UV 3450/10000 Lifeboats to Meet the Rising Tide
The Lord saw that the wickedness (depravity) of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination or intent of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually.
Genesis 6 v 5
The serpent leader works on the hearts and minds of people to turn them to wickedness or depravity. They were not evil just occasionally but continually. In contrast, the Servant Leader Jesus disciples and teaches us to continually living in reverence and obedience to the Lord. Even out of that wicked generation, Noah found favour with the Lord. Likewise, even in today’s equally wicked and depraved world where everyone follows their own illusions, desires, whims, evil intentions and imagination, those who follow the Servant Leader find favour with the Lord.
The cure for depravity to which our hearts are naturally inclined is to live like Noah in habitual fellowship with the Spirit of God. The Lord will then inspire and instruct us to build an ark of salvation with our whole lives. The planks with which we build our life arks are faith, gratitude, forgiveness, love, graciousness, generousity and hope. The people we in turn inspire and touch or influence to be like the Servant Leader will be saved along with us like Noah’s family was saved along with him from the great flood. The Lord will save us from the waters of destruction.
Noah followed the instructions of the Lord accurately in building the ark. Likeswise, we need to be diligent in studying the word of God and build our lives in accordance with it. Noah used pitch or bitumen to seal both the inside and outside of the ark to make it leak proof. Likewise, in order to prevent any leaks in our lives from the outer world to our inner being and from our inner being to the outer world, we need to be sealed by the Holy Spirit and apply the word both inside us and outside us. We need to build our lifeboats to meet the rising tide.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Resist the Serpent Leader
UV 3449/10000 Resist the Serpent Leader
If you do well (believing Me and doing what is acceptable and pleasing to Me), will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well (but ignore My instruction), sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you ( to overpower you), but you must master it.
Genesis 4 v 7
The serpent leader crouches at the door of every man’s heart as he crouched at the door of Cain’s heart. Cain opened the door and let in envy, anger, hostility towards his own brother. We witness the genesis of sibling rivalry, the beginning of unrighteous anger and envy, the very first murder in history. The serpent leader overpowered Cain and his better intentions and self. The secret to overcoming temptation is to resist the serpent leader and to submit to the Servant Leader Jesus. When we resist the serpent leader, he will flee. In the Old Testament, Joseph had to flee from the temptation of seduction but today, the enemy will flee if we only resist him. Having tasted the fruit of knowledge of awareness of good and evil, we should now be wise to choose good over evil in the struggle of good versus evil in our own hearts.
The Servant Leader wants us to do what is good, acceptable and pleasing in the eyes of God. In order to know what is good, acceptable and pleasing to God, we need to study the teachings of Jesus, the Word of God. Our well being, both here and now and in eternity is determined by whom we believe and obey- the serpent leader or the Servant Leader. The Father Himself endorsed the Son Jesus and said, “ This is My own beloved Son. Listen to Him.” We are blessed when we believe Him, listen to His instruction and do what He says. We are cursed when we listen to the devious suggestion of the serpent leader and do what he says.
St Paul writes to the Romans that the very members or organs of our own bodies- our tongues, our minds, our sexual organs, our limbs are warring against us and cause us to do what our spirit does not want to do. The serpent leader takes advantage of this and takes advantage of our weaknesses. We need to resist what he wants us to say, what he wants us to do. We need to shut the door of our hearts firmly to him and open it for the Servant Leader, Jesus.
Monday, January 20, 2020
Bad and Sad News vs Good and Joyful News
UV3448/10000 Bad and Sad News Vs Good and Joyful News
And I will put enmity (open hostility) between you and the woman, and between your seed (offspring) and her Seed; He shall (fatally) bruise your head, and you shall (only) bruise His heel.”
Genesis 3 v 15
This uni-verse holds the promise of good news after the bad news of the curse on mankind were pronounced by God. The serpent leader was cursed to crawl in the dust or to be consigned to ultimate defeat. The ground was cursed. The tree was cursed. Life became nothing but progressive death for man and woman- a journey to the grave, to be the dust from which man was first formed. Life was to be full of sorrow, pain and travail. Mankind and the serpent leader became open or sworn enemies but at a subtle level there was a hidden friendship, a secret association with the serpent leader. There would be a struggle between the serpent leader and the Servant Leader, both would be bruised but the bruise of the Servant Leader would be temporary while the bruise of the serpent leader would be final and fatal. In accordance with this prophetic word, Jesus was bruised for our sake, flogged, humiliated and crucified. But the resurrection turned His injuries and death into something as light in historical perspective as a bruise on His heel. His death, a sacrifice ordained by God redeemed man of his curse, replaced “hamartia” or shortfall with “hyperbole” or abundance, the Earth or ground of its curse, sorrow and pain with enduring joy, the tree of its curse.
Evil had spread in all directions after the fall of man but good news implies goodness is restored in the north, east, west and south, in all directions and dimensions of existence. God had restored justice and goodness without compromising on the payment for it. The Servant Leader poured His life out as a libation, an offering to make absolutely good what was relatively evil- namely , man, the crown, the zenith, the summit of all of God’s creation. He paid the blood price for our lives. Only the serpent leader who is absolutely evil, the cause and source of all sin and curses was defeated and he fell like lightning to the earth.
The Servant Leader embraced and absorbed our sins, our sorrows, our pains, our curses for He alone has strength to overcome these. He overcame the strong one, the serpent leader and set us free. Dust is no longer our destiny but heaven is our ultimate destination and while we live here, we live as if this Earth is but an extension of His Kingdom. Before we read the (bad,sad) newspaper every day, we need to read the (good, glad) Word for it reminds us daily of the victory the Servant Leader won for us on the cross and warns us not to have any truck with the serpent leader, our common defeated foe.
And I will put enmity (open hostility) between you and the woman, and between your seed (offspring) and her Seed; He shall (fatally) bruise your head, and you shall (only) bruise His heel.”
Genesis 3 v 15
This uni-verse holds the promise of good news after the bad news of the curse on mankind were pronounced by God. The serpent leader was cursed to crawl in the dust or to be consigned to ultimate defeat. The ground was cursed. The tree was cursed. Life became nothing but progressive death for man and woman- a journey to the grave, to be the dust from which man was first formed. Life was to be full of sorrow, pain and travail. Mankind and the serpent leader became open or sworn enemies but at a subtle level there was a hidden friendship, a secret association with the serpent leader. There would be a struggle between the serpent leader and the Servant Leader, both would be bruised but the bruise of the Servant Leader would be temporary while the bruise of the serpent leader would be final and fatal. In accordance with this prophetic word, Jesus was bruised for our sake, flogged, humiliated and crucified. But the resurrection turned His injuries and death into something as light in historical perspective as a bruise on His heel. His death, a sacrifice ordained by God redeemed man of his curse, replaced “hamartia” or shortfall with “hyperbole” or abundance, the Earth or ground of its curse, sorrow and pain with enduring joy, the tree of its curse.
Evil had spread in all directions after the fall of man but good news implies goodness is restored in the north, east, west and south, in all directions and dimensions of existence. God had restored justice and goodness without compromising on the payment for it. The Servant Leader poured His life out as a libation, an offering to make absolutely good what was relatively evil- namely , man, the crown, the zenith, the summit of all of God’s creation. He paid the blood price for our lives. Only the serpent leader who is absolutely evil, the cause and source of all sin and curses was defeated and he fell like lightning to the earth.
The Servant Leader embraced and absorbed our sins, our sorrows, our pains, our curses for He alone has strength to overcome these. He overcame the strong one, the serpent leader and set us free. Dust is no longer our destiny but heaven is our ultimate destination and while we live here, we live as if this Earth is but an extension of His Kingdom. Before we read the (bad,sad) newspaper every day, we need to read the (good, glad) Word for it reminds us daily of the victory the Servant Leader won for us on the cross and warns us not to have any truck with the serpent leader, our common defeated foe.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
The Serpent Leader and Blame Avoidance
UV 3447/10000 The Serpent Leader and Blame Avoidance
And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me- she gave me (fruit) from the tree, and I ate it.”
Genesis 3 v 12
In this one statement, we see the genesis of blame-avoiding behaviour for the first time as well as the beginnings of the gender conflict. The converse of blame avoidance is credit-seeking behaviour. Adam not just blamed Eve, his wife but also God for having given her to be with him. The woman, Eve in turn passed on the blame to the serpent leader. The buck stopped on the serpent leader’s table and he has no one to pass it on to. He does not even attempt a reply to defend his behaviour to the Almighty God. It implies that all blame for wrong doing rests ultimately not on people or humans but on the serpent leader. The Servant Leader, Jesus in contrast takes the rap and the blame for all the unworthy deeds of omission and commission of all humanity. The Servant Leader also gives the glory of His good deeds on Earth to the Father in heaven.
We, too should emulate the Servant Leader and avoid passing on the blame to others. Instead, we should check what is our responsibility and our response in a particular situation. We should also avoid credit-seeking behaviour as it sows the seed of rivalry and conflict. Like the Servant Leader we should aim to be self effacing, unassuming, not having any airs about ourselves or esteem ourselves more highly than we should. The Holy Spirit plants the fruit of humility in us so that we always regard ourselves unworthy of the grace and mercy of the Lord.
We should take responsibility for the decisions we take, the mistakes we make. Instead of passing on the blame, we should try to fix the problem or improve the situation. The Messiah will help us come out of the mess we find ourselves in. If we are tempted or tested by the serpent leader, we should seek out the wisdom, counsel, grace and help of the Lord to overcome it, not to succumb to it. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord and nothing is impossible for Him. He knows exactly what to do in crisis situations for instance, when the marriage banquet ran short of wine, He did not hesitate for a second. He gave specific directions to fill the six large stone jars with water. He then asked the servants to serve from it. He can surely help us address our shortcomings, our deficiencies, our shortages and scarcities specifically and effectively.
Friday, January 17, 2020
Hiding From God and Hiding in Him
UV 3446/10000 Hiding from God and Hiding in Him
He said, “ I heard the sound of You walking in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
Genesis 3 v 10
The serpent leader is the father of fear. Before man’s fall, he did not need to fear anything but after his fall, the awareness of evil overcame the awareness of good in him. On account his wrong doing or disobedience, man began to fear God for the first time. So he hid from God, the source of everything good and the very source of life. It became the cause of hostility between man and God. The sound of God walking in the garden should have produced assurance, confidence in man but it did the opposite. Hence, the source of all man-made religion is this primordial fear of God and of divine retribution or punishment for wrong doing. The Servant Leader is the author not of fear but of salvation. He redeems man from the dysfunctional fear of God. We can hide in Him as a shy child hides in the folds of his mother’s clothes.
Fear begets fear and sin begets sin. The separation of man from God is the separation from life itself or death. The Servant Leader came to set us free from fear for when we know Him as Truth, He sets us free from all our fears including the universal fear of mortality. The serpent leader led man into sin or separation and its deadly consequences while the Servant Leader leads man away from sin into righteousness. As St Paul wrote, sin came through the first Adam, the son of God and salvation came through the second Adam, Christ, the Son of God and of man.
Today, the followers of the Servant Leader hear the sound of God walking and talking in their hearts. We should hold nothing in our hearts that make us afraid to face Him. If we have, we can turn to the Servant Leader to confess, have ourselves cleansed of it and be strengthened not to repeat it. We can confide our deepest worries, anxieties, fears in Him who is our Advocate before the High Court of God, the One who is our Counsellor, the One who sent us the Comforter and Remebrancer, the Holy Spirit who aids us in the process of the sanctification of our lives, our souls. The awareness of the evil lurking in us, around us, in the world, the role the serpent leader plays in instigating, abetting and provoking evil in us to have us ensnared causes us to hide in our Redeemer, the Servant Leader.
He said, “ I heard the sound of You walking in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
Genesis 3 v 10
The serpent leader is the father of fear. Before man’s fall, he did not need to fear anything but after his fall, the awareness of evil overcame the awareness of good in him. On account his wrong doing or disobedience, man began to fear God for the first time. So he hid from God, the source of everything good and the very source of life. It became the cause of hostility between man and God. The sound of God walking in the garden should have produced assurance, confidence in man but it did the opposite. Hence, the source of all man-made religion is this primordial fear of God and of divine retribution or punishment for wrong doing. The Servant Leader is the author not of fear but of salvation. He redeems man from the dysfunctional fear of God. We can hide in Him as a shy child hides in the folds of his mother’s clothes.
Fear begets fear and sin begets sin. The separation of man from God is the separation from life itself or death. The Servant Leader came to set us free from fear for when we know Him as Truth, He sets us free from all our fears including the universal fear of mortality. The serpent leader led man into sin or separation and its deadly consequences while the Servant Leader leads man away from sin into righteousness. As St Paul wrote, sin came through the first Adam, the son of God and salvation came through the second Adam, Christ, the Son of God and of man.
Today, the followers of the Servant Leader hear the sound of God walking and talking in their hearts. We should hold nothing in our hearts that make us afraid to face Him. If we have, we can turn to the Servant Leader to confess, have ourselves cleansed of it and be strengthened not to repeat it. We can confide our deepest worries, anxieties, fears in Him who is our Advocate before the High Court of God, the One who is our Counsellor, the One who sent us the Comforter and Remebrancer, the Holy Spirit who aids us in the process of the sanctification of our lives, our souls. The awareness of the evil lurking in us, around us, in the world, the role the serpent leader plays in instigating, abetting and provoking evil in us to have us ensnared causes us to hide in our Redeemer, the Servant Leader.
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Contrasting Models of Leadership
vUV 3445/10000 Contrasting Models of Leadership
But I am afraid that, even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted and led away from the simplicity of your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
2 Corinthians 11 v 3
Both the serpent leader and the Servant Leader are spiritual leaders but present contrasting models of leadership with different motives, methods, results. The serpent leader is extremely cunning. His chief goal is to cause people to stumble and fall. The Servant Leader is sincere, totally devoted to fulfilling the purpose set before Him by the Father. The serpent leader can be very persuasive and has a range of tricks up his sleeve to deceive, convince, persuade people. The Servant Leader convicts with simple truths. The serpent leader mixes good with evil and serves it up as something attractive to humans. The Servant Leader is absolutely sincere, pure, truthful. His words are spoken not from the cunningness of the mind but from the bottom of His heart.
The serpent leader’s goal is to divert people from being devoted to God, to attempt to rob the glory of God, to throw doubt on the authenticity of the Servant Leader. His modus operandi is duplicity. He causes people not only to doubt the word of God but to be double minded and to live a double life, to be one thing in public and quite another in private. The serpent leader reads people like we read books. He knows our shortcomings and how to exploit it. The Servant Leader helps us overcome our weaknesses, shortcomings and enables us to neutralize our threats. The serpent leader corrupts people while the Servant Leader refines and purifies people to present them blemishless before the Lord. Just the other day, I heard of the double life being led by someone many of us respected over the years. He was called for his knowledge of the word. But, unknown to even his family, the serpent leader beguiled him into believing in his immunity, that no one would know if he had a secret extramarital relationship with a series of women. The discerning now say that pride had first taken root in his heart before he succumbed to sexual temptation.
The serpent leader sends his pet little foxes of pride, envy, bitterness, hatred, folly into the vineyard of the faithful’s heart and tries to destroy the fruit of the Spirit. The Servant Leader guards us against such predatory emotions and motives. The Servant Leader builds our hearts as a tabernacle of joy, a temple of peace for the Lord to inhabit, to reside and preside over our lives. The serpent leader rejoices when we fail, when we are defeated while the Servant Leader rejoices when we succeed, when we are victorious in our struggles of life. The Servant Leader helps us at all times with His wonderful counsel and His strength.
But I am afraid that, even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted and led away from the simplicity of your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
2 Corinthians 11 v 3
Both the serpent leader and the Servant Leader are spiritual leaders but present contrasting models of leadership with different motives, methods, results. The serpent leader is extremely cunning. His chief goal is to cause people to stumble and fall. The Servant Leader is sincere, totally devoted to fulfilling the purpose set before Him by the Father. The serpent leader can be very persuasive and has a range of tricks up his sleeve to deceive, convince, persuade people. The Servant Leader convicts with simple truths. The serpent leader mixes good with evil and serves it up as something attractive to humans. The Servant Leader is absolutely sincere, pure, truthful. His words are spoken not from the cunningness of the mind but from the bottom of His heart.
The serpent leader’s goal is to divert people from being devoted to God, to attempt to rob the glory of God, to throw doubt on the authenticity of the Servant Leader. His modus operandi is duplicity. He causes people not only to doubt the word of God but to be double minded and to live a double life, to be one thing in public and quite another in private. The serpent leader reads people like we read books. He knows our shortcomings and how to exploit it. The Servant Leader helps us overcome our weaknesses, shortcomings and enables us to neutralize our threats. The serpent leader corrupts people while the Servant Leader refines and purifies people to present them blemishless before the Lord. Just the other day, I heard of the double life being led by someone many of us respected over the years. He was called for his knowledge of the word. But, unknown to even his family, the serpent leader beguiled him into believing in his immunity, that no one would know if he had a secret extramarital relationship with a series of women. The discerning now say that pride had first taken root in his heart before he succumbed to sexual temptation.
The serpent leader sends his pet little foxes of pride, envy, bitterness, hatred, folly into the vineyard of the faithful’s heart and tries to destroy the fruit of the Spirit. The Servant Leader guards us against such predatory emotions and motives. The Servant Leader builds our hearts as a tabernacle of joy, a temple of peace for the Lord to inhabit, to reside and preside over our lives. The serpent leader rejoices when we fail, when we are defeated while the Servant Leader rejoices when we succeed, when we are victorious in our struggles of life. The Servant Leader helps us at all times with His wonderful counsel and His strength.
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
The Serpent Leader and the Double Door
UV 3444/10000 The Serpent/Servant Leader and the Double Door
But the serpent said to the woman,” You will certainly not die!”
Genesis 3 v 4
The serpent leader contradicts God. In so doing, He leads people up a garden path to the very gate of hell. Death is a double door. For the believer and follower of the Servant Leader, it is the door to heaven. For the unbeliever and the one who follows the serpent leader, it is the door to hell. It is obvious that the one who disbelieves and disobeys the Almighty, Omnipotent, Omniscient God will suffer consequences. But the serpent leader deludes and deceives mankind. Hence, every man when he lives is under the illusion that he will not die, that he can live as if he can live forever. He is not prepared for the after life. He believes that even if he dies, it is just the end of life and suffering. The Servant Leader in contrast confirms the word of God, the plan of God, the will of God in our lives. As Lord Amen, His title in the book of Revelation, He fulfills the promises and vision of God in our lives. He becomes the Door to eternal life.
The serpent leader works on our belief system so that we believe lies to be truth while the Servant Leader tells or teaches us truths. In fact, He Himself became the personification and embodiment of Truth. Through the elements of the communion, He introduced He becomes our edible truth, the Bread of Life to prepare us for life as well as physical death. The serpent leader to this day works through deception and through deceivers. The Servant Leader empowers, enables, endows, equips us through true faith in Him and His word. The serpent leader teaches people to doubt, disbelieve and disobey the promises and commands of God while the Servant Leader teaches us to believe, treasure, honour the promises and commands of God.
The Servant Leader helps us to fulfill His purpose for our creation or our lives while the serpent leader prompts us to disbelieve in our higher purpose and our God given potential to fulfill it. The serpent leader wants us to fritter our time and energy. The Servant Leader wants us to use, utilize, invest our time, energy, talent, abilities, resources in building the kingdom of God. The serpent leader believes in anarchy while the Servant Leader believes in order, governance, fruitfulness. The serpent leader sows with his words and thoughts the seeds of uncertainty, fear, insecurity, doubt and hopelessness while the Servant Leader sows the seeds of certainty, assurance, comfort, security, deliverance, courage and hope.
But the serpent said to the woman,” You will certainly not die!”
Genesis 3 v 4
The serpent leader contradicts God. In so doing, He leads people up a garden path to the very gate of hell. Death is a double door. For the believer and follower of the Servant Leader, it is the door to heaven. For the unbeliever and the one who follows the serpent leader, it is the door to hell. It is obvious that the one who disbelieves and disobeys the Almighty, Omnipotent, Omniscient God will suffer consequences. But the serpent leader deludes and deceives mankind. Hence, every man when he lives is under the illusion that he will not die, that he can live as if he can live forever. He is not prepared for the after life. He believes that even if he dies, it is just the end of life and suffering. The Servant Leader in contrast confirms the word of God, the plan of God, the will of God in our lives. As Lord Amen, His title in the book of Revelation, He fulfills the promises and vision of God in our lives. He becomes the Door to eternal life.
The serpent leader works on our belief system so that we believe lies to be truth while the Servant Leader tells or teaches us truths. In fact, He Himself became the personification and embodiment of Truth. Through the elements of the communion, He introduced He becomes our edible truth, the Bread of Life to prepare us for life as well as physical death. The serpent leader to this day works through deception and through deceivers. The Servant Leader empowers, enables, endows, equips us through true faith in Him and His word. The serpent leader teaches people to doubt, disbelieve and disobey the promises and commands of God while the Servant Leader teaches us to believe, treasure, honour the promises and commands of God.
The Servant Leader helps us to fulfill His purpose for our creation or our lives while the serpent leader prompts us to disbelieve in our higher purpose and our God given potential to fulfill it. The serpent leader wants us to fritter our time and energy. The Servant Leader wants us to use, utilize, invest our time, energy, talent, abilities, resources in building the kingdom of God. The serpent leader believes in anarchy while the Servant Leader believes in order, governance, fruitfulness. The serpent leader sows with his words and thoughts the seeds of uncertainty, fear, insecurity, doubt and hopelessness while the Servant Leader sows the seeds of certainty, assurance, comfort, security, deliverance, courage and hope.
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