Beholding the glory of God

The Scriptures can be unlocked only to those who are willing. Those who have a readiness to do the things of God. No method can help us in this unlocking. The only thing that methods can do is to prevent us from coming to false conclusions. But it is not enough to come to right conclusions. We have to understand that Scripture has two objectives. One is to give us instructions regarding how to prepare oneself to meet with God. We read and understand how to maintain a right conduct. But the bigger purpose is to meet with the living God Himself. He comes to us in His Word. This is totally dependent on Holy Spirit who speaks to the heart of men.  It is a heart to heart communication. Only one word can be rightfully used to describe this -REVELATION. An unlocking. An unveiling. An unfolding. A comprehension that goes beyond the natural. A beholding of the glory of God. It lifts us up from the earthly. We meet Him face and face. And we are being transformed.

Lessons from Marah

There is much truth to glean out of the episode at Marah. The name itself denotes something unhealthy. The water was bitter and could not be drunk. It would cause disease and distress. Bitterness leading to unhealthiness.

The Israelites grumbled at the lack of water and God performed a miracle. We would have thought that God wanted the miracles to continue in greater levels. But He then offers them a regulation through which the miracle need not be present visibly. I am the Lord your Healer. I want you to live in health. I do not want to see you suffer any of the diseases of the Egyptians. If you pay attention to My voice and follow my commands, I will do the greater miracle of keeping you in sound health. More than performing the miracle, I want you to live out of me. I want you to walk in fullness of life. This is the lesson that God is teaching us through Marah. Isn’t it amazing?

Consider it all joy

When we are exhorted to consider it all joy when we face various trials, let's realize that it is not just a shift in our thinking that James is talking about. He wants to make us find out what God is doing through the trial so that we can finally rejoice. Trials are never joyous situations and will never become one by forcing ourselves to think it so. We so need to find out what this particular test of our faith is achieving so that we can truly thankful.

              James says we also learn endurance and even that is a tough word to understand. Endurance is not just sticking on somehow. Endurance is a positive word and has many benefits. It causes us to move further than before because we are building our spiritual muscles. It gives us confidence for greater challenges. And most of all, it removes the haziness and causes us to set our sights clearly. Our goal is ever clearer before us. We can fix our eyes on Jesus, our perfecter.

Church is essential

The church is the canvas on which God paints his pictures. The church is our thermometer where we can find out how hot or how cold we are. Now there are many believers who have all kinds of issues about their own church or about churches in general. They may have valid reasons for being upset. But please understand that God doesn’t paint his pictures elsewhere. The question is not how God is changing you or not. The question is more specific – how is God using the church to change you? Or to be even more specific – how  is God using people in the church to change you? You may not like it one bit. You would rather that God changes you in the privacy of your home. But whether we like it or not – God uses the church to change you. You can grumble. You can murmur. You can even change church. But you cannot quit church. You cannot keep away from church. The sooner you accept this, the better for you. God has no other means to work on you other than his own people. That is why we say to new believers (and to old of course) – you need to pray, read the word, grow in fellowship and serve in the world. None are optional.

Dealing with our sinful nature-2

What does 'going to the cross' mean to us on a practical level? For many of us, it may mean that we need to humble ourselves. This statement is true but what we should see is that we need to humble ourselves to the point of death. In practical terms, it means we have to decide against our own flesh. Our flesh may demand something or it may refuse to do something. However we are making a choice. To go to the cross actually means that we are denying ourselves. We are denying our flesh the pleasure of having its own way. We are making decisions. Costly decisions. Decisions to walk the way of the cross. Decisions to take up our own cross. Now the important thing to see is that we need the help of the Holy Spirit. It is prayer that can enable us to go, enable us to decide. Jesus said - Pray...The spirit is willing but it is prayer that can make our flesh to yield to a higher power. When Jesus said that the flesh is weak, we have to see it in two ways. One is that our flesh i.e our body is too weak to accept the terms of discipleship. Secondly our fleshly nature is what is making us weak. We need strength to obey.