Salt of Human Race

YOU ARE LIKE SALT FOR THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE. Matthew 5.13.

If my old professor of medicine had told me, “Benjamin, your destiny is to cure all diseases and give health to all those around you”, I would have laughed and dismissed his ‘over-estimation of my ability’. But that does not seem such an impossible proposition when you compare it with what the Lord Jesus Christ told a bunch of uneducated fishermen and ordinary folk of Galilee who followed Him, “You are like salt for the whole human race.”

However impossible the proposition might have seemed, it wasn’t very difficult for these men to understand and capture the intentions of Jesus for them. They were familiar with the element, salt, as it was as much a part of their daily life more than wheat or barley. Some being fishermen and the others too being used to a diet of fish, all coming from the surroundings of the Sea of Galilee, they used salt daily.

The disciples knew well what salt was used for! They used salt to preserve fish from rotting before sale or cooking, having no refrigeration like today! They also used salt for cooking in order to flavour their daily food. It was also used as fertiliser. They could easily grasp the significance and implication of what Jesus had told them - “You are like salt for the whole human race.” He was preparing them to be like salt among the people. Their influence was to spread all round and reach the whole human race, acting like salt - preserving the society from decay, flavouring their lives on earth and offering forgiveness of sins and eternal life for all.

The world around us is rotting through every imaginable sin and becoming less and less conducive to right living for us and our children. Things will only go from bad to worse if something or somebody does not apply the brakes! That it the reason we are in this world. That is the purpose of God for each one of us Christians. We, as disciples and followers of Jesus, are to influence the world and transform the people.

Dear believer, neither you nor your children should keep asking like people who are ignorant of God’s eternal purposes, “Who am I? Why am I here?” Jesus answered these puzzling questions for us. In the new order of the kingdom of God each one of us is to be THE SALT OF THE HUMAN RACE AND THE LIGHT OF THE PEOPLE. It must be firmly established in your mind and you should teach it to your children so that your lives on earth will not be vague and wishy-washy but driven by the ‘PURPOSE OF GOD’!

Dear friend, if you are not yet sure of your place as a disciple of Jesus in your home, neighbourhood, workplace, society and the world, make it certain today beyond all doubt, as you hear afresh the words of Jesus - “You are like salt for the whole human race. You are like light for the whole world”.

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me live out Your purpose for me on earth each day. Let my every word and action make the world a better place for all to live and enjoy life, glorifying God. Amen.

Bitter Life

IT HAS BEEN FAR MORE BITTER FOR ME THAN FOR YOU, BECAUSE THE HAND OF THE LORD HAS TURNED AGAINST ME. Ruth 1.13.

Have you ever felt miserable? Has life been difficult and especially hard on you? I wouldn’t be surprised if so! Life isn’t fair all the time to all the people! 'The situations of life could make or break you’ they say. It is not true!

The more you watch people, whether Christians or not, the more you begin to understand that ‘what makes or breaks you is not what happens to you but your attitude to what happens to you!’ This is not just a philosophy. It is a matter for your sheer existence and survival in this world where you cannot control the events of your life. So let us learn how to respond positively to the difficult circumstances in life and become overcomers through faith!

Naomi was a miserable character in the Bible! Famine drove her to a foreign land. There her husband died. She had two sons. Both married girls from that land. But soon the young men died one after the other. The three poor widows were left to fend for themselves. Many years passed by. Now news comes that Naomi’s land has prospered. She decides to go back, leaving the two girls behind. But Ruth stuck to Naomi and her ‘harsh’ God!

Naomi told her daughters-in-law: “It has been far more bitter for me ..because the hand of the LORD has turned against me" (My bitterness is much worse.. because the LORD has sent me so much trouble)! She told the people in her land once she was back, "the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me. ..the LORD has dealt harshly with me, and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?"(vs 20,21).Some of you may be feeling the same way! Hold on!

The truth is that the time Naomi began experiencing ‘the calamites’ that the Lord sent her, starting with the death of her husband, was the very time the ‘Sunshine of God’ had just begun to turn on her! That was the very first step towards going back to her land of promise and becoming the ‘great, great grandmother’ of the Lord Jesus Christ. But poor Naomi had no way of knowing it. Neither had she a faith strong enough to trust in God’s dealings though rough and devastating!

Dear believer, how blinding the present situations can be to you? How misleading your thoughts about them? How short-sighted can you be? The tragedy, pain, the suffering of the hour when intolerable, you not only complain but sometimes question and even 'curse' God! It is typical of Job’s wife who said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" But the attitude of the man of faith, Job, was different! Afflicted with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, scraping himself with a piece of broken pottery and sitting among the ashes, he replied “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (Job 2.7-10). Dear friend, 'That’s the kind of faith that overcomes!' That's the faith that sustains you and brings you out of darkness into the promises and blessings of God.

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me to be assured like the apostle Paul and say, 'I know that God causes all things to work together for good to me who loves God, to me who is called according to His purpose. If God is for me, who is against me? (Rom 8.28,31).

Dealing With Sin

WHOEVER BELIEVES IN CHRIST IS A NEW CREATION. THE OLD WAY OF LIVING HAS DISAPPEARED. A NEW WAY OF LIVING HAS COME INTO EXISTENCE. 2 Corinthians 5.17.

I have been praying to God desperately for some youngsters I know so well for many years. They were born in Christian families and received the Lord into their lives as kids. But they joined bad company at school and fell into the trap of drugs and crime. Rehabilitation programmes and even prison terms have done no good!

Like many others, I too have counselled them on many occasions. I told them that the problem with them is that they have stopped trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and have taken control of their own lives. They are doing the things that please and satisfy them, even though these have ruined their lives and dashed the hopes of their families.

The more you talk to them, the more you are convinced that their root problem is their mis-placed self-confidence! These youngsters are under Satan’s delusion. They talk ‘big’ and give one the feeling that they are 'on top of the world and there is nothing they cannot do!' They keep assuring you that they can do anything by themselves, including kicking their addiction!

But, the truth is that they are only fooling themselves and think that they fooling others too! One day, the Holy Sprit urged me to tell two of these guys, ‘your best bet is to give your lives over to JESUS. Only He can make one who believes in Him a new creation. The old way of living will disappear’. But they refused. The outcome – both were caught by the police and were imprisoned, one for 2 years and the other for a month with a hefty fine! They still do not recognise the need for the Lord to renew them and go to Him. What a tragedy!

Against these sad tales, I can tell you of a number of people I personally know who were addicted to drugs but kicked the habit as they turned their lives to JESUS! Some of them are now pastors taking care of ‘addiction centres’ and even churches. The world over, there are millions of people who have turned their lives to JESUS CHRIST and have become new creations and have seen their old sinful lives disappear!

Dear Friend, if you are under slavery to any sin or addiction to habits that destroy your life, give them to JESUS today! If you are genuine in your commitment, a miraculous transformation will happen in your life which even you will find difficult to believe! It is the work of the Holy Spirit of God.

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, I am sick and tired of trying to straighten my life by myself. I commit my life to You. Make my life new and all my sin and bad habits disappear. Amen.

Bible Is God's Words

FOR PROPHECY NEVER HAD ITS ORIGIN IN THE WILL OF MAN, BUT MEN SPOKE FROM GOD AS THEY WERE CARRIED ALONG BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. 2 Peter 1.21.

When I witness to people from the Bible, many ask me, “How do you know that the Bible is God’s Word? It is only a book written by people!” I say, “I believe it is God’s own Word”. But they are not convinced!

There are a lot of Christians too who do not believe that the Bible is fully the Word of God. They may admit that it contains God’s messages, but written by only men. Hence, of course, they do not believe all that the Bible says, literally! These are people who do not believe in the total inspiration of the Bible. There are many others who believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God but not all parts or everything in it!

Your prayer and mine should always be, “Lord, help us all to believe Your Word to be wholly, verbally inspired by You and inerrant and unchanging from age to age and transcends culture to culture. Amen.”

Many ask, “How did God wholly inspire men to write His own Words?” Thank God that we do not have to guess! The Bible explains it. Look at today’s text: “prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”.

I can very well appreciate what this verse teaches us about the origin of the Scriptures. When I consider the daily devotionals that I write, I often feel that the thoughts and words are flowing through me, inspired by the Holy Spirit and not from me. The reason why I say so is that there is no way in which I could by myself have come up with much of the spiritual inputs in them. I do not gather them from Bible commentaries though I studied them diligently in my younger days! If you ask me to reproduce any of my devotionals, I will be at a loss. I know how I struggle to rewrite any one of them when it accidentally gets deleted from the computer!

I certainly have the benefit of the written Word of God in writing the devotionals. But these men wrote the Bible. They were the very words of God, inspired and instilled in them by the Holy Spirit. Think of John, James and Peter, the unlearned fishermen of Galilee writing the gospel and the epistles by their names, and you will not doubt that it was not they but the Holy Spirit in them that inspired not only the message but the very words in them! The content and the literature are so sublime and divine that not even the greatest writer of all times could compose them! That is why I believe in the verbal inspiration of the Bible!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, I believe the Bible to be Your Word, though written by men. Help me to study it diligently and obey its precepts. Amen.

I Think About All You've Done

I REMEMBER THE DAYS GONE BY; I THINK ABOUT ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE, I BRING TO MIND ALL YOUR DEEDS. Psalm 143.5.

There was a time when I walked up and down the corridors of a hospital where my dear wife lay in the ICU unconscious and critically ill. It was more than a decade ago. She had suffered a burst cerebral aneurysm which threatened her life by the minute.

Days dragged on and tests multiplied and the danger to her life too! Our four children, relatives and Christian friends from far and near were praying. I was fasting and praying and running up and down discussing with doctors as to what was best to do to save her life. I had exhausted all my physical and spiritual resources. There were prayers and more prayers and fasting too!

What more could a desperate husband do? As I lingered in the corridors of the hospital, I ceased praying for a moment and I did what the poor psalmist, King David did! ‘I began remembering the days gone by; I thought about all that the Lord had done and recounted the deeds of God to us and our family’. I found that it was the best way to boost my flagging faith! Boost my faith, it did, even in the midst of great hopelessness.

I recalled all the good promises of God in the Bible. Some I had been carrying in my purse for emergencies like this. One promise read, “now, this is what the LORD says-- he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life” (Isa 43.1-4).

I kept singing out a beautiful and faith-inspiring chorus we often sing, the words of which was in my wallet, “Our Lord God! Thou hast made the heavens, And the earth by Thy great power, Our Lord God! Thou hast made the heavens, And the earth by Thy outstretched arm: Nothing is too difficult for Thee (x2), O great and mighty God, Great in counsel and mighty in deed, Nothing, nothing absolutely nothing, Nothing is too difficult for Thee!”

The apostle Paul said, “faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ” (Rom 10.17). Dear friend, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly (Col 3.16). Keep reading it day and night. Then, you too will be able to do what I did like David in his great distress and consternation, “I remember the days gone by; I think about all that you have done, I bring to mind all your deeds”.

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me to hide Your Word in my heart by reading it as much as I can every day. Let it increase my faith in Your almighty power to do great things. Amen.

Comfort With God's Comfort

GOD COMFORTS US WHEN WE ARE IN TROUBLE SO THAT WE CAN SHARE THAT SAME COMFORT WITH OTHERS IN TROUBLE. 2 Corinthians 1.4.

I have often overheard my wife enthusiastically telling her ‘life-saving story’ to many people. She never tires narrating it to anyone anywhere, especially to those who are hurting or sick. In the year 1991 she dropped dead due to a burst aneurysm in her brain. The only reason she survived was that God did several miracles to deliver her from death, heal her and comfort us all beyond our imagination.

I am a rather private person and I do not volunteer so readily to tell people of several of God’s miraculous deliverances from death on many occasions. I and my family have experienced the continuing comfort of our God and Father for more than seven decades!

There are many who can sympathise with others in their distress. But only those who have gone through the same trial as the distressed can empathise with them effectively. I have noticed that those who are in need, especially those in great distress, listen to my wife's tale with rapt attention. I can see from their faces the bright response, “If God could do that for her, surely He could do it for me too!” A peace and hope arise from their hearts. That is God comforting them through the comforting words of my wife, who herself has been comforted by God, the Father of all comfort!

By no means was the trial that my wife went through ordinary or simple. Only a few people have survived her ordeal and that too not without much residual physical effects like paralysis and brain damage! I too can relate the many times God had comforted and delivered me from even death! The trials were not pleasant or easy to bear. We learned the truth of God’s Word, “no trials seem to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

God has trained us and others who have gone through tough times. Therefore we endeavour to “strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed” (Heb 12.11 -13).

Dear friend, you cannot avoid sufferings and trials. But you can turn to God, the Father of all comfort, and He will surely comfort you. When you are trained by God, rise up and comfort others and be excited to do it!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, I thank You for in all my trials You were there for me to comfort me, whatever the outcome! Help met to comfort the many out there who are suffering. Help me to comfort them with Your comfort. Amen.

I Will Never Abandon You

GOD HAS SAID I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU. I WILL NEVER ABANDON YOU. Hebrews 13.5.

Whenever anything happens to our dear ones or ourselves which is serious, sad and painful, our first reaction is that, “God has forsaken me!” We cannot understand or appreciate the idea that a loving God will allow the children He loves, to suffer. To a very large extent, it is because we as parents do not allow our children to suffer at all. As soon as they are in any kind of pain, suffering or sickness, immediately we do our utmost to relieve them. If it were possible, we would even be willing to exchange places and suffer on their behalf!

We have experienced this in our family many times. While on a holiday lately, some members of the family were indisposed and could not fully enjoy the good times with others. You should have seen the care and concern of all the others for them. Even the little children gathered around and offered some help, remedy or other. Some kept praying for their speedy recovery. That is the way we treat and take care of the dear ones we love.

How then could a loving heavenly Father God, cause us to suffer or allow us to suffer? It is a question that will never find an answer as long as we are in this world cursed by sin and its consequences! Many have sought diligently for an answer in their interminable suffering. But found none. Many have asked like the Lord Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt27.46). He didn’t get an answer and so we too won’t.

But we too like Jesus, the Son of God, will know the truth of God’s promise, “I will never leave you; I will never abandon you”. Like Jesus we will have angels to minister to our needs, physically and spiritually (Heb 1.14). We will have the Holy Spirit, our comforter with us and in us, the Spirit that abides in us forever (John 14.16).

When you and I pass though ‘the waters and fire’ we may cry out and we may be delivered from our troubles and trails by our loving Almighty Father in heaven. If not, you can be sure of one thing which King David experienced and many believers too through the centuries - the unfailing promise of God, “I will never leave you; I will never abandon you”. That is why David was able to pen those beautiful words in the Shepherd Psalm, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (Psa 23.4).

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, I believe with King David, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. Amen.

God Makes The Plant Grow

THE ONE WHO PLANTS AND THE ONE WHO WATERS REALLY DO NOT MATTER. IT IS GOD WHO MATTERS, BECAUSE HE MAKES THE PLANT GROW. 1 Corinthians 3.7

Once I was reading the ‘Every Home Crusade’ newsletter. I felt sorry for the young sister who visited a home with gospel literature and got punched in the eyes by an angry non-Christian! I prayed for her speedy recovery. I also prayed for divine protection on all those who carry the gospel, facing the challenges of the hostile fields and the fanatics around the world.

Do these people who sow the seeds with tears and trials matter to God and man? Yes! They DO! The apostle Paul’s statement in today’s text seems to contradict it! The reason is that he was faced with a situation in the Corinthian church where members were exalting their favourite leaders and belittling others! In order to show them the futility of their favouritism to one or the other, the great apostle said, “The one who plants and the one who waters really do not matter!” He drew their attention from men who were but servants of God and said, “It is God who matters, because he makes the plant grow!”

We live in times when ministries abound and they are mushrooming day-by-day all over the world. There is an increasing burden and urgency in the hearts of many to ‘reach the unreached people’ of the world with God’s love through any and every means available. Thank God for it. However, seeing the spate of ministries, the way they are run and even the character of their leaders, one feels that caution must be exercised by everyone who ventures out independently.

Thank God for the men and women who have begun ministries through much sacrifice and suffering. We must pray and support them. But many are starting their own ministries for self-aggrandisement (boosting their ego!). Some are initiating ministries for financial gain through unscrupulous ways of raising funds for building their kingdom and spending it lavishly on themselves! They are a slur on the name of God and the church and a bane to the society. Whatever their ministry, preaching, crusades, healing, prophesying, etc. all they want is fame and finances.

Dear believer, my prayer to God is that you will be involved in some work or ministry in the kingdom of God and in your church, to reach the unreached, bless the believers and care for the poor in the name of God and out of His love! But let your motive in doing anything for God or man be pure and unselfish. God will prosper your efforts. He will exalt you and make you rich spiritually and in every other way. Go ahead and begin to do some good deed to someone out of Christ's compassion and love. Keep doing things that count for eternity and do not spend all your precious life solely on things material and temporal that perish!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me to serve You and the people with the purest of motives. May it be to bless others and glorify You and further Your kingdom. Amen.

Love Your Commands

I LOVE YOUR COMMANDS MORE THAN GOLD, MORE THAN PURE GOLD, AND BECAUSE I CONSIDER ALL YOUR PRECEPTS RIGHT, I HATE EVERY WRONG PATH. Psalm 119.127,128.

If you are like me, then you probably have great difficulty in obeying God’s commands! I am slowly learning the truth that ‘the secret of keeping the commandments is to love them’. No one ever taught me that I should ‘love’ the Law not just try to obey it. Similarly, I was not taught to ‘hate’ evil but only to avoid it. Loving the Lord was different. From my childhood, I was brought up by my godly parents and teachers to love the Lord with all my heart.

It was when I read about the Lord Jesus Christ, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness” (Hebrews 1.9) that I began to think about the importance of ‘loving the righteousness of God or loving the Law of God’ and hating wickedness, sin or iniquity. I began to understand that if I want to be like my Lord, then I too must love righteousness and hate sin! In addition, reading Psalm 119 which extols the Law of God in most of its 176 verses and in which David repeatedly tells about his love for the Law, I realised that there is a great need in me to love the Law of God as much as I love God.

I understood that only if I began loving God’s Law could I really hate wickedness. There is a lingering affection and soft spot in me and in all of us for our besetting sins and all sins. That doesn’t mean I like to sin! I hate sinning. Thus there is a two fold problem that I face: I do not ‘love’ God’s Law enough and I do not ‘hate’ sin absolutely! That is a perfect recipe for falling in sin!

The only way I can avoid sin absolutely is by doing what the psalmist David did, “love God’s commands more than gold …and ..hate every wrong path”. I need to be like the Lord Jesus Christ also, “love righteousness and hate wickedness” with all my heart, as I love the LORD GOD.

Has anyone ever told or taught you that you should ‘love God’s commandments and hate sin’? Have you learnt the Ten Commandments of God by heart? How can you love something you do not know? Take time today to learn the commandments. They are found in the book of Exodus chapter 20.

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord God, help me to learn Your Commandments and keep them always before me. Teach me to love Your Law and hate iniquity with a perfect hatred, like Your Son. In His holy Name. Amen.

No One Came To My Support

AT MY FIRST DEFENSE, NO ONE CAME TO MY SUPPORT, BUT EVERYONE DESERTED ME. MAY IT NOT BE HELD AGAINST THEM. 2 Timothy 4.16.

Frequently, you and I find it hard to tolerate the action or reaction of some people. Sometimes they may be members of our own family. At other times, they may be fellow believers in our own church. Let’s face it, sometimes we ourselves may be intolerable to others!

We all have had such experiences in our lives. Many years ago I had long-standing differences and difficulties someone who should have been my best supporter! I tried to solve my issues with him personally and even through the mediation of friends and others, acknowledging that there could be fault on my part too! But nothing was of any avail. In the end, out of sheer exasperation, I just had to grin and bear it. The only other thing I could do was to pray to God for peace between us.

A long time ago, we had some differences of opinion regarding certain practices among the leadership of the church to which I then belonged. Old friends who should have ‘come to my support deserted me’. It was not that we all should have had unity in everything, for it was not possible. But I thought that spiritual maturity should have enabled us to give support to one another as friends and brothers in Christ. It was not so. I remember saying to an old friend, “I would have thought that we would have stood together even in death and be buried in the same grave!”

The only thing I could do was to pray like the apostle Paul, ‘May it not be held against them!’ Having done so, I was guided and helped by the Holy Spirit to take the initiative to forgive and seek to mend the broken relationships. Thank God it worked and we all are life-long friends again, still holding our different views. If anyone has offended you, not only must you ask God to forgive them but you too must forgive them!

Dear believer, you need to stand beside one another when our chips are down! The writer of the Hebrews exhorts us, “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds… but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb 10.24,25).

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me to forgive my brethren when they offend me. Give them grace to forgive me when I have offended them. Help me to stand by those who are hurting and encourage them. Amen.

Show Your Gentleness

LET YOUR GENTLENESS BE EVIDENT TO ALL. THE LORD IS NEAR. Philippians 4.5

There was a time when I was a young upstart, having been the first graduate doctor from our town, community and church! I thought the world had to dance according to my tune. I was considered cool with my head on my shoulders. I could get along with even the most difficult person whom others could not relate to and get things done. I was appointed medical officer in charge of a prestigious government hospital, with scores of staff under me and many consultants as my colleagues.
But there was one problem. I happened to be intolerant towards those who sulked in their job. I used to lose my temper and raise my voice and even shout! More often than not, this happened during a telephone conversation. I thought that I had given them a piece of my mind and felt satisfied. I assumed that they would now do their job well.
Unfortunately, the reaction of the person on the receiving end was usually negative, if not defensive and occasionally belligerent. Over time, I noticed that all that I had achieved was to antogonise the people. Though they had failed in their work, yet they were the ones who had to do it anyway. Now that I had made them my enemies, they were deliberately working against me. My yelling and shouting had been counterproductive!

Then I came across the apostle Paul’s instruction, “Let your gentleness be evident to all”. Other translations put it as, “Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men” or “Let your moderation be known unto all men”. I thought to myself, if only I had followed what the Bible taught 2000 years ago, I could have saved my breath and temper. I wouldn’t have made a fool of myself before others and antogonised people but received their ready cooperation!

Dear believer, through the wisdom of the age and by the bad experiences I’ve had, I would join the apostle Paul and pass on to you, my children, friends and fellow-Christians, “Don’t shout at the people whose help and cooperation you need to get things done! Be gentle, forgiving and forbearing. Let your moderation be known even when you have to reprimand people for wrong doing! Only by being tactful can you get people to cooperate with you!” A long time ago, I learned from my secretary that 'people are often nasty to those who are near and even dear to them!' Check if this is so with you!

You will be surprised that you can achieve the impossible, even in high places, if only you will humble yourself a little, be gentle and patient! There is another good reason to be gentle and moderate to all and in everything - “The Lord is near!” He is at hand! He too can hear you and not just the person to whom you are being nasty!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, You were gentle and meek even to us Your humble creatures (Mt11.33). Help me to be like You in my walk and talk before others. Amen.

The Fear of The Lord

THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS A FOUNTAIN OF LIFE, TURNING A MAN FROM THE SNARES OF DEATH. Proverbs 14.27.

When children are young, many parents frighten them to obedience by saying, “I will call the police!” This fear of the police forces not only the little ones to obey rules but even the adults! Why do we keep the traffic rules? Because we are afraid that we will be caught breaking them and be punished. The police are to uphold the law of the country.

Yet, everyday, robbers, rapists, murderers and other criminals are caught and sent to prison and even the gallows! The way many live gives one the impression that there will be no consequence to their actions, whether right or wrong. A young pretty lady in our city was raped and brutally murdered in her apartment. Don’t these people fear that they will be caught and hanged? Like everyone else, they too think that they will never be caught!

But no one, even we Christians can hide from God's all seeing eye or escape His righteous judgment.The Wiseman wrote in the book of Proverbs, “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death”. Shouldn’t at least the fear of God and His certain punishment keep you and I from doing wrong and committing sin? The young man Joseph of the Old Testament feared God and refused the sinful advances of Pothiphar’s seducing wife. He told her, “How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" (Gen 39.9).

A reader wrote to me, “Two members of our church on a mission trip were engaging in an illicit sexual relationship!” Can you think of anything worse - Christians, active church workers, one a married man and the other an unmarried lady, on a mission trip to win sinners and minister to saints behaving as though ‘they do not fear God? Whom are we trying to fool? We can hoodwink men but can man hoodwink God?

The problem is, ‘there is no more preaching from the pulpit of sin and judgment’. Today there is too much emphasis on God's love, favour and blessings than His holiness, righteousness and justice! Preachers must put “the fear of God” in all. We need plain preaching about God’s judgment from the Bible so that you and I will not fool with sin and hope all will be well. There must be Holy Spirit conviction and genuine repentance. The apostle Paul declared, “all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others” (2 Cor 5. 10,11).

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, put ‘the fear of God in me’ that I will tremble at the thought of sinning against You or doing anything wrong against Your Word! Amen.

Those Who Are With Us

DON'T BE AFRAID. THOSE WHO ARE WITH US ARE MORE THAN THOSE WHO ARE WITH THEM. 2 Kings 6.16.

If you are one of those Christians who has not read through the Bible, or if you find no time to read it regularly, I challenge you to take a few minutes to read today’s story from the Bible. I can assure you that you will not put the Book down until you have finished reading all the miraculous stories of the prophet Elisha's time and that of Elijah before Him!

To read these marvellous true stories from the lives of people just like us would dare us to live like them and experience God in everyday situation – ‘good and bad’ (according to our human reckoning!). The man of God, Elisha, was surrounded by the horses and chariots of the King of Aram that came to capture him.

When the servant of the man of God saw the army with horses and chariots that surrounded the city, he reacted in the usual human manner. He cried out, "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" The man of God, Elisha, who could see the invisible and supernatural, reacted differently and said, “Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them”. He had seen what his servant didn’t and couldn’t see - ‘hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around him’. God answered Elisha’s prayer and opened the young man’s eyes. He too saw what the man of God saw and his reaction changed!

I am encouraged that the man of God prayed to the Lord to open the eyes of the young man that he too could see beyond the natural and react supernaturally. Lately, our family had occasion to discuss a great tragic monitory loss we experienced several years ago. One member said that that particular incident happened to be the crucial event that affected the future of the family adversely since then. He had all the good reasons to conclude so. It was so from every human angle.

But I had many an occasion to analyse the incident and look at the pros and cons from not only the human angle but also with much spiritual insight and perception. The more I contemplated on the incident and all its implications and outcome, the more I perceived that God had supernaturally used it to bring multiplied blessings in every way to me and to our family. The fact that there were financial losses and a lot of inconveniences to the family is undeniable. But my wife and I can perceive and see, beyond the seen and physical, the unseen hand of the Almighty that blessed us because of that incident in ways beyond all our expectations and imagination. The spiritual impact it had on my life, the nation-wide and world-wide publicity it generated, and the consequent open doors for testimony and ministry it created and still continues unabated have proved clearly the workings of the hand of the Almighty! Financially too, the blessings of God have been unlimited and still continues!

Dear believer, when the situation looks bleak, you need to pray, “O LORD, open my eyes so I may see.” Only when the Lord opens your spiritual eyes can you see the invisible which will cause the visible to pale into insignificance! The physical situation may look and even remain the same but around you will be the almighty hands of God to make a way when there is no way! Keep on Believing God.

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, often I am surrounded by trouble. Open my eyes so I may see beyond my trouble and trust You to help me through. Lord! I believe; help my unbelief! Amen.

Give Our Lives For You

WE CARED SO MUCH FOR YOU, AND YOU BECAME SO DEAR TO US, THAT WE WERE WILLING TO GIVE OUR LIVES FOR YOU WHEN WE GAVE YOU GOD'S MESSAGE. 1 Thessalonians 2.8.

While in India on holiday sometime ago, I was introduced to what the local people call, ‘God’s TV channel’. It is a 24 hour Christian channel. Evangelists, preachers, pastors, singers and entertainers appear one after the other, mostly whites, blacks and a sprinkle of Indians, plying the gospel in every conceivable manner to the pagan Indians. I wondered whether the fabulous settings and Hollywood entertainment-style of presentation made it difficult for the poor natives to accept Christianity and Christ as anything but Western!

In spite of the ostentatious presentations, it was surprising that every producer relentlessly solicited for funds to maintain their programmes on the air. Yet their forerunners, centuries ago, were the self-effacing, sacrificial missionaries whom we reverence even today. They sold or gave up their all and went off to far away lands by boats and bullock carts to take the good news of God’s love to the native people. They were the true followers of the early apostolic missionaries like the apostle Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Peter, Thomas and others.

Jesus told the poor old fisher man of Galilee, Peter, who left all and followed Him, "I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life” (Lk 18.29.30). That is the kind of selfless following to which the Lord Jesus has called you and me. No one, not even TV evangelists, healers, preachers or prophets should make the sharing of the gospel of Christ, a means of enriching themselves! It makes me feel proud that my father and grandfather followed the good old missionary pattern and helped the poor Christians they ministered to instead of receiving from them! What a privilege to follow them!

It is interesting and worthy of emulation what the apostle Paul mentions in today’s passage about his way of sharing the gospel with the people. “We chose to be like children or like a mother nursing her baby. We cared so much for you, and you became so dear to us, that we were willing to give our lives for you when we gave you God's message” (vs 7,8).

You are called to serve God’s people in some ministry. I trust you have found your niche. If not find any niche and start doing something – anything! The Lord loathes those who stand idle and simply let others do everything. When you begin to serve the Lord and the people, be willing to make some sacrifice – time, talent or treasure. There will be times when, like the apostle Paul, you too may be called to ‘share your life or even give your life’ with some you may have to minister to!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, You gave Your life for me. May I be willing to share what I have and even my life with the people who may be in need. Amen.

All Created By God's Son

ALL THINGS WERE CREATED BY GOD'S SON, AND EVERYTHING WAS MADE FOR HIM. Colossians 1.16.

Our obsession with ourselves has made us very selfish. We consider that the whole universe of God must orbit around us. All people must help us and serve us. God must devote Himself to take care of us and our needs. If things do not work that way, we complain and find fault with everyone else and even God! It is good for us to learn to shift the centre from ourselves to God! Then we will get our perspective right. You must re-orientate your thinking according to God’s perspective revealed in His Word.

The greatest commandment is, ‘love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and strength” (Deu 6:5) So great was His passion for God that He taught us ‘to seek God first’. Dear believer, do you love God with such fervour and passion? Think for a moment, ‘how much time do you have for God after all your work and worries?’ Probably very little indeed. For some, none at all. We act as though God exists for us: to hear all our prayers and provide all our needs!

In today's reading, we have one of the crucial Christological passages (teaching or revelation about Christ) in the Scripture. It is not often that you get an opportunity to think solely about our Lord Jesus and his uniqueness and supremacy. So let us forget our problems and needs (God has committed Himself to care for us anyway!) and spend a little time contemplating on Our Lord Jesus Christ alone!

The apostle Paul says, “Christ is exactly like God, who cannot be seen. He is the first-born Son, superior to all creation. Everything was created by him, everything in heaven and on earth, everything seen and unseen, including all forces and powers, and all rulers and authorities. All things were created by God's Son, and everything was made for him. God's Son was before all else, and by him everything is held together. He is the head of his body, which is the church. He is the very beginning, the first to be raised from death, so that he would be above all others. God himself was pleased to live fully in his Son” (vs 15-19).

Often we think that Christ Jesus exists only to be our Saviour and Helper! God made Him so because we sinned! But the eternal purpose of God had been and still is that “HE WOULD BE ABOVE ALL OTHERS”! The apostle Peter says, “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”. Dear believer spend as much time (or more) to praise your God and Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as you do for your petitions and prayers!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, You have created me to give You praise. Let me make it a priority to love You, praise You and lift You up in my everyday life. Amen.

Don't Worry About Anything

DONT WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING, BUT PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING. WITH THANKFUL HEARTS OFFER UP YOUR PRAYERS AND REQUESTS TO GOD. Philippians 4.6.

At one time, there were so many things going on in our family and anxiety was running high! One of our young granddaughters was down with fever on her holiday with us. Three other young grandchildren were on a Christian mission trip on a far away island. One daughter-in-law with two of her children left for India on holiday to visit her parents. One son was packing up for a trip overseas. Our daughter was planning a career change. I was recovering from a flu while in the thick of publishing a book. We were planning to set up two or three websites for the benefit of believers. My son and I were busy working on setting up a laser at our surgery. There were the other usual commitments and responsibilities too. Our plates were full and overflowing. Your family is no different and most of you probably can easily relate to this!

Any one of the above is more than enough for one to worry about day and night. That is what most people do anyway! But look at what the Word of God teaches us in today’s text: “Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God”.

Don’t worry about anything! But pray for everything! This is not an isolated teaching from the Bible. The Lord Jesus taught His disciples the same thing, “do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Mt 6.31-32).

Thank God we have Him and His Word! Thank God for the faith He has given us to believe Him and His promise. We pray for everything and commit them to God. The more we pray the less we worry. Slowly faith builds up. We believe God will ‘make a way for us where there is no way!’ Until that happens we keep praying! Praying to God about our anxieties gives less time to be anxious!

Some may try to sink their worries in drink. Others try to forget them in songs like ‘Don’t worry, be happy!’ But we cast our cares on the Lord by prayer and thanksgiving! We have the promise, “The Lord cares for us” (1 Pe 5.7).

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me not to worry about anything, but pray about everything. Let me offer up my prayers and requests to You with thanksgiving. Grant me Your peace that Your Word says we cannot even understand! Amen.

God's Standard In Marriage

EVERY HUSBAND MUST LOVE HIS WIFE AS HIMSELF, AND EVERY WIFE MUST RESPECT HER HUSBAND. Ephesians 5.33.

I read in the newspaper the other day about a poor wife who was wailing and mourning about the callousness of her husband. Early in marriage they loved each other and worked together extremely hard to earn much money and become comfortable. When the going got tough, the wife left her job to take care of her children and her husband.

Pretty soon, the husband, now rich and famous, began to neglect his wife and even the children. He had his eyes set on women in the marketplace who were younger and more beautiful than his overworked and haggard wife at home! He often became irritated and angry with his wife and children and began abusing them. Soon, the unkind and unloving husband left his family and shifted in with his new flame! Husbands often put the blame on their wives saying that they stopped caring for them! While the psychologists agree that there is some truth in it, surely, all the blame cannot be put on the wives’!

I was in a taxi some years ago. The taxi driver said that he was a family man with four kids and a hardworking wife. He too worked hard to earn enough for them and to save. What he said next took me by surprise! “When I become rich, I want to have a second wife or a mistress!” I had heard that people used to do that in the olden days! But today? Strangely, once their honeymoon is over, many men harbour such wild thoughts and relish it! Our entertainment media glamourises it. Men become the victims, even Christians!

God’s Word puts love and marriage in the right perspective. It holds the relationship between husband and wife as solemn and sacred before God and man. There is no provision made for failure or divorce. It is good for atleast you and I, to take serious note of the standards of the Scripture about the marriage relationship. It will help the married and the soon to be married to have God’s view and expectations about one’s marriage. It will help us to throw out the world’s flippant view of marriage and divorce from our minds and even thoughts. It will safeguard us from the present-day scourge of extra-marital relationships, adultery, divorce and broken lives!

Listen to Jesus words, "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate" (Mt 19.4-6). Jesus had set for all times, the parameters of marriage - ‘One plus one becoming One and not one plus two or three as you like!’

The apostle Paul set the basic foundation for marriage stability and success, “every husband must love his wife as himself, and every wife must respect her husband”. The husband loving other women more than his wife for any reason is wrong and dangerous. The wife respecting her husband is becoming old-fashioned in our progressive society, but it is basic to marriage on God’s terms!

Pray with me: Dear Lord Jesus, You are very direct and strict in Your teaching about marriage. As Your disciple, I must uphold Your standard in marriage and not follow the world’s sinful trend. Help me Lord! Amen.

Kindness & Love

THE KINDNESS AND LOVE OF GOD OUR SAVIOR WAS REVEALED. Titus 3.4.

A lady who is involved in caring ministry to the poor was the speaker in our big church of many affluent members. She was relating about the thousands who lack a good meal a day in our own cities. There is poverty in every country. I was surprised to know through the media that the American Idol show collected over USD70 million for the poor in America and Africa! The Poor in America? Who would think that there are starving, homeless millions in the richest world in the world? But that is the truth!

The people of the world lack kindness and love! We, you and I, the Christians too, belong to this group! No kind words or deeds. Everyone lives for himself. At the most, one might love his immediate family members. Many would be fighting instead of forgiving and loving. People are too busy and self-centered that they have no time left to visit or do some kind deed for their own aged parents, relatives or friends.

Tragic things are happening to families everywhere. Husbands and wives, parents and children, siblings, neighbours and colleagues are all losing their love and kindness to one another in their selfish pursuit of wealth, fame, pleasure and lust! But people, even Christians, do not realise that love, joy, fellowship, peace and happiness cannot be bought by wealth and fame!

It is to a generation like ours that the apostle Paul gave this warning, “be ready to do good in every way. Tell them not to speak evil of anyone, but to be peaceful and friendly, and always to show a gentle attitude toward everyone” (vs 1,2).

Our Home Fellowship is held in our home. There are many inconveniences in opening our house for about 15 to 20 adults and a few little children, week after week, year after year! But my wife and I decided that we will do our best to make the fellowship as friendly and homely as possible. We are looked upon as foster parents anyway! Every week we would be there to genuinely welcome all with kindness and love. At the end, there is a lovely supper and the place is turned into something like a vibrant Christian club! All these little things lead to an inevitable overflow of kindness and love among the members themselves.

The secret? Simple! The kindness and love of God our Savior extended to us is revealed in us. We just pass it on to others, enriching their lives and making them happy. To us it will be total ingratitude to God and our Lord Jesus, and to our fellowmen if we ignore God’s love and kindness shown to us and hold it back from others!

Dear believer, do not hold back the love and kindness God has shown to you so generously. Take some positive efforts to pass it on to those in need so that God will see your vessel being emptied for Him to keep filling from His overflowing fullness!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, You said, “Freely you have received, freely give” (Mt 10.8). Let me freely pass on Your love and kindness, in words and action to all around me and not hold back selfishly. Amen.

Live By The Spirit

LIVE BY THE SPIRIT, AND YOU WILL NOT GRATIFY THE DESIRES OF THE SINFUL NATURE. Galatians 5.16.

Have you tried to get rid of bad habits in your life? I have done so at various stages in my life, often with little success. You and I have ‘pet sins’ that we indulge in and that are hard to overcome. They differ from stage to stage in one’s life and from person to person. But the Word of God tells us “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles/besets us” (Heb 12.1).

Have you ever felt like the apostle Paul during his early converted life? How he struggled with sin on the one side and the desire to obey the law on the other! Dear friend, if you are genuinely struggling with some sin or sinful habit, read Romans 7 and you will find company. The good company of Paul. Follow him and he will tell you all about how to shake off your besetting sins.

The problem with us is that we do not consider sin as SIN and call it SIN. But Paul did. He did not call it a ‘bad habit’ and try to excuse it. That is the first lesson Paul shares with us. Whatever is that sin against God that you have been calling by some innocent name – ‘habit’, forget it! From now on call it a sin against God!

The next thing Paul shares with you and I is, ‘stop struggling with that sin by yourself!’ That is what you have been doing. You can’t win! You have been losing all this while. How many times have you said, ‘I do not want to do it again! I will stop doing it!’ But you go on doing it, only to feel sad and angry at yourself. Paul knew it all when he cried out, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7.24,25).

Jesus Christ gives you victory over your besetting, entangling sin! But Paul says, “live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature”. How do you live by the Spirit of God? Keep in step with the Holy Spirit! (vs. 16,24). That’s it! How do you keep in step with the Spirit? Read God’s Word everyday. Take time to pray. Tell the Holy Spirit you want to walk in step with Him. Do only what the Holy Spirit will do. Go only where the Holy Spirit will go. He won’t take you to the places of your ‘temptation’. The Holy Spirit will always alert you and tell you what is right, the moment you face any temptation. If you do not listen to His still small voice and try to argue and justify the situation, you are in deep trouble. Quickly respond to the promptings of the spirit. If you are thus careful to walk with the Spirit, not only will you not repeat your sin but the sin will leave you!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me to be careful to keep in step with Your Holy Spirit everyday. Thank You Father for the victory through Jesus Christ. Amen.

May Your Will Be Done

MY FATHER IF IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR THIS CUP TO BE TAKEN AWAY UNLESS I DRINK IT, MAY YOUR WILL BE DONE." Matthew 26.42.

While reading through the gospels during the passion week, I was confronted with the above prayer of our dear Lord Jesus to His Father. Once again the old dilemma faced me. Should I add ‘if it is God’s will’ to ALL my prayers just because Jesus did it 'once' in Gethsemane? Over the centuries, we have floundered over this simple prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

I come from a very pious Christian heritage where the old saints taught us that whatever you pray and ask, you must add ‘if it is Your will!’ More so if the request is serious or important! If not, it is tantamount to not submitting to God. I could understand their teaching and logic. But when I began to study the Scriptures myself, I wondered why I should follow it! Didn't Jesus promise, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you."(Jn 15.7).

By providence, I now worship with Christians who are a bit more aggressive in their faith. We take the promises of God literally. We believe that ‘when you ask, you must fully believe that you will receive’. So you need not add, ‘if it is Your will’ to any prayer. That is of course unless you know that what you ask is against God’s will! To add to all your prayers, ‘if it is God’s will’ is to cast doubt in your mind when you pray!

But dear believer, when you pray for yourself or your parents or children when they are seriously ill, do you add, "If it is God's will" please heal? Definitely NOT. You would cry out for healing and deliverance and if I may add, without any consideration for God's will. That is human nature. That is what Jesus too did as He suffered like a human! No where in the Bible does it teach us to add ‘if it is God’s will’ to our prayers. If you do that, you will lose your earnestness in asking and limit its effectiveness. You might as well not pray but leave it all to God’s will.

Why then did Jesus finish His most urgent prayer three times with, “Yet not as I will, but as you will?" There’s a simple biblical answer. When Jesus came, He knew God’s will for Him was to die on the cross. But His suffering in Gethsemane was so great that as a human being He prayed to the Father, “if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me”. May I reverently venture to say, Jesus was asking for something He knew was 'opposed or against the will of God’. So in reverence and submission, Jesus prayed , "Father, if it is your will"!

I have been praying for seventy decades. From my experience I have learned this practical lesson. “When you pray, pray as if the answer depends on your will and fervency! (Mt 7.7) After you have prayed, trust that the answer depends on God’s will which is perfect and good and acceptable” (Rom 12.2). When God gives, it is according to His will. Thank Him! When He does not give, you know it was not God’s will. Submit to His will and still praise God. But do not forget that sometimes God condescends to change His will according to our fervent prayer. God said King Hezekiah would die of illness. But he cried and prayed. And God extended his life by fifteen years!! (2 Ki 20.5). So keep on praying and trusting God.

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, You promised, “Ask and you shall receive”. Yet it is Your will to give or to withhold. You alone know what is good and perfect and acceptable. Help me to accept both in faith. Amen.