Rest

There remains a promise of rest. [Hebrews 4:9]. All that need to be done have already been accomplished by God's only Beloved Son as Jesus the Man for and as me.

When I take the leap of faith to live the "take no thought" and "worry not" life, I enter into that promised rest. [Matthew 6:31-33].

The wind of demands may be howling. I have the protective force-field of God's love all around me.  I find that I really need to fling those demands onto the Lord. [1 Peter 5:7]. To fling means to not even be bothered about them. Ignore them!  If I ever entertain them, I  will me driven to extreme desperation and untold miseries. I adopt the attitude of "whatever happen, happens". If I perish, I perish.[Esther 4:16].

But how can I ever perish when I have John 3:16?!? How can that ever happen when I have John 10:10?!?

Romans 14:17 says that the kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. When I enter into that rest, all the things I need shall be added to me. [Matthew 6:33]. To me, the kingdom of God is that rest.

Let God do His thing.

What is God's way of doing and being right as stated in Matthew 6:33? To me, it is leaving it to God to take care of all my cares and concerns. When I let Him do His thing, I have my joy and peace knowing that He is working all things for my good. This is the life of the righteousness of God! The indwelling blessed Holy Spirit is there to remind me that God loves me.

Just rest and be assured that if He did not spare His only Beloved Son but gave Him up for me, He shall also together with Him freely and graciously give me all things. [Romans 8:32].  That's my joy! And if I do not get what I asked Him for, I have peace knowing that He did so for my good. [Romans 8:28]. That's my peace! And I know all that to be the truth because Christ crucified is the show and proof of God's love for me. That's my righteousness!

In short, knowing that God loves me is the Kingdom of God.

But I say, 'How to, Lord?'

The giants are too great for me. There are the mounting bills to pay, the negative opinions of others, the disapproval of loved ones, money not enough, etc, etc. I will be mocked at, humiliated and ridiculed!

The Lord replied through the Word, "Have my arm grown weak?'  Is there anything I will not do for you? I am the Source of all your provisions. I will vindicate you. I am the lifter of your head. I will restore you to honour.  My grace is sufficient for you every day. So let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  For I have not given you a spirit of fear but of love, power and sound mind. I have given you a spirit by which you call out 'Abba, Father'.  I have promised to not leave you nor forsake you and that I will be with you wherever you go. I am not a man that I should lie and neither do I repent. What I say, I will do. What I promised, I will make good. Be like Caleb. Be my Joshua."

'Rest in me.' The Lord invites. 'You who are weary and heavy laden, come to Me and I will give you rest.' The Lord encourages.  The Lord gives a big bear hug.

How does the Lord give me rest?

I have been badly injured by the fights and struggles in life.  There is no more strength left in me. I understand what it means when the Bible says, "What's the point of winning the world and yet lose your soul?" [Mark 8:36].

Every time I make a compromise in exchange for what I deem as success, I lose a piece of my soul.

The Lord takes me in and nurse me back to health.  Meanwhile and for all eternity, the Lord takes over all of my cares and concerns. He lifts those heavy burdens off my shoulders. I just focus on getting well. I just need to do that one thing needful. I let Him strengthen me through the Word of God's love for me by the blessed Holy Spirit. Thereafter, the Lord will show me the wonderful plans He has in store for me. 

My problem was that I was too impatient.  Before I could fully recover, I wanted to "die" for the Lord. I wanted to do this and that for Him.  The Lord does not need me to do anything for Him.  He came to do everything for me. All that He is and will be guiding me to do, He does so for my good. And through it all, He is right there with me to hold my hands.  Even though I may stray from His guidance, He will always bring me back onto the paths of the righteous. [Psalm 23:4].

Relax!

The Lord has died for and as me.  Stop justifying myself to get into God's good books. I am already in His good books. I am God's blue-eye boy or child. Acts 13:38-39 says, "Therefore my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses."

The Law of Moses shows me what I must do to get into God's good books. I cannot break even one commandment.  But the major problem is that we have all broken the law as Romans 3:23 tells me. Before I become discouraged, the Apostle Paul quickly shared the good news in Romans 3:24, "We are justified freely by God's grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

So why did God give the Law?

It was to show me up.  Romans 3:20 says that it is by observing the law I become conscious of sin and recognise sin as sin.  For I would not have known what I am doing is sin except through the law, Romans 7:7.  In other words, I will not have known that I have broken the law if nobody shows me the law.

We were all born with a sinful nature.  But we were not aware of it. We imagined that we are "healthy".

We were all imprisoned by and in sin. We were not conscious of it. We imagined we were free.

Once I used to covet what I did not have and strive to get it. I did not know that I was in fact breaking the law. It is through the law that I recognise the sinful nature in me, Romans 7:13. My default response in any given situation is my sinful nature.

The Law of Moses is holy, righteous and good, Romans 7:12.  Apart from showing me God's pristine standards, it cannot help me measure up to those standards. In fact, when I try to fulfill the law, I find that I cannot. Instead, the very thing I tried not to do, I ended up doing even more! [Romans 7:18-23].  The Law amplifies my sinful nature. This is what it means to be a prisoner of sin. Sin draws power from the Law, Romans 7:5,8, 11.

What a wretched man I am!

The solution is not found in what I should or should not do.  The solution is found in the Person of Christ Jesus, Romans 7:24 to 25.

Christ crucified has released me from the prison of sin and transferred me to the prison of God's love. [Colossians 1:13].

A prisoner is one who cannot get out of the place of confinement.

Once I could not overcome sin no matter what I do and how hard I tried. God sent His only beloved Son to do what I could never have done.

After Christ crucified has set me free, He lavishes me with the love of God.  In that sense, I have become a prisoner of God's love.

Once I was trapped in the prison of sin with no way out. Now, I am deeply entrenched in hope, rooted in God's great love for me. Nothing can ever separate me from that love.[Romans 8:38-39].

I am a prisoner of God's love.

When I depend on the Lord Jesus, then it is no longer about me. If it is me, then it is no longer the Lord. It cannot be some part me and other part the Lord. For apart from the Lord, I can do nothing. But in Christ Jesus, I can do anything.  All things are possible to those who believe that the Lord can do anything.

If it is by grace, then it is not by law. If it is by law, then grace has been made of no effect.

I thank my Lord Jesus Christ for having placed me under grace. Hence, the law has no dominion over me.  When the law has no dominion over me, Romans 8:1 declares that there is therefore now no condemnation for me.

Whether we like it or not, we were all born with a sense of guilt and condemnation. We have inherited these traits from Adam.

As I grow up and find demands being placed on me, those negative sentiments spring to life. I find that no matter what I do or how hard I try, I can't seem to get away from those negative emotions. In fact, those crushing sentiments grew stronger instead. I used to explain them away as part and parcel of this world.  I accepted them as part of human existence.

But God's only Beloved Son came to this world as Jesus the Man to free me from this prison of guilt and condemnation. He did it by shedding His precious Blood and crucifixion. Today, anyone can just walk out of the prison of guilt and condemnation by accepting the gift of no condemnation that is in Christ Jesus.

When I live my life fully dependent on what Jesus the Christ has accomplished on the Cross, it pleases God. For it honours what His only Beloved Son has done. It gives due credit to Him.  Give to man what is man's, and to God, God's. [Mark 12:17]. It warms God's heart because we reciprocate His love by accepting His love for us. We love Him by letting Him love us. [1 John 4:19]. In that way, we show appreciation for the sacrifices He has made for us.

God sacrificed His only Beloved Son to die for me.  Now that is a heaven of BIG DEAL!

It shook the whole of heaven. What is man that You should care for them? [Psalm 8:4]. I imagine the angels scratching their heads.

God's only Beloved Son did not die for angels. He did not die for good people. He willingly laid down His divine life for sinners! He died for you and I, unconditionally.

So, why drool at the prospect of rest when the invitation to enter into it has been extended?

Just cross over, pun intended.

Faith

Everything in the Bible does not make any sense to the natural mind.  It is utter foolishness.

Some may feel hypocritical for believing in Jesus for material blessings. Yet to believe in Him for anything is concrete proof of having received the gift of faith.

What is faith? Hebrews 11:1 tells us that it is this: "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." [NIV].

We have never seen Jesus the Man in person.  We did not witness His resurrection. All we have is the Word. Yet in the absence of any hard and solid physical evidence, we believe in something or someone we do not see. That calls for faith.

How did the young boy David have so much faith in God to deliver him from the 9-footer Goliath?  David had been exercising his muscle of faith in God Who delivered him from the bear and lion.

1 Samuel 17:32-37

32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

Faith is like a muscle.  It grows with exercise.

He Who is faithful with little will also be faithful with much. [Luke 16:10, NASB].

When we exercise our muscle of faith in Jesus to take care of the small things, that muscle of faith will grow to believe in Him for big things. It is like weightlifting. We start light and then progress to heavier weights with constant training.  Waiting for the Lord is that training.  My problem is that I want to lift 100 kg of weights when I can barely manage ten.

It is a process of letting go and letting God. When I believe to see Jesus coming through in the small things, I will begin to believe in Him coming through with the big things.

I believe. He delivers.

Therefore, continue in the faith.[Colossians 1:23].  Fight the good fight of faith. [1 Timothy 6:12]. Let not the cares and worries of the world steal the word from me.[Matthew 13:18-23]. Read the Bible for scriptures says that it is written for teaching and encouraging me. [Romans 15:4]. Be encouraged by the cloud of witnesses that were before me as recorded in the Bible. [Hebrews 12:1].

I am reminded that God spared not even His only Beloved Son but gave Him up to die for me. So I can be assured that if anything is good for me to have at any given point in time, He would have given it to me before I even ask Him. Just like He has given me Jesus even before I realized I needed Him.

With that, the seed of faith that is planted in me will grow  into a sturdy cedar tree.  Hence, I am planted like a tree by streams of water,  which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever I do prospers.  [Psalm 1:3].

A thought came flashing through my mind; "Don't delude yourself! What prosper?!? Just look at the kind of results you have right now. You call that a success?!?"

I am reminded again of Joseph.  When he was still a slave, God declared him a successful man. What was the basis for that declaration? God was with him. [Genesis 39:2]. Today, God is not only WITH me, He is FOR me [Romans 8:31] and He lives IN me [1John 4:4].

Trusting or believing in Christ Jesus is a gift. The Bible says that we are in Him only because of God [1 Corinthians 1:30]. During His earthly ministry, Jesus Himself said that no one can come to Him except through the Father (God) [John 6:44]. Again Jesus said that I did not choose Him but He chose me. [John 15:16].

There is no logical explanation for having faith in Jesus. It is a gift from God.

A part of me says, "Com'on, give yourself some credit for believing!" 1 Corinthians 1:31 says, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” My Lord Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher of faith. [Hebrews 12:2].

Amen!

Hope

From the moment I wake up to the time I sleep, I am watching my Lord Jesus Christ in action in and around my life.

I asked, "Lord, what do You have in store for me today?"  He answered through the Bible, "This is the day I have made, rejoice in it."  Again I am reminded by His Word that His grace is fresh every morning and that His grace is sufficient for me.

In other words, He will shower me with good things that I do not deserve; those things that I would otherwise have to earn for myself based on my own merits.

I perceive that as being like someone who say or do something so fantastically good to make me hilariously happy. It could be seemingly minor things like a free bus ride or being late for some appointments or even not getting what I want.

I do not really know what is good FOR me. But I do know Who is good TO me.

So I live each day with a confident expectation of good things happening just for me. My Lord Jesus Christ tells me through the Bible that this is called HOPE.

And such a hope does not disappoint for the love of God for me has been poured out in my heart by the blessed Holy Spirit.

Hence, I follow the promptings of the blessed Holy Spirit.  His promptings always bring joy and peace. It is like a tour guide waving a small flag with the emblem of the tour group; peace on the one side, joy on the other.  It reminds me that I am like a tourist passing through this temporal world. I am a sojourner; a stranger to this land.

I am on a tour of this world but I do not belong to this world.

I belong to my Lord, Jesus the Christ.

Trials and Tribulations

Trials and tribulations are meant to train me to develop Godly responses so as to enable me to reign in life.

Imagine this prayer, "Lord Jesus, I am drowned by this lack of material blessings. I know you died to give me all things. The Bible says so. Lord Jesus, based on Your Word, I am trusting You to manifest all these material blessings in my life so that I can have joy and a peace of mind."  Sounds spiritual?

When I looked deeper, I realized that my trust was actually in the material blessings to give me joy and peace.  The desire for material blessings was reigning over me. 

When I reverse the situation as such, "Lord Jesus, I don't know why the material blessings have yet to manifest in my life. But you are my joy and peace whether those blessings manifest or not."  This conviction can only come from the blessed Holy Spirit. No point trying to conjure that up.

To reign in life, I need a convicted response that Jesus the Christ is my joy and peace in the absence of material blessings. I go through whatever is happening in my life with God's promise that He will cover my back.  

Yet, when this convicted response is being developed within me by the blessed Holy Spirit, I find material blessings hunting me down.  During the process of development, the evil one hurled bouts of intense guilt and condemnation at me. I was crushed!  My Lord Jesus lifted me up!

The adversary made me believe that I was engaged in a war with him. "Resist the devil and he will flee from me", I was reminded. I realized that it was a deception; a distraction from what my Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished. My Lord Jesus has already made a public spectacle of the evil one for and as me.

The war is over! There is no war to fight except the fight of faith.  Looking away from all that distracts towards Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith. I resist the devil by ignoring his taunting. Why should I be bothered with a defeated foe? My Lord preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemy.

As I am reminded of what my Lord Jesus has already accomplished for me, I find myself reigning over guilt and condemnation in every form, shape and size.  Whenever I felt those negative and debilitating emotions of fear, worry, guilt , condemnation and the likes, I would speak in tongues until I feel the lightness in me.

I did whatever my hands could find to do, the best I could without being concerned if those things would translate into material benefits. In all that I do, I do it as if I am doing for the Lord.  Yet, my Lord Jesus protected me against exploitation; from being made a door mat to be trampled all over.

And yes, He provided food and clothing as well as the things I needed.  I learnt contentment.  Greed was losing its sway over me. Pride, the reliance on material things for assurance, was losing its grip on me. Those very things that I once thought I could live without became meaningless to me. Priorities took a paradigm shift.

The day that I caught a glimpse of all that was the day I started to live the victorious life that my Lord Jesus the Christ has died to give me.

I am beginning to be convinced that a Christian life is one of being and not doing; do this not, do that not ; I should have or should have not.  The moment I allow just one of those to take root, I place myself under condemnation. And condemnation kills! It really does! To those around me, I am irresponsible and lazy. Only my Lord Jesus Christ truly knows what He is doing in and with my life.

I thank my Lord Jesus the Christ and our Heavenly Father for having given up His only Beloved Son for me.

Parenting

While raising my two beloved children, I find myself trying to teach them how to handle every perceivable incidents in their lives.  I shared with them my experiences and personal perception. Yet no two incidents are ever the same.  They are at best similar. Hence, I end up confusing them more.

Then, by the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ, I realized that the best way to prepare them for the fights of life is to let them feel loved and cherished. The power of love will enable them to win every challenge in their lives. As a parent, I just need to do that one thing needful and all the rest will fall in place.

And to do that, I first need to feed on God's love for me as shown and proven by Christ crucified. With that, I, too, will reign over every circumstance in my life.

Establishing Faith in the Heart

Faith is tested when we believe in what we do not see. [Hebrews 11:1].

The temptation to make things happen instead of waiting for God's timing to manifest what we are believing in Him for is great. But the time of waiting is the time when faith grows and is being established in our hearts. It is like the laying of the solid foundations before any building is erected. It is a necessary process.

When we exercise this gift of faith, we are worshipping God in spirit and in truth.

God is a spirit as in Someone we do not see.  Faith is being sure and certain of what we do not see. John 17:17 says that God's Word is truth.  Hence, I put it to you that taking God at His Word for something we do not see is faith.  And that act of faith is worshipping Him in spirit and in truth. John 4:23-24 says that God is looking for people like that.

Are we counted among the number? Yes of course!

The moment we receive, as our personal Saviour, Jesus Christ, whom we do not see, we have exercised great faith. Now let that faith grow and be established in our hearts as we wait for all of God's promises, which are Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus [2 Corinthians 1:20], to manifest. Yeeha!

We who believe in Christ Jesus already have great faith. We are now blessed with the establishing of that same faith deep into the very recesses of our hearts. Let patience do its thorough work so that we may be complete and lacking nothing. [James 1:4].  Our souls prosper as we wait on the Lord. With that, we have health and prosperity in all things [3 John 1:2]. Even King David advised us to wait on the Lord for He will strengthen our hearts [Psalm 27:14].

Could waiting for the Lord be the way we guard our hearts? Against all the odds that are stacked against us, we choose to wait for the Lord.

Above all that we guard, guard our hearts [Proverbs 4:23]. How?

John 14:27. Jesus is the Peace.  He is the guarantee and the guarantor that all things are working out for our good. Looking away from all that distracts towards Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith [Hebrews 12:2]. It was He Who first gave us the gift of faith. He will not just follow up with it, He will follow it through to home run! He Who has carried us this far will definitely carry us all the way through. For God is not a man that He should lie, neither the Son of Man that He should repent. For has He said and shall He not do it; or has He promised and shall He not make it good? [Numbers 23:19].

Selah!  Pang sim la! Sabai sabai..

Blessed Holy Spirit

What we hear stays in the head.

What we see or experience for ourselves stays in the heart.

Preachers are raised to announce or declare the Word of God. We hear it and it stays in our head.  When we read the Bible for ourselves and live the Word, it stays in our hearts.

We have all been given the same blessed Holy Spirit. If God had meant the Word to be taught only by a certain group of people, He wouldn't have made it so readily available in so many languages.  Yes, there are many arguments for and against the various versions of the Bible. Just read the Bible for ourselves and let THE Teacher, the blessed Holy Spirit, teach us.

In the three volumes of the series God's Generals by Robert Liardon, we read that in the church history, there was a time when God's Word was limited to a certain group of people.  They exploited the church.  One of the leaders openly admitted that to the effect that they made lots o money from the exploitation.

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. And faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ. Again, what we hear stays in the head. How sure and certain we are in the heart depends on how we see Jesus for ourselves in the Bible.

The blessed Holy Spirit is the Teacher.  Let Him teach us.

We need preachers to bring the Word to the head.  We have the blessed Holy Spirit to bring the Word to our hearts.

We are sensed ruled as pointed out by Dr E W Kenyon. 

When we hear the Gospel preached, we receive the gift of faith. With that gift of faith, we receive our Saviour, Jesus the Christ.  When we receive our saviour, we receive the blessed Holy Spirit Who convicts us of God's love for us.

Faith

How can you be sure that there was this person by the name of Jesus Christ? Do you have any archaeological evidence that this person even existed? If not, how can you be certain of his resurrection? The crux of the Christian faith rests on his resurrection [1 Corinthians 15:12-19].  If you cannot prove that, then perhaps it is all but a myth.

Hebrews 11:1 has this to say, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” [NIV]

I do not have the physical evidence.  Yet, I choose to believe in Christ crucified and His resurrection.  It takes faith to believe in Him.

What crap! This is utter foolishness! 

You may want to look at what 1 Corinthians 1:18 have to say about that.

For us who believe, it is the power of God. And for us who believe, there is no longer a need to question whether we have faith or not. This is because it takes faith to believe in Christ Jesus. Faith is a gift from God. And a public declaration of that belief is a demonstration of that faith.

It takes great faith to believe in something we do not see based solely on the word of God. This is like the centurion who took Jesus at His word. [Matthew 8:8-10]. And Jesus said the centurion had great faith. Today, we who believe in Him based on the word of God is like that centurion. Hallelujah!

Inevitably, we always question our own faith whenever we do not get what we prayed for. The default response is that our faith is not strong enough and therefore we do not have what we asked for. 

The Bible says that God will not withhold any good things from us. [Psalm 84:11]. Since He did not spare His only Beloved Son but gave Him up for us, how shall He not together with Him freely and graciously give us all things. [Romans 8:32]. God works out all things for our good. [Romans 8:28].

Personally, I believe that when I ask God for something and do not see it manifest, it is an answer from God. To me, it is a "No" for the time being. In His good time, I believe I shall see God doing a work that is super abundantly, far over and above all that I dare ask or think. [Ephesians 3:20].

Freedom

Imagine someone broke the law and then try to escape punishment by not breaking the law again. What an absurd impossibility!

The life of a fugitive is one of constant fear and condemnation. The Book of Romans tells us that we have all broken the law. How then can we ever escape punishment by now trying to keep the law?

Thanks be to God Who sent His only Beloved Son as Jesus the Man to take our place of punishment.

Today, we who have received that free pardon in and through Jesus Christ do not have to be fugitives any longer. We have been set free.  And when Jesus has set us free, we are free indeed!

The perfect love of God for us has cast out all fear. And there is therefore now no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus. For we are no longer fugitives!

I find reading the Book of Romans in this context just that bit easier to understand.