Garments of Joy

UV 3706/10000. Garments of Joy I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom puts on a turban, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61 v 10 When we exult in the Lord, He will exalt us. He clothes us with garments of praise, of joy. This morning as I was doing my customary morning prayer walk, I saw a snail emerging out of its shell. Then, I thought to myself that the Lord had provided a protective hard cover for the slender snail to shelter in. How much more has He provided for us, as humans, as believers of Jesus. He has covered our shame with a robe of righteousness by grace. We will no longer be put to shame or humiliation when we consider our past. He gives us a double portion of blessing, of anointing like Elisha. He adorns us with a turban, a mark of honour in eastern countries, a sign of leadership. He adorns us with the fruit of the spirit as the jewels of character. The joy of the Lord is our enduring strength. Our joy is not transient but everlasting, lasting beyond our circumstances, beyond our earthly lives. We delight in the things the Lord delights in. This is the source of our strength. We delight in His presence as a bride in the Bridegroom. We delight in His gifts, the gifts of the spirit. We delight in the fruit of the Spirit. We delight in righteousness. We delight in studying the Word of God. We delight in the promises of the Lord. We delight in fellowship with the saints or followers of Jesus. We delight in doing His will. We delight in obeying His commands. We delight not only in good times but in the trials and difficulties we face as we live a life of faith. The garments of salvation are also our armour. It might look like ordinary clothes but the turban of honour the Lord places on our heads acts as a helmet. The Word is our spiritual sword that penetrates not only our hearts but the hearts of any listener. The truths we learn from the Word become our belt. Our faith acts as a shield to protect us from the fiery darts the enemy fires at us. Our feet are also adorned with fitting shoes of the readiness to do God’s will and go wherever He directs us.

Armed, Not Harmed

UV 3705/10000 Armed, Not Harmed He has made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand He has kept me hidden; and He has made Me a sharpened arrow, in His quiver He has hidden Me. Isaiah 49 The uni-verse is a prophetic utterance about the Messiah, Jesus. He is referred to as His Servant. The book of Revelation speaks of the fulfilment of the prophecy in the description of the sword of the Word coming out of the mouth of the Lord. It is the sword of salvation, of deliverance, of healing. We too as His followers should use our tongue only to bless, heal, deliver, pronounce the good and positive, share the promise of all encompassing salvation in Jesus. We are to sharpen our mouths and tongues on the whetstone of the Word such that it is efficacious, penetrating the hearts, performing effectively that for which it is used. We need to seek an anointing of our lips and our mouths so that the fruit thereof is pleasing to the Lord. Armed with the word of God, we become sharp swords. We are so armed so that we are not harmed. God hides us in the shadow of His hand. It implies that His hand would do and establish that which is needed for our protection. When we read this along with Psalm 91, the promises that are our heritage are physical protection from all kinds of threats, long life, honour, eternal life. All these blessings together constitute all encompassing salvation. Salvation then is holistic and comprehensive and it covers the physical dimension- our health and security, our longevity, our success and happiness, eternal life. Instead of our minds settting on its own like shapeless cement and concrete left unattended on the road side, we should set our minds on loving the Lord, studying His word, obeying His spirit. His hand is not too short. In fact, His hand is competent to do all things in and on behalf of us. His ear is not dull. In fact, He is so sensitive that He hears our sighs and whispers, observes our tears, fulfils our hope in Him. But we are not to be just consumers and beneficiaries of the blessings of the presence and power of God in our lives, but we are to be hidden weapons, secret weapons, powerful weapons, sharpened weapons in His armoury. Instead of quivering in fear, we should know that He has hidden us in His quiver to be a hidden weapon, a secret weapon, a powerful weapon to be released by Him at the time and place of His choosing. As a sharpened arrow, we are destined to hit the target that God has in mind for us on the bull’s eye. He has prepared us for holistic success, not the narrow commercial success of this world.

Crush Your Challenges

UV 3704/10000 Crush Your Challenges FOR I THE LORD your God keep hold of your right hand; ( I am the Lord), who says to you, “DO not fear, I will help you.” Isaiah 41 v 13 Every believer is like Cyrus, the great. The Lord has called us to accomplish His will. He promises to uphold or support us, strengthen us in the areas of our weaknesses. He promises to hold our right hand with His right hand. It is actually difficult to hold a person’s right hand with one’s right hand and advance forward. But the right hand here symbolizes that the justice, power, victory and salvation of God will prevail in our lives. For He is the Lord God, the Great I Am. All those who oppose us will be scattered. All those who quarrel with us will be dispersed and disappear from our sight. Those who war with us will be as nothing. It is repeated for emphasis, “As nothing at all.” Today, the bigger pandemic is the pandemic of fear. Millions are caught in the throes of fear and panic. Those who are battle scarred will not be scared. The scars of battle are meant to train us us not to be scared of threats or throats that utter them. We are also not scared as we are assured that the Sacred One is with us. He rides with us into the thick of battle. In fact, He says that the battle belongs to Him. We only need to take a stand and watch. Even the current Covid 19 pandemic is a kind of warfare. It is meant to expose those who are fearful. We should take all precautions but state in our hearts that Covid is a coward and put it to flight. The Lord promises to help us whatever be our situation. The Holy Spirit is called the Helper. We should constantly seek His counsel, comfort and help. We may be weak and soft and vulnerable as a worm but the Word will strengthen us to be like a powerful threshing machine that can thresh the mountains or greatest challenges of life we confront on a daily basis. We can crush our challenges and turn it into chaff. The testimony of how we overcame these challenges is the grain, the fruit of our lives. We will like harvesters winnow the ‘mountains and hills’ ( big problems and smaller ones, big foes and small ones) and sift them so that the high wind of “Kairos” (God controlled and surrendered) time and change will scatter these as if they are mere dust and chaff.

Spiritual Wisdom

UV 3703/10000. Spiritual Wisdom Those who are spiritually wise will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead many to righteousness, will shine like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12 v 3 Scripture makes a distinction between those who are money wise, worldly wise, other wise and the spiritually wise. The other types of wisdom are decried by scripture as the foolishness of man, trying to be too clever. It is not that we should not be prudent, careful, cautious, tactful as worldly wisdom advocates but that we should always value spiritual wisdom much more and much higher. This is the wisdom that is promised in James 1 verse 5: “ If any of you lacks wisdom to guide him through a decision or circumstance, he is to ask of our benevolent God who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him. “ The implication of this generous promise of God is that even those who are well up in other forms of wisdom are deficient or ignorant of spiritual wisdom. Spiritual wisdom is gifted by the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit. He as counsellor promises to counsel us at every stage of every decision we make. Jesus as Wonderful Counsellor causes wonders to happen in our lives once we obtain wisdom from the Spirit of God. Yesterday, I met a young UN diplomat from another faith who said the promise in James 1 v 5 spoke to him personally and powerfully. Yes, the word says, “anyone” and not just the followers of Jesus. Anyone who is humble enough to recognize that he is not spiritually wise and is willing to ask the Lord, the Lord God is ever eager to give wisdom generously. There is a limit to human wisdom but there is no limit to the wisdom of God which is infinite. Spiritual wisdom will enable us to give the glory and credit of every success of ours to the Lord and the grace to endure any failure or trial equally with a good attitude of learning the lessons from what caused the failure. Spiritual wisdom will enable us neither to gloat nor to bloat when we prosper and are doing well. It will enable us to consider others better at various things compared to us. Spiritual wisdom will enable us to lean and learn continually on the Lord and His word and not to lean on our own limited understanding. It is spiritual wisdom that enables us to think about what is good, noble, beautiful, praiseworthy, helpful not harmful, wholesome, holistic, positive.

The Two Ways and Where it Ends

UV 3702/10000 The Two Ways and Where It Ends For the Lord knows and fully approves the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish. Psalm 1 v 6 The Lord knows the every thought and emotion of every living person. He knows who truly believe in Him and follow Him, obey His word and who does not. Even a wicked person may mouth expressions of faith, good conscience, ethics and values. In one sense, it shows that even the crooked know the value of values and ethics. They cannot plead ignorance when they stand before the judgement seat of God at the end of life. Even Job was anguished that the crooked in this world prospered, were healthy and lived long and even saw their offspring established in success. Job finally admitted that it is a mystery how God dealt with the ungodly. The way of the wicked in this world may outwardly seem to prosper but the uni-verse clearly states that the way of the wicked will perish while the way of the righteous will flourish though he might seem to suffer for a while in this lifetime. In the light of the foregoing, it is indeed better to get the favour or grace of the Lord, to walk in His ways than to prosper outwardly in this world in terms of wealth, fame, pleasure or pelf. The blessing of the Lord is more vital than any success that this world offers without following the way, will and word of God. We need to not only count our suffering but also our blessing and make both suffering and blessing to count. We learn many lessons about the character of God, His faithfulness, the refinement He seeks in our character, communication and conduct from our suffering even as we need to be grateful and contented with the blessings He has showered us abundantly with. We need to seek full and not partial approval of our lives from the Lord. It means that we should not compromise in any area. If we do, we need to confess and come clean and not repeat that which might offend the Spirit of the Lord. It is the Lord who makes our way flourish though it might be full of thorns, obstacles, problems. This is what makes our lives exciting. We do not know what the enemy is going to throw at us out of his anger at our attempt to live a life of favour with God or a life of righteousness. But as long as we are walking in the favour of the Lord with His help, with the enablement and strengthening of the Holy Spirit, the Lord will take whatever the enemy throws at us and turn it into a source of strength, blessing, learning, victory in our lives.

The Purpose of Life

UV 3701/10000 The Purpose of Life, The Basis of Life Seek the Lord ( search diligently for Him and long for Him as your most essential need) so that you may live, or He will rush down like the devouring fire, ) house of Joseph and there will be no one to quench the flame for idolatrous Bethel, Amos 5 v 6 This uni-verse exhorts the house of Israel or in other words, believers of all nations, to seek the Lord as a man would seek food which is his most essential need. If we do not, it would excite the intense, fire- like jealousy of the Lord. If we do, we are blessed and if we don’t we are damned. Nothing can quench the wrath of God once it is aroused. We need to seek Him with all our heart and mind. Seek Him every day, every hour, every moment, in every place, every activity. Seek Him through diligent study of the Word. Seek a glimpse of His face, a touch of His hand, a whisper of His voice. God has indeed, hidden Himself from man but when He sees us seeking Him with all our hearts, He reveals Himself to us. He reveals Himself to the one who revels in Him. He spurns the one who is insincere, dishonest, corrupt, wicked, unrepentant. The former He blesses like He did the house of Joseph, while the latter He curses like the house of disobedience, the rebellious house. The former would not yield a higher place in their hearts to anyone or anything other than God, their Lord. The latter have given their hearts over to earthly passions, material pursuits, the love of sinful pleasure without any fear or reverence for God. The ones who revere God are deemed wise in His eyes and they avoid and abhor vice of any kind. They seek to do what is just and right in accordance with the word of God, for they have no higher standard to measure justice or righteousness. They do not rely on the fickle opinions or transient knowledge of man but diligently study the Word in order to discern what is the will and purpose of God concerning their lives. The purpose of all learning is to know God and to make Him known. The purpose of all activity is to ultimately glorify the Lord.

The Hunger for God

UV 3699/10000 The Hunger for God He has filled the hungry with good things; and sent the rich away empty-handed. Luke 1 v 53 This uni-verse seems to endorse Steve Job’s maxim, “Stay hungry.” But what it says is that we should be filled with a hunger for God. We should long, crave, desire strongly a personal relationship with God. If we are self satisfied, complacent, not hungering for righteousness, content with our material lot or the things that our flesh desires, then, we will be sent away empty handed by God. The former are blessed with all manner of good things in keeping with the promise, “Seek first ( or with utmost priority and greatest longing) His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” The prophetic utterance of Zacharias, the priest was echoed in the teaching of Jesus in His sermon on the mount: “Blessed are those who hunger after righteousness for they shall be satisfied.” In short, we are blessed or favoured by God when we do not hanker or hunger after the pleasures, wealth, power, beauty, fame of this world but we hunger after righteousness, holiness, goodness, beauty, grace, mercy, power, favour of God. We seek the rule of God through Christ in our hearts, minds and lives, relationships and workspace. We do not merely seek it but are obsessed with this pursuit of the things of God, how to do things God’s way, not our way. Those who seek the world and what it has to offer will feel empty, never satiated but always frustrated, longing for something more, something different. Even after they achieve their goals, they will find it futile, vain, meaningless like Solomon after he departed from the ways of God. God will send some pinpricks to burst the balloons of their caprice, vanity, egoism, selfishness, pride, lust. It will be tantalizing for them as they struggle to push the boulder all the way to the top of the mountain and every time it rolls back to the base of the mountain. In contrast, the Lord will satisfy the hunger of the godly, the righteous by faith by answering prayers beyond their asking or imagination, by teaching them from His word, by imparting a sense of contentment and gratitude for blessings received though not deserved. The more we experience the agape love of God in Christ, the more we desire it, the greater our hunger for the presence of God, the Person of God. We realize that He is the One who can be anything, do anything to satisfy our hunger for Him.