Are You Content with Your Spiritual Condition?

Good morning.

The human being is a highly intelligent and innovative being. Most of us constantly look for something to interest us. We have all kinds of hobbies, sports and entertainment to keep our active minds occupied. In our careers we always aim higher and have lofty ambitions. We are not easily content – in fact we constantly want more.

However, when it comes to a relationship with the Lord, we easily are content with just doing our religious duty. To some of us being religious is a completion of the perfect life. We have our financial fortunes growing, our children have their model lives, our homes are tastefully decorated and our careers are doing well. Being religious just completes the picture of a dream life, since it ensures that we will have a secured eternity as well.

Paul the Apostle, who had been tremendously fruitful in Christ, seemed to have turned this around just the other way. In Philippians 4:12 he stated with regard to his material needs: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

However in Philippians 1:9-11 he wrote: “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Does this point to being content in our walk with Christ? No, on the contrary he coupled a growing knowledge and insight to love. How can this be? Isn’t love just doing some service at church or in the community – a practical and giving gesture? It is, but our ultimate goal is to show people who God is. In His prayer for the disciples in John 17:3-4 Jesus said: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”

In our secular lifestyles we can hardly have enough, but how about our relationship with the Lord. Do we have a constant hunger to know Him? There is a difference between knowing about God and knowing Him. When I first met my wife I knew about her. I knew her features, how her voice sounds and after talking with her for a little while I knew some of her interests, her world vision and so on. But it was only after I have walked with her for some years, with us testing one another, that I know her – what turns her on and off, what I should and shouldn’t do in her presence, and so on.

Jesus said that eternal life is to know God. Knowing about God is not sufficient, since James 2:19 tells us: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” Knowing the triune God is to seek Him, spending time with Him, going willingly through the trials and tribulations that He uses to help us discover ourselves, and to deny ourselves so He could become more and us less (John 3:30). Only those who are set apart and know Him will see Him, since without holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). In fact, the depth of our current relationship with the Lord will just proceed in heaven.

As we spent time with the Lord, suffering through the tests He puts on our path, we will gain more knowledge of Him who is love and grow in our depth of insight into His ways. It is only when we see ourselves in the light of His glory and love that we will have insight into our real condition, and only then will we be able to work at changing ourselves to be become like Him - pure and blameless, filled with the fruit of righteousness, to the glory and praise of God.

Jesus was without sin, but this was not what pleased His Father. It was because He has brought Him glory on earth by completing the work He gave Him to do (John 17:4).

Thank you, Lord that through Jesus’ sacrifice I am also without sin in your eyes. Help me to know you and complete the work you gave me to do.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

What Happens to Idle Hands?

Good morning.

In the previous message we spoke about discovering ourselves through trials and tribulations. We have also learnt in the past few messages that sin is much more than just disobeying the Ten Commandments. Jesus’ commands that He issued during His teaching on earth and through the Apostles’ teaching are more comprehensive and stricter, and deliberately disobeying them is regarded as sin, which hampers our relationship with the Lord and will cause us not to see God due to unholy living (Hebrews 12:14).

We know that many Christians rely heavily on the teachings about God’s grace, but if that is all that the gospel is about, we can tear out and burn most of the New Testament, which gives a lot of instruction and commands about what we need to do to please the Lord.

The sinful nature and Satan eagerly await every opportunity to get us to sin and disobey the Lord. There is the story of a man, called Mike who got a job on the railways during those years, and as a benefit got a house next to the railway track. Concerned about the noise of the trains, he approached one of the current residents of the area and asked how much the noise of the trains actually bothered them. The neighbour answered that it did bother in the beginning, but after two weeks you get used to it. In that case, Mike said, he will move in two weeks later.

We tend to avoid the nagging awareness-, and ignore the Holy Spirit’s conviction that living only for our own comfort, being only busy with meeting our own needs, only keeping the Lord as crisis centre, doing our religious duty and so on is as much sin as for example stealing and adultery.

The idiom states that ‘the devil finds work for idle hands’, meaning that if we have nothing to do, we are usually tempted to do wrong things. This is very true in real life, but even more so in spiritual life. If we do not have purpose with regard to ‘seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness’ (Matthew 6:33), doing Jesus’ commandments so He could reveal Himself to us (John 14:21 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2014:21&version=NIV1984), and many more instructions in the Bible, the devil and the sinful nature will find something to fill that space, such as ‘how-to’ directions to selfish living. What I am saying is that we need to live for the Lord and for Him only. If we do not determine in our hearts to hear from the Lord every day what He wants us to do regarding His requirements and do it (Kingdom interests), Satan and our sinful nature will make sure our time is taken up by other worldly interests.

We are not proclaiming a super spiritual life here. To anybody born into Christ, Christ is their life, which is why He said in John 14:6: “I am the way the truth and the life.” We are pilgrims, ambassadors, soldiers – call it what you wish – from the Kingdom of heaven, resident in a foreign country called earth. Jesus prayed in John 17:14-16 for those who love and follow Him: “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it,” and we read in John 15:18-19: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” Where do you, in your relationship with the Lord, fit in? Our identity, purpose and destiny are heaven. Our sinful nature, however, attach us to this world and Satan uses it to keep us attached if we do not decidedly live out what we are – Kingdom ambassadors.

Lord, please help me to live and work in obedience to you, so that my hands will not be found idle.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Discover Yourself

Good morning.

We all live a lie! That may be put a bit harsh, but the word of God does say in Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Man is by nature very crafty to twist and bend life the way they want it. We easily justify our actions, interpret the Bible to suit ourselves, pretend we live in certain ways as to deceive people into believing certain attributes about us, often act in ways to turn circumstances to our advantage and use people for our benefit. Maybe you feel now that I generalise a lot – well if the cap fits, wear it.

The Lord told Samuel when Samuel had to identify one of Jessie’s sons as the next king to be anointed: “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart,” (1 Samuel 16:7). So who are we bluffing? Talking of David; why was David called a man after God’s own heart? It was because David realised he couldn’t fool the Lord and often had a broken and contrite heart before the Lord. We only need to read his psalms to see his heart.

He concluded Psalm 139 with these words: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” (verses 23-24). Have you prayed these words before, meaning it? I would be careful if I were you. We don’t know ourselves and easily deceive ourselves, but the Lord means business with us and His ultimate goal is to get us to see Him, for us to be in His presence. The only way for us to be in that position is to be holy, set aside for God, since according to Hebrews 12:14 “without holiness no one will see the Lord”, and this is the Lord’s ultimate goal for every single individual who submits themselves to it.

Yes, the Lord only works with the willing vessels who are prepared to be changed and refined unto holiness, which is why Philippians 2:12-13 says: “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” The words ‘continue to work out your own salvation’ indicates our determined decision to work together with the Lord to get where He wants us to be.

We don’t know our hearts, for our hearts deceive us. “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known,” (1 Corinthians 13:12). The Lord knows us fully and His ultimate goal is for us to know ourselves fully, for only if we know who we really are we can forget about ourselves and focus on the Lord.

The way we discover ourselves is through trials and tests. How would you know how far you can run on your level of fitness if you do not start running and test yourself? How would you know how you would behave under high pressure if you are not put in that situation? How would you know whether you would have the faith to wait upon the Lord in difficult circumstances if you don’t end up in such circumstances?

Some of us allow sin in our lives too easily, which hinder our relationship with the Lord. If the Lord does not allow the consequences of sin to shake our lives, how will we ever discover that we cannot play cat and mouse with the King of kings?

To see the Lord requires holiness – complete devotion. In such a relationship is no place for any idols and the only way we will discover what the idols are that keep us from being holy, is when these idols are smoked out by the pressure of trials and tribulation. That is why the comfortable church in countries controlled by Money tends to stagnate, and the church in persecuted and poor countries prospers spiritually.

Lord, please allow trials and tribulations to reveal me.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Being Alert Equals Life (Part Two)

Good morning.

What kind of temptation must we watch out for? We don’t know. That is why a country and its army have spies. They don’t know what the enemy’s next move is going to be or what threat the country faces in terms of terrorism and crime. Satan and his subjects work undercover and in darkness and they need to be sniffed out, so to speak, which is why we are commanded to watch.

We need to be constantly alert. On the front in a warzone the soldiers expect anything from their enemy, so they are constantly on guard. Guards are posted at the base and landmine detectors go ahead of the vehicles searching for landmines. There is no such thing as everybody having a leisurely time in the canteen after a day’s work or a relaxing drive.

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings,” (1 Peter 5:8-9).

Satan’s primary purpose is to “to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10) so that our relationships with the Lord and each other can be affected. For example he doesn’t want the Kingdom of God to grow. If he therefore could rob us from our security in Mammon, so we can worry and put our own needs before those of the Lord, he succeeded in hindering us to first seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33) and managed to make us ineffective.

In another example Satan knows that Jesus said in John 13:35: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”. Therefore if he can succeed in messing up relationships between Christians and by that causing them to be selfish, the world would lose interest in Christianity since to them these people, serving a so-called loving God, are no different from them.

He is out to kill our passion for Christ through the busyness of our lifestyles, our self-centred approach to life and our need to be self-sufficient. He destroys our efficiency by tempting church entities to become religious and man-centred, resulting in millions of passive Christians warming the pews on Sundays as they listen to adorable preachers who seem to conveniently ignore the commands in God’s word to obey what He tells us to do, and therefore not preach it and make it happen – all these are temptations.

Can you see the subtlety of these temptations? So what is the solution? The solution is to hear from the Lord, to walk daily in the Holy Spirit – to watch and pray. In our previous message we likened the Holy Spirit to a satellite that can see where we cannot. He watches on our behalf and we just need to be in the control room to receive the information that the Holy Spirit relays through to us.

I have been in a position where I lost a lot by being tricked by my flesh into making disastrous decisions, which I thought at the time was right. The Lord, however, has seen it coming and ahead of the crunch gradually gave me passages from the Bible that would create faith in my heart and give me a solution in the situation. When the crunch came I was settled in the Lord and knew why it had happened, what new direction the Lord sent me into, and how He was going to care for us. Because I walk by the Spirit daily, I picked these up in my spirit and made it my portion. I did not panic and ran to Mammon for help, but silently humbled myself before the Lord, repented of my foolishness and once again surrendered my life to Him. This sounds very super spiritual, but I am far from that and am learning daily to surrender more of my time and resources to Him.

There are much more to temptation than the obvious, for there are so many areas in which we can be hindered to be what the Lord’s heart’s desire is for us as individuals.

Holy Spirit, I want to be tuned into you so I can receive the information regarding temptations that you relay to me.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Being Alert Equals Life (Part One)

Good morning.

Did you enjoy the series about the book of James? We need to be challenged, since that is why we have the Word of God. As a father I put challenges before my children. I have one teenage son left at home and, as long as I have him around, I will challenge him with issues that he will face in life, such as doing properly whatever he sets his mind to, to persevere with what he started, to work hard and honestly when he does a job and so on. Those who have children should know that they do not always do what is expected of them from the first moment they are told – they need to be encouraged and reminded.

In the same way we do not do everything we are commanded in the Bible. For the past nearly a year the Lord prompted me to write these challenging reminders of what He expects of us, should we desire to obey Him and please Him. James focused a lot on sin and trials in his book and in this message I would like to touch some more on temptation.

Temptation come in many ways and can be more subtle than we think. We often think of temptation as we are being tempted to eat a piece of cake that we shouldn’t and so on. We also only look out for temptation that is obvious, such as the temptation to steal or lie. Satan and even the sinful nature are, however, much more crafty than that. Remember we are in a war between darkness and light, and in a war the two factions constantly create strategies to outsmart the other. Satan or the sinful nature will not come to us claiming ‘I am Satan and you shall sin before me’. He will lay an ambush and a trap for us – very subtly tempting us to be disobedient and therefore sin. Let us take the example of Jesus’ time of praying in Gethsemane as recorded in Matthew 26:38-46.

“Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’” Do you think this was a command Jesus gave His disciples and expected it to be obeyed? Do you think disobeying a command of Jesus could be considered sin? We read that Jesus went to pray and when He returned He found the disciples sound asleep. “‘Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?’ he asked Peter. ‘Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak,’” (Matthew 26:40-41).

What was the temptation? It was to put the needs of their bodies before those of Jesus – to consider their own priorities more important than those of their Lord. Satan used the needs of the sinful nature to lure them into negligence and carelessness. This was not an obvious sin such as breaking one of the Ten Commandments, but it was disobeying an instruction from the Commander, leading to an ineffective army. How many of the Holy Spirit’s instructions do we ignore daily because we only consider the needs of our flesh.

Note the words “watch and pray”. A soldier on the battlefield, especially with guerrilla warfare as it is done these days, has to watch out all the time and buddies have to watch out for one another. We need to be on the lookout for temptation in any form and expect it to be very subtle. Jesus also commanded prayer, for the Holy Spirit is our ‘satellite’ that can see where we cannot, so if we stay in prayer He will warn us against deceptive attacks of temptation to sin.

Why is this so important to the Lord? It is simply because sin causes a break in our relationship with Him and hinders our spiritual growth and efficiency.

To be continued.

Lord, help me to care enough about pleasing you, so I would watch and pray.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

When Someone Sins (Part Two)

Good morning.

I received a comment on our previous message saying that we will need confidence in Jesus to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper, but  that doing it would be out of true love, since it is a matter of life and death.

Our sister is right, it won't be easy, but if we obey we will receive our reward and that person, who may not even have realised the extent of their sin or that what they did was a violation of the King of kings’ commands, would be forgiven and delivered should they repent.

It is like anything the Lord expects of us - we need to be bold and strong in Christ and be prepared to take negative responses and persecution like Jesus and the apostles had to take. If we disobey we will definitely one day be questioned as to why we did, for Romans 14:12 says: "So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God," and Revelation 20:13 reads: “The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.”

The other day I heard a fellow Christian in ministry mentioning about her and her partner. The Lord prompted me to ask her if she meant her husband, after which she confirmed she is not married. I then asked her whether she thinks such a relationship is pleasing to the Lord at which she said "what could I do if my lifelong partner is not interested in marriage". I left it at that and haven't seen her since. When I see her again I will ask her what her thoughts about it were and if she refuses to change I will seek an opportunity to take it up with her and her immediate leadership.

If we walk by the Spirit with His kindness, wisdom and gentleness we will do correctly whatever we need to as the Holy Spirit requires. Then helping our family in Christ becomes easy. The secret therefore is to walk by the Holy Spirit and so learn how He would do the things we need to do.

Remember we are soldiers fighting together for the Kingdom of God against the “rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms,” (Ephesians 6:12). These forces are out to complete a few strategically significant projects. They work hard to blind the unsaved so they would not get revelation and discover the Lord Jesus’ mercy. This they do through tying these people up in lust for power, lust for money and lust for pleasure so they would find it hard to let go of those to serve the Lord. Even Christians are tied up in some of these lusts. Then they work hard to cause Christians to sin so God could be ridiculed or shown contempt (2 Samuel 12:14) and a barrier be formed between them and the Lord unless they repent (Isaiah 59:1-2), hindering the relationship between the Lord and His beloved.

This is why the Lord put us in a family setup. If a soldier sees another soldier making a stupid manoeuvre exposing him to a clear shot from the enemy, would he just shrug and let him be. I don’t think so – he will warn him. In the same way we are responsible for the spiritual safety of our family in Christ. I have many times wished that my family in Christ had the care and confidence to talk to me about sinful moves I have made - then I would not have needed to learn the hard way.

Think a bit about the times you saw someone sin. Maybe it was a Christian man staring lustfully at a woman, or maybe a woman dressing in such a way as to seduce Christian men. Having a word with the man might help him confess his problem and open the opportunity to be helped, and talking to the woman may make her realise that she actually causes men to commit adultery.

There are many sins we see our fellow Christians do and one day God is going to ask us why we have not warned them (Ezekiel 3:16-21).

Thank you, Lord for giving me the confidence to warn my fellow Christian against sin.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

When Someone Sins

Good morning.

James concluded his book with a simple command, of which we should ask ourselves repeatedly: ‘Do I do it?’

“My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins,” (James 5:19-20).

When the Lord asked Cain, after he had killed Abel, where Abel was, Cain asked in Genesis 4:9: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” In Matthew 18:12-14 Jesus told this parable: “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.” This is immediately followed by this passage in verse fifteen: “If your brother sins [against you], go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over,” which is followed by the procedure to pursue should he not listen. Luke 17:3 tells us: “So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,” in Galatians 6:1 we read: “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently,” and 1 John 5:16 we read: “If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life.”

We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. We depend on one another. Who of you have struggled with sin that other people could have noticed and were completely on your own - nobody ever talked with you about this sin, asking how they could help? Maybe nobody spoke to you about your sin, but it could be that someone obeyed 1 John 5:16 and prayed for you. Fact is we should care for one another. I always picture Jesus’ parable of the one lost sheep in my mind, seeing this shepherd struggling through the rugged terrain, calling and looking for his lost sheep until he finds it. It points to the effort and trouble we should take for the sake of our family in Christ.

But how do we often respond when we see someone sinning? Aren’t we scared that they may be offended when we talk with them about their sin? How do we respond when someone talks with us about our sin? Don’t we often have an attitude of ‘mind your own business’? Maybe we have spoken to someone before and have been rejected and now we are scared to do it. Why were these commands written in the Bible? Wasn’t it meant to be obeyed? We were never promised that life as a Christian would be easy, and are there to support one another and not to judge and reject one another. Love demands that anybody who struggles with any form of sin should have the liberty to approach any brother or sister in Christ and receive help and support.

Many commands in the Bible have a promise attached to it; if you do this you will receive this. These commands, however, demands complete unselfishness. It is all about the lost sheep. James didn’t mention any benefit for the helper, but he did mention forgiveness and redemption for the one in trouble.

Ideally the church globally should be interdependent. True love will leave the door open for any Christian to approach any other Christian with problems and concerns without the fear of ridicule, rejection and breach of confidentiality. Does it however work like this within the church? You should judge for yourself within your own community. Do Christians, who have known each other for a long time, sufficiently serve one another in this way or do we let one another down when it comes to committed care and confidentiality?

We need one another. Shall we care for one another, for what we sow we shall reap?

Father, please help me to be my brothers’ and sisters’ keeper with integrity and help me to accept help.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Conditions to Prayer

Good morning.

We concluded our previous message by quoting James 5:14-16: “¹³Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. ¹⁴Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” It follows on with: “Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops,” (James 5:17-18).

I wrote a series called “Get to know God through Elijah”, which could be found in this blog’s archive from 9^th to 19^th of March 2012, in which we can see how ordinary Elijah was. He was however totally dedicated to the Lord, which was the power behind His prayers, and had an awareness of who he actually was in the Lord.

This passage from the book of James shows us that, whatever we need, we should pray. If we look at it carefully we notice some important conditions to our prayers being answered, in other words what is required if we really desire guaranteed answers to prayer. Verse fifteen states that prayer offered by faith will be answered, and verse sixteen states that if we confess our sins we will be healed. The second part of verse sixteen is quite powerfully translated in the Amplified Bible: “The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].” In this translation we notice two significant conditions to prayer. The person who prays must be righteous, in other words clean and holy before the Lord in thoughts and actions, and the prayer must be heartfelt and continuous. The word ‘heartfelt’ points to us really meaning it from a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17), in other words not just a doing of our duty, and continuous means to pray until we receive.

I have been blessed by George Muller’s life story. After the Lord had saved his soul from a wicked life as a young man, the first sign of his salvation was complete righteousness. He would not do anything unrighteous on purpose. I have read his biography, but then I recently stumbled onto the following which I would like to quote.

George Muller was a man of incredible faith and prayer. He supported, educated, and led to Christ thousands of children in his orphanages in Bristol, England. Yet despite the vast scope of his ministry, Muller never asked anyone for money. He told those who wanted to know how they could help to ask God, as he had already taken his needs before the Lord. Over his life the equivalent of what would today be millions of pounds came in to provide all that the work needed.

Muller prayed for more than fifty years for the salvation of two of his friends from his wicked youth. One friend was saved just before Muller's death, the other shortly after. Muller wrote, “The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God's glory, they should pray until they get it.”

Muller died a poor man in terms of worldly standards, yet millions of pounds were entrusted to him to provide for the work the Lord had called him to do. His life is a lovely example of the passage under discussion – one of righteousness and heartfelt, continuous prayer. I have recently learnt how much the Lord desires righteousness and honour to be our portion. The world looks at us and judges the Lord by what they see in us. If our prayers are not answered we should look to our lives and ask ourselves what we are doing to hinder them (Isaiah 59:1-2 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%2059:1-2&version=NIV1984). In Christ there is no room for compromise, such as for example serving self and Mammon.

Lord, I want to pray heartfelt and continuous prayers as a righteous person.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

How To Affirm

Good morning.

James 5:12 seems to stand on its own in this book. In the Bible it is placed under the same heading as the passage we discussed in our previous message about waiting on the Lord even if things get tough. Yet it seems to be in context with the passage following as well. It reads: “Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your ‘Yes’ be yes, and your ‘No,’ no, or you will be condemned.”

If we look at the previous passage, waiting on the Lord demands faith and patience. If a person lacks either of these, responding to the sinful nature comes naturally. The sinful nature desires to impress others and will therefore resort to all kinds of human methods and arguments to uphold itself. Waiting on the Lord (or walking by the Spirit) on the other hand involves a calm assurance that we do not need to impress or uphold ourselves for the Lord looks after us and, since we know this, we just wait for Him to act.

Swearing (making vows) is a carnal way of reassuring others of our credibility or integrity, whilst our actual credibility, when we walk by the Spirit, is the Lord’s verification of whom we are or what we say. We therefore have nothing to prove if we rely on the Lord. He will affirm our integrity, even if we have been wrong and messed up our own credibility and integrity. Abraham is a wonderful example of this. When Abraham deceived Abimelech into believing that Sarah is his sister and withheld the fact that she is his wife, the Lord did not punish Abraham when Abimelech took her, but threatened to punish Abimelech if he did not repent (Genesis 20 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2020&version=NIV1984). To the Lord Abraham was His prophet, regardless of what Abraham had done and He was loyal to Abraham.

In the same way, if we have a heart after God by following His ways, we do not need to fight and swear and take our own stand. We simply need to call on the Lord, standing on His promises such as those in Psalm 91 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2091&version=NIV1984.

If we live our lives with the right attitude and intentions, making every attempt to abide by Biblical instructions and commands, there is no need to swear, for in our hearts would be no deception or corruption and the Lord would verify what we say. Therefore our ‘yes’ and ‘no’ would be sufficient. When officials require of us to swear on the Bible, we as Christians, in obedience to the Lord’s instruction, should refuse and demand to ‘solemnly declare’ instead. This is to God’s glory.

If we look at this verse in the context of the passage following it, one could put the word ‘rather’ in-between verses thirteen and fourteen. James 5:14-16: “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

There is no need to defend ourselves by swearing, even if we were wrong. The Lord looks at the heart and His purpose for us, and even if we suffer much under the temptation and sin of the sinful nature and repeatedly stumble, the Lord will forgive us every time we call on His name and will loyally protect us according to His promises. “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong,” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Lord, please help me to rely on you.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Learn from the Farmer

Good morning.

In this instant society we often want to make things happen quicker. If the Lord does not make the church grow quickly enough to our liking, we step in and do things our way – like game nights, church fetes and often compromise on the standards of the Word of God.

However, we read in James 5:7-11: “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

“Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

We also hear Paul saying in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 when the church started to exalt men and ‘worshipped’ them. “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

The moment we become impatient and want to do the Holy Spirit’s work, we are exalting ourselves or other people and follow our or another person’s agenda. The way a church or any Christian organisation or project grows and succeeds happens through either or all of three Biblical principles.

1.   “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself,” (John 12:32). When we lift Jesus and the price He had paid for our sins up so people could see Him and what He had done and wants to do for them, then their need for salvation will be revealed to them and they would call on Him.

2.   “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,” (John 13:34-35). Love is an action. We do not need to feel love to be love. If in spite of ourselves or what people do to us we show love in action, both as an organism and as individuals, people of the world, who do not usually see too much love in action, will start wondering why these people are like this and will desire to have the same.

3.   “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth,” (1 Timothy 2:1-4). In 1 John 5:13-15 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20john%205:13-15&version=NIV1984 the Lord promises that He will answer prayers prayed according to His will. If His will is for souls to be saved we can take comfort in the fact that these prayers will be answered.

So instead of doing all kinds of worldly entertainment and compromise to try and draw the world to the church, we simply need to lift Jesus up through worship, testimony and evangelism, love one another through deed and action and pray intensely for souls, since “the earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working],” (James 5:16b, Amplified Bible).

Once we have sown these seeds, we simply wait for the Lord to make it grow whilst we continue sowing more seeds and worship Him.

Thank you, Lord of the harvest for sending me as a sower, a water sprinkler and a harvester into the harvest field (Luke 10:2) until your second coming.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

How To Get Rich

Good morning.

James did not spare his words, which is something that is actually needed more among preachers in the last days. We should call a spade a spade and tell it as it is. As listeners we should take the word of the Lord, that is revealed to us, seriously for the Lord takes it seriously and is one day going to ask us what we have done about the revelation we have received and the warnings that He has sent us through His prophets.

One issue that the Holy Spirit prompts me to write about quite often, and is addressed many times in the Bible, is the matter of a materialistic lifestyle. In James 5:1-6 he touched on it once again. If this issue is raised so many times in the Bible, should we not start yielding to it? Remember that with all these messages it is a matter of ‘if the cap fits, wear it’.

“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.”

This is written from the perspective of where these rich people will find them at the day of judgement – a prophetic approach. It is like a before-and-after picture. Before the end everything went well with them and they made use of every opportunity to enrich themselves at the cost of the poor and lived comfortable lifestyles. But the judgement on them will be severe, since everything they hoarded will have no value and their abuse of innocent people will testify against them.

I am often amazed when companies declare their annual profits in terms of billions and then ask myself whether they rather could have had a little less profit and paid their workers more. What do they want with all that money? I am also amazed at the annual bonus figures of directors that are revealed on the news. How many houses could have been built for the homeless all over the world with these moneys?

However, this is the world we are talking about, but what about rich Christians? Was James only prophesying to the very rich people? How about the not so rich, but well-off Christians that pay their employees, which include gardeners and house cleaners, less than they are worth? How about those who have the money to pay the asking price, but are bargaining with the poor street vendor who tries his best to have a little food on the table that evening, to make ends meet and keep his house for another month.

1 Timothy 6:10 states: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” We often exclude ourselves from this passage, claiming we do not love money, but what is love of money? What was Jesus’ standard when He told the rich young man in Matthew 19:21: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me,” and when He concluded with these words after He had told the parable of the rich man building more barns to store his excess in Luke 12:16-21: “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Is keeping money, in case we need it, not also love of money – relying on it? Should we not look at our assets and determine how many of them we really need? Being rich towards God means being rich in faith, so if we trust the Lord to care for us we will not hold on to Mammon to do it, but bless others.

Lord, I need to be free from money’s power over me.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Live As If God Exists

Good morning.

Today we are concluding the fourth chapter of the book of James.

How many of us live our lives planning every day and even our whole life ahead without even considering the Lord’s plans for our lives? How often do we tell the Lord what we are going to do, asking His blessing on it? How many of us have made stupid mistakes because we hurriedly or impulsively made a decision that could have been avoided had we been waiting on the Lord, or even simply applied Godly principles in our decision-making such as Solomon suggested in Proverbs 15:22: “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” How many of us actually wait for days on end in anticipation of an answer to prayer or some direction so we could know what the Lord’s next step for us is?

Therefore we read in James 4:13-16: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.”

The point in this passage is that our life here on earth is a dot in time in comparison to eternity. Why would we then live as if this is all we have and make decisions that only apply to this life? We plan for old age and retirement; we make sure we have enough money to sustain our lifestyle until the day we die and even leave enough for our children to do the same until they die. But what about the afterlife, how have we prepared for it?

We need to acknowledge the Lord’s will in everything we do. The boasting and bragging that James mentioned (even if it is hidden in our heart) comes from pride that we have accomplished what we have decided. The Lord’s will is without exemption aimed at eternity. We know our treasures should not be on earth but in heaven (Matthew 6:19), that we should choose the narrow way that leads to eternal life (Matthew 7:13-14) and that we should first seek the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33) to name only a few. As James put it; we are in this life “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

James concluded the chapter with: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins,” (James 4:17). The word ‘then’ refers to the previous passage. The will of the Lord is not for us to live for ourselves and become comfortable and rich in this life, but it is for us to become rich in good works.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do,” (Ephesians 2:10).”

Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father,” (John 14:12). What things did Jesus do? “You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him,” (Acts 10:37-38).

If we therefore focus on our own wellbeing, planning our lives as to meet our needs according to our own will, we sin. Even if we do good works of our own choice to look impressive or to have our consciences soothed, we still plan and do according to our own will and still sin. However, if we have heard from God the good works He has planned for us to do to His glory; we have a treasure in heaven.

Lord, let your will be done in and through my life.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.