Through fire or in green pastures?

Writing this article was spurred by a series of conversations I had with a friend recently, he's a guy I've known for a while now. This guy and I have a mutual friend, a lady who had to work under not-so-pleasant circumstances for some time.

The guy thinks those days of toil and pain are better forgotten but I mentioned that through those experiences, the lady would have learnt some lessons that she would find valuable at one point or the other in her life. I mentioned that through the journey of life, there are storms we have to face, mountains we get to climb and rivers we would have to cross. I supported my line of thought with this verse of Scripture in Isaiah 43:2, pointing out that the Bible says when you pass through the waters/rivers/fire and not if; meaning trials are bound to come our way. My friend, on the other hand, quoted the scripture in Psalm 23:2. He said there are two routes: 1. through the waters/rivers/fire and 2. through the green pastures; and one can choose any of the two.

Do you suppose that an all-knowing and compassionate God will allow situations that won't ultimately work out for our good in our lives? Did God ever promise us all roses and no thorns? I am amazed when I hear christians sing "no matter what I face when success comes my way, I will praise the Lord" instead of the original version of the song which says "no matter what I face when trouble comes my way, I will praise the Lord". Yes, I know what you are thinking, the power of confession. I believe in positive confessions but I also believe in a loving Father who allows His children to falter so they might learn to walk.

Don't ever forget that in ALL things (including the good, the bad and the ugly) He works for our good.

Know His Voice

There is this game my friend and I play once in a while. She will call with her phone number hidden and try to sound like someone else, at times she says she works with an oil company and was calling to invite me for an interview. Initially, it will take some time before I recognise her voice and know she's the one speaking but these days we rarely play the game again because before she finishes her first sentence I know who it is.

The other day, a colleague and I were discussing about how we needed to hear God leading us in the right direction for the next season in our career. We both were able to say, yes, we know how God speaks with us but then started wondering if the devil doesn't try to speak with us through the same medium too. We finally concluded that yes, the devil comes as an angel of light and tries to speak to us through that same medium God uses.

However, what distinguishes us as mature children of God is our ability to KNOW God's voice, irrespective of whatever medium He chooses to use to speak and discern the craftiness of the devil each time he tries to invade. John 10:4 says the sheep follow Him because they KNOW His voice.

The ability to KNOW His voice however, comes from having a deep relationship with Him. It is an iterative process, verse 3 of John 10 says the sheep listen to His voice and heed it. Meaning, learning to listen and obeying precede knowing.

As we journey on in life, instructions from God are key to fulfiling purpose. Remember wherever His finger points, His hands will clear the way and He gives grace for every race He commissions.

When it's all been said and done

Hi there!
I'm sorry I've not posted anything in awhile, I was unsure what to write and I still don't have words of mine to post. I only want to share this song written and sung by Don Moen with you. When there is no breath left in you anymore, what awaits you in eternity?

When it's all been said and done
There is just one thing that matters
Did I do my best to live for truth?
Did I live my life for you?

When it's all been said and done
All my treasures will mean nothing
Only what I have done
For love's rewards
Will stand the test of time

Lord, your mercy is so great
That you look beyond our weakness
That you found purest gold in miry clay
Turning sinners into saints

I will always sing your praise
Here on earth and in heaven after
For you've joined me at my true home
When it's all been said and done
You're my life when life is gone

Grace

I know nothing, except what everyone knows - if there when Grace dances, I should dance. - W.H. Auden.

I have recently been reading a book by Phillip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?
He vividly explained how there’s nothing we can do to make God love us more and nothing we can do to make Him love us less. A scene in the movie series Prison Break comes to mind, let me summarise it. One of the “Fox River 8”, Sucre, on his way to Ixtapa to meet his beloved robs an old man of his car, the local policemen takes him back to the old man with the car explaining they recognised the car but not Sucre. The old man, says “I’m glad you brought him back.” Then he adds this line, “I didn’t get a chance to give him gas money.” Sucre tries to apologise and the old man says, “Find your girl, then find grace.”

He allowed him take his car away and not just that, he gave him money and let him go unpunished.

Grace has nothing to do with what we deserve or what we do not deserve. It’s about a lovesick Father who loves us, irrespective of what we have or have not done, and runs to embrace us each time we return to Him. He asks nothing of us but to love Him in return. That’s the difference between the Christian faith and the religions of the world, salvation is absolutely free!
The church (you and I), however, finds that hard to comprehend. We try to earn God’s approval through our acts of service, we set up codes and rules by which we try to abide but fail to live up to. There is nothing inherently wrong with our acts of service, the ill is in our thinking God’s love or favour can be earned.

Having received grace from God, do we show grace to mankind? It’s so easy for us to condemn and judge others we think are undeserving of grace. Phillip Yancey told a story about a prostitute, who also had rented her daughter to men. She was asked why she had not sought help from the church and she exclaimed, “church! Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They’d just make me feel worse.”

Sit back and meditate on it, is that the church Christ is coming back for?

Tribute to Abraham Lincoln

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, a man who has been consistently ranked as one of the greatest US Presidents. He was born February 12, 1809 and was the 16th President of the US.

A lot of people remember him as the man who successfully led his country through the civil war, the man who never gave up on his dreams (he was unsuccessful twice in his bid to be elected to the Senate), the man who helped in the abolition of slavery, and the man that was martyred for the cause of his nation.

I, however, today, choose to remember Abraham Lincoln as a man who depended in God for guidance and strength. This was spurred by an article I read this morning and I went ahead to do a bit of study of the life and faith of this rare gem.

The day he left his friends and neighbours in Illinois to become the President, he said goodbye with the following words, “I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever I may return, with a task greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well.”

In his first inaugural address in March 1861, he said, "Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty."

The words Lincoln prepared for his second inauguration as president in March 1865 included complete citations from Matthew 18:7 and Psalm 19:9:
“The Almighty has His own purposes. ‘Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!' If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' "

I hope I have not bored you with these quotes, I only hope as we remember Abraham Lincoln as one of the great men of our times, we also learn from him how to face our present and future with a firm belief and confident hope in God.

Doubts

Happy new year to you! May 2009 bring to pass the fulfilment of your expectations. I pray the year leaves a memorable landmark for good in your life.

There is an issue I have been struggling with, it's trusting God wholly. Have you ever asked God for something and then in your mind have an alternative plan, just in case He doesn't do it? Try to picture a child running to His father, the child once he's close enough jumps and expects the father to catch him in his embrace. I'm sure you did it too and never nursed any fear of falling. Why is it different with our heavenly Father?

The thing is, over and over, God has proven Himself faithful. I remember that several times, in seemingly inconsequential things and in those weighty matters, He was right on time and proved Himself God. Yet, I still have doubts.

Mark 9:17-27 (AMP) tells the story of the father whose son had a dumb spirit. Jesus told the man "all things can be (are possible) to him who believes!" and the father of the boy cried and said "Lord, I believe! (constantly) help my weakness of faith!" It might interest you to know that Jesus did heal the boy. That is exactly my own cry too, "I believe Lord, help my doubts!"

At the point where eagles soar, they stop flapping their wings. They wait for the right wind currents and effortlessly take off high into the skies. I pray we all learn to stop flapping our wings and learn to just spread those wings and soar. This year I plan to stop flapping my wings and soar to new heights and to new places.

Shalom!