The Joy of Cherishing

A month ago the Lord spoke to me from the life of Joseph in exercising his human care for his parent by allotting them the best of the land in Egypt and giving them the best hospitality within his capacity. Joseph did his best in cherishing his parents and siblings according to the blessings he received from God. So also is the need for me to do the same.

The day I left home almost nine years ago to serve the Lord, I remembered the word I spoke to my dad in faith. Not a verbatim, but a paraphrasing, "Thank you so much for all your care until today. But from now on, I will not burden you for anything anymore. If the Lord bless me I will share the blessing with you." After that solemn word of faith I left my father's house, my kindred and my country, to follow and serve the God of glory who appeared to me, all the days of my life.

Two years after, I finished the full time training in India, then another two years after, I got married and the Lord began to fulfill what I uttered in faith. The blessings God bestowed me and my wife with, I shared with my dad and my family, and through our cherishing care in humanity he was very comforted. From then on, whenever there was the opportunity I participated in my family's physical and financial needs, not just few, but many times. That's my portion out from the Lord's blessing.

Seven years later from the time I left home to serve the living God, my dad also believed into the Lord Jesus Christ and I personally baptized him. O what a blessing! God is faithful not only to his words, but more to the words we uttered in faith in oneness with Him. He moves through us.

Remembering the utterance of faith, when my dad called me of his need to visit me in Gurgaon and do some health check up in Delhi with my mother following suit to see us and the kids, the immediate response was a reminder of the uttered word, "if the Lord bless me I will share the blessing with you, I will not burdened you for anything..." Then I booked return flight ticket for both my mom and dad, they came, and did my best to give them the best I could remembering what the Lord spoke to me of Joseph how he gave the best for his family. This indeed is a blessing in disguise.

True to what was uttered in faith, I took nothing from my dad but rather took care of his needs. This is not because I had the capacity nor the ability. No. It is truly because of the Lord's blessing and His honoring of the word I uttered in faith nine years ago when He called me to serve Him. And when the Lord fulfills such promises, it is indeed joy unspeakable. The joy of cherishing in humanity. Glory be to God!

God's Glory in Satan's Instigation

And I will harden Pharoah's heart, and he will pursue after them; and I will glorify Myself through Pharoah and through all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am Jehovah. And they did so. Exodus 14:4

Similar cases are recorded in verses 17 and 18. On the one hand it was God who hardened Pharoah's heart, yet this hardening was used by God to deal with the Egyptians, and thereby God Himself was glorified. God used Satan's instigation to carry out His salvation work of His children.

Oftentimes, we may wonder at certain negative situations and rationally reason why it were so. But the Lord in His sovereignty allow them all. In most cases, these negativity are -- to deal with Satan the instigator, to transform us the believers to believe into Him more and positively fear Him and for Him to gain the glory. In most cases, it is an acid litmus test for the people involved whether they are of the Lord or not; and if so, the confirmation of the Lord's hand upon them.

Verse 31 says, "And when Israel saw the great power which Jehovah exercised against the Egyptians, the people feared Jehovah; and they believed in Jehovah and in His servant Moses." If what happened had not had happened, it is very doubtful if the rebellious Israelite would ever recognized Moses as the God appointed deputy authority, and much less, truly believed in Jehovah. So much the more our cases are today.

May the Lord preserve us to be preserved and acknowledge His arrangement even among His children for Him carry out His heart's desire.

God's Distinction

In the conflict between Jehovah and Pharoah for the release of Israel, Jehovah in exercising His judgment upon Pharoah and the Egyptians with the land of Egypt, always made a clear cut distinction with His chosen people Israel. When judgments were executed it was only to the Egyptians and not to the Israelite.

For instance, Exodus 9:4 says, "Jehovah will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing will die of all that belongs to the children of Israel." Verse 6, "And Jehovah did this thing on the next day; and all the livestock of Egypt died, but of the livestock of the children of Israel not one died." Similarly in verse 26, "Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail." 11:7, " Jehovah makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel."

Righteously, God thundered curses after curses for the release of His chosen, yet on the other hand He hardened Pharoah's heart as to not let Israelite go free, and in this juncture poured out His wrath of curses upon everything that is Egyptian or worldly and sinful in nature and appearance. Yet amid-st all these, the Israelite were completely insulated. God indeed is sovereign in His dealings with the ungodly, and wise in His preservation of His chosen.

In this age of the new covenant, we, the believers are the real Israelite and the unbelievers are the Egyptians. All that have happened and are happening in today's world are worsening speedily. Yet, we, God's children, are safe in His gracious care day by day. The world may tread its course, but we must go on in grace until the full redemption of our tripartite being unto the consummation of this age. What a blessing to be a child of God, the real Israelite, God's own children!

A revelation of God's distinction of His and not of His enlightened me to see how blessed I am. How I wish that many who are not yet His may be His when He still tarries. This indeed has revived me to co-work with Him to bring many to salvation. Lord, save many, save India and the world.

Double Salvation

The salvation God bestowed upon mankind is always of two aspects. As seen from the lives of Noah and his family. God saved them from judgment and also delivered them from the evil age. Today in our christian lives too, we are not only saved from God's judgement but also delivered from Satan's power, the world and the evil age. However, many Christians do not necessary experience both. Every genuine believers experiences the aspect of salvation which saves from eternal condemnation but the daily salvation of deliverance from the authority of darkness, the power of Satan and the influence of the world is still a long way to go. But the complete salvation of God comprises both, and every genuine believers should and must experience both.

In my pursuit of the the Life-study of Genesis and the study of the Word, I was reminded of these two aspects. Similar fact is also recorded in Exodus 3:8 "And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land..." Two aspects of salvation again:

1. Deliverance from the usurpation and tyranny of Pharoah

2. Entrance into the good land flowing with milk and honey (Deut. 8:7-9)

Even after deliverance from the world many still are wandering in the wilderness not knowing that their goal of deliverance is to possess the good land flowing with milk and honey. This good land is the all inclusive experience of the all inclusive Christ in the normal and proper church life. And the flowing of milk and honey is only in the good land, not in the wilderness. For a Christian to be redeemed yet not enjoying the church life is definitely not a double salvation. Every Christian must be in the proper church life, for only in this, God can fulfill His plan.

Eternal condemnation issue is settled once for all, deliverance from the world and from the usurpation of Satan is still on the go and the entrance into the good land is marvelous! This must be the experience of every believer. Anything sort of these experiences in full is definitely a shortage. May the Lord rescue me from a mere partial enjoyment of God's full salvation and bring me fully into the full enjoyment of His double salvation.

Against Evil

When under authority, one is required to submit to orders as the call of duty. However, for believers who fear the living God the case is not absolutely so. If the said authority works against the the ways of God, God is greater than the earthly authority. Herein lies the need for one to exercise discernment and following the leading of the Lord absolutely.

Exodus 1:17,21a says, "But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them but let the male children live. And because the midwives feared God.." These verses spoke to me this morning the need of loyalty to authority but be against the evils surmising of the evil rulers on earthly authority. As long as the rulers do not go against God and His economy the righteousness of God demands we submit to His deputy authority on earth. This truth surely requires a balanced understanding and application. One can ignorantly be rebellious against God's established authority just for the fact that the ones in authority are not believers as they are or at least as expected. The other extreme is also unwarranted submission to authority come what may, even if it means doing things against God ordained principles and ways. One needs a balance and clear cut discernment of what God approves and condemns, and be faithful to the Lord's intuitive leading and be absolute to it.

When faced with situation of unrighteous rulers, one must be steadfast to stand against it, even if it means death. John the Baptist in Matthew 14:4 was put in prison because he spoke against the ruler whose lifestyle was against God ordained marital status. He was bold enough and he died for it too. Circumstances may demands the same, and if so, the grace of God be beckoned to stand against evil, even unto death. May the Lord preserve me to be balanced and be absolute to Him, come what may.

Forgiveness of Sins

Acts 13:

38 Therefore let it be known to you, men, brothers, that through this One forgiveness of sins is announced to you; 31 This One God has exalted to His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. http://online.recoveryversion.org/

As I was enjoying my morning revival the text for that day touched me open my eyes to see the depth and significance of God's forgiveness of my sins that I have confessed to Him.

The Greek word for forgiveness means "causing (it) to leave" and "sending away". When God forgave our sins He not only removes the charges of sins against us and delivers us from its penalty, but much more, He even causes that particular sin that we confessed and that He forgave, to leave us completely. This is by virtue of the fact that He made the Lord Jesus a sin offering at the cross, laid all our sins on Him and carried them up in His body for us ("Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! " John 1:29b). Moreover, when God forgives us of our sins, he also forgets our sins ("and their sins I shall by no means remember anymore" Heb. 8:12b).

Oftentimes I struggled with the confessed sins and brought about in vicious circle, not really knowing how to get rid of it. Not knowing the Word in its full revelation is indeed a great shortage. When the Lord speaks through the Word it releases one from the mental conviction of sins. Such was what happened when I knew this truth. And with the shining of the divine light comes the application of the truth. I am now greatly relieved mentally and physically.

What a blessing to see this truth! When God forgave me He also took my sins away.

God's Blessings-Fruit Bearing

In our family prayer time the Lord lead us to pray for some specific names, reminding us of our need to cooperate with Him in and for His move. The day after, a surprise phone call came from one of such whom we prayed for. Out of the blue, he called, expressing his intense desire to meet me after a long gap of 5 months or so. He has been a seeker of the true and living God. True to his promise, he came. Then he shared his problems and what he has been going through. A self confident person suddenly lost his self-confidence. A goodly person ended up with misunderstandings. Yes, they were no good news, however, its music to my ear. The spirit within me discerned immediately that this was the Lord's doing. After listening to whatever he said, I exclaimed, "This is the Lord's sovereign arrangement!"

The Lord gave me a very strong feeling to help him spiritually in a proper manner. He had believed into the Lord and called upon the name of Jesus, and prayed the sinner's prayer for salvation last October 2011 when I met him in Palam Vihar, after preaching the gospel to him. I also gave him a Hindi Bible and a small tract "The Mystery of Human Life." Since then, we tried to meet again but it never worked out. But now, the Lord brought him right to the place where I lived, distance or transportation was not the issue. Discerning His need for Baptism, as he already believed, with the coordination of two more brothers, we clarified the truth about Baptism, and then he got baptised, willingly, out of his free will.

After the Baptism, he was so full of joy and shared how happy he was, his face shone with smiles! O the joy of salvation! He was so happy and excited. Then we had a session on "Topics for New Believers, Chapter 1." He read with much joy in Hindi, and more light dawned in him. Then we dropped him to his house. O what a day!

This is the blessing of God. When God blesses, we are blessed.