The Choice!

The Choice!

‭Luke 9:23 KJV‬

[23] And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 

Just before the verse above, we read of 2 very interesting accounts. The first had to do with the testimony of feeding over 5,000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes, and having 12 baskets of fragments left. This was a public event that were experienced by many people at the time. The second account had to do with the testimony of the disciples of Jesus about who He is. The disciples had been with Him for some time, and it was getting to the time when He would go the way of the cross. Peter, one of the 12, made that immortal statement, declaring that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of the Living God. This was a private event, where only the disciples were. So, we have 2 events, one public and one private, both testifying to the person, ministry and testimony of Jesus. No matter where I am now or what is happening to me right now, I have my public and private testimonies to sort out.

Indeed, with Jesus, there is no fence to sit on. The verse above makes that clear. There is a private testimony that will lead to a public declaration. Whether Jesus was addressing the disciples only, or there was a crowd present at the time, the message is clear: we all would have to decide who we will follow. This is a question that impacts eternity, and cannot be taken lightly. It is a personal decision, one that cannot be taken by proxy or on behalf of another person. You cannot sign away your decision by power of attorney. The verse above makes it clear that the offer is for ANYONE WHO WILL COME. The past is not as important as the future. The door is open to all to come in. It does not matter what the depth or spread of the stain is; nothing can withstand the power of the blood of Jesus, if the life is totally surrendered to Him. However, when the decision is made to come, you have to know what is demanded. You cannot afford to get halfway into the journey, and then turn back. 

It would be better not to have started, than to start and then look back. It is a daily walk that must be backed up by actions that align with the demands of that walk. I must deny myself, take up the cross, and follow Jesus. Self will always struggle for relevance, and it is only by total submission that self can be truly broken. It cannot be done by willpower alone; the power of the sinful nature has been in place long before I was born. Jesus is the only One who has conquered the power of sin, death and the grave, and that power is made free and available to ANYONE WHO WILL COME. There is a cross mentioned, which is a daily reminder of the disciplne and dedication required to follow Jesus. It is also noted that none of these steps is optional; if I will truly come after Jesus, I have to do all. God will not demand from me that which He has not first supplied grace for. If He says it is possible, it is by His grace. What is your decision? God's time of favour is here.

Treasure!

Treasure!

‭Matthew 6:19-21 NIV‬

[19] “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. [20] But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. [21] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The world has treasures, and it offers them to those who belong to it. The world also offers options on how to keep these treasures safe, because the same world offers options to those who would seek to take these treasures by force or by false pretences. That is the irony about the world: ready to offer you its precious possessions, but also ready to offer others around you the opportunity to deprive you of what it had given you. The people of the world would pursue after these things, sometimes at the expense of their lives, yet you cannot secure any of your possessions for all of eternity. They are only good for a time or season, and then, you either give them up to another whilst you are still alive, or you are eternally separated from them when death comes. It is this reality and understanding that must drive my attitude and response to the things that are around me. 

The verses above make clear what the right attitude must be. There is acknowledgement that we need provisions for the journey of life, and there are things that are required for every stage in life. However, the stage must first be set in my heart, because my life's pursuits and priorities will then flow from the foundations laid in my heart. If I consider the things of this world as precious, it will then lead me to pursue them with all my heart. If I know that they are necessary, but not to the point where I have to cheat, steal or kill to get them, that will also drive my dedication and focus as I run my race. My heart is therefore the battleground, where the focus must first be set, and then the pursuit can be properly defined. If the heart does not first sort out the priorities, I will keep running, pursuing an image of success that has not been clearly defined, yet unable to stop because I have not defined the limit.

I cannot divorce my heart from the things it holds dear. Unless the foundations of the focus changes, there is not much good that can be done about the heart. The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and it is no use trying to get this version of heart to focus on eternity unless you first change its makeup. That is why God says He has to give us a new heart, on which He can write and impress His will and purpose uopn. The old one won't allow Him work on it. The old heart will lay up treasure in line with its nature, and the heart that God has worked on will also lay up treasure in line with its nature. No matter how I try and argue the point, my present pursuits and priorities are a window into my eternal reality. I must surrender my heart to God so He can align it with His eternal purpose. That is the heart that is relevant both here on earth as well as prepared for eternity. Is yours ready? God's time of favour is here.

Free!

Free!

‭John 8:31-32 KJV‬

[31] Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; [32] and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

As always, Jesus had a message for the crowd as well as His disciples. There were demands placed on the crowd, and there were also expectations from disciples. It is quite critical that I know where I stand and who I am. Am I one of the numbers in the crowd, or have I surrendered my life to Jesus? What makes this classification critical is how one can miss it, while being caught up in doing 'important' work. I can get quite hung up on being a blessing to others that I forget to ask if I have the right contents in the first place. Men can applaud anything that excites them or which they do not understand, but at the end of it all, the One who is the Truth will judge. This is one God you cannot deceive with hypocrisy or eye-service; He sees the hidden motives of the heart, and His dealings are according to His Truth, not popular opinion or by human applause.

You find that in the verses above, some of the Jews crossed over from the crowd and are recorded as believing ON Him. They did not just stay at the level of hearing from or reading about Him; they came to believe on Him. That is the bridge that anyone who would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus must cross. That is a decision anyone who would enjoy the riches of God's grace must make. It cannot be done by proxy, or on behalf of anyone else. There will be many opportunities to hear or read about God. The Internet has made it easy to access resources and the Bible is now an app with different versions and languages. With the depth of information available, the Holy Spirit is a prayer away, who can explain the deep mysteries of the Word of God and bring us to the place where God intends. Do not stay with the crowd; do not get lost in the number. 

God wants to make a change in you, but He can only do so when you surrender to Him of your own volition. He does not and will not force Himself on me, or go against the exercise of my freewill. Worldly information is nice, and will be of use in navigating this phase of earth, but there is a limit to what worldly information can help you achieve. For the journey of eternity, you need information and materials that are also eternal, and that is where the Truth of Jesus can help. All men are born as slaves to sin, and no amount of influence, connections, wealth or grammar can save, except by the blood of Jesus. When a man comes in contact with, and surrenders to Jesus, the yoke of sin is broken, and the man is set free to worship and serve God. Do not settle for the false versions the world sells as freedom; no man can give you what He does not own. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. In Him, you have all you need. God's time of favour is here.

Balanced!

Balanced!

‭James 1:27 AMP‬

[27] Pure and unblemished religion [as it is expressed in outward acts] in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit and look after the fatherless and the widows in their distress, and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the [secular] world.

As always, it is important to determine the audience that the words of the verse above is addressed to. In the very first verse of the book of James, we read this: "James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" and "To the twelve [Hebrew] tribes [scattered abroad among the Gentiles] in the dispersion". The very first lesson to learn here is that the Christian faith calls for sacrifice, and will expose you to tough times. If what you are looking for is earthly comfort only, and not heavenly preparation, then, maybe this message is not yet ripe for you. We do not know if this James, the writer, was one of the twelve disciples, but we know that he was one who was willing to suffer for the sake of Christ and the gospel. A reference to James in the book of Acts reveals one who was one of the leaders of the apostles, who inspired the letter to the Gentiles to encourage them in the faith. It was yet James that Herod took and then beheaded. Who says serving God comes with no pressure?

As much as we would want to enjoy the blessing and benefits of the faith, there are burdens placed on us. The people who James was writing to were Jews who had found themselves in different nations due to severe persecution and oppression. If you also recall, it was the death of Stephen that led to the first dispersion of the believers from Jerusalem, leading many into Gentile towns and the gospel being preached to people such as the Ethiopian eunuch, and even Saul the leader of the riot became one of the leaders of the church, because he had an encounter with the Lord. Can I get so comfortable in my own space that I forget that lives are perishing on a daily basis? Can I get so focused on doing my own thing that I forget that there is not much time left? Like James the writer, and like the Jews in the dispersion, I must note that the call of God upon my life will lead me to the purpose of God for my life. There are no guarantees that there would not be hard times, or occasions when I have to undergo persecution, but I have the assurance that as long as I am connected to God, I can never run out of supply. 

That understanding then drives the verse above. I know who I am, and I know what I am expected to do. I do not compare myself with anyone else, and I just focus on the assignment I have been given. The verse above makes clear the connection between my public and my private lives, and both have to align. Men will see the outward, and may applaud the impact of the outward, but I must not let that distract me from the demands on my inward. In these days of hypocrisy and eye-service, one has to be careful of acts of service that are not backed up by a heart that is totally yielded to God. I must not focus just on what men can see, but I must give careful thought to that which God demands of me. It is inner confession that drives outward profession. Let it not be that all I have is the applause of men, nice as it may sound, and nothing about the applause or approval of heaven. Without God, all I do is a show for the audience of men. Men may reward, and of course, men will thank God for my acts of service, but if heaven has no record of your submission, or your commitment to holiness and righteousness, there can be no eternal reward. The balance is key. God's time of favour is here.

Liberty!

Liberty!

‭2 Corinthians 3:17 AMPC‬

[17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). [Isa. 61:1, 2.]

Paul was writing to the church in Corinth, and there may have been some people who were insisting on righteousness by the law of Moses, and not so much on the righteousness that came by the blood of Jesus. It has to be again reiterated that no man can please God the right way simply by living according to the law of Moses. The law was given until such a time when Christ would be fully manifested, and the law came with such a glory that would have been quite captivating, if not that we have now seen a far greater glory. When Moses went up the Mount Sinai to receive the stone tablets, he was in the presence of God for a long time, and when he came down, his face was reflecting the fact that he had been with God. That was for a law that didn't really bring the kind of life Christ intended. If the old law had this much glory, imagine the greater glory at work in those who are subject to the law of Christ. 

Moses did his best to preserve the glory. He would put a veil over his face when he came to speak to the people, because they could not bear to look at his face. They were content sending Moses in to hear from God, and then come and tell them what God wanted. God actually wanted to speak to them directly, but the demand of holiness and purity, which is a requirement for approaching God's throne, was a bit too much for the people of Israel. As it was then, so is it now. Men are still looking for others who will approach God on their behalf and then come and tell them what they should do. It is not a wonder, then, that men have been deceived by other me with ulterior motives and evil agendas, who will twist God's truth in order to make quick profit. As we now know, the experience of Moses on the mountain did not spare him from punishment when he disobeyed God due to anger. 

God is still looking for men and women who would approach His throne the right way, and take hold of the resources and blessings that are available in Christ. The glory of the law of Moses cannot be compared in any way with the glory that has been revealed in and through Christ. A veil will always be in place when the focus is on the law of Moses, because it is not the complete reflection of the life that has been made available in and through Christ. Only when a man turns to the Lord can the veil be truly taken away. In Christ, the fullness of God's will is made known. Man receives the enablement to align with all of God's laws, because you are no longer fighting by your power to get it right. You now have the Holy Spirit, God's presence and power, living inside of you. There is no more bondage to sin, but a freedom that runs through the earthly into the eternal. Do you have Him? God's time of favour is here.

Seeing Right!

Seeing Right!

‭2 Corinthians 4:18 AMPC‬

[18] Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.

What you see determines what you get. A man is either limited or set free by what he sees. There is actually a hidden power behind what you see, and that is how you choose to interpret or apply what you see. Different people will look at the same situation and come to different conclusions. Different people will come into a place of worship and service, and leave with distinct and diverse experiences. It means that there is a hidden, private process that is linked to what I see, and which will impact my earthly and eternal phases of life. It is not a good defence to say that 'I do not have a choice on what I see or what I hear.' The consequences that are tied to what I allow into my life are too great to be left without some careful consideration and deliberate application. 

I have to live on the earthly plane, so there are things I have to process with my physical senses. However, because I am also a spiritual being, with an eternal destination in view, I must prepare the right way for my eternal destination. Even when things around me look confusing, I am not focused so much on the physical reality, than on what God would have me know by the things I can see. I am not ignoring the physical, but I am trusting God to help me see what He is actually doing in and on me. Men may see and interpret the physical as they please, but because I am a child of God, and subject to His leading, guidance and control, I know that there is a work that is going on inside me, which will manifest in the process of time. It is not always easy, because the physical can atimes be overwhelming, but I keep my gaze on the One who says that He is always with me. 

That is what the focus has to be. If I fix my gaze on the storms or the wind, at some point, they will look so big. I have to keep my gaze on the One who can hold me through the fierce storms, and still land me safe on the other side. The things I am seeing now, in terms of physical experiences, are all for a season. The best this life has to offer may be 130 years on earth, but there is an end to all we see down here. In fact, God promises a new heaven and a new earth, so what is there on this earth that can be an effective substitute for that which is eternal? What can I hold now that is sufficient consolation if I miss eternity? That is why I focus on the eternal, even whilst living out the physical. I must remember that this earthly phase is at best temporary, along with all it offers. I must make sure I have secured the life that has no end, because that is what really matters. Have you secured the eternal? God's time of favour is here. 

The Right Model!

The Right Model!

‭‭Matthew 20:26-28 TPT‬‬

[26] But this is not your calling. You will lead by a completely different model. The greatest one among you will live as the one who is called to serve others, [27] because the greatest honor and authority is reserved for the one with the heart of a servant. [28] For even the Son of Man did not come expecting to be served but to serve and give his life in exchange for the salvation of many.”

All who have given their lives to Jesus for safe keeping have been called to a different standard. The expectations of God for a life under His control are different from those who are still in charge of their own lives. The world only understands the language of superiority and domination, and that is why it is will be difficult for those who are under the control and influence of the world to submit to the authority and direction of Jesus. The standards are different; the expectations and demands are different. The context from which the verses above is taken makes it even harder to clarify, because it was the mother of two of the disciples of Jesus who came seeking the best for her sons. She assumed that the kingdom Jesus had come to establish was one that men could strive for by connections, influence or compulsion. Mum wanted to get the best of the kingdom for her sons, even though she did not know what the principles of that kingdom was. 

As it was then, so is it now. Men are seeking for clarity for their lives, but they are listening to the wrong source for information and guidance on what to do. The world tells men that the way to the top is to lie, cheat, steal and kill, and there are a lot of examples of men who had gone down that route and have succeeded in creating the image of success. Unfortunately, when these men speak, people listen, and think that this is the right path because of the visible signs of prosperity that they can see. God works by different standards, and the path to His own version of greatness and impact lies in humility and service out of a heart that is fully submitted to Him. The world does not know how to serve without the promise of a reward or a benefit to acquire. God calls me to serve, first out a heart that appreciates what God has done for it, and is grateful to spend the life in daily appreciation of all that God has done. 

The standard of God is that the greatest will be the one who lives to serve others. It does not look like what the world can do, but the standard is not set by the world, but by the Word of God. It is only by God's standard that humility comes before the greatest honor. It is also only by God's standard that true authority is reserved for the one with the heart of a servant. It is difficult to explain to a man whose heart is distracted by the world's offerings to serve others with a humble heart. Jesus laid down the perfect example, and He calls all who will follow Him to the same standards. He has given His life as a ransom for all men, and there will be no excuse for not taking up the offer. He is not asking for money; He is asking me to give Him my life, so He can flow in and through it to touch the lives of men around me. Is my heart fully submitted? God's time of favour is here.