Enabled, Equipped, Empowered Witnesses

UV 2285/10000 Enabled, Equipped, Empowered Witnesses
Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me
Isaiah 43 v 10

The Lord has chosen and declared us to be His living witnesses. We need to know, believe and understand that Jesus is both Saviour and King of our lives. Knowledge of Jesus prepares us to be witnesses. Belief in Jesus enables us. Understanding of Jesus equips and empowers us. We are chosen, enabled, equipped and empowered witnesses. Our faith is not blind but based on our personal knowledge, experience and understanding. We need to witness to our neighbours, friends and contacts about the difference Jesus has brought to our lives. We can witness both verbally and non verbally. The Lord revealed Himself in the Bible through three individuals primarily though He gave revelations to many others: Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Even before the nation of Israel was formed, He revealed that He makes personal covenants with individual human beings by His interactions with Abraham. Moses became the witness of the Lord as the nation of Israel was being formed while still in captivity to Egypt. Jesus Himself became the witness of the Father when Israel was in subjugation to Rome. Each of them witnessed both by their words and by their actions and reactions.

God saw us when we were formed in our mothers’ wombs. He knew us before we know Him. He overhears our mere sighs and whispers. We are not just witnesses of the Lord but His chosen servants. We serve Him in all that we do. From being just creatures of God, we have become witnesses, servants, friends and children of God. Our knowledge of His word enhances our understanding of who God is and what His will for our lives is. The Lord invests or anoints us with His power and authority to fulfil our roles as witnesses, servants, friends and children.

As witnesses, we are to closely observe what the Lord has done in human history, in our personal lives and in the lives of others. As servants, we need to revere, worship and obey Him. As children, we are called to love and adore Him. As friends, we are to enjoy our fellowship with Him at all times. No one and nothing else can take the place of God in our lives. When we focus on Him as the locus of our lives, everything else, all our priorities will fall in place in the right order. As our Saviour, we depend on Him alone for our salvation. As our King, He is sovereign and rules over every dimension of our lives.

Prateep V Philip

Manifestations of Light

UV 2284/10000 Manifestations of Light
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 5 v 16


The word light in this uni-verse implies that we should manifest love, integrity, grace, happiness and truth in and through our lives of faith. The light of the Truth that is Jesus shines in us who believe in Him in many ways: It shines forth as the light of integrity or righteousness. The followers of Jesus need to not only live by their faith, they need to live their faith. We cannot walk in darkness or by compromising the truth. If we believe God and His Son Jesus, our Redeemer are perfect, we too need to imitate their perfection as closely as we can. The Lord will fill the gaps with His grace and mercy. Our good deeds will not be dirty rags as stated in the Old Testament but these will be our flags and emblem to show Jesus dwells in and with us. Our good actions and reactions should manifest the goodness of the Lord and manifest it increasingly over the course of our lives.

The light shines in us as the flame of wisdom. We are to take decisions in accordance with our faith and our faith-defined priorities. We are not to decide out of selfish ambition or vanity or pride. Our words of wisdom should reflect the wisdom of the Word. The distance between folly and us should be like the distance between the sun and the moon. The light also shines as the spirit of excellence in us. We need to excel in all that we do for the greater glory of God. We need to exude the light of influence. People should be drawn to us as flies to the fire. White light is comprised of seven colours- VIBGYOR, each colour symbolising a different domain of blessing and being. The new covenant relationship with Jesus makes us inheritors or co-heirs of these seven types of blessings: spiritual, intellectual, familial, social, emotional, financial, physical.

We are called to be a light in our nations and in our generation. We are not to be modest or hide the gifts and blessings the Lord has given us generously. We are to share this light through our generousity, hospitality and giving. The light that is in us is of love- the unconditional or agape love of God. Finally, we are to quietly emit the light of humility. In everything, we are to know that we are zero without Christ. Like the moon, we have no light of our own and we only shine and reflect the light from the Sun of Righteousness on whom we depend for our own healing, blessing and deliverance. The moon always therefore points to the sun as its source of light even as we should do. At no point in our lives should we presume to think that we are the originators of the light. The motivation then of all of our being of light is not our own greatness, fame or glory but to ascribe all praise, glory and goodness to the Lord. This kind of motivation is what distinguishes our world view from the hedonism of existentialism. Neither is the motive of our good deeds altruism or humanitarianism. The goal is to increasingly reflect the glory, greatness and goodness of God. He should increase and we should decrease even as we shine more and more brightly.


Prateep V Philip

Theography

UV 2283/10000 Theography
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
Isaiah40 v 4

The Lord will alter the geography or landscape of our whole lives. I call it Theography. When we entrust our lives to Him, He will re-write in His own words that are immutable, irrecallable. The Lord will exalt the humble and God fearing to the commanding heights of the nation and of the world. Those who have built their own empires and wield great influence and power will be lowered and brought down to ground zero. Those who live without a thought of God are people who think they are smarter than their Creator, that their salvation in in their own hands. They will pursue illusions and delusions all their lives and be disappointed and dismayed at the end. But those who live in hope of the salvation of God will be lifted degree by degree to take their place. The big trees in the forest will be cut down but the small and humble trees will grow and flourish. The dry tree will become green and bear fruit to the surprise of people.

The faithful will not have any truck or link with what is crooked. They walk on the straight and narrow. The Lord will guide their steps day by day, moment by moment. Their feet will not get ensnared by the traps set by the enemy on the way. Their desires are shaped by the Spirit of God and are subjected to the principles embedded in the Word of God. They will hunger for righteousness and seek the glory of the Lord. Their lives will be blessed with many good things.

The difficulties that lie in our path are smoothened or removed by the Lord or He will endow us with strength to endure or overcome these challenges. The Lord as a good parent is more concerned with our character and inner strength than what we achieve in our lives. The resurrection power of Jesus will accomplish all these things in our lives. The Lord sees every believer as Zerubbabel or a governor of Israel, a royal descendant of the house of David. The Lord will remove the daunting obstacles or mountains that lie in our way and lay a smooth path before us to reach where He has planned and intended. When we become spokesman of the kingdom of God, He becomes the one who underwrites what we speak or the One who ensures that none of our words are vain or fall to the ground unaccomplished. Our mere thoughts, words and prayers will act like the miraculous seed of faith.

Prateep V Philip

The Law of the Kingdom

UV 2282/10000 The Law of the Kingdom
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
I Peter 5 v 6

Humbling oneself before God implies obeying the word of the Lord. Humility under God is trusting Him implicitly and obeying Him explicitly. It is an attitude of our hearts. To humble oneself under the hand of God is to realize that all that one is and has is from His hand. This enables us to rise to realize our highest potential, fulfil our highest calling from the Lord. In order to humble ourselves, we need to know that our power, talent, ability and intellect is nothing in comparison with the infinite glory, power, grace of the Lord. We need to trust that the Lord will not turn His power against us willingly. He resists the proud. It implies that He does not fight the proud. He merely ignores the proud and indifferent. As He turns His back on them, they lose His protection, His mercy, His grace and turn themselves into the merciless, ruthless hands of the enemy of their souls.

The Lord never rejects a broken and contrite heart. A broken and contrite heart is one that has realized that only the Lord’s will prevails. It surrenders one’s future and all his hope to the Lord. He finds grace and mercy in the eyes of the Lord. In contrast, a person who is full of himself, who is vain and conceited is opposed by the Lord. Such a person will be brought low by his own pride and arrogance. He thinks that might is right, that his success and pomp will justify his life. The glory that he receives in this world will surely fade. The humble and faithful in contrast believe that the purpose of life is to subject their desires to the beliefs, values, principles enshrined in the word. The infinite power of God is subjected to His infinite justice, mercy, love and grace.

This uni-verse echoes one of the fundamental laws of the kingdom of God. Humbling oneself is a conscious and willing act of the heart of man. It is committing one’s life entirely into the hands of the Lord, accepting what He sends our way and rejecting what He ask us to reject. It is the willingness to walk the way of the cross as Jesus did all the way in the expectation that the Lord will exalt us and glorify us in due time, not sooner or later. When we humble ourselves before the Lord in this manner, exaltation is certain. Only the timing is not known, whether it is in this world or in the life to come. Committing our hearts and lives to Jesus is a once in a lifetime humbling. Confessing our ongoing sins and failings are a daily necessity. Trusting God is a lifetime humbling process. We should not resist the Lord when He re-directs our steps or when He attempts to smoothen the rough patches in our character. We should lie still and yielded like moist clay in His expert hands. We should be ready to give up any treasured goal, any ingrained habit, any offending practice or any baseless belief.

Prateep V Philip

Born of the Spirit

UV 2281/10000 Born of the Spirit
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit
John 3 v 8

The person born of the flesh is imprisoned by its desires and cannot move freely like the wind. The person born of the Spirit of God and the word of Christ is freed spiritually from every bondage. There is of course, a struggle between the person born of the flesh and the person born of the spirit. The victorious believer is able to bring the person born of the flesh under the control and direction of the person born of the spirit. The person born of the spirit is unpredictable like the wind. Though he is unpredictable in the way he is used and in what is accomplished by the Lord through him, his character and conduct are consistent. The person who is born of the Spirit lives to satisfy the spiritual purpose with which man has been created. Like the wind, he goes to the place which pleases the Lord. He says the things that pleases the Lord. He does the things that pleases the Lord. His spirit is not of this world but is the of the Lord. He is sent by the Lord to do His bidding. His priorities are different. The person born in this world is like Esau who sold his birth right for a pot of meat. The person born of the Spirit is able to give precedence to his spiritual hunger over his physical appetite. He looks to the Lord for the satisfaction of His earthly needs.

The person born of the Spirit acknowledges Jesus as His personal Saviour and Lord. He goes where Jesus sends him. He receives His daily manna that inspires, guides, leads and encourages him. Like the wind, he drives the cloud of blessings that come with the presence of God to where he goes. He is in constant communion with the Spirit of God and is of one mind with Him. The destiny of the person born again of the Spirit is in the hands of the Lord. He determines the path on which he should tread.

To the person born of the Spirit, the Lord reveals His word and His will. The seed of the Lord is the word and it is the word that brought forth new life in the believer. He practices conscious and selective starving and dying to the old self and conscious feeding and living of the new self in Christ. The old life should pass away and the new should thrive. The old life was born of the seed of this world, of sin, of separation from God. The new life is born of the seed of truth, of Jesus who revealed Himself as the way, the truth and the life. The new life is full of the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and humility. The new life is full of wisdom, not of this world but of the Spirit of God. The person born again of the Spirit is prepared and equipped with spiritual gifts to exercise the calling or offices of priest, king, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, ambassador, apostle of Christ.

Prateep V Philip

The Record of Tears

UV 2280/10000 The Record of Tears
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
Psalm 56 v 8

It is said that it is possible to cross all the oceans without wetting one’s feet but it is impossible to cross life without wetting one’s eyes. Sorrows are inevitable. We shed different kinds of tears: tears of repentance, tears of pain, tears of desperation, tears of love, tears of hope, tears of remembrance, tears of joy. The Lord keeps a record of our sorrows and our tears and cries. These are like deposits made into the heavenly bank and earn an interest over our lifetime and beyond. No single tear or sorrow is wasted. It comes back to us as the former rain and latter rain of blessings in our lives. What we sow in tears, we reap in joy, laughter, anointing, leading and blessings. He will turn our sorrows into joy. The cause of our sorrow will become the root of our joy. Our tears and cries resonate in the heart of the Lord.
The Lord is closest and most intimate with us when we are walking in sorrow and tears. He sends the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to remind us of who the Lord is and what He has done for us in the past and what He can do now to change our sorrows into joy. He gives us new strength out of our afflictions and and so turns the killer’s plots into His plan for our benefit, our growth and our salvation.
The obstacles and sorrows of our lives are opportunities for the Lord to reveal His grace, mercy and power. This is the reason we should rejoice when we are afflicted. Our sorrows and troubles are real and painful but the Lord’s grace and love are the ultimate reality. The former are temporal and temporary while the latter is eternal and valuable forever. Our testimonies or the proof and evidence of God’s love come out of our tears and sorrows. We wander through life as if there is no specific direction or purpose for our journey. But each sorrow we experience and each affliction we overcome is a milestone on our pilgrimage back to the Lord. Like the prodigal son, the pleasures of the world might attract us and draw us away from the Lord but the pains and afflictions will draw us back to our Father in heaven. He will receive us back with great mercy, grace and love. He will honour us with His best. This time round we will love Him back truly and without distraction or doubt for we know now that He loves us undeservedly when we should have fallen under His wrath and penalty.

Prateep V Philip

Strength and Sensitivity

UV 2279/10000 Strength and Sensitivity
Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
Isaiah 59 v 1

Strength and sensitivity are the two traits of the Lord. His heart is sensitive and His arms are mighty to save. There is no place He cannot reach, no person He cannot touch, no situation He cannot change. He is sovereign and absolute in His power. His ears are always inclined to the mouths and hearts of men to hear their words and even their sighs. We often think due to our lack of faith and our conditioning that the hand of the Lord is too short to be able to do certain things. But the Lord is both willing and able to help us. Nothing is too hard or impossible for Him. We only need to impress upon Him the necessity of that which we seek in Him.

We too should try to imitate these traits of the Lord. We should try to acquire both the strength and the sensitivity to use the power vested in us aptly. In ourselves, we are weak and limited beings but through our faith in the Lord, we can attempt the impossible and difficult. He does not make what is difficult easy for us but He increases our strength, our confidence and wisdom so that we are able to accomplish that which we seek. Power is shaped by responsibility. Our responsibility again depends on our response ability. We need to analyse in any given situation what our response should be from a range of choices. Then, we should go ahead and do it.

The problems and challenges in this world are so huge and daunting that it often discourages us with the thought of its futility and vanity. The story of the humming bird that attempted to save its fellow creatures in the forest by trying to douse the forest fire with a single drop of water in its tiny beak should inspire us to develop the courage, the confidence, the hope and faith to attempt to do all that lies with us to do in any given situation, however difficult or impossible. Our faith will move the hand of the Lord to act on our behalf so that it is resolved. We need to imitate the Lord by consistently doing that which we can. When we keep doing what we can, we will end up doing what we cannot – the difficult and impossible.

Prateep V Philip