The Circumcised Heart

Moses was speaking to the children of Israel just prior to their entering in the land of Canaan - the Promised Land. The first generation which disobeyed God had fallen dead in the wilderness. The second generation, brought up in the wilderness, was here prepared to cross over into the Promised Land of God.

They were under the Moses Law. Moses spent the entire Book of Deuteronomy recalling and restating the Mosaic Law which includes circumcision as a sign of God's covenant relation with His people. But in the middle of the whole setting Moses said:

"And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? In deed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it. The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer" (Deu. 10:12 - 16, NKJV, emphasis added).

Clearly Moses linked uncircumcised heart with being stubborn and stiff-necked. Basically Moses was saying that if Israel would circumcise their heart, their heart would be tender, soft and sensitive so that they could hear God and be touched by Him. If their heart remained uncircumcised, their heart would remain hard and callous and insensitive to God.

People with uncircumcised hearts

One of the characteristic traces of God's people in the Old Testament was their hardheartedness. God called them rebellious, stubborn and disobedient children. In fact they were so characteristic of all fallen humanity. They were no more stubborn than any other ethnic group or nationality; they were just like us.

The Words of the Lord came to His people through His prophets, but they refused to listen:

According to Zechariah

"But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refucing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets" (Zech. 7:11, 12, NKJV).

According to Jeremiah

Jeremiah's ministry was to give a message from God to people who didn't like to hear it.

"O Lord, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return" (Jer. 5:3).

Israel refused to submit and bend under the Hand of God.

"Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; nor did they know how to blush" (Jer. 6:15; 8:12).

Israel had forgotten how to feel guilty when God said something was seriously wrong.

"Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain. You have a harlot's forehead; you refused to be ashamed" (Jer. 3:3, emphasis added).

One of the reasons why rain was withheld was that the nation was stubborn, refused to feel guilty and refused to be ashamed - a judgment of God.

"Harlot's forehead" was a metaphor used to describe the nation of Israel in comparison of a woman who was so misused and abused that she got so harden that when you look into her face there was no softness, no tenderness, no gentleness and no compassion.

God's warning to the Hebrew believers

Many Jewish believers, having stepped out of Judaism into Christianity, wanted to reverse their course in order to escape persecution by their countrymen. The writer of Hebrews exhorted them to "go to perfection" (Heb. 6:1). He urged them to develop within themselves an enduring faith to withstand the tests and trials of life.

"Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellions. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today' lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb. 3:7, 12, 13, emphasis added).

Notice that "unbelief" is a product of an evil heart; "sin" causes the heart to be hardened.

God was saying, "You must obey, respond and stay soft. Don't let things in your life cause you to resist and hold back what I am speaking to you today".

"Today" is repeated several times all through to the next few Chapters. I believe the reason being, the key for tomorrow is today! What they had started today must carry them through until tomorrow. But they had grown so accustomed to not believing and disobeying God that by the time they got to the test of their faith, their hearts began to harden and got callous before "tomorrow" arrived.

Tender hearted Bible Characters

Here are some examples of tender hearted Bible characters:

1. David

According to the Scripture the greatest person ever lived with circumcised heart and was tender to the Lord was David. God removed king Saul and made David king.

God said, "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will" (Acts 13:22, NKJV, emphasis added).

Notice that it is impossible to do all of God's will without a circumcised heart.

David's encounter with Saul

1 Samuel 24 tells of how David spared Saul when he found him in a cave. Instead of killing Saul, David only cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

"Now it happened afterward that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe, and he said to his men, 'The Lord forbit that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord'" (1 Sam. 24:5, 6, emphasis added).

David's heart was so sensitive and tender that he felt bad even just cutting off a bit of Saul's robe.

David's confession of sin

2 Samuel 12 tells of David's confession of sin after Nathan, sent by the Lord, to confront him after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed later. David saw the evil in his own heart and said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Sam. 12:13). He also wrote the beautiful Psalm 51 - a prayer of true repentance. Only a person with circumcised heart could write "Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight" (Ps. 51:4).

2. King Josiah

Josiah was a son of David and he became king when He was only eight years old.

"And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left" (2 Kings 22:2).

Josiah started a National revival and restoration of the work of God (Verses 11, 16, 18).

The Lord said, "Because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you" (2 Kings 22:19, emphasis added).

The lesson learnt is - The Lord hears the prayer of a person who has a circumcised heart, a heart that is tender, soft and sensitive enough to hate sin.

Circumcision of the whole person

So far we have dealt with the circumcision of the heart. The Bible reveals two other areas of our bodies (our lives) that need to be circumcised.

1. Circumcision of the ears

Jeremiah was sent by the Lord to speak to a people (Judah) not only with uncircumcised heart but also with uncircumcised ears:

"To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it" (Jer. 6:10, emphasis added).

2. Cicumcision of the heart

For the sake of completeness I mention this again. Here are more Scriptures on the circumcision of the heart:

"And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live" (Deu. 30:6).

"Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, ..." (Jer. 4:4).

3. Circumcision of the lips

At the commission of Moses to free the children of Israel from the land of Egypt Moses said before the Lord:

"Behold I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharoah heed me" (Exodus 6:30)?

At the commission of Isaish as a prophet he said to the Lord:

"Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6:5).

Uncircumcised lips are unclean and unfit for the Lord's use.

Relationship between circumcision and our faith

The three areas of our body that need to be circumcised are collectively involve in the salvation process - closely related to our faith.

"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).

"But what does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:8, 9).

The three areas of our body provide the channel by which the Word of God must go through before "the power of God unto salvation" (the gospel) coming out of it. In other words, the Word has to come in our ear, goes down into our heart and comes out (confesses) out of our mouth. In every place that the Word has to go, that area has to be circumcised; has to be tender and sensitive to God. Whether a person is saved or lost entirely depends on the condition of his ears, heart and lips - circumcised or uncircumcised!

Let us use the story of the rich man and Lazarus as an illustration of the above Spiritual principle (Luke 16:19 - 31).

The rich man who was tormented in Hades had five brothers. God had been speaking to them through Moses and the prophets; God had been trying to get their attention, but they didn't have the circumcied ears to listen and the circumcised heart to believe.

Jesus said, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead" (Luke 16:31).

The problem is not who speaks to them, but lies in the condition of their ears and their hearts!

An Area of God's Nature

In my message last week I pointed out that the Fruit of the Spirit is a perfect picture of God and Christ. My message this week concerns a specific area of the Nature of God - His long-suffering.


The psalmist put it this way:

"The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy" (Psalm 145:8, NKJV).

This area of God's nature is revealed through the prophet Habakkuk. By studying the first two Chapters of the Book of Habakkuk we learn how God rules the nations of the world in time of war as well as in peace.

Habakkuk and his burden

The Bible says very little about Habakkuk. From his writing revealed that he was a prophet of deep emotional strength. He was also a poet quite similar to the psalmist David. The only thing we know about him is when he lived and what was going on in his country (Judah) during the reign of king Josiah (around 630 BC).

During that period of time the nation of Judah was enjoying prosperity. But as the material prosperity was up the moral level went down. There were violence in the streets, there were injustice, people got away with crime and the law was paralyzed. Habakkuk complained about the moral disorganization around him and cried out to God for help - how long would God allow this moral decay to continue? He prayed for almost ten years about the situation until he was fed up with praying.

Habakkuk's prophetic prayer

Not only Habakkuk cried out to the Almighty God for justice, he also complained, protested and questioned God:

"How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abound" (Hab. 1:2, 3, NIV).

Notice that Habakkuk prayed with a question mark at the end of each sentence. This is a perfect example of a prophetic prayer. Prophetic prayer is a prayer often prayed by all Old Testament prophets including the psalmists and Job. Most of us want to know how to pray effectively, how to get answers from God and how to hear God. Well, by praying the prophetic prayer, all prophets heard from God and got their answers from God, even though sometimes God didn't answer them the way they wanted.

How Habakkuk prayed the prophetic prayer?

Habakkuk started by telling God what he thought of Him. He was utterly honest with God. Anyway, whether he was honest with God or not, God knew his heart.

The Lord said to Isaiah, "Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear" (Isaiah 65:24, NIV).

Study the Bible and you'll see again and again that the prophets of God dared to speak to God that we wouldn't dare to speak to our parents! They understood that when you are honest with God you are likely to get through to God - because God hates hypocrites (Matt. 6:2).

Interrogative prayer

Another form of prophetic prayer is interrogative prayer. The psalmist always prayed interrogative prayers:

"Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide in times of trouble" (Ps. 10:1, NKJV)?

"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning" (Ps. 22:1)?

Job also prayed many intterogative prayers:

"Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me" (Job 10:18).

"Why do You hide Your face, and regard me as Your enemy" (Job 13:24)?

I heard people complained that God never speak to them. My suggestion is that they try to ask God something like this:

"Lord, is there anything in my life you don't like"? You'll be amazed how quickly you get an answer from God!

I believe the fact that God allows Himself to be questioned by His followers is an indication of His long-suffering, loving kindness, mercy and grace.

God's first answer to Habakkuk

God's first reply brought little comfort to Habakkuk. He told Habakkuk He was raising up the Babylonians to bring judgment to Judah soon:

"For Iam going to do something in you days that you would not believe even if you were told" (Hab. 1:5).

Habakkuk was not happy because in his own eyes the righteous God should not allow the Babylonians to execute judgment upon a people (Judah) more righteous than they:

"Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves" (Hab. 1:13)?

To Habakkuk it looked as if the wicked were getting away with it and overcoming those who are apparently more righteous than themselves.

God's second answer to Habakkuk and to us

Just as in Chapter One the Lord said to Habakkuk that he needed a larger view of what He would do, in Chapter Two the Lord said he needed a longer view of what He would do. Habakkuk must wait for the appointed time (Hab. 2:3). There would come a day He would deal with the Babylonians who did two things that God hated - greed and pride. These are the two things that will destroy any nation.

The Lord is saying the same thing to Christians today. In the end the tyrant will fall; in the end the wrong will be put right; in the end the wicked will perish. The mill of God though grinds slowly but we'll soon see His righteous work prevails in the end. No one will get away with anything unjust and unrighteous and still be found blameless. They may get away with the police; they may get away with their parents or their bosses or the Income Tax inspectors. But they will not get away anything before God.

"Woes" for the unrighteous

The little word "woe" appears five times in Chapter Two. "Woe" is actually a curse word, the opposite of of "woe" is "blessed". Every Old Testament prophet used both words. But "woe" is a word you rarely hear from the pulpit today because the prophetic Word of God is rare in the days of Samuel (1 Sam. 3:1) as well as today.

In my opinion the five "woes" mentioned here are so relevant to the whole question of human-rights in the world today. Much of the Bible is not only written for God's people but also for others.

1. "Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion" (Hab. 2:6, NIV).

My paraphrase says, "Woe to those who get what they want by force". The Lord said, "Those who plunder you will be plundered" (Jeremiah 30:16, NIV).

2. "Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain ...." (Hab. 2:9).

3. "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime" (Hab. 2:12).

My paraphrase says, "Woe to him who builds a city by exploited slave labor".

The hanging-garden of Babylon was built by God's people taken from Judah and enslaved by Nebuchadnezzar.

4. "Woe to him who give drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk ...." (Hab. 2:15).

One of the things that the Babylonians did was to make those people they conquered drunk so that they would commit orgies in front of them - for their own entertainment.

5. "Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!" (Hab. 2:19).

My paraphrase says, "Woe to him who makes an image of God and makes it speak!".

Images of God cannot speak because it has no breath in it. This type of images includes an image of God in your mind that does not exit.

Habakkuk was told to be silent before God because God knows what He is doing and all His ways are just. We are on earth but God is in Heaven - His holy temple. God would not be mocked; the Babylonians would certainly be judged more severely than the judgment they brought against God's people.

God will always vindicate His righteous character: "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14).

We should stop asking where God is in any situation - but let the world be silent and be humbled before Him. We are made righteous by believing (Romans 5:19). And we live by faith:

".... the righteous will live by his faith" (Hab. 2:4).

The above verse of Scripture is the most significant in the entire Bible. It is quoted three times in the New Testament - Roman 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38.

God's Work In Christians

God's primary work in Christian is two-fold; to enable us to be like Jesus Christ and to maintain unity in the Body of Christ - His Church.

According to the Gospel, John the Baptist and our Lord Jesus Christ had two different ministries which were complement to each other. John came with the message that God can deal with your past, whereas Jesus came with the message that God can deal with your future.

The fact is that every single thing an unbeliever said or done or felt is recorded in him - becomes a part of him. Not one of us can cut this link with the past. Our present action is controlled by our past decision. But God at His mercy performs a miracle of forgiveness so that we can arise, go forth and follow Christ. God deals with our past through the ministry of John and we are cut off from it by washing it away - so that our pasts will no longer going to control our present and our future. That is good news and this good news is called repentance.

But John could not deal with your future. That was why he said, "I indeed baptized you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Luke 3:16, NKJV).

We, not only need pardon for the past, we need power for the future as well. Therefore if ever I want to be a truly fruitful Christian then it will be God who has to do it in me. I will not be able to manage it myself. His Holy Spirit is given to us precisely for this purpose.

The Gifts and the Fruit

The two things that the Holy Spirit gives to help us to be Christians are the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. We will not be fully matured Christians until we have both. The Gifts are given so that we can do what Jesus did; the Fruit is given so that we may be what Jesus was - this is good new.

We do not go out and try to do our best or try to be like Jesus. His standard is so high that He said, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48, NKJV).

Similarities and differences

1. Both the Gifts and the Fruit are supernatural social gifts primarily given to help us to relate to other people. They are not private things for me alone but for us.

2. All the Gifts are given to me to pass on to the Body of Christ. All the different flavors of the Fruit are given to me to relate properly to others, to God and to myself.

3. Both can be imitated both by men and by Satan. But discernment will tell you where it is the real things.

4. Gifts are more spectacular and more difficult to handle. Therefore there are more teaching in the Scripture on how to handle Gifts. You can't handle the Gifts without the Fruit. There is no teaching or guidance in the Scripture on how to handle the Fruit for obvious reasons. When you grow the Fruit you can handle it yourself. The last flavor of the Fruit is self-control - "Against such there is no law".

5. Gifts tend to be outward things - they show outwardly, they can be seen and heard. But Fruit is inward.

6. Gifts appear suddenly, they can be given suddenly or even in a flash. Fruit appears gradually, it grows gradually.

7. Gifts are temporary things but Fruit is permanent. A person can lose his Gifts. Samson lost his Gifts because of his pride and disobedience to God.

8. Gifts usually appear early in the Christian life but Fruit appears later.

9. Gifts can be given to very immature Christians, even to carnal and unholy Christians. Fruit is for matured Christians - it takes time to grow and to mature (ripe).

10. Gifts are many, Fruit is one. God's plan is to have the Gifts spread out in the Local Church so that one person has one Gift and another another person has another. But the flavors of the Fruit can't be divided - you either have all the flavors or none at all.

11. There is a difference between the Fruit and the apparent virtues in ungodly or unsaved people. But you'll never find all the nine flavors or virtues of the Fruit in unbelievers.

The Fruit of the Holy Spirit

This message concerns only the Fruit because there is very little teaching on the Fruit. On the other hand you'll be able to find a lot of teaching on Gifts elsewhere. Anyway, God willing, I'll deal with the Gifts in a later message.

The nine flavors of the Fruit are listed by Paul, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law" (Gal. 5:22, 23, NKJV).

The first three flavors primarily relate us to God are - love, joy and peace.

The next three relate us to other people are - longsuffering, kindness and goodness.

The last three help us to relate to ourselves are - faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Let us consider briefly one by one:

1. love - or loving care. Love has been so abused because the English language is limited and inadequate to describe the different types of love. The Greek has four ways of saying love. Love as a Fruit in Greek means loving care.

When you have loving care for someone this is what you'll say, "I care for you so deeply that I always seek your best good what ever it costs me".

We do not find this kind of love very frequently in a world that doesn't know God!

2. Joy - or deep happiness. Joy is so deep that no one or any circumstance can take it from you. Happiness comes to an end because it usually founded on people and people can be taken away from us.

3. Peace - or deep serenity (in harmony with God). When your body is in harmony you have physical health; when your mind is in harmony you are free from worry; when your spirit is in harmony you are forgiven by God - you are saved from sin.

4. Longsuffering - or endless patience. A longsuffering person is a slow tempered person. This does not mean that this person never gets angry. Jesus was angry sometimes. But He has been described by the psalmist:

"The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy" (Ps. 145:8).

5. Kindness - or practical kindness. A person with kindness has a deep feeling for people. He is a mellow and gracious person.

6. Goodness - or all-round generosity. A person with goodness has a generous heart, a generous mind and a generous hand - so that when he sees a need he wants to go and meet that need.

7. Faithfulness - or steady reliability. He is a person who will always be there without your asking. He is a committed person. He is someone you can always depend on.

8. Gentleness - or gentle humility. A person with gentleness has meekness of the best kind - not weak or mild meekness but tamed and positive meekness.

9. Self-control - or firmed self-control. He is a person who can always say no to himself. He will not be tempted in all circumstances.

All the above flavors are of one Fruit. It is important to note that while describing the various flavors of the Fruit we are actually painting a precise picture of our Lord Jesus Christ! The Fruit of the Spirit is a perfect picture of God and His Christ.

Human virtue and temperament

God created each one of us with different human virtue and temperament. Every fallen human being has his unique God given human virtue and temperament. Only believers in Christ can grow the Fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Human virtue says I'll make my New Year resolution, I'm going to be a more loving person next year; I'll be more joyful and caring. These are piecemeal virtues. You'll find you can manage some virtues better because of your temperament type. But the Fruit of the Spirit provides you with all these virtues in one go, eventhough it comes gradually.

Because every one of us is born with some human virtue, you can see some good in everyone although everyone has his own strengths and weaknesses. But what you can't see is an all round character. What you can't see is virtues in balanced. What you can't see is Christ-likeness that only the Spirit of Christ can give. Take for example, love (as defined by the Scripture), is the one thing you can't find in human virtue and temperament. That was why when Jesus came He said we must love the Lord our God and love our neighbors (Matt. 22:37 - 40) - He emphasized love as a Fruit.

Problems in marriage

What will happen if we fail to grow Fruit or grow Fruit at a different rate? Problem arises because we have different human virtue and temperament and this strains our relationship with other people.

Therefore every marriage between two people is incompatible simply because every marriage is between different temperaments - either similar or of the opposite. They need adjustment because there are gaps in their virtues and temperaments. If the gaps coincide then that marriage needs help.

Problems in the Local Church

The Local Church is like a gigantic marriage between a whole lot of people. Can you imagine keeping 500 people together in loving relationship when virtues and temperaments are different?

Possible solutions

1. You can hold the Church together by keeping people separated - by not getting them too close together. Don't let them get involved with one another - just offer one another social lip service. Many Churches, especially the mega-churches are doing exactly that.

2. You can develop cliques within the local fellowship so that those who can get on stay with their group. This can work when that clique centers on a leader of a particular temperament. Then you get into the same kind of situation of the Corinthian Church - "I am of Paul; I am of Apolos" (1 Cor. 3:4).

Obviously the above are not real solutions. Unless the Fruit of the Spirit grows in everyone you'll have people (including pastors and leaders) hop from a local church to another local church - when relationship becomes too difficult to bear.

The Fruit of the Spirit is a vital necessity in a Local Church, so vital that we can't fulfill God's will without it. God's will is not we should try to find our temperamental home. God's will is that we all attain to the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephe. 4:13)! Unity comes naturally when everyone is growing the Fruit. Then we can get along fine no matter what our temperament and human virtue have been before we are saved.

Spiritual conditions for growing the Fruit of the Spirit

1. Abide in Christ

It is one thing to start with Christ and another to continue with Him. You can't continue with Him unless you also abide in Him.

Jesus said, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me" (John 15:4, NKJV).

All of us tend to be like the people we associate with or live with. Abiding in Christ means living (maintaining a personal relationship) with Him all the time. If you do, without you realizing it you begin to grow Fruit. Not only all of us in the Local Church must abide in Christ (the Head) we also must abide in the Body (our fellow believers in Christ).

2. Walk in the Spirit

Paul said, "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25).

Walking in the spirit means every single step that I take is in total response to the Holy Spirit. There is no short cut in growing the Fruit of the Spirit. Attending Christian conferences or conventions will not help us to grow Fruit. The only thing we might gain is knowledge - and knowledge puffs up according to the Scripture (1 Cor. 8:1).

Whether our old temperament likes it or not we have to go wherever the Spirit leads. We can fill up the gaps in our old temperament by walking in the Spirit.

True Spiritual Strength

Many Christians in ministry are accomplishing great things for God. There are ministers who go around preaching and telling people what they could do for God. The whole theme of their preaching concerns what mighty works of miracles, healings, prophecies and other manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit they are accomplishing for God. Everything they said is true, but it is interesting to see when they are coming to the end of what they can do. Very often in our ministry, which is given to us by God, by divine appointment, we shall come to the end of what we can do. There is a place we can come to where we can do no more.

True Scriptural Spiritual Strength

True spiritual strength is not how much we can do and how much we can exercise spiritual gifts.

Paul said, "We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves" (Romans 15:1, NIV, emphasis added).

In the King James Version the word "failings" is replaced by the word "infirmities".

Therefore, the scriptural mark of strength is not how much you can do; essentially it is how much you bear the weaknesses and infirmities of others. It is very satisfying to be in your own ability, in your own ministry and have your own spiritual experience. But this really does not require much spiritual strength. It does require spiritual strength to bear the weaknesses of others. In fact, to be able to bear with the failings of the weak is the mark of Christian maturity. I believe spiritual strength is measured by God and by the Scripture in proportion to the degree that we are able to support and bear the weaknesses of other people. This is never easy.

This is exactly the opposite to the spirit of this evil age, which is to get what you want for yourself and let the weak take care of themselves. Once we begin to make what suits us the measure of what is right we are on a slippery path that goes downward to a horrible mess. How often we see people written off those who were born hopelessly handicapped, those who were born not more than a vegetable? What about the mentally sick? One after another they were written off in the name of humanity. That is not the Christian's answer. What about cases of abortion which in the sight of God is murder? Not merely abortion is forbidden by God, but also the attitude behind it is totally un-Christian.

Christians do not write the weak off. We don't even relegate them to an institution where we never hear about them or care about them any more. A true Christian's first motive is not to get away with as much as he could get away with legally, but to do what Jesus Christ wants him to do.

We ought not to please ourselves

According to Paul, if we please ourselves we cannot bear the weakness of others (Romans 15:1).

Every time I do anything effective for the Lord, that is acceptable to him, I begin by not pleasing myself. That is to say I must deny myself. In the scriptural sense to deny myself means to say no to myself:

Jesus said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23, NKJV, emphasis added).

To deny myself daily

The ego that is in me, that is always exerting itself saying I want, I wish, I feel and I think has to be denied on a daily basis. I have to say no to myself otherwise I cannot live the type of Christian life that is pleasing to God. It is impossible to be a self pleaser and a Christ pleaser at the same time.

To take up the cross daily

Everyday presents every Christian with an opportunity to take up his cross. If you use the opportunity you'll have a victorious day, and if you lose the opportunity you'll have a day of defeat. Someone said, "Your cross is where your will and the will of God crossed. Your cross is the thing on which you can die; it is the place you can lay down your life:

Jesus said, "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again" (John 10:17, 18, NIV).

If you don't voluntarily lay down your life no one takes your life from you - you are in control of it. Your cross is the place where you can make the decision not to please yourself. If you take up your cross the ministries of God will flow out of your life. You have to do it on a daily basis. Ministries will not flow out of the life of a believer who pleases himself.

A true child of God

The distinctive mark that makes you a true child of God is having the Spirit of Christ.

Paul said, "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ" (Romans 8:6, NIV).

There are a lot of Christians who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues, work miracles and preach powerful sermons but they demonstrate little or nothing of the Spirit of Christ. The mark that makes us children of God is having the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Christ cannot be separated from the nature and personality of Jesus Himself. It is a meek Spirit, humble and gentle Spirit; certainly not arrogant, not self-exerting or self-pleasing.

In contemporary Christianity we hear a lot of teaching of claiming your inheritance and getting what belongs to you. There is nothing wrong to receive what has been given to you. But there is a difference between thankfully receiving it and selfishly grasping it.

Many Christians abuse what John said, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers" (3 John 2).

In God's sight you don't prosper by exerting your right. The Spirit of Christ does not lay claim to any right. The Spirit of Christ is a yielding Spirit. When you yield to Christ He will prosper you, not necessarily only material prosperity but all round prosperity (good health and general well-being).

Christ as our perfect example

Christ is our supreme example of yielding:

Paul said, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness" (Phil. 2:5 - 7, NIV, emphasis added).

Jesus is entitled to be in equality with God; it was His by divine right, but He did not grasp it. Lucifer, who became Satan, on the other hand, was not entitled to be in equality with God, he did grasp at it and he fell!

If you do not have the Spirit of Christ then you have the spirit of the world (spirit of Satan). We have to discern between true and false prophets, true and false ministers of God, and those who are serving God in Spirit and in truth and those who are not. The mark that separates the true from the false is the Spirit of Christ.

Biblical examples of yielding

The Spirit of Christ is a yielding Spirit; but the spirit of the world is a grasping spirit. All great men of God, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, had the yielding Spirit. Here are some examples:

1. The Wisdom of Solomon (1 Kings 3)

Solomon did not ask for riches, he did not ask for honor or the lives of his enemies. Instead he asked God for wisdom and a hearing heart (verse 9). God was pleased and He gave him what he did not ask for as well (verses 10 to 13).

Solomon's wise judgment was immediately tested (verses 16 to 27). There were two harlots who lived in one house. Each of them brought forth a baby; each had the baby in bed with her. In the middle of the night one of the women rolled onto her baby and killed it. So in the morning there were two mothers but only one baby. Each of the mothers wanted the baby that was alive and both claimed the baby.

The case was brought before Solomon who heard the case and said there was only one thing to do - bring in a sword and cut the baby in half. The woman whose baby had died said that was right. But the real mother didn't want to see her baby die said give her the baby and let it live. Solomon said that was the real mother!

The lesson is very simple. If it is really your baby rather than see it die you let the other person have it - that is the real test of the yielding Spirit and spiritual strength! Many times in Christian services and ministries a man brought forth which is his, but somebody contested it and claimed it. Are you prepared to let go and let the other person claim what was yours? The answer lies whether you love yourself more than the baby or the baby more that yourself. The result of the test is - if you give it away you love the baby, if you claim half you don't!

2. The Story of Abraham (Genesis 12 and 13).

Abraham started his journey from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan, but he was not in full obedience to God. He took his father and nephew with him - he was not authorized to take either of them. As long as he had his father with him he only got half way - Haran. He couldn't go further until his father died (Acts 7:4).

Many of us are like Abraham. God says, come out and leave every thing behind and I will show you your inheritance. But we want to bring daddy along. Your daddy may be your denominational affiliation, a pension scheme or a situation. God says as long as you take daddy along you'll get only half way.

Abraham still had another problem - his nephew Lot. Both Abraham and Lot prospered. They had so many goods and cattle that they couldn't dwell together because there was strife between their herdsmen (Gen. 13:7). Abraham was the senior, he was the man whom God called and he was the man whom the inheritance belonged. But he had the yielding Spirit. He let Lot made his choice first. Lot chose to dwell in the plain. It is interesting to note that as soon as Abraham let Lot go, God showed him his inheritance (Gen. 13:14 - 17).

The lesson learnt is, as long as you hold on and say that's mine, I'm not letting go, you will not see what God has for you. It is the yielding Spirit that receives the inheritance and not the grasping spirit.

3. A lesson from Isaac (Genesis 22:1 - 18)

God tested Abraham's faith by asking for his son Isaac to be a burnt offering (Gen. 22:2).

The writer of Hebrews said, "By faith Abraham when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, ..." (Heb. 11:17, NKJV).

One thing about Abraham was that not only he obeyed God but he obeyed Him promptly - he got up early to do it. Abrahem come the place when he was actually ready to kill the miracle child who was the only hope for his God promised inheritance. But his faith in God caused him to say to his men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad (Isaac) and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you" (Gen. 22:5, emphasis added).

If Abraham had held on to Isaac all he had gat was Isaac. When he gave Isaac up, he had got Isaac back and multiplied beyond his power to calculate.

The lesson learnt is, when God gives you something unique, something precious and something miraculous, one day He is likely to say, "I want it, give it back, kill it and lay it on the altar for me"! You have two choices - either you are going to follow the footsteps of Abraham or you are going to miss God's blessings.

I believe the biggest test of any servant of God is this - is he willing to put his ministry on the altar?

Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain" (John 12:24, NKJV).

Each one of us is holding in our hand a little grain; God placed it there - it can be your gift, your ministry, your talent, something very precious because God gave it to you. God says if you keep it that is all you have, just one little grain. You can put your name on it, you can put a label on it, but you'll never get more. The alternative is clear, let the grain go, drop it, let it go right down into the earth and lost out of sight! But God is responsible and He has guaranteed the fruit.

I believe this is the place that is coming and coming soon. Many of us will be faced with this choice - Do I love it or do I love me?

Right Overseeing

It is of utmost importance that we oversee or supervise persons or things correctly in the scriptural sense. Otherwise when we oversee incorrectly we are called a busybody.

The Bible says nothing good about a busybody. In fact the sin of a busy body can't be over exaggerated:

"But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters" (1 Peter 4:15, NKJV, emphasis added).

The first three, a murderer, a thief, an evildoer are clearly undersirable, and Christians are saved from doing such awful things. Notice that a busybody suffers unnecessarily and his sin is lined up with the other three types of sinners.

The Greek word for "busybody in other people's matters" is "allotriepiskopos" which according to Standard Greek Lexicon is "One who takes the supervision of affairs pertaining to others but in no way toward himself. He is a meddler in other men's affairs"

In simple language a busybody is one who oversees things that God has not given him the authority to oversee.

Wrong Overseeing

The Greek word for "overseer" is "episkopos". An overseer is also called a bishop or a superintendent. Jesus is a Shepherd and a Overseer:

"For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls" (1 Peter 2:25).

A shepherd (Pastor) is one who oversees the sheep - congregation of a Local Church.

How can you be an overseer of people or things that don't belong to you? Or to put it bluntly, how can you be a busybody without even knowing it? Here are several examples:

1. Too critical about other people's children

The responsibility of the parents is to bring up their own children. God does not give us the responsibility to bring up other's children. Problem comes when somebody comments about how other parents did a bad job of bringing up their children.

2. Ignoring God's Law of Liberty

We are not allowed to trespass other people's privilege and freedom given by God:

"Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him" (Romans 14:1, 2, 3).

Some Christians don't eat meat or certain types of meat. Some drink wine or other forms of liquor. If you show contempt of what they eat or drink then you are a busybody.

3. Problem with mothers-in-law

God said, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24).

Father and mother do not have any right to dictate to their son and daughter-in-law how they are to run their home. It is their responsibility; they have been given the authority by God to oversee the running of their home. But this does not mean that they are not to offer counsel or help. I believe when they wish to offer counsel it is more effective when it is asked for.

Right Overseeing

There are many things that God has given us to oversee. In fact He created us to rule and to govern:

God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth" (Gen. 1:26, emphasis added).

Even after the Fall there are elements of God's original purpose of creation left. There is something in man that isn't satisfied unless it is fulfilling that God given impulse to oversee. What we want to do is to find the legitimate way to give expression to it so that we oversee people or things the way God wants us to oversee.

Overseeing is Progressive

The Biblical way of overseeing is always practical and progressive. The God given Divine order always start with some thing small and then move up to some thing bigger. A man who does not succeed in the small will not succeed in the big.

Jesus said, "he who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much" (Luke 16:10, NKJV).

It is wise to start to train a child to be an overseer with some thing small like taking care of his toys and pets. When he grows up and gets married he is ready to oversee his wife. Every married Christian man has at least one sheep to begin with - his wife. Later on when children come along he has a family to oversee.

If he is a Pastor and he can't rule his own household he is not fit to oversee a congregation:

"A bishop (overseer or pastor) then must be blameless, one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God" (1 Tim. 3:2, 4, 5)?

If his children are rebellious and out of control; or even worse, if his wife runs off with another man, then this Pastor is not fit to oversee a Local Church!

Areas of Overseeing and Supervision in the New Testament Church

The twelve apostles said to the disciples, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:2, 3, 4).

There are essentially two areas of overseeing in the early Church - the material and the spiritual.

1. The Material

There will be danger of division and confusion when material problems are not fairly and wisely handled. Even in the Local Church now if we can solve the financial problem we'll go a long way to solving spiritual problem. If we don't handle the material things right we'll mess up the spiritual things.

Those who look after the material needs of a Local Church are the Deacons:

"But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deasons, being found blameless. For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 3:10, 13, NKJV, emphasis added).

Serving as a deacon is a time of testing. So if you have served well as deacon, if you have been successful in overseeing the material then you are qualified to be promoted to oversee spiritual things.

2. The Spiritual

The ministry in the spiritual realm is two fold - The ministry of prayer and the ministry of God's Word. You can't minister the Word of God effectively unless you are also a prayerful person.

There is a general basic spiritual principle pertaining to secular (material) ministry and spiritual ministry. I believe a man who could not be successful in the secular realm would not be called by God into spiritual service. In other words, a man would not be called by God out of secular failure into spiritual ministry. A man who could not make it in the secular employment would not be successful in the pastoral ministry.

Every Christain is an overseer and needs an overseer

Every Christian needs to be an overseer and at the same time needs an overseer. This is basically how the Local Church ministry functions. Every Christian should face up these two questions:

1. What do I answer for? 2. Whom do I answer to?

Everyone, even the youngest, oversees something. There is hardly any Christian who isn't held accountable by God to oversee something. At the same time every Christian needs an overseer. You job as a Churchgoing Christian is to find the place, in God, that you are overseeing the things that God has put you over, and at the same time, being overseeing by whom God has put you under. In other words, you need to find the place, in God, where you are overseeing the things that God holds you accounted for. At the same time you need to be under those whom God has called to oversee you. This is your God appointed place in the Local Congregation.

Solomon said, "Like a bird that wanders from its nest is a man who wanders from his place" (Pro. 27:8, NKJV).

There is a great depth of truth in the above verse. What is more weak and helpless than a bird wandered from its nest? A man out of his place is just as weak and helpless. Furthermore he does not come under the covering of God if he is out of his God appointed place!

How is your Spiritual Place determined?

Your spiritual place in the Local Church is determined by relationships. You have to get rightly related to everybody that God has put in your life. In doing so you'll discover that these relationships are like many lines from different angles which would ultimately pinpoint at one place - this is your God appointed place! This is the place, and only one place, where you are rightly related to every single person that God has put in your life.

In this place, under somebody, over somebody, over something, rightly related with those around you, you will find security, serenity and comfort - this is your spiritual nest. God has commiteed to provide for you in that place. He has appointed different places for other Christians.

Requisites for finding your Spiritual Place

Here are some requirements on your part, if you want to find your spiritual place in the Local Church:

1. Acknowledge your need

As a member of the Body of Christ it is important that you acknowledge your gifts, you weaknesses and you need; especially your need of others. This is made clear by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 where he wrote about the parts of the Body of Christ.

"But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased" (1 Cor. 12:18, NKJV).

This is the place set by God for individual members.

2. The willingness to lose your life

We must be willing to lose our life in the scriptural sense:

Jesus said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matt. 16:24, 25, NKJV, emphasis added).

To "deny himself" means to "say no to himself" or to "say no to his ego".

I believe that everything we do for God that is of permanent value is always done out of self denial. As long as we serve ourselves we cannot serve others.

3. Humility

Learn how to humble youself before God.

Peter said, "Yes all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for 'God resists the proud, but give grace to the humble'" (1 Peter 5:5).

Jesus said, "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 14:11).

Daniel's prayer was heard when he humbled himself before God (Daniel 10:12).

The Unity of God's People

The unity of God's people is in the heart of God. God desired that His people be united through right relationships with Him and with one another. This is true both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. God gave us pictures of this unity through two psalms (Ps. 122 and Ps. 133) written by David.

A Picture of Unity

Let us re-consider the first five verses of Psalm 122, which I had expounded as carefully as I could last week, and see how we can picture what God is trying to tell us about this unity.

1. "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord" (Ps.122:1, KJV, emphasis added).

Notice thae phrase "let us". This was a collective decision by God's people to go and worship the Lord together. The psalmist did not say "I will go", but "let us go".

The Church has somewhat over emphasized the individual aspect of the Christian life. We talk about individual relationship with the Lord. And ther are things about which we have to make individual decision - like salvation and water baptism. But these practices lead to a collective life. There are many things in the Christian life we cannot come into as isolated individuals. We either come together in fellowship or we don't come into at all.

2. "Our feet shall stand within they gates, O Jerusalem" (Ps. 122:2, emphasis added).

Once again, it says "our feet". All God's people had decided to set foot on the City of Jerusalem together and went into God's House together. It speaks of Christians going to the Local Church to worship God together.

3. "Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together" (Ps. 122:3).

Jerusalem itself was a picture of close fellowship - with its buildings compacted and almost joined together.

4. "Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord" (Ps. 122:4).

God's people went up to Jerusalem as tribes under their recognized leaders within the tribes. Each tribe knew where they belong. This is the key to unity. When believers know their leaders and then these leaders come together, agreeing with one another, you will have unity.

I think every believer has two options - either be a shepherd or have one. If you aren't one then you need one; if you are one then you need your fellow shepherd.

The picture of this verse is that everybody in his tribe followed his leaders and all came together at a focal point - a place where God had set His Name, the House of the Lord in Jerusalem.

In the New Testament this corresponding focal point is the Name of Jesus.

Jesus said, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20, NKJV).

We don't meet on the basis of doctrine; we don't meet on the basis of denominational beliefs or experiences - like speaking in tongues or the so-called deceptive "Holy Laughter". We meet because we com together into the Name of Jesus.

5. "For thrones are set there for judgment, the thrones of the house of David" (Ps. 122:5).

Believers are together enthroned with Christ (Eph. 2:5, 6).

The Importance of Christian Unity

Let us consider part of Jesus' High Priestly Prayer:

"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:20, 21).

Here are some comments and statements of truth:

1. The unity of all true believers is the only testimony which can reach the whole world. The visible demonstration of our unity in Him will cause the world both to believe and to know that He is the one which God has sent as the Messiah and Savior of the world.

2. We can be active in mission and evangelism work, but many will not be touched by those activities unless we are sincere in our attitude toward Christian unity.

3. Christian unity begins within the Godhead - between the Father and the Son. Therefore it is not a unity of organization. The Father and the Son are not organized to be one. It is a unity of neither denomination nor Church affliliation. But it is a unity of relationship in the Holys Spirit.

4. The Godhead provides us with a perfect pattern of right relationships. In the Godhead we have three things which are essential - Fatherhood, Headship and Fellowship. We can't have Fellowship in the Biblical sense without the acknowledgement of Fatherhood and Headship.

The Problem of Disuntiy

You cannot talk about Christian unity unless we identify the problem of disunity.

Jesus said, "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand" (Mark 3:24, 25, NKJV).

As long as the Church is divided it cannot stand against the kingdom of Satan. Therefore Satan's supreme objective is to keep the Church divided so that we cannot defeat him.

Furthermore disunity and division amongst us belie the message that we preached. We preached that Gospel solves people's problems by bringing them into right relationship with God and with men, and then we demonstrated the very opposite. I believe the pragmatically minded world is much more disposed to believe what they see in our lives than what they hear in our preaching.

Jesus said, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 12:35).

When we love one another we stay united with one another.

The Blessings of Christian Unity

Psalm 133, like Psalm 122, is also a song of ascents of David:

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing - life forevermore" (NKJV, emphasis added).

Here are some comments and statements of truth:

1. The psalmist said "good and pleasant" but he did not say it was easy. In fact is is far from easy.

2. Notice the word "dwell" does not mean coming together for a couple hours on Sunday morning Church service. It also does not mean a coming together for a few days of Camp Meeting. In fact if we do come together in a Camp Meeting we'll begin to experience both some of the blessings and some of the problems. For example, when you are having a quiet time someone else's baby starts to squawk; when you want to use the bathroom someone went in just before you. The fact is, the moment we begin to get close to one another for any length of time things begin to happen.

3. The fact is that churchgoers do know the problem of getting too close to one another. So, in many cases Church meetings become social Sunday morning club meetings. People, mostly come from the same social status, come together to fellowship. But there is no real deep commitment, no deep involvement in other people's lives. They are probably too embarrassed to mention their problems, their hurts and needs. They rather keep it on a nice, dignified and respectable religious level.

4. The psalmist meant living together, sharing our lives together and committed to one another. The fact is, until you see me in my worst and my weakest and you still love me, you don't love me! You have to come to a place where you live with people the way you are and accept other people as they are.

Paul said, "Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God" (Romans 15:7).

I am a Christian not because I am right; I am a Christian because God received me in Christ - right or wrong. And if I am wrong I am not afraid to admit it.

5. The psalmist gave two pictures of unity; the first picture is like oil which speaks of the Holy Spirit. The psalmist pictured the anointing oil "running down" (Ps.133:2).

Notice that unity never flows upward; it always flow downward and it starts at the head. We know from experience in a family that children can't unite a family. But if father and mother are united, that unity will flow down to the children.

It means, in the Local Church level the key to unity is leaders coming together first, and not churchgoers coming together. The whole congregation will not unite unless we unit the leaders (shepherds) first.

6. The other aspect of the truth is, only shepherds that divide sheep - a very embarrassing thought. The disunity of God's people is due to the disunity of leaders. If leaders are united there will be no further problem uniting those who are led.

7. The second picture of unity is like dew which also speaks of the Holy Spirit. There are many vivid pictures of the Holy Spirit in the Scripture. Most of them are rather dramatic in nature - like wind, fire, rain and oil. But dew is not so dramatic. It does not come down in the way that you can hear and feel normally. During the hours of darkness it descends almost imperceptibly and yet it is one of the most gentle, refreshing, and reviving things in nature. In fact, dew is a picture of the Messiah Himself:

"Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power; in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning. You have the dew of Your youth" (Ps. 110:3, NKJV, emphasis added).

I believe God is saying something to us here. He wants us to have Christ-likeness. He is dealing with our character - gentleness and lowliness:

Paul said, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of Spirit in the Bond of peace" (Eph. 4:1 - 3, emphasis added).

Gentleness is also a part of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23).

8. In the midst of Christian unity "the Lord commanded the blessing" (Ps. 133:3).

It is one thing to seek the Lord's blessing and another thing the Lord commanded (past tense) the blessing. We should give up seeking God's blessing and instead concentrate on obeying Him and we will discover that at the place we obey Him, He has commanded His blessing!

Moses said, "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God; ..." (Deut. 28:1, 2, emphasis added).

If you obey the Lord's voice, His blessings will come upon you and overtake you. That means you can't avoid His blessings because He commanded it! The key to right relationship in God is to hear and obey His voice. We can read the Bible but hearing His voice is quite different. His voice is living and personal. Very often we hear no voice when we read the Bible.

"Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people" (Jer. 7:23).

The basic condition for the Lord being your God is to obey His voice. But you must hear His voice first. You will hear His voice if you are in the right relationship with Him!

Right Relationships

Not many Bible teachers understand that Psalm 122 speaks of two right relationships - One, the right relationship between God and man and the other, the right relationship between man and man. Psalm 122 is actually a song of ascent of David to be sung by God's people during the last stage of their pilgrimage to the City of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the place where God was met in worship.

Before I begin I would like to remind Christians that it is very easy to take the text of this Psalm out of its context and use the verses as slogan. This is especially so when we commit the verses (usually the King James Version) to memory. The right thing to do is whenever you get a verse from the Lord go back and see the setting of the verse and find out how this verse relates to other verses in that particular setting. Then you will use it in a Biblical sense instead of using it as a slogan taken out of context. It is often said that Scripture taken out of context becomes a pretext. In fact in its original language all the Books of the entire Bible had no chapter number and no verse number. They were put there by the translators. In its original language it would be difficult to take any verse out of its context.

The Nature and Function of Jerusalem

Psalm 122 describes the nature and function of the City of Jerusalem. It is conveniently divided into two halves:

1. The Nature of the City of Jerusalem

"I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord! Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! Jerusalem, which is built as a city that is compact together; to which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed and as a testimony for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. For there thrones of judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David" (Psalm 122:1 - 5, The Amplified Bible).

The above five verses describe the nature of the City of Jerusalem. In fact the nature of the City is like the nature of the Country of Israel - too much history and too little geography. As soon as you read this psalm you'll get the sense that to the psalmist this city was very special. There was some thing unique about it. You'll feel it as soon as you step inside the gates. The City had a mixture of the real and the unreal.

The City of Jerusalem was terribly small. Someone said this City during king David's time looked as if a large city had been pulled down and another city had been re-erected on a tiny site with buildings all crowded together, compacted together, squeezed into a solid city. You could walk through the entire city in less than an hour. What made the City so special was its function.
2. The Function of the City of Jerusalem

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they prosper that love you (the Holy City)! Peace be within your walls and prosperity within your palaces! For my brethren and my companions' sake, I will now say, Peace be within you! For the sake of the house of the Lord our God I will seek, inquire for and require your good" (Psalm 122:6 - 9, The Amplified Bible).

There were two important buildings used to be found in the Holy City of Jerusalem, but they are no longer here now. In these two buildings lived two kings. One is the father and the other one, his son; one is the King of the universe and the other the king of Israel. These two buildings were the house of the Lord and the house of David.

It was because of these two buildings that prayers were offered up for the peace of Jerusalem. These two buildings embodied and symbolized the two relationships that need to be put right. These two relatioships were the relationship between God and man and the relationship between man and man. Right relationships were needed not only for the City and not only for the nation of which the City was the capital, but for the entire world. Jerusalem was the city where men came up to praise and worship their God - where the twelve tribes processed and worshiped together as Cod told them to, as an example to the whole world.

Jerusalem was also the City where justice could be found. The Law Court of justice was in the house of David. It was in this court wrongs were righted; those who had been exploited were vindicated; criminals were punished and right relationships were established. If you wanted to be right with God and right with your fellowmen then this was the City to which you had to come.

Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem

There is actually nothing terribly special about the prayer for the peace of Jerusalem. It is a natural thing for a Jewish person on entering a home to say peace to that home. Similarly the natural thing to do, when you enter the gates of Jerusalem and when you just stand inside the door, is to say peace to Jerusalem. It is a right and proper prayer to pray.

Jerusalem was peculiarly vulnerable in two areas - peace and prosperity. Therefore David prayed for peace and prosperity - in Hebrew mean shalom and shalvah. It is quite impossible to translate shalom and shalvah into English. Shalom not only means peace, but also harmony, health, well being and right relationship with God and everyone around you. Shalvah not only means prosperity, but also security, safety, tranquility, happy, joyful and abundantly blessed.

It is important to note that the peace that David prayed was an internal peace within the City (Ps. 122:7, 8). He was not thinking about Jerusalem out of security, not thinking about military and political peace. What truly concerned him was that within the place where God and men met, where relationships were put right, that Jerusalem would be a city of harmony.

Peace does not come naturally when you put a lot of God's people together, crowded in with one another so that they had hardly enough room to move about. Similary when you work in a place with Christians only (like in a Local Church), it is not necessarily a "promised land". When people are crowded together in a corridor of power peace does not come naturally. It is common to see Pastors and other servants of God having frictions with one another.

Therefore David, as soon as he stepped inside the gates, he prayed for the residence of the City who kept the Temple services going. He prayed for God's people who served the Lord in the Temple. He prayed that the Lord would keep them in harmony, keep them together in peace. He also prayed for prosperity for a very simple reason - Jerusalem was not a commercial viable City; it was not a place of trade and industry. It depended on help elsewhere. It was a subsidized capital and always will be. It would depend on the tithes and offerings of God's people coming up to worship God.

Why David and his companions prayed for the peace of Jerusalem?

The prayer was entirely for the residence of the city. It was a prayer that those who come here as visitors should pray. They should pray for those who lived there - a prayer that was very much needed. The last two verses of Psalm 122 made it very clear. David was not praying this prayer for the sake of the people there. But first he prayed for the sake of the pilgrims who came and second, for the sake of the God they came to meet. If Jerusalem was the meeting place between the Lord of heaven and the people of earth then it was vital that it would be a place of harmony, peace and deep satisfaction - a place where people might come and have peace with God and with one another and be satisfied and fulfilled.

The Christian's Problem

How do Christians pray for the City of Jerusalem the same way God's people did in the Old Testament when the two houses are not to be found there now?

The house of David is no longer to be found in Jerusalem. In fact there is no trace of it now. It was destroyed about 2,600 years ago when the last king of Israel was taken captive to Babylon. Since that day Israel has not had a king. But the House of the Lord destroyed at about the same time was rebuilt. It was standing there when our Lord Jesus Christ came to that City.

Jesus said, "See, Your house is left to you desolate" (Matt. 23:38).

After saying this Jesus immediately left the Temple (Matt. 24:1). A few days later the curtain (veil) of the Lord's House was pulled down by God as soon as Jesus was crucified. It was empty (desolate) from then on. In fact it was the Jewish custom to pull down the curtains of his house when it was left unoccupied.

The meaning of "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" today

We can ask many questions. For instance, what meaning can we give today to this prayer - "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem"? It is still valid? Have those two houses being re-erected any where else? Or they have totally disappeared?

Two amazing truths

The Scripture reveals two amazing truths:

1. Few weeks after the house of the Lord was emptied and the curtain pulled down God took up residence on earth! On the Day of Pentecost God moved house! And He dwells from then on in His people rather than in a place. Wherever you find God's people, there is the house of the Lord. His house is in His people individually (1 Cor. 6:15) and collectively, in His Church (1 Cor. 3:16, 17). It is a mobile concept now; it is no longer tied in one City and in the two houses.

2. Both the house of David and the House of the Lord (the Son of David) has been rebuilt in believers - believing Jews and believing Gentiles. When you look at a Christian you should see the house of David back in Jerusalem. You should see the place where the Son of David rules. One of the prophetic meanings of the Feast of the Tabernacle that is being observed by many Christians now, is the return of these two houses to the City of Jerusalem!

Spiritual application of Psalm 122

Since the Temple of the Lord now includes Jews as well as Gentiles there is a spiritual application of Ps. 122 which we must not forget. This points to the Heavenly Jerusalem that Mount Zion (the Church) to which we have come - through Jesus Christ.

Our prayer burden should be the peace and prosperity for the Church. We should pray that the Christians in our city may be in harmony and that there may be peace among those who love our Lord Jesus Christ. The peace of Jerusalem speaks of the peace of the House of the Lord (the Church) which we represent.

What makes for the peace of Jerusalem is very clear. The clue lies in what Jesus said in Luke 19. He wept tears of frustration over the City:

"If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes" (Luke 19:42, NKJV, emphasis added).

I believe the two important things that make for the Christians' peace are moral integrity and spiritual priority - to the contrary of what many people (both believers and unbelievers) believed. Many people believe that the things that mke for their peace are political security and economic stability. To pray for political security and economic stability is good but it is not the Christians' primary concern.

When Jesus rode through the Gate Beautiful into the Temple area He astonished the crowd. They expected Him to deal with the Roman rulers but instead He went straight into the Temple and rebuked those who bought and sold:

"It is written, 'My house is a house of prayer,' but you made it a den of thieves" (Luke 19:46).

He did this because His people had no moral integrity and spiritual priority and they didn't understand what belonged to their peace. That was why Jesus wept! God wanted to give His righteousnesss to His people; He wanted to give the City the King of Righteousness. Yet when God visited this place with His Righteousness, this place did not recognize the Day of God's visitation (Matt. 19:44)!

Conclusion

I believe when we pray for the peace of Jerusalem we must therefore pray that this City may recognize the Second Coming of the King of Righteousness. We must pray that this City will be happy to have more Christians, not just to come and visit, not just to celebrate the Feast of the Tabernacle, but to welcome them as messengers of the coming King of Righteousness - The Prince of Peace! Jehovah Shalom and Jehovah Shalvah!

The Right Use of the Tongue

God created the human head with seven openings. Seven speaks of completeness and perfection. We have two ears, two eyes, two nostrils but we have only one mouth. If we have more than one mouth it will not be perfect. But as it is that one mouth causes us more problems than all the other six put together. The truth of the matter is there is no area in our personality more directly related to our total well being than our mouth and our tongue. God gives us the responsibility to make the right use of our tongue.

Scriptural Principles on the importance of the tongue

There are many Scripture passages which all emphasize the vital importance of the mouth and the tongue:

1. "Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit" (Psalm 34:11 - 13, NKJV, emphasis added).

Here are some statements of truth:

I. Two things that go with the fear of the Lord are, one, love life and two, see many good days. Life and its fullness and the fear of the Lord always associated together. The measure in which we have the fear of the Lord is the measure in which we enjoy true life.

II. The practical application is that when we begin to fear God, the first place that it will be manifested is to keep our tongue from evil and our lips from speaking lies.

2. "He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction" (Proverbs 13:3, NKJV).

In other words, if you want to guard your life then you have to guard your lips. The weak area is the lips where the enemy will gain access. But if you don't guard your lips and speak rashly you will face destruction.

The alternatives are very clear - either take control of your tongue or face destruction.

3. "He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity" (Proverbs 21:23, NIV).

The vital area that you have to protect is your mouth and tongue. Calamity is a strong word. Once again the alternatives are very clear cut. If you fail to guard you tongue calamity may visit you.

4. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit" (Proverbs 18:21, NKJV).

Each one of us eats the fruit of his own tongue. If our tongue brings forth sweet fruit we will eat sweet fruit; if our tongue brings forth bitter fruit we will eat bitter fruit.

Your Spiritual condition is revealed by your tongue

The state of your tongue is a guide to your spiritual condition. Let us consider some passages of Scripture that established this principle.

1. Jesus said, "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! how can you, being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned" (Matt. 12: 33, 34, 36, 37, NKJV, emphasis added).

Notice that Jesus referred to the heart as the tree and to the words that come out of the mouth as the fruit. The condition of your heart is revealed by the kinds of words that will come out of your mouth.

2. Jesus said in similar language in Matt. 7:17, 18, "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit" (NKJV).

There is an absolute inescapable connection between the state of our heart and the state of our mouth. We may deceive ourselves about the state of our heart; we may have all sorts of ideas about our own goodness, purity or righteousness, but there is a sure and infallible indicator which comes out of the mouth. If the state of our heart is corrupt our tongue is corrupt. The words that we speak indicate the true condition of our heart.

Prophetic Pictures of Christ the Messiah and His Bride

1. Picture of Christ the Messiah

"My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; therefore God has blessed You forever" (Ps. 45:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).

The first aspect of the beauty of Christ that is manifested is His lips. Primarily His grace is manifested in His lips. Secondly, for this reason God has blessed Him forever.

2. Picture of His Bride

"Your lips are like a strand of scarlet, and your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like a piece of pomegranate. Your lips, O my spouse, drip as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue; and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon" (Song of Solomon 4:3, 11, NKJV, emphasis added).

The Song of Solomon was addressed to Christ's Bride (His true Church). The first feature of the Bride are her lips. The beauty of her voice comes out through the veil.

"Honey and milk" speaks of the Promised Land. Therefore the tongue of the Bride of Christ is full of God's promises! To be qualified as Christ's Bride she is expected to use her tongue in the right manner! The Scripture is very consistent.

Diseases of the Tongue

The Bible revealed many diseases that affect the tongue. Here are some of them:

1. Excessive talking

"In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise" (Prov. 10:19).

If you say too much you are bound to say something wrong. If you restrain your tongue you are wise; otherwise you are foolish.

The Bible also warns us never to use too many words toward God Himself:

"Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes through much activity, and a fool's voice is known by his many words" (Eccles. 5:1 - 3, NKJV, emphasis added).

Here are some statements of truth:

I. "Sacrifice of fools" means "saying a lot of words to God that we don't really mean".

II. "Many words" is a signature mark of a fool. When you hear a person continuously talking you don't need any other evidence that he is a fool. I think the root problem is restlessness. People who are always talking are restless people. The contemporary culture is full of restless people.

2. Idle or Careless Words

Idle words are words that account for nother - just empty words. We have spoken many words, but we don't really mean what we said, and we are not prepared to stand behind it.

Jesus said, "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment" (Matt. 12:36).

Every idle word we have spoken we have to answer to it one day.

Jesus in delivering His Sermon on the Mount said, "Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No', for whatever is more than these is from the evil one" (Matt. 5:37).

If we say more than what is necessary; for example, the unnecessary emphasis or exaggeration - all these words are from the Devil!

3. Gossip

"You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor; I am the Lord" (Leviticus 19:16, NKJV, emphasis added).

Other words for "talebearer" are gossip, slanderer, untrue and malicious talker. In the New Testament the very title of Satan is the Slanderer. Therefore if you go round as a gossip telling tales you are actually doing the Devil's work for him. You are a representative of Satan!

Not only we must be careful not to give out gossip, we also must not receive gossip:

"The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts" (Proverbs 18:8, NIV).

To receive gossip is the same as swallowing the morsels that a talebearer gives you. It is like swallowing poison which affects your whole being!

"A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much" (Proverbs 20:19, NIV).

A gossip usually talks too much.

4. Lying

"These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren" (Proverbs 6:16 - 19, NKJV, emphasis added).

Notice that out of the seven things, three are related to the tongue - lying tongue, false witness and someone who stirs up dissension among brothers.

"Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight" (Proverbs 12:22).

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord because when we trace to its source, every lie comes from the Devil:

Jesus said to the Pharisees (unbelievers), "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it" (John 8:44).

The Destiny of Liars

"But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Rev. 21:8, NKJV, emphasis added).

"But outside are dogs .... and whoever loves and practice a lie" (Rev. 22:15).

What a solemn warning - The qualifiction of being lost forever is so simple; just to love and practice one single lie!

5. Flattery

"They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. May the Lord cut off flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things, ..." (Ps. 12:2, 3).

"A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin" (Proverbs 26:28).

"A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet" (Proverbs 29:5).

Notice that lying and flattering are closely related - both work ruin!

6. Hastiness in words or speech

"Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him" (Proverbs 29:20).

In other words, a man who says things in haste and without forethought is worse than a fool. The Bible says nothing good about the fool. Yet the fool still has some hope. He has a higher measure of hope in comparison with a person who is hasty in his speech!

God's Total Plan for Us

The Scripture reveals that God has a total plan for every one of us. We are created not without purpose. This message concerns the many stages in the conceiving and outworking of His plan for us from eternity to eternity.

Paul said, "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified" (Romans 8:28, 29, NKJV, emphasis added).

The five stages of His total plan are: He foreknew us, He predestined us, He called us, He justified us and He glorified us.

However, in order to get a more complete picture of these stages in God's plan and how they relate to one another we need to look at two other passages, both from Paul's epistles, in the New Testament which add to our understanding of this plan.

1. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will" (Eph. 1:3 - 5, emphasis added).

The additional information is "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world".

2. ".... who (God) has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began" (2 Tim. 1:9, emphasis added).

The additional information is "God has saved us and called us with a holy calling".

The Eight Stages of God's Total Plan

If we sum it all up from the above passages of Scripture we'll notice that God's total plan for us works out in eight distinct stages from eternity to time and then from time to eternity again. In other words, He began His plan before time began and right through beyond time into eternity!

Here are the eight stages:

1. God foreknew us

Peter greeted the Jewish believers (the elect) in the midst of their persecution:

".... to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: ..." (1 Peter 1:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added).

There is no attribute of God that is more awesome than God's knowledge and foreknowledge.

John said, "For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things" (1 John 3:20, NKJV, emphasis added).

When the Scripture says "God knows all things" it means there is nothing that God doesn't know.

David said, "O Lord, You have searched me and known me. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence" (Psalm 139:1, 4, 6, 7, emphasis added)?

Here are some statements of truth:

A. God foreknows our thoughts. He knows what we are going to say before we say it!

B. The key to how God knows everything - is through His Spirit. The Spirit of God permeates everywhere and anytime. The past, present and future and even before time began. Through His Spirit God knows everything about us, even before we were born (Ps. 139:13 - 16).

2. God chose us

On the basis of God's foreknowledge, He chose us. God took the initiative to choose us. It is important to note that in all God's dealing with man, and in fact the whole universe, God always retain the initiative which never passes out of God's hand. This is true in various God's dealing as recorded in the New Testament:

A. The New Birth - Salvation

In contemporary Christianity, many people think that they gotten born again because they'd decided to be a Christian. But the Scripture says we are born again because God decided in the first place. The fact is, our job is to respond to God's decision to choose us, and without His decision it wouldn't have happened by our decision alone:

Paul said, "But we are bound to give thaks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, ..." (1 Thess. 2:13, emphasis added).

B. Apostleship

Jesus said to His disciples, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, ..." (John 15:16).

Peter applied this to his own experience as he said to the Jerusalem Council:

"Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe" (Acts 15:7).

In relation to this, Peter didn't go to the household of Cornelius because he chose - he went because God chose (Acts 10).

This is also true for the apostle Paul's conversion at Damascus Road (Acts 22:14, 15). Paul didn't become an apostle because he chose, but because God chose. It fact if left to himself, this would be the furthest thing from his thinking. Furthermore, no one in the early Church would have chosen Paul to be an apostle. He would have been at the very bottom of the list!

I think there is a certain confidence when it is God's choice. Instead of figuring out ourselves what we should be we can find out what God has chosen us to be. Never get the attitude that God has chosen you to do something but you are not capable of doing it. God knows you can do it, otherwise He wouldn't have chosen you. God's foreknowledge leads to his choice.

We need to apply this spiritual truth to our own life. Don't try to be something that God hasn't chosen you to be. Don't make your own plan; don't work out the best you can do - that is not sufficient. Wait upon the Lord and find out what He has chosen you to do.

Let me make a rather controversial statement, which to me is also a spiritual truth. God makes His own selection; He does not call for volunteers. The only thing He wants us to do is to respond to His choice.

3. God predestined us

On the basis of God's choice for us, He predestined us. People in general, don't like the word "predestination" - it frightens them. In simple language "predestination" means "God worked out, in advance, the course that our life is to take so that His purposes would be fulfilled". To me this is very logical.

4. God called us

At this stage we moved out of eternity into time - life's clock started to tick. God's call comes in real time - during our life's journey on earth. His call impacts us individually. At this stage it is left to us to respond to His call. God's call means two things:

A. He invites us to join His Family through faith in Jesus Christ.

B. He summons us with the Authority of the King.

5. God saved us

When we respond to the call of God positively then God saves us - we enter into salvation as we are regenerated instantly. We are quickened and made alive in the Spirit. We are saved from sin, from its guilt, from its power, from its defilement. God has provided total salvation through Jesus Christ.

6. God justified us

When we are saved God also justified us. The word "justify" means "to acquit" or "to reckon righteous".

Paul said, ".... being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24, NKJV).

The basis of our justification is the death of Christ:

"Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him" (Romans 5:9).

Justification was brought to us through Christ's resurrection:

"It (righteousness) shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification" (Romans 4:24, 25, emphasis added).

7. God called us with a Holy Calling

God saved and justified us so that we are qualified to be called by Him to do His work and to fulfill His purpose for us (2 Tim. 1:9). This is also our sactification and salvation process. This is on-going until we step out of time into eternity. Every believer in Christ has a unique calling according to 2 Tim. 1:9.

Here are some important statements of truth from 2 Tim. 1:9:

A. Your calling is holy. This means you are set apart to do God's will. God also sets limits and boundaries around your life - your calling is not unlimited.

B. Your calling does not depend on your works. It has nothing to do with your talent, your effort or your ability. When He calls you He will enable you to do His work. All you need to do is submit yourself to Him.

C. Your calling is God's choice and not your choice. He worked out His calling for you before time began.

8. We shall be glorified together with Christ

At this stage (at the fullness of the times) we are going to pass out of time into eternity again. We shall be glorified together with Christ.

Paul said, "... that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth - in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will" (Eph. 1:10, 11).

Paul also said, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together" (Romans 8:16, 17, emphasis added).

Notice there is a condition attached - we must suffer with Christ first! The spirtual principle is - The road to glory is suffering!

Take comfort in what Paul said in the next verse:

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).