Go(d) with the Flow

UV 543/10,000 Jeremiah 30 v 19 Go(d) with the Flow “And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.” When we continually pour out from our hearts and minds thanksgiving to the Lord for all He is and declare all His works in our lives, a true sense of inexplicable joy will pour out of our soul and fill our entire being. Praise and thanksgiving is a natural outflow of a supernatural experience of God’s mercy, peace and grace. The natural instinct of survival of all species including mankind is “ fight or flight” but when we trust the Lord our natural instinct is replaced by a supernatural instinct of “ flow”. Air flows in throw our nostrils, blood flows through our arteries and veins. Similarly, thoughts and emotions of love, joy and thanksgiving towards our Saviour-God flows in our hearts and minds. Fear is replaced by faith. Anger by peace. Hatred with forgiveness. Joy will rise in us like a fountain. Like a fountain, it too has its ups and downs but we will continue to “flow together to the goodness of the Lord”. When we “ flow” , the Lord promises to multiply us. He is the God of multiplication and addition while Satan is the spirit of division and subtraction. The latter divides our minds with doubts and fears and subtracts our peace and joy so that we cannot flow. The very word “ subtraction” reveals the strategy –“ sub” meaning to pull down below current level of “ traction” or momentum or flow. We can defeat the latter in his own game by thanking and praising the Lord for a particular difficulty or affliction or challenge that we are facing as it will be yet another occasion, another opportunity for the manifestation of God’s glory and grace to take us to the next level or rung of faith,strength, power, satisfaction and fulfillment. For instance, I glorified the Lord for my traumatic near -death experiences when I agreed with the Psalmist when he said, “ It was good that I was afflicted that I might learn His holy will.” It is the enemy’s conscious plan and willful design to make us “ small” and “ few”. But, it is the Lord God’s will to “also glorify” us. God never gives His glory to others but He delights in sharing His glory with His children. When we glorify the Lord with praise, thanksgiving and declaration of His works in our lives, He seeks to glorify us. Isn’t that an amazing promise that we too despite our sinful states will share in His glory? To glorify means to magnify or to cause us to excel in our being, our becoming and our doing. It implies that we will experience an unexpected supernaturally caused increase. He takes the seed of our need, our desires and our dreams to multiply and so glorify His Name. For instance, for several years, I secretly nursed a dream that if I had Rupees Ten lakhs, I could set up a Training and Administrative office for the movement I had started with a national and global vision. In the year, 2002, the British government instituted a new award for innovation in policing of 15,000 GBP or Rupees Eleven lakhs at the time. When the result of the Commonwealth-wide competition was announced, I was once again surprised to find that I had won the very first award meant for overseas entries. Glory to the Lord! Thanks to that seed money, as on date a hundred and fifty thousand police and volunteers throughout the state have been trained, sensitized and empowered. He truly multiplies us. Prateep V Philip