What To Desire – Part 4

The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Ps. 19:9-10

This is our last deposition in this series. Here I am going to talk on rights – God’s right vs human rights. Notice that the word “righteousness” comes from the word “right”.

Right at the outset, let me point out that the term ‘human rights’ appears very appealing in the natural. But you would be surprised to learn that, in the Spirit, that term is extremely abhorrent to God. But I probably am getting ahead of myself…

I am sure you have heard of that term, ‘human rights’. And you will have heard also of ‘women’s rights’, ‘children’s rights’, ‘animal rights’, etc, etc. There are all kinds of rights in this world. And I am sure you can attest to the fact, as I said, that they sound very appealing.

But now we have everything wrong on account of these ‘rights’. In some countries around the world, parents are not allowed to beat their own children, and if a parent beats a child they could get arrested!

The outcome of that is that children, whose young minds need to be provided direction, are left direction-less by parents who have been robbed of the tools they need to direct their children. And believe me, the best tool for raising up a child is the rod. Forget about that love stuff. There is no real love without the rod.

How can we do differently when God Himself has said,

“He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” (Prov. 13:24)

“Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” (Prov. 23:14)

“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” (Prov. 29:15)

Clearly, a society or government that forbids parents from physically disciplining their children is a society that is actively fighting against God’s laws for God has given parents the mandate to beat their children with the rod. In other words, therefore, it a society that is fighting against God!

I wouldn’t want the kind of freedom I see in some quarters for my children. I want my children growing up knowing how to respect not only their elders, but everyone else; but especially their elders. I read the story of a 16-year boy who stabbed a 60-year man in the stomach because the old man accidentally spilled the boy’s coffee. The boy claimed the old man had ‘disrespected’ him. Those are the bitter fruits of ‘children’s rights’. The man who was stabbed died.

That was in the U.S., of course.

The parent who gives the rod must of necessity be Godly so that, as he gives his child the rod, he will do so in the fear of the Lord, bearing in mind that he, too, has a heavenly Father who also shepherds him with a rod of His own. That is why parents cannot physically or emotionally harm their children.

Did you ever hear of the Beijing Conference of 1995. That is one of the most famous conferences that has been held in recent times. It was a worldly conference on women’s rights. Among the resolutions passed was that men and women are to be equal at home, in the workplace and everywhere else.

Try to picture a woman, devoid of the fear of God, running about armed with such a declaration. What a disaster!

But God’s Word is soft and simple:

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” (Eph. 5:22)

Here God is trying to mold a humble spirit in the woman’s heart; and the world is telling her to ‘climb’ from under the man!

Unless we want to be like the world, kindly allow me to venture to ask, What right could we possibly have before God?

We have absolutely no right at all. The man has no right, nor the woman, nor the child. Before God, we are all equal, and each one is to fulfill their role in this life in the fear of God. Notice God’s Word above:

“The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

At no one time have the judgments of man been true or righteous. At no time have the demands of man been true or righteous. They are all wrong. All the ‘human’ rights in the world are just that: ‘human’ rights; and they go against God’s Word for, ultimately, they are an excuse for the flesh to gather strength and rebel further against God. Do not be deceived: Man has never intended nor desired to do God’s will, in spite of all indications to the contrary .

In the Spirit, therefore, only God is right; and the only right we have is to seek after the righteousness of God. In other words, the only right mankind has is to return to God. It is to seek God and His ways. That is the only right we have. That is why the Bible says,

“More to be desired are they (God’s judgments) than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”

A return to Godly ways is to be desired more than gold, yea, than much fine gold.

A return to God is sweeter than honey and the honey comb.

What To Desire – Part 3

Did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah or did He not? Did He rain fire and brimstone upon those two cities or did He not?

Of course He did. The Bible says so. In fact, let us read the account.

“And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now we will deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.” (Gen. 19:9)

Now, you may not realize it, but angels are extremely wonderful creatures. Even transformed into men, they were extremely handsome. And when the men of the city, sodomites, saw these fine young men, their lust for strange flesh kicked in. And they ganged up and lay in wait until night came; then they went and surrounded Lot’s house.

“Open up!” they banged on Lot’s door. Now imagine, all the men of the city, hundreds, possibly thousands of them. And they demanded that Lot hand over the two strangers to them – “that we may know them”, they said. In other words, to sodomize them.

Lot was extremely horrified by what was about to happen. He was so horrified that he offered to give up his two daughters, virgins, in exchange for the safety of the two strangers who had sought refuge in his house. What a Godly man Lot was!

But it was in Heaven Itself where this act by the Sodomites was deemed so repulsive that God acted immediately.

“Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.” (Gen. 19:24-25)

God destroyed both Sodom and Gomorrah on account of the sin of sodomy. Just as there are things that we don’t like there are also things that God detests. And when we do those things, we are fighting God.

Modern man has outdone himself in his effort to fight against God. Back in 2013 and 2014 respectively, President Barack Obama of the United States of America publicly gave recognition to and praised two high profile athletes, one from the NBA and the other from the NFL, for coming out publicly and declaring that they were gays, or sodomites. President Obama called them “heroes”; and, indeed, they were labeled so both by the liberal media and by every liberal public figure.

These men were declared heroes by men. For what were they heroes? Had they discovered a new vaccine? Had they made fought in any war and defeated an enemy? No. On the contrary, they were acknowledged and labeled heroes by the mighty men of this world because they had fought against God! They were heroes for fighting against the laws of God, of which the Bible says,

“The law of the Lord is perfect” (Ps. 19:7)

Liberalism without God is slavery to sin. Unfortunately, America provides the best examples of this. I once saw a demonstration in the state of California, and the people who were demonstrating were demonstrating against, of all people, God! They were holding up posters with the words “Get God out of California!”

One thing I know for sure: God does not force Himself on people. Soon after, God packed His bags and left California. Not long afterwards, the forest fires began burning, and they have been burning ever since.

God is not some lifeless entity, and it is incredible to know that there are things that God loves. God loves truth and righteousness. It pleases Him greatly when we too love the things that He loves.

And it hurts Him when we love the things that He is against. But we can always turn and repent, and begin loving the things that God loves, which are the attributes of the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Eliya Amas

It does not matter that most of my readers do not know who Pastor Eliya Amas is. He is the man whom I have directly served under in church for over 20 years.

I make special mention of him here, if for no other reason, but for the fact that whenever he stands to preach I can expect to hear GOD SPEAK. Every time.

For this, I have no adequate words with which to thank him.

Our Greatest Aspiration

How amazing scripture can be! The problem is, of course, that we do not take time to meditate on God’s Word and thus unearth the treasures hidden therein. If we did, we would have so much grace, peace and joy in our lives.

I am going to write four consecutive posts in quick succession. They are of things that have been on my heart for a while, but of which I had not the time to write.

The first thing I want to share is based on Matthew 9:4

“And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?”

Let’s bring this scripture up close and look at it from every angle possible. The first thing we see is that our thoughts are born in our hearts. We praise men of great intelligence; God praises men of great hearts. God has little regard for the mind of man. He looks steadfastly upon the heart of man. That is why the greatest job that we could possibly do in the realm of the spirit is to deal with the condition of our heart.

I was talking to my daughter one day on the phone. She is in her early 20s, and she has all this life ahead of her to worry about. In our phone conversation, she was telling me about some of her worries. She has often accused me of being the most uncaring father in the world, and on this day I rose superbly to the occasion. I said to her, “Daughter, what you have told me is a very small thing with God. If you were to lose both your legs or arms, that wouldn’t worry God in the least. One day you will not need them. What worries God is the condition of your heart.”

The second thing we see is that God knows our thoughts. The Pharisees had nowhere to hide from Jesus. Jesus knew their every thought!

In Ps. 138:6 we read:

“Though the Lord be high, yet he hath respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.”

Pride resides in our hearts; but it manifests itself on the outside in different forms. Now, here, scripture tells us that, long before this proud man has ‘spread his wings’ for us to see, God has already discerned him… from afar off! How is that so? It is because God knows all the purposes and machinations of the heart of man. But the Bible says that God resists the proud man (Jam. 4:6).

Another scripture that speaks to us in this regard is Luke 24:38. Jesus spoke similar words when He said to His disciples,

“Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?”

Trouble here means worry. Worry is one of the greatest evils that is forever chasing after us. We all know that worry destabilizes us mentally, emotionally and even physically. However, long before we become ‘mentally unstable’, so to speak, we need to realize that the problem begun somewhere in our hearts. But when we have Jesus in our lives, we have the KING of peace living right in us! How could we allow ourselves to be troubled? Jesus rebuked His disciples for allowing themselves into this condition of heart.

“Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?”

Let us go back to pride. How do you deal with pride?

Let’s say you have given a substantial financial offering or gift in church. You probably are aware that other people have not given as much as you have given. As you comfortably settle back in your seat, you feel this sense of self-importance begin to wash over you. You are not thinking about it: it just comes naturally.

Where did this sense of self-importance come from? It came from the heart. Everything starts in our heart! And why is it an evil thought?

It is evil because the Bible says that when we give, even our left hand should not know what our right had has given (Mat. 6:3)! That is why, even as we give, we should be lying on the floor, face pressed down hard on the ground, BEGGING God to forgive us for even thinking that we are WORTHY to give to Him. What could we give that could possibly even begin to match the sacrifice that Jesus gave on the cross?

Lying flat on the floor in total abjectivity, as I said, is the ideal position to give from. Moreover, it is the position that we must work from whenever we are doing anything for the Lord, including ministry. But I am talking about a condition of heart.

Did you know that heaven is all peace… that is, until we allow evil thoughts into our hearts. It is then that the alarms go off in heaven. All of heaven is about us; and an evil condition of heart troubles God greatly. Imagine you or I troubling God because we have allowed evil into our hearts! That is why we need to humble ourselves daily and ask for forgiveness and spiritual strength to stand strong against the onslaught of the flesh, the devil and the world.

The greatest undertaking that a man can aspire to – and which singular thing brings the greatest joy to God and the angels in heaven – is for him to is to watch over his heart. If we wish to impress God, it all begins with the condition of our heart. But the heart that pleases God does not come automatically. It is the result of a work – a work of the cross. That is why we need to catch the revelation of the cross. The cross keeps hammering at all that flesh in our lives to keep our hearts pure and humble.

I repeat therefore that the greatest undertaking that any man of God can aspire to with regard to God is to watch over his heart.

[Our greatest aspiration: the athlete teaches us many valuable lessons]

The Church’s One Foundation

10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation… 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 3:10-11

Let me begin by trying to get your attention. Let me begin by stating that the foundation of the church is weakness and foolishness.

I am so glad I was able to state that.

Every structure has to have a foundation. Actually, every thing has a foundation. But it cannot just be any foundation. The firmer the foundation, the easier and more securely the structure which is built on that foundation will rest. The structures or things that we see in the natural that have been built by God are unspeakably secure. We see them: the planets and galaxies in the cosmos; the sun and the stars. They are immovable. Even the mighty ocean cannot overcome the boundaries that God has set for it, even though all the world’s rivers, both mighty and small, have been flowing into it for thousands of years.

One can add so many things to this list. All these things have a foundation, and it is this foundation that makes them secure and immovable.

This is incomparably more so in the Spirit. If God can secure His creation in the natural to the extent that we see with our natural eyes, how much more would He do for the things of the Spirit, which are of far much more value to Him? You can therefore imagine just how strong the foundations of the things of the Spirit are. Chief amongst these things – the thing He values above all – is the gospel. This is the singular thing which God was willing to give His Son to die for.

(Don’t you think that for this reason we ought to take a moment to reflect and thank God that it was for us that He did this incredible act of selflessness.)

The gospel  of Jesus Christ has a foundation, thank God!! And what, pray, is this foundation?

It is Jesus Christ Himself, Christ crucified. The minute you remove the word “crucified” you have removed the foundation from under the gospel, and that gospel will crumble like a card of sticks.

Thankfully, “Christ crucified” was the foundation that the Apostle Paul lay in the Corinthian church when he first preached the Good News to them. When Paul uses the words “wise masterbuilder” to describe himself, he is not seeking after our accolades. Rather, he is stating a spiritual fact which is so important for the church. He is stating the wisdom of God.

Paul directed the Corinthians to the cross. He told them to accept sufferings for the gospel’s sake, and to crucify self, to the end that the life of Christ might be found in them.

“1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Cor. 2:1-2)

“… we preach Christ crucified”. (1 Cor. 1:23)

Paul told the Corinthians to accept to become weak, and foolish. What a challenge! But the Corinthians rose up to it, and Paul left behind a strong, holy and united church in Corinth. Everyone had surrendered their lives to Christ.

What a strong foundation the Apostle Paul had laid! For as long as the Corinthians stood on this foundation, they were safe and secure. Since they had denied themselves and taken up their cross, it was the easiest thing for them, in everything, to find themselves standing together “in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10).

Wow! What a testimony!

It is not easy for any number of people to stand together “in the same mind and in the same judgment”. Human nature simply cannot allow that. But with God all things are possible. With “Christ crucified” firmly enthroned in our hearts, it is so much possible!

But not long after Paul left them, the Corinthians began listening to other doctrines and teachings. Probably they heard the gospel of prosperity, who knows? Or a gospel of law and prescriptions. They could have heard any number of strange gospels. But it is clear they were no longer adhering to the gospel that Paul left them with, “Christ crucified”. For this reason, they came off the foundation of the cross.

And now they were no longer secure! Now there was war, fraction, and every kind of evil work amongst them.  They had come off the only secure place God had given them; the revelation of the cross in their hearts had been darkened. And now they were on another, different foundation, which was fast crumbling.

The church today cannot expect to become spiritual without this revelation in our hearts. There is no other way, and there is no shortcut. The words of the Apostle Paul, backed by the authority of God:

“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

It is a foundation of weakness and foolishness… weakness and foolishness with Christ.

[True unity in church can only come about through a revelation of the cross in our hearts]

 

The Holy Spirit And Prayer

The Holy Spirit And Prayer

26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Rom. 8:26-27

This is just a brief take on this grand subject; but I will present it all the same.

It is incredible what we don’t know about God. Actually, we know nothing about God. The Bible says so right there. That means, basically, that we do not know what His will is. But the Holy Spirit who lives in us knows exactly what God’s will is. And therefore He prays for us according to God’s will.

God is a mystery. Even the need to pray talks to us about the mystery of God. Prayer acknowledges that God’s ways are far higher than our ways. So much so that we actually do not just pray to God; but we need the Holy Spirit to intercede for us, so lofty and high is our God. What an unfathomable mystery all these things are!

There are people who deride the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. But it is foolish to do such a thing. Actually, speaking in tongues is a singularly incredible gift from God. It is one of the most direct ways that mortal man can connect with God, for the Bible says,

“For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.” (1 Cor. 14:2)

Notice the Bible acknowledges – states, rather – that there are unknown tongues. So next time you hear a brother or sister speaking in an unknown tongue, just realize you are observing the most wonderful conversation that any mortal man could ever bear witness to.

Moreover, it says that the man or woman who speaks in an unknown tongues speaks mysteries; that he or she speaks mysteries to God. Speaking in an unknown tongue is therefore a direct conversation between man and God deep in the Spirit zone.

But let’s go back to Romans 8:26

“26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

The Bible says that “we know not what we should pray for as we ought”. That is because, as mortals, we are weak. Actually, without the Holy Spirit, we are as weak as Samson was after his hair was shorn off his head. Let me try and explain this in practical terms.

I could be praying; and at the same time the Holy Spirit is praying in me. The Holy Spirit in me might be aware of a need or situation that I am not aware of. The need could be personal, or it could be about another person(s). The Holy Spirit will therefore lead me to pray in the direction of that need, even though I am not intelligibly aware of such a need. The Holy Spirit, by utilizing just my surrendered spirit, will pray in me in tongues, and He will pray over that situation; He will pray over something that in the natural I have not the vaguest idea about. In that way, the Holy Spirit in me will accomplish the will of God!

Moreover, the Holy Spirit “maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

No earthly or human medium can communicate the depth of our needs to God. Only the Holy Spirit can. Can a man groan like the Holy Spirit does? The answer is no. We are too weak for that. But the Holy Spirit utters the deep need we have of God.

God is a mystery; but even the word “mystery” is insufficient to the extent that we want to understand that word with our minds. We want to interpret it according to our intellect. But God is unspeakably far above our intellect. Comparing our intellect with God is the equivalent of trying to launch a spacecraft with a firecracker.

We therefore need to humble ourselves and desire to have all that God has for us, and not to think too highly of our intelligence. It says in 1 Cor. 14:1:

“Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts…”

We are told to desire after spiritual gifts, not deride or make light of them. Spiritual gifts reveal to us the infinite awesomeness of God; and God uses these gifts to work exceedingly great things in our lives.

[We should never make light of the ministry of the Holy Spirit]

Sharing God’s Love

This blog is also dedicated to bringing cheer to all who peep inside.

[This is just so beautiful!]

The Attributes Of God

23 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Jer. 9:23-24

This is a big one…

But, before we start… We have to realize that every word written in the Bible is written to believers, not to unbelievers. The Bible is the believer’s handbook. The words above, therefore, written by the Prophet Jeremiah, were written to the church, not to unbelievers. And the way these words are written suggest that here, right in the church, in the Body of Jesus Christ, there are believers who are boasting in all kinds of things which God never thought that a child of His would boast in.

There are believers boasting in their wisdom. Have you ever heard of people called motivational speakers? In church, I mean. They talk all kinds of lofty things and they have all these grand ideas of how you can achieve practically anything you want to achieve and how you can basically become anything and anyone you want to become. You would think they work for The American Dream, Inc. But motivational speakers are just a small part of this large group of wise men and women.

There are believers boasting in their might. I heard one owner of a Christian denomination in a neighboring country tell his bishops, “Any bishop who does not respect my wife I will throw out of my church. This time I will show you my power.” These are powerful men. They have lawyers and all kinds of musclemen who will do their bidding at any cost.

In my country, there are preachers who have all kinds of titles on them, ranging from “Transformer” to “Caterpillar” (equated to the famed heavy earth-moving machinery), to “Chief”. A little further down south we have the Major, of course.

All these self-given titles talk of earthly (not spiritual) might.

There are believers boasting in their riches. Have you ever heard the gospel called the gospel of prosperity? God’s Word hits the nail on the head with this one. The people who subscribe to this gospel are many and they flaunt their wealth about “in the Name of Jesus”.

There are a million and one ways that God’s people use to show off their “godliness”, or how much they “know” God. In addition to the few we have mentioned above, there are all kinds of circuses (real ones) going on in church today. People vibrate, pole vault, and do all kinds of gymnastics in church, all geared towards making a statement about their “knowledge” of God. Some preachers are capable of roaring like lions, with devastating effect upon their blind, terror-filled followers.

As I said, man is capable of doing a million and one things to try and convince people – and God, hopefully – that God is on his side.

But God is not in any of these groups. God does none of those things. In fact, notice how humble – and simple – God is. He states simply that He exercises

“lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth”.

Just in case you are tempted to think that those are lofty, unattainable ideals, the answer is no. They are simple, everyday principles which every believer in Jesus Christ can practicably attain to.

In the Swahili Bible, the word “lovingkindness” is translated “goodness”. How so clean and simple! Goodness is the opposite of evil, or maliciousness. It means not doing evil to your fellow man, only good.

God is simply good. His goodness has no strings attached to it.

“Judgment” speaks of a lack of favoritism.

“Righteousness” talks of not sinning against God.

All these are the simplest things that a child of God can do. And the Bible says that these are the things that please God. Not those other things which we saw so forcefully put forward in church.

But we must realize that we can attain to doing the things that please God only when our flesh is crucified; when we are crucified with Christ, as the Apostle Paul says of himself in Galatians 2:20:

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

[Goodness is doing no ill to your fellow man, only good]

Fear Not!!

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want… Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Ps. 23:1,4

One of the greatest blessings that is afforded to us as children of God is the blessing to NOT FEAR. In a world driven and controlled by fear, we can look danger in the eye and not experience the slightest fear. Why?

David says,

“… for thou art with me.”

I love that. God is with us!

Many times in midst of life’s challenges we fail to believe that God is with us. We think that we are alone and for this reason fear fills our hearts. But here we see David passing through the toughest challenge possible – walking through the valley of the shadow of death – and he says he will fear no evil.

Notice that David does not say, “I will face no evil.” Rather, he says, “I will fear no evil.”

Modern-day preachers try to teach people to not face evil. They teach that evil will not touch you if you are a child of God. They tell their followers, for example, “Take this holy water and sprinkle it around your house, and no evil will befall you”; or, “Put this sticker photo of the man of God on your car and you will not get an accident.”

Churches that teach an evil-less world are packed to capacity. People will always love these kinds of gospels because they go easy on the flesh. But David did not preach that. Rather, he expected evil to come; but he knew God was with him, and that He would protect him under His shadow.

Is it not wonderful that we can live without fear in a world full of storms? The storms of life will come. Better still, is it not just so wonderful to know that God is with us and especially so in times of our deepest challenges? God will preserve us.

We should all thank and praise God for this grace.

[“I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.” – Ps. 4:8)

Doing Only Good Sets Us Free!

God can afford to be free because He is love. What does that mean?

It means God does only good. When someone does only good, they are completely free. But when we are unable to do only good, we are not free.

God is love and love does only good. That is why the Bible says,

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (Jn. 3:16)

Imagine that goodness!!

When Jesus was here on earth, the Pharisees and other religious leaders tried to prevent Him from doing good. They tried to prevent Him by using scriptures which they did not understand.

But Jesus was love and for this reason He was free to do whatever He wanted to because whatever He did He did only out of love.

So Jesus healed people on the Sabbath despite prostestations by the priests not to ‘work’ on the Sabbath. He sat with lepers, tax collectors and was ministered to by former harlots. Nothing could deter Jesus from doing good. He was free in His spirit, for He was love.

That is why we need the revelation of the cross in our hearts, so that we can deny ourselves and live lives that conform perfectly to the will of God. Conforming to the will of God means doing only good, something which our fleshly nature is simply incapable of. The fact is that the cross is the only power that can crucify the flesh and bring about God’s perfect will in our lives. The Bible says of the flesh:

“7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Rom. 8:7-8)

For this reason, therefore, the Apostle Paul had only one message:

“But we preach Christ crucified…” (1 Cor. 1:23)

Moreover, he tells the Corinthians,

“1 And I, brethren, when I came to you… 2 I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Cor. 2:1-2)

The cross sets us free from the power of the flesh. When we are free of the flesh, we can be as loving, and hence free, as Christ was.

[The cutest niece in the world!]