Z for Zeal

UV 917-10,000 Z for Zeal Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Romans 12 v 11 This uni-verse is the very definition of zeal. We are to show due diligence as well as extraordinary diligence in our work, whatever field we might be in. We need to take care and time to be familiar with the rules of our business. Just as the different members of the body especially, the heart, the brain, the lungs, the kidneys, the liver work round the clock and do not set time limits for their functioning, we should be prepared to fulfil our responsibilities without setting time limits. Last evening I had a visit from Dr David Wong who taught us at the Haggai Leadership seminar at the turn of the century. When I explained to him the eqthinking thought process I had developed, he said, “ What you are saying resonates with what Dr John Haggai teaches-when you stay with a matter long enough, you will accomplish what you are aiming for.” Indeed, diligence implies perseverance and persistence. We need to go beyond the call of mere duty and stray into the area of being passionate about our work. When we are ready to go the extra mile any time and all the time, we will end up going a thousand miles further or in other words, our productivity would be a thousand times more. My style of working is that soon after I join a new assignment, I think hard about the core issues and capture the essence in a concept that can be easily communicated and implemented by all others who are working with me. For example, the simple principle of eqthinking –“ be at it, beat it” enables people to go the extra mile, one mile at a time. Last evening a lady with whom I briefly shared the idea sent a message, “ My vitamin for today is BEAT IT. My faith has been strengthened.” Thinking hard about the core issues is an essential part of diligence. We can be hard working with our hands and legs without applying our mind much. The Lord wants us to put our heart, mind and soul into the work at hand. The reward is mentioned in scripture, “He who is diligent will not stand before ordinary people but before kings.” Lo and behold, one day I was literally standing before Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth II and talking with her. Take the case of the young Pakistani girl Malala- she has met President Obama and the Queen and everyone else is vying to meet her on account of her extreme courage and passion for education in the face of death. Zeal also implies that we need to be devoted or fervent in spirit. We must be filled with enthusiasm or the very energy of God and the joie de vivre or the joy of living. Our attitude cannot be slack for Jesus tells us, “Don’t be slack for I will be back.” I was listening to someone on Ted talks the other day and liked the way he put it, “ fire, faith and focus.” Zeal is an undying fire burning in us, an unshakeable and unflagging faith in God’s love and promises, a sharp focus on pleasing our Heavenly Master in all things, written and spoken, thought, said and done. Earlier we were slaves or in bondage to sin, death and satan. We were born in captivity, sold into slavery without our knowledge or our consent. But now that we are set free forever, we are willing and ready servants of the Lord. All our faculties should now be focussed on serving Him who set us free. True freedom is not living in the lap of luxury or sloth but focussing all our attention and energy on fulfilling our responsibilities and so serving the Lord. The word ‘zeal’ starts with the letter “Z” which in the Greek is Omega or God Almighty, ‘e’ stands for energy and enthusiasm, ‘a’ for attitude of diligence and gratitude, and ‘l’ for love. Prateep V Philip

The High Price

UV 916/10,000 The High Price And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD. 2 Samuel 23 v 16 The shepherd- King David had a trusted bodyguard of 30 brave soldiers. David was once taking refuge in a cave while the Philistines were in control of Bethlehem, his native place. David longed to drink water from the wall near the gate of Bethlehem. No sooner had he stated his desire than three of his bravest broke through the Philistine garrison that guarded the gate of Bethlehem, drew water from the well of Bethlehem and brought it to David to quench his longing. But David seeing that they had risked their lives to procure it for him, poured out the water as a sacred drink offering to the Lord, saying that “ Is it not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” The three mighty men did it for the sake of one man, their king and commander. The water symbolised the salvation that the Messiah-King Jesus was going to obtain for all mankind at the cost of every drop of His own blood. Three ordinary men became inspired to be mighty and brave under David’s leadership. They vied with each other to prove their bravery, prowess and loyalty. But Jesus the mighty God and King became meek in order to prepare Himself for the ultimate and perfect sacrifice. Jesus, a lineal descendant of King David, broke through the enemy ranks, laid down the most precious life in all of the universe and all of history and poured out every drop of His blood as an offering and payment for us. It is written that the last time He set out for Jerusalem He set His face like flint towards the cross. Nothing could deter Him or steer Him off this course, not even the agony of separation from the Father as He hung in condemnation on the cross. Our response as believers should be similar to that of David –to pour out our lives as an offering to the Lord. David valued the water of the well of Bethlehem but he valued the life of his men even more. We too need to long for the water of salvation that will quench our longing for eternity. We need to value Jesus even more than our own salvation. We need to always have in mind the high price He paid to secure so great a salvation for us. The three men of David’s guard only risked their lives but Jesus tasted death for us for three days that we should not undergo eternal death ourselves. We need to value the Word, the very water of life that will quench our spiritual thirst. Prateep V Philip

Three Functions, One Purpose

UV 915/10,000 Three Functions, One Purpose For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us. Isaiah 33 v 22 We all know that government consists of the Executive-the head , the Legislature-the law-making wing and the judiciary- the judge. Long before such institutions were set up as the three separate branches of government, the Word indicated this functional division. But the Lord combines in Himself the functions and positions of judge, lawgiver and king. As Judge, His chief qualities are His justice and mercy. As lawgiver, His chief qualities are His wisdom, knowledge and understanding. As King, His chief qualities are His graciousness, majesty and power to execute His will. He is also the lone author of eternal salvation. He uses His good offices of judge, lawgiver and king to save us. As Judge, He shows us mercy on the basis of our faith in Jesus. He justifies us or sets us right with God as if we have never fallen short of His law or justice, as if we have never sinned. As lawgiver, He gives us His Word to guide and lead us, to comfort, strengthen and nourish us. As King He commands His deliverances for us. He rewards us for our faithfulness. In all three roles and functions, His chief goal or priority is to save us. The justice, law and power of God are tailored for our salvation, not for our condemnation. Whatever be our shortcomings in every area of life, He shows us mercy and gives us grace to overcome. He removes earthly kings and installs new ones in their place. He weighs every leader and authority, measures them and numbers their days. There is no conflict between the executive, legislative and judicial functions of God unlike our human institutions that are often at loggerheads with each other. We can be confident and trust the Lord that He never errs in His judgements. His statutes and decrees are also wise, perfect and trustworthy. In His executive function, the Lord acts consistent with His law. His decrees or decisions based on His law is what operates in our lives. What is impossible for man is only improbable for God. He takes a decision and the impossible happens. As a merciful Judge, we need to trust Him. As a wise lawgiver, we need to respect the law we have received at the mouth of God- the Word. As an all powerful King, we need to be loyal, faithful and obedient. The uni-verse states that the Lord has three supreme functions but only one purpose in mind – the salvation of those who trust, revere and depend on Him. The word “ is” is repeated thrice to emphasize that we need to know Him as Judge, Lawgiver , King and Saviour in this lifetime and not just as a future King or Judge or Lawgiver. Prateep V Philip

The Inner Gifts

UV 914/10,000 The Inner Gifts Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1 v 17 The logic of this uni-verse is simple but profound and powerful. Since God is good and perfect, the gifts He gives are also good and perfect. The nearest Hebrew word for good is ‘ Shalom’ that means wholesome or holistic goodness. It is a consistent and wholly baked goodness not an admixture of the perfect and imperfect, good and evil. For God is the Father of lights. He gave us the perfect gift of salvation in and through His Son. The Lamb became our Lamp forever. The light of this Lamp or His love, faith and hope fill our hearts with joy and our eyes with universal truth. An universal truth is something that applies to all without exception. Every day I attempt to draw out these universal truths by a study of scripture from Genesis to Revelation and with the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who is Himself a giver of perfect spiritual gifts is a Gift to us. He is the indwelling spirit of God in us. Pharaoh asked Joseph who had just interpreted his dreams, “ where can I find a man in whom is the spirit of God?” The Holy Spirit had led him to ask the question and then led him to find the answer in Joseph. The Holy Spirit flashed the torchlight on Joseph’s face and prompted Pharaoh to say, “ Since God has shown you all this, there is none so wise and discreet as you.” The Lord had taken the captivity of Joseph captive and given him inner gifts like the ability to discern the meaning of spiritually gifted dreams. This led Pharaoh to bestow external gifts of new clothing, a signet ring of authority, a chariot, palace and a bride to boot from among the Egyptian nobility. It is not the external gifts that we should covet for these fade or lose their value over time. They are only a shadow of the eternal gifts of God and outward manifestations of an inner gift. We need to distinguish and value the real thing over the shadow. The Lord rejoices when we desire and ask for the inner gifts and grants it to us without hesitation, regret or measure. These are referred to as the gifts of the Spirit : the gift of word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues. These are gifts from above that reside in us. Their origin is supernatural and they are meant to serve or build the body of Christ-the church. Since there is no variation or turning with God, He never takes back these gifts once these are given to us. Another spiritual gift is the wisdom from above which is pure, gentle and peaceful. This list is not exhaustive for the uni-verse says “ every good and perfect gift..” For what have we that we did not receive from the Lord! We can do an exercise of mentally listing out what we consider every good and perfect gift in our lives and then thank and praise the Lord for each of it: it could be an ability to speak, write, teach, lead, sing, encourage… People of the world gloat over their gifts and giftedness. In a modern day version of blasphemy, some are exalted as demi-gods or icons just because of something so narrow as the ability to play cricket, music or act. But we are called to glory in the Lord. Prateep V Philip

The Secret of Effective Prayer

UV 914-10,000 The Secret of Effective Prayer He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination. Proverbs 28 v 9 Many people often wonder why their prayers are not answered. If we turn away our ear from hearing the Word that contains the laws that govern our moral and spiritual universe, He too would find our prayers hateful and turn His ear away from us. When we delight in His Word and pray according to it or on the basis of His promises, by declaring our faith in His ability and willingness to fulfil His amazing promises, He will incline His ear to hear us. We need to ask in His Name or the name of Jesus for we are thereby acknowledging that we are coming before the throne of grace by the blood and authority of Jesus. We need to pray with adoration in our hearts and thanksgiving on our lips. The other reasons our prayers are not acceptable sometimes to the Lord is if we treasure or cherish sin in our hearts instead of confessing it and trying to make a clean break with it. If we turn our ears from hearing the cry of the needy and poor, then too the Lord will avoid hearing our prayers. If we are violent or deceitful, the Lord would not find our prayers pleasing. If our conversation is in vain and we indulge in malicious banter, then too the Lord would not delight in our prayers. We need to be persistent in the spirit of prayer. When we humble ourselves before God and lead upright lives, then our prayers delight the Lord. If we give bread, both physical and spiritual, to the hungry, He would rush to our help. When we delight in a particular rhema verse or unique promise verse and run it over and over in our minds like a person would smack his lips again and again after a delicious meal or a connoisseur of objets d’art would run his eyes over and over again lovingly over a particular work, He would fulfil the very details or specifics of our prayers. Our prayers are effective after we have spent time studying, analysing and meditating on the Word. It will then not fall short off its mark but reach the very heart of God. We would be praying in accordance with the expressed will of God and we believe that He is able to do exceedingly far above what we can think or imagine or ask. Prateep V Philip

Hit the Nail on the Head

UV 913/10,000 Hit the Nail on the Head She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. Judges 5 v 26 When the enemy of the Israelites, the king Sisera asked Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite to give him shelter and to hide him, she did so. When he asked for water, she gave him milk and butter. She covered him with a sheet. When he slept, she took a nail and drove it with a hammer through his temples and he lay dead at her feet. This is not a direction to do likewise but the Lord told us in a time of prayer that like Jael, we too should drive the nail of the Word of God through our own heads so that the old man in us with his impure thoughts and desires would die like Sisera. As an experiment yesterday, I asked the vicar of the church where I shared the Word a few months back if he remembered anything that I spoke on that day. I then asked the Vice President of the church the same question. Neither of them remembered any word from my message. Only a Sunday School teacher who had made diligent notes mentioned that I had illustrated the message with a story about a “ dangry” or dangerously angry pig. She alone had the nail driven through her head and the Word would produce fruit in her life. Deborah declared Jael blessed over the women in the tents for her resourcefulness. Those who have the life-giving nail of the Word driven through our minds would be even more blessed. We would do exploits for the Lord far greater than Jael. We need to nail the old man to the cross and die to all vestiges of the old man with his insecurity, covetousness, lusts, pride and selfishness. Every day we should identify some aspect of our character and habits that the Lord shows us and put a definitive end to it. We can use the hammer of God’s authority and power to drive in the nail. When we do this we are literally hitting the nail on the head: our image is becoming more exactly like that of the new man who lives forever, Christ Jesus. We can then say with St Paul, “ It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” Christ does not want a peaceful co-existence between the old man and the new man. He said, “ I come not to bring peace but to drive a sword into the hearts of men.” In the past, we might have fed milk and butter to the old man but now we need to starve him. The old man should not only die but should be buried deep. There can be no resurrection without death. Some people spread the foolish heresy that Christ did not die but he was only unconscious and was later removed from the cross and declared “resurrected.” To disprove such foolish theories, every drop of blood was drained from His body through His gaping wounds. We now experience the Resurrection power of Christ in all domains of our lives. Prateep V Philip

The Benefits of Salvation

UV 612/10,000 The Benefits of Salvation Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Psalm 68 v 18 It is a wonderful privilege given to mortal man that we can bless the Immortal, Infinite, merciful and all knowing God. To bless means to lift up. We can lift up the name of God in the midst of the people among whom we live and work. It is impossible for a true believer of Jesus not to be a workplace witness. For when we speak we would drop clues of how blessed we are because of the Lord whom we know personally and worship. The uni-verse says that He daily loads us with benefits or blessings. The blessings are physical, spiritual, financial, relational, emotional, intellectual and social. He comforts us in our loss and sorrows- this is a psychological benefit or blessing. He guides us with His eye- this is a intellectual benefit since it helps us solve our dilemmas and chart out our course of action for the day in a specific direction. He protects us, heals and preserves us- this is a physical benefit. He causes us to rejoice –this is an emotional blessing. He gives us abilities, opportunities and ideas to prosper- this is a financial blessing. He leads us to the right type of fellowship and friends- a relational or social blessing. He feeds us from His Word daily and listens to our prayers and even our sighs- a spiritual blessing. Of course, all the benefits we receive from the Lord are holistic and affect all of life. We do not seek or receive these blessings to hoard it for ourselves and our generations but to share it generously with the needy and to be a blessing ourselves even as we are blessed. While the above benefits apply to our daily lives on earth, the gift of salvation through our faith in Jesus is the ultimate blessing that the Lord God has given each of us. Salvation moves us from an earthly orbit to an eternal orbit. We are no longer mere flesh and blood beings whose destiny is the grave but we are eternal and spiritual beings living in the here and now. We are blood-washed saints in the eyes of the Lord. We are no longer mere children of man but children of God. Our goal is no longer to eke out an existence on this planet but to prepare ourselves for our heavenly home. We live and experience the miraculous and supernatural as naturally as we used to live on the natural plane. Our focus and priority is our salvation and all other incidental benefits we receive from the Lord are secondary. Instead of being the prodigal son we should now aim to be the “prodigious son” who works for the greater glory of God. We have the new clothes of salvation- a lifestyle of righteousness, contentment and godliness. A new ring of authority adorns both our fingers and our voice. Our feet are adorned with the shoes of proclamation. Our tongues are the sword of God not to cause death and judgement but to deliver like salvation to others. Our arms are the extended limbs of God. The Holy Spirit will give us generously new gifts for ministry. When we ask for wisdom, He will give us spiritual wisdom, the wisdom that is from above, that is peaceful, gentle, loving, humble and kind. Like good wine becomes better as it grows older, we will be like vintage wine, made richer by the wisdom of the Rock of Ages and bearing fruit even in our old age. Prateep V Philip