God Wants To Lead You to a Specific Ministry by the Time You Are 30

The thirtieth year seems to be a very significant time in people’s lives – both in the Old and New Testaments.

Joseph was 30 when he became ruler in Egypt.

David was 30 when he became king.

Ezekiel was 30 when he began his ministry. Ezekiel must have submitted to Jeremiah, in his younger days. He must have listened to Jeremiah’s prophecies and studied them as a youth. God Who saw the faithfulness of this young man, decided that Ezekiel would be a prophet and not a priest.

Jesus was 30 when He began His earthly ministry, and the Father spoke these words about Him publicly from heaven, "This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well-pleased." (Mt. 3:17).

Most of the apostles were around 30 when they began their ministry.

Even today, it is probably around that age that God wants to begin to lead his children into the specific ministry that He has for them. But prior to that date, God has to spend many years in preparing us for that specific ministry.

If you surrender to God totally and allow Him to prepare you during your teens and twenties, then you can be ready by the time you are 30 (or 35), for that specific ministry that God has planned for you.

But a lot of young people are impatient and unwilling to wait. I am not saying that you cannot go out and serve God before you are 30 years old. You can start serving God even when you are 16. But in your early years, God has to keep you under authority in order to guide you and protect you. But many young people chafe under such submission to authority and, as a result, are never broken and prepared for the ministry that God has planned for them.

Even Jesus needed that training to submit to Joseph and Mary for 30 years before He entered into His ministry; how much more we?

Pride Can Make an Angel into a Devil

It is written concerning Satan, "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning (that was his name - the shining one), O son of the dawn" (Isa.14:12)

As the head of the angels, Lucifer was in God's presence constantly. Why did he fall away? The reason is given in the next two verses (Isa.14:13,14) "Because you said in your heart `I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God....I will be like the Most High'.... Nevertheless you will be cast down into hell."

Lucifer was more gifted, more beautiful and had more supernatural abilities than all the other angels. He led the angels in the worship of God - until pride entered his heart. He then began to think, "Only One Person is above me, and that is God Himself. I will rule over Him as well."

That was really a stupid thought that came into his heart. How could he ever ascend above his Creator? But that is how Satan is - quite foolish in many of the things he does and thinks, even though he is so clever!! Many clever people in the world too do a lot of utterly foolish things, spiritually speaking. The more we study about Satan, the more we will see how stupid he is in many of the things he does. Satan was not happy to be where God had placed him. He wanted to ascend to the place where everyone would worship him! He did not say so. He just began to have such thoughts in his heart. We read that in verse 13. But God looks at our hearts, and he looked at Lucifer's heart, and saw what he was aiming at.

It did not take many years for the highest archangel to become the devil. No. Only a moment. He did not fall gradually, step-by-step. No. He came down like lightning, as Jesus said - in a moment (Lk.10:18). One moment, he was the shining one. As soon as he began nourishing the thought of becoming like God, immediately he became the devil.

How long does it take for an angel to become a devil? Not even one second. Just a moment. How long does it take for a really good person to become like the devil? Just a moment. That's all. Remember that.

Evangelism should lead to Discipleship

The purpose of evangelism (as commanded in Mk. 16:15) can be understood only as seen in the light of the commission to make disciples in every nation of the world (Matt.28:19). This is the whole plan of God for the unconverted.

The convert must be made into a disciple. Unfortunately today, even the so-called convert is not often a true convert, for in many cases he has not repented properly. In the evangelistic meeting, he was told only to believe, without even a word being mentioned about repentance. Most of today's converts are therefore like premature babies, pulled out by impatient midwives ('evangelists') in their lust for statistics, when the babies were not yet ready to be born. These premature babies then either die, or live as problem cases for the rest of their lives. The angels rejoice over sinners who repent, not over sinners who merely believe (Lk. 15:7,10).

But even where there has been a thorough repentance, and a person has been truly converted, he must then be led on to discipleship, to fulfil God's will for him.  Evangelism that does not lead on to discipleship is an incomplete job. Often, it is the evangelist's desire to build his own kingdom that prevents him from working together with those who can make his 'converts' into disciples.  We do not have to judge such preachers, for we are told not to judge. But they will certainly have to answer to the Lord for hindering their converts from becoming disciples.

Let us look at the commission in Mk. 16:15 along with the one in Matt. 28:19,20, and try and understand the whole purpose of God.

The first step of leading people to repentance and faith must culminate in water baptism (as Jesus made plain in Mk. 16:16). Those evangelists who do not preach water baptism for fear of offending unconverted bishops, etc., are not preaching the way Peter preached it on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38).

Further, in Matthew 28:19, the Lord commands us to make disciples. This involves leading these converts to be detached from an inordinate love for their relatives that hinders them from following the Lord (Lk. 14:26), to be detached from material possessions (Lk. 14:33), and leading them to take up the cross daily for the rest of their lives (Lk. 14:27). These are the three minimum requirements for becoming a disciple.

Matt. 28:19 then repeats the necessity of water baptism. Although baptism is repeated in both commissions, it is rare indeed to find an evangelist today who has the courage to preach it. They fear men more than they fear God; preferring to be interdenominational and thus great in the eyes of men, rather than preach the whole counsel of God and be great in His eyes.

Matt. 28:20 goes on to say that this disciple must then be taught every single thing that Jesus commanded - and not only that, but be taught to obey and practice every single command of Jesus. One has to only look through Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7 to see some of the things that Jesus commanded - which most believers do not even bother to obey.

So we see what a tremendous task it is to fulfil both commissions together. The need now is for those who have been gripped by the necessity of proclaiming the whole counsel of God, and who are wholeheartedly obedient themselves (as far as they have light) to all that Jesus commanded, and who passionately desire to build the body of Christ.

Jesus said that His disciples would be identified by one mark - their love for one another. Mark that! It is not by large numbers that the disciples are identified, or by their wealth;  but by their fervent mutual love. The evangelistic healing meeting that draw thousands to hear the message must lead on to the establishment of a local church in that locality, where the disciples love one another.

Yet, the sad thing is that in the places where repeated evangelistic, healing crusades are held year after year, it is difficult to find even one church about which it can be said that the members therein do not fight with one another or backbite against one another, etc., leave alone love one another. One can understand if the new converts are still unable to live a victorious life. But what shall we say if strife and immaturity characterise even the elders of the churches in our land?

This is the clearest indication that the great commission of Matt. 28:19,20 - discipleship and total obedience to the commandments of Jesus - has been totally ignored. The commission of Mk. 16:15 (faith and water baptism) alone is obeyed, and that too in many cases only partially (water baptism being left out).

In Mk. 16:15-20, the emphasis is on evangelism, the message being confirmed by signs and wonders done by the Lord. In Matt. 28:19,20, the emphasis is on discipleship, the disciple's life being manifested by total obedience to Jesus' commandments. Multitudes of Christians are taken up with the former; very, very few with the latter. Yet the former without the latter is as incomplete and worthless as half a human body. But who has eyes to see this?

In Jesus' ministry, we read that great multitudes followed Him, because of His evangelistic, healing ministry. He immediately turned around and taught them about discipleship (Lk. 14:25,26). Would that today's evangelists would do the same, either themselves or along with apostles, prophets, teachers and shepherds who can complete the work they have begun.

When Jesus preached discipleship to the multitudes, it soon dwindled down to a handful of eleven disciples (Compare Jn. 6:2 with Jn. 6:70). The remaining folk found the message too hard, and left (Jn. 6:60,66). But it was with those eleven disciples that God accomplished His purposes in the world and carried on the work that Jesus began.

Today we are to carry on the same ministry as His Body on earth. After the evangelist has gathered the multitude, we are to lead the converts to discipleship and obedience. Thus and thus alone will the body of Christ be built.

Only Acknowledge Your Sin

 In Luke 15, in the case of the elder son, the father went outside the house and pleaded with him repeatedly; but the older boy would not yield. Jesus left the story open-ended at this point, leaving it to our imagination to decide what happened to him finally.

There are two possibilities: Either he may have yielded to his father's pleadings and finally come back home, with his head held high; or he may have rejected his father's pleadings and gone out into the darkness. Whichever way he may have chosen, he lost the place of honour in his home, for that had already been given to his younger brother. The father had already given his ring and the seat at his right hand to his younger son.

There is a vast difference between "prodigal sons" and "elder brothers". Prodigal sons are convinced of their sin on their own and repent deeply and seek no place of honour in the church. They only want to be slaves until the end of their lives. They are truly broken. "Elder sons", however, have to be repeatedly spoken to, before they are convinced. And even when they are convinced, they seek to come back to their place of honour in the church - as kings and not as slaves.

King Saul knew that he had sinned; but he wanted to confess his sin privately to Samuel. He told Samuel, "I have sinned; but please honour me now before the elders of my people and before Israel" (1 Sam.15:30). King David also sinned - far more seriously than Saul; but he wrote a psalm and acknowledged his sin publicly (Psalm 51).

Jesus told the Pharisees that their greatest sin was that they sought to justify themselves before men (Luke 16:15). God hates this sin more than any other. There is very little hope for a backslider who wants to justify himself before men.

God's word to sinners has always been: "Only acknowledge your sin" (Jer.3:13).

The Judges of the Old Testament are:

Othniel ~ Judg 1:12-13;3:7-11
Ehud ~ Judg 3:12-30
Shamgar ~ Judg 3:31
Deborah ~ Judg 4-5
Gideon ~ Judg 6-8
Tola ~ Judg 10:1-2
Jair ~ Judg 10:3-5
Jephthah ~ Judg 11:1-12:7
Ibzan ~ Judg 12:8-10
Elon ~ Judg 12:11-12
Abdon ~ Judg 12:13-15
Samson ~ Judg 13-16
Samuel ~ 1 & 2 Samuel

First Love – Love for the Lord and Love for One Another

In Revelation 2:2-3, The Lord commends the messenger at Ephesus for his toil and perseverance and for his efforts to keep the church pure from evil men. No doubt he had fought a battle against worldliness to keep it from entering the church. Not only that, he had also striven to keep the church pure in doctrine. He had tested those who claimed to be apostles and had proved their claims to be false.

The messenger in the church at Ephesus had also "endured" for the sake of the Lord's name without giving up (Rev 2:3). What a wonderful man this messenger was, according to the standards of most believers. And what a wonderful church the Ephesian church appeared to be - one that toiled, persevered, kept away evil men, kept out false doctrine and exposed deceivers - thus emphasising both purity of life and purity of doctrine. One would have thought that such a church had everything that the Lord wanted to find in a church. But alas it was not so. It lacked the main thing that the Lord looked for. It had left its first love - love for the Lord and love for one another (Rev 2: 4).

What the Lord said to them was essentially this: "In the midst of all your zeal and your activity, you have lost sight of ME. You have lost that fervent devotion that you once had for Me. You have kept yourself from evil and you have steered clear of doctrinal error. But remember how you loved Me fervently when you were first converted and how you did everything out of love for Me then. Now everything has degenerated into a dry routine. You're still going to the meetings, reading your Bible and praying. But it has all become a ritual."  The church here had become like a wife who once served her husband joyfully out of love for him, but who now considers the same tasks a drudgery - because the fire of love has gone out of her marriage. In the olden days, she used to wait eagerly for her husband to come back from the office every evening. But not now. She is still faithful to him, but she has lost her first love.

What does a true husband desire from his wife first of all? Is it her love or her labours? Certainly, it is her love. It is the same with the Lord. He desires the love of our hearts first and foremost. When that is gone, everything that we do becomes dead works. Good works become dead works when love for God is not the motivating force behind them.

The believers here had also lost their fervent love for each other. They were no longer able to bear with each other's weaknesses or to overlook each other's sins. They had lost their first love for one another too. The messenger had lost his first love - and gradually the church too had become like its messenger.

This was not a small error. It was a great fall - for the Lord says, "Remember therefore from where you have fallen."   We usually think of a believer as having fallen only when he falls into adultery or theft or smoking etc. When we become sensitive to the voice of the Spirit, however, we will recognise that even a slight loss of devotion to the Lord and a slight cooling off in love for others is also evidence of backsliding.

There was only one solution for this problem. "Repent and do the deeds you did at first", says the Lord (Rev 2:5).

Zac Poonen

Parables of Jesus in Chronological Order.

A Thanksgiving Day Prayer

Lord, so often times, as any other day
When we sit down to our meal and pray

We hurry along and make fast the blessing
Thanks, amen. Now please pass the dressing

We're slaves to the olfactory overload
We must rush our prayer before the food gets cold

But Lord, I'd like to take a few minute more
To really give thanks to what I'm thankful for

For my family, my health, a nice soft bed
My friends, my freedom, a roof over my head

I'm thankful right now to be surrounded by those
Whose lives touch me more than they'll ever possibly know

Thankful Lord, that You've blessed me beyond measure
Thankful that in my heart lives life's greatest treasure

That You, dear Jesus, reside in that place
And I'm ever so grateful for Your unending grace

So please, heavenly Father, bless this food You've provided
And bless each and every person invited

Amen!

--Scott Wesemann

4 Given

Beware of Gradual Backsliding

In 1 Kings Chapter 2, we read that Solomon began his reign by killing his step-brother Adonijah (v.19-27), his first-cousin Joab (v.28-35), and Shimei (v.36-46). What a way to start one’s reign! And to think that it was David, the man after God’s own heart, who had suggested all this to Solomon and thus started him off on the pathway of destruction! Such is the long-term result of un-cleansed bitterness, by which many are defiled. But Solomon still imagined that God would bless him in spite of all this (v.45). How deceived can a person get!

Chapter 3: Once you start out on the wrong path, you go further and further away from God! The next thing that Solomon did was get married to a heathen woman – Pharaoh’s daughter. If only David had spent his last days advising Solomon on marrying wisely, instead of teaching him how to take revenge, what a different turn things might have taken in Solomon’s life. What advice do you give your children? What are the things that are most important to you in life?

We read that “Solomon `loved the Lord’, except that he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places” (3:3). What a contradiction! Solomon finally destroyed himself because of such compromise. He lived a double-life – one in the temple and one in private. Unfortunately, that is also how many Christians live today. They make many loud expressions of love for the Lord. But in private, they live in unrighteousness and sin. Finally their little backslidings become big ones and destroy them.

Solomon took seven years to build the Lord’s temple (6:38), and thirteen years to build his own house (7:1). So we know which he valued more!! That is a fairly good description of many people who are doing Christian work today. They do “Christian” work all right. But their primary interest is in their own house and the comfort of their own family. God’s work and God’s house are secondary. Preaching the gospel has made them rich.

Solomon’s backsliding was gradual – as all backsliding is. He started off his rule by killing people. He could have easily disagreed with his father, David, and refused to kill Shimei and Joab. He could have forgiven Adonijah and not killed him. Once he had started sliding down, the gradient became steeper. Next, he married Pharaoh’s daughter – obviously for her wealth. Then he spent thirteen years building his own house. All this, in spite of the fact that God had given him such wisdom. Many a time, I have seen in Christian workers, a drift towards the world right from the beginning of their lives. They start seeking their own right from the time they begin their ministry. When you see them years later, they have become experts in seeking their own.

But God still loved His people, in spite of the backsliding of their king. So He filled the temple with His glory when it was completed (8:10). It was just like the day when Moses had completed the tabernacle. The temple was built in the same pattern as the tabernacle, but on a much bigger and grander scale.

Solomon prayed a beautiful prayer of dedication (8:22-61). The Lord then appeared to him a second time and told him that He had heard his prayer and again urged him to walk in integrity of heart and uprightness, so that his kingdom would be established. He also warned Solomon that if he turned away from following the Lord, Israel would be removed from the land and the temple would become a heap of ruins (9:3-9).

That was exactly what happened when the Babylonians came and captured Judah and destroyed the temple. God had warned them, “Don’t think you can live as you like and that I will just keep on blessing you.” The Lord warns us long before we start going astray.

In Chapter 10, we read of the Queen of Sheba coming and meeting Solomon because she had heard of his wonderful wisdom. But despite all his worldwide reputation for wisdom, Solomon was a mixed-up man. He could pray beautiful prayers to the Lord in public, like most Christians. But in his private life, he was as godless as anyone – again like many Christians. He rivalled Samson in lust – for he married 700 wives; and as if that were not enough, he kept 300 concubines as well – mostly from the heathen nations around him (11:1-3). He must have seen each of them just once in three years! Those wives finally turned him away from the Lord, to the worship of idols.

When Solomon went astray, God was angry with him and told him that He would divide his kingdom into two (11:9). But because David was a godly man, God did not do it in Solomon’s lifetime (11:12). We see there how much children are blessed because of the godliness of their father! God raised up enemies to trouble Solomon, but he still did not repent (11:14). When Solomon feared that Jeroboam was going to rebel against him, he tried to put Jeroboam to death (11:26). Jeroboam later became king of the divided kingdom. Thus Solomon died (11:43).

Zac Poonen

The ten most frequently mentioned women in the Bible

**   Sarah, Abraham's wife, 57 times . **  Rachel, Jacob's second wife, 47 times . **  Leah, Jacob's first wife, 34 times . **  Rebekah, Isaac's wife, 31 times . **  Jezebel, wicked queen, 23 times . **  Mary, Jesus' mother, 19 times . **  Abigail, 15 times . **  Miriam, 15 times . **  Mary Magdalene, 14 times . **  Hagar, Abraham's concubine 14 times . **  Eve, is mentioned only 4 times

The Condition of God’s People Depends on Their Leaders

In the book of 1 Kings, we find that it begins with David, the man after God’s own heart, and ends with Ahab, the worst king ever, to rule over Israel. Israel begins as a powerful nation and ends as a divided nation and with many evil kings ruling over both kingdoms – especially over Israel.

The condition of God’s people depends greatly on the spirituality or the lack of it in their leaders. Whenever Israel had a godly leader, they moved forward in godly ways. When they had a carnal leader, they moved away from God into carnality. The great need among God’s people has always been for godly leaders.

Jesus looked out at the multitudes in His day and saw them as sheep without a shepherd. He told His disciples to pray that God would thrust forth shepherds into the midst of His people (Matt.9:36-38). When God looks at the churches in India today, He sees the same need for godly leaders. The challenge that comes to us then is to satisfy the heart of God in our generation by being the type of men and women He is looking for.

In every generation God needs godly leaders. We cannot depend on the wisdom of the leaders of previous generations. David could not rule over Israel forever. He would die, and someone else would have to take over. What would become of Israel depended on the type of person that the next king would be.

God raises up a godly man to start a work in one generation. He becomes old and dies. Will the leaders in the next generation have only the founder’s knowledge and his doctrines, but not his godliness and his knowledge of God? Then the people will certainly go astray. God needs Davids and Deborahs in our day.

Zac Poonen

Let the Focus of Your Prayer Shift From Your Need to God’s Need

The story of Samuel begins with his mother, Hannah, being barren. It’s interesting to see how many women are mentioned in Scripture as having been barren for many years before having children - Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Hannah. They all sought God in prayer, and each of them gave birth to a son who had a unique place in God’s purpose. They did not accept their barrenness. They prayed to God earnestly for children. God granted them their request and each of them had a child through whom God fulfilled a unique purpose.  Many mothers pray for their children while they are still in their wombs. But these women prayed with an unusual intensity. It’s wonderful when a child is born into the world through intense prayer like that. That is how Samuel was born.

Hannah had prayed to the Lord for many years for a child. Finally she made a vow saying, “Lord, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give me a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:11). There was a shift in her focus now. At first, she thought only of her own need : “I need a son.” Then she began to say, “If I have a son, I’ll give him to the Lord, since the Lord has a need as well.” When the focus of our prayer shifts from our need to God’s need, that’s when we begin to get answers to our prayers. The Lord taught us to pray, “Hallowed be Thy name” first of all.

There was great spiritual need in Israel at that time. God’s people had backslidden so badly. Their leaders, like Eli, were terribly backslidden too. Israel had never had a prophet since the days of Moses. Hannah was a person who was alert to her surroundings; and she would have recognised Israel’s need for a prophet. So Hannah continued to pray, “Lord, not only will I dedicate my son to You, but also a razor will never come upon his head. He will be a Nazirite, dedicated to You. If You can use him to restore this nation back to You, he is Yours.”  Her whole prayer shifted from her need to God’s. Very often our prayers are not answered, because they are focused so much on ourselves. It’s wonderful that Samuel was born to such a mother.

When Hannah gave birth to Samuel, she did not forget her promise. She brought her son to the temple and said, “For this boy I prayed. The Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:27-28). She was never going to take him back.  She taught that little boy to kneel down and worship the Lord there. It’s wonderful to have a godly mother like that. Then she sang a wonderful song of thanksgiving to the Lord (1 Samuel 2:1-10). It is more than likely that Mary’s song of thanksgiving (Lk.1:46-55) was inspired by Hannah’s song – for the words are so similar.

Zac Poonen

God Looks For Faithfulness In Little Things

In 1 Kings 19:19-21 we read of Elijah calling Elisha.

Elisha was working hard in the fields with his oxen, when Elijah called him.

Notice first of all, that God always calls those who are working hard and faithful in their secular occupations. Moses was faithfully looking after his father-in-law’s sheep when God called him. David was looking after sheep and fighting with lions and bears. Amos was a hardworking herdsman. Peter, James, John and Andrew were hardworking fishermen. Matthew was sitting at the table working on his accounts. We never see, anywhere in the Old Testament or the New Testament, that God called a lazy man for his service.

We don’t find Elijah going to Elisha’s house when he was fast asleep and calling him there - because we would have thought he was a lazy man. Jesus also never went to Peter’s house in the evening to call him. He called him when he was fishing.

All these examples show us that God wants us to be faithful and hardworking in our secular jobs, before He can call us to serve Him. If you are not faithful in earthly matters, how can you be faithful in heavenly matters? If you are young and still living at home, then be a faithful son or daughter at home.

Notice secondly, that all these men dropped everything and went, as soon as God called them. We see that in Peter, John and Matthew and also here with Elisha.   God calls those who will respond to His call immediately and wholeheartedly. They may seek to confirm God’s call on their lives with godly people in order to be certain that they are not acting on their own emotional feelings. But once they are sure, they act quickly. God can use only such people to serve Him, because His service requires instant obedience, total commitment and hard work.

So God tests us in our secular occupations, to see whether we are faithful. If you are asked to clean a room and you are careless about the way you do it, or you are slipshod about it, I doubt if God will ever call you to serve Him. Because, if that’s the way you clean up a room that will probably be the way you clean up your heart as well. How then can God use you to clean up His church? It is faithfulness in the little things that God looks for.

Zac Poonen

Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy

In Rev.19:10, we read:    And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, ‘Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’.

John was so excited that he fell down to worship the one who showed him all these things. In the immediate reply of that angel to John, we see the attitude of true servants of God: “Don’t worship me. Don’t get attached to me”. A true servant of God will always connect you to Christ the Head, and never allow you to be attached to himself. To attract people to ourselves is to get them to worship us. Anyone who does that is not a servant of God, but a counterfeit. He has the spirit of the Antichrist who draws people to himself.

In Christendom today, unfortunately we have many such counterfeits through whom many believers are deceived. Many believers almost worship some preachers. They live by every word that proceeds out of the mouths of those preachers - instead of living by the words that proceed from God’s mouth. They seek to know God’s will through a man, instead of going directly to God - and these preachers encourage them!! This is idolatry!! There is a lot of so-called “prophecy” in some Christian circles today that makes believers dependent on the “prophet”. All such prophets are false prophets.

But here we see the angel saying, “I am just a servant of the Lord, as you are. Worship God alone”.

To hold to “the testimony of Jesus” means that we hold forth today the same torch that Jesus held forth in his earthly life. As He did, we too proclaim, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”.

Here we have a clear definition of true prophecy: “THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS”. That means two things basically:

First of all, true prophecy always draws attention to Christ, and exalts Him. When Jesus is lifted up, He draws all men to Himself. The Holy Spirit Who gives the gift of true prophecy always glorifies Christ (Jn.16:14). Any prophecy that draws attention to yourself or to another man or that exalts you or any other man can be written off as a false prophecy.

Secondly, true prophecy proclaims all that Jesus proclaimed in His preaching. There is no compromise in true prophecy. It will be full of grace and truth, but it will speak ALL of the truth - in love.

So to test prophecy, we must first of all know what Jesus emphasised in His teaching. If we read the gospels and see what Jesus emphasised, we will have a touchstone by which to test all that we hear as “prophecies” today. If however, we haven’t studied the gospels carefully, the chances are that we will be deceived. Because 99% of what goes under the guise of “Christian prophecy” today is not proclaiming what Jesus proclaimed.

You just have to read through the sermon on the mount (Matt.5 to 7) and compare it with what you hear in most churches today to realise that.

Zac Poonen

The Principle of Fellowship in Prayer

In Chapter 2 of the book of Daniel, we read about a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. Nebuchadnezzar called his wise men and told them, “Tell me what I dreamt and its meaning.” Those wise men are a picture of preachers who have no touch with God, but who are deceivers. Such preachers cannot interpret God’s word or the times correctly. Those wise men said, “Only the gods can show you what you dreamt. No human being can do that. It is impossible. But if you tell us the dream, then we will interpret it for you.” Now, we know that if someone tells us his dream it is easy to cook up an interpretation and to pretend that we got it from God! That’s what a lot of preachers do today. But Nebuchadnezzar was a shrewd man. He said, “If you all are really in touch with God, you will be able to tell me the dream as well.”

A true servant of God will experience some supernatural things in his ministry. If you are truly anointed by God, you will have some supernatural experiences. You may go to a place where you don’t know anyone, and you preach God’s word there. And that word will be so exactly according to the need of some people sitting there that they will think that somebody had come and told you about their problems. It is this element of prophecy that we need to have in our ministry. We must seek for it if we are to have it. The Bible commands us, “Earnestly desire to prophesy” (1 Cor. 14:1).

When Daniel heard about this problem, he was calm. He handled the situation with great wisdom (Dan. 2:14). Here was a young man who had great wisdom! Do you have to make mistakes when you are young? No. Some people say that young people will have to make many mistakes. Daniel didn’t. We don’t read in the Scriptures, of a single wrong thing that Daniel did in his entire life. He was a unique man like Joseph – who was another young man about whom almost nothing wrong is recorded. Why not make these young people your examples and say, “Lord, I don’t have to do foolish things like other young people do. I want to follow the examples of these men who lived in humility and the fear of God right from their youth.”

But I must admit that it is very rare to find such young people. Most young people that I know do a lot of foolish things - mainly because they won’t submit to their elders. They imagine themselves to be very clever, and thus end up doing a 1001 foolish things. That is the hard way to learn. But there is a better way. If you humble yourself and live in the fear of God and submit to authorities God places over you, you can learn from your youth without doing the foolish things that others do. Daniel is a wonderful example of that.

How did Daniel get the answer to the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had? First of all he had faith that God would reveal it to him. He went to God. He called his friends (Dan. 2:17). There is a tremendous value in fellowship in prayer when we face a problem that is too difficult for us. Daniel understood the principle of fellowship in prayer. He was a new covenant man living in old covenant times. His attitude was, “Let me not pray about this all by myself. Let me get my three brothers to join me and let us pray together.” And they prayed together and he said, “Let us ask God to show us mercy and reveal this to us” (Dan. 2:18).

They began their prayer with a time of praise. This is always a good habit. They said, “Praise the Lord for His sovereignty. He is the One who determines the course of all events in the world. He is the One who removes kings and sets others on the throne. He is the One who gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. He is the One who reveals deep and mysterious things. We thank and praise You, God, because You have given us wisdom and strength” (Dan. 2:20,21). Any time you find that you can’t get through in prayer, you should start praising the Lord. Think of God’s greatness and praise Him - and you will find the atmosphere clearing up immediately.

-- Zac Poonen

Don’t Be Afraid of Being Slandered

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” (Rev. 2:8-11)

The church in Smyrna faced the “blasphemy of those who say they are Jews” (Rev. 2:9). Slander is something that all of God’s faithful children have to face. Notice here that the slander and opposition that this church was facing was from those who called themselves God’s people - “those who say they are Jews, but are not, but are a synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9).

Those Jews were religious people, who studied their Bibles (Genesis to Malachi). Yet the Lord called them “a synagogue of Satan”, because they were hypocrites. That is why they persecuted the true disciples of Jesus.

Many a synagogue that was started by God-fearing Jews degenerated into a synagogue of Satan over a period of time. In the same way, many churches that were started by God-fearing believers, have also degenerated into “churches of Satan”, in God’s eyes, today.

Opposition for the true disciples of Jesus today, comes not just from heathen religions (which is understandable), but also from “those who say they are Christians, but who are not, but are a church of Satan”.

Today, if we said that a so-called Christian “church” was “a church of Satan”, many would accuse us of being un-Christlike. But they forget that it was Jesus Himself  Who rebuked Peter  saying  “Get behind Me, Satan” (Mt.16:23), and that it was Jesus Who called this group of religious people “a synagogue of Satan”. He would use exactly the same strong language today to rebuke “churches” that have drifted from their calling.

Jesus warned His disciples, “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue;  but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. And these things they will do, because they have not known the Father, or Me.” (Jn.16:2,3).

What He said then that the people in a synagogue would do to His disciples, was in later centuries done by “churches” too. In the middle ages, God fearing disciples of Jesus were killed by “Christian” inquisitionists.

This hatred of the disciples of Jesus will reach its peak during the time of the Antichrist and the Babylonian “world church”. We must be prepared to face it when it comes. That is why we must not be afraid of the little slander and opposition that we face from so-called Christians these days.

We must never be afraid of being slandered - for Jesus Himself was maligned. He was called a gluttonous man, a false teacher, a blasphemer, an insane man, a demon-possessed man, a half-breed and one who had Satanic power (Lk.7:34; Jn.7:12; Mt.26:65; Mk.3:21,22; Mt.12:24; Jn.8:48).

He told His disciples, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the slave as his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul (a Jewish title for Satan, the prince of demons), how much more the members of his household!” (Mt.10:24,25).

Peter exhorts us saying, “Keep your behaviour excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (1 Pet.2:12).

God’s promise to us is, “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And their vindication is from Me.” (Isa.54:17). So we need not fear slander. The Lord Himself will vindicate us at the right time. Until then we can afford to keep quiet and ignore what ungodly people say about us.

Seek to have Largeness of Heart

In 1 Kings 3:16-28 we have an example of Solomon’s wisdom. Two prostitutes stood before him for judgment one day. They were living in the same house and had delivered babies within a few days of each other. One night, one of them accidentally rolled over her child while sleeping, and killed it. When she realised what had happened, she immediately exchanged her baby with the living one. In the morning, when the other woman realised what had been done, she claimed her living child back. An argument arose between them then, as to whom the living child belonged to. How was Solomon going to decide in a situation like this? God gave Solomon wisdom. Solomon suggested that the living child be divided into two, and one half given to each woman. The first woman, whose child it really was, said, “No, please don’t kill it. Give it to the other woman.” But the second woman said, “No, kill it. You can have half and I can have half.” Immediately everyone knew who the true mother was. Then Solomon said, “Give the child to the first woman.” All Israel heard of that judgment and feared the king because they saw how God had given him wisdom.

Here is how we can apply Solomon’s wisdom today: Suppose two brothers are working together in a church and they fall out with each other. One of them then splits it into two and pulls out with his group. Is he the true mother? Certainly not! The true mother would say, “No. Don’t divide the church. You can have the whole church to yourself.”

Don’t ever split a church of believers. It is far better to leave the church intact, pull out yourself, go elsewhere and start an entirely new work, without causing a split in the first church. God will bless you. If God wants to give you that church to lead, because you are the true mother, He can even kill the other woman one day and give you the child. He killed Saul and gave the kingdom to David. He can do such things today too. But don’t ever cut a living baby into two. Don’t divide a church. Go and work somewhere else. Let God give you everything from His own hand. Don’t ever grab or divide.

That’s the principle I have followed whenever I have disagreed with a church’s leadership. I didn’t try to split the church, to get some of them to follow me. I went elsewhere and said, “Lord, let me start from the beginning all over again. Give me another child. I won’t fight for that one.” And I can testify today that God has blessed me abundantly in my work, because of that attitude. So I would recommend that to you.

In Chapter 4:29, “God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, largeness of heart, like the sand that is on the seashore.” Remember Solomon was a very young man. So young people can ask God to give them all these four gifts mentioned here. Not only wisdom, discernment and breadth of mind but also “largeness of heart, like the sand that is on the seashore”. This means (for us) a large heart that can take in all of God’s people who are like the sand on the seashore (Gen.22:17).

Consider a brother who belongs to another denomination, who disagrees with us about water-baptism or speaking in tongues;but God has accepted him. Our prayer should be, “Lord, give me largeness of heart to warmly receive him - even if he doesn’t work with me or agree with me.” I want as many brothers and sisters as God has children!

Consider a child of God who has a conviction on some matter that is different from ours. Can we accept that person? I remember once when a sister came to me for baptism and she was wearing some gold jewellery. Now, I have a conviction that gold should not be worn by believers. That is my understanding of 1Timothy 2:9 and 1 Peter 3:3. And this sister was wearing gold. Would I baptise her or not? The Lord asked me one question at that time: “Would you say that I have accepted her?” And I said, “Lord, as far as I can see, she is truly born again and so you have accepted her.” Then the Lord said, “How can you reject one whom I have accepted?” So I baptised her - with her gold! She may get light on that matter later; but it is not my business to judge her. I want to accept all those whom God has accepted - even if their convictions are different from mine.

I remember once concerning some issue, the Lord asked me, “How long did you take to understand this matter?” I admitted that it had taken me some years. Then why couldn’t I be patient with that person who was taking time to understand the issue?

We all need largeness of heart. When we are young, we tend to be zealous and narrow-minded, narrow-hearted, and we accept only those who agree with us on every issue. I am ashamed to say that I was like that when I was young. It was one of the many foolish attitudes I had. But as I grew older, and knew the Lord better, I discovered that I needed to have largeness of heart.

--  Zac Poonen

Walking in the Light

The Bible says in 1 John 1:7 that we cannot have fellowship with God if we do not walk in the light. If we walk in the light, we certainly can't hide anything, for the light exposes everything. The man who walks in darkness is the one who has something to hide in his life. If we walk in the light, our life is an open book. We can then invite people to examine our private life, our account books and everything. There is nothing we want to hide. It doesn't mean that we're perfect. No, it only means that we are honest.

The first thing that God requires from all of us is honesty - absolute honesty. If we are willing to be honest first, many of our other problems will be solved very quickly. We will progress in leaps and bounds in our spiritual life if we live by this fundamental rule of honesty before God and men.

But you'll find that this is a battle. You may say, "I'm really going to take that exhortation seriously. I'm going to be honest from now on." But you'll find before the week is out that you're tempted to be an actor again, and to seek for the praise of men rather than the praise of God. So you have to determine to fight that battle and win.

It is a great grief to God that there are so many Christians today who have been born again for twenty, thirty or forty years, but who haven't progressed spiritually because they have not learned this fundamental lesson of being honest. We can't progress if there is hypocrisy in our life. Our prayers will not be heard. We can have all-night prayer meetings; but we are wasting our time. Our prayers will not be heard if we do not get rid of hypocrisy first.

We must recognise that our true spiritual worth is what we are before God and nothing more than that. Our spiritual state is not determined by our knowledge of the Bible, nor by how much we pray, nor by how many meetings we attend, nor by what the elders or others in the church think of us. On the contrary, ask yourself, "What does God, who can see into every area of my life, think of me?" The answer to that is the real measure of how spiritual you are. We need to remind ourselves of this daily, or else we may find ourselves becoming actors again.

I love those words that Jesus said about Nathaniel, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile" (John 1:47). If Jesus could say that about you and me, that would be a greater commendation than almost anything else. Nathaniel was not perfect. He was imperfect. But he was honest about his imperfections. He didn't pretend to be something that he wasn't. That's where he was different from Ananias and Sapphira.

-- Zac Poonen

Three Tips for Husbands and Wives

1. Love expresses appreciation: There is a whole book on married love that God has included in the Bible – the Song of Solomon. All married couples should read that book – to each other! It’s amazing to see there how Almighty God expects a husband and wife to talk to each other! And that book is inspired Scripture just as much as the other books in the Bible!

Let me read you a few extracts from this book, so that we can all learn to appreciate each other as husbands and wives. We are all misers when it comes to expressing appreciation. We are quick to criticize, but very slow to appreciate. We look at people and find so many faults in them. That is human nature. And that is how the Accuser, the Devil gets a foothold within us. On the other hand, God gets a foothold within us, when we look at others and find something to appreciate in them. Each of us can examine our own conduct here.

See what the husband says to his wife here in Song of Solomon (from various verses in the Message Bible):

“You're beautiful, my dear love, from head to toe - beautiful beyond compare and absolutely flawless. You’re as lovely as the ravishing visions of my ecstasy. Your voice is soothing and your face is ravishing. Your beauty, within and without, is absolute, my dear friend. You’re a paradise.” “You've captured my heart. You looked at me, and I fell in love. One look my way - and I was hopelessly in love! My heart is raptured. Oh the feelings I get when I see you and the stirrings of desire I have. I'm spoiled for anyone else!”. “There is no one like you on earth, there never has been, and there will never be. You are a woman beyond compare.”

And now listen to what the wife says. This is her response: “And you, my dear lover are so handsome! You are one in a million. There's no one like you! You’re golden – you’re a rugged mountain of a man. Your words are warm and re-assuring. Your words are like kisses and your kisses are all words. Everything about you delights me. You thrill me through and through! I long for you and I want you desperately. Your absence is painful for me. When I see you, I will throw my arms around you and hold you tight. And I won’t let you go. I am yours alone and you’re my only lover and you’re my only man.”

2. Love is quick to forgive. Love is slow to blame but quick to forgive. There will be problems between husband and wife in every marriage. But if you put those problems on the back-burner, they are sure to boil over (That is, if you give those problems a LOW priority – instead of settling them immediately – then those problems will get worse). So be quick to forgive and be quick to ask for forgiveness. Don’t wait until the evening to do that. If you get a thorn in your foot in the morning, you will take it out immediately. You won’t wait until the evening. If you hurt your spouse, you poked him/her with a thorn - take it out immediately - ask for forgiveness immediately, and be quick to forgive.

3. Love is eager to do things together with one’s partner – and not alone: How different the history of man would have been, if when the Devil came to tempt Eve in the garden, she had just said “Let me consult my husband first before I take a decision”. Oh, what a different story it would have been then! Remember that all the problems in the world arose because one woman took a decision on her own, when God had given her a companion whom she could have consulted, before taking that decision. True love does things together. Two are always better than one.

-- Zac Poonen

God Waits for Man’s Sin to Become Ripe for Judgment

The people of Canaan, whom God commanded to be killed, were being punished just like Sodom and Gomorrah was punished and like the world in Noah’s day was punished. The whole earth had become corrupt in Noah’s time with sexual sins (Gen.6:11).  The Canaanites too were indulging in degrading sexual sins and Satan worship. And so “the land itself spewed them out”. (Leviticus 18:24, 25). Deuteronomy 9:4 and 18:10-12 give us clear reasons as to why God destroyed the Canaanites. Where there are polluting influences in any nation that defile and corrupt the land, the only thing to do is to punish such a nation by eliminating the people – lest their influence spread and corrupt others too.

A God of love destroys some people just like a kind doctor amputates a man’s foot when the gangrene in his foot is so severe that it threatens to destroy the whole body. If you saw a doctor sawing off somebody’s leg, and did not understand medicine, you would imagine that the doctor hated that man. But actually the opposite would have been true. The doctor was doing it in love. God also acts in love for the world when He cuts off certain people who would otherwise corrupt it. Wiping out the world’s population at the time of the flood was an act of love, so that the human race could be preserved without being totally controlled by demons (Gen.6:2 – where the “sons of God” refer to God’s creation - the angels who fell). The apostle Paul once smote a man with blindness because he was leading another person astray (Acts.13:8-12). I have heard of cases of people who were smitten dead by God because they opposed a revival. So what we read of in Joshua was not the murder of the Canaanites. It was surgery for the world.

Many years earlier, when Abraham was living in Canaan, there were Canaanites there. But God did not destroy the Canaanites then. God waited for over 400 years, because, as He told Abraham, the Canaanites were not “ripe for judgment” at that time (Gen.15:16). We pluck mangoes when they are ripe. God also waits for man’s sin to become ripe for judgment, before He judges. He judged Sodom and Gomorrah when their sin was ripe.  So too with the Canaanites.

After Israel had occupied Canaan for 700 years, when they committed the same sins as the Canaanites, God drove them out of the land too. The Assyrians came and captured them. One hundred and twenty-five years later, when Judah, the southern kingdom, rejected the messages of God’s prophets and ripened for judgment, God sent the Babylonians to destroy them too. God is not partial. Whether it be the Canaanites or the Israelites or the people of Judah, His standards are the same. If His people keep on violating His standards and ignoring His prophets, He performs the same surgery on them too. God does the same with us too. If God were to excuse your sin, it would prove that He did not love you. If a father were to allow his children to live with their diseases, it would prove that he did not really love his children.
-- Zac Poonen

Most mentioned humans in the Bible

An interesting Bible fact regarding humans mentioned in the Bible is that David is mentioned more time than Jesus!

*  David is mentioned 1118 times
*  Moses is mentioned 740 times**
*  Aaron is mentioned 339 times
*  Saul is mentioned 338 times
*  Abraham is mentioned 306 times
*  Solomon is mentioned 295 times
*  Jacob is mentioned 270 times
*  Joseph is mentioned 208 times
*  Joshua is mentioned 197 times
*  Paul is mentioned 185 times
*  Peter is mentioned 166 times
*  Joab is mentioned 137 times
*  Jeremiah is mentioned 136 times
*  Samuel is mentioned 135 times
*  Isaac is mentioned 127 times

**Note: The second most commonly occurring name in the Bible is "Jesus", which occurs 973 times.
---anudhinamanna

Interesting Facts About THE BIBLE

Total Chapters in the Bible -- 1189.
Chapters in the Old Testament -- 929. 
Chapters in the New Testament -- 260.  
Longest Chapter -- Psalms 119.
Shortest Chapter -- Psalms 117.
Centre Chapter -- Psalms 118.
Chapters before Psalm 118 -- 594 Chapters.  
Chapters after Psalm 118 -- 594 Chapters.
Add the Chapters up --1188 (594+594)+1(Centre Chapter)=1189.
Centre Verse -- Psalms 118:8.
Psalm 118:8 -- It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
Most Comforting Chapters -- Psalms 23, John: 14.
Love Chapter -- 1 Corinthians 13.
Faith Chapter -- Hebrews 11.
New Testament Formation -- Acts 2.
Alike Chapters -- 2 Kings 19, and Isaiah 37.
Longest Verse -- Esther 8:9.
Shortest Verse -- John 11:35.
Most Precious Verse -- John 3:16.
Saddest Verse -- Mark 15:34.
Grandest Verse -- Romans 8:11.
The Garden verse -- Num. 11:5.
The Metal verse -- Ezek. 22:19.  
Word "God" occurs -- 4,370 times.
Word "Jehovah" occurs -- 6,855 times.
Word "Lord" occurs -- 7,736 times.
English Bible published first-- 1380 A.D.
Divisions of the Chapters made first -- 1227 A.D. 
Longest Word -- Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isaiah 8:1).  

The Greatest Word -- JESUS. 

Words appears only once in the Bible -- Reverend (Psalms 111:9), Eternity (Isaiah 57:15), and Grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5)..

Wait For God’s Time

In 2 Samuel  2:1, it is written that  “David inquired of the Lord…”.  We see  in 1 Sam.23:2-4 and 30:8, David’s constant habit was to seek the Lord’s will about everything. In 2 Samuel 5:17-25, we read of two battles against the Philistines in which David sought the will of God. The second time, the Lord told him to change his strategy and to attack them from the rear. Each time the Lord changed the strategy. David was a man of war, but he always got his strategy from the Lord and that was why he always won. When there was a famine in the land, he asked the Lord why there was a famine (2 Sam.21:1).

There were, however, some matters on which he did not seek the Lord’s will. Three examples of that are: (1) when he got married to six wives (2 Sam.3); (2) when he called Bathsheba to his palace (2 Sam.11) and (3) when he took a census of Israel (2 Sam.24). And for all these failures, he paid a very heavy price. But whenever he waited on the Lord for guidance, he never went astray. This is a lesson and a warning for all of us.

He was a man after God’s own heart, but he failed badly too. The description of his failures also encourages us because we learn there that God can use people who have failed. The failures of God’s servants described in the Bible encourage us much more than the description of their successes – because we all have failed the Lord on numerous occasions too. We all blunder and fail and do foolish things, especially when we are young – because when we are young, we are full of zeal but have very little wisdom. We do and say so many things in a very unwise way in our youth. But God is merciful. He picks up people like us who have failed, and still makes us men and women after His own heart.

The men of Judah came and anointed David king over the house of Judah first. Later on, he was anointed king over all Israel (5:3-5). He was 30 years old when he became king over Judah. And he had to wait for another 7½ years, before he ruled over all Israel. So he had to wait for more than 20 years in all, before God fulfilled His promise to him. His waiting period was almost as long as Abraham’s!  But David waited patiently. We are called to follow the examples of such men who through faith and patience inherited God’s promises. David never grabbed the throne for himself. He waited for God to give it to him in His own time. If only he had adopted the same attitude of not grabbing when it came to Bathsheba, how different his story would have been.

If you want to be a man after God’s own heart, learn not to grab. Jacob was a grabber, and as long as he was a grabber, he could not become Israel.  Children are born into the world with their fists closed. If you put your finger into a baby’s hand, he will grab your finger immediately. As he grows up, he learns to grab toys and many other things. That is man’s nature - grabbing things for himself. We spend all our lives grabbing things for ourselves. We grab position, honour, money, and many other things. Jesus was different. He never grabbed anything for Himself. He fists were not closed. His palms were always open towards all people ; finally He opened His palms to be crucified on Calvary too. That is the example for all of us to follow. Yield. Give up your rights. Give to others and God will give back to you in abundance. God Himself will give you a ministry, a position and everything else you need – if only you can wait for His time. It is far better to get things from God than to grab them ourselves. Jacob did not have to grab the birthright, by deceiving his father. He could have waited for God to give it to him - like David did. And God would have given it to him. We express our lack of faith in God every time we grab something.

Suppose you are attracted to a young man or woman, whom you want to get married to. You could begin to think like this: “If I don’t grab her/him quickly, somebody else will get her/him.” That is unbelief. If you trust in God, you won’t be impatient and grab. Instead, you will say, “Lord, what You have reserved for me, I will definitely get. No-one can marry a person whom you have reserved for me.” The same principle applies to any ministry that God may have planned for you. No-one else can grab that. God will lead you into that ministry, if you wait on Him.

Learn to trust God and never complain against people. If God makes you wait for 20 years, wait. You will become a much better leader at the end of that time. As we saw, Saul and Solomon never learnt to wait for anything. They were born into comfort and lived without any trials and pressures. I feel sorry for anyone whose life is so comfortable and easy, that he has no trials or pressures. It’s the one who has faced rejection from men, to whom God gives a ministry.

 Zac Poonen

Famous Christian Quotes

1.   Before an individual can be saved, he must first learn that he cannot

save himself.  M. R. DeHaan, M.D. (1891-1965) American Bible teacher

.
2.  Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going
to the garage makes you a car --Laurence J. Peter
.
3.  Christ is a substitute for everything, but nothing is a substitute for
Christ. -- Dr. H. A. Ironside (1876-1951)
.
4.  All self-effort is but sinking sand. Christ alone is the Rock of our
salvation.-- Dr. H. A. Ironside
.
5. Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its
strength. -- Corrie Ten Boom

YOGA AND THE CHRISTIAN

Yoga is a Hindu science that claims to teach people how to unite their soul with the "Supreme Soul", and merge their will with the "Cosmic Will".

The practice of yoga has three main components:
1) The physical exercise component,
2) The mental meditation component, and
3) The verbal chanting component.
These three are combined to make yoga what it is.

Let us think of these three separately.

1) There is nothing inherently holy or evil about the physical exercise component by itself. If someone stretches his leg in a certain way, that is neither holy nor evil. None of the physical stretching exercises in yoga need be connected with any religion. So we can do any exercise freely, even if it was a Hindu (or a Muslim, or a Buddhist) who first taught it. A typical yoga lesson does not emphasize the spiritual connection initially. So when people hear that some Christians are opposed to the practice of yoga, they wonder why. The reason is that the more advanced you get into yoga, the more you are going to move towards the ultimate purpose behind these exercises. So while breathing exercises may appear to be innocent initially, even these could be initial stepping stones that have its overall aim as "merging the individual will with the Cosmic Will."

2) When it comes to the mental meditation component, we have to be careful. Yoga typically teaches people to empty their minds of all thoughts and then to meditate. That is wrong for a Christian. The Bible tells us to meditate on God's Word at all times. We must FILL our minds with God's Word - meditating especially on the verses that tell us how much God loves us (e.g. Psalm 139:17-18, Isaiah 49:15-16, Jeremiah 29:11, etc).

3) The verbal chanting component is what we must avoid altogether. Yoga typically teaches people to keep chanting the word "Om" - a syllable that is supposed to be the highest manifestation of God-consciousness in Hinduism. The invoking of Om to relax is much more than a blind chant of some random syllable. It is an opening of the mind to other spirits. As Christians, we must never seek to achieve any sort of relaxation by such chants. We do not even chant the Name of Jesus, because that Name is not a 'mantra' - and our Lord specifically forbade us from using meaningless repetitions in prayer. The Lord gives us rest in our minds through the Holy Spirit and not by chanting.

If we find that we can meditate on the Lord and be at rest in our spirits, while doing the physical exercises in yoga, then we can continue doing them. But if at any time, we find any uneasiness in our spirits, then we should avoid doing them. There are many forms of exercise, other than yoga, that Christians can engage in, to keep physically fit. We can know the mind of the Spirit in all matters by peace in our hearts (Rom.8:6). 

Sandeep Poonen

Holiness is the Characteristic of the True Church

Babylon (the false church) is called 'the great' eleven times in the Book of Revelation. Jerusalem (the bride of Christ), on the other hand, is called 'the holy city' (see Rev. 12-21).
If we seek to be great in the eyes of the world as a 'church', then we drift towards Babylon. Jesus said that what men esteemed highly was an abomination in God's sight (Lk. 16:15). We have, therefore, to check up constantly whether there is anything in our church (even if it be music or the preaching) that is said or done to impress men. Numbers are always impressive in men's eyes. If we are keen on presenting the statistics of the growth of our church to others, that is one sure mark of Babylon. This does not mean that God is not interested in adding to our numbers. He certainly is - if He finds that we are a flock that He can recommend to other of His sheep (who are wholehearted). But growth in numbers is not necessarily an indication of God's blessing - for the heretical cults are also growing in numbers and so are heathen religions. And very often their statistics are more impressive than those of many Christian groups!
So growth in Jerusalem is measured by growth in holiness - which includes love for one another. Jesus said that the way to life was narrow and that few would find it. Those who proclaim the narrow gate as narrow as Jesus made it will find that very few join their church (Matt. 7:13,14). If, on the other hand, we make the gate broader than Jesus made it, we shall increase in numbers easily. This is where much of today's Christendom has gone astray. Jesus spoke about the narrow gate and the narrow way in the context of the 'sermon on the mount' (Matt. 5-7). The content of those chapters is therefore what constitutes the narrow gate and the narrow way.
1 Cor. 3:13 makes it clear that it is the quality of our work that will be assessed by the Lord in the final day - and not the quantity. A ministry of quality can come only out of one who lives in constant self-judgment - "who lives with the consuming fire and the everlasting burning" (Isa. 33:14). Here, the church is to be different from all the denominations around us. Once this distinction is lost, we will end up as another dead denomination.
In the old covenant, the emphasis was always on the external - "because of the hardness of men's hearts" (Matt. 19:8). The law emphasised cleanliness in the external. The new covenant, in contrast, emphasised cleanliness "inside the cup" first (Matt. 23:25,26). Jesus said in that verse (v. 26) that once the inside was cleansed, the outside would automatically become clean, so that there would be no need to clean the outside at all. One can see this clearly from Matt. 5:21-30. If one has cleansed his heart from anger, there would be no danger of his committing murder externally. Likewise, if he has cleansed his heart from sexually dirty thoughts, there would be no danger of his committing adultery externally. Clean the inside of the cup and the outside will automatically become clean.
Where the emphasis in a church is primarily on the externals - avoiding cinema going, smoking, drinking, gambling, wearing ornaments, etc., - such a church will only become an old covenant church! The way to get rid of external evils is not by concentrating on them first, but rather on the internal worldly attitude of mind which produces those external evils.
There can be no inward cleansing without self-judgment. It is impossible to build the church unless this inward cleansing is constantly preached. The Bible tells us to exhort one another daily in the church to avoid being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13; 10:25). Most Christian 'churches' have no interest in such preaching, except perhaps occasionally. Certainly not daily!. Hence they breed Pharisees with cups clean on the outside only. Here the bride of Christ must be different.

-Zac Poonen

‘the Righteous Branch’

In Jeremiah 23:5,6 we see Jeremiah prophesying about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who is called, here, ‘the Righteous Branch’ and ‘The Lord our righteousness.’

This title refers to the Lord as the One Who justifies us by imputing His righteousness to us. It is a new-covenant title - and Jeremiah prophesied quite a bit about the new covenant.

This chapter is also a wonderful chapter for all preachers to read, because there are many warnings given here for them to take heed of . False prophets are exposed and denounced here. They were false prophets because they did not take time to listen to what God was saying (Jeremiah 23:18). They were too lazy to stand before God and wait for His Word.

There are many false prophets moving around in Christendom today, who seek honour and money for themselves. They prophesy falsely about imaginary dreams they claim to have dreamt.

Jeremiah warned the people not to listen to false prophets. They invented their own messages and spoke to the people, saying “Thus says the Lord”. But the Lord had not spoken to them. There are numerous people carelessly using that phrase even today. It is very dangerous to get up and say, “Thus says the Lord”, when you are not sure whether God has really spoken. People who have no fear of God whatsoever use that phrase today and say whatever comes into their mind. This is dangerous and evil.

All such people should read this chapter and learn to fear God. God does speak, but he speaks through humble people like Paul who said, “I think I have the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 7:40) – and not through people who arrogantly say, “Thus says the Lord”. Beware of such false prophets – for there are thousands of them in Christendom today.

God says that His word is like fire and a hammer (Jeremiah 23:29). Why are the words of so many preachers unable to break the hard hearts of people and set them on fire? It is because their words did not come from the Lord.

-Zac Poonen

Jesus Used His Tongue To Encourage And Admonish Others

Jesus' speech was pure. No filthy word ever escaped His lips, and no idle word either. He always spoke the truth. There was no deceit in His mouth. No one could ever engage Jesus in a conversation about how to make more and more money (beyond one's needs). He was just not interested in such matters. His mind was set on things above and not on things on earth. No doubt, He used material things, but He did not love them, nor was He attached to any of them.

Jesus never belittled others or passed remarks or jokes about others that hurt them. He never made any subtle wounding statements. He never discussed the shortcomings of His disciples behind their backs. It is truly amazing that in three years, He never exposed Judas before the other eleven disciples - for even at the last supper, the eleven could not guess who was going to betray their Master.

Jesus used His tongue to encourage and admonish others, thereby making His tongue an instrument of life in God's Hand. He used His tongue to speak soothing words to the weary (Isa. 50:4), and also as a sword to cut down the proud and the haughty (Isa. 49:2).

How greatly encouraged the Roman centurion and the Syrophoenician woman must have felt when they heard Jesus praise them for their faith, publicly (Mt. 8:10; Mt. 15:28).

The sinful woman who was praised for her love (Lk. 7:47) and Mary of Bethany who was praised for her sacrificial offering (Mk. 14:6) would never have forgotten the words of Jesus.

How strengthened Peter must have been through Jesus' assurance that He would pray for him (Lk. 22:32). Just a few words, but what strength and encouragement they conveyed.

Many others must have heard words from Jesus' lips that lifted their weary spirits, for it says in Isaiah 50:4 that Jesus listened daily to His Father's voice so that He might have an appropriate word for the weary souls that came across His path each day.

He rebuked James and John for seeking places of honour and for wanting to take revenge on the Samaritans (Mt. 20:22,23;  Lk. 9:55). And He rebuked His disciples seven times for their unbelief.

Jesus was never afraid of speaking the truth, even if it hurt others, for His heart was filled with love for them. He was not concerned whether His reputation for kindness would be lost by speaking strong words. He loved others more than Himself and so He was willing to sacrifice His reputation in order to help them. Therefore He spoke the truth firmly, lest men be ruined eternally. The eternal welfare of men mattered far more to Him than their opinions of Him.

--Zac Poonen

Anchor in the Storm

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." - Psalm 46:1-3 (NIV).
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Several years ago a submarine was being tested and had to remain submerged for many hours. When it returned to the harbor, the captain was asked, "How did the terrible storm last night affect you?" The officer looked at him in surprise and exclaimed, "Storm? We didn't even know there was one!" The sub had been so far beneath the surface that it had reached the area known to sailors as "the cushion of the sea." Although the ocean may be whipped into huge waves by high winds, the waters below are never stirred.
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Being a Christian doesn't deliver us from the trials and troubles of life
because we live in a broken world where it rains on the just as well as the
unjust. - See Matthew 5:45. However, our faith in Christ gives us an anchor in
the storm and a hiding place in the shadow of his wings. As David the Psalmist prayed, "Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until this violent storm is past". - Psalm 57:1-2 (NLT).

There Is No Mercy In Hell

Faith is basically believing that God still loves us. He does not love our sin. He does not want us to continue in our sin. He is like a father who sees his child’s diseases and hates those diseases, but loves his child. Think of a mother who sees her child full of leprosy or tuberculosis. That mother loves her child so much, but hates those diseases with all her heart.

God loves sinners but He hates their sin.  We see God’s love for sinners and His hatred of sin on Calvary’s cross. His love for sinners is seen in that He allowed Jesus to die on the cross for us. His hatred of sin is seen in His turning His face away from Jesus when Jesus bore the sin of the world on the cross.

People sometimes ask how a God of love can send people to Hell. What is Hell like? Hell is a place that God has forsaken completely – a place where God cannot be found. This earth has not been forsaken by God. That’s why there’s still so much of goodness and beauty on this earth.

Look at the beauty of creation, for example. Look at the decency and goodness there is in many human beings. Demons would like to possess ALL human beings, but they are unable to, because God has put a restraining wall around people, so that demons cannot do what they like. It is God’s mercy also that gives man health, prosperity and many other comforts. All these blessings are bestowed by God on both good and evil people. All this proves that God has not forsaken this world. But Hell is not like that. In Hell there is no mercy at all – because Hell is a truly God-forsaken place.

There is goodness in many unconverted people in this world, because the influences of God are still over them. But once they go to Hell, those very same people will become as evil as the devil himself – because the mercy of God will no longer be over their lives.

In Hell, people will experience for the first time what it is like to be totally forsaken by God. That was what Jesus experienced on the cross. Jesus experienced Hell on the cross for those three hours of darkness, when God actually forsook Him. There we see how much God hates sin.

So what is the answer? Can a God of love send people to Hell? The answer to that lies in the answer to this other question: Could a God of love allow His own Son to face Hell on the cross, when the sin of the world was upon Him? If He could do that, He can send people to Hell too. A God of love will turn His face away from those who continue in sin, who say to God, "I am not going to listen to you. I have chosen my own way and I will continue along it forever."

The Bible says in Proverbs 29:1 (paraphrased) "A man who is corrected many times and refuses to accept correction will one day suddenly be destroyed and he will not have another chance". If a man keeps on refusing God’s loving invitations, he is in real danger. Now I don’t want any of you over-sensitive brothers and sisters to feel condemned hearing that – because that verse was not written for those who fall into sin, but to warn those who love to sin and who want to continue in it. It was not written for those who try to live in purity but keep falling. It was written for rebels, who defy God and want to keep on sinning. How can you know whether you are a rebel? That’s very easy to find out. Just ask yourself whether you have a desire to repent and to turn back to God? If there’s even the slightest desire within you to turn to God and to love Him, then that proves that the Holy Spirit is still working in your life and that God is seeking to draw you to Himself. You may be a failure, but you are not a rebel. There is a vast difference between one who is failing and one who is rebelling.

-Zac Ponnen