Getting rid of what drags you down

Background:The Israelites, under the leadership of Ezra all ready to worship the Lord at their newly rebuilt temple, gather together in Jerusalem. "35 Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven male lambs and, as a sin offering, twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD. 36 They also delivered the king's orders to the royal satraps and to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, who then gave assistance to the people and to the house of God." They had now taken their first step to return to their God.

"1 After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, "The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. 2 They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness."

Lessons

1. Urged to be separate-When the Israelites turned to God after many years of disobedience, God dealt with their past. They had mingled with the 'other' people. I have stood with the general crowd, not wanting to be the odd one out, even if it was wrong to join the crowd. I am guilty.


2. What drags you away from God, must be put away-The Israelites mingling with the neighbouring people wasn't helping them in their faith, in fact they were learning their customs and traditions rather than following what their Living God had taught them. . Isn't that the work of the father of lies. Any time something is dragging us away from God, must be dealt with and put away.


3. God searches our past to deal with any blockages to victory-The Israelites had been in bondage since the time they began disobeying God. From marrying foreign women, to following foreign gods. In order for them to move forward in obedience, their serious mistake in the past(which was constantly dragging with them) had to be removed

Conclusion:For the Israelites the separation was a physical separation from the foreign people whom they had married. For us it could be more than that. For the Israelites, just by leaving their foreign wives and children would be enough, but for us how will be able to separate the evil thoughts that have crept into our lives, from media, through television, radio and evil song lyrics and such. How and when will we discern and get rid of those voices which want to get married(meaning:-to unite ) to us? People are selling lies about our Lord Jesus and we stand and watch!!! How can this be? I cannot sit and watch when a man had taken a cleverly spun lie and multiplied it into a spectacle of lies, performed as if true!!! Its wrong. Let us not compromise with lies, that are trying to persuade our families, who are not yet in Christ, into the wrong direction.

Romans 12:2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Dear Loving Heavenly Father, I come to You in the name of Your Son Jesus, my Saviour and I ask for your pardon for the times of sin when I have joined with the foreign. The times when I have disobeyed you and believed in the lies and traditions of the foreign(not from you). I pray O Lord that You would grant me the courage to stand for what is right, no matter how painful it may be to bear it. Help me stand up for You and for Truth.

Amen.

Impactful Living

As I read through the Book I Ezra, I found Ezra hadn't been a part of the rebuilding of the temple. He was reserved for another purpose-to teach the law of God to the Israelites(Ezra 7:10). The king of Persia, was Artaxerxes then, about 60 yrs since the completion of the temple. One thing that impressed me about Ezra is-how the King of Persia had observed him. In the letter that Artaxerxes writes to commission Ezra to carry out God's law for Israel and Judah, the king had noticed some special characters of this man exiled in Babylon, Ezra.

• Ezra's faith -Ezra 7:12-"Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, a teacher of the Law of the God of heaven: Greetings. ". This is a brilliant testimony to Ezra's God, a non-Jewish, non-Y-H worshipping king, acknowledging Ezra's God as the God of Heaven!!!
• Ezra's Trust-Ezra 7:13-22 Artaxerxes even decrees to give from the treasury everything Ezra needed to carry out the plan of the God of heaven whom he serves. Isn't that amazing, an Iranian king providing funds to the Israelites to fulfil God's desires.
• God's plan through Ezra-"Ezra 7:23 "Whatever the God of heaven has prescribed, let it be done with diligence for the temple of the God of heaven. Why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and of his sons?" This verse amazes me to see that, the diligence in Ezra's heart to follow God, had shown the king how important it was to follow God's plan.
• Ezra's wisdom from God-"Ezra 7:25 And you, Ezra, in accordance with the wisdom of your God, which you possess, appoint magistrates and judges to administer justice to all the people of Trans-Euphrates—all who know the laws of your God. And you are to teach any who do not know them. " Imagine the king allowing Ezra, almost an administrative duty, of appointing offices as the need be for him. I don't think any king in his right mind would ever have given such an authority to anyone, yet this big role was handed to Ezra, for surely, I believe, the king had seen something special in the manner Ezra was conducting his ways for the Living God.

Lessons: It is possible for every believer to have this kind of a testimony before people who don't know God. The King was so impressed by the faith that shone through Ezra's living that he decreed that those who do not know must be taught the Law of God, Ezra's God. The key to such an impactful life is humble obedience to the Word of God

• The hand of the Lord was with Ezra in everything he did.(Ezra 7:6, Ezra 7:9, Ezra 7:28,Ezra 8:18, Ezra 8:22,23, Ezra 8:31)
• Ezra never forgot to acknowledge the fact that he was able to do everything ONLY because the hand of the Lord was with him.

How could we see such results in our life?

By devoting ourselves in knowing our God, through His Word-Ezra 7:9-10" He had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was on him. 10 For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel" While studying about Ezra I found, Ezra was actually a priestly scribe of the Law of Moses. Scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, esp. one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of printing. And usually their whole life was devoted to this task, of writing, copyring proofing etc. However Ezra was going beyond his work. He devoted himself to

1. Study the Law of God
2. Observe or Obey the Law of God
3. Teach the Law of God

Conclusion: We can have blessed and impactful lives, if we do what Ezra did. I am glad the Bible mentions the above things in that order. If we want the lives of people around us changed, we need to devote ourselves, 1st to study God's Word, this is the ONLY place we can find information on how to live a blessed life. 2nd to obey it ourselves and then 3rd to teach it to others. I believe the results will automatically will be visible to others, even if they don't know our God, they WILL KNOW through God's hand which begins to work in our lives, like God's hand worked on behalf of Ezra as he devoted himself to this cause.

Living out God's Calling on our Lives

Ezra 7
Background:Once the decree from Darius was received, ".. the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia."(Ezra 6:14). The Bible describes the priest Ezra under who's guidance everything happened. If we want to learn how God works through lives of His people, there are lessons we can learn from Ezra's life. What can we learn from a priest's life? Well the Word of God calles us a royal priesthood and we are encouraged to build our Lord's temple His body.

Lessons

1. Dedicated to the Word of God-"this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given." Also verse 9 and 10 say "the gracious hand of his God was on him. 10 For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel."How well versed with the Word of God are we as the royal priesthood?
2. As we continue in obedience to God, God's hand provides-"The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him." I have heard earlier from many preachers, when God gives us an assignment, He gives us all the necessary equipment to complete it too. So God did with Ezra and all of us, who walk in obedience to God's will.
3. Knowing where our help comes from-"27 Praise be to the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put it into the king's heart to bring honor to the house of the LORD in Jerusalem in this way 28 and who has extended his good favor to me before the king and his advisers and all the king's powerful officials. Because the hand of the LORD my God was on me, I took courage and gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me." Ezra knew exactly where he had come from and how he had reached there. He was grounded on the fact that he had been able to accomplish all that he had, ONLY through God's hand that worked in his life. Many times ministries fail after a good long run, because the leader starts to think he did everything, he suffered for building the church and so on.

Conclusion: As Ezra lived in obedience through the Word of God, he saw God's hand working through him, he saw God's favour upon him, so also as we walk in obedience to our calling, we will see God's hand working in our lives and His divine favour resting on us. Let us therefore remember that the key to a fruitful life is not the extent of our ability but the extent of our dependence on God for the very existence of life.

John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Legal Permission to Build God's Temple

Ezra 6
Background:Atleast 3 books are running in parallel to this book of Ezra that I read. The book of Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah. As the Israelites began their spiritual journey back to their God, with the rebuilding of the temple of their Living God under the leadership of 2 great leaders God has raised up for them, Ezra the priest and Nehemiah the governor, the enemies did not like the idea of Israelites rebuilding the temple of their God.

The Bible says "Ezra 4:4 "Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. [a] 5 They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia." The opposition worked, not only during the reign of King of Cyrus but through the reign of king Xerxes and Artaxerxes until King Darius arrived on the throne. Though the opposers might have thought they had brought to halt the work of God when Artaxerxes sent a decree refraining the Israelites from building the temple of God " Ezra 4:24 "Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia."

It might have seemed to the enemy they had won, when the work stopped, the Bible records "Ezra 5:5 "But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received. " So the Israelites continued to work with the encouragement of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. This time, the governor of Trans-Euphrates , Tattenai's attention came upon the Israelites who were still working at the temple. He sent the right letter to King Darius, seeking, whether King Cyrus had really sent a decree to rebuild the temple of the Israelites' God. What happened after Tattenai's letter reached King Darius is so glorious, I think you should read it yourself , here.

Lessons

• Activate God's divine intervention through obedience to His Word-All this while, atleast for the past 400yrs or so the Israelites had been running away, in disobedience, from God and they saw defeat upon defeat till they lost the kingdom. As they started returning to God, God began to intervene and change their lives into a blessing. He changed the heart of King Cyrus to give them authority to build the temple and now He moved King Darius' heart to affirm the decree King Cyrus had given, with even more fervour. As we walk in obedience toward God, we get closer into God's intervention so that our lives may be transformed and God will not leave any stone unturned, in order for His good pleasing and perfect for our lives to be completed.
• Hurdles are not road blocks-When the Israelites started rebuilding the temple of God, their enemies discouraged them, defamed them even to bring their work to a halt for a time, but God kept watching His people and did not rest until the hurdle was overcome, until Darius' response had come(Ezra 5:5). When we are at God's work, in obedience to God, there will be many hurdles the enemy places in our paths to prevent us from running the race that is set before us. However God knows, He watches over us and will not rest until the solution for our situation has come to us.
• Legal Permission to Rebuild-It was God's desire to rebuild the temple of God for the Israelites, then. Even so for us, God desires for us to rebuild His body, His temple, us, the body of Christ. God desires ever so greatly that every soul be reunited to His body and we have a permission to rebuild. King Darius sent out a decree, saying no one should hinder the Israelites from working on the temple, infact the Israelites should be provided for their need from the national treasury, everything they need to rebuild the temple. Can you imagine that, Persia(Iran) paying Israelites to rebuild God's temple!!!
• When God's in the middle of the work, your provisions are taken care of- Darius declared Ezra 6:8"v8 The expenses of these men are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop" God is able to provide for all the needs we might have during the rebuilding of His temple, from treasuries you never thought of.

Conclusion:Through this reading of Ezra 6 a great revelation dawned on me. We have a legal permission and calling to build the temple of the Living God. Jesus commanded Mark 16:15 "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."

Our King Lord Jesus has given out a decree Matthew 28:19-20 "19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." And all our needs, while we work, are met by the royal treasure, just as another builder of God's temple, wrote in his letter to us "Philippians 4:19"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Whatever be our need, spiritual, physical, financial, be it anything, our King Jesus is able to provide from His royal treasury, as we continue at our work for His Kingdom

Cleanup and See God Work

Sometimes our lives pile up with incidents, hurts, words accumulated from so many years of life on earth and people we come across. If we had had encouragers to meet, all our lives, we would all be achievers of amazing feats, but its not always that way in reality. Words that we hear from people around us, looks that we get from them, sometimes, (in case of elders or parents or government) actions that they take, impact our lives as well. They choke our growth in the Lord and we are blinded from seeing God's work or experiencing His power in our lives. Those thoughts, those, decisions made by someone else long ago, even seem to try to take control of the very decisions we make. For example, if a child is constantly told he's not good at singing, that child will never even attempt singing(by his own decision, becuase he was told to believe he could not), even though he/she may have the most amazing voice.

Here's another king of Judah named Josiah(2 Kings 22-23 ,2 Chronicles 34-35) , he did some major cleanup in Jerusalem, because he desired to follow God. The kings that had preceded him(Manasseh and Amon), had turned away from the little good that Hezekiah had done for Jerusalem. The Word of God records the following about Josiah "2 Kings 23:25Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses."

Lessons I learnt

• Begin seeking the Lord-v3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David.
• Started purging all the idols from the temple of God- v3 In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images. In our hearts we might have set up someone as an idol(meaning-any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration, or devotion)Someone or something we are devoted to, and that idol is taking up space, instead of God and this is destroying our life, whether we know it or not. We need to ask God to help us identify these idols and remove them. This does not mean, we become disrespectful to the ones who are in authority over us. We can ask God to guide our supervisors, that they may make the right decisions, especially when the decisions are going to affect us and we realise that. Sometimes this idol could be ourselves too.
• Started purifying it, by building the temple of the Lord-v8 In the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, to purify the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah and Maaseiah the ruler of the city, with Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the temple of the LORD his God. Merely removing the idol is not enough, we've got to set our life with the right stuff, it need to be built. Like, a strong word of correction is good, but we also need to give words of encouragement that the person may be built up in the right direction.
• Humbled himself to receive God's Word-v14 In the process of cleansing and building, they found the book of law and it was read to King Josiah, he immediately tore his robes realising how terribly, far they had moved from the Law of God and sought God's direction immediately
• He opened way , through his humility and obedience, for God's Work in Jerusalem and his life-"27 Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people, that they would become accursed and laid waste, and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the LORD. " Its not that God does not hear our cries, the Word of God says, in Isaiah 59:1-3 "1 Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
• Renewed God's Covenant-"3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD -to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. "

Conclusion: "33 Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the LORD, the God of their fathers." Josiah, had caused such a change in the people during his reign, that in spite of, wayward rulers who had misguided them, led them astray and made them worship idols, the people stuck to following God. Oh.. if there were more kings who would have stuck onto Josiah's commitment, Israel could have seen the power of God like in times of Abraham, Isaac, Moses and all.

I strongly think, the way God works His plan for our lives is, in partnership with us. It is possible for God to work without us, but He made us in His image to have fellowship, friendship and partnership. Remember, before Jesus came, there had to be done something, so we could be prepared for His arrival-John the baptist preached" Matthew 3:3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "

Purpose of Prophecy

Today, as we were having breakfast, an advertisement came up on the TV regarding some event which included Prophecy and end time events and stuff. My husband said,"It doesn't make sense if people prophesy, and know whats to happen, but do nothing about it."
My mind quickly ran back in reference to Hezekiah, isn't that what went wrong with Hezekiah, I thought to myself. Hezekiah passed away and his son Manasseh came to throne, and he did exactly the opposite of what his father had done. (2 Kings 21:1-3).
I remembered what went wrong in Hezekiah's story. The Bible says in (2 King 20:16-19) "16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD : 17 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. 18 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, that will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."
19 "The word of the LORD you have spoken is good," Hezekiah replied. For he thought, "Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?"

Lessons I learnt

• Hezekiah did nothing about the Word of God that came through Isaiah the prophet-The Bible actually notes down, that Hezekiah was satisfied that the horrible event that was going to happen was not going to come about during his lifetime and he did nothing about it, since it didn't affect him.

Conclusion:The gift of prophecy is a powerful thing. It gives a person an edge over the others to know in advance. If the people in India and Indonesia had known a Tsunami was coming, they would have moved away from the sea. It is a powerful thing, especially with weather to be able to know when, how, what is going to happen. We have the book of Revelation in the Word of God, constantly warning us of the impending judgment waiting upon the earth. We've got a lot of people to be moved into the "safe zone", into the strong shelter(Proverbs 18:10), the fortress(Proverbs 14:26) and refuge(Psalm 9:9). We as believers know the way to the shelter. Are we working at sharing the route map to our Heavenly Father, with an urgency? Or are we not so worried about it, since its not going to affect us much??? On the other hand, maybe we have been trying to usher people into the right direction, through our life, through our prayers, through our actions...but we also, cannot deny the fact, that there will be some who think all that we say is a hoax. To such I'd say, I wish we'd learn a lesson from Katrina, everyone was warned, everyone was given a choice, some accepted a helping hand, others did not. To the believer who is continuing in that prayer for salvation for their loved ones I say-Don't give up. Lets continue to pray with urgency for our loved ones who have not yet heeded God's voice of prophecy, that God would continue to send them His people, His messengers until they are convinced and safe in the blood of Jesus. Their price has already been paid by our Lord, they need to know it asap. Great things can happen, as men and women of God learn to develop camel knees, in prayer.

Studying Enemy Strategy-I

This post has blessed me and opened my eyes to see clearly and I know it will bless you too. While reading through Israel's journey through spiritual darkness, with kings that didn't follow the Lord wholeheartedly, worshipping all other gods and forgetting God's covenant, I've come to the point where Israel (one division of the entire Israelite tribe) was taken captive after a 3 day siege by the Assyrian king. The Israelites lost their promised land and were deported to Assyria and the Assyrian king brought in other people babylonians and others to resettle Samaria. In the meanwhile, Judah was under the rule of king Hezekiah. For the first time after a long time, the Bible now describes Hezekiah as a man who did like his ancestor David "3 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.". He saw what had happened to the Israelites for being a traitor to the Assyrian king, but that didn't stop him from rebelling against him. I now focussed on the way the Assyrian king behaved with Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a god-fearing man, he trusted God and God gave him victory in all he undertook.

Let me show you the lessons I learnt
What is the enemy like?

1. The enemy wants to take it all-Assyrian king was not satisfied by having the entire Samaria as his newly captured state, but he wanted more. He wanted to take over Judah as well. So it is with our enemy the devil, if you think he will let other people be, just because a few have already traded themselves with him. No. We the children of God, who want to live for the Lord are his nightmare. He knows he cannot defeat us, but he will not stop trying. So we've got to keep our guards up, the Sword of the Word of God sharpened at all times.
2. You are deceived if you think you can make a fair trade with the enemy-After capturing Israel out of Hoshea's hands, the Assyrian king turned to Hezekiah, to take over Judah too. Sennacherib the Assyrian king attacked Judah and captured it, but Hezekiah begged him to leave and that he would give him all he wants (2 Kings 18:13-16). Hezekiah gave Sennacherib everything even to the point of, stripping the gold with which he had decorated the temple of God. It might have given him temporary relief from the attack, but that wasn't going to be for long. Sometimes when we knowingly let go of our stand on some "harmless" things, like backbiting, lying, tolerating evil, we're making trades with the enemy. It might give you temporary relief, but soon we might get trapped. I fall many times, but the key is to get up, ask for pardon and move on never to return to that trade again.
3. Give the enemy a little space and he'll want to stake a claim-When Hezekiah paid Sennacherib with gold from the temple and everything he could find within his jurisdiction, that didn't stop the Assyrian king from sending his commander in chief to make another trade with Hezekiah, to the point of making him his vassal as well (like king Hoshea of Israel was). He wanted to claim the entire land little by little. He wasn't going to stop at the point where he got all that gold. He wanted the people in the land as well and more. So the Bible says to counter this attack "Resist the devil and he will flee from you". Resistance needs something within you which will counter what's trying to happen to you. Without Jesus we would have no resistance, but now for us we have this assurance ,"1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.. So stand and resist.

there are more lessons than I could probably try to fit into this one post...therefore to be cont'd

A God of Covenant

The Israelites had received from God, a choice, an option, to go one way or another, God's way or their own way. They made their choice, God never forced them to make a choice but, let them see for themselves the consequences of the choice. I'd say God urged them, to choose life, that they might live. For example: When a child is playing with a sharp knife and is stubborn and resistant in turning over the knife to their parents, the parent knows, if it be snatched from them it would hurt them bad, the only way to get it out of their hands is to give them the choice to open their hands and give it back. The consequences of holding onto that knife, would be harming the child anyway, sooner or later. It might look like fun for the kid for the time being but in the long run it would cause hurt.
In the light of what I have presented, you now have a choice to make every day, every moment of your life too.

Background: I read through the next few chapters after Amaziah and his son Uzziah had gone, from 2Kings 15-19 and here's the gist of it all. The Israelites had gone as wayward as they wanted to go. Keep in mind the covenant God made with Abraham and confirmed through His promise to David and join with me in this exploration of truth. Here's how the 2 Kings 17 describes Israel's stand with God: The covenant of Abraham included, God blessings, and Abraham's obedience of faith in God, all that God expected of Abraham was faith in God, love for God because God knew that was the only way mankind would truly reach the spiritual, social, economical, physical potential God had originally created man to be. However, 2 Kings 17 says, the Israelites turned away from that covenant, they did evil, secretly disobeying God..to the point that, they were exiled from the promised land. They were relocated from Samaria to Assyria by the Assyrian king. They were treated badly by the king of Assyria, until Hezekiah came up as king in Judah. This king Hezekiah was a good king, 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done (2 Kings 18:3)

Lessons I learnt

God never forced them(the Israelites) to trust Him or follow Him or love Him. Now you might think, why did God let them be exiled, why did God let them be defeated by a foreign king? I asked this question too. What came to my mind was the covenant and a God who believes in free will.
covenant:means covenant means "a written agreement between two or more parties to perform some action"
Now knowing this, its easier to understand that, the covenant between Abraham and God was based on Abraham's faith and God's promise of a complete or fulfilling life. Covenant was to result in an action, on the basis of the components(faith from Abraham's part and life from God's part) provided by the parties in the covenant.
Since the faith in God part of the covenant wasn't being activated, God's desire to activate the abundant life part wasn't able to take effect.
The Israelites,"v11 They did wicked things that provoked the LORD to anger." If I were to read this verse without the light of knowing covenant, I would have been disappointed, that God was angry at them, but now I think, God was not angry at them, God was angry at the way they had been decieved in disobedience, thinking that was the best life they were living. Satisfying ONLY their physical and material cravings. I don't think there's anything successful about a life with ONLY those two aspects being met. They might seem successful in the eyes of the world, for now, for the time being. 200yrs from now, will they be remembered????? Will they have done anything that could impact and change lives??? NO I don't think so.
The Israelites weren't ready to let go of the knife they were holding. The knife of disobedience, the knife of worshipping other gods(which weren't even god), the knife of self-destruction which would not only destroy them but also their following generations, because thats what they were teaching their kids, to hold onto that knife. The sad thing was, they weren't looking at their life from God's point of view.

God knows what man is all about, what can make man complete and the choice to find "that success" A life that impacts lives, a life that gives its all into the hands of God, becuase they love God and would want God to bring out the best in them, for they themselves know not whats best about them and for them. They discover the immense power that the covenant holds, to bring about all the blessings, be it spiritual, physical, social, financial or anything else. Look at all the examples of people who kept the covenant of God, their part in the covenant, the part of faith and love for God. Weren't they blessed beyond measure, weren't they successful in ALL areas of their lives, not just the 2 that man has been thinking of all this while.

Conclusion: At the end of my reading from 2 Kings 15-19, I have come to meet a man Hezekiah. "5 Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 6 He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. 7 And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook" Oh would I ever so love to be like him. He activated the covenant by his faith, when he invited God back into His life and called out to His covenant partner for the promise that was made so many 100s of years ago. That power worked and brought him out of the generational rut of disobedience everyone was stuck in. He was successful.

Its our choice now, either to continue holding onto that knife ever so dearly( not knowing the dangers of it all) or to hand it over to the LIVING God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and see the covenant in action in our life.

Christmas-A Story of Surrender, Obedience and Blessings

Christmas, is to me a story of surrender, obedience and blessing.

Surrender: When the angel of the Lord came to Mary and declared to her, what was to happen to her. She responded 38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1:38). It was a difficult thing Mary was asked to do considering the atmosphere of those times. She couldn't have a child without a husband, else if found out, she could be stoned to death. However forgetting all the shame and ridicule she might go through, she rejoiced over what God was giving her. She even sang a song of praise upon hearing the good news the angel of God had brought to her. Didn't she know what would happen if people heard about it??? Yet she surrendered "May it be to me as you have said". Would we be willing to give up our honour or respect so that our Lord can work in our lives too?

Obedience:Soon Joseph would have seen signs in Mary being a mother, without him even being together with her. (Matthew 1:18) He wondered how could this be?? "Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 1:18-20 )
This righteous man Joseph, believing the word of the angel did what the angel asked him to. 24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. (Matthew 1:24). He acted in obedience. The only way Mary could be saved from ridicule or being stoned to death, was her being with Joseph. It was important for Joseph to accept Mary just as she was, with the baby. Joseph obeyed God. Is there a limit to obedience, but when there is limitless obedience to God, the blessings are limitless too.

Blessing:Mary and Joseph were blessed with the task of parenting the most Holy most wonderful child of all, the Son of God, who would now be known as their baby. God identifying so personally, so genetically with his own creation. Can you imagine that!!! These two humans acted in faith and in courage in accepting God's will for their lives. Did they know they would be known and remembered every year at Christmas, I dont think so. Did they know people on the entire globe would know them? I dont think so. But they are known. They're obedience to God brought about the ultimate blessing to all humanity. The blessing of being reconciled with God. The blessing of knowing Jesus as their personal Saviour.

Conclusion: The blessing of baby Jesus being born to Mary and Joseph changed their lives forever, impacting the whole of the world along with their lives because of their surrender and obedience through faith, and that same blessing of our faith in our sacrificed Lord Jesus being born in our hearts has changed so many millions of lives, until this day and still does.

The invitation to partake of this joy of Christmas, the joy of surrender and obedience leading to immense blessings that overflow from one life to another, is still open. A life surrendered in obedience to know the Living Lord Jesus, still capable of impacting lives, like Mary and Joseph's lives did. A life that shines forth for the glory of God. A life that cares for not their personal profit, but for others. A life that not only changes itself through obedience and surrender to Jesus Christ, but also impacts and transforms families, neighbourhood and cities, towns and countries and the worlds is still available. Not a selfish life, but a selfless one. It has now been fulfilled, Mary did give birth to a child, they did name Him Jesus and He still saves people from their sins.

"21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:19-21)

Blessed Over and Beyond

2 Kings 8 :1-6
Background: It has been some time since the siege, Israel has been through another bout with drought. During this period of drought, Elish told the Shunnamite woman, who's son God had restored , to sojourn somewhere else, until the drought passes. She obeyed and left for 7 years as asked by Elisha. When she returns, she goes straight to the king to ask for her possessions she had left behind. At this time the king asked Gehazi to tell him of the wondrous things the Lord had done through Elisha, "5And as Gehazi was telling the king how [Elisha] had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and land. And Gehazi said, My lord O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life."6When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land even until now.

Lessons I learnt

1. God Himself is with us, wherever we go when we obey Him-This Shunnamite woman was blessed, in her obedience to Elisha's word regarding the drought in Israel and had gone out of the country as told. Its not an easy decision to leave your home, your people and your country on a word for something that has not yet happened. But the Word of God has more examples than one, of people who did seemingly unintelligent things in obedience to His Word and were blessed. Noah(boat on land), Abraham(leaving house to have his own son at 75yrs) , Joseph(obeying God without cribbing following a dream), David(what was he going to slay with a stone), Jesus(leaving his heavenly abode to be born in a manger and being killed brutally). All these didn't make sense, but in the end they were blessed beyond measure. The promise for us is God Himself being with us, no matter where He takes us as we obey Him. John 14:23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. We may not be in a familiar locality, but our heavenly family is with us.
2. When you've obeyed, blessings pour in-The woman, (unlike what we've read from Ruth) sojourns for a while and does return. The instruction to sojourn, is to go away from the country for a while and return. She obeys it completely and in this she is blessed. Not only does she get back what she had left behind, but also all the fruits of the field since the time she had left until now. Isn't that amazing.

Conclusion:The Word of God says "Matthew 19:29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." God is not talking about abandoning everything and running away from your responsibilities. He is talking about people who will reject you for your believing Jesus, it happens a lot in India. Many people are thrown out of their houses, left out, beaten or not given food. All this by their own family members and sadly some turn back too. Jesus promises to more than make up for our sacrifices; do we believe him enough to sacrifice whatever our calling demands? Let us be encouraged through the life of this Shunnamite woman, God's word is true and when He says He will bless us for our obedience, He truly will, more than we can imagine. Also, let us pray for those who have been shaken by emotions of family and given up or turned away, that God will strengthen His Words in their heart once again and give them courage.

Whats our motivation?

2 Kings 5
Naaman has got healed after his 7th Dip and then now he's returned to Elisha to give him gifts of clothing and riches, but Elisha refuses. Hence, Naaman, asks for some mud from the land so he can go back and build an altar for the Living God in his place. Later Gehazi chases Naaman and asks for the gifts that Naaman was planning to give Elisha, without Elisha's consent.

17 "If you will not," said Naaman, "please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD. 18 But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this." 19 "Go in peace," Elisha said.

After Naaman had traveled some distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, "My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him."

I couldn't help but notice the stark difference in the way Naaman and Gehazi behaved at this situation. This man Naaman, came to know the Lord for the first time in his life and is awestruck and worshipful towards God, on the other hand Gehazi has gone to make better of this opportunity. Gehazi wants to make some money. I wondered, what just happened here? Wasn't Gehazi right by the side of Elisha himself, every time there was a miracle being performed. Isn't this the 1st time something so miraculous has happened in Naaman's life. Why then did Gehazi run for money, where Naaman was so overwhelmed by God's power and decided to follow him. I think it has something to do with "complacency" or "leaving the first love". Here are a few questions I asked myself, well before I go ahead I wanted to make clear , I judge myself, so that no one will judge me...so these lessons from the lives of people in the Bible, help me keep myself on track.

What am I serving God for?-For a house, for money, for health...or whatever we might need, in exchange of our service??? Well thats a very powerful question. If we are coming to Jesus ONLY for these things, we might as well be behaving like Gehazi. How many times I have said, I know, God if you do this/that for me, I will never leave you.

But the question is, how many times have I said like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did "16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

At the end of our time here on earth, will God say..

3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. (Revelation 2:3-5 )

OR

I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Revelation 2:18-20

The only way we can know for sure is to let the Word of God do what it does best,

"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword,

it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;

it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.Hebrews 4:11-13"

prune us and make us all the more powerful in knowing our Lord, in the way that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did, so we'd be sooooooo sure that our God is for us and no one can be against us, and we will follow God not because of that carrot on the stick principle, but because we WANT to follow God because we love Him for His love for us, because He's the One who loved us first.

The 7th Dip

Now that Naaman knows what to do, he goes to Israel to meet this prophet,Israelite servant girl told him about.

9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan,

and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."11 But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.

Naaman was convinced enough to go upto Israel, yet he was utterly disappointed by the solution given to his problem. Was dipping in a river the ONLY solution he travelled for? Was "it" that simple? Surely he could have performed such a thing back at his own place. Why was he called out so far to do so? I think, if he had known earlier he wouldn't even have bothered coming. Come on now, his problem was BIG wasn't it? Also he had been bearing this trouble for such a long time, so wouldn't it be great if someone did something similarly BIG to resolve it!!!! I'd think so too.

But looking at the situation, from outside the book, I think

1. It wasn't so much about the "procedure" of healing, but of "obedience". Was Naaman going to be obedient enough to do what this man of God (whom he didn't know) asked him to do? This result of Naaman's choice to obey or not to obey, could bring him out of that situation or leave him in there.
2. It was about "desperation" . Naaman had probably been desperate to try anything in order to get rid of his situation and was willing and even went down to being humble enough to listen to his servant girl's suggestion.
3. It was about "humility". Naaman was a man of reason, he paid attention to people and that helped him a lot. His servants played an important role in his healing. This time, during his travel to the Israel nation to meet the Israelite prophet, when Naaman almost turns around and is about to walk away from that one step he was asked to take, to dip, his servants pitch in again "13 Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!" And once again, you know Naaman did listen to them and HE WAS HEALED.

It was an interesting journey for Naaman, not knowing what to do, pressed into desperation by that disease, he humbled himself to listen to his servants and obedient, to the point of doing the silly and simple, 7 dips in the Jordan river as asked by the prophet. If we were to analyse the situation, it would break up into several points of being "obedient" in little things, which let into the big victory. Redemption from that BIG issue that Naaman was once facing. Sure enough it all amounted to this :- " his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. " Dipping 7 times, might have felt weird too (I think). Every dip made with the expectation to see a change, but it doesn't come until your done with the 6th one, which still wouldn't show you any changes, but it was the 7th dip. Almost like going around Jericho so many times, until that last but one, which still didn't show any indication of change. But the victory was in the last one. In the very end of obedience. So with 6 unsuccessful dips, would the 7th make a difference? Yes it did. It did because it was the completion of obedience. It was being obedient till the end of the ordeal.

Conclusion: Naaman was(I think) a desperate man, he had had enough with his situation and though not so willing, but was made willing with the help of his servants who ushered him into obedience and therefore winning the battle against disease, that had followed him for long. If you're in a situation, in a condition, in a disease which is just not letting go of you. Find out what to do (not all procedures are the same for everyone, though all may have similar diseases or shortcomings), from the right source of information. If you have found out and are following the instructions towards your redemption, then stay on it. Don't give up at the 6th dip. Go on to full obedience. The reward awaits at the end of it.

Jesus said in the parable ""His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'Matthew 25:20-22

The reward is not for people who've given up in between, even in the last but one effort, but for those who've gone till the end. "Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life." Revelation 2:9-11. Even to the point of death, the last stop of all human beings. Be encouraged, if you're at your 6th dip, the 7th is the one that heals. It does matter that you've been obedient in doing the 6 dips, without which you would never reach the 7th dip anyway. God will bless.

Whether we know it or not...

2 Kings 5

Naaman, a man we've all heard of since we were young. How he got healed of the skin disease. I got to thinking of all the ways in which this happened and God encouraged me as I read it.

1. God's at work in your life, whether you know it or not-v1- Naaman a very good commander of the Aramian army, then I read something about him "through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. " God was giving Aram victory through this man Naaman, a Syrian!!! All I can say is, this man might not have known God, but God was at work in his life, whether he knew it or not.
2. Window of opportunity, for introduction-v1, Though this man seemed all powerful, successful, in a good social standing, rich he had one shortcoming yeah he had leprosy. Now thats a bad disease, no one will touch you, no one will dare come to you for fear of getting it. He would probably have been a very lonely man, not having anyone who would come close to him. They would have probably looked at him differently, he stood out for reason no one would want to. Yes in our lives too, on one hand everything would be going great, yet there would be something that is not right. Well, here's an opportunity , for Naaman, to get introduced to a Living Healing God. A God who was able to resolve this condition that he faced. I take heart that, when there is a shortcoming in my life, there is a Living God waiting to introduce me to Him in a whole new way as a Redeemer from that situation. That makes life worth living.
3. God has done His homework-Now there is a wonderful piece of information the Word of God, lists right here. Just as a matter of factly for those who would want to notice it. like really notice it...and I am glad God showed me!! v2 "Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife" OK so, before Naaman could face these "peak" horrible days of leprosy, an Israelite girl was captured by the Aram army and she served Naaman's wife. I don't think Naaman would have even wondered someone could repair his lepros situation, let alone think of a little girl from Israel even being of help, other than doing the work around the house. But that was God's way of having someone near him in the situation, when the moment is right to begin the "process" of introduction to Himself as the Healer God. :) Hey, thats how our Loving Father works on behalf of His children, whether we know it or not. He has someone planted somewhere in our lives, and God is waiting for the right time for us to turn and listen.
4. The place you are in, is important- For the Israelite girl- it isn't such a great place to be in, captured by the enemy, living as a servant, but that was an important piece for someone else's life. Her being in Aram, a foreign country is very important for what is going to take place in Naaman's life. It isn't a description of a successful life (in our world), but it was in God's ways. She was where she was supposed to be. So what is politically, logically, socially, financially correct place to be in??? I'd say, to be in the place God called you to be. No matter how weird it may look to others. Remember when Jesus was out on the streets preaching the gospel, he dined and sat around with the tax collectors and the so called "bad" men of the society of that time and as "Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.Luke 5:30-32 . Have we ever thought of making fun of a doctor when he spends more time with the sick than the healthy? Then why do we look with prejudice, the people who live in the slums or come from poor houses, or from families that did not know Jesus.
5. Words that were said and obeyed-How much weight do you think, the word from a poor man matter to you, not much I guess. How much weight do you think the words of a servant will have in their master's house. No, masters never take suggestions from their servants, they run their own household, but this master did."3 She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." Whether her words would matter or not, this girl said what she knew best. Naaman wouldn't have known of the prophet, but this girl did and she must have said it pretty confidently, for the master of the house to act upon her word. Here's something to learn from this girl, how confident are we about our Living God, it will show in our words, also in our deeds. If our words about our Living God, doesn't trigger someone's thinking, then something sure must be wrong somewhere, in our conveying the matter, its not always the fault of the listener. Don't let go of the confidence you have in your Lord Jesus, because it is of much worth, it will save not only your life but others around you too.

Conclusion: Our God is constantly at work in our lives, whether we know it or not. Some of us may be in Naaman's position in our lives, waiting to get delivered from a condition/situation and not knowing where to get help from, for such , there is hope in listening and paying attention to whats been around you, your help, the Word of encouragement you're looking for, maybe even closer than you thought. For some, we'll be in a position like the Israelite girl, in a situation you never wanted to be in, in the first place, but then there is a special assignment for you there, so just hang in there, God will sure give you a way to introduce Himself to the people around you, in His Time.

God Bless

Recognising - Dining - Dwelling

Elisha heads on to Shunem, there he has an encounter with another woman, this time a well-to-do woman.

"And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She said to her husband, "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us."

(2 Kings 4:8)

I noticed 3 things here,

(1) Recognising- This woman would have probably heard of Elisha and then has started observing him and understood that Elisha was a man of God, and so she tells her husband "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God". In order for us to know who God is, we've got to watch Him, His work (be it in our lives or in the lives of people around us). Like this woman, I recall Zacchaeus, "He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd." (Luke 19:3) He too would have heard about Jesus and now wanted to know who He is. Later on for both these people who wanted to know God better, we'll see they were blessed in whatever they needed, even without asking. Many times we see God's work and fail to recognise it, but the moment we do recognise our Lord's work in our lives, we must get ready cause we will now get to know our Lord.

(2) Dining-Another thing in knowing our Lord is to dine with him. The woman in Shunem, wanted Elisha to dine with them and so she urged him to come. In other words this woman invited Elisha to her house for a meal. It so went on, that later we read "So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat" v4. Now this tells me something wonderful, this dining was not a once in a while affair, the dining had become regular. So, as many times Elisha went to Shunem, he was dining at her house. As we open our hearts to understand our Lord, through His Word, soon we will be dining together, you know dining with the Lord means. "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. John 4:33-35. So when we dine with our God, we're actually learning to do the work of God, learning to do what God had planned for us to do. In singing, in praying, in teaching, in pastoring, in leading a company, in being a sportsperson...we'll be doing the will of God for us.

(3) Dwelling-Soon the woman suggested to her husband "10 Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us." This woman, though well-to-do did have something lacking in her life, she knew the only one who could change her life-the power of Living God. Though she did not do all this just to get that blessing, there was that lack in her life nonetheless. She did not have any children. The woman must have been so blessed in the fellowship with Elisha (on whom the Spirit of God rested) that she longed to know more of God through him. She built him a room above their house so he could stay. Soon Elisha was staying at their house every time he came.

Whats the lesson for us in this?
In reading the above episode, I was reminded of what Jesus said in Revelations "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."(Revelation 3:19-21).

The most important lesson I learnt is that, once we've recognised our Lord, we've taken our first step to know Him. Then in dining with the Lord, it is a regular meeting at a specific time. Dining though is not a continuous affair, it happens only when we are hungry.
Then we move on to dwelling, the most important stage of our relationship with our Lord. When someone stays with us, we get to know that person better. We watch the person all the time, we see the behaviour of the person. The longer they stay, the more the relationship grows. The longer they stay, the more we get to know about them day by day. We get acquainted with their habits. After some time we may even be able to say "Oh , I know that person, he/she likes such and such flower, their favourite colour is blue, they like food presented in this manner, they love this kind of music, they're aim in life is to become so and so, they love this, they hate that...and a whole lot more etc." These are some things we may not be able to learn about a person in occasional meetings. Also when we start staying with a person, who might usually have appeared as cheerful, may have something that troubles them deep within, we slowly get to know their hurts, their joys, their sorrows, their struggles...Thats what happened with this woman. God made sure that Elisha came to know what that woman needed. " v14 "What can be done for her?" Elisha asked. Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old." Elisha later prayed to God and the woman had a baby the same time next year.

The more our God dwells with us, i.e the more we invite our Lord to dwell with us, God looks into our lives and changes us little by little that we may know Him a little more and that we may be blessed. Our lives start changing from the inside, all emptiness in our lives will be filled, because we invited our Lord to come stay with us, to be with us, to stay as a family member. We all are children of God, estranged by sin, yet God wants us to recognise Him, our Daddy, His fingerprint is on us, He longs to have fellowship with us. That was the main purpose, He made us. He is the only one who can complete us. Thats what God would love His children to do, recognise Him, invite Him to dine and invite Him to dwell with them. He's a Gentleman, He won't just come, until You invite Him, though He is your Heavenly Father. God longs for His children to be happy to have Him around, happy to let Him be Dad of their lives, happy to take God's help and become, that which He created us to be.It is God's desire, like any parent to have their children close to Him, to dwell with Him. When Jesus spoke to Zaccheus, He said "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today."Luke 19:4-6 And Zaccheus "6 hurried and came down, and he received and welcomed Him joyfully." In this Zaccheus was blessed. He gave up all his possessions, all wealth he had acquired through wrong means. Zaccheus had been trying to fill up His life with money, but now He had found someone Who could bless him and fill him all in all.
Dear friends, on our Living Lord can fill us in the manner like no one else, for He knows our needs, He knows what we lack and only He is able to complete us. Our lives can never find satisfaction in money, wealth, fame, lust or anything else we've been trying to fill it with. Only Jesus can fill us completely.

14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

Working out God's Plan

Elijah 18:1 says " 1 After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land."

Elijah obeyed God and went to meet Ahab. Here's an interesting thing happening in Elijah's life
".....Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
43 "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked. "There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."
44 The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.' "
45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46 The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel." (1 Kings 18:42-45)

There are 2 things I noticed here, God promised Elijah about the rain. Elijah had to pray seven times and see that small hand of a cloud rise up in the horizon and then the rain poured.

1. Knowing what God has promised God is able to do-When God has promised something it sure will happen. We see this in the way Elijah persisted in prayer. Elijah had known from God that it would rain and that gave Elijah the base to build on to pray even more than ever. Has God given us a promise that He said He will bring to pass, take heart, trust the Word of God more than any thing. No matter what happens, or what the situation looks like right now, God will come through and His Promises will come true. Elijah knew that he knew that he knew, that what God has promised is true and will come to pass. If it has not, then maybe we're not hoping enough for it. Another thing of note is that, if we were to count all the verses in the bible and find the center verse, you know it would be Psalm 118:8 and it says "It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man."
2. Who's report will you believe??- While Elijah prayed he asked his servant to keep bringing him back the status of the rain situation. The servant kept bringing a negative report, yet Elijah did not give up because he wasn't looking for the report from the servant but the result of the Word from God. Who's report do we readily believe. The moment we start praying for God's plan in our life, we are sure to get all sorts of reports in our lives, but above all we've got to stick onto what God says about our situation. If we've been praying for a loved one to meet our Saviour Lord Jesus and to be saved, we will find the appearance of the situation in our life and theirs going in a totally different direction, yet do not give up, God's foremost purpose and promise is that He came that all may know our Lord Jesus and be saved. We MUST (P)ray (U)ntil (S)omething (H)appens. So PUSH. Like Elijah did to bring God's Word to pass.
3. Pray in accordance to God's Word and His plan-Does praying mean praying anything we want? No. Elijah shows us that He had a mandate from God which had to happen and he prayed accordingly, without giving up hope, without being slack. Praying is a very very powerful means of bringing God's plan to come to pass on this earth. Even Jesus, when He taught us to pray "..let Your will be done on this earth as it is in heaven" Who can bring God's will to pass on this earth. Believers who pray God's will. Prayer is not ONLY for meeting our needs and blabbering our needs to God, it is bringing God's will to happen in our lives and in this earth.

Conclusion: Praying is an amazing tool, God blessed us with. Before knowing our Lord Jesus we did not know to pray. God opened the way for us to enter when Jesus died on the cross for our sins and the curtain tore in the temple and the Holy Place the Holy dwelling of God was accessible to us, because of our Saviour Lord Jesus. Hebrews 4:16 "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Elijah prayed in confidence on God's Word regarding the rain, and it did rain and that small hand of a cloud rained so heavily and so quickly became rain cloud I am sure, no one could have imagined. Why doesn't our prayers work that way? The Bible says in James 4:3 "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Dear brothers and sisters, lets get with our Father's business. Its been a long time since we prayed for God's will to be done in our individual lives and on this earth. Pray Until Something Happens, the Something that God has planned and promised will happen, if we pray according to His plan. Its ok if right now you don't know what to pray. The Holy Spirit will help and guide us and help us pray expectantly, like a pregnant mother, knowing for sure that in 9 months she will see her baby.

Consequences of Obedience

1 Kings 18

The Lord commands Elijah to go meet king Ahab(1 Kings 18:1). It was the same king Ahab who's wife Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Living God. However during such time there was another devout man of God named Obadiah who had hidden 100 prophets of God in caves and had kept feeding them. At this time the drought in the land is very severe and Obadiah and Ahab have come out to look for grass so that the horses could be fed and kept alive. Obadiah and Ahab split ways in search of grass for the horses. Elijah meets Obadiah on the way and asks him to take him to Ahab. Obadiah is very afraid and tells Elijah "9 "What have I done wrong," asked Obadiah, "that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10 As surely as the LORD your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11 But now you tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.' 12 I don't know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the LORD since my youth." (1 Kings 18: 9-12) Obadiah is scared for life to take Elijah to Ahab. Yet Ahab is determined and finally goes to meet Ahab.

In this little episode from Elijah's life, I learnt the following lessons

1. Obeying God's commands opens communication with God-When God commanded Elijah for anything, Elijah did it immediately, not waiting not killing time. Obedience to God opens more ways for us to listen directly from God. Then God no longer has to ask someone else to tell us anything, He Himself will talk to us, because we are willing to listen and obey.
2. Obeying God's commands sets the course for our faith-As Elijah continued to follow God's commands, his faith grew and as a result the miracles in his life grew to higher power. From being miraculously fed by ravens, to the neverending jar of flour and oil, to raising the dead, to calling fire from heaven and then being carried into heaven. What a life!!! If there is a command God has given us a good way to find out if we are doing the right thing or not is to check the result of our lives, has the power grown or decreased. If it has decreased lets go back and do the last thing God had asked us to do and we will be back on track again.
3. Obeying God's command may bring obstacles, obey God rather than men- When God gives a command, soon enough something will come up which will challenge your faith, challenge your obedience even. When Elijah started off to meet Ahab, Obadiah (a man of God too) met Elijah and was so scared that he did not think meeting Ahab would be a good idea for Elijah. Yet "15 Elijah said, "As the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today." No matter what staying steady on the Word of God matters. Acts 5:29 "Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! " It may be a weird command, it may look contrary, it make look disastrous, but if thats what God would have us do, lets do it. For God gives us the grace to do whatever He commands us to do.

Conclusion: The only way we will grow is by faith and obedience. Willingness. Jesus said "Luke 11:28 "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it." 1 John 5:3 "This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,"

Dear God, I know I haven't fully been obedient to You and have failed many a times, yet You have been so merciful to me.I thank You for your grace and mercy. Please help me to be completely obedient to you that I may see Your work in my life and that my life would turn into a blessing to others.

In Jesus Name I pray.

Amen

"Obedience surely is better than sacrifice"

Recognize

Solomon did a some things right and a some things wrong. The things he did wrong, would cost Israelites a lot. His heart turned away from God, because of his wives from foreign nations. Also he treated the Israelites very harshly. Here's what the Israelites had to say to Solomon's son Rehoboam. " So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you." Well needless to say Rehoboam turned out more worse than his father Solomon. Also in his time the Israelites split up. 16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:"What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse's son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!" So the Israelites went home. 17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them." So now Israel has 2 kings Rehoboam (Solomon's son) and Jeroboam (another guy who was good at his work but had rebelled against Solomon). I read from Rehoboam's life, of an account which really upset me, but taught me a big lesson. Under Rehoboam (David's grandson) the people did evil in God's eyes and started following other gods in the high places. More than that, "25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. " and you know what Rehoboam did??? "27 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king went to the LORD's temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom. " Can you imagine that, replacing the gold items from the temple with bronze and guarding it with your life??? I can't. I was immediately reminded of the time when the Amalekites had attacked David's camp in Ziklag in 1 Samuel 30 and how David asked God and chased them down and the Bible records "18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back."(1 Samuel 30:18-19)

Here's what I learnt

1. A lesson of stewardship -David knew what it meant to be a good steward, he had been a shepherd after all. With the sheep his father had given him he knew he had to take care of them and protect them. With God, he knew that which God had given to him belonged to God(Psalm 24:1). Above all he learnt obedience by prayer, every step of his way, to check whether God had intended that to happen in his life. He had this wonderful "habit" of verifying from God all the situations of his life and every action he needed to take at those times. The moment he knew what he had to do, he acted on it and recovered all. I wonder if Rehoboam ever paid attention when his granfather would have told him stories of the exploits he went on. Rehoboam was quick to replace everything with a cheaper substitute rather than checking and finding out what God would have him do. When pressures from the world try to overwhelm us or our family members, instead of running to take strength from God like David did, we are quick to replace that with other distractions and pay close attention to the distractions. There is a constant attack on the people of God, the evil one tries to steal our wives, our husbands, our children away from us, from our God, hence the Word of God says "Matthew 11:12 "And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize--a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion]."
2. Life of passion- Whatever David did, I could feel the passion he had in his life to live it to the best for the glory of the Living God. I sometimes think of him like a hyperactive young boy wanting to do a lot of things with his dad, trying to keep a close fellowship and following God. He wasn't trying to rule a kingdom, he was just trying to live as close to God as possible. Here on, the kings who followed Solomon were trying to maintain a kingdom. They were just there to rule, to have some group of people they wanted to boss over. With David not so. He was passionate about whatever work he did, a wonderful shepherd, even when he struck Goliath he did with the passion he had for the honour of His Living God. Now this guy Rehoboam is quite the opposite. He even goes on to replace the gold of the temple with bronze!!! God's honour and His glory should not and must not be replaced by anything or anyone. In our lives too there are situations when God's honour is at stake because of us, will we replace the glory by something cheaper or fight to get back the glory of God. Even today there are families who are praying for their loved ones to turn to Jesus, lets keep fighting for this is one place where we know we have won and it is God's glory to get back that which already belongs to God (Psalm 24:1).
3. Live like a conqueror-Rehoboam was David's grandson, he surely had the blood of a mighty warrior running through his veins. If he wanted, I am sure he could have defeated that king and taken back all the gold he had taken from the temple of God. However it didn't make much even if David's blood was flowing in his veins because it majorly depended on Rehoboam whether he wanted to use that knowledge and power or not. Even so for us, when we believed in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour the Word of God says in John 1:12-13 "12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. " Our being the children of God was of a pure conception, not becuase of a human desire, but of God, a Holy God. There is no contamination in it, no faults in that connection of blood. So if we are children of God, the blood of our God, pure and powerful flows in our veins and its up to us what we do with that kind of a legacy, sit like losers or get up and be a conqueror like our Lord Jesus. Conquering sin, conquering souls for the Kingdom of God, conquering sickness and diseases. Its in us people of God, the blood of our Lord Jesus of an Almighty God is flowing in our very spiritual body. Oh let us not be like Rehoboam and compromise the glory of God when God has already given us all the equipment we need to have "Romans 8:37 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

Conclusion: Lets not make the mistake that Rehoboam made, lets not let other things steal the glory that belongs to our Living God. More than that lets not replace God's glory with ours. Above all remember we are more than conquerors, the blood of our Living God flows through us, since we are born into the Kingdom of God and have the status of being the children of God according to John 1:12 so lets be conquerors like our Lord Jesus and take back what the devil is trying to take from us, be it our families who dont know the Lord yet, or the possessions that which God has given us to be stewards of (house, car, office work). Lets be passionate about the tasks assigned to us. Its not merely enough that we are kings and princes of our Living Lord, we've a relationship to keep with our Living Lord with passion like David did, to successfully live like kings and priests of our Living God. It wouldnt be that David came and spoke vain words about Goliath if he didn't have th passion to defend the honour of the Living God. Daily, the evil one tries to bring up problems which mock us, and if we truly know how great and mighty our God is and how dare this filthy devil tries to mock at us, we will give the Word of God right back at his face. Thats what wins, thats what makes us true heirs, we have the royal and Holy blood of our Living Father in our lives, lets quit being wimps.