AUTHENTIC PRAYER.

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.” (Luke 18:13-14a)
 This man came into the church remorseful and unmindful of whoever may be around watching. He stood with his eyes cast down and all he could say is, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. He was aware of his helplessness and he decided to be naked before God. He saw himself on the lowest possible level, a sinner that no other man was like! He believed that without God he could do absolutely nothing to help his position.
He did not come by way of any merit whatsoever. He was penitent but did not come to God from that perspective, he saw nothing good about himself, nothing to lean on, but God. How did he come to this place? Exactly the opposite of the Pharisee who Jesus spoke of earlier. He did not look down on someone else below him, he looked up to God. He judged upward, to God. He saw no one but God, he heard nothing but the high standard of God.  Lord, I’m the sinner. I’ll never be any better in myself, I’m simply a sinner, I need your mercy!
Authentic prayer acknowledges only God’s adequacy. That is the point held on to by this tax collector. Our help must be in God. This man looked for help nowhere else. He said, God be merciful to me. In that word ‘have mercy’ is hidden the wonderful story of Jesus, the cross and resurrection. He used a theological word which means be propitiated to me, that is, having had your justice satisfied, Lord, now show me your love. And he believed that God’s mercy was available, for, Jesus said, he went home justified. He was changed, he was different, he was made whole. He laid hold of what God said, and believed him.
This is where Jesus leaves us. Perhaps for the first time we can say, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. Even after years of Christian life, of being a pastor or a deacon or the most dutiful worker in the church, we can start again, and say, Lord, let me reckon upon Your faithfulness to me, let me count upon Your willingness to be in me and work through me to make my life all that it ought to be.
Be merciful to me O Lord for I am the sinner.

“COME TO ME”

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 

Like a backpack full of bricks being carried everywhere, are you weighed down mentally and emotionally by issues and worries of life? Has your life becomes a struggle and dreadful? Are you pressured by getting involved in rat race? Is care and responsibility weighing you down? Jesus’ presence offers release and refreshing to those who are tired and overburdened and He is inviting us to come into His presence where rest and refreshing and new life can be accessed. He says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (V. 29). When we answer this call, Jesus releases us from the burdens that have weighed us down. God never puts one under pressure. His yoke is easy and light. (V.30)
When we sense that the care and worries of life are beginning to weigh us down, we must reevaluate what we’re doing. Taking stock of what is in your backpack is a big step. We are often overburdened by imposed responsibilities others placed on us, self inflicted responsibility that pressures us and things that are not of God. If so, accept the Lord’s invitation to be released. God never uses guilt, condemnation, or pressure to motivate us. Hebrews 4:15 says “For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses”
God deals with us as individuals. He never compares our growth with Him to the progress of others. His willingness to relate to us brings liberty and removes all competition. In Second Corinthians 10:12 Paul warns us of the foolishness of comparing ourselves with one another. He said, “Of course we would not dare classify ourselves or compare ourselves with those who rate themselves so highly. How stupid they are! They make up their own standards to measure themselves by, and they judge themselves by their own standards!” (TEV).
There is no competition with the Lord. He permits us to live and learn at our own rate, and allows others the same privilege. There is no pressure to be or do something to win God’s approval and you do not need people’s approval. His way is easy and light. The Lord never puts pressure on us to perform! Without the added stress of performance we’re able to discover the destiny for our lives.
Jesus makes one simple request: “Come to Me!”

When we come tired and burdened, He will relieve and refresh us. When we come heavy-laden and weary, He gives us rest. He gives us ease and blessed quiet.

“WHEN YOU FEEL SO POWERLESS “

“I will speak of the Lord, He is is my refuge and fortress, in Him I will trust.”
Many times it appears that the forces raging against us are so much more powerful than us. It is a time when  we come face-to-face with something we can’t fix and it like drowning may likely be the result. That is what happens when  we are under the weight of a daunting and overwhelming issues of life. There are three persons you should speak to, yourself, others or God. Self effort under this situation is doomed to be help for the arm of flesh will fail.  Turning to man may be an option but the Bible says “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in humans.” Pa 118:8. The only one to turn to is God. That explains why the psalmist says “I will speak to the Lord ………’
Speaking to the Lord means declaring the Word to the Lord in prayer. This was the approach of Jeremiah when the people of God were confronted by the most powerful empire of its time – Babylon. In this overwhelming difficult and powerless situation, Jeremiah turned to the Lord, speaking to the Lord by declaring the word, ‘….I am against you, O destroying mountain, …. I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain”   (Jer. 51:25); “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and male goats.” (Jer. 51:40); Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, declares the Lord. Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth” (48-49). Zechariah too in Zechariah 4:7 say “Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: …”
Jeremiah’s message was this: God is all-powerful. ‘By his power he made earth. His wisdom gave shape to the world. He crafted the cosmos’. This all-powerful God is on your side: ‘I’m on your side, taking up your cause’. Therefore he says, ‘Don’t lose hope. Don’t ever give up’ (v.15, 36, 46). 
When you feel powerless and overwhelmed, fond out what God’s Word says about your situation, believe it and declare it. And because God’s Word cannot return to Him void (Isaiah 55:11), you will see what you believe and confess come to pass. The Babylonian empire, which seemed so powerful collapsed – like every other empire before or since, but God’s people not only survived, they continued to grow and flourish. Every ‘Babylonic siege over your life shall collapse and you will grow and flourish.
DO YOU FEEL SO POWERLESS, IS THE SITUATION BECOMING UNBEARABLE AND INEXPLICABLE, SPEAK THE WORD, YOU WILL SEE THE MOUNTAIN MOVING.

“MEDITATING ON THE WORD”

“I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation” (Psalm 119:99).
Transcendental meditation, as eastern religions is often called, is not same with biblical meditation. It is dangerous and actually opens up one’s mind for Satanic attack as it is found in New Age thinking. Biblical meditation consists of reflective thinking usually on a specific subject to discern its meaning or significance or a plan of action. Psalm 63:6 says “When I remember Thee on my bed, I meditate on Thee in the night watches.” When we begin to focus or pondering on the word of God, we allow the Word to mould our thoughts and activities and by so doing we will start moving into a spiritual, life-giving understanding of truth from God. Meditating in the Word of God is one of the greatest keys to obtaining and understanding truth in our lives. It fill our thoughts with the thoughts of God, to allow ourselves to be consumed with the things God has said. When we become consumed with what He has said, it becomes effortless to do the things He said to do.
David lists understanding as one of the benefits we will obtain from meditating on God’s Word – “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation” (Psalm 119:99).
“The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:130).God never intended for meditation to merely produce more knowledge. Instead, His true intention was that after meditating His Word we will receive a greater understanding of God, of His ways, and how to activate His Word. Once we begin a regular habit of meditating the Word of God and not just reading it, we will receive insight and an understanding of how to walk in the principles that He reveals to us.
Joshua 1:8 is a classic scripture on the subject of meditation. It describes what will happen when we make a daily practice of meditating on God’s Word: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
One purpose of meditation is to put us in a position that empowers us to “do” God’s Word, not just hear it. Joshua said meditating on God’s Word day and night will cause us to “observe to do” all that is written. As we meditate on the promise of God, we will see things in the Word that we have never seen before, even though we may have read it before. And the revelation knowledge that comes from meditation will enable us to act according to what we have seen.
True meditation will bring us to the place of responding to God’s Word with action. And true Bible faith demands that we take action. Begin meditating on God’s Word and expect to see what to do about the situations you face today.

 

“DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?”

Jesus said to her “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”  (John 11:25-26)

 

Questions of faith are answered in times of uncertainty, when there is confusion all around one. “Do you believe this?” It’s a question Jesus asked Martha which demanded an answer. It’s a question we can fairly assume God asks all of us. Do we believe?  All of eternity changes by the answer you give to this question. To refuse belief is to cast our lot with ourselves. It’s to commit our eternal destiny to chance or to our own ability to earn whatever we desire. It’s to go our own way believing we know better than Jesus and His teachings.

 

To believe, is to admit we are not in control except Jesus. It’s to confess a need for God’s forgiveness and admit our limitations to handle life on our own. It’s more than just accepting the facts about Jesus but a life-altering change of attitudes and actions attempting to respond to the way which Jesus calls. Every person answers the question, “Do you believe this?”

 

The timing of Jesus’ asking Martha the question is fascinating. It was asked on one of her darkest days. Her brother, Lazarus

had died despite her efforts to save him. Martha had sent word to Jesus hoping that Jesus would be able to do something before it was too late. Jesus was slower than Martha had hoped and didn’t arrive until Lazarus had already been buried for four days. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” Martha told him. They are words of tremendous faith but equally that of bitterness. She knew Jesus held a power no one else had. Had Jesus been earlier in coming, she believed that He could have changed the outcome for Lazarus. Her statement was one of sorrow over timing, not anger over inability.

 

In the midst of her pain, Jesus reveals himself as being even more powerful than Martha realized. The finality of death didn’t apply to Jesus. When He is around, time never runs out. Jesus explained to Martha what He could do. Yet before he did anything, he questioned Martha’s faith. He didn’t ask the question after he raised Lazarus from the dead. He didn’t wait until the story was complete. Right in the middle of the situation when the outcome looked the most bleak was Jesus’ timing to ask the question.

 

It was true for Martha and, so often, it’s true for us. Questions of faith are most often asked and answered in times of doubt.

We always want more information. We would like to delay until we have a greater understanding. We want to know the rest of the story. But before the outcome is revealed, before the details fully unfold, we are asked to declare where we stand! Do you believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?

” RUNNING THE RACE OF LIFE”

Life generally is described as “like a marathon, you can’t stop, you have to keep going. Every runner particularly long-distance runner like life journey has been likened to, requires training, endurance and discipline, in order to finish, finish well and not make ship wreck of their race.  We have the promise of heaven to back us up in the journey of life but we have a part to play. We need to:
*    stay on track and keep running
*    run the race with perseverance.
STAY ON TRACK AND KEEP RUNNING – Ps 125: 1-5 
Continuous effort (not strength or intelligence) is the key to unlocking your potential ~Winston Churchill.
Greatness in the kingdom is birthed on the platform of endurance.
The Psalmist points us to the fact that the key to endurance lies in trusting God. This is not based on wishful thinking, but on the character and protection of the God in whom we trust. He is ever there for, above and around you. His support is something you can rely on ‘both now, and forevermore’.
The psalmist warns against turning off the track: ‘Those who turn to crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evildoers’. When we wander off the path we lose our peace. The psalmist’s prayer is, ‘peace be upon Israel’.
RUN THE RACE WITH PERSEVERANCE – Hebrews 12:1- 13
There is a race ‘marked out’ for you that you are urged to ‘run with perseverance’. In this race, you have great encouragement. You are ‘surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses of men and women of faith. They blazed the trail by reason of faith and are still alive although dead by reason of their testimonies
Running this race is not without its difficulties and challenges. There are things that can trip us up along the way. We have to ‘throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles’.
The key to running the race successfully is to ‘fix our eyes on Jesus’. Good athletes keep their eyes fixed on the finish line. Jesus is ‘the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God’ (v.2). The key to your endurance is to ‘consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart’.
Jesus ‘never lost sight of where he was headed and He by so doing is urging every believer to look ahead at the goal rather than looking down at your situation. We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Running a successful race requires training. Training is hard work; it requires discipline and can even be quite painful.
Keep running the race: ‘So don’t sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! And you will be surprised the extent success that will come your way.

 

Thirsting and Hungering for God’s Presence.

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalms 42:1-2 NKJV)
Moses knew the importance of God’s presence. He felt they would live a life of defeat if they walked without God’s presence. Hence he told God that they would only wish to leave the place they were in if God’s presence would be with them (Exodus 33:15). Jesus said it is in the presence of God that we could only bear fruit if we abide in Him (John 15:4). David longed and thirsted for God’s presence (Ps 42:1-2). If there is one place that Isaiah got transformed completely and set him on the sincere path of serving God, then it was when he came into God’s presence. His sins were exposed, he felt so dirty and cried out for God’s mercy to change him. God touched him with a live coal and he was able to change (Isaiah 6).
Every believer is called into an intimate relationship and this can only be attained by thirsting and hungering for His presence like the patriarchs of old did. When we get physically hungry, many of us begin to look for something to appease the hunger. Hunger prompts us to seek something to fill us up, even if it is something that is not really good for us. Same with God presence, hunger for God is the longing to encounter Him, to be with Him, and to be filled with His Spirit. When we are hungry for God and His Presence, we will do whatever it takes to get close to Him.
The place of intimacy is where we will catch, not only the revelation He wants to give us, but we will also catch His heart. When we hunger and thirst for God, we will seek Him, and when we seek Him, we will be filled and empowered. As we behold the fiery eyes of Jesus in his presence, the Holy Spirit transforms us from one glory to another. In God’s presence we receive mercy, healing, revelation of our sins, purging of our sins, joy, favour, honour, glory, protection from the wicked and evil tongues, rest among many others. Let us arise and become the Davids in our generation who will not seek the hand of God all the time but will seek God for who He is. We need people who will go after God. God is looking for people who will know that the reason they are created in this earth is to praise God.

“GOD IS WAITING”

“Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations.

God on His own prompting had given a promise to Abraham earlier on but just like you or me, Sarah and Abraham may have thought, “God doesn’t understand our circumstances; his commandments are good guidelines, but they simply don’t work when it comes to the nitty-gritty of life.” And so the couple decided to ‘fulfil the promise’ by their method. And so Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

 

Yet the promise had been that Sarah would be the one to deliver a son for Abraham; and in the agenda nothing has been fulfilled and so the wait continued, long after reaching the point of desperate frustration, the place where you say, “God, I can’t go on any longer!”

 

Have you been there like the widow knocking on the judge’s door?

You pray day and night but it’s like heaven upon you is closed and the door remains shut (Luke 18). Sarah and Abraham knocked on that door for another fourteen years! (Genesis 16:16; Genesis 21:5).
While Abraham and Sarah waited, God made a covenant with Abram, changing his name to Abraham, which means “father of many.” And he changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, saying she would be the mother of nations and among her off-spring would be kings (Genesis 17: 15-16).

 

Then God sent three mysterious visitors to tell Abraham that Sarah would provide him a son within the year. Sarah laughed, not believing God was about to give birth to his promise (Genesis 18). This time around, they were totally and wholly dependent upon God to fulfill his promise. Not dependent because they’d obediently submitted everything to God, but totally dependent because they’d exhausted every other possibility.

 

And that’s often why God delays. He’s waiting on us to be ready for him. God opened Sarah’s womb so she could bear Abraham a son in his old age, at the time appointed by God (Genesis 21:2).

 

There is nothing you need that God can’t provide. You don’t know what you’re going to need the rest of this year and the rest of your days. But whatever it is, God has the power to supply it. The Bible says this in Philippians 4:19: “My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”

God has unlimited resources, He is waiting for you to ask Him.

 

The Marah Tree

“Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet” (Exodus 15:23-25 NKJV).

 

The passage is a powerful example of God opening our eyes to His availability. Just after the Israelites had been delivered from Pharaoh’s army, they went into the desert where they had no water. God led them to the waters of Marah which was bitter and deadly and therefore not good for drinking. But why will the good God do that? I believe it is show them His sufficiency, availability and relevance in their lives no matter the situation or circumstance they may find themselves.

 

We may have been faced with “bitter waters” many times in our lives. Situations, problems, or tragedies will arise to challenge our walk with God. The Holy Spirit has come to provide the wisdom, counsel, or might we need to turn those waters of life from bitter to sweet! God told Moses to take the tree and put it into the water. Moses’ obedience brought a miracle, and the miracle brought a revelation: God did not want them to drink bitter waters. He wanted to reveal their hearts in order for their hearts be changed where needed. The experience revealed that while Moses was God centred, Israel was not and that God is a good God; and Israel needed to know that. If they would simply obey Him, He would care for them.

 

Unfortunately, even after the great miracles, Israel would not continue to walk with God. They refused to listen to His instructions. Psalm 81 opens us into God’s heart as He was reaching out to His nation. “But My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels” (Ps. 81:11-12 NKJV). Israel would not heed the counsel of God and no wonder they wandered in the wilderness. The Psalms tells us what would been the resultant effects had Israel heeded the counsel of God. “Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you” (vv. 13-16).

 

Their experience could have been much different. If they had learned the lesson from the bitter waters of Marah, they would have seen how to reach out for counsel and wisdom from Jehovah God. Counsel came to them as it does to us. The tree at Marah represents the Branch: Jesus Christ. He will turn the bitter waters of our lives into sweet.

 

May the tests of life bend us towards Jesus, that we might open ourselves to Him at every  new depths, heeding His word and experiencing His healing. By the grace of God, may we make the journey and know His healing that we might live the Jesus life. Amen.

GOD KEEPS RECORDS.

You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your Book? (Psalm 56.8 NKJV)
God is represented as having records of men, of their works, and of God’s dealings with them.
The infinite and eternal God is a personal God and He relates to everyone individually. He knows all things, and has a record of all human conduct, including thoughts, words, acts, and motives. In the above passage, David referenced a book belonging to God: Book of Remembrance meant for every believer. Malachi informs us that “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name. (Malachi 3:16 NKJV). This book holds every act of faithful service done for the Lord. This book is directly connected with another very important book called the Book of Life (Revelation 3:5; 20:15). If a name is removed from the Book of Life, that person’s good deeds will also be removed from the Book of Remembrance.
These two books will become handy during the time of the judgment, “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). Satan will stand to accuse us before God that we are not worthy of eternal life. He will point to all of our sins and lay our faults in the worst possible light, declaring that we don’t deserve any more than he does to be saved. Revelation 12:10 calls Satan the “accuser of the brethren…which accused them before our God day and night.” Jesus does not excuse our sins, but rather points to the immortalized record of our lives and shows Satan that every one of those sins have been confessed and forgiven by Him, that His blood covers them and only our good deeds remain. This is very good news for us! “……… but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20b).
But as we rejoice, we must also remember not to take the mercy of God and His grace for granted by trying to cover up or ignore our sins. They must be confessed and forsaken. John emphasised that “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (Rev. 21:27)
Sins that have not been repented of and forsaken will not be pardoned and blotted out of the record, but will stand as a witness against us in the judgment.
May we search our hearts sincerely and make things right with God so that our life’s story may be shared throughout the endless ages.