us back from anything, nothing is impossible though everything that happens cannot be predicted or expected. When God is present in us and with us, all our time is potentially changed to kairos or significant time. The relentless march of time marked by the hands of the clock or watch is not stopped but the actions and events to fulfil God's purpose for man on earth and in heaven is speeded up, not on the fast track but on the right track. God being infinite and not confined by space or time transforms our lives into a series of kairos moments stretching into the timeless, boundless, everlasting, eternal realms. Scripture records that God stopped the sun in its tracks when God's power was invoked by Moses in the war of Israel against some enemies resisting their advance to Canaan, the Promised Land. The journey of the earth around the sun is what produces chronos or quantity time. Our God encounters are our "kairos" moments when our strenght and access to resources are enabled by His grace to overcome physical and other limitations. Even the birth of Jesus is under the law of Moses. So much so, the child of God begotten of a woman, Mary is even subjected to the tradition of circumcision as required by Jewish law. But thereafter, the law of Moses steps back to allow full play of grace. Our lives after we are born again by faith in Jesus moves from the shadow of limitations to the shadow or presence of the Almighty. We move from the want or lack of physical strength, resources, abilities, time to an area of abundance. If we are in sync with God, we are in alignment with His perfect and pleasing will, our lives will be a series of kairos moments.

The Father's Love

Just as a father loves his children, so the Lord loves those who fear and worship Him. Psalm 103 v 13 The Lord has compassion on us as we are not just His creatures but we are His children. Though God cares for all of His creation in a generic way, He loves those who fear, obey and worship Him. Human beings who do not know God as their Father are like the Eskimos in polar regions who have to invent different ways to keep warm and sustain themselves against the vagaries of nature. But for those who know Him, love Him, have a personal relationship with Him through Christ, the first born Son, He is as intimate as a Father. He provides for us. He protects us. He heals us. He restores us when we fall into error or wilful ways. He delights in us as a Parent in her children. He listens to our every thought, whisper and sigh. Knowing our mortal and sinful nature, the Lord God provided the way for us to have eternal life even at the cost of the suffering and life of Jesus, the Anointed Son of God. Having not even spared His own Son, He would go to any extent, move heaven and earth for our sake. His love in unconditional but subject to the condition that we believe in His Son that He is the propitiation for our sins. The Lord is a righteous Father and that is the reason that we who are sinful need to be fearful as we enter His presence. But as we are washed in the blood of regeneration of Jesus, we are redeemed and can be bold to run onto His lap, as it were. We, as children of God should not resemble the self righteous elder son in the parable of the prodigal son but the broken, humbled, repentant younger son. The Father provides for us the robe of salvation, the signet ring of authority to co-rule with Him over the earth, the shoes to go anywhere in His name, the belt of truth. Indeed, His banner over us is love and He invites us to heaven's banqueting table to rejoice with Him in our salvation.

Deliverance Comes from the Lord

But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help, the Lord raised up a man to rescue the people of Israel, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. Judges 3 v 9 When we cry out to the Lord in any difficult situation, He will send deliverance. Othniel means "Lion of God" and he proved his courage when Caleb set him a military challenge in which he promised the victor the hand of his daughter Achsah. The name Achsah means courage or breaking out of the veil. She was an able support to her husband Othniel. Othniel was also the first judge or ruler of Israel once they settled in the Promised Land. The Lord blessed him as he feared God. In proportion to the faith and reverance we have for God, we are imbued with courage just like Othniel. Jesus is the ultimate Deliverer the Lord God sent to help us. His conquest is eternal and in the realm of the spirit. The Spirit of the Lord came down upon Othniel as Judge of Israel and enabled him to wrest victory from the Mesopotamian king. In our lives today, we do not deal with flesh and blood kings but with principalities and powers of darkness. When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon us, we have victory over these strongholds - injustice, pride, envy, lust, violence and so on. As "lions of God" we need to wait upon the Lord for His strength to come upon us and manifest in the challenges we face daily in our lives. God did not prove a debtor to Othniel and blessed him with land and prospered him in Israel. Israel enjoyed peace for forty years under the leadership of Othniel.

Seek First Wisdom ...

UV 4257/10000 Seek First Wisdom Wisdom and knowledge have been granted you. I will also give you riches, possessions and honour, such as none of the kings who were before you has possessed nor will those who will come after you." 2 Chronicles 1 v 12 Solomon, yet a teenager, asked the Lord for wisdom to rule and administer justice. God was pleased with what Solomon asked for. Hence, Solomon is the only trillionaire in history. He was given wisdom and knowledge and in addition, wealth, possessions and honour in abundance. The Lord gives wisdom not to the foolish but to the wise and knowledge to those who seek understanding. He honours and preserves from troubles those who fear Him, love Him,worship Him. When we seek the Lord with all our hearts and love Him with all our strength, all our mind and all our soul, He adds to us what we have neither asked nor sought. We need the child-like humility and faith of the young Solomon to trust God and pray for wisdom and understanding. The Lord has revealed time and again that He is very pleased with such child-like faith. We need to believe fully and without the shadow of doubt that God is able to give us wisdom and that He would give it to us generously in abundance. Solomon, in later years erred in His relationship with God chiefly due to the fact that He was unequally yoked with women of different faith backgrounds. Unlike Solomon, we need not a one time seeking of wisdom of God but we need to seek it daily and before any major venture or decision. The lesson that we learn from the life of Solomon is that even the wisest can be deceived. We need the constant guidance of the Holy Spirit to remain victorious in life. The blessings of the Lord made Solomon non-pareil or without equal among the kings and leaders of the world. Even though Solomon departed from the path of faithfulness to the Lord, the Lord remained faithful and did not withdraw the grace and blessings He extended to him. The wisdom that God gave Him was not withdrawn but remained in him. Through his experimentation with learning, pleasure, fame, posessions, Solomon proved to humanity for all time the vanity and emptiness of pursuing such things in the absence of a personal relationship with the Creator God and the Saviour Jesus enabled by the Holy Spirit. Jesus later summed it up in His word, " Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you." My life is a testament to the truth of this promise as the Lord met my needs and wants in abundance, without any lack or shortage over the past many decades of my life as I sought His will and His wisdom in every circumstance through the years.