Forget about forgiveness?

"Asking God to forgive you is like a happily married person asking their spouse, please will you marry me? Stop asking for something which you already have & start thanking that you are already forgiven, past, present & future." This is what I read somewhere recently and pondered on the statement. I was not able to read the whole message so I cannot place it in context. I hope the writer is not saying that a saint never needs to confess his sins. What a terrible thing to say to a believer who has fallen into defilement, that God has forgiven them all and that you do not even need to repent.
I believe the real problem here is confusion regarding the forgiveness we have in Christ and the forgiveness that is worked out experientially in our lives. This leads to an even more fundamental question. When we atop abiding in Jesus, what are we losing out? What did David go through when he sinned against the Lord? He lost his sense of being forgiven and everything connected to it including peace.
Yes, our forgiveness has been purchased once and for all on the cross of Jesus. No more work need to be done by Jesus for it, because it is complete and finished. However, it can be experienced in our lives for the first time only when we repent and turn to Him. As with every experience that we have, this forgiveness continues to flow through our lives as long as we are abiding in Jesus.  When we sin, we have stepped out of that river of forgiveness and we need to cleanse ourselves by going back to that river. This cleansing has to be both for specific sins and to aid our growth in Him (1John 1:9). This is the only way to perfect our holiness (2 Cor 7:1).

We are enjoying our gods!

In our nation today, there is a heightened awareness and growing affinity towards spirituality in its various forms and manifestations. God-men and women are highly in demand today and I am slowly seeing the reason why. These so-called gods speak little of their abode in the heavens. They promise no pie in the sky. Instead, they have decided to bring in their heavenly wisdom into the political and social contexts of people's lives. They have much to say about the social ills and corruptions in the world today and throw in a freebie like a house or a job if you get close enough to them. Their followers lap it all up because they are looking for a saviour to redeem their living conditions and they are fed up with the politicians. More than anything else, the urge to quieten the guilty conscience drives them to these false gods.  
When I picture Jesus being here physically today, I am sure people would pay Him scant attention. He is not addressing 'real' needs. He would talk about His Father in heaven and would speak about an inheritance beyond the clouds. He would promise a life free from sin and curse. He would mention that hell is not a avoidable option for people who fail to bow the knee. He would not offer them earthly riches but instead say that troubles may come their way. I suspect Jesus would be ignored by most. Maybe a miracle or two may help. I doubt that too.People want an instant salvation. Without any conditions. And don't you dare tell us we are wrong. 'Let's throw Him over the cliff' - they would clamor, 'We are enjoying our gods'.

God needs faith? Hard to believe!

Let us all accept the fact that faith properly begins from God if it has to be faith that saves. It is equally true that people are going into destruction because they refuse to believe. Man has no excuse to claim that he was not given faith to believe. Faith seems to be the vital link between man and God. All the more reason for us to have a well rounded picture of faith. It is not uncommon in the churches to have different views on this most important virtue, especially the origins of faith. One of the views I find being preached is that we need to have the faith of God. I hope what they mean is the faith that Jesus had when He was here on earth. Because it is absurd to think of God having faith. I have even heard messages that said God believed that His Word would perform its work when He spoke the world into existence. And that is why it happened! We are placing faith above God.
       Another disturbing trend I have noticed is for believers to claim that everything they have is from God, even their faith. Nothing wrong at first until we follow their line of thinking. Somehow faith becomes less of an activity because I can have it, only if God gives it to me. A kind of passivity can creep in and I do not pay much attention to building up my faith because it is not mine! Can you see how we can be deceived if we are not careful. Some of us look at the word of God and expect some magic thing to happen because we have read that faith comes by hearing the word of God. For them, the necessity of prayer and crying out to God seems less important because I only have to believe. Believe. I have heard believers say flippantly, "I'm believing God for this. I'm believing God for that". God help us all in this journey of faith.

Promises! Promises?

All of God’s word contains promises for us. These promises can be direct or indirect. Some of these are clearly conditional and some seem not to have any conditions. To live long on earth, one of the conditions is to honor our father and mother (Eph 6:2). Some people seem to think this is the only condition to live long! Can we just look at a promise in the Bible and say, “Ah, God will do this in my life?” Now we do not have space to look at the differences between the O.T and N.T promises but we need to answer this question – are all of God’s promises conditional or are there some with no conditions at all?

One of the assumptions we make is this – all of God’s promises are yes in Christ. We are in Christ. So all of the promises are yes for us.What we fail to realize is that it is the Holy Spirit who guides us into all the truth. This means that no matter how much we believe in a particular promise, we have to be led into its reality by Holy Spirit. No spiritual quickening can take place without Holy Spirit. Every word has to be confirmed. We think that for a truth to become a reality, all we need is to believe. 2 Thess 2:13 makes it clear that we are saved through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. One cannot be without the other.

The devil still roars!

I have seen so much of confusion regarding our understanding of the devil and the way he functions today. Some of us believe that he is declawed and defanged till we come across a verse in 1 John that says 'the whole world lies (present tense, not past) in the power of the evil one. Then we rework our theology all over again! Let me put it this way before you in poetic form:
He is defeated but not destroyed yet.
He is conquered but not crushed yet.
He is vanquished but has not vanished yet.
What do we have to see here? Well, the devil is a defeated foe but let us understand that he was defeated by Jesus not in mortal combat. He is not chained or bound yet. His power has not lessened but his authority through which he worked that power on earth was brought low. This means that he can still go around like a roaring lion but he has to submit or flee from anyone who wields the authority that Jesus has purchased. In other words, the battle that Jesus won was in the heavenly places. It has to be enforced here on earth or else the devil will act as if nothing has happened at the cross. Yes the Holy Spirit is enforcing that victory here on earth. But realize that He is doing it through the church through prepared vessels. 
An example would help. A manager just lost his job. His duty was to collect money from people and hand it over to his boss. He could still do his rounds and take the collection. His boss has not put him away yet. He will go away empty-handed from a house only someone confronts him and tells him that he has lost his job. Only those who are in Jesus can confront the devil. Let me stress on the word 'can'. Many of us still do not. We have to become a proxy for Jesus.

'Spiritual' brain-drain!

I am sometimes perplexed when I see so much of ‘spiritual’ brain-drain to the West that is happening these days (not a recent phenomenon, though). I have to comment, even though I know it may ruffle a few feathers and cause a few heartaches, especially to my Indian friends out there. However, please take it as a gesture of love and concern.

Now I know that God is not limited by place or time. He works in ways we cannot see. Let me reiterate at the start, that I am not making a blanket statement to condemn all those who have left the shores of our great nation. Many have gone out of sheer desperation of not finding a proper job here. There are many who are earning well and playing a great role in supporting mission work back home. Others are influencing their adopted nation in a number of ways and it may all be part of God’s strategy of ‘evangelizing the West’ all over again. What a way to humble the proud and overthrow ungodliness!

What still concerns me is that the saints do not pause to think twice before making a beeline for the West. The demand for nurses as brides has to be seen to be believed! Among our christian friends, of course.Everything can be spiritualized, if given a chance, and I am disturbed that we are not laying it on the altar as we should.  When there is greater need for the Lord’s work in our nation, we have to be doubly sure that God has a purpose for leading us away from this place.

Also, this aspect of emigration and ‘settling’ in the West (more to the East, nowadays) is still unnerving to me. I can understand saints who are there for a time and for a reason. The most common reason I have heard people say is that they want their kids to have a good future. It still shakes me to the core. Our kids cannot survive in India. Our kids should have no role in pulling our nation out of its mess. What is worse is that we are unconcerned and we want to pass it on to our children. Decades ago, even secular people had only one purpose in going to the West. To be trained and come back to serve their motherland. Do we have people with such noble motives today? Among the saints at least?

Yes, we all want to live better lives. We all want to have neat roads and clean cities. But we stay in our country to serve. We should have a mindset to give and not merely to receive. Is it wrong to think like this? Is there not a selfish motive somewhere in planning to spend the rest of our lives in places which is most convenient to our flesh? I have heard people say after going abroad that it is more hectic there than back home. But no, they have no plans of coming back. Even the traffic jams are orderly.

The saddest part in all these is that many have no money to save. Or send something back home. “We have too many bills to pay. We are trying to take extra jobs. Our family life is not worth mentioning. We will do our best however…”

Signs of growth Series -3

The greatest sign of growth in a believer's life is when he sees that love is greater than all. It is bigger than any miracle and superior to any act of faith. As we grow in God, we find that we cannot divorce love for God with love for man. Jesus had to find favor with both God and man. If we truly love our brother, we will not be indifferent to his wrongdoings. We have to lovingly confront him regarding his sin. However, there is an interesting verse in 1Peter 4:8  which says, "Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins". Does this mean that our love can cover the sins of another? Surely not! Peter is talking to us about our heart attitude. We are usually quick to find fault in others. We do not give them the benefit of the doubt. We do not realize that we may be worse off ourselves. This condemning and judging attitude is contrary to a heart of love. The point is not that we should ignore sin. The point is that we are not perfect either. Only love can build a bridge over the mire of misgivings and mistrust. O for a heart of love!

Signs of Growth Series -2

Another definite sign of growth is in the attitude we have towards prayer. Yes, we all know that prayer works. We all know that God is willing to hear our prayers. But as we grow in God, we find that our prayers are really important. The thought that God will do it anyway whether we pray or not, is replaced by the thought that my prayers are essential for God to work. I do not take half-hearted attempts to pray but I can sense that God is waiting to hear me call out to Him. God is sending answers to my prayers and I have to pray the will of God down. I find that I am in partnership with the Holy Spirit with regards to getting things done.

I also begin to see that prayer is my vital lifeline to God. Prayer undergirds the soul with hope and longing. It is like a burst of sunlight piercing through the doomsday clouds.It is the rumblings of the soul thirsting to unite with its Maker. It fills the heart like nothing else can. It can lead to divine ecstasy, pure and simple.

Signs of growth Series -1

There is a wonderful progression in the life of a saint of God who is yielded to His ways. The journey is fascinating and there is a series of milestones that he encounters along the way. As he grows, he outgrows many things and move into greater levels of freedom and fellowship. For a new believer, one of the most important aspects of his journey is his learning process through the local church he is part of. He has to yield to the dealings of God through the leaders that God has placed over his life and only a heart of submission can carry him through that phase. I believe that a saint can progress from serving the local church to a place where he begins to serve many churches and groups very effectively. However, this 'promotion' comes only to those who have overcome the twin forces of resentment and rebellion  that will surely come his way. It is a  very crucial testing period and a severe test for some. I am not talking about open rebellion and division within the local body that he is part of. It is possible to succumb to these forces and we could harbor a spirit of bitterness and disdain that may not be obvious to all. The greatest temptation here is to blame the leaders that God has placed over us. And it is possible to expose the nakedness of many a leader just like Ham did with his father Noah. I pity the person who cannot overcome in this area. He will remain a frustrated saint.

Fitness Certificate!

We often tend to forget that the Holy Spirit is our teacher and that He has a definite training program going on for our lives. Just like our teacher at school who often helps us more than he should, with our maths problems, so also we find that we get answers from God even when we do not have enough faith or commitment from our side. A classic example is in the case of Martha who was confronted by Jesus during the death of her brother Lazarus. She did not believe that her brother would rise again and yet Jesus did the miracle. The fact that He questioned her itself shows that it mattered to Him regarding her faith. The fact that she did not believe did not prevent the miracle because she was on that training program. Failure during the training always means that we can hope to succeed next time. The training is still on because we have to succeed at some point of time. Sometimes we act as if it is the trainer who needs to be trained - 'Lord, why did you not do this? Why did that not happen?' We fail to hear His probing questions and the reasons as to why we failed to overcome. If only we had ears to hear and the heart to be trained...

Stop press; repeat

It is a very exciting thing to hear new believers receiving miracles of healing in their physical bodies and it is even more overwhelming to see how thrilled they become. I still remember the joy of getting healed dramatically myself. As we move on with God, we should never lose the sense of awe at how God can touch a person and heal him or her without any natural intervention. It is still the most frequent way that a person comes to faith in Jesus. 

As we see more of God's ways, we should understand that God has the same passion to heal us every time but He is also doing a greater work in our lives and we should never be confused when things do not happen as it did ten years ago. From the body, God is moving on to treat diseases of the soul and the Spirit of God wants to cleanse us from the inside out. Sometimes, a (temporary) lack of healing becomes the only way to convince us to look inward. We are not babies any more and we do not have to see a miracle to convince ourselves of God's love for us. Instead of being a miracle-receiver, He is slowly moving us to become a miracle-giver. It can happen only when we learn more regarding the sovereignty of God and His grace. God is God and it takes a long time for us to grasp that. He is not bound by our eager attempts to please Him and our sulking afterward when prayers are not answered. A greater revelation of Jesus is always the greater goal that God is after.

We need those fig leaves!

Isn't it strange that degradation in society is revealed not by lawlessness in every sphere but in some. For example, we do not see many people wanting to disobey traffic laws but we find other laws broken with impunity. People will always want to have some semblance of maintaining rules while involved with wrongdoing in others. Men always prefer to hide their daggers in its sheaths. 
     The real problem is not which laws are broken and which are not. The devil's strategy is not as much as to remove every law but to change the standards on which laws are made. What he is gunning for right now is in the area of morality with regards to sex and marriage. If he can get mankind to be dysfunctional in this area, he can cause society to hurtle down the slope of self-destruct. The book of Romans in chapter 1 talks of dishonored bodies, degrading passions and depraved minds - in that order. The institution of marriage is being bombarded. There was a time when you could use it as a standard to determine morality. Not anymore. It has become an old fashioned thing. And what is still worse is that any relationship can be called marriage. Society does not want to banish that word. Just to redefine it. We still need those fig leaves to hide under.  

The Obedience of Faith

After we are born again, there are different courses we may take. Some become aggressive evangelists, thinking that’s the way to please God. Others become recluses, staying away from family and friends. Some are caught up with personalities and others begin to pore over the Scriptures. Some of us are amazed at how many strongholds have been brought down and some of us are surprised why we still have many habits yet to be broken down. Whatever place we find ourselves in, let us understand that the most important thing God requires of us is a total commitment to God and a presenting of ourselves to Him. The obedience that we are to have is called the obedience of faith. Most of us think that it comes naturally but soon we find out that it is not so. All hell will strive to hinder us from taking those first steps that will prevent him from snatching away the word sown in the heart. 

Do we understand that living for Jesus means that we have stopped living for ourselves? For many of us, living for Jesus means we should be following the rules of Christianity. Or, it means that we should be ready to do whatever He tells us to do. The problem here is that, most of the time we lose our patience, waiting to hear Him speak to us. Do we see that more than anything else, the very thrust or direction of our life needs to change? Yes, we have to obey but our obedience includes a turning to Him - an obedience of faith.