Looking Up At Life

Voice in the Wilderness

2009-03-24T06:08:00.000-07:00

Matthew 3
verses1-4 "1In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 3This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "[a]
4John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey."

Before going on further, it would be great to understand the context of the word wilderness mentioned here.

Thayer Definition:

1) solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited
1a) used of places
1a1) a desert, wilderness
1a2) deserted places, lonely regions
1a3) an uncultivated region fit for pasturage

1b) used of persons
1b1) deserted by others
1b2) deprived of the aid and protection of others, especially of friends, acquaintances, kindred
1b3) bereft
1b3a) of a flock deserted by the shepherd
1b3b) of a woman neglected by her husband, from whom the husband withholds himself

Lessons I learnt

Preaching in the wilderness - John was not preaching in an easy place. It was a difficult place, a wilderness. If we look at the definition of wilderness above, you'll see it means more than just a physical location. The same word is used for people - those who have been deserted by others, directionless. Wilderness, where it is easy to be lost-there are no landmarks. But, for those who have been saved through grace, there is a time and date a milestone in our life when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. Our Lord places the Cornerstone so we can know our bearing and where we came from, moving towards more fruitful regions. But, for those who have not, this milestone of cornerstone, everything is one giant wilderness, no beginning, no end, just endless monotonous sandy life. Therefore it was important for John to demonstrate preaching in the desert.

As I write this, I imagine, John standing in the wilderness and proclaiming the Word of God and people who are going through the desert, to wherever they want to go, come and listen and find a new direction, the direction to the Jordan River. "v6Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River." A place they are baptised and can find rest and water in the midst of their wilderness. The river has never been far from the wilderness, its just that they couldn't find it for lack of direction. There is hope in this wilderness, because among a few other meanings is this meaning which defines the region as - an uncultivated region fit for pasturage. No one's life is hopeless. There is hope and WAY for everyone who would let God give them the cornerstone to mark the territory and know their bearing and become fruitful pastures.

Conclusion: If we are to preach the Word, lets not go to the easy places, lets go to places where people really need the Word of God. Where people really need a direction. The wilderness, representing loneliness-a need to be loved and have someone to rely on. We know THE SOMEONE on whom the lonely can rely, our Lord Jesus. Lets share, lets declare the Word of God, in the wilderness of someone's life, so that they may find direction to the Jordan river and be blessed and be freed from this life in the wilderness.

Have your head in the clouds

2008-08-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

Matthew 2
I call this chapter -Life Threatening Chapter..
This time as I read this chapter here's what struck me. As soon as Jesus was born word got out and he immediately had enemies, just by being born. The pharoah left no stone unturned to kill him. You know the story.

You know our life is much like that when you are born again, into a new life with Lord Jesus, you immediately have enemies, ever ready to bring you down, some way or the other.

I have a lot of worldly , fleshly stuff keep pulling me down, trying to nullify or bring to nothing my spiritual life, but you know what "4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus." Eph 2:4-7

Jesus our Lord has saved us and not left us down under, but lifted us up so we are seated in the heavenlies so we can escape the corruption as we learn to dwell with Him there. As long as we have a sense of dwelling here, we'll keep getting stuck with the worldly pressures, but the moment we realize what Jesus has done for us by making us sit with him in the heavenlies, nothing on the earth can stop you from living your spiritual life out loud.

Conclusion:We will have enemies and not the ones who will forget about us now and then, but those which will always be ready to bring us down. Yet in all this we have been given the power to overcome by the blood of the lamb and our testimony. Isn't that why Jesus our Lord seats us in the heavenlies so he can demonstrate to the world his grace that is at work on us. So keep on going strong and have your head up in the clouds, in the heavenlies.

You've Got That Lineage

2008-06-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

Matthew 1

Ever wondered what all those begats has begotten for us? Well I did, and when I started reading the Old Testament in detail, I have found immense appreciation in knowing why that had to be included in the Bible.

If you read through Matthew 1, you will find interesting names of people found in the geneaology of our Lord Jesus Christ. Two of those names that particularly caught my attention are "Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,"v5 When you investigate these names you will find that Rahab was a prostitute and Ruth was a Moabite. Moab a tribe about which God had declared in Deuteronomy 23:3 "No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation." Yet this one found favor.

What was it that catapulted them right into the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the lineage of divine royal blood family. It was their earnest desire to seek the Lord, to follow Him and to do His will. Ruth entered her divine destiny of being the great grand mom to Lord Jesus in the moment she chose to go with her mother-in-law Naomi saying Ruth 1:16 "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." As for Rahab she had heard of the amazing things the Israelites' God had done for them and she reverently feared Him and chose to take shelter in Him, when the rest of her country was attacked by the Israelites.

If you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, you too have been catapulted into this divine lineage, not through any physical connections but a strong spiritual bond which no one can break.
If you have not, you can too, by letting Jesus be Your God and see how He changes all your situations from a do-nothing to do the impossible even.

Why This Blog?

2008-06-22T23:31:00.000-07:00

The world has enough things, pressures, sins, temptations, setbacks and all kinds of negative things to throw at us and pull us down and push us out from fulfilling our God given destiny.

I am hard pressed for time, but when I was in college I learnt, at my college prayer group- what you invest in God's kingdom, God will multiply and enable you to bear much fruit. I am investing my time that I may grow in the Lord and be encouraged through His Good News and be a blessing to all who read it.

This is going to be from my studies of the New Testament, since the Old Testament doesn't seem to be getting over, with the amount of things God has been teaching me from it.

So read and be blessed.