UV 3456/10000 The Snares of the Serpent Leader
Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar (bitumen) pits; and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them. But the remainder (of the kings) who survived fled to the hill country.
Genesis 14 v 10
The Valley of Siddim was booby trapped with molten tar pits in which the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell and were trapped. The serpent leader uses a variety of snares to trap the faithful and people at large. The Servant Leader rescues us while the serpent leader ensnares and tries to trap us. The serpent leader these days does not use tar pits but he often uses our own thoughts, desires and words to trap us. The Servant Leader in contrast went down into a pit , the cave of burial in order to rescue us and set us free from all manner of traps the enemy has planned and planted against us.
Whenever we sense a trap, we should flee not to the hills but to the Messiah, the Servant Leader whose only purpose in coming down from heaven to earth is to rescue us. Having been rescued by faith and grace, we should not return to the ways and wiles of the serpent leader. Even the negative words we speak can become the writing against us. The enemy of our souls attempts to base his accusations on the things we speak and do. He also uses other deadly snares like the traditional 3 Ws or wine, women (can also be men) and wealth. Fame and consequent pride is another trap he uses to draw us in.
Like Joseph fled from the temptress, we need to set up boundaries of behaviour and protection, an early enough warning system to keep us from falling the way many have done. Sometimes, we unwittingly allow ourselves like sheep being led to the slaughter when our guard is down. The time to be most careful is when our influence and impact has grown tremendously. The serpent leader aims to bring us down at this very juncture when we are least suspecting, when we and others around us think we are not prone or vulnerable but firm and strong.
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
The Serpent Leader and Strife
UV 3455/10000 The Serpent Leader and Strife
So Abram said to Lot, “ Please let there be no strife and disagreement between you and me , nor between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, because we are relatives.”
Genesis 13 v 8
The serpent leader sows seeds of discord within families and among relatives through issues like property, inheritance and so on. When two brothers approached Jesus to solve their property dispute, Jesus declined to intervene. He expects us to resolve these differences among ourselves. Today, due to greed a large number of families are divided by the serpent leader on issues of sharing their inheritance especially with the women of the family. We should learn from the example of Abram aka Abraham who chose to point to his nephew Lot a just and acceptable solution.
The enemy’s goal is to cause strife and division. He likes to disturb or destroy the peace of homes. It then falls on the elders in the family to try to find an amicable solution without going to outsiders or the court for settlement which would prove protracted and expensive. The feeling of insecurity that one will not have enough for one’s own family or for later life often drives the family members exercising control to try to corner all the assets for themselves. Instead, if they settle it peacefully and quickly, they can avoid creating bad blood, curses and hatred among brothers and divert their attention and energy to constructive priorities.
Such lust of the flesh adversely affects families, congregations and communities. At such times, we should introspect, pray and seek the godly and wise counsel. Later , in the story we see how Abram also rescues Lot from destruction in Sodom. The unity of families should be maintained at any cost. The Servant Leader Jesus exhorted His followers to be always united, wary of the seed of discord the serpent leader was prone to sow.
So Abram said to Lot, “ Please let there be no strife and disagreement between you and me , nor between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, because we are relatives.”
Genesis 13 v 8
The serpent leader sows seeds of discord within families and among relatives through issues like property, inheritance and so on. When two brothers approached Jesus to solve their property dispute, Jesus declined to intervene. He expects us to resolve these differences among ourselves. Today, due to greed a large number of families are divided by the serpent leader on issues of sharing their inheritance especially with the women of the family. We should learn from the example of Abram aka Abraham who chose to point to his nephew Lot a just and acceptable solution.
The enemy’s goal is to cause strife and division. He likes to disturb or destroy the peace of homes. It then falls on the elders in the family to try to find an amicable solution without going to outsiders or the court for settlement which would prove protracted and expensive. The feeling of insecurity that one will not have enough for one’s own family or for later life often drives the family members exercising control to try to corner all the assets for themselves. Instead, if they settle it peacefully and quickly, they can avoid creating bad blood, curses and hatred among brothers and divert their attention and energy to constructive priorities.
Such lust of the flesh adversely affects families, congregations and communities. At such times, we should introspect, pray and seek the godly and wise counsel. Later , in the story we see how Abram also rescues Lot from destruction in Sodom. The unity of families should be maintained at any cost. The Servant Leader Jesus exhorted His followers to be always united, wary of the seed of discord the serpent leader was prone to sow.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Comfort Zone to Challenge Zone
UV 3454/10000 Comfort Zone to Challenge Zone
Now ( in Haran), the Lord had said to Abram, “Go away from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.
Genesis 12 v 1
The Servant Leader often calls people out of their comfort zones in order to bless them, to bring out the greatness of God in them. Abram was called out of Haran, his home, his kith and kin to travel to where the Lord led him. The serpent leader misguides and misleads while the Servant Leader guides, leads, protects. As a result, Abram’s name, his family, his progeny, his destiny, his finances were all blessed. Abram became Abraham, the father of faith and the father of many nations. Three world religions originate in Abraham. He is revered in many nations. He who was childless became a father. Through his faith, all families and nations of the earth are blessed. Those who bless him and Israel are blessed and those who curse him are cursed. The serpent leader inspired many in the world with anti-semitic hatred, leading to the rise of a cruel and monstrous leader like Hitler and many of his followers.
Abraham and Israel, the nation that was drawn from his loins are central to the destiny of humanity and indeed, of the earth. Israel as a political entity ceased to exist for nearly two thousand years and was re-formed in 1948 after the World War II as prophesied. Israel is a great nation. For one thing, Israel has the maximum number of Nobel Prize winners for such a small population. The greatest human acknowledged universally, Jesus Christ was born out of Israel and in Israel. Today, the Servant Leader blesses and heals us of our barrenness, our purposelessness, our powerlessness and hopelessness. What eye has not seen, nor ear heard nor entered in our imagation of our hearts and minds, the Lord causes to happen in our lives. He moves us out of our comfort zones into our challenge zones where we are transformed. We only need to be sure that like Abraham that God who called us to do so also moves with us. Abraham acknowledged the leadership of God, the presence and benefits he received from Him by building altars to worship and sacrifice to Him out of what He had provided for him on his journey.
When famine forced Abraham to seek refuge in Pharaoh’s Egypt, the Lord preserved the life of Abraham and Sarai, his wife. Abraham fearful of his wife being coveted for her beauty lied that she was his sister but the Lord visited Pharaoh and his household with plagues causing the latter to release her from his harem. These plagues are a foreshadow of the ten plagues on Egypt that caused a later Pharaoh to release the descendants of Abraham now multiplied to millions from the bondage of slavery in response to the call of Moses. When there is a call on our lives by the Servant Leader, it is to bless us, to liberate others while when the serpent leader comes calling, it is to curse, to drive into bondage.
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Destructive and Creative Unity
UV 3453/10000 Destructive and Creative Unity
And the Lord said, “ Behold, they are one (unified) people, and they all have the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do ( in rebellion against Me), and now no evil thing they imagine they can do will be impossible for them.
Genesis 11 v 6
The serpent leader wants all humanity unified in disobedience to God while the Servant Leader Jesus prepares all humanity to be unified in obedience to Him. To this end, the serpent leader spreads lies and deception among all nations. He gets people to speak the language of lies and to disbelieve the word of God. He divides and rules through conflict and strife while the Servant Leader unifies and rules through love and peace. Today, mankind has acquired through such knowledge and unified action tremendous technological prowess to rule the skies, to rain death and destruction on the entire planet. The serpent leader gloats over the command he has over human hearts and imagination while the Servant Leader weeps over the future of humanity even as He wept over Jerusalem and He wants to take every human under His wings of protection and care.
When we work as teams and with unified vision under the Servant Leader, we exercise and employ life giving and life enhancing power. He leads us into eternal and abundant life even as the serpent leader draws people into more and more destructive ways. The serpent leader works on the inner drives of man to pander to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life and leads us to our fall. The Servant Leader in contrast sows the seed of the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self control and humility. The serpent leader draws more and more people to dwell under a curse while the Servant Leader wants to draw all humanity to dwell under the shadow of the Almighty and in His presence and blessing.
We need to recognize the patterns the enemy of our souls, the serpent leader weaves in our lives and move away for preservation and protection to the Servant Leader. Unlike the time of Noah, there is no Ark to preserve our kind but only the living Ark of Jesus that can hold not just seven pairs of all flesh but all who believe and trust Him. We gain nothing by unifying in disobedience and rebellion against the Lord but we regain eternal life by unifying in obedience to the Servant Leader.
And the Lord said, “ Behold, they are one (unified) people, and they all have the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do ( in rebellion against Me), and now no evil thing they imagine they can do will be impossible for them.
Genesis 11 v 6
The serpent leader wants all humanity unified in disobedience to God while the Servant Leader Jesus prepares all humanity to be unified in obedience to Him. To this end, the serpent leader spreads lies and deception among all nations. He gets people to speak the language of lies and to disbelieve the word of God. He divides and rules through conflict and strife while the Servant Leader unifies and rules through love and peace. Today, mankind has acquired through such knowledge and unified action tremendous technological prowess to rule the skies, to rain death and destruction on the entire planet. The serpent leader gloats over the command he has over human hearts and imagination while the Servant Leader weeps over the future of humanity even as He wept over Jerusalem and He wants to take every human under His wings of protection and care.
When we work as teams and with unified vision under the Servant Leader, we exercise and employ life giving and life enhancing power. He leads us into eternal and abundant life even as the serpent leader draws people into more and more destructive ways. The serpent leader works on the inner drives of man to pander to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life and leads us to our fall. The Servant Leader in contrast sows the seed of the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self control and humility. The serpent leader draws more and more people to dwell under a curse while the Servant Leader wants to draw all humanity to dwell under the shadow of the Almighty and in His presence and blessing.
We need to recognize the patterns the enemy of our souls, the serpent leader weaves in our lives and move away for preservation and protection to the Servant Leader. Unlike the time of Noah, there is no Ark to preserve our kind but only the living Ark of Jesus that can hold not just seven pairs of all flesh but all who believe and trust Him. We gain nothing by unifying in disobedience and rebellion against the Lord but we regain eternal life by unifying in obedience to the Servant Leader.
Friday, January 24, 2020
The Ultimate Blood Price
UV 3452/10000 The Blood Price
Whoever sheds man’s blood (unlawfully), by man ( judicial government) shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man.
Genesis 9 v 6
The serpent leader instigates people in every generation to unjustly commit violence and murder. In fact, God had made man in the image of God, the image of His Son Jesus. It implies that we are made in the likeness of the absolute true, holy, perfect, loving, merciful, all knowing, all powerful,good God. This is the reason we cannot make a likeness of God while we can aspire to be a likeness of God. Since the serpent leader tempted man and man succumbed, the image of God in man was distorted. We started dabbling in the relatively good and the relatively evil, a mix of the two in all that we think, speak and do. Sin is equated with death and hence, a blood price had to be paid for every human to live. Then, the Servant Leader Jesus was sent as Messiah to redeem man and restore him to the image of God. The combination of God’s absolute love, justice and mercy required the redeeming sacrifice to be made by the Servant Leader, Jesus as there was no other way to do it. God had set a huge value for the life or blood of every human. The price for a man's life is too high and it cannot be paid by himself, wrote the Psalmist. Of how much more value is the life or blood of the Servant Leader, Jesus! It is enough to pay for the lives of all humanity who believes, receives and accepts it as their blood price.
The irony is that the judicial government ordered the execution of the Servant Leader Jesus in an unjust, mock trial. The serpent leader instigated the Jewish religious leaders and the local people to press for the crucifixion of Jesus. The prophet Isaiah’s words came true when He went like a sheep to be slaughtered without uttering a word to resist or protest the injustice. He had done only good to people, healing, delivering, teaching everywhere He went during His earthly sojourn and yet, He was unjustly handed over to be put to death. God would not allow His faithful Servant to rot in the grave and hence, He resurrected Jesus. The blood price had been paid, good had triumphed over evil, death had been put to death.
Blood price had been paid for each one of us. We who now believe and follow the Servant Leader have a duty to conform to the image of God, of Christ who showed the way and became the Way to eternal life. Our thoughts, emotions, words, actions, desires should be like those of Jesus. We should ourselves be servant leaders like Jesus and not have any truck or connection or leaning or influence of the serpent leader in our lives. We should emulate Jesus who is both humble and gentle though He is God. Of all His qualities, Jesus asks us to only focus on just two - humility and gentleness. When we are humble and gentle, we resemble Jesus or we become an image of the Servant Leader.
Whoever sheds man’s blood (unlawfully), by man ( judicial government) shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man.
Genesis 9 v 6
The serpent leader instigates people in every generation to unjustly commit violence and murder. In fact, God had made man in the image of God, the image of His Son Jesus. It implies that we are made in the likeness of the absolute true, holy, perfect, loving, merciful, all knowing, all powerful,good God. This is the reason we cannot make a likeness of God while we can aspire to be a likeness of God. Since the serpent leader tempted man and man succumbed, the image of God in man was distorted. We started dabbling in the relatively good and the relatively evil, a mix of the two in all that we think, speak and do. Sin is equated with death and hence, a blood price had to be paid for every human to live. Then, the Servant Leader Jesus was sent as Messiah to redeem man and restore him to the image of God. The combination of God’s absolute love, justice and mercy required the redeeming sacrifice to be made by the Servant Leader, Jesus as there was no other way to do it. God had set a huge value for the life or blood of every human. The price for a man's life is too high and it cannot be paid by himself, wrote the Psalmist. Of how much more value is the life or blood of the Servant Leader, Jesus! It is enough to pay for the lives of all humanity who believes, receives and accepts it as their blood price.
The irony is that the judicial government ordered the execution of the Servant Leader Jesus in an unjust, mock trial. The serpent leader instigated the Jewish religious leaders and the local people to press for the crucifixion of Jesus. The prophet Isaiah’s words came true when He went like a sheep to be slaughtered without uttering a word to resist or protest the injustice. He had done only good to people, healing, delivering, teaching everywhere He went during His earthly sojourn and yet, He was unjustly handed over to be put to death. God would not allow His faithful Servant to rot in the grave and hence, He resurrected Jesus. The blood price had been paid, good had triumphed over evil, death had been put to death.
Blood price had been paid for each one of us. We who now believe and follow the Servant Leader have a duty to conform to the image of God, of Christ who showed the way and became the Way to eternal life. Our thoughts, emotions, words, actions, desires should be like those of Jesus. We should ourselves be servant leaders like Jesus and not have any truck or connection or leaning or influence of the serpent leader in our lives. We should emulate Jesus who is both humble and gentle though He is God. Of all His qualities, Jesus asks us to only focus on just two - humility and gentleness. When we are humble and gentle, we resemble Jesus or we become an image of the Servant Leader.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
The Gender Question
UV 3451/10000 The Gender Question
Then Adam said, “ This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.”
Genesis 2 v 23
Woman was created to be a helper and suitable companion for man. Man was to regard woman as a complement or part of him. But due to the fall of man came the separation not only of man from God but also man from woman. The power struggle began between man and woman, egged on by the serpent leader. The Servant Leader, Jesus in contrast, did not make a difference between men and women. His most devout followers were women who did not abandon Him at the cross even when His disciples fled.
From that early genesis, the gulf between man and woman grew wider and wider. Women were increasingly looked upon as a possession, a property of man. The commodification of woman in modern times is another conspiracy of the serpent leader with woman projected only as an object of sexual desire. Men are to provide Christ-like leadership in their homes and not dominate, oppress, suppress or harass women in any way. The Servant Leader dealt with an even hand when it came to men or women. For instance, when they brought a woman who was caught in adultery, He reminded the men of their own adulterous thought life.
Men and women were created to complement and not to compete or supplement each other. Either have responsibilities that the other cannot fulfill adequately. Husbands are to serve their wives even as Christ served the body of believers by being a sacrifice for them. It implies that men are to make sacrifices of their time, efforts, attention in order to manifest their love for their wives. The relationship is based on mutual trust and forgiveness. No couple can live with each other unless they learn to forgive even as Jesus forgave. Just as a man or a woman does not regard his own bones or flesh as different or separated from self and tries to feed, nourish these, we are expected to be mutually inseparable, supportive and dependent on each other.
Then Adam said, “ This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.”
Genesis 2 v 23
Woman was created to be a helper and suitable companion for man. Man was to regard woman as a complement or part of him. But due to the fall of man came the separation not only of man from God but also man from woman. The power struggle began between man and woman, egged on by the serpent leader. The Servant Leader, Jesus in contrast, did not make a difference between men and women. His most devout followers were women who did not abandon Him at the cross even when His disciples fled.
From that early genesis, the gulf between man and woman grew wider and wider. Women were increasingly looked upon as a possession, a property of man. The commodification of woman in modern times is another conspiracy of the serpent leader with woman projected only as an object of sexual desire. Men are to provide Christ-like leadership in their homes and not dominate, oppress, suppress or harass women in any way. The Servant Leader dealt with an even hand when it came to men or women. For instance, when they brought a woman who was caught in adultery, He reminded the men of their own adulterous thought life.
Men and women were created to complement and not to compete or supplement each other. Either have responsibilities that the other cannot fulfill adequately. Husbands are to serve their wives even as Christ served the body of believers by being a sacrifice for them. It implies that men are to make sacrifices of their time, efforts, attention in order to manifest their love for their wives. The relationship is based on mutual trust and forgiveness. No couple can live with each other unless they learn to forgive even as Jesus forgave. Just as a man or a woman does not regard his own bones or flesh as different or separated from self and tries to feed, nourish these, we are expected to be mutually inseparable, supportive and dependent on each other.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
LIFEBOATS TO MEET THE RISING TIDE
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.
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.
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