The Messenger

UV 890/10,000 The Messenger Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3 v 1 We must neither shoot nor shoo the messenger. He or she could have the one message that can save our lives, improve our lot. The world has a tendency from ancient times to shoot the messenger: for example, Socrates, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, John the Baptist and many others who had a message of peace for humanity. But, the Lord has given us this promise that wherever we go in His Name, He sends a messenger to prepare the way before us. While it is true that this Word was first spoken as a prophecy about John the Baptist who cried out, “ Prepare the way for the Lord,” it is also today part of our spiritual inheritance in this life- a promise to believe and claim. I recall that when we first visited mainland China, I made a call to a pastor I know. To my surprise, he was taking the same route to the same city. He quickly introduced us to his Chinese friend without whose help in translation and guidance, we would have had a tough time even to find our way in a taxi to the hotel in Guangshou for the driver did not know a single word of English. This has happened not once but on virtually every journey we undertook overseas. The messengers God sends to our aid are like that Chinese friend, people who can interpret the love of God to us, having known and experienced it themselves. The Lord loves to navigate on our behalf. When I was young , I was discipled and mentored by a group called Navigators whose founder was Dawson Trotman. It was not without reason that he named his ministry “ Navigators” for they showed the way of eternal life to youngsters like us who would otherwise meandered, wandered and floundered in the hard ways of life. They are messengers of the covenant to tell people who do not know, “ hey guys, do you know there is a God who has signed an agreement in blood to forgive you, lead you, guide you, bless you and use you in turn as His messengers.” The Lord helps us find our way around as long as His ways are hidden in our hearts. We need to take the high way of the Lord or we need to seek His higher wisdom and guidance in every aspect of our lives. This is the meaning of the word, “ seek.” When we seek Him with all our heart, He will show up. He will send angelic messengers as well as people ahead of us. When my daughter Nimisha was leaving for London for her studies last year, He said,” I am sending Melchizedek and Michael ahead of her for her assistance and protection.” These are heavenly messengers of the covenant that we should delight in. Once a believer and a batchmate in the police service sent me a message from the Lord that said simply one word, “ suddenly”. This seemed an enigmatic word from the Lord. It means that the Lord will come to His temple or our bodies suddenly, without notice and ado. Even this morning as I was doing my customary half hour prayer walk in the garden, praying and worshipping the Lord I suddenly sensed a fragrance in the air. This was a sign of His fragrant presence as He visited His temple, my body. Prateep V Philip