Endure!

Endure!

“Blessed (happy, to be envied) is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor's] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.” James 1:12 AMPC

The way God deals with His own differs from person to person, but one truth that we can all hold on to is the fact that there is an earthly and an eternal dimension to whatever God allows. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, was writing to the twelve tribes scattered abroad among the Gentiles. How had this happened? How did God's people find themselves in strange lands, even though they were Christians? Who says God calls us to earthly comfort alone, with no view of eternity? He will make us relevant here on earth, but He will also preserve us for eternity. This is the full package of the call of God on a man's life. Am I His own? Is He my God?

For all who are called by God, know that trials and tough times are built into the fabric of our development and growth. It is by resistance that the skill of a captain is proven. It is by pressure that the skill of a sportsman is proven. How do I claim I can endure if there has never been anything that can test that statement? The natural man finds the path of least resistance; the spiritual man craves the pressure, because he knows that this is God's way of preparing His own for the heights ahead. God does not push us out to face the tough times on our own; like the pharmacist that He is, everything is calibrated to bring out the best in us, so that we can be whole at the end.

That is why the verse above calls all who submit to God's process 'blessed'. Only God speaks this way. Jesus went to the cross, and now He has obtained eternal life for all who come to Him. In the same way, for all who endure the tough times, there is an eternal reward in view. If the promise is a crown of life, this tells me that nothing escapes the attention of the One who will reward accordingly. He is not a God who can be deceived; He knows my heart, and He can determine its sincerity. Seek God's approval, not man's validation. He is the One who can help us stand. Submit to His process; earn His life. God's time of favour is here. 

No Fear!

No Fear!

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

Isaiah 41:10 KJV

The source of the information determines the potential for impact. Man can make promises but there is always the divine will of God that will determine whether that promise can be fulfilled. As we read the chapter from where the verse above is taken, we encounter the One who has authority to change destinies an impose His will on all He has created. He is the One who sets up a king to defeat and destroy other kings. He is the One who gives victory to a king over other territories that he ordinarily would not dare enter. When He calls, who can ignore Him? When He directs, who can resist Him? When He commands, the devil has no choice but to obey. 

The One we speak about here has introduced Himself to us in this manner: “Who has done such mighty deeds, summoning each new generation from the beginning of time? It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last. I alone am he."  Reflect on this: when you consider who this God is, all that He has made, and all the amazing things you see Him do, how do all these things prompt you to respond? Is it out of fear or a sense of awe? Would knowledge of God push me to hold Him in awe or avoid Him out of fear? He is the One who raised a king to destroy stronger kings. Other nations saw this, and rather than seek this God, they went after idols. Who do you seek? Why do you seek Him?

For the nations that sought after idols, we all know how they ended. Even when Israel as a nation forsook God and went after false gods, we know how God punished the nation. God has a message for all of us here: He does not take rebellion lightly, but be sure that He will support, sustain and strengthen the one who holds on to Him. Abraham was the man who walked with God by faith, and we see the results of that personal walk in the life of a whole nation till today. God does not force Himself on anyone, and He will not go against the exercise of my freewill, but be sure that He will show up when a man's heart is fully committed to Him. Where is your heart focused on? 

The message in the verse above is for those who are fixed on God. There is no other fear for those who have made God their fear. The Lord is with them that fear Him. His presence is all I need. When He is with me, I need no one else. He will raise men that will help me. He will provide resources for the assignment He has given. He will help me go farther, run faster, walk closer and serve better than I could in my own strength or wisdom. We see this in the lives of the people of Israel. It is the same God still; His rules of engagement have not changed. Is He my sole strength, or am I seeking alternatives? Does He hold all? God's time of favour is here. 

Roll It!

Roll It!

“Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.” Proverbs 16:3 AMPC

At the heart of the verse above lies a very important truth: God wants to be involved in every area of my life. There is nothing like a 'no-go' area for God, if I want my life to have meaningful impact. He made me, formed me, gifted me, planted me, and also surrounded me with resources and people that will help me in the journey of impact and relevance, and also prepare me for eternal life with Him. It is also good to look at the life of the man who wrote these words: Solomon the son of David, the greatest king by Israel's records. David may not always have made the right choices when it came to women, but it is instructive to note the impact he had on this young man.

How does a young man seek God if there is no one to show Him the way? How does a young man know the right steps to take if there is no right example to emulate? David did his best to show Solomon what trust in God looks like, and the early years of Solomon indeed showed that he learnt a lot from his father. Picture David telling Solomon about the lion and the bear, as well as Goliath. For me, the lesson is obvious: what are the examples I am presenting for the children that God has given me? What Godly teaching am I modeling? Does my own personal life show that I trust God, even before I dare to tell another person to also trust God? 

From that background, and considering what Solomon asked God for, we now know the value of a life that trusts God completely. This was a man who was given a blank cheque to ask God for anything, even to the lives of his enemies, and all he asked for was wisdom. We know how his life panned out; we read of the many people who came from the ends of the earth to hear him speak. We know the wealth that he amassed, that till today, there is still no one who can match up to his daily spending. However, we also know how the end of his life went; we read of the many wives and concubines he had, who then turned his heart away from the God who had helped him thus far. 

His story makes the lessons in the verse above even clearer: there is nothing I can do outside of God. His breath is in me, so I am empowered to live like Him. I have His power and authority to plan and execute lofty ideas, but I must make sure to check on Him all the way from planning to execution. I do not have the slightest idea what the next minute brings; I need the help of the One who actually created the days and knows what each one has in store. It cannot be some; it has to be all. As we know, if He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all. If He is in charge, my heart knows to seek Him before I set out. Roll it all on Him; let go of the controls. Let God lead every step of the way as we work and plan well. God's time of favour is here.

Committed!

Committed!

“And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: ” Ruth 1:16 KJV

This is the story of one of the most painful experiences of a Jew recorded in the bible. Here was a man and wife, with two sons, in a famine in their own land. As all men do when there is inconvenience, you seek alternative accommodation. This man took his family out of Bethlehem into the land of Moab. It must be said that Moabites at the time were under strict instructions not to be allowed to enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to their tenth generation. This was a land that had opposed Israel as it journeyed through the wilderness, and had hired Balaam to curse the people of Israel. This was the dilemma that this family had to navigate. It was easy going in, but then marriage occurred. How would these boys bring back these Moabite women without offending God's instructions?

Unfortunately, as the events lay out, the man who took the decision to leave Bethlehem never returned. He, along with his two sons, died in the land of Moab. We do not know what led to their deaths, but this is where the story gets personal: the wife had to return to Bethlehem empty. In her own words, she left full but was returning empty. She left as Naomi which meant pleasantness, and was returning as Mara, which meant bitterness. What was not clear to her was what God was working out in the background, starting with the people that would normally not be allowed to enter into the camp of God's people. Life will happen to the best of us; this mortal body is bound to decay, and must give way to the immortal body that God has prepared for us.

As we prepare for the eternal, what decisions and actions do we need to take today? Ruth may not have known about God’s instructions about her race, but she had seen something in the woman Naomi. She must have watched her lifestyle choices and seen her serve the God of Israel, even in a foreign land. Is my service to God situational or circumstantial? Am I waiting for good weather before I commit to a life of devotion to God? Am I a child of God only when eyes are on me? Am I only in it for what I can get out of it? Naomi was in Moab due to circumstances beyond her control, but she did not let the hostile environment define her commitment. Her life was the example that helped Ruth take a step that led to the eternal dynasty that she became a part of.

The time came for hard decisions. Orpah and Ruth were from Moab; they did not have children for Naomi's sons. There was nothing tying them down. Ruth had seen something that she wanted to be a part of, and she said the immortal words of today's extract. She was not going to be deterred. Her fellow Moabitess had left and gone back to her gods; Ruth had come to know the God of Israel and nothing was going to make her turn back. As I have come to know this God, is there anything in all of creation that is strong enough to distract me? This story reminds me of the power of God's covenant; it is by faith alone. Birth is nice, but knowing and following God is critical. Do you know this God? Does He know you as His own? Can He command total allegiance from me? God's time of favour is here. 

Owned!

Owned!

“THE EARTH is the Lord's, and the fullness of it, the world and they who dwell in it.” Psalm 24:1 AMPC

“If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are Mine.” Psalm 50:12 AMPC

Which account of creation do you believe is true? Depending on which sources you do your research on, there are a number of theories in circulation. The Big Bang Theory explains that the universe expanded rapidly from an extremely hot, dense singularity about 13.8 billion years ago, eventually forming atoms, stars, and galaxies. There is also the Abiogenesis and Biological Evolution theory, which explains that life arose from non-living organic compounds roughly 3.8 billion years ago, and that all species diversified over time through natural selection and genetic change. You have to ask the main question: which one is it? Is it 13.8 billion or is it 3.8 billion years old?

And then, there is the Old Earth Creationism theory, which accepts deep geological time and the scientific consensus that the Earth is billions of years old, while still holding that a divine creator initiated or directed the process. In all of the above, did you note the thread that accepts that it is difficult to determine precisely how old the earth is? How do you use the recently created things to determine the age of something whose origin you do not even know? How can the created fully understand and explain the mind of the Creator, without the help, guidance and inspiration of the Creator? For me, how do I have a functional relationship with the Creator without following the rules of relationships that He has laid out?

This is the great dilemma of science: it needs to have an explanation for all it sees, but it needs to just accept that not all it sees can be understood in full on this side of eternity. The verses above are similar in their message: the earth is the Lord's. That is a statement of fact which has been backed up by evidence that science itself also supports. The Bible refers to God as the One who sits above the circle of the earth. Who told the men who wrote these words what shape the earth is? When you consider the predictable precision of seasons such as winter and summer, cold and heat, day and night, seedtime and harvest, you know that no man has the power over these things, except the One who made them, set them in place, and continues to sustain them to this day.

This statement of fact then needs a response from me. What would I do with this? Man has tried to replicate man; we have robots that can mimic all of man, except his soul? We have inventions that can explore all of creation but it still cannot replace the Creator. As the second verse above lays out, what can I give to this Creator that He does not first own? What would I claim to be the creator of, if I still take of that which He has first made? The verse says that even if God were hungry, He will not tell anyone, because none of us can give Him what He already owns. What else can we give Him, except our all? He truly deserves our all.  How do you respond? God's time of favour is here.

God's Reward!

God's Reward!

“For God is not unrighteous to forget or overlook your labor and the love which you have shown for His name's sake in ministering to the needs of the saints (His own consecrated people), as you still do.”

Hebrews 6:10 AMPC

God in His mercy knows how to help us grow in our knowledge and experience of Him. He does not place a burden of immediate full development upon salvation on us; He knows that there must be room for a progressive relationship with God, by which we come into a deeper walk with Him. The other side of this argument is that I cannot then use this as an excuse not to grow. God will play His part, but I must take advantage of all the opportunities for experiencing Him that He brings my way. He does not seek to force Himself on anyone, or go against the exercise of my freewill, but be sure that an accounting will be demanded from all to whom these resources have been made available. 

We do not know who the writer of the book of Hebrews is, but the message in the first few verses of the chapter from where the verse above is taken from is clear: we need to move past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ, and advance steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. The foundation holds up the building. If the foundation is faulty, the house will eventually fall. If I am only interested in the outward display and not the inner witness, it is just a matter of time before it all falls apart. Where am I standing? On who/what am I standing? Who/What is holding me up? 

What the above tells me is that I cannot afford to switch off, or to ever think I can make it on my own. God provides the help I need to stand, but I need to take hold of the help. Do not be deceived by the false sense of safety that the 'once saved, forever saved' theory seeks to lay down. The ideal is that salvation is a one-off experience, with growth in God and a deepening knowledge of Him the results that follow, but do not think that just folding your hands or sitting on them will keep you away from sin. There is a working out in fear and trembling that must follow salvation; not labour by muscle, but labour in total and absolute dependence on the strength that only Christ provides. 

It is these people that rely solely on God that the verse above is speaking to. When I labour in the strength that Christ provides, I am not seeking recognition or the praise of men; I am serving the One who saved me and calls me His own. As the verse above makes clear, the audience were people who were showing God's kind of love to people, in ministering to the needs of the saints and working to promote the principles and practices of God's kingdom. God is not man, who can be fooled by outward show. He sees my heart, and knows the motives behind whatever I do. He is the One who will reward accordingly. Work like someone who knows who you are really working for, and what the end looks like. God's time of favour is here. 

God's Love!

God's Love!

“It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].” 1 Corinthians 13:5 AMPC

The entire chapter from where the verse above is taken lays out the case for what love is and what it is not. You find out quite early in the chapter that it is not in the volume of the noise you make, or how hard you try to draw the attention of people to your efforts. In fact, as the same chapter so eloquently lays out, the display of what looks like spiritual gifts can be an empty show. Reflect on what this al means: even if I can speak in the tongues of men and angels, have prophetic powers, and able to move mountains, if these all are not done in the right way, and with the right mind, it is all on vain. How do I know if I am on the right track? 

One thing that God does is that He does not leave us in doubt as to what His standard is. You may argue about what is right, and the devil may suggest to you what the alternative is, but God always make His expectations clear from all who claim to follow Him. This letter by Paul and Sosthenes was addressed to the church of God in Corinth, and the letter was careful to note that it was addressed to those consecrated and purified and made holy in Christ Jesus, selected and called to be called God's people, and to all those in all places in the world who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know who you are? 

Do you know the kind of call that is placed on your life? It is good to have spiritual gifts, and the promise of God is that He will give freely to the body of Christ so that its members can profit and grow by the exercise of these gifts, but it is also equally important to ensure that what I have been graciously given by God is also used graciously to be a blessing to other people. The same way God has given me all of Himself is the same way I must also give of myself to other people. The same love that God has shown me, when He saved me from certain death is the same love that I am now required to show to others. The how is equally as important as the why. 

The how is what the verse above lays out: I do not do what I do out of a heart that is proud. I am not rude to others, simply because I think that I am special or better than the other person. I do not insist on my own way or my own rights; I can let go and allow God work in and through me, reaching and touching lives by my simple lifestyle. I do not keep records of wrongs done to me; there is no value in insisting on my own rights if God is able to defend me. If Jesus gave His life for me at a time when I did not even know I needed Him, there should be nothing too big to let go, if God will be glorified. Can what my life is currently producing be described as God's love? God's time of favour is here.