If any man wishes

'If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me' made me ponder on the word 'wishes'. The sovereign God of heaven and earth is waiting for me to choose. There is a lot of importance that God gives to whether I have decided what to do with my life. The invitation is always open. If we really desire something, we should be willing to do whatever we can to get it. I can delay my salvation by failing to deny myself. I can make excuses for my distractions and find myself walking in circles. We, believers are always waiting for the power of God to fall and change the circumstances of our life. Can we not do something about changing it? Can we not decide that we want to be more involved with God's purposes and therefore stay away from the things that can drag us under? Shouldn't we be more eager about doing the will of God? Let us begin to realise that God will not withhold anything from His side. Everything is ready and available to those who are eagerly asking for it. He will not delay for a moment longer than necessary. He is waiting at the door of our hearts. Instead of crying out for Him to do something, let us do something from our side. We will be surprised beyond a doubt. The reward will surely come.

An ode to suffering

I never properly understood

Of God sympathising in our suffering

I always thought God wants to help

To help us come out of suffering

Why should God remain silent

what good is there in our suffering

I then began to meditate on Jesus

Wasn't His whole life one of suffering

He suffered rejection and pain

He learned to be patient in suffering

And in that supreme act for us

He did not want relief from suffering

He suffered death for our sakes

There was a joy in that suffering

Why does God remain quiet, at times

When we go through our suffering

Why does He want us to go through it

Why at times only comfort in our suffering

Because in a fallen world

There is always bound to be suffering

What matters is only one thing

Am I willing to share in His suffering

Do I want only relief for my sorrows

Or am I willing to see through my suffering

And find out like Jesus did

That God brings redemption through suffering

Are apostles and prophets on top?

There is a fundamental flaw in the minds of many regarding the role of apostles and prophets. Please understand that these are ministry gifts and so we could have immature apostles and prophets as much as immature teachers and pastors. 

Let us understand the function of an apostle clearly. First of all, apostles are those who have a specific commission and have been set apart for that particular task. Paul and Barnabas was ministering in the church when they they specifically commissioned by Holy Spirit. I believe this is a vital point and is mostly overlooked. Today we have apostles who are as surprised as we are when someone lays hands on them and tells them they are apostles! They may not even know what to do next. 

Secondly apostles are not independent of churches but they are accountable and have to report back to the churches that sent them. Inside the church where they came from, it is not the apostle that takes authority over the elders but is one among them (John and Peter call themselves elders) and so the plurality of leadership in the church is not violated. An apostolic ministry can be as varied as we see in Epaphroditus (Paul calls him an apostle in Phil 2:25) and if they are called to establish churches, they should be willing to relinquish authority as soon as elders are appointed. 

Thirdly, just because someone has a healing and deliverance ministry does not qualify him as an apostle. He may be an anointed evangelist as in the case of Philip. The verse in 2 Cor 12:12 is widely misunderstood. Paul is not saying that the signs of a true apostle are signs and wonders and miracles alone. Paul himself says in 1 Thess 2:9 that Satan will come with signs and false wonders. Paul's emphasis in 2 Cor is that the apostle was indeed one because he manifested the quality of perseverance. The context of that verse is patient endurance through hardships, difficulties and persecutions which is the hallmark of a true apostle. TNIV brings out that verse aptly.  

Giving glory to God the Spirit

What Jesus purchased for us and how the Spirit actualizes it for us should be clear in the minds of believers. We either fail to accept the truth of what Jesus did for us or we fail to understand the sanctifying process of Holy Spirit in bringing it into reality in our lives. We should be clear on the fact that God is at work right from the beginning of our sanctification journey and the Holy Spirit has taken the initiative to reveal the Son in our lives. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,  (1Co 2:12). There are far too many believers who give glory to the Son for the Cross  and fail to give due glory to the Spirit for the outworking of the Cross in our lives. They tend to take it upon themselves to produce the fruit of sanctification and fail to understand why they constantly struggle to manifest the victory of Jesus. 
Now, does that mean that we just wait for God the Holy Spirit to do something in our lives? Of course not. We have already been made new creatures in Christ and therefore the seeds of change and desire for growth are already implanted in us. We long for more of Him because we already have Him in our hearts.  We fight because we are created to fight. Since we have been made His children, we have decided to become slaves of righteousness. Our duty is to keep the fire burning at any cost. Deep calls out to deep. All glory to God at every step.