Er... Is this the shortcut to Glory?

Have you ever been tempted to take a shortcut? Have you ever had to tell a ‘small’ lie to glaze over the fact that you have been slack? It could be anything. What springs up in your mind?

Jesus has offered us the ultimate prize of glory. However, the road there is one of sacrifice and total dependence on the Holy Spirit. Jesus experienced it Himself when He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness after His 40 day fast. Three times, the devil tried to get him to compromise: “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. The father of lies tried to entice Jesus with a shortcut to bogus glory. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." Was Satan really able to give the Son of God all the kingdoms of the world? Of course not, it was all a huge ruse. Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' Jesus had the RIGHT answer for him. After all, He was the Son of God! Thankfully for all of us, the devil did not succeed in this mission!

But you see, Jesus had already been promised all the kingdoms of the earth by his Heavenly Father. However, itwas at a very high price; the price of his own blood, sweat and tears. The wonderful thing is that this was a price Jesus fully intended to pay! He shed his blood and died for the salvation of the whole world because we were helplessly lost and separated in our sin. You and I are where we are today because of the OBEDIENCE and precious sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. He chose glory, but He got it the hard way. 1 Pet 3:18 says For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, and so we can be saved! If you have not yet made use of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross by handing over control of your life to Him today, you are not yet on the road to glory. Jesus is coming soon! He will surely come and take all His loved ones to be with Him in Glory. Give your life to Jesus today!

THE SON OF GOD

The Easter season is just over, but I want you all to know how it was in the Jerusalem streets so long ago. Why did Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a donkey? To show humility? Maybe. To keep a low profile? Well... So he wouldn't be seen as a warrior? These are all true, but there was a reason every Israelite could identify with. In those days, the sons of the King rode on mules. Everyone knew that - 1 Sam 13:29 So Absalom's men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered. Then all the king's sons got up, mounted their mules and fled. Jesus was telling the whole world that He was the Son of a King!

The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! The Son of God had His triumphant entry indeed!

INTERCESSOR OR GRUMBLER?

Did you know your prayers are incredibly important? When God is about to move, He always needs His people to pray. James 5:17

God told Abraham that his descendants would be strangers in a foreign land for 400 years. (Gen 15:13) At the end of four hundred years, God needed intercessors to cry to Him. The Israelites did groan in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God (Ex. 2:23). In the next chapter, God tells Moses, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people. I have heard them crying out...” (Ex. 3:7). The children of Israel finally made their Exodus into the desert after 430 years (Ex 12:40). God honours your intercession.

After the Exile, due to the disobedience of the children of Israel, it took a godly man called Daniel who remembered the prophecy of the prophet Jeremiah that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. He began to pray. Read his prayer in Daniel 9. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! God did hear and act. He raised up Ezra and Nehemiah to rebuild the city. The Israelite returned safely to their motherland after one man prayed! God honoured his intercession.

Today the Lord asks, “Who will stand in the gap on behalf of .........”. Fill in the blanks. In Ezekiel 22:30 he could not find anyone and so destroyed the land. In Numbers 11, however, God destroyed the people who grumbled against Him. Stand in the gap for that situation today! The Lord himself will honour your intercession.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

I thought I was going teach a bible lesson to the students of New Horizon School for children with intellectual difficulties, but they ended up giving me a good bible lesson!

Happiness, love and acceptance is the order of the day at New Horizon. There are many different forms of disability there. Some are confined to wheelchairs while others can only make muffled sounds in the form of speech. However, nobody is despised, nobody is looked down upon. Only last week, I was touched by how one little girl run to give each of her friends a hug as they came to school that morning. It didn’t matter what they looked like or how they acted, she loved them and wanted to show it! 1 Peter 4:8 came to mind: Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

How often do we who are ‘normal’ constantly notice the differences of others and use those differences to criticise and create division among ourselves? Even children will not play with those who are perceived to be of a different social class than they are. Jesus told his disciples, “A new command I give you. Love one another.” John 13:34 If these are the words of the Master Himself, what have we to do but to obey!

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Pet. 1:22

THE GOD WHO ANSWERS BY FIRE!

We’ve all heard the famous story of Elijah and his contest with the prophets of Baal, and how they agreed that the God who answers by fire is the Lord! Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire—he is God." Then all the people said, "What you say is good." 1 Kings 18:24

I have often wondered how come time and again God is referred to as the God who answers by fire, even though there was only one incident in the bible. I was excited to find two other instances I had never noticed before the other day. God answered King David by fire on the day he repented of his sin of counting the fighting men of Israel without inquiring of the Lord. A plague had killed seventy thousand people in Israel and a prophet had been sent to David with instructions on what to do – he was to build an altar. When he did, David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. 1Chron 21:26

The other incident was after King Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord, and the Ark of the covenant was being brought in. When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 Chron 7:1

These were three men who eagerly sought the Lord their God with all their hearts, and God answered them by fire! Indeed, he is a God who answers by fire. Why will He not answer you, a man or woman who is eagerly seeking the Lord by fire as well? He can and He will do it! What impossible answer by fire do you need from the Lord today? Trust in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

GIVE TILL IT HURTS!

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus! Phil 4:19 Have you ever quoted this verse at a time when you were in need? It’s good to quote the bible at appropriate times, but actually, this verse was not meant for everyone. It is directed at givers; those with generous hearts! Paul was talking to the Philippians here, because they had supported him through the difficult times. You can add yourself if you are a giver.

Note the preceding verses in Phil 4:15-18: Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received ... the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

Do you need money to fulfil a pressing need in your life? Where is the evidence of your giving? It doesn’t matter whether you have a lot of money or very little, no grouping is exempt. God loves a cheerful giver, and then He will surely meet ALL your needs according to His riches in glory.

Mighty Man of War!

Why did God choose the people He did to do the mighty works that He wanted to do? Moses, Gideon, David, Saul (just to name a few)? Why did Jesus choose the disciples He did? Take a close look at them: Moses was a stammerer. Gideon was a coward, David was a despised shepherd in his family. Saul was a Benjaminite (the smallest tribe of Israel), and from the clan that was the least of those.

Surely God should have chosen an orator with a strong voice to lead the people of Israel. But hear what he said to Moses: “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say" Ex. 4:11,12. God saw Gideon the coward as a ‘mighty warrior’. All the disciples the Master chose were ‘unschooled, ordinary men’, and yet they turned the world upside down! Over and over again, in my daily experiences as well as the Word of God, I see the truth of this scripture: But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 1 Cor. 1:27

What did you say is wrong with you again? Did I catch you saying that God cannot use someone like you? Never think that way again!! What was the difference in these men? “...they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”Acts 4:13

Jesus makes all the difference! Amen.

Testing, Testing, Anybody There?

Have you ever had the experience of tuning into your small transistor radio, when suddenly you hear an echo in the distance, meaning that someone nearby is listening to the same station as you are? I’ve had that experience quite a number of times. Whereas maybe you did hear the sound in the distance before you tuned in, it only became meaningful when you switched on your transistor radio.

Well, that’s a beautiful picture of how God speaks to his children. The radio in the distance is God’s voice, and the small transistor radio in your hand is the bible. Without tuning in (that is, reading your bible consistently) you cannot hear God’s voice. John 1:1 says that ... the Word was with God, and the Word was God. God’s word is a part of Himself, and you cannot separate the two from each other. So go on, snuggle down in the sofa with your God, and the next time you have a vital decision to take, hear Him speak clearly to you!

Do you trust God? No, I mean really...?

Do you trust God? The ready answer of most would be 'Yes'. But do you really trust God, especially when He is leading you down an unknown and windy path? Here is what God asked one of His prophets to do. "Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel.!!! And he did it as well! Can you guess who it was? Read all about it in Ezekiel 4. Now this would have been a real challenge for me. I would have questioned and questioned, and finally come to the conclusion that it could not be God speaking to me.

How badly do you want to follow Him? Would you throw all caution to the winds if the going got too tough for you? If God told you to become a modern day John the Baptist, eating locusts and wild honey, and risking the condemnation of the whole world, would you do it? If He told you to give all your worldly wealth away, would you still follow, completely trusting Him to work things out for your good? If God told you to go and be best friends with the very one who stabbed you in the back, and you heard Him clearly, would you go ahead, trusting in the goodness of His name?

Sometimes God tells us to do very difficult things, and it takes real faith and trust to know that everything is going to be alright afterwards. This is what Ps 9:10 says: Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.