Even Adversity Favours Us in Christ!

Job 2
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

It’s popular among Charismatics who love to cherry pick their scripture, to believe that adversity shows a lack to faith because according to these, faith in God is a Shangri-La where no sorrow is allowed to touch them. We however understand from Phil1:29, that we who have received Jesus as Lord over our lives, are given to strive for His righteousness in this world, to this extent is righteous suffering on our part, that it showcases our devotion unto Him in Spirit and truth (Jn4:24), which He is absolutely worthy of (Rev5:9-14). The lives of the Godly thereby exhibits how we live for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rom 14
7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself;
8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

If we look at Gen32:28 & Mat16:18, we know the Angel of Lord is the Old Testament Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is known to swear by His own name (Gen22:10-17) because He is God and bring things to pass by His own power (Gen22:17-18). What’s most interesting is God’s promise to the children of Abraham in Gen22:17 is “…and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies” while in Mat16:18 Jesus’ promise to those who believe in Him is “…and the gates of Hades will not overpower His Church.” This truth is so essential to the Christian faith that it is echoed again by Paul in Gal3:16 because Jesus is the victory God promised us from sin. In Him is God’s Salvation and victory over our enemies and even death (1Cor15:54-57). From the above we also realize that the Church did not begin with Pentecost, as many are given to believe but the Church began with Adam because the promise of Christ redeeming His people is sited in Gen3:15 when God righteously judges Adam and Eve for their disobedience.

Hebrews 12
3 For consider Jesus who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;
5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

I’d like you to see Job2:9-10 which I mentioned in the beginning of this post in the light of Hebrews12:6-7 mentioned above. Unlike the Prosperity Gospel heretics whose doctrine emerges from the choicest picking of scripture while having no harmony with rest of the Bible, the Bible on the contrary, holistically teaches that there is such a thing as righteous suffering (1Pet3:13-16) because we who are His sheep are the New Testament Israel. Biblically, Israel is defined in Gen32:28 as those who strive with God and men and prevail. Now, this definition ought to be seen from the perspective of God’s unconditional sovereignty because in sanctifying His people, God subjects His Church to affliction from the world (as though it were a controlled environment – 1Cor10:13), while the redeeming power of Christ sustains us through these fiery trials. This is beautifully picturized in Dan3:8-28. Look at it as a silver smith who fans the fire in a furnace while holding the silver in a crucible, the silver from which the dross is to burned out (Job23:10).

Ps 119
73 Your hands made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.
74 May those who fear You see me and be glad, Because I wait for Your word.
75 I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

Take a look at the above scripture. In the context Jn 1:18 & 14:13-15 we see verses 73-74 above offers us a lot of spiritual meat because Prov9:19 teaches us that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom unto an understanding of His commandments (Moral Law). For you see, who David waited on in his moments of trial was Jesus Christ (Jn1:1), in whom God and His Salvation is revealed to all mankind. So to what effect is the Moral Law you may ask! Well, the question is what would you cling to when you are tried by the Lord our God. Would you hold to God & His righteous in the midst of trial as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did in Dan3:16-18 or as Paul did so in prison by writing joyous letter to the Churches (Plmn1:1,7). The Lord Jesus teaches us in Mat22:36-40 that the Moral Law requires you to love the Lord your God first and above all things even yourself and next to love and be concerned about those around you as you are about yourself. This sums up the Ten Commandments for us. So the question is would we hold to Jesus’ Commandments (the Moral Law → 2Jn1:5) in the midst of trial?

John 8
31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

John 15
16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

Well, unlike the humanist approach to Christianity, which discounts the Sovereign will of God for the free will of men as though they were mutually exclusive, the Bible teaches us that Salvation is 100% by the power of God because you see the living Spirit granted us (Ezek36:26-27/Jn3:3,16), is by the merit of Christ who overcomes our hostility and damn indifference towards God and propitiates our sinful nature unto the righteousness of God (Rom3:9-26). It is He, who has begun this work of Salvation is us (who truly belong to Him – Jn10:14,26) and it is He who shall bring it to completion (Phil1:6).

Rom 8
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

To conclude, while the world excuses its unbelief with the suffering present in the world, most of which is its own handiwork, the godly are given not to complain through the wilderness but to pray and ask God to see life from the perspective to faith and not sight (2Cor5:7) because we are not living to serve ourselves but God (Jn12:24-26). The world is filled with people living for themselves and this is where they err because the truth is only God is God and so unlike sin which we propagate in serving nothing more than ourselves, the righteousness of God on the contrary transcends all, in bringing creation to serve God, who righteously serves Himself in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Col1:16-20).

​Will God’s Love be their excuse for Sin?

Mat 25
24 “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.
25 ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’
26 “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.

The above scripture is taken from the Parable of Talents and God here is compared to a hard man who deals severely with those who are wicked. Today, people have this notion of God’s love as though it licences you to live the way you please. Though we may have scripture like Rom5:8 which says to this effect that: God demonstrates His love for us that while we were still sinners Christ died for us; it does not in any way imply that God loves unbelievers in their wickedness. To convey the transforming power of God’s love I would like you to picture this: you and me are lepers/beggars sitting on the street among other lepers/beggars, this philanthropist approaches us, washes us, treats and shelters us until we are able to find our feet. Now, how far does this contrast with passers-by who just throw you a rupee or two just to escape that guilt they experience from their unwillingness to step out of their comfort zone and help in a manner that makes a difference. By this, I am in no way implying that the godly are obligated to take every beggar on the street to their house, clean them up and care for them because each person has a different calling in the overall development of the body of Christ, which is His Church. What I am alluding to, is the propitiating power in the love of Jesus (1Jn4:10), which siphons people from spiritual depravity in fallen Adam and joins them to the family of God, which is His Church… making them able bodied men and women of God with a spiritual capacity to think and act according to God’s good pleasure. As much as people who pass a beggar a rupee or two, don’t really care for them, I must say that you are only fooling yourself if you believe God expresses his love to you by letting you remain as you are (Rom9:13-15).

Rom 6
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

We ought to understand that there are three aspects of Biblical Law: Ceremonial Law, Moral Law and Civil Law. Rom6:15 is speaking in the light of 1Tim1:9, that the reason we abstain from wickedness is because we are a new creation in Christ (2Cor5:17) brought to delight is in God in thought and deed (Ps37:4/Jn15:5), our abstinence from wickedness does not come from the fear of being caught and punished by the State (1Pet3:17), which is given to act from the Civil Law. Yes, Jesus ate with sinners but these were sinners who welcomed Him and acknowledged their shortcomings through repentance before Him (Rom3:23-24) and if you know the Jesus of the Bible, He was not out to sweet-talk society but He welcomed these who repented in the midst of His fellowship for all to see (Mat21:32/Jn3:26-30). If you were to take a look at Prov26:12 & Mark2:17 you will get the drift of who is welcome in Jesus’ fellowship and who is not.

Luke 19
3 Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature.
4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.
5 When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
6 And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly.
7 When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
8 Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”
9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.

Today, we have people who are scared to speak out against the world and they will not admit their fear but excuse themselves saying God loves everybody. However, this doesn’t indicate their love for God but only their unbelief because what is more prominent in their sight is their setback with society as over the fear of God (Mat10:28). The world is filled with such hypocrites that with the same mouth they deter Christians from speaking out on socials evils like idolatry, abortion, the #lgbt, euthanasia and against capital punishment, all from their self-righteousness; and then with the same mouth they manage to question what God is doing, when they see a rise in the rate of crime but why talk when you don’t listen and if you think you know better, own up then to everything you do. Unlike hypocrites who are given to make the most convenient statements in that moment of time, emerging from nothing but their vacillating emotions, the true Christian on the other hand is given to judge based on the very code he/she himself/herself lives by (Mat7:2). This is called preaching what you practice or walk the talk.

1 John 2
4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

1 John 3
4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

The antinomians use the pretext of preaching the grace and love of God to excuse standing firm for the righteousness of God in society, and they hate it when genuinely concerned Christians admonish them using scripture. To defend themselves they quote Mat7:1… “Do not judge so that you will not be judged”. However, this warning is not given by God to His sheep but to those hypocrites, those stubborn goats who unrighteously find fault with His sheep and use the Word of God, not for God’s glory but for their own vested interest. If you were to look at the very crux of the Moral Law in Mat22, you would come to realize that Love is as God (1Jn4:16), whose saving knowledge is revealed to us in Jesus Christ (Jn1:18/1Tim2:3-4), that we may be adequately equipped for every good work (1Tim3:16-17). The world in their broken communion with God, has no clear definition of love because they can only know/relate with things from the perspective of how it serves themselves, not God. So to these, love turns out to be the means of serving their own lusts and from this ungodly mindset, broken homes and single mothers become a cultural norm because to these who are a law unto themselves, love is nothing more than a vacillating feeling that is here today and gone tomorrow. For the Godly however, love is duty and by this I do not mean devoid of emotion but grounded in the joy of the Lord, which is its strength (Neh8:10) and personally I must say, there is true joy to your hearts content to be found in diligently seeking and exercising the Moral Law of God.

Ps 119
97 O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.

Mat 22
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And Jesus said to him, ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.
39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

To conclude, God hates sin and loves the sinner is nowhere in Bible. God loves Himself and He is right in doing so because He is God. It is from this love He has for Himself that He made man in His image… for His own glory. The fall of Adam, granted men a righteousness of their own, separate from God but a man who serves nothing more than himself spews nothing but evil through the course of his life because man is not God. The truth however is in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who added to Himself the complete nature of man but without sin and presented Himself to be that substitutionary sacrifice and atonement for all sin, that man would be restored to God from the fall of Adam. To the world love is blind but this is so because the world is blind to God, who is love and so also the world sees no purpose in love but to those who know God, love serves it purpose in Jesus Christ.

​Are God’s Saints of the Pope’s Making?

1Cor 1
2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you have been reading the news, you will know Pope Francis is going to be canonizing Mother Theresa on Sept 4th 2016. Now I have no trouble relating to Mother Theresa as a Saint but are Saints the making of the Pope? No! Saints are not even self-made but made and sanctified in Christ for the glory of God. I have noticed Roman Catholic priests love to site Mat 16:19 concerning the authority they are entrusted with, that what they bind on earth is bound in heaven and what they lose on earth is lost in heaven. However, this authority is undergirded by the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate is our Saviour and everything but is that so with Roman Catholicism? No! Roman Catholicism implicitly believes that God is not competent enough to handle the earth’s enormous affairs but needs the assistance of the Saints, which is why He makes them. With such a lofty view Roman Catholicism sees its saints while having such a small view of God but this is so simply because Biblical illiteracy is rampant among the majority here.

Ephesian 2
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

The Roman Catholic Clergy does nothing but leave the people spiritually distraught when they impersonalize the people’s relationship with Jesus, by running the Church like it were some massive conglomerate, where employees only know who their CEO is without ever getting to know him personally. If you would go through the internet, you’d learn Roman Catholicism has a massive list of patron saints whom you instructed to pray to depending on your particular situation. So, if you are in love you would pray to St. Valentine, if you are an addict you would pray to St. Maximillian Mary Kolbe, if you were desperate for hope you would pray to St. Jude and the list goes on. As ridiculous as this may sound, Roman Catholicism has used the saints to blaspheme the worship of God. Biblically however, Jesus is present with every believer in Spirit because God is Spirit (Jn4:24), He is Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent; God is God and I hope we can come to terms with what that means because it is by His might that His Saints changed their course of lifestyle from the fallen nature of Adam unto God’s own righteousness (Rom5:17/Phil4:13).

Psalm 139 (Right hand in verse 10 ascribes to Jesus)
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,”
12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.

All this about the Saints (beyond the grave) interceding for us because they are in a better standing with God is a load of nonsense because beyond the grave is a place of no return. Meaning, beyond the grave those who are heaven bound are set free from all the cares of the world and so they cannot hear prayers (Rev21:3-4). You may ask me then what about the stories about all these apparitions of Mary and the Saints? Well, I do believe that Mary is a Saint, the most blessed among women (Lk 1:28,42 & 11:27) but as much as Jesus has warned us about false Christ’s who will come and deceive the people with a different Gospel (Mat24:24), so too these apparitions are nothing but demonic deceptions because they have transpired things, which are contrary to what the Bible teaches.

Gal 1
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

2Cor 11
4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.
…
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

You may refer to saying the Rosary as a veneration but saying 10 hail Mary’s and 1 Our Father, says you have been deceived into putting Mary on a higher pedestal than God but God Almighty shares His glory with no other (Is42:8) because the truth is: none but God is God! Yes, I may be quoting from the Old Testament but if you know anything about theology, you should know that God is unchanging i.e. He is perfect from eternity past to eternity beyond; because He is God and so the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. God did not change, neither did He have a change of heart. Please understand that the Bible harmonizes in itself when read in its context because the Bible is the complete word of God and so the Bible harmonizes in itself because God does not contradict Himself as hypocrites do.

Col 2
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;
11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;
12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

The hypocrisy in Roman Catholicism is so brazen that on one hand they believe that one can be good without knowing Christ while at the same time Sainthood is an authority given, only for them to recognize. Just imagine the audacity of these depraved papists that the record of every Saint that has ever lived on earth is theirs to make and keep! In the midst of all this, is also the Pope’s desire to welcome homosexuals whom God righteously hates (Lev20:13/Rom9:13-24), to fellowship with the Church. It is clear as day that the Pope is operating not to please God in His righteousness but to please the world in their sin, which all emerges from his (Pope) own standard of self-righteousness from fallen Adam. To counter my argument, you may say but Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them. Yes, He did but the difference between sinners whom Christ has received to Himself and the sinners of the world, is that we who belong to Christ are repentant (Rom3:23-26), no longer walking in our old wicked ways but delightfully following now the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph2:1-7).

1Cor 6
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

To think of Sainthood as being God’s superman is only to look at His Church from the perspective of a faithless self-serving world. Saints are not super Christians, every true Christian is a Saint and every true Saint is a Christian. Even the Saints of the Old Testament, their faith rested on Jesus (Is53:5) who was to come and propitiate their nature, from fallen Adam unto the righteousness of God (1Jn2:1-2). In Jesus, we not only have forgiveness of sins but we are also imputed His righteous nature through spiritual rebirth (Jn3:3,16).

John 15 (Jesus says)
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

To conclude, if I were to go by the Biblical definition of the word Catholic, it means a countless multitude of people from every tribe, language and nation (Rev7:9), who worship God as one body in Spirit and truth (Jn4:23-24). These are Saints by their calling through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (2Pet1:1-3). So by this definition every true Christian is Catholic and yes, I too am Catholic. We must understand that sainthood is by the power of God, accomplished in Christ that we who believe may live for the glory of God. So, as it is none but God who makes Saints of His people (Jn15:1-8), so too it can be none but God who attest to their Sainthood (Jn10:14).

​His Saints Persevere with Holy Fear!

Phil 2
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

We live in a world that requires us to take a righteous stand without having the masses back us because God makes it to be so that we don’t trust in people but trust in Him alone (Jer17:5, 7). Though we are saved by grace (2Tim1:9), works is the evidence of our change in heart (Ezek36:26-27/Jn3:3/Phil1:6), which turns from serving ourselves to serving God.

James 2
14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

If you look at the definition of Israel from the perspective of Phil1:29, we get a glimpse of God’s might and sovereignty. The Church is the new Israel (Gen32:28), whose name signifies one who strives against God and men, and prevails. This is best explained from Dan 3:8-28; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the furnace for not paying homage to the golden statue of King Nebuchadnezzar. Now you see, to the world this may seem as the repercussions for being righteous. However, this is merely God sanctifying His people in the furnace of affliction (Ps119:71-75). Why, because God is worth it (Phil1:29). So, who sustains His Church in the furnace, it is God Himself. He is like a silver smith who fans the flame of the furnace while holding the silver in a crucible to purify the silver. So it is with the Sovereign Lord, who sanctifies us in this world into the likeness of His Son (Rom8:29).

Heb 12
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

In Jesus is life and in Him we turn from serving ourselves to serving God. In serving God we acquaint ourselves with holy fear, which drives us to live our lives according to the Moral Law, not because we otherwise don’t want to but because we realize the sheer weight of God’s good pleasure in our existence. The world lives by a counterfeit standard of religion, where wickedness is the very means of their survival and so they are given to act unrighteously under the sway of Satan (1Jn5:19). True religion on the other hand understands our life and its sustenance is practically in the hands of God and so just as the world is given to unrighteousness from unholy fear of wicked repercussions, so too the Godly are given to act righteously from the holy fear of God.

Mat 10:28
Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

This is what separates the world from God’s Church, the world is given to wear the mark of the beast on their right hand and forehead from their fallen desire for counterfeit religion (Rev13:16-17), while His Church is given to wear the Moral Law on their right hand and forehead (Deut6:8) owing to Jesus who has propitiated their sinful nature (1Jn4:10) unto the righteousness of God (Rom5:17). Please note that to wear something on the forehead and right hand symbolizes one who thinks (wear on the forehead) and acts (wear on the right hand) from that particular standpoint.

Isaiah 40:31
Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

If you were to go through the TULIP, you would come across the Perseverance of the Saints and this is precisely it, because to Persevere in His righteousness in the midst of Trial even with fear and trembling is to wait on the Lord, just like the parable of the ten virgins, where the righteous five are given to burn the oil in their lamps in waiting for the Lord (Mat25:3-4) because I guess burning the oil in their lamps is synonymous with exercising the righteousness of God while waiting on Him and trusting in Him to bring that breakthrough in His time.

Acts 16
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.

To conclude, Salvation is in knowing Jesus Christ is Lord over your life, meaning your life is accountable to Him. With such a godly bearing on life, we are to persevere in the righteousness of God because though the godless masses may seem like Goliath before you, it is only to provoke that holy fear in you to God’s own glory because He is worth all your anxiety in following after Him. After all, He is God! In any case, knowing Jesus as Lord over your life empowers you by His Holy Spirit (Phil4:13), making you capable to do His good pleasure and who then can be against you when God is for you (Rom8:31) because you are learning to want what God wants (Ps37:4) and there is no stopping you then.

Rom 8:28
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

​Why India desperately needs the Gospel!

Just yesterday, when I was traveling back home from work, I chanced upon this conversation between a few colleagues travelling by train in the same compartment as I was. Each was talking with a sense of accomplishment in their tone on how one was in London and the other in Hong Kong etc. I am standing there thinking these guys are blind to the primary cause of God’s blessing while holding so dearly to the secondary cause as though that was as far as they could see owing to their unbelief.

Ezek 36
25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
28 “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.
29 “Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you.
30 “I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations.

I began to think more about what these guys were talking about while walking home from the train station and I remembered our Prime Minister’s promise of moving India’s status from a developing nation to a developed nation. I however understood that this is not going to happen simply with more business coming into the country. The country by itself need a major overhaul when it comes to morality because people here are only out for themselves with the least concern for their neighbour and their surroundings.

Mat 22
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And Jesus said to him, ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.
39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Take for instance the incessant honking we have on the road or people driving with their high beam on in lanes and bylanes. Take a look at this video, everybody right from the rickshawwalas, to a person commuting by bike, to a person driving a luxury sedan are all riding/driving with their high beam on, this too in a lane which is adequately lit but with no proper pavement and just so you know, Mumbai is known to be the most disciplined in India when it comes to road etiquettes. I am not sure if I have to say this but walking on the street under these conditions can make one feel rather disoriented because of the halogen beam flashing right in your face while the vehicle moves past you.

1Tim 1
8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers
10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching,
11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.

It seems the only way to get the people to do the right thing is to set laws, where the repercussion for breaking the law are most discomforting because the only thing people care about here is themselves. The reason our own politicians need to line their pockets before doing anything for the people is because this is how the general populace is by itself. Money is not we need, we need the Gospel desperately, we need Jesus desperately, we need to turn from serving nothing but ourselves to serving God and being good neighbours, just as Jesus rightfully requires from those He calls His own (Jn10:14-30).

John 4:23-24
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 14:6-7
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also…

​Whom do we Worship?

Today my country celebrates its 70th Independence Day and so am driven to write this piece on whom do we worship because I want to admonish people on excusing themselves from the worship of God and using the country as a scapegoat to express their rebellious ungodly desire to live and do as they please. This is what I have sourced on the meaning of Vande Matram, which shouting out defines patriotism in India. Vande Matram literally means “I pray/bow down to thee, Mother”— it’s a poem from Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s 1882 novel Anandamath, written in Bengali and Sanskrit, a hymn to the Mother Land.

Ezra 9
10 “Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments,
11 which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and with their impurity.

It is not that I don’t love my country, I very well do but I refuse to see patriotism from a perspective of lies that merely appeases the people’s rebellious appetite. You must know that a land cannot be worshiped but prayed for instead, in praying that its people turn to God because people reap nothing but what they sow in unbelief (notice the stark contrast of Hos8:7 with Rom8:19-21). A person who does not know God may be overly optimistic to honour certain things in his/her life as god, which he/she cannot quite express his/her love for, because in his/her ignorance of God, he/she has no perspective of truth.

Ezek 36 (Ezekiel prophesying in the context of Jn 3:3,16)
25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
28 “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.

Take a look at the Ganges river, which is the most sacred of rivers to the Hindus. In the course of their worship of the Ganges, this river today is one of India’s most polluted rivers. In the May-June season, when millions of pilgrims travel to Rishikesh and Haridwar, the upper Ganges sees a tremendous increase in the level of resistance genes that lead to “superbugs” i.e. 60 times higher than other times of the year. It must be therefore understood that apart from our calling to be Christlike, we cannot honour anything outside the righteousness of God lest we desire to fall on our face.

1Cor 1
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Matthew 10 (Jesus to His disciples)
25 It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!

What about the Gir Cow? Dalits have been lynched to death over their lack of reverence for the holy cow but in worshiping the cow and banning beef across the State, the Gir Cow has been robbed of its purpose. India used to export Gir Cows embryos to Brazil and today Brazil has about 40 lakhs of these cows while our numbers of Gir Cows have fallen from 15 lakhs in the 1960s to 3000 i.e. close to extinction. I hope you are beginning to see the cursed repercussion of any and every kind of idolatry.

John 14
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Let us also take a look at Nepal. If any of you are familiar with the life of a Kumari (child goddess), you will know that little girls as young as the age of 5 are selected from society to be the object of the people’s worship. This girl remains a Kumari till she reaches puberty, which could be at the age of 12 or even 15. Through this period of being a Kumari, she is confined to the house/temple and wherever she has to go, she is carried. So when these girls come out from being Kumaris, they first find it hard to walk because they have been carried around everywhere for most of their lives. Secondly, since they have been denied a formal education through that period when they were a Kurmari, they find it hard to secure a degree and a job which will properly sustain them. Also these ex-Kumaris are not allowed to marry. So, if you were to look at the people’s desire to honour women in their society as goddesses and contrast it with the flesh trade that plagues Nepal, we understand that to substitute God with the worship of anything else, proves detrimental to the welfare of that which we choose to idolize from our ignorance of God. Did you know, that at any given point of time Mumbai alone has about 20,000 Nepali sex workers according to statistics from the Human Rights Watch! It is for this reason by the wisdom I have gained from the holy fear of God that I dare not defile my country by worshiping it in place of the Living Triune God Almighty.

Psalms 85 (referring to Jesus)
9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land.

Isaiah 33 (referring to Jesus)
6 And He will be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; The fear of the LORD is his treasure.

Rev 5 (referring to Jesus)
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,
12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing.”

We understand from the Moral Law in Mat 22:36-40 that in truth only God is God and only He can be rightfully first in everything (Col 1:18). If I may steal you for just a moment from the world and its lies (1Jn 5:19), I would like to tell you that the reason suicide itself is a damn sin is because a person belongs more to God than he/she does to himself/herself and if that is so, then how much more your country and mine?!

Mat 28
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

So whom then can we worship? Well, that should be as clear as day to you now, that we can worship and revere nothing but the Living God Almighty who exists as 3 Persons (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) in One Godhead, as explained to us in Jesus Christ (Jn1:18), the Son of God who took on Himself every aspect of the nature of man (except sin) and came 2000 years ago to be that atonement (unblemished sacrifice) for all God’s people, that whosoever may believe in Him (Jn 3:16), may not perish but have eternal life.

Talking about True Friendship!

Today people have the most far flung definitions of friendship, which they believe to be true deep within their heart (Jer17:5-9) but such ridiculous precepts concerning friendship is made possible to them, thanks to their estranged relationship with God from fallen Adam. Now, some might ask in trying to justify themselves saying: what is the proof of Original Sin or how can you say there is such a thing as the fall of Adam? For anyone who believes God exist and is good, should understand that when God made man, He would not grant man free will so as to be blind to the truth and live in such spiritual depravity as men do today. When God made man on the sixth day, everything was good (Gen1:26-31) and God made man in His own image i.e. a reflection of His own character and nature. So since men throughout history are naturally inclined to their love for sin, this by itself is evidence of the fall of mankind in Adam (Rom5:14-17).

John 15
12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
14 “You are My friends if you do what I command you.
15 “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
17 “This I command you, that you love one another.

If we are able to grasp in faith the mighty nature of God, we would understand that everything that exist, exist for the glory God. Such is also friendship, that when we learn of the holy communion the three Persons share in the Godhead, we are inspired to live in such communion ourselves. However, such a state of mind and heart requires us to know God intimately and this is only possible when we know our Bibles from cover to cover.

Prov 3 (in the context of Jer31:33 & John15:16)
3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones.

Today, we have people who define true friendship as existing well outside the vocabulary of: thank you, welcome, please and sorry, but such relationships are covetous simply because they implicitly expect something better in return for whatever they do in the name of friendship. So if truth be told, the reason people do not like accepting words of gratitude is because they are in a habit of implicitly expecting payback for everything they do. Ironically, people find love in the abusive language their friends use on them but if you were to replace that foul language with the truth about themselves, that would not only hurt them beyond any foul language they are used to but would drive them to rage instead. This by itself goes to show that there is no substance in such worldly friendship, which cannot withstand truth but cruises along only on sweet lies. It is no wonder that a person only realizes who his true friends are when he is down and out in life, and the number of those true friends is close to a negligible fraction compared to those whom he previously knew as friends. For this very reason Jesus encourages relationships, where our giving is not based on how much we get back because such defines true faith, where we understand that our life’s provision is in God in all righteousness and not in men from wicked interest.

Luke 14
11 “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
12 And Jesus also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment.
13 “But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
14 and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

In understanding the mighty nature of God, we learn that God is God to the extent that even what is contrary to Him, glorifies His justice. Today most relationships outside the family are immoral because they are either based on covetousness, adultery, bearing false witness, thievery or murder. Consider the honour among thieves and gangsters, that relationship is sinful or consider for that matter a syndicate whose livelihood comes from fooling the people at large. What about people who befriend others only because of their material possessions defining covetousness while others have adultery as their motive for friendship. Such relationships do well in only glorifying God’s justice.

Prov 19
7 All the brothers of a poor man hate him; How much more do his friends abandon him! He pursues them with words, but they are gone.
8 He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good.

Prov 9
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

To conclude, there is great blessing in realizing God is God because when we learn to evaluate ourselves by the standard of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as over evaluating ourselves by the love reciprocated from our friends, we are brought to terms in understanding our every sustenance comes from God and from this spiritual disposition of truth (Jn4:23-24), God blesses all our relationships in King Christ (Lk14:11). True friendship therefore is like bricks held together with mortar, where a brick cleaving to the mortar can be synonymously pictured as one trusting in God and having God’s moral law as the thumb rule for every friendship. This in turn gives us a genuine neighbourly outlook and concern for our friends, free from the sin of covetousness and adultery that emerges from the idolatry of self.

Gun Control… is that the real issue?

Hebrews 12
11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

#guncontrol
It is understandably very hard for the world to look at Christian society and see us as having a Biblical right to bear arms because when the world sees us bearing arms, they do not see it from a perspective of exercising the righteousness of God but rather they see it from their own nature, where everything they do is centred around themselves. To them, there is no such thing as true religion because their indifference to the truth about the Lord Jesus, renders them insensitive to the transformation of the individual, who is purchased from the belligerent bloodline of fallen Adam and grafted to the body of Christ, whose delight is no more in pleasing self but in pleasing God. Such is Christian society! Let us take a look at an excerpt from the Old Testament concerning the godliness of bearing arms in building Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 4
12 When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, “They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,”
13 then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I stationed the people in families with their swords, spears and bows.
14 When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.”
15 When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work.
16 From that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows and the breastplates; and the captains were behind the whole house of Judah.
17 Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon.
18 As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while the trumpeter stood near me.

If we were to look at Gen1:28, 3:15 & Rom5:17, we understand that from the fall, the world has locked its horns with God’s Church (Mk13:13), and there can never be any fellowship/communion between the Church and the world because what pleases the world gives us a nauseating feeling in the pit of our stomach i.e. their joy is not ours to share in likeminded fellowship. Take a cue from the lions and the Maasai tribe in Kenya/Tanzania, the lions keep respectful distance from the Maasai and their cattle (property) out of fear of being killed. It is the same with the world, we have no desire to kill them but from their self-serving nature the world is given to anarchy/destruction, which is something we must protect ourselves and our livelihood from.

Luke 22
36 And Jesus said to them, “But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one.

When you take a look at all the Western nations, it is not very hard to notice from their flags (with a cross) that their culture especially concerning their morality and etiquettes has been shaped by the Gospel. Notice, how everybody wants to go and settle in the West but nobody wants to admit that the rather congenial environment one associates with the West is what has been afforded to them by the Gospel. Such a hypocritical disposition among immigrants is understandable, when you consider that the world has no capacity to find fault with itself because repentance leading to eternal life can only be accomplished in Jesus Christ.

Gal 3
8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.”
…
14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

It is the Gospel that has made the West what it is (Ezek36:27-31/Jn3:3, 16). However today with all the religious backsliding, the West is losing its grip on the Moral Law as taught in the Gospel and their lives are now as bland as their food. They keep looking everywhere to find where the fault is while also trying to find meaning to life without realising that the fault lies with themselves owing to their backsliding from the Christian faith, which prospered them. Take a look at China, I don’t know how many of you know this but Gospel is spreading like wildfire in China, with corporates using the Bible to teach employees Biblical etiquettes so as to build loyalty and genuine employer-employee relationships. It is no wonder that China today is the world’s second largest economy after the US. For this very reason, I understand that the development of my country India too rests, not on how much business comes in but on how well it receives the Gospel because God exists and Jesus is the only eternal truth.

1Timothy 1 (Paul to Timothy)

8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers
10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching,
11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.

When I hear all this “Surrender Your knife | Save a Life” in the UK and then “Gun Control” in the US, I am reminded of convicts in prison, where no metal objects are allowed, out of fear of one person killing the other. If you were to see society from such a view point, you would understand that the issue that needs to be dealt with here is not really the guns or the knives or even the ceiling fan for that matter, it is the depraved spiritual state of the people in their ignorance of God. I am not sure if you can perceive this according to all that is happening but these are tell-tale signs of society heading towards anarchy and gun control is only an excuse to divert our attention from what really needs to be done i.e. people getting back to establishing their lives in Christ. In all their backsliding people have turned slothful, concerned only about their own lives while having no qualm is shoving every other responsibility on God, such is their definition of faith… these who are unmoved by the fear of God. Outside Christ there is no life and so people find it cumbersome to even bear responsible stewardship over the world as coming from a godly conscience, a purpose we were given as human beings by God.

Isaiah 65
24 “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.
25 “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.

Yes, in His time there will be peace in the new heaven and the new earth, merited by not men but by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Is 9:6) in accordance to the will of God the Father (Col 1:16-20) but until that time comes we ought to be on our toes, waiting on Him in obedience while staying on guard against scheming hypocrites (Mt25:8-12), all because Jesus is worth the effort we invest in the reconstruction of society unto the glory of God (Mt28:18-20).

​Finding Solace in Trial!

Heb 12
6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

In the context of Ezek 36:26-27 & Jn 3:3,16, we understand that when a person goes through the trials God sets before him/her, what sustains that person through that fiery trial is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, as sited beautifully in Daniel 3:8-28. I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the purification process of noble metals such as gold and silver. Noble metals have a very high melting point, much higher than that of its impurities and so when metals like gold and silver are heated up to their melting point, these precious metals are then ready to have the dross removed in their molten metal. This is something along the lines of how we are sanctified into the likeness of Christ or shall I say the image of God. Please note that the likeness is in terms of moral character and not by physical appearance.

Psalm 119
71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.
72 The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces. 
73 Your hands made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.
74 May those who fear You see me and be glad, Because I wait for Your word.
75 I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

An eminent 19th century theologian Charles Spurgeon once stated that the Christian when afflicted, should not be like a pet dog which bites the stick when disciplined by its master but should instead realize from whose hand his/her trial has come. I am citing this because we very often like to vent ourselves out on inanimate objects and our neighbour for being the reason/source of our anxiety. In such cases we need to step back from that situation and see it from a Biblical perspective so as to learn what God is trying to teach us from His reproof.    

Job 23
8 “Behold, I go forward but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
9 When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns on the right, I cannot see Him.
10 “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

It must be understood that one cannot be sanctified into the likeness of Christ unless he/she is born of Christ Spirit, so as to bear noble substance, which comes from the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit (1Jn4:4). I wonder how many of you are familiar with the concept of HALT, which is:

• Hungry

• Angry

• Lonely

• Tired

In most cases when you are suffering from anxiety, you are possibly dealing with either one of these trigger factors. In either case you need to HALT and think, what exactly it is that is making you feel so anxious in that moment. If you are grumpy because you are hungry then get something to eat. If you are Angry over something you can do little about then relax and listen to some Mozart, which is really relaxing. If you are Lonely, call up a friend you’ve been meaning to call for some time and have a chat. If there is nobody available for you to talk to in that moment, you can spend some time pouring your heart out to God in prayer. If you are Tired, then put off what you are doing in that moment for a later time if you can, and get some rest.

Deut 29
29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

Isaiah 54
8 “In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,” Says the LORD your Redeemer.

Isaiah 40
31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

Now there are cases where HALT may not work for you and this is precisely what I am writing to you about. Many a times the cause of anxiety is not knowing what we are to do in that moment. In such cases, you need to reflect on what Deut 29:29 has to say and let your soul find its rest in the Lord Jesus Christ (Mt11:28). This is your time to wait on the Lord. Remember, no matter how great your anxiety is in that moment, you need to do what is right in the light of scripture until that moment arises in which God orchestrates a breakthrough for you (2Pet 1:19). Remember, though your trials may be great, if Jesus is indeed your Lord, you need to wait on Him because true prostration unto God lies in seeking the will of God, over your own and Jesus is indeed worthy of such true worship (Jn4:23).

Rev 5
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,
12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

Rev 7
13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?”
14 I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Now, you may ask… how exactly does one wait on the Lord so as to find solace in trial? Well, I cannot teach you everything the Bible teaches in this post but I can surely advise you by saying you need to know your Bible from cover to cover. In waiting on the Lord, you are to secure your heart in deliberate and wilful obedience to the Moral Law and take every other destructive thought captive to Christ (2Cor10:5). Remember, the Moral Law states that you shall first love the Lord your God above all and second you ought to love your neighbour as yourself.

Proverbs 12
25 Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, But a good word makes it glad.

To conclude, I would like to say… when faced with anxiety, which you cannot manage with HALT, you need to continue doing whatever you are doing, while guarding your mind against every thought of giving into rampage and yield to that in which is exercising God’s good pleasure but only as that opportunity presents itself in its time. Remember, Christ is Sovereign (Mat28:18)! So your solace in trial is in adhering to Jesus’ way, seeing His purpose and not your own even in the midst of affliction (Prov21:2). This very much defines the Perseverance of the Saints, in which we come forth as gold.

God bless!

How to Meditate… according to the Bible!

Joshua 1
8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

Contrary to the kind of meditation that is trending in the world, the meditation the Bible teaches the believer is not one where you sit around doing nothing. Today we hear of yoga, which requires you to empty yourself of all thought. This however is far from what the Bible teaches concerning meditation because God teaches the believer His precepts (Ps 119:14-16), which the believer is supposed to remember and apply responsibly in his/her interactions with the environment and its people (Mat5:13). Today people want to learn meditation from people who have forsaken all responsibility and have seemingly attained enlightenment by wandering aimlessly through the land and smoking weed.

Psalms 77
6 I will remember my song in the night; I will meditate with my heart, And my spirit ponders:
7 Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favourable again?
8 Has His lovingkindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious, Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Selah.
10 Then I said, “It is my grief, That the right hand of the Most High has changed.”
11 I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
12 I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples.
15 You have by Your power redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

When I mull over what passes off as meditation in this day and age, I can’t seem to get my head around the Morning Laughter Yoga I often came across during my morning walk. Science says that a good laugh relieves stress and leaves your muscles relaxed for about 45 minutes but I don’t think this works when people force themselves to laugh. This is precisely my argument against the kind of unnatural breathing meditation requires today. The Bible often defines prayer as wrestling with God (Gen 32:24-30/Col 4:12), which is not to bring God to settle to our terms but it is war waged by our living spirit imputed in us through Christ (Jn 3:3,16) against our sinful nature in coming over to God’s terms and righteousness (Ps77:6-15). Such wrestling is real non-simulated meditation which requires you to given your 100% to God.

Deuteronomy 6
5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Such manner of prayer gets your hearting racing with shortness of breath and as your eyes are on the verge of tears you come to terms with what is known as the “Perseverance of the Saints”. The righteous perseverance of these Saints is by the merit and to the credit of the Lord Jesus Christ because sainthood is God calling men/women in His Son Jesus (Rom1:17) to meditate by the might of His Holy Spirit, exercising the Moral Law in thought and deed unto God’s good pleasure.

Romans 8
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Just as a person going to work mentally prepares himself/herself to handle a few things that he/she anticipates beforehand, so also is meditation, which does not require you to empty your thoughts but instead introspect what you have been doing so far and make that change in your life which is for the better. Remember the Moral Law requires you to put God first and second love your neighbour as you love yourself. That is to say, your meditation on God’s precepts should help you plan, how you aim to please God through the day and through your life. If you are feeling uneasy through the day you need to think back through the day as to what triggered that uneasiness in you and deal with it according to the knowledge of God.

Psalm 1
1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.

Remember, true meditation is not about emptying yourself but about filling yourself with the Holy Spirit because in Christ is your zeal for God and life. The world hates responsibility, which is something you see in abortion, in people raising their own children without discipline, in educational institutions, workplaces and politics. People love taking credit but naturally from fallen Adam despise the responsibility they must have for their environment and their neighbour. It is for this reason the world meditates by emptying itself of all thought because they will do anything to flush out the guilt of their failed stewardship upon the earth (Gen1:28), which their self-serving nature has no capacity to every realize or admit. Responsibility may be righteously painstaking but for those whose lives are accountable to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit empowers these with zealousness to accomplish their task because Jesus is worth it (Rev5:10-12).

2Timothy 3
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Understand, the Bible equips and readies the person mediating on scripture for Godly responsibility towards his/her environment and neighbour because unlike the world, the believer does not live as though he/she is a law unto himself/herself but that his/her life is accountable to Jesus. When you understand God is sovereign and pray to Him in your trials, your breathing automatically follows a rhythm, which relaxes and comforts you because you are placing your trust God, which makes every other thing fall in its place.

Hebrews 4
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

As I conclude this post, I am hoping you understand that the prerequisite to such meditation is the knowledge of scripture because as Hebrews 4:12 says, the word of God is alive and active, the Word is life breathed out to us by God (Mat4:4). So when we reflect/meditate on scripture, we are enlightened by the Holy Spirit concerning the precepts of God, which is for the holistic benefit of our wellbeing. So unlike the world which practices its sloth even in meditation by way of emptying themselves out, true meditation requires you to diligently study the word of God i.e. The Holy Bible, which you are required to know from cover to cover.

God Bless!