UV 2196/10000 Vulnerable but Awesome
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jeremiah 18 v 4
The Lord sits as a potter even as the Earth is a potter’s wheel that is continually spinning. The Lord uses different events and influences to shape each individual as a pot of great beauty and strength. Each of us is a pot in His hand if we Pray, Obey, Trust Him. We are created fearfully and wonderfully. We are created to be vulnerable but awesome like a beautiful clay pot. However, strong and beautiful we look on the outside, we can be broken in an instant. We can easily develop cracks and leaks. If we do not obey His commands and trust Him, we become clay pots that are marred or misshapen or flawed. He needs to break us and re-make us again. Every manger leader or manager is pliant and malleable in the hands of the Lord. He is constantly changing, learning, trusting and obeying the Lord in conforming to the divine design or eternal mould.
Only the Potter knows the kind of pot He needs to fashion. Only He knows the purpose to which it is to be put to. Accordingly, He choses the size, the colour, the material, the decorations, the lid, the type of handle, the circumference whether broad or narrow, the neck and the base. He decides the kind of strength or endurance that needs to be built into each of us so that we can withstand the pressures, trials and temptations of life. Unlike the usual potter and the usual pot, He is never done with us and is shaping us all our earthly lives as long as the earth spins around the sun.
The purpose of a container is not the container but the contents. Likewise, we are vessels of clay with treasures inside us. The treasures are the good news of Jesus, the Word, the testimonies that we have as we live out our faith. The treasure is the hope we have in Jesus. The treasure is the dream we have received from the Lord as Jacob received a dream from the Lord. The treasures are the blessings we receive from the Lord as we pray, obey and trust. A pot is not only malleable, it is permeable. It breathes and lets in air and lets out vapour. This keeps the water inside pots, clean, pure and cool. The water does not stagnate or become putrid. Likewise, as manger leaders and managers as we breathe in the Spirit of God, we stay cool, calm, pure and useful. Like the clay pitchers in Gideon’s volunteer soldiers’ hands, we are also clay pots with a hidden firebrand burning inside us. When the clay pot is broken, the fire and light is revealed, the trumpet of victory is sounded. Remembering that we are but clay pots in the hands of the Divine Potter, keeps us humble, focussed, disciplined, determined, faithful, calm, wise and effective. In short, we are vulnerable but awesome.
Prateep V Philip
Thursday, February 9, 2017
The Flow
UV 2195/10000 The Flow
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Psalm 16 v 11
The Lord reveals the decisions and choices the manger leader or manager should make. He does not make the decisions or choices on our behalf as He respects our autonomy as persons created in His image. But He guides and leads us through the decision making process. He grants us wisdom and grace to take the decision and to stick to it. The Word plays an significant role in revealing to our eyes the spiritual wisdom that comes from above, in teaching us the right thing to do in a given situation. It gives us a template or framework within which we should decide. If we follow the template, our choices will lead us into greater and greater blessing.
Jesus answers all the eternal questions of mankind. All other issues are subsidiary- the questions of how we make a living, what work or career we ought to pursue, what investments to make. Once our eternal quest is satisfied in Jesus, He acts as a our leader, guide and teacher. He is present with us in the form of the Holy Spirit. This is referred to as His “presence” in the uni-verse above. Once we immerse ourselves in the presence or the Holy Spirit, we are continually filled with joy. He fills us with the power, the courage, the wisdom, the grace to obey the Lord. The Holy Spirit reminds us, prompts us at every step of our way in life. Even if we err or fail or make mistakes, He comforts us as Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. The Holy Spirit enables each of us to find our flow or to fulfil our full potential in Christ, to use our time, our opportunities, our gifts and talents wisely and well.
The world finds its pleasure through disobedience and rebellion against God’s will and word. But we find our pleasure in obedience and submission to God’s word and will. The “right hand “ in the uni-verse symbolises our proximity to the Lord, our keenness to listen to His word and obey His will in every aspect of our lives. The book of Revelation speaks of a heavenly river that flows from the throne of the Lord. It is the river of pleasures or wholesome blessings that flow from the throne of the Lord towards the faithful on earth. Every earthly pleasure tend s to fade with time and experience but the eternal blessings of the Lord bring joy to us forever.
Prateep V Philip
Monday, February 6, 2017
The Process of Being Made Whole
UV 2194/10000 The Process of Being Made Whole
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I Thessalonians 5 v 23
The PUSH factor is very important in the life of the manger leader or manager. PUSH implies Pray Until Sanctification Happens. In this uni-verse, Paul prayed for those he led, taught and ministered to that their whole spirit, soul and bodies are kept blameless till the second coming of Jesus. Sanctification means making perfect, whole, holy, pure, complete, blameless, flawless or blemishless. Jesus first sanctifies us by faith through the washing and regeneration of new life by His blemishless blood. He then sends the Holy Spirit to do the work of sanctification. We need to immerse ourselves in the Word that is the water that purifies us from the inside. As sanctification happens, we will find both peace and grace.
Sanctification happens as we apply what we learn from the Word in our day to day lives. All our organs need to be made whole: our eyes need to be freed from lust on a day to day basis. Our mouths and tongues need to be sanctified so that our speech is wholesome and beneficial to all. Our ears should hear only things we are meant to hear. The hearing of negativities, gossip, lies, vulgarity corrupts our inner soul and affects our attitudes and perceptions. Our minds need to be sanctified by saturation with the thoughts of God contained in the Word so that we think about what is good, noble, pure, healthy, praiseworthy and pleasing to the Lord. Our hands should do things that are pleasing to the Lord. Our legs should take us only to places where the Lord allows us to go. Doing or obeying what we have learnt, heard, seen, understood in the Lord and His word as well as His disciples and our mentors is part of the process of making our bodies, minds and spirits whole and blameless.
Our intentions, goals and priorities need to be pleasing to the Lord. If our intentions are good, if we are sincere and earnest in pursuing wholesome goals, the Lord will give us grace or help and favour in achieving these. God is the One who sanctifies us in the body of Christ, removing that which needs to be removed and adding that which needs to be added. But our willing cooperation adds to the progress of the process. We also need to keep praying till sanctification happens in every area and part of our lives.
Prateep V Philip
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I Thessalonians 5 v 23
The PUSH factor is very important in the life of the manger leader or manager. PUSH implies Pray Until Sanctification Happens. In this uni-verse, Paul prayed for those he led, taught and ministered to that their whole spirit, soul and bodies are kept blameless till the second coming of Jesus. Sanctification means making perfect, whole, holy, pure, complete, blameless, flawless or blemishless. Jesus first sanctifies us by faith through the washing and regeneration of new life by His blemishless blood. He then sends the Holy Spirit to do the work of sanctification. We need to immerse ourselves in the Word that is the water that purifies us from the inside. As sanctification happens, we will find both peace and grace.
Sanctification happens as we apply what we learn from the Word in our day to day lives. All our organs need to be made whole: our eyes need to be freed from lust on a day to day basis. Our mouths and tongues need to be sanctified so that our speech is wholesome and beneficial to all. Our ears should hear only things we are meant to hear. The hearing of negativities, gossip, lies, vulgarity corrupts our inner soul and affects our attitudes and perceptions. Our minds need to be sanctified by saturation with the thoughts of God contained in the Word so that we think about what is good, noble, pure, healthy, praiseworthy and pleasing to the Lord. Our hands should do things that are pleasing to the Lord. Our legs should take us only to places where the Lord allows us to go. Doing or obeying what we have learnt, heard, seen, understood in the Lord and His word as well as His disciples and our mentors is part of the process of making our bodies, minds and spirits whole and blameless.
Our intentions, goals and priorities need to be pleasing to the Lord. If our intentions are good, if we are sincere and earnest in pursuing wholesome goals, the Lord will give us grace or help and favour in achieving these. God is the One who sanctifies us in the body of Christ, removing that which needs to be removed and adding that which needs to be added. But our willing cooperation adds to the progress of the process. We also need to keep praying till sanctification happens in every area and part of our lives.
Prateep V Philip
Sunday, February 5, 2017
The Rationale for Joy
Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, Rejoice.
Philippians 4 v 4
Scripture asks us to be joyful at all times. While human psychology teaches us that we like other animals are always in a flight or fight mode, the uni-verse asks us to overflow with joy. We are not told why we should rejoice. Due to our prior conditioning we assume that we rejoice due to happenings. In other words, joy is confused with happiness which is the transient excitement and happiness one feels naturally due to certain positive outcomes or happenings, like one’s country winning a particular game or getting a new job or a promotion and pay raise. The uni-verse asks to rejoice as we are in the Lord. Jesus, the Lord and Giver of life became a Man of Sorrows to take away all our sorrows and give us victory and everlasting joy. As we personally know the Lord Jesus, we rejoice. We rejoice as we have the hope of eternal life and the promise of abundant life in the here and now. JOY stands for Jesus Owns You. We rejoice as our ownership has transferred from the deceiver to our living Redeemer.
We are to rejoice at all times. We are to internally rejoice even when or specially when circumstances seem adverse. We rejoice at these times out of the hope of sharing in the glory of God. A manger leader then is not merely stoic but he is bubbling with joy. When we receive Jesus into our hearts and serve Him as He is now become Lord of our lives, we rejoice. The joy is not an emotional effervescence but a deep spring flowing from our hearts. That spring turns into seven rivers of joy, peace, wisdom, grace, mercy, hope and assurance.
Joy is manifested or demonstrated in our constant attitudes of gratitude towards the Lord, in praise and worship, in contentment and absence of grumbling and bitterness. If we are not joyful, our hearts will be heavy and we cannot freely praise and worship the Lord. Our joy is reflected in positive thoughts, attitudes, words, actions and reactions. Jesus described the enemy of our souks as a thief, robber and killer. He does not steal or rob our physical possessions or kill our bodies. He steals, robs and kills our joy and peace. The uni-verse exhorts us repeatedly not to allow him to steal, rob or kill our peace and joy under any circumstance.
Prateep V Philip
Friday, February 3, 2017
The Word and the Hand
UV 2192/10000 The Word and the Hand
The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
Ezekiel 1 v 3
The word of the Lord comes as “rhema” or a specific, direct word to an individual as it came to Ezekiel. I He saw a vision of angels of heaven, sepharim who burned brightly like coal. It is a metaphor to indicate that the manger leader or manager burns with zeal with knowledge like the sepharim. The Lord sent him the word and vision to encourage the captives of Israel while they were exiles and slaves in Babylon. By the rivers of Babylon, the Jewish diaspora cried out to the Lord and God of their fathers. The rivers or the resources and pleasures of Babylon, a symbol of the world did not in anyway seduce thm. God heard their cry and sent the vision and word as an encouragement to them to hold onto their faith. The rivers of Babylon, also , symbolise discouraging circumstances, a hopeless and powerless situation where no redemption was in sight for the ancient Jews.
The Lord is closest to us when we are weak and vulnerable. We are also in a more receptive state of mind and spirit as the world’s distractors and diverters are virtually cut off. Especially, in the most discouraging, distressing and hopeless situations in life, we need to prepare to pray and intercede on behalf of people like a priest. The Lord will then have compassion on us and send us a word of encouragement to uplift us. He does so to demonstrate to us that His hand is upon us. He is with each of us as He was with Moses and Joshua, as a mighty warrior. He will vindicate our faith and restore us. Thereafter, we should always recall the uni-verse or the specific and direct word by which He confirmed our deep bonds with Him, His presence with us. We should share our testimonies to praise the Lord for His faithfulness and to encourage others in difficult or similar predicaments of life.
Two things then we should await- one, the specific word that come in the shape of a verse from scripture or a vision or prophecy. Two, the hand of the Lord or the specific actions that He sets in motion on our behalf and for our good. Jesus is known as the Wonderful Counsellor as He not only tells us what to do but behind the situation, His supernatural hand is at work to do miracles and wonders to help us. He sends His host or army of angels to extricate or lift us up as the case may require. He sends the Holy Spirit to strengthen us from within, to comfort us and give us grace and power or the ability to do what we normally cannot do.
Prateep V Philip
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Maturity and Balance of Thinking
UV 2191/10000 Maturity and Balance of Thought
Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
I Corinthians 14 v 20
We are expected by the Lord to be children in terms of malice, deceit, evil of all kinds. We are not to be carnal or worldly in our thinking. As manger leaders or managers, we are to be guided in our thinking by the Wise Counsellor, the Holy Spirit who dwells in every believer. We are to be wise and understanding like Jesus who did not judge with His eyes or His ears but by the spirit of discernment, counsel and deep understanding. As far as our physical actions and habits are concerned, we are to be innocent like children. But in terms of our thinking and understanding, we are to feed on the Word and become mature and strong in our thinking as adults who cannot be easily swayed by
The crux of this uni-verse is that a child can be easily deceived, easily persuaded to change his views or beliefs. A manger leader or manager should not be like a child who is easily swayed this way or that. His beliefs and decisions should be based on firm convictions, diligent study and deep understanding. He cannot allow himself to be emotion or perception-driven. He follows the biblical pattern of thinking: cling to what is good, let go of what is evil. He does not allow the deceit of the passions of the flesh and the vain pride of the mind to destroy the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control.
The mature leader or manager knows that the difference between a genuine thing and a counterfeit one is very marginal or minimal, so low that one can hardly make out the difference unless one studies both diligently to see the hidden or tell- tale signs of the counterfeit. Likewise in matters of faith and life, the mature leader knows what is black and white or cut and dried or good and evil as well as he knows the grey areas which are not evidently either good or evil. Our minds should become magnets to attract and retain what is good and repel what is evil or harmful to ourselves or others in the short or long run. We need to pray over dilemmas, points of decision or doubts so that we get the active, practical assistance of the Wise and Wonderful Counsellor who is Jesus.
Prateep V Philip
Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
I Corinthians 14 v 20
We are expected by the Lord to be children in terms of malice, deceit, evil of all kinds. We are not to be carnal or worldly in our thinking. As manger leaders or managers, we are to be guided in our thinking by the Wise Counsellor, the Holy Spirit who dwells in every believer. We are to be wise and understanding like Jesus who did not judge with His eyes or His ears but by the spirit of discernment, counsel and deep understanding. As far as our physical actions and habits are concerned, we are to be innocent like children. But in terms of our thinking and understanding, we are to feed on the Word and become mature and strong in our thinking as adults who cannot be easily swayed by
The crux of this uni-verse is that a child can be easily deceived, easily persuaded to change his views or beliefs. A manger leader or manager should not be like a child who is easily swayed this way or that. His beliefs and decisions should be based on firm convictions, diligent study and deep understanding. He cannot allow himself to be emotion or perception-driven. He follows the biblical pattern of thinking: cling to what is good, let go of what is evil. He does not allow the deceit of the passions of the flesh and the vain pride of the mind to destroy the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control.
The mature leader or manager knows that the difference between a genuine thing and a counterfeit one is very marginal or minimal, so low that one can hardly make out the difference unless one studies both diligently to see the hidden or tell- tale signs of the counterfeit. Likewise in matters of faith and life, the mature leader knows what is black and white or cut and dried or good and evil as well as he knows the grey areas which are not evidently either good or evil. Our minds should become magnets to attract and retain what is good and repel what is evil or harmful to ourselves or others in the short or long run. We need to pray over dilemmas, points of decision or doubts so that we get the active, practical assistance of the Wise and Wonderful Counsellor who is Jesus.
Prateep V Philip
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Joy and Peace by Belief, Hope and Patience by Experience
UV 2190/10000 Joy And Peace by Belief, Hope and Patience by Experience
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Romans 15 v 13
The hope of Israel in Jehovah is our strength, too. Our belief in Him fills us with all joy and peace. We are connected to Jehovah, the God of hope who wants to bless us and give us hope and a future, who has our best interests at heart, who is committed to our well being, through the Manger Leader – Jesus, the greatest of leaders sent by God but born in the humblest of circumstances in order to identify with all humanity. When we believe in Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon us and empowers us. The Holy Spirit enables us to overflow with confidence in the promises of God contained in the Bible.
The manger leader or manager is always full of indescribable and inexplicable joy and abundant peace. It is not because of what He has but on account of whose he is. His heart or his will, intellect and emotions are ruled by the Prince of Peace, Jesus. He is assured of the abundant life – abundance in spirit, mind and body, on account of his faith in Jesus. Abundance in spirit is manifested in the spiritual qualities of life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control. Paul highlights next to joy and hope, the quality of patience. He describes Jehovah as the God of patience. We are with the Lord for the long haul, for eternity and we need to cultivate and manifest the quality of patience in order to receive the blessings of the promises of God. But as we wait with expectancy for the fulfilment, the Holy Spirit fills us with the confidence and assurance that the Lord is with us and will answer our prayers, meet our need, bless us according to His promises. The end results of our lives are joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. What sustains us continually is hope, patience and faith.
Our belief in Jesus is the trigger while the Holy Spirit is the One who completes it or brings to fruition the promise of the Lord. Belief then is the determining factor to decide which “lief” or kingdom we belong to , the kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness. Being part of the kingdom of God, subjecting ourselves willingly to the rule of Christ in our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, fills us with joy and hope and makes us patient. Sometimes, the Lord takes us into hopeless situations, desperate times in order to prove to us that He is the God of hope, the only One who can deliver us in the most distressing and hopeless situations. Our belief or faith is tested in this manner to give this experience or the taste of hope. Such experience then produces more hope and joy in us.
Prateep V Philip
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