Lead Us Not Into Temptation but Into Excellence

UV 3632/10000 Lead Us Not Into Temptation but into Excellence I have heard of you, that a spirit of the gods is in you, and that illumination, insight and extraordinary wisdom have been found in you. Daniel 5 v 14 Daniel was recognized by successive kings as one who had the spirit of excellence, the very Spirit of God. Though the king used the plural, “gods,” he was not far wrong. Daniel’s reputation preceded him and brought him into the presence of the king, fulfilling the word of God that says, “ The one who excels will stand before kings.” Daniel had illumination or anointing of the Holy Spirit. He had insight and extraordinary wisdom to be able to decode mysteries and solve complex problems, a handy resource for any administrator charged with the affairs of state. Daniel spurned the rewards the king offered. He was not tempted by the loaves and fishes of office. He had elevated himself by many spiritual disciplines not to succumb to the mundane temptations that most men in his position and stature would have been tempted to fall for. His intelligence was not natural but of a higher order of spiritual intelligence. From the days of his youth, he had trained and disciplined his appetite for the finer things of this world. He preferred to fear and serve Jehovah, the God of his ancestors. The Lord had in return invested immense and amazing wisdom and gifts of discernment in him. It is sad to read this morning that many gifted leaders and teachers have fallen prey to the temptations of the flesh. The enemy had seen the chinks in their spiritual armour. Due to certain subtle weaknesses, the Lord allowed them to be tempted so. That is why we pray as Jesus taught us, “Lead us not into temptation.” God is not one who tempts anyone. But when our pride, our reliance on our natural gifts or charisma or influence increases beyond our dependence on godly wisdom, He allows us to be tempted. Hence, St Paul also beat himself not that there is any merit in self mortification but there is a need to be always aware that we are fallible people, the enemy knows where the clay in our feet exists and targets it.

Altar Ye Go

UV 3631/10000 Altar Ye Go Then Isaac planted seed in that land as a farmer and reaped in the same year a hundred times as much as he had planted, and the Lord blessed and favoured him. Genesis 26 v 12 What the righteous plant, God multiplies. What the unrepentant, the envious plant perishes. The latter will plant wheat and reap thorns. They will exhaust themselves without seeing profit from their labour. Their harvest will put them to shame. Not so those who fear, trust and love the Lord. Like Isaac, they will reap a hundred fold of whatever they plant. Our efforts are our seed. Our words are our seed. Our plans are our seed. Whatever is in seed form today will in due time become crops and fruit. Scripture records that his enemies made peace with him. He obtained the favour of local chieftain Abimelech who offered him guarantee of protection. Even with a single angel Michael protects His own against even an army that has risen against them. Isaac became great and distinguished on account of the favour of the Lord upon him. When the Lord smiles on us, we will prosper. The wicked and those who do not understand will gnash their teeth in envy. The foes of Isaac tried to block his blessings by filling with dirt the wells dug by his father Abraham but Isaac uncovered these. Likewise, our contemporaries may throw dirt at us but the Lord will ensure we are unscathed and blessed. The Lord will move us from Esek, the place where disputes arose and hence, Isaac called it Quarrel. He will move us to broad places called Rehoboth, or the spacious, the unconstrained or unrestricted. We need to pitch our tent in the Lord’s favour, offer Him our wholehearted worship and gratitude for His presence with us. We do not have to fear the future or what it brings for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (past, present and future) is with us. We have no alter ego or person we greatly admire for our hearts are dedicated to be altars to the Lord God. When the Lord dwells and rules in our hearts, we say to our egos, “Ye Go” and our egos will go with our pride, sinfulness, deceit, fears and the Lord, the Great I am comes with us. God does not want our resources, talents, abilities. He only needs our hearts of commitment and love. Abraham offered up Isaac as a sacrifice to God. The Lord declined it. But Isaac offered up his heart to God. The Lord accepted it and blessed, multiplied and caused him to rejoice as his very name means.

The Passion for Christ

UV 3630/10000. The Passion for Christ Put me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm; For love is as strong as death, jealousy is as severe and cruel as Sheol ( the place of the dead) it flashes are flashes of fire, ( a most vehement flame, the very flame of the Lord)! Song of Solomon 8 v 6 Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords has signed and sealed us who believe in Him. We are His signet rings, the ring of authority used by rulers of old to stamp a decision or decree. Once it is sealed or signed, it is irrevocable, unbreakable. God’s agape love has caused this to happen. The power of His love is released in us and through us to break the power of death. His love is jealous, implying that when we spend hours with others and on other matters of our work or private lives but rush through mere minutes with Him, we are offending Him, hurting Him. On the contrary, we please Him when we spend hours in prayer, fellowship, worship, meditation. He will adorn us on His fingers as a signet ring. Our hearts desires or wishes, our prayers will be like His command. God is compassionate in His love but He is also a consuming fire. He requires of us what is rightly and justly His- our hearts. He needs our wholehearted allegiance as a King, commitment as His lover, not our treasures, not our possessions, not our abilities. When we withhold these from Him, we provoke Him to passion, to “jealousy”. It will burn like a fire, an inexhaustible flame till His will is done for He is sovereign. He has written our names on His nail-pierced palms, our image or selfies are on His heart. Do we offend His sensibilities and sensitivities with just a backward glance or ignore Him when we should be focusing on His eternal beauty, His enduring goodness, His multidimensional incomprehensible infinite love. We need to inscribe our vision of Jesus on our hearts. Our hearts once sealed cannot be wooed and won by the deceiver, the enemy. He uses not melted wax but His shed blood to seal us and all who are ours, all that is ours. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is a witness within whether we just go through the motions of outward religion, light joss sticks to His picture or whether we treasure the living Saviour in our hearts, whether we value His blessings over the One who has so blessed us. When we are so blessed by Him, it will provoke the jealousy or envy of even our brothers as did Joseph's anointing from childhood provoked his eleven brothers to shoot arrows at him. But the Lord who loves us with more power than inexorable death, more passion than consuming fire, will shield us from every flaming arrow of the enemy. Even as He distinguishes us in His love, He extinguishes the scorching flame of evil triggered by jealousy.

Our Reliance on the Quiet Spring

UV 3629/1000 Our Reliance on the Quiet Spring Because these people (Judah) have refused the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoice in Rezin ( the king of Aram) and Remaliah’s son (Pekiah the king of Israel), Isaiah 8 v 6 We are like the people of Judah (Praise) for we are a people formed to praise God, to trust in Him and His word as the people of Jerusalem relied on the perennial spring of Shiloam for sustenance. We rely on the Lord for our protection and our sustenance. We do not rely on human networks or relationships, on the arm of flesh for our strength or our provision. We trust in the promises of the Lord. We do not rely on the world and worldly prowess. The prophet Isaiah compares the tendency of people to shift their allegiance and reliance to the “mighty Euphrates” and hence, they would be allowed to be carried away by the overflowing waters of the river of history. Those who take counsel together against us will come to nothing. We are not to fear them but we should fear the Lord and not what man can do to us. Jesus will become to those who believe a rock of foundation and strength to those who believe and a stumbling stone to those who reject Him. He is our dawn, our Morning Star, our hope of another day. He is a sanctuary, a cornerstone, an indestructible shelter for all who choose to hide in Him. He will never hide Himself like the sun behind clouds. He is the eternal spring of Shiloam as well as the Rock of ages as He alone conquered or overcame death after surrendering meekly to it. He is the only One who overcame the twin eternal challenges of humanity before which all humanity bowed- sin and death and its accompanying emotions of shame and sorrow. He manifested Himself not as mighty river like the Euphrates but as a quietly flowing spring that never dries up, that quenches our thirst for eternal life. We wait for the Lord even when He is not seen. We will persist in looking eagerly for Him. The children ( spiritual or natural) God has given us and we, ourselves are signs and wonders that the Lord of hosts performs in the commonwealth of Israel, nations united in faith upon the name of Jesus. We dwell with Jesus on Mount Zion, a place of strength, a place of victory, a place of peace, a place of eternal rest.

The Rock of Ages

UV 3628/10000 The Rock of Ages For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies themselves judge this. Deuteronomy 32 v 31 Rock is a symbol of strength and stability. Different people choose different rocks or sources of strength. It constitutes the fulcrum of support of their lives. But in our case, the Rock has chosen us and not the other way around. He is the Rock that is much higher than us. Even our enemies, those who oppose us know that He is different and formidable. Our faith in Jesus is our force multiplier. With such faith, we can put a thousand to flight. Two believers united in prayer can put ten thousand to flight. Nothing can shake us and our faith while all else can be shaken. The Lord Himself is our source of strength, comfort, healing, deliverance, protection. He is unchanging like a rock and consistent in keeping His promises to us. We can depend on Him to defend us in every situation and circumstance of life. He can melt the foundations of the mountains or strongholds of our adversaries. Yet He upholds us with His might right arm. Our sense of security and contentment is fixed and focussed on the Lord. He is the locus or center of our lives. Everything we think, speak and do rotates around Him. We are like satellites held in place by His gravitational force. We can choose to rotate around Him in near orbit or in perihelion or the distant orbit. In fact, He is the only one we do not have to maintain social distance but the more intimate we are with Him, the better off we are. The song says it all, “ You are my Rock – all else is sinking sand.” His love and commitment to us is constant and stable. His mercy and faithfulness to us is unchanging and manifests itself in a variety of ways in our everyday lives. Nothing being permanent in our lives, we should pitch the tent of our lives on the Rock of Jesus. The rocks or sources of strength of others will give them up easily but not so, Jesus. No one can deliver from His hand but He can deliver us from anyone’s hand.

The Secret of Strength

UV 3627/10000 The Secret of Strength For our fathers did not possess the land of Canaan by their own sword nor did their own arm save them, but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, because You favoured and delighted in them. Psalm 44 v 3 We have not succeeded in life on account of our own actions or strength or ability or hard work. We have been victorious as the Lord flashed His light upon us. He used His sword to sharpen us and to put our enemies to shame. He has ransomed us for the sake of His great love through Jesus, His Son. He has freed us. He commands victory and deliverance for us. He tramples those who rise against us like a raging bull. With one hand, He uproots and with the other, He plants. With one hand, He lifts up and the other He lowers, with one hand, He blesses, with the other He afflicts. With one hand, He tears down that which needs to be torn down and with the other He builds. With one hand, He creates, with the other He destroys. With one hand, He heals, with the other He afflicts. His word like His sword is double edged. We do not rely on our weapons or horses or chariots. We rely on the God of Israel who sees our every struggle and delivers us. We respond to the great love and grace of our Lord by continually boasting of what He has done in our lives. None of it is an empty boast but testimony or evidence of what He has actually done in our lives, the things we have seen, heard and experienced in our lives. We also remember what He has done in the lives of our fathers and fathers of faith and give thanks to the Lord. He has led us to a filling and an overflowing. He is the One who lifts our heads and satisfies us with the greatness and goodness of His agape love. He uproots the ones who oppose us without reason or tyrannises us without justification. His presence is both an overpowering light and a soothing shadow, a comforting joy. We do not rely on an arm of flesh or a sword of steel to defend us. We depend on the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, the One who left heaven for earth to save, defend and restore us from the hands of the enemy. Having come so far to save us, he gives us unflinching, unstinted support in all our endeavours. We who believe do all things in His name for His glory and by His grace. Hence, we have no reason to boast of our own strength or power or wisdom.

The Spoils of War

UV 3626/10000 The Spoils of War Asa called out to the Lord his God, saying, “O Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and the weak; so help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in and rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude O Lord, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” 2 Chronicles 14 v 11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of God. He did not compromise with man but rather, He trusted the promise of God fully. He commanded his people to seek the Lord wholeheartedly, obey Him fully, and to observe the law given through Moses. God gave him peace on all sides. When an enemy rose against him with a massive army from Ethipia, he cried out to the Lord with this uni-verse. He knew that God alone could help him against such a formidable foe. His army was outnumbered by almost half. He knew that God helps the weak against the powerful. He pleaded that man should not prevail against God. The Lord heard the cry of Asa and struck the army of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian army fled and was routed. If we do not flout the law of God, He will rout our enemies. There is no other route to victory for us. We need to seek the Lord like Asa all our lives with all our hearts and minds and strength. This is equal to loving Him with all our being- the first commandment which if we seek, the Lord will add all things to us. It needs to be ingrained and integrated in our daily schedules to seek the Lord as a vital daily necessity, not an occasional luxury. Asa and his army benefitted from the large spoils of the defeated Ethiopian army. The enemy likewise tries to spoil our plan but the Lord will foil it and give him into our hands as our spoil or reward. The Lord is with us if we are with Him. If we leave Him, He will also leave and forsake us as the lessons of biblical history show. We should be strong and not lose courage, hope, faith. The Lord will surely reward our work of faith.