The Throne of Grace

UV 4292/10000 The Throne of Grace Therefore let us (with privilege) approach the throne of grace ( that is, the throne of God’s gracious favour) with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy ( for our failures) and find ( His amazing) grace to help in time of need ( an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment). Hebrews 4 v 16 Jesus Christ is the Messiah and in His role as the promised Saviour of mankind, He has two roles – one, as High Priest and the other, as King of Kings. As High Priest, He faced the same challenges, limitations, situations we face. The empathy He has for us as humans in His role as High Priest, gives us the confidence and fearlessness to approach the throne of grace on which He sits as King of Kings. As the children of God, by faith and by adoption, we have the privilege to approach His throne of grace at any time. When humans fail to approach His throne of grace to obtain mercy, they take the choice to stand before the throne of judgement of God. Grace manifests itself in two ways, mercy for our failures and shortcomings, our failure to obey His word and will, our shortcomings of action, decision and character. And grace, His amazing power released to help us in our hour of need. We need not cower in fear as we encounter threats, dangers, powerful foes of the spirit world and in flesh and blood as the Lord is our cover, our shield, our sure protection. The Lord knows all about us, all our thoughts, all our words, choices and actions. He knows exactly what we need at any given time or point in our lives. He releases the appropriate blessing according to our need. Hence, we need to approach the throne of grace every single day to obtain forgiveness for our specific acts that fall short of His standards of righteousness and to obtain strength to overcome that temptation or any other challenge we face. Whether we are to exist or to exit, we need to exalt and exult in the Lord, avail of His mercies, depend on His grace in all our ways. Jesus as the Prince of Peace gives us peace in this troubled and restless world.

The House of Cornelius

UV 4291/10000 The House of Cornelius And he said, “ Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your acts of charity have been remembered before God (so that He is about to help you). Acts 10 v 31 Cornelius was not of the Jewish faith but his devout nature and his acts of charity won him the attention and favour of the Lord God. Cornelius was God fearing and concerned for the poor. He did not know much about God – so much so, he fell at the feet of Peter and worshipped him for he saw him as a representative of God. Peter received an angelic visitation and vision in order to break the barriers in his own mind, concerning the call to visit Cornelius and to accept him into the fold of the faith in Christ Jesus. The same way Cornelius received an angelic visitation and he was obedient to the direction of the angel to send word to Joppa and invite Peter to his house. Cornelius was keen to hear the word from the Lord given through Peter. It is written in the book of Acts that the prayers and gifts of charity to the Jewish people rose as a memorial offering before God. A memorial offering is an offering made in remembrance of the past blessings of the Lord. In order to prepare Peter to meet Cornelius and show him that the Roman centurion was acceptable and favoured by the Lord, Peter saw a vision of a great sheet on which all types of hitherto unclean animals including crawling creatures like snakes. He was directed to kill and eat these. Our attitudes and prejudices can often be a barrier in our work or ministry. The prejudice that was ingrained in Jews against Gentiles, thereby, broke down and Peter understood that the Lord has declared clean the Gentiles. Peter understood that all who feared the Lord in all nations and does what is right is acceptable and welcome to the kingdom of God. We were happy to hear that the Lord regarded our house, our family as the house of Cornelius. It is an endorsement of the Lord to continue acts of charity to the poor. Indeed, whatever we do to the least of our brethren that we do unto Him. It is an encouragement to all of us to do all that we can to convey the love of God for all people, without regard to caste, class, nationality, religion, race or cultural differences. Cornelius was a model of both faith and good works in balance. We will do well to emulate Cornelius and combine our faith in Christ with acts of charity to the needy. This is effective faith, productive or fruitful faith that the Lord will never ignore but rush with angels and visions, as well as blessings and other signs of His favour, to our side.

Our Praisebook Account

UV 4290/10000 Our Praisebook Account Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the Lord had done to Israel, in that He had rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians. Exodus 18 v 9 Moses had recounted to his father-in-law all the things that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the sake of Israel and how He had rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians. Jethro’s response was to rejoice over all the good things the Lord had done for Israel and how He had rescued them from the hand and under the hand of the Egyptians. The Lord had rescued us likewise from our powerful foes and persecutors all through our lives. He has done many great things for us. We need to rejoice in all these things and treasure these thoughts in our hearts continually. This is what I call our Praisebook account. We need to keep recounting to others and to ourselves the many good things the Lord had done for us. Our hearts need to be filled with gratitude and joy remembering the specific acts of goodness of the Lord unto us. The Lord has shone on our lives and moved us from darkness to light, from death to eternal life. We, who formerly lived under the shadow of death, now live under the shadow of the Almighty. He has saved us from oppression, both demonic and earthly. He has set us free from the yoke of sin. We are no longer on the salary roll of satan and sin. We have moved from the curse of shortcoming, failure, hamartia to abundant living, eternal life. He has provided for us in abundance to meet our needs. He has preserved our lives from grave danger- danger of going to the grave prematurely before fulfilling our earthly purpose. He has rescued us from the Egyptians, our former foes and persecutors. He has enabled us to cross our Red Sea and Jordan. He has broken down our Jericho walls. He has covered us and filled us with courage and hope when we would have cowered in fear. Our hearts need to throb with joy and gratitude to the Lord for all that He has done in our lives. We need to continually bless His holy name even as Jethro, the priest of the Midianites praised Jehovah, the God of Israel. We need to be thankful that the Lord has proved Himself both strong and real in our times of need. He has given of Himself, His only beloved Son. He has called us to be His children by adoption. He has crowned our lives with His goodness and grace. He has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit to encourage, strengthen, comfort us.

Walking in the Way of Favour of the Lord

UV 4289/10000 Walking in the Way of Favour of the Lord For all these things My hand has made, so all these things came into being (by and for Me),: declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look (graciously), to him who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who (reverently) trembles at My word and honours My commands. Isaiah 66 v 2 More than all the things in heaven and earth, the Lord delights in a human who is humble and repentant, who reveres and obeys His word. The Lord releases His grace or favour upon such a person. The Lord looks graciously upon a person who shows his reverence for God by obeying the word of God. All the blessings of heaven and earth, the Lord can direct towards to him who honours the Lord in word and deed. The Lord dwells with and in such a person. He is tabernacled in him or her. The presence of God lies thick and heavy like mist on the ground on a very cold day. The thick cloud of his sins or shortcomings and accompanying penalties or curses also lifts and moves away like the winds drive away a cloud over the hills. Everything that exists is made by the hand of the Lord. Hence, whatever we need comes to pass only by His sovereign will. Everything and everyone are made for the pleasure and glory of God. Hence, we need to walk in reverence and obedience to the Lord. A humble and contrite heart is what He requires of us. The Lord crowns us with His favour. His fingers are intertwined with us and blesses us with success and joy and all we do. We need to be careful to read, to know, to understand and apply the precepts and principles of God, to observe carefully the commands and to faithfully appropriate the promises of the Lord. It will guard us from pride, folly and evil. The watchful eye of the Lord will keep us from the snares of the enemy as well as the cares of this world and keep our feet on the straight and narrow. The straight and narrow road is just wide enough for just us and God to traverse. The straight and narrow road is the Word of God. When Jesus said, “I am the way..” He implies that He is the way to true success, true happiness, true significance, true joy, true influence, real, abundant and eternal life. We can walk it only with the help of the Holy Spirit.

God, Our Only and True Soul Mate

UV 4288/10000 God, our Only and True Soul Mate I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject nor separate itself from you. Leviticus 26 v 11 The Lord God is our only true soul mate. His soul becomes one with ours in Christ. Under the old covenant, the promise to the people of Israel alone was that He ( Jehovah) would dwell with them and not separate or reject them as long as they walked in the statutes and principles of God. But, under the new covenant sealed with the blood of the Lamb, Jesus and by the Holy Spirit, the Lord dwells inside us and unites with our souls. His word is written line by line, precept by precept on our hearts and thereby, our hearts are circumcised or directed in such a way we avoid listening to the voices of the world and the enemy and listen only to the voice of the Lord. The Song of Solomon is an elaborate love song sung by the Lord to our souls. Hence, we can sing, “My beloved is mine and I am His and His banner over us is love.” The whisper of the Holy Spirit in our ears is the love whisper of the Lord. We need to incline our ears to His mouth to hear every syllable and sound. We should not say or do anything that grieves the Holy Spirit. Our oneness with God needs to grow more and more with time and experience that our thoughts and words and actions become the thoughts, words and actions of the Lord. We constantly rejoice in the fellowship of our souls with the soul of the Lord. We are so into Him, that nothing separates us. Everything we do, both the mundane and the not so ordinary, are unto Him, unto His pleasure, His glory and praise. The presence of the Lord surrounds us, fills us, covers us. As soul mates, our obedience to the Lord and His will and word needs to be complete and total especially in essentials of our faith while there can be flexibility in the non essentials or what we call the grey areas. Just as the various organs of the body obeys the head, we need to obey the Lord. Whatever burden we face, whatever anxious thought we should take to the Lord without delay. We depend on Him for our provision, our protection, our guidance, our comfort and our strength. When we live in alignment with the word of God, everything we speak, think and do delights the Lord. Whatever pleases the Lord strengthens us in the spirit and whatever displeases Him weakens us. This is what is meant by the verse, “ The joy of the Lord is my strength.”

The Shelter

UV 4287/10000 The Shelter And there will be a pavilion for shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and the rain. Isaiah 4 v 6 The last year and a half has witnessed what is called a perfect storm affecting the whole world but those who are walking in the favour or grace of God in Christ are preserved. His favour surrounds us even in the most unfavourable or adverse circumstances. The Lord Himself is our tabernacle, our house, our pavilion for shade from the heat by day, the cold by night and the storm and rain. He has sheltered us from premature death, from diseases, from unknown dangers and threats, from known threats and enemies. He enables us to live above the level of our earthly or worldly circumstances by rejoicing in two facts, the birth of our Saviour in flesh and blood like us, the death and resurrection of Jesus. In Him, we have victory over death and sin. He shelters us from all the viles of the enemy of our souls and all the weapons the enemy and his agents forge against us. Like an umbrella or a shield has many ribs, likewise each promise of God contained in scripture is a rib for us to hold onto. As we hold onto the promises of God, staying close to Him, the Lord undertakes to protect us. Instead of running helter skelter seeking protection, we focus on the Lord as the locus of our lives. The enemy often rains down on us his fiery darts and arrows of misfortune but the Lord shields us from all of these. We do not dwell in a state with man-made laws to protect and punish the offenders but we dwell in the eternal kingdom of the Lord. The writ of the Lord begins with the internal. He protects us from our own mortal thoughts and tendencies. The Lord is a dynamic shelter or refuge for His own. For the ancient Israelites walking for forty years through the vast wilderness of Egypt towards the promised land of freedom and fulfilment of their hope, the Lord manifested as a cloud of protection from the heat by day and as a fire of warmth, security and light of guidance from the cold by night. According to our need, the Lord manifests His grace to be sufficient or adequate for that need. Under the new covenant, the Holy Spirit manifests as the cloud of comfort and strength to us as well as a fire within us.

Mahanaim-the Camp of the Lord

UV 4286/10000 Mahanaim- the Camp of the Lord Then I will camp around my house ( as a guard) because of an army, because of him who passes by and returns; and no oppressor will gains overrun them ( Israel) for now my eyes are upon them ( providentially protecting them). Zechariah 9 v 8 The Lord encamps around the house of the faithful, the lives of His children. He guards them as the enemy tries often to attack them in a variety of ways. His eyes are upon our walls- the walls that defend us, that protect us as well as the walls that restrict us, the walls that obstruct us, the walls that oppress us. He builds the former and brings down the latter. He will not let our oppressors to suppress us. They will come in one direction and flee in seven as if the hornet was released on them. The presence of the Lord is our fortress, both impregnable and invincible. He covers us as the eyelids cover the apple of the eye, as a rock overhanging protects us from the noonday sun, as the eagle protects its eaglets. He surrounds us with His angels and calls it Mahanaim or the camp of angels. He restores double our prosperity. He enables us to succeed in whatever we attempt. He restores the years and the ears of corn that the locusts have stolen- both the time and the content. People say that time is perishable and cannot be restored or regained but the Lord being eternal, the Master of all time, can reverse our clocks, increase our longevity, renew our youth, stop the catabolic processes in our ever aging bodies. There is no past that He cannot erase, no future that He cannot guarantee and no present that He cannot cause to flourish. As long as we run for God, with Him, in Him, no enemy can overrun us. Any Goliath who wags his tongue needlessly is only cutting off his own neck with his words of insult or challenge. The same Spirit of God who empowered David fills us with overflowing, overpowering and overtaking anointing. The enemy tries to take advantage of our present weaknesses while the Lord invests in our potential. The enemy sees a Gideon whose knees are trembling and knocking in fear at the sight of their troops while God sees a mighty warrior in him. If we choose to surrender constantly to the Lord instead of to the powerful enemy, God will clothe us with His mighty power, neutralize the power of the enemy.

The Latter Rain

UV 4285/10000 The Latter Rain When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causes the clouds and mist to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, and brings out the wind from His treasuries and from His storehouses. Jeremiah 10 v 13 The Lord God made the earth by His power. He established the world by His wisdom and by His understanding and skill. Hence, when we trust in Him and His power to save us, we live by His wisdom, His understanding and His skill. In this uni-verse, He promises to release from His treasuries and storehouses the blessings of the latter rain. When we rely on Him for the best or first part of our lives, He will take care of the later part, the latter half. He proves to us that He is the living God and the everlasting King. When God reigns over our lives as Everlasting King, the early rain, the timely rain and the latter rain will be a feature of our lives. His promises contained in His living word are the keys to different treasuries and storehouses of the Lord. When we continually hold on to our hope in each promise, the “winds” are released, the energy or power of God is released, the oxygen of hope is mixed with our thoughts, words and actions. He causes the clouds and mist of our own limited senses, our doubts, our limited understanding and wisdom to lift to reveal the wonders hidden in His word. The power therein is released like the energy of lightning that accompanies the rain of His blessings. In the early years of our faith walk with the Lord, it falls like rain drops but in the later years, when our faith matures, it falls like a heavy downpour, a veritable flood. The blood of the Lamb, Jesus opened the floodgates of the blessings of heaven upon our lives. King David, once when his soldiers risked their lives and brought him water from across the enemy lines to quench his thirst, showed how he valued their lives over his thirst and spilt the water on the ground. Likewise, we should not take for granted the waters of the Lord’s blessings obtained through His blood and should ever be grateful, joyful and praising our Lord and our God. Jesus crossed over to the enemy lines, embraced sin and became sin to set us free from the indignation of the Lord, to open the treasures and stores of the Father’s house to us who had no right to it. He withholds no good thing from us. When the Father has not spared His Son to save us, will He not share the abundance of His goodness with His own.

The Power of the Word of God

UV 4284/10000 The Power of the Word Of God He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. Revelation 19 v 13 In this vision of Jesus Christ as the Conqueror who is riding a white horse, wearing a white robe dipped in blood, He is described as the Word of God. The robe also has the name inscribed King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. The white robe signifies His purity and sinlessness. It being dipped in blood implies the ultimate and absolute sacrifice He made on the cross. As God, His word is all powerful to act in all situations. It is the sword in His mouth that slays some and gives life to some. It is the sovereign power of the King of Kings. When we memorise the word of God, we are storing divine and sovereign power of God in our hearts and minds. When we pray with the word, we are appropriating that power and grace. When we speak the word, we are releasing that power. When we apply it to our lives, we are releasing it into our lives. When we obey it, we are acknowledging the lordship of Jesus in our lives. Skimmed milk powder when dissolved in water releases all the ingredients and properties of milk. Likewise, the word of God is the power of God, the mercy of God, the hope of God, the grace of God, the love of God, the will of God all combined and when it is dissolved in our lives, it releases these ingredients and properties. The shed blood of Jesus and our faith in it purifies us to be pure in the sight of God. Jesus riding a white horse as the Resurrected Redeemer in contrast to riding humbly on a donkey during His 33 year earthly sojourn is a sign that He is now to be worshipped as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The authority and power and dominion we exercise on earth is exercised in His name and on His behalf. The first creation led to God giving man authority, power and dominion over all creatures on earth. The second creation or redemption by the blood of Jesus gives us authority, power and dominion over all the spiritual powers of darkness that are the prime movers of all crimes, evil and sin on earth. The vision of John has the armies of heaven, all dressed in fine linen, dazzling white and clean, following Him on white horses. It implies that we, as believers also constitute an army in addition to the army of angels following Jesus. The white horses we ride implies that the means that we adopt in our lives should be as pure as our goal to make Jesus known as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Our lives are riding on extraordinary spiritual power. We are engaged in spiritual warfare. Our weapons are not carnal or of the flesh or forged of perishable materials of this earth. Our armour is not also of this world but the whole armour of God. Armies of angels are available to help us. Our leadership or commander is not of this world, not mortal but supernatural. Other armies go into war and the soldiers perish while the Commander in Chief stays at a safe distance while our Commander -in-Chief led from the front and died. He died a man but was resurrected as the Word of God, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Judge of the nations, dispenser of justice. We do not have to fight as our Commander has already won the battle for us. The rest of mankind has kings and lords, of flesh and blood, mortal, sinful, selfish while our Leader is immortal, eternal, sinless, selfless. The words of the kings and lords and rulers or commanders of this world are unreliable, based on lies and half truths while the word of Jesus is the very word of God and reliable to the last letter and word. Nothing, therefore is a threat to us. Nothing is impossible, nothing overwhelms us. All is possible as long as the goal and the means are pure and find favour with God.

To Uproot and to Plant, To Destroy and to Build

UV 4283/10000 To Uproot and to Plant, To Destroy and To Build “It will be that as I have watched over them to uproot and to break down, to overthrow, destroy, and afflict with disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant (with good),” says the Lord. Jeremiah 31 v 28 The Lord watches over us in two distinct ways. Neither evil nor good escapes His ever watching eye. He delights in goodness and abhors evil. He uses His hand in two ways. One, to uproot, to break down, to overthrow the wicked in their complacency and wickedness, to destroy evil and to afflict with disaster the unrepentant, the remorseless, the hardened of heart. Two, to watch over us to build us , to plant us, to establish us, to settle us, to strengthen us. He has a plan not to harm us but to help us. At the same time, He is a consuming fire to the wicked and unrepentant who dig their heels further into evil, who harden their hearts further to disbelieve the goodness and justice of God. In one hand, He holds mercy, love and grace in abundance and in the other, judgement, justice, affliction. Sometimes, He needs to turn our lives upside down before He can work on us, inside-out. Fear of God and love of God are the two faces of our relationship with the Lord. The fear of God will bring us wisdom and restraint in continuing to indulge in what God regards as evil or what is not pleasing in His sight. The love of God keeps us doing all the good we can to all the people we encounter in our lives in one way or another. When both fear of God and love of God are in place, the Lord watches over us to build us, to plant us so that we walk in alignment with His will and His plan for our lives. God is so subtle that He planted nature and the universe in such a way that it appears that it all came into being in a random manner with no divine hand intervening. Likewise, He works out His plan in our lives, concealing His hand so that casual observers will attribute whatever happens in our lives to random chance or what they call luck or fate, when all the time it is nothing that grace that is powering or enabling us. But the faithful and wise are discerning and not so presumptuous. They humble themselves to acknowledge that God is above their knowledge and ability to know. In conformity to the nature of the Lord, as revealed in His word, our prayer life should also follow two patterns- one, to destroy, uproot, demolish strongholds and two, to plant, to build, to cause to grow and flourish the seeds of goodness, mercy, grace of God on earth. Just as the earth is ready and fertile to receive the seed and rain and sunshine to grow and cause to flourish that which is planted in it, the hearts and minds of faithful people in all nations and cultures are seed-ready, eager for the reign and the rain of the blessings of the Lord that cause them to flourish, cause them to be strong, to be joyful, to be always offering up praise, worship and thanksgiving to the Unseen but Faithful One, the Eternal Builder, the Everlasting Planter, the Merciful Master, the Just Judge, the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, physical, moral, spiritual, the seen and the unseen, the visible and the invisible.

The Secrets of Victory

UV 4282/10000 The Secrets of Victory He who has an ear, let him hear and heed what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes ( the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God), to him I will give ( the privilege of eating) some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name engraved on the stone which no one knows except the one who receives it. Revelation 2 v 17 The manna or word of God gives the believer victory in this world. We have to open our hearts and ears to hear and heed the word the Spirit speaks to us as the rhema word or specific communication from God. When we hear the specific word from the Lord we become pacific, not passive, or full of the abundance of peace -the sign of victory over this world. We believe the Word to overcome and we receive the hidden manna when we overcome. The hidden manna are the treasures, the keys to life and eternal life that are encrypted in the word. With these keys of faith, we open many portals in heaven. The portal of healing and deliverance is one of the chief portals. The Lord healed, helped and delivered us, The Lord heals, helps and delivers us now, the Lord will heal, will help and deliver us in the days to come for He is the Lord who was, is and is to come. Having received the hidden manna, we need to eat of it or apply it to our lives, intensively and extensively. When we delight in the hidden meanings revealed to us by the Spirit of God, it delights the Lord and He is moved to give us a new identity in Him. It is a secret identity or new power, grace and authority the Lord grants us, symbolized by the white stone. White symbolizes salvation, purity, peace. The stone as the medium on which our new names are carved by God is symbolic of new strength, new vigour, new fruitfulness that the Lord will manifest in our lives. What the Lord does in and through us will endure and neither end nor bend to the world and its forces of evil and compromise. The reference to the new name on stone is a symbol of the contrast that our thoughts, words, deeds will be to the people who trust only in what they see and hear or their own limited sensory perceptions. Theirs would be like dust while we would resemble the stone that is indestructible. The secret identity or new name the Lord gives us is known only to us, implying only we know and trust the call and purpose the Lord has for each of us. Even our closest and dearest will neither know, understand the call of God on our lives. It remains a secret shared by two lovers, God and each of us. It makes us confident of victory in the here and now and in the hereafter. In this sense, we are more than conquerors who never know how the battle will end, how their lives will end, whether they will be victorious.

The One Habit that Transforms Our Lives

UV 4281/10000 The One Habit that Transforms Our Lives When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “ I am God Almighty, walk (habitually) before Me ( with integrity, knowing that you are always in My presence), and be blameless and complete ( in obedience to Me). Genesis 17 v 1 Abram’s life seemed over to him and others when he had turned ninety-nine. Many might have even thought he had overstayed on earth. But God was about to begin a new covenant relationship with him. He was to give God undivided attention and God in return promised to multiply him. This was a template for success not just for Abram but for all humanity, thereafter. If we follow Abraham’s model and example, the Lord will honour His promise to us in our generation. We are to walk in terms of all our habits, all our actions, all our decisions, all our relationships, all our activities in accordance with the revealed word of God. Walking in conformity to the patterns or templates of the word is transformation. God did not keep His word or His ways secret but made known to us through Abraham and those who followed him till Jesus and indeed, to our very day in a large cloud of contemporary witnesses of the grace and glory of the Lord. The word “ walk” implies that in every step we take, we follow the word of God. We do not deviate to the right or to the left. We do not follow the opinions and ideologies of man but only that which the Author of Life, Jesus makes known to us. Jesus said, “ I am the way..”. We walk in the way of Jesus. We walk with our eyes focused on Jesus even as Jesus walked in obedience to the highest calling to save all mankind with His eyes focused on the crown of King of Kings that followed His obedience to the will and purpose of the Father. We are to walk always conscious that we are in the presence of the Lord God. We are to walk in the midst of threats and insults and accusations knowing that we are clothed or covered by the mighty power and authority of the Author. Though Abraham was faithful to the call of God and obedient in many tests including the painful one of going to the point of sacrificing his begotten son Isaac, he was not blameless. There was some flaws in his character and his walk. Hence, we are called to be blameless like Jesus, the Son of God in our walk before God. We should not seek to vie with each other or to compete but only seek to be complete in our obedience to the Word of God. When we live in this manner, the Lord promises to multiply us. To multiply could be as in the case of Abraham, to transform his life, his old age from barren to fruitful, from being childless to a father to many sons and a father to many tribes, a father to many faiths. To multiply could mean partly to multiply our blessings, our resources, physical possessions, to increase our influence, power, authority, dominion, to extend our legacy. To multiply could mean to increase grace upon grace in our lives.

The Love Of and For the Father

UV 4280/10000 The Love Of and For the Father Pray, then in this way: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your Name. Matthew. 6 v 9 Jesus was for the first time since the creation of man taught man, the crown of His creation to pray addressing God as Our Father. Jesus knew God as His Father but He was revealing to the disciples that His Father was also their Father who loves them and ought to be loved by them. Till then the Israelites knew God only as El Shaddai, the Almighty One to be revered, to be worshipped with awe. For the first time in human history, Jesus was initiating a personal relationship between creature, man and Creator God. It was a giant leap of faith to believe and to know that God is our Father and not just our Creator and that He loves us like He loves His Son Jesus. Like our relationship with our earthly father, He provide, protects, promotes, preserves us. He has compassion on us as a father has on his children. The transformation of our relationship with God is what happens in just these two words by which Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father..” That transformation leads to further to the transformation of our lives for we come to know that He has plans to prosper us and not to harm us. The time Jesus taught the disciples the Lord’s prayer, He had not been sacrificed and He had not ascended to Heaven, to the Father’s right hand. Hence, the reference to “Our Father in heaven..” After the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Father is no longer just in heaven but He is in us. He lives and dwells with us. He is Immanuel and present with us all the time. He inhabits us or is tabernacled in us. He is no longer distant and in heaven but at our right hand or most proximate to us. The third aspect of this uni-verse is that God, though He is our Father and though He is in and with us, we are to recognize that He is different from us, holy, awesome, to be revered. His very name is holy and though we are His children, we are not to take Him for granted or become familiar but always respect His name. As we bear His name as His children, obtained by faith in His Son, we are to be like Him, holy, righteous, principle-centred, worthy to be called His children. In the span of just eight words, Jesus taught us to love God and to live like Him. We exercise power, authority and dominion over all creation in the name of our Father. Our Father is only a prayer away. In fact, He is closer to us than our own skin for He dwells in our souls. In Christ, then, we have fellowship in the trinity of our being-spirit, mind and body with Our Father, His Son-Our Saviour and the Holy Spirit. We belong to the holy family, the community of God. The Father is the head of our family and He leads us in all our ways.

The Wisdom of Morality

UV 4279/10000 The Wisdom of Morality When you build a new house, you shall make a railing ( parapet) around your (flat) roof, so that you do not bring the guilt of (innocent) blood on your house if someone falls from it. Deuteronomy 22 v 8 It is amazing that God ( Jehovah) instructed the Israelites through Moses even about this- prevent any accidental death or injury to anyone in your newly built house. The immediate previous verse speaks of compassion to birds that on finding a nest on a tree, we can take the young but leave the mother. It comes with the promise that all shall go well with us and our days might be prolonged. God expects us to be both proactive and compassionate in all our ways. He is truly the Architect of Architects and instructed the ancient Israelites to even take steps to prevent an accidental fall from their houses. There is also the principle embedded in the word that we are accountable even for an accidental shedding of innocent blood or even cruelty to other creatures like birds. The spirit behind such instructions in the Old Testament is that we are to be conscientious, careful, compassionate even as God is compassionate and just. When we sow injustice in any manner, knowingly or unknowingly, there is a price to pay. Yet God allowed the innocent blood of His own Son, only One begotten of a woman, to be shed so that each of us can obtain grace for our own sins of omission and commission. It would have broken His heart even as it caused great agony to Jesus as witnessed on the rock of agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus could have pleaded that even the blood of creatures or a fellow human cannot be shed unjustly but He willingly paid the price for the absolution of mankind of all guilt for willful sins and the hidden, subtle, unconscious sins. The moral codes of humanity are derived from the Judaeo-Christian laws as embodied in this uni-verse. It stems from the belief that God exists and He is just and moral. Hence, we, His creatures and only creatures made in His image, need to obey His laws, His word, abide by His principles. We cannot question the logic behind taking the young birds and to spare the mother bird. We cannot plead that there is no mens rhea or guilty intention in an accidental injury or loss to our neighbours, the ones who are close to us in physical and emotional proximity as defined by Jesus in the story of the Good Samaritan. It is also a logical corollary that when we do not believe in God, then there is no need for sensitivity, morality, compassion. Ironically, much of the contemporary world seem to have no difficulty in accepting the need for a moral code of conduct but not the Law Giver, the Author of that code. The Author alone has the ultimate authority to enforce the code. The rider He has put in serves as a warning we need to heed, "that all shall go well with us and our days might be prolonged." Hence, there is a hidden self interest in all enlightened moral conduct as it is in our own interest we are to be moral, compassionate, righteous and we are by no means, doing God a favour. That said, our righteous conduct of all our affairs pleases the Lord God and He ordains that we are rewarded with " all shall go well.." and a promise of longevity since we respected the rules of life He has prescribed.

Cleansing the Mobile and Living Temples- Our Bodies

UV 4278/10000 Cleansing the Mobile and Living Temples- Our Bodies Jesus said to them, “ It is written ( in Scripture), “ My House shall be called a house of prayer.”; but you are making it a robber’s den. Matthew 21 v 13 The temple cleansing is a metaphor for the cleansing of our own bodies and lives. The cleansing of the temple is, perhaps, the only instance in history of a person using authority and force to end physical abuse of the sacred space of a place of worship. It would mean coming against powerful vested interests as in this case, the money lenders, the traders, the priests who allowed it for their own benefit. These people were robbing the poor and reverential worshippers of their money and stripping the temple of its holiness. Jesus had been questioned by the priests and teachers prior to this about who gave Him authority to exercise such power. He was also questioned about it after he cleansed the temple. The disciples attributed it to the zeal for the Father’s house- the temple. The latter day application of this unusual act of Jesus is that we need to honour God in every way in the place of worship. The ultimate place of worship that God inhabits according to scripture is what is not made with human hands- the human body. We are to submit ourselves to the temple-cleansing authority of Jesus and the Holy Spirit to make our bodies, our very lives a suitable habitation, a place of worship and reverence for the Lord. We are to be holy in all manner of conversation, implying in all and every word we utter. We ought not to allow the enemy to make our bodies or our lives his veritable den wherein he robs us of our peace, joy and strength. We are to use the authority that Jesus gave us to drive out the negative thoughts, words, actions, habits from our lives that rob us of our purity and power. The word, ‘zeal’ means great interest, energy and enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective. We need to reflect such interest, energy and enthusiasm in our prayer life. Since we are mobile temples, we need to cleanse ourselves daily of any evil that has willfully or unwittingly entered our lives. We are to be a veritable house of prayer, praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord. The indwelling Holy Spirit sanctifies us and enables us to worship the Lord continually, in all that we think, speak and do. If there is anything that threatens to violate the principles of holiness of the Lord in our lives, we need to use God-given authority to have ourselves cleansed, purified, sanctified. Zeal for God should reflect in cultivating the right set of habits, relationships, setting the right goals and using consistently the right methods to achieve those goals.

The Highest Court Rewards Persistence

UV 4277/10000 The Highest Court Rewards Persistence And will not ( our just ) God defend and avenge His elect ( His chosen ones) who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay ( in providing justice) on their behalf? Luke 18 v 7 Jesus uses the parable of an unjust, insensitive judge who in order to end the disturbance caused to him by a persistent widow resolves it in her favour, to drive home the need for faithful persistent prayer. We need to PUSH or pray until something happens. God is not an unjust judge but a compassionate Father, Master, Friend. If there is something unjust that we want justice or it could be an answer to a prayer, we should never ever give up but with thanksgiving, praise and confidence in the goodness and ability of God to resolve it, keep persisting in prayer. Jesus, knowing the Father, promises that He will not delay like the unjust, callous judge but rush to our help. Why is there a need for persistence? Like in our human courts, the adversary side would bring up objections to the Lord doing that which we ask or pray for. The adversary attends the court of God like a modern day public prosecutor would and raise many objections that need to be overcome by us by constant appeals to the mercy and compassion of the Lord. We should also check our own hearts and see if there is any unconfessed sin, any sinful habit or relationship we are currently involved in, any bitterness or unforgiveness to anyone else. We should confess and get rid of the burden of such sin, end any sinful action or habit, remove any doubt or fear that weakens our resolve to seek justice from the Lord. At the end of this narration, Jesus wonders whether in the last days when He returns as Judge and King, whether He would find such persistent faith on the earth. We should always recall that the earth is the footstool of our great Judge and King and not wait for His return but always be at the feet of Jesus, seeking His presence, His counsel, His grace, His wisdom, His mercy, His power. Through such persistent seeking of the King, we will beat the enemy, our adversary and His accusations, beat the obstacles to our faith, overcome our own fears, doubts, weaknesses. The Holy Spirit is our Pleader, Comforter, Interpreter, Counsellor, Remembrancer, Advocate, Amicus Curaie in the high court of the Lord. Scripture says that Jesus, Himself is our Advocate before the judgement throne of God and He, knowing our afflictions, our trials, our weaknesses and having been tried and tempted in every way any human would have been subjected to trials and temptations, assures us of ultimate, if not immediate victory. One other reason, God does not concede immediately our requests and petitions is to build Jesus-like patience and character in us.

Support for the Righteous In Times of Trouble

UV 4277/10000 Support for the Righteous in Times of Trouble Behold, God will not reject a man of integrity, nor will He strengthen or support evildoers. Job 8 v 20 God will not reject or refuse a person who is impeccable in his word to God, self and others. He promises to fill the mouth of such a one with joy. He will not let the words of such a person to fall on the ground in vain. If it falls, it will bear fruit, much fruit. If the person falls, the Lord will uphold him or her while He is not going to offer a hand of support to the evildoer on the day the latter falls. Of course, only Jesus in all of the human species though being God fully fulfilled the standard of integrity of God. Only He never fell short of His glory and therefore, was acceptable as the sacrifice for all, to justify all. As the prophet Isaiah recorded in advance, when Jesus was afflicted, people of the day thought that He was stricken for His own faults but Jesus was afflicted for the sake of all of humanity. When we, justified by faith in the “good root”, Jesus, stick to God like a leech, we will be strengthened greatly. His word will flow in our blood even as His blood sanctified us and made us be counted among the sinless. Without that connection with God, we are rootless, vain, helpless like the worm. Without Him, we will be like the papyrus or reeds that will dry up without standing water to support and sustain it. As we remain rooted in Christ and grow up in Him, He will cause us to flourish. He will fill our mouths with laughter and our lips with shouts of joy. In the case of Job, God fulfilled His word, His promise and though he was sorely tested, badly afflicted, the Lord restored him to be even more prosperous, peaceful and happy as before. The uni-verse and the examples of both Job and Jesus shows us that we are to “be patient in afflictions, joyful in hope.” Under the new covenant dispensation, unlike in the time of Job, we have the Holy Spirit ministering to us, comforting us, holding our hand to strengthen, encourage, guide, counsel us.

Rewards Not Punishment

UV 4276/10000 Rewards Not Punishment I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve. Jeremiah 17 v 10 The Lord God continually searches our hearts and minds not to punish us, to prove our guilt but to bless us, to reward us according to our thoughts, words, deeds, not just in heaven but here and now on earth. When God came to visit Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, the first couple hid themselves in fear and guilt at their disobedience and sin. But to this day, mankind does not realize we cannot ever hide ourselves from the searching eye of the Lord. Today, He visits our hearts and minds to try to discover something good in us. He sees even the secret things which no man, even the nearest and dearest in our lives, do not know. The Lord is excited when He finds something good in us and feels that His acts of creation and redemption in Christ were indeed worthwhile. He knows our flaws and weaknesses but the uni-verse says that He is examining us to find what is positive, uplifting, good, praiseworthy even as a parent looks for good qualities in his or her child. When we fail to fulfill that expectation, the absence of rewards is itself our punishment. Jeremiah praises God by saying that He is mighty in works and great in counsel in the context of His seeing the ways of mankind. It implies that when He sees something good or great, He does mighty things to reward us and when He sees some shortcomings, He counsels us patiently. The Lord guarantees that the righteous will eat the fruit of their word and work. But, as scripture says that there is no man who is truly righteous, it implies that the Lord rewards the children who are deemed righteous by faith in Him and His Son, the Redeemer Jesus when He sees the latter are also doing their diligent best to produce the fruit of righteousness in their lives. The roots of righteousness lie in our hearts ( our emotions) and our minds ( our thoughts, goals, ideas, values, self talk, God talk..). This is the reason the Lord searches the hearts and examines our minds through the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. He knows the motives behind our actions and the values that lie behind the motives and releases His grace and power to enable us to fulfill worthy goals and objectives we might have set for ourselves in alignment with His expressed word and will. He even partners with us in our work so that He helps us fill the inevitable gap between our goals and our achievement of those goals. Thereafter, after we achieve the goals, He enables us to enjoy the fruit of our labour.

Only Hope, No Hype

UV 4275/10000 Only Hope, No Hype Kings will be your attendants, and their princesses your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know ( with an understanding based on personal experience) that I am the Lord; For they shall not be put to shame who wait and hope expectantly for Me. Isaiah 49 v 23 This uni-verse is an almost unimaginable promise that the children of God, the servants of God will be served by the leaders, the nobles, the royal class who are so accustomed to only being served. It also says that the latter will be subservient to the servants of God. When this happens, we shall know that it is only the Lord at work. We, who serve Him are also priests and kings. As priests of the Most High, in the eyes of God, we enjoy a higher status and closeness than the kings of the earth. What we speak shall fall to the earth and bear fruit. It will bear the fruit of salvation in the hearts and lives of our hearers. For faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God spoken by and through us. We who hope in the Lord will never be disappointed. We will not be put to shame in front of the unbelievers, our opponents. The Lord will carry out that which He has promised us. We only need to wait with expectation and hope. We need to wait with thanksgiving and praise as we recall the miracles He has already wrought in the lives of people and in our lives, too. Our understanding of who God is, who the Great I Am is, who Jehovah is, who the Trinity is, who our Redeemer, Counsellor and Comforter is- the basis of our hope and our experience. Our knowledge of who God is, is based on His word. Kings cannot rule over their personal demons or weaknesses. But the Lord, the Holy Spirit will enable us to rule over the demons. Two can put a legion to flight. We can bind the strong one- satan and his agents such that they have no say in our lives. Kings cannot release the power of heaven on earth but, we can both bind and release the power of heaven on earth. What we declare in faith, decree in the authority Christ clothes us with as His co-heirs and partners on earth, the Lord will bring to pass in our lives. Every king succumbs to death while the King of Kings Jesus did not succumb to death. Death is almost all powerful and universal but Jesus proved Himself more powerful than death through His resurrection witnessed by scores and hundreds of contemporary witnesses.

The Mindset of Jesus

UV 4274/10000 The Mindset of Jesus In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. Philippians 2 v 5 The Buddha left his father’s palace while Jesus left heaven for earth. He humbled Himself to be like an ordinary human being, the humblest of human beings, the gentlest of human beings who would not break a reed of grass. Paul exhorts us to have the same mindset as Jesus who though God made Himself as nothing. Jesus has the mindset of obedience to the Father’s word and will. We, too need to have this mindset that in everything we speak, think or do, we should please the Father in heaven. What we set our minds on, determines our mindset. Jesus set His mind on winning the favour of the Father. He set His mind on the rewards the Father reserved for Him once He fulfilled the difficult mission He gave Him of sacrificing His life to save all mankind. He did not seek His own glory but only the glory of the Father. Hence, the Father set Him high above all people, all nations and above all the angels. The mindset described by Jesus in His sermon on the mount is actually a break down of His own mindset. Like Jesus, we should aim to be meek, aim to be peace makers, pure. We should hunger and thirst for righteousness as much or even more than we hunger and thirst for food and drink. We should not become weary or discouraged due to persecution or insults or false accusations as we are followers of the Lord. We should rejoice and be glad for great reward awaits us in heaven. People who regard their lives as a waste, we should bring hope of Christ in their lives and so make it tasteful and purposeful. We should be the light that draws people to God and His Son, Jesus. Like Jesus, we should constantly renew our minds with the Word which is the breath or inspiration of God. God does not want us to break world records but He definitely wants us to break the patterns of this world and cast ourselves in the mould and model of His Son, Jesus. Above all, Jesus manifested the wisdom and love of God. We, too need to be wise in our choices, way of life and reflect the agape love of God in our lives.

Young Stars

UV 4273/10000 Young Stars Let no one look down on ( you because of ) your youth, but be an example and set a pattern for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in ( moral) purity. I Timothy 4 v 12 Paul exhorts his young mentee to not be diffident on account of his youth. Instead, to be a leader of the early church, to be an example for all irrespective of their age in terms of his communication, his behaviour, his love for all people, his faith and his standards of integrity in private life. In short, Paul expected Timothy to be mature, responsible and disciplined beyond his years. He urged him to strive for perfection for Our Father in heaven and His Son as well as the Holy Spirit are perfect. The first area highlighted is speech for in the book of James it is written that the man who can control his tongue, he is to be regarded as perfect. He should not give offense to both God and man in the manner and in what he speaks. He is to avoid loose talk, gossip, slander, vulgarity, cursing, speaking in haste or in anger and regretting later. Next to the discipline of the tongue comes the discipline of the behaviour of the disciple. We should not show pride, self righteousness, arrogance, greed or lust in anything we do and instead be a model of humility and gentleness like the Lord Jesus taught us by example. The Christian leader should be imbued with love for all people- believers and non believers, looking at the latter with compassion, empathy and understanding. Paul majored on love and in his letter to the Corinthian believers wrote the most beautiful, elegant and comprehensive description of Christ-like love. It explains what we should be and what we should not exhibit in terms of bitterness, pride, resentment, unforgiveness. We are not to keep a record of wrongs but be grateful for the good that the Lord and people have done for us. We are not to be jealous, or conceited or egoistic and consider others better than us. It, however, does not mean that we develop an inferiority complex in comparison with others but to concede to others respect, honour and opportunities. Our faith should be constantly exercised like a muscle for physical exercise is of some value but exercising our faith muscles is of eternal value. In encountering the giant or Goliath challenges of life that the faithful often encounter more often than those who have no such faith, we are to be bold, fearless, strong in the Lord like the young David. But unlike the older David, then king, we are to guard our purity of character and not be deceived in a moment of weakness by the enemy. We cannot as believers and Christian lead a double or secret life. We are to be ever vigilant to detect and deflect the attempts of the roaring lion -satan who wants us to drag our testimonial lives down into the mud. Like Joseph, we must flee from both temptations of the flesh and vanities of the mind. Youngsters are called by the Lord to be young stars and not fallen comets, burnt out by not living up to the exacting standards of Christian leadership and the discipline of the Lord.

God's Race by Grace

UV 4272/10000 God’s Race by Grace For if you are living according to the (impulses of the ) flesh, you are going to die. But if (you are living) by the (power of the Holy ) Spirit you are habitually putting to death the sinful deeds of the body, you will (really) live forever. Romans 8 v 13 We who believe in Jesus are to live led by the Holy Spirit. We are not to live according to the impulses of the mind or the desires of the flesh but as directed by the Spirit of God. If we live impulsively, we reap eternal death but if we live led by the Spirit, we will put to death sin in our bodies and will live forever. We habitually try to obey God and His word in our lives. We are set free from the curse of hamartia or sinful shortcoming and live in the abundance of peace and joy and freedom from sin. We realize that the freedom to sin that we had formerly is not real freedom but bondage and death. When sin has no claim on us, death has no claim on us. We are to pursue righteous habits like prayer, meditation, study of the word, fellowship, regular worship and sharing our faith and hope in Christ with others. The more we study the word of God, the better we know Jesus and the more we know the Truth and the more we are set free from sin and death. Instead of the chains of sin, we have many gains of peace and grace. We begin to enjoy the fruit of righteousness, not the spoils of sin. We enter the inheritance we have as children of God and co-heirs with Christ. Our sense of identity will merge closer and closer with Jesus such that like Paul we can say that it is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me and for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. In other words, we overcome the universally existing fear of death for death gets its power due to its finality, irrevocability, the sense of the unknown existing beyond death, the fear of judgement of God and its penalty. But Christ not only identified totally with the sin of man but took upon himself all its consequences including eternal death and judgement. We are no longer the human race but the g-race or God’s race, a new creation called to live in the newness of our faith, the richness of His grace.

Transformation, Not Information

UV 4271/10000 Transformation, Not Information To open their spiritual eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness and release from their sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified ( set apart, made holy) by faith in Me. Acts 26 v 18 Paul describes accurately the benefits of the gospel- our spiritual eyes are opened. We turn from darkness to light with all the attendant benefits. We have moved from the sway or influence of satan, our common enemy to experiencing the agape love, power and grace of God. We receive forgiveness as well as our chains or bondage to sin are broken. We are sanctified by the power and help of the Holy Spirit and the word that washes us like water. All this due to only one cause- faith in Jesus. One reason yielding five eternal benefits – so the seed of faith is a high yielding variety. The question is -are we returning to the darkness off and on, due to our flesh nature’s pull, the attractions or seductions of this world? Or have we made a clean break from sin and its consequences by the grace of Christ outworking in our lives? Are we partly living in darkness and partly in light? We need to have checklist to test if we are living in accordance with the calling of our faith in Jesus: did we dabble in any darkness today? Which are the areas that satan continues to influence us? Which are the areas God’s control, leadership and influence needs to increase in our lives? Which are the chains of old, the dead habits that need to change in our lives? Are we grateful for the forgiveness we have received and are our actions and words in accordance with the fruit of repentance? Are we reflecting the fruit of sanctification, the fruit of the Spirit in our daily lives? The gospel or faith in Jesus is not about information but about transformation. All the patterns of our lives, habits, speech, attitudes change under the influence of Jesus. We are no longer to conform to the patterns of this world but to the patterns of the kingdom of God, demonstrated in the lives of countless witnesses through the ages. We are complete in Christ. He provides what we lack in terms of inner strength and ends the hamartia or the gap of shortcoming and shortfall in our lives. He moves us from the experience of a desert to a garden, from a spiritual famine to spiritual abundance, from curse to be blessed and to be a blessing to many.

God in the Manger

UV 4270/10000 God in the Manger And she gave birth to her first-born, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2 v 7 In this uni-verse, we witness the amazing phenomenon of God in a Manger. The priests of the time had a dog in the manger attitude of not wanting to enter heaven or the kingdom of God and not allowing others, the lay people also to enter by putting all kinds of moral and spiritual burden on them. Jesus, in contrast, was born in a manger so that all people of however low status, the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich could have access to heaven, the kingdom of God. He was born by deliberate choice, not an accident, in a manger to emphasize the complete empathy and identification of God with all mankind. The King of Kings being born in the manger, surrounded by cattle and their young ones, is the paradox of human history. God in the Manger lowers the barriers for entry for all to the kingdom of God. There is absolutely no external requirement to conform to in order to enter the kingdom of God. The only requirement is to believe that the baby born in the manger is God Himself, that He came by design, on purpose to save all without exception. That there was no room for Him in the inn, the One who created the entire universe, who is Lord of the entire creation was yet another irony lost on humanity. It was a sign that though God had lowered all the barriers, much of humanity was going to miss the opportunity due to their hardened hearts, their obsession with the externals, their blindness and deafness to the move and word of God. The innkeeper, the man who was nearest to the opportunity, missed the single biggest event in history- being visited by God, albeit as a baby while the wise men from a distant land with only the star as a sign and as a guide, made it all the way to adore Him, to lay their gifts humbly at His feet. God in the Manger is also a sign that God appears in the most unlikely places, to the most unlikely people. The mute cattle had God for their company on the first night after His birth. Joseph and Mary thought out of the box to find a solution to the problem of not finding accommodation. Augustus Caesar’s unusual order to hold the first ever census in the empire incidentally had forced them out of their humble cottage back in Nazareth to undertake this journey to their native village Bethlehem for all heads were to be counted where they hailed from including God, Jesus. It was as if God was orchestrating things so that the young expecting couple do not remain comfortably in their home in Nazareth. They probably did not anticipate that the labour pains would strike while they were on this journey. But all things happened for good of mankind and the glory of God that God was born in a manger. Is there a lesson for us, humans who are restless about wherever we are placed in life. When God, the Father could allow His Son to be placed in a manger, is it not apt for us to rejoice wherever we are placed right now in life.

Faith Turns Our Mountains Into Fountains

UV 4269/10000 Faith Turns Our Mountains into Fountains And He said to me, “ It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the one who thirst I will give ( water) from the fountain of the water of life without cost. UV Revelation 21 v 5 The Lord is the One who begins our journey of faith and He is the One who helps us finish it successfully. He is with us from the beginning to the very end and beyond. He knows the entire range of our aspirations, needs, weaknesses, strengths, problems, challenges, sorrows and joys. If we thirst for His counsel, His word of wisdom and of knowledge, His blessings, His presence, He will satisfy us with the water of eternal life as He promised the Samaritan woman at the well. The water that will never allow us to be enslaved by the enemy, chained by fears. The water that will fill us with power and strength to face up to all of life’s issues, big and small. He promises to pour His grace on us like a fountain pours forth streams of water. Likewise, we will enjoy multiple streams of blessings flowing from His throne. He will wipe our tears and erase our fears, of death, of failure, of scarcity, of loneliness, of being condemned forever. Jesus remains faithful to His word and His word is given to us free of cost. It is abundantly available to us for access at any time like water from a tap. We only need to access it and imbibe it at all times and especially when we need a specific answer to our prayers. He does this to ensure our happiness, our fulfilment, our satisfaction. But like water has the formula H2O, we need to Optimise between our happiness and His holiness. The things we pursue and do for our happiness should not be a slur on His name. We should always revere God, the Lord Jesus for His holiness even as we desire Him for His love, admire Him for His great strength and power. Our lives are all about balancing our happiness with His holiness. On an average we drink ten glasses of water every day. Water is needed to maintain the electrolyte balance in our bodies, for purifying or detoxing our bodies. Every time we drink a glass of water, let us remember that Jesus is the Alpha to the Omega of our lives, that He and His word helps us keep our balance in life in the midst of conflicting claims on our time, attention, energy, resources, abilities. It is His word like water that cleanses us of inner impurities like a shower or a bath in fresh water cleanses and refreshes us. It is He who detoxifies us from the impurities of our lives and of the world around us. It is His Spirit that keeps the joy, hope and enthusiasm of life bubbling up and down like a fountain. He is the One who turns our mountains or giant challenges and problems of life into fountains or testimonies before men for praise, encouragement, inspiration and thanksgiving to the Lord.

Seeking Implies Hundred Percent Commitment

UV 4268/10000 Seeking Implies Hundred Percent Commitment Seek the Lord ( search diligently for Him and regard Him as the foremost necessity of your life), all you humble of the land who have practiced His ordinances and have kept His commandments; Seek righteousness, seek humility ( regard them as vital). Perhaps you will be hidden ( and pardoned and rescued) in the day of the Lord’s anger. Zephaniah 2 v 3 To be forewarned is to be forearmed. In this uni-verse, the Lord wants us to seek Him or pursue and follow Him with all our heart, mind, strength and imagination. All other human pursuits and desires cannot save us from His judgement, His anger. Next to the person of God, we need to seek His word and to obey or practice the principles He teaches us daily from it. We need to check if every step we take, every word we speak, every thought we think is in conformity with His word. Seeking implies hundred percent commitment to that which we are seeking. Half measures and compromises simply would not do. The third thing we need to diligently seek is to be like God in His righteousness, to imitate or emulate His Son in His character of humility and gentleness. Even doing all this does not entitle us to salvation or eternal life. We have to yet rely on the mercy and grace of the Lord for not one of us can be perfect in all three aspects of our relationship with the Lord, of our obedience to His word, of being Christ-like. Hence, it is grace from beginning to end that saves us and not our own efforts. That said, our efforts should not lag behind in zeal or sincerity. Five D’s distinguish us from the rest of humanity: Devotion to God- our constant and diligent seeking of the Lord. Dedication to do His will, to consecrate our hearts and lives to Him. If we are zealous for God, He will not be jealous of us. For it is written that God is both jealous and possessive of both His glory and His children, His followers, the believers of Christ, His Son. Devotion to God and dedication to do His will in our lives should be followed in practical terms by personal determination never to give up, to keep pursuing with all our hearts and all our energy and resources and abilities, the goals we have set for ourselves in alignment with the word, will and calling of God. The fourth D -Discipline is needed to cut out distractions, to be focussed on our goals and priorities, to use our limited time on Earth well enough to earn the Master’s commendation. The fifth and final D is Diligence- to learn from all possible sources in this world including teachers, mentors, advisers but to primarily study the Word and learn from the Word and the Spirit of God the right or better ways to do things. When all five D’s are in place in our lives, our challenge would be to stay humble and dependent on the Lord and not to think of ourselves better than anyone else. The metaphor of clothes of salvation implies that our clothes can be soiled, torn or removed at any time. The attitude of the saved sinner, the humble servant of God, the penitent prodigal would keep us from the threat of spiritual pride and self righteousness.

More Valuable Than the Most Precious Treasure

UV 4267/10000 More Valuable than the Most Precious Treasure on Earth The kingdom of heaven is like a ( very precious ) treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid again; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field ( securing the treasure for himself). Matthew 13 v 44 We need to prioritise the kingdom of heaven over all other earthly pursuits, goals and desires. Nothing on earth can compare with the privilege of being part of the kingdom of God. No relationship is so vital as our relationship with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit. While we are living, we might hide this truth in our hearts but when we die physically, we inherit the kingdom of heaven. But eternal life begins the moment we place our trust in Jesus. We need to treasure our faith in Jesus, His word and His purpose for our lives above all things we might value in this life. The second metaphor Jesus uses to teach us the value of heaven and eternal life in Him is the pearl seller who is in search of fine pearls and on chancing upon the largest pearl, the kingdom of heaven, he sells all he has in order to own this pearl. We need to be prepared to exchange all we are, have, own for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. When we seek His kingdom and His righteous purpose for our lives, He will, in fact, all things we need to our lives. Our character, purpose and behaviour are to be in alignment with the will of God. Then, our destiny is assured, our place in heaven is guaranteed by Christ. When a farmer digs in a particular area, he finds that whole field is full of precious diamonds and other treasures. He then sells his house and all his possessions to buy that piece of land. To the rest of the world, it might look like a foolish decision for he has sold what seems to be more valuable, his house and all his possessions to own only an acre of land. But only God and he know what a wise decision and investment he has actually made that would guarantee financial security not only for him but for his entire posterity. Likewise, the decision to commit our entire lives to the Lord might seem a foolish decision to the rest of the world who do not see the treasures or blessings we have access to in Christ. Like we hide what is most precious in our lives from the prying eye but reveal it to those we trust, cherish and love, the kingdom of heaven is to be hidden in our hearts and opened up for the viewing of others who might want to share in such a hope and inheritance.

The Power of the Spoken Word

UV 4266/10000 The Power of The Spoken Word Then Moses raised his hand ( in anger ) and with his rod he struck the rock twice ( instead of speaking to the rock as the Lord had commanded). And the water poured out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank ( fresh water). Numbers 20 v 11 The power of speaking God’s word is far more than the power of action. We, humans, normally believe that an ounce of action is better than a pound of speech. But when it comes to God’s word, if we speak it in faith, it has more power than any human action. When we speak the word, it is the equal or better than any action. Moses, in his anger at the rebellion he was facing from the Israelites due to shortage of water, forgot to just speak to the rock and instead struck it twice with his rod. Due to this action, he lost the right or privilege of leading the Israelites into the promised land. Likewise, even today our faith in the Lord and His word has consequences and significance that we cannot fully comprehend. When we speak the word of God, we are honouring God, upholding Him as holy, His will as sovereign in our lives. The Lord is pleased with this and reckons it more worthy than any action we can do on His behalf in our lives. He will honour His word and vindicate us before the very people who challenge us. But we should not yield to our human emotions or doubts and be tempted to believe in the power of human action over the spoken word of God. Moses’ leadership and legacy was dented by this seemingly small act of defiance of the will and word of God. In our lives, when we are unwell, we need to speak the word that the Lord will heal us. When we face dangers or threats, that He will protect us. When we are short of resources or money, we need to speak faith into the situation of scarcity by saying, the Lord will provide. In my life, I found that whenever I trusted the Lord and spoke His word, He caused that which He promised to happen. When I spoke the word of His provision, He provided abundantly. When I spoke the word of His protection even in the run up to the world’s first human bomb assassination, He miraculously protected me. Even when I spoke the word that God can change the weather, He changed the weather system overlying the whole of the north western region of the country overnight. Instead hiding His word in our hearts, we need to release the power of God by speaking it and experience the power of the spoken word. This is the rationale behind the spoken word Godcasts I am doing these days to bless people everywhere.

The Rock that Makes Our Lives Rocking

UV 4265/10000 The Rock that Makes Our Lives Rocking And all ( of them) drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. I Corinthians 10 v 4 This uni-verse refers to the rock from which the Israelites obtained water to drink when Moses struck it in anger instead of speaking to it as Jehovah had directed him to. Our spiritual rock under the new covenant is Jesus, the Christ. Our life rocks as Jesus is our Rock foundation. He is the mobile Rock that follows us wherever we go and we can obtain our drink to quench our spiritual thirst at will. He is the unchanging rock despite all our changing circumstances. He is the Rock that refreshes, renews and revives us spiritually. He is the Rock that is stronger, much stronger than I, higher, much higher than I. He is the Rock that shelters us in the storm and in the sunshine of our lives. The word of God is like an overhanging crop of rock that gives us hope of eternal life. It keeps us from the harsh experiences of the desert that this life is without God, without Christ, without hope. Even when we feel hemmed in, we can touch the hem of His robe and be healed, cleansed, renewed in hope and strength. Belief in Jesus produces hope in us that we can be all that Jesus is- the Door in terms of new opportunity, new blessings, new experiences of God’s mercy and grace. The Light of the world in terms of illuminating the darkness, the hopelessness, the meaninglessness, the powerlessness of earthly life without God, without Jesus. The Water of Eternal life that can quench the thirst of people for love, for hope, for meaning, for purpose, for power. Inasmuch as we believe in Jesus, we become like Him the Bread that sustains people, nourishes, strengthens, meets needs of humans like us. We become the true vine by which other people in association with us will find their lives fruitful. We are the Good Shepherd who leads, guides, people away from death, dangers, evil towards eternity, freedom, safety, progress. We as long as we are connected with Jesus become the Way to understanding, teaching and applying truth in our lives. Finally, we are like Jesus the hope of resurrection from death, the inspiration to live the abundant life. While we are all this in Christ, a new creation, we should avoid like the ancient Israelites complaining about anything and instead, praise, thank and glorify the Lord in all things.

The Food for Soul that Endures

UV 4264/10000 The Food For Soul That Endures Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures ( and leads) to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you; for God the Father has authorized Him and put His seal on Him. John 6 v 27 Jesus chastised the people who came looking for Him out of gratitude that He had fed them when they were hungry. He asks them to cherish not the earthly food but to relish and treasure the eternal food, the spiritual bread that He gave them. The Father had authorized Him to feed them with the food of eternal life- the Word. This is the food of our souls that will never spoil or perish or allow us to perish. This is the food that will cause us to flourish both in this world and the world to come. Jesus has placed His seal of authority, power and approval on this food. It will work on our internal and our eternal. We will be satiated with earthly food but the more we have of eternal food, the more we experience of the eternal and spiritual dimension. We will feel satisfied and yet, we will long for more. We are not to work for food that gets corrupted easily but for such food that lasts forever. The word will work in us and transform our lives from within. The word of Jesus is what encourages us, strengthens us, inspires us, fills us with eternal hope and assurance. We are to lap it up like a dog laps milk, like Gideon’s 300 volunteer force lapped water from their palms. The word is the seal of authority and approval the Father affixes on our lives. We are stamped with the words, BRAND NEW, as we are washed in the blood of Jesus, clothed in the clothes of salvation. Our stomach juices work on physical food but the spiritual food works on us, on our inner being, on our character, on our goals and values. We cannot earn the bread of life with the sweat of our brow but we inherit it by the grace of Jesus and our faith in His name. As the food in us, the word of Jesus endures, we endure. The world and all in it will perish with all its power structures but the word in us will never perish and never allow us to perish. Jesus has sealed us with the seal of authority and approval even as He is sealed by God, the Father. Just as Jesus called Himself while on earth as the Son of Man as that was His assumed status on earth, we are to regard ourselves as Sons and Daughters of God as our primary status, our eternal destiny.

Attached Detachment to the World

UV 4263/10000 Attached Detachment to the World And those who use the world ( taking advantage of its opportunities), as though they did not make full use of it. For the outward form of this world ( its present social and material nature) is passing away. I Corinthians 7 v 31 Being in the world but not of the world is the new perspective believers develop after reposing faith in Jesus. We are to remain detached in our attachment to the world and what it has to offer, knowing that it is all temporary and perishable. The world and all in it are going to fade away but the Word will remain. Hence, we are not to be engrossed, obsessed or attached to the world. Even while engaging with the world and its opportunities, our priority is to be the kingdom of God, the will of God. In our workplace, for instance, we should show more commitment to excellence than others without being too worried about our prospects of promotion or career growth. Paul goes to the extent in the run up to this uni-verse to say that those who are married should live as they were not. In short, nothing and no one should take the place of the Lord in our hearts and lives. Yet, we are to redeem every opportunity to honour and glorify God.. It implies that we should avail of every resource, every opening to make known the name of the Lord and His plan of salvation for mankind. This attitude of the believer may best be described as attached detachment. This is what is encouraging me to refire, or to remain active on all fronts, in ministry, in social work, in training, in public speaking engagements in my second innings after thirty four years service in the Indian Police Service and 30 months as a bank officer preceding that. The second innings is not a time for rest but like in cricket, it is the more decisive innings, the innings that produces a result. We need to continue to pray, play, pay to the utmost level of our ability and resources without overly worrying about the result. It is a time not to fritter away opportunities but to leverage, maximize on it We need to recall on the basis of this uni-verse that everything else will not count in terms of eternity except what we speak, think and do on behalf of the Lord. Hence, our focus should be on the locus, the central point of our existence in this sin prone world- the Lord God. Our priority is the Lord and His work and word. In concrete terms, we need to double the time we spend in prayer, in the presence of the Lord, in the word and reduce our preoccupations with the world. It is not a life of renunciation or monastic seclusion that Paul is advocating but of pragmatic, balanced focus on the Lord by giving Him both first priority not just in terms of time but in terms of attention and commitment.

Friends of God

UV 4262/10000 Friends of God You whom I ( the Lord ) have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its remotest parts and said to you, “ You are my servant, I have chosen you and have not rejected you ( even though you are exiled. Isaiah 41 v 9 It is remarkable that Isaiah prophesying several hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ, states that we who belong to all nations even to the very ends of the earth, whether North, South, East or West are taken, called, chosen by the Lord. Only God can see so far ahead. The plan of making us Friends of God like Abraham on account of our faith in Jesus, our buckle, our link with Abraham and Israel was revealed in this uni-verse. By virtue of our faith in Jesus, righteousness is credited by grace not works to our spiritual accounts maintained by God’s auditing angels. By virtue of our faith, as it happened with the flaw-prone human, Abraham, it is deemed that we have conformed to the will of God. This is the good root of our salvation. The geographical remoteness is a metaphor for how distant we were from God before we accepted Christ into our hearts, our lives. Now, we are brought close to the very heart of God that He calls us His friends as also His servants. We are called to be His chosen ones. He has not rejected us and holds our hands to deliver us. Though our spiritual status once read “fallen”, we have now been exalted or lifted to be at the right hand of the Father and the Son. Now that we are His friends, we need to spend time fellowshipping with Him, chatting with Him, sharing our lives with Him. Now that we are His servants, too, we should serve Him, obey Him, adore Him, respect and revere Him. As friends, we love Him, we can be honest with Him. As servants, we fear and respect Him, we submit to His will in our lives. God has accepted us as we are. He did not say change a few things and then come to me. We are now His trusted confidantes as well as trusted servants. We must do nothing to betray His trust and live in such a way to honour our personal relationship with God. This is where good deeds, good words, good thoughts count not as root but as good fruit that is proof of concept, as it is said, or proof of us truly being His friends and servants. As Friends of God, we have many privileges like prayer, worship, guidance by the Holy Spirit, counsel. As servants of God, we have many duties and we need to be diligent about study of the word, witnessing with our lives, verbally and non verbally, serving other people who are the ‘spitting’ image or reflection of God whether they acknowledge it or not.

The Spiritual Framework of Life

UV 4261/10000 The Spiritual Framework of Life By faith ( that is, with an inherent trust and enduring confidence in the power, wisdom and goodness of God) we understand that the worlds ( universe, ages) were framed and created ( formed, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose) by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Hebrews 11 v 3 The physical world operates within a moral and spiritual framework set by the word of God. Hence, good management of the invisibles necessarily precedes good management of the visible. The best return on investment we can get by focusing on the invisible and the eternal that determines the shape and dimensions of the physical. Hence, issues like longevity, endurance, productivity, our holistic health are determined by the invisible principles and precepts embodied in the word. If we want a change in the physical realms, we need to start with the spiritual, the invisible realm ruled by God. God spoke the universe into being. Hence, the spoken word is powerful, effective, active and it impacts our lives in more ways than we can understand. The spoken word of God can be used to heal, to deliver, to save, to bless, to inspire, to encourage, to equip, to empower, to enable. The word enables us to find and achieve the purpose for which we are created. It releases the embedded power of God in us to pursue and attain that purpose in our lives. The frame work of the word will keep us getting side tracked by the enemy of our souls who makes his presence felt through his power, folly and evil. The enemy tries to frame us, blame us, shame us while the Lord delivers us through the framework of the word. The word is needed for leading a victorious and successful life in the most holistic usage of the terms success and victory. The word of God that we speak, share, teach, meditate on in full faith is the hook by which the Lord makes manifest His wisdom, power, goodness, love in our lives. Without the word and faith in it, our lives would be like drift wood on the ocean of life. We would be moving hither and thither without meaning, direction, purpose or power. The word spoken in faith is a spiritual trigger to release the unseen dimensions of the power, love and wisdom of God in our lives. The word acts as an anchor, a helm, a moral compass, the keel, the rudder, the sail and rail of our boat of life. It comes alive or becomes real in our day to day practical situations, in the crisis points, in the highs and lows of our lives. It provides the spurs to action as well as the brakes we apply to stop something negative or harmful to ourselves or others.

You are Special, Chosen, called, Blessed, Anointed, Empowered

UV 4260/10000 You are Special, Chosen, Called, Blessed, Anointed, Empowered But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a ( special) people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies ( the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections) of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. I Peter 2 v 9 We are chosen out of the human race to be saved by grace, to live by faith, to experience the hope of eternal life in Christ. To the world that disbelieves Jesus is the stumbling stone that makes them fall, to us who believe He is the cornerstone of our lives. The cornerstone on whom we rise as a man who is called out by name by God, His Son Jesus to whom all power and authority is given and thereby, comes out of intense darkness, who rises from the oblivion of death like Lazarus from his cave grave. This makes us a special people, a signet ring on the finger of God to execute His will on earth as He does in heaven with angels. We are the very sceptre of authority of Jesus when we speak the word in faith to command healing, deliverance, breakthroughs for people who are lost and suffering. We are chosen to share in His suffering as well as in His inheritance as primus genitor, the first heir or son. We are chosen to live like Him and enter into His eternal kingdom. Having been chosen by God, we proclaim His praises, genuine praises that come not from shallow lips but from the heart as we have ourselves experienced His salvation in many and different ways even on earth, even in this lifetime. We are both kings and priests in His eyes. As kings, we lead the people from darkness into His light, we wage warfare, we administer, rule on His behalf as His viceroys on earth. As priests, we humble ourselves before Him to serve Him, to worship Him, to praise and thank Him, to counsel unto wisdom and share the fruit of our lips for the salvation of many. Hence, our leadership style combines both authority and power and humility and service. We lead like lions like Jesus and live and serve like lambs and sheep. We become masters of the metaphor and the paradox. We are drawn from all nations and races and yet become one race, one nation, one people under God, always striving to obey Him in the spirit and not the letter, in faith and not to appease to obtain divine favour. We are called out of the darkness to live in His marvellous light. We should no longer return to the darkness or follow the ways of darkness, the ways that we followed when we were not His followers. We submit and obey Him not out of an outward fear or respect but out of an inner reverence, awe, love and respect. We are consecrated like priests of old, set apart like soldiers from the civilian population, separated from darkness, separated from our own former selves. We burn our sinful bridges behind us to walk boldly confidently close to Jesus. He is our bridge to our inner self, our true self, our better self, to our future, our hope and eternity. We claim His promises, proclaim His goodness, His glory, His love to the people, yet unsaved, yet dwelling and revelling in darkness. We proclaim it not just with our words but with our thoughts, emotions, our actions and reactions. We are a peculiar people who live not according to the standards of this world but we conform to the standards of the one who called us.

You are Special, Chosen, Called, Blessed, Anointed, Authorised, Empowered

UV 4260/10000 You are Special, Chosen, Called, Blessed, Anointed, Empowered But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a ( special) people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies ( the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections) of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. I Peter 2 v 9 We are chosen out of the human race to be saved by grace, to live by faith, to experience the hope of eternal life in Christ. To the world that disbelieves Jesus is the stumbling stone that makes them fall, to us who believe He is the cornerstone of our lives. The cornerstone on whom we rise as a man who is called out by name by God, His Son Jesus to whom all power and authority is given and thereby, comes out of intense darkness, who rises from the oblivion of death like Lazarus from his cave grave. This makes us a special people, a signet ring on the finger of God to execute His will on earth as He does in heaven with angels. We are the very sceptre of authority of Jesus when we speak the word in faith to command healing, deliverance, breakthroughs for people who are lost and suffering. We are chosen to share in His suffering as well as in His inheritance as primus genitor, the first heir or son. We are chosen to live like Him and enter into His eternal kingdom. Having been chosen by God, we proclaim His praises, genuine praises that come not from shallow lips but from the heart as we have ourselves experienced His salvation in many and different ways even on earth, even in this lifetime. We are both kings and priests in His eyes. As kings, we lead the people from darkness into His light, we wage warfare, we administer, rule on His behalf as His viceroys on earth. As priests, we humble ourselves before Him to serve Him, to worship Him, to praise and thank Him, to counsel unto wisdom and share the fruit of our lips for the salvation of many. Hence, our leadership style combines both authority and power and humility and service. We lead like lions like Jesus and live and serve like lambs and sheep. We become masters of the metaphor and the paradox. We are drawn from all nations and races and yet become one race, one nation, one people under God, always striving Him to obey Him in the spirit and not the letter, in faith and not to appease to obtain divine favour. We are called out of the darkness to live in His marvellous light. We should no longer return to the darkness or follow the ways of darkness, the ways that we followed when we were not His followers. We submit and obey Him not out of an outward fear or respect but out of an inner reverence, awe, love and respect. We are consecrated like priests of old, set apart like soldiers from the civilian population, separated from darkness, separated from our own former selves. We burn our sinful bridges behind us to walk boldly confidently close to Jesus. He is our bridge to our inner self, our true self, our better self, to our future, our hope and eternity. We claim His promises, proclaim His goodness, His glory, His love to the people, yet unsaved, yet dwelling and revelling in darkness. We proclaim it not just with our words but with our thoughts, emotions, our actions and reactions. We are a peculiar people who live not according to the standards of this world but we conform to the standards of the one who called us.

Realigion

UV 4259/10000 Realigion He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of your except to be just, and to love (and to diligently practice) kindness (compassion), and to walk humbly with your God (setting aside any overblown sense of importance or self-righteousness)? Micah 6 v 8 This uni-verse sums up the essence of what I call REALIGION, not religion. God wants the crown of His creation, man and woman to do what is good, what is positive, what is beneficial, what is healthy, what is praiseworthy, what is worthy of emulation and appreciation. He has only three real requirements- we should be just or fair, impartial, true and we should love mercy, kindness, compassion for we ourselves are recipients in abundance of love, mercy, kindness, compassion from the Lord. Finally, He wants us to be humble. If we are humble, we will neither stumble, bumble or ramble. Our pride will not make us look foolish or make us take foolish decisions, ignoring the sane and sage advice of those who know better. Humility comes from the realization that each of us, even at our strongest, best, greatest times, is like a speck of dust before the Lord. Humility comes from the fact that better and greater persons than us have all bitten the dust. “ Dust we are and unto dust we shall return.” Without knowledge, acknowledgement, relationship with God, we have no personality in this lifetime, let alone eternity. We are not people on the dunghill of history but just dust. It is God who takes us from being dust to being the image of God, His reflection, His wonderful children. It is this kind of humility that produces fear or reverence for the sheer power, wisdom, grace, love, mercy of God towards us. That sense of reverence kickstarts us on the journey of pursuing wisdom, of being balanced and wise in our judgements, decisions, reactions and attitudes. Each of us is the sum of our attitudes- our heart attitudes, our mental attitudes, our emotions. We need to be mindful of our attitudes towards God and towards all of life. Once we are so mindful, the rest will fall in place. When we truly and really think we are the image of God, the enemy cannot seduce, tempt us into doing things that are contrary to that image. When we think that all people are created in the image of God, we will not consider ourselves better or more important than any other. We will also love to show mercy as the uni-verse says, to even those who have temporarily departed from being that image. We will neither be adulatory of ourselves or condemn others. We will think neither highly nor lowly of ourselves or others. We will instead focus our energy and attention to removing from our character those flaws, those aspects of our nature or character that detracts from the image of God. Walking humbly with God implies that with each thought we think, each emotion we feel, each decision we take, each word we speak, each action we do, we give Him the glory and the honour. Walking humbly also means we lean on Him and take His help for each step we take, every moment and day of our lives.