A Christmas Sacrifice? To be sanctified through sacrifice.

Romans 12: 1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

To the secular crowds, Christmas has always been a time of merriment, gift giving and a time to wind down after a year of work. Christians often lament the fact that Christ seems to be “lost” in a celebration called Christmas. The inebriated crowds and raunchy parties notwithstanding, we should appreciate that the season has evolved, even among the non-believers, into a time of sharing and giving.

* How does the fact that Christ came into this world impact us as Christians?
* Do we take it as a time to appreciate what God did?

* What then is our reponse?

We can never fully know how much it cost to procure our salvation. But the Bible tells us that the Father planned it, The Son procured it and the Spirit enables us to know and appreciate it.

I have chosen a text that reflects, at a human level, a similar journey that we must take that Jesus took in the incarnation. The steps in the journey were:
1. He was born: He came down to earth to save us.
2. His ministry: Between the start of His mission and his death on the Cross, He spent time with His disciples, preparing them and helping them grow in knowledge and love of Him.
3. His death: Finally, he died for our sins, and then rose again to glory.

Isn’t it a reflection of our journey too?

Firstly, we are born again: Our acceptance of Christ as personal Lord and Saviour is the essential first step. It is the new birth. It is our own personal “Christmas” to be born, as a babe in Christ, into a world that is hostile to all things Christian. And the angels rejoice when a new believer is “born again” into the family of God.

• John 1:12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
  Romans 12:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Secondly, our ministry journey: The second part is the time between our salvation experience till the day we depart this earth. This is the process of living as a Christian and growing into the likeness of Christ. The term sanctification is used for this process.

What is sanctification?

• Rather than ask what it is, I would suggest that we think of it as a process of offering.
  Rather than think of sanctification as something that we ought to pursue or do, I think we should consider it a process of offering ourselves to God.
  Because we are fallen creatures, it takes time to offer ourselves fully to God.

The mature Christian is one who has fully offered his life to God, as a living sacrifice.

Sanctification is thus a daily sacrifice of ourselves to God. The passage today does reflect this sanctification journey as a picture of sacrifice. The process involves the offering of ourselves to Him. We offer ourselves in the following ways:

(i) Our body – we are to be wholly and fully available to His service. It is incumbent on us to respond to the Holy Spirit when He calls us into service

• Romans 12:1- I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

There are all manner of ways that we can offer our bodies to Him. To offer time and effort requires prioritization. We often give the excuse of not enough time or inadequate experience.
But in God’s eyes, now is the time when the work needs to be done. God will open opportunities for serving, but we have to step out and offer ourselves in faith.

(ii) Our Bounty – we are to offer our material things to God. In today’s context, that would mean money and other financial offerings to the work of the church.
It is alarming to see studies that show evangelical Christians giving only 1% of their income to the church. Why is this?
It is because many Christians do not see that monetary offerings are a sacrifice to God, and that it blesses us more than it does God to be generous in our giving.

• Phil 4:18 But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.

(iii) Our Works – God delights in our works and we are to do good works as a offering to Him.

• Heb 13: 16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

When we are involved in humanitarian or mission works, it is all seen by the Lord. It is also an important evangelistic tool. For the unbelievers will see the good works done in Jesus’ name and glorify His name.

(iv) Our Words – we are called to be careful with what we say and how we say it. The process of watching our speech is part of the sanctification process. It is far better to use our lips to praise His name! (

• Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

I may even suggest that our speech (content and tone) is the most important part of our sanctification. The Christian who has placed himself on the altar fully will find that he is careful of his words, and in fact, his words will be few. This is not surprising if we realize that God is the silent listener to everything we say!

Thirdly, our departing: When our time on earth is over, is that a sacrifice too?
Yes, of course! If we have lived a life pleasing to God, then our death will not only be glorious because we will go into His presence, but it will also be a sweet offering to Him.

• 2 Timothy 4:6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

How wonderful that our final journey through the door that leads to eternal life would be pictured as an offering pleasing to God!

A Prayer

This Christmas, let us all pray as follows: “Lord Jesus, we present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. And let us not be conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of our mind, that we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”.

Have a blessed Christmas

Amen

Dr Joshua Raj

Enlarged Heart? A good spiritual habit.

Psalm 4:1
Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

As I meditated on this passage, it occurred to me that we always talk about having a big heart. A heart for the poor, for example. A heart for social issues. A heart for the gospel. We constantly appeal to each other to have a big heart when it comes to giving of out time, talent and treasure.

Yet, it was Spurgeon who put it clearly – “this is another example of David’s habit of pleading past mercies as a basis for present favor". In other words, “count your blessings” and remember that the God who helped you before will help you again!

The word “enlarge” means that in the difficult times, God revealed more of Himself and His blessings to David. The stifling presence of hopelessness and depression opened up into joy and hope. For David, it was something that he could truly hold on to.

The question for us today is:
Do we allow difficulty, whatever it may be (persons, situations, illness etc), overwhelm us?

The principle of this Psalm is that there is a solution.

1. Recollection: God has helped before. We have been through the valleys. He has brought us through. Let us reflect on those past mercies and use them as the basis for present favor.

2. Request: Ask God to enlarge our heart, to open up the vistas of knowledge and compassion that He has shown. The word “rachab” translated “enlarge” means to make broad or wide. Jesus will make the way look broad and wide when we think it is hopeless.

What about the unfairness of our situation?
In other words, none of us is ever in the same situation. Unfairness is built into the world.

Almost all of us automatically think it is someone else’s fault when a difficulty arises. If we cannot blame someone, we are apt to blame God (often subconsciously), by thinking that He has done it to teach us a lesson. While that does occur, and God does chasten us if we are in deliberate sin, I believe that we will be aware of that almost immediately through the prompting of the Spirit.

Either way, the answer is to come before the throne of grace, where we can receive mercy and grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4: 16
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

"Hear me when I call", says David. So can we. Do we really call to Him in distress? Or do we sulk and brood for a while before we do so? I know that I am often guilty of spending too much time thinking about the problem and brooding before I come to God in prayer.

“Hear me when I call”
I love that sentence. It is a sentence we can use with confidence and power. WE use it because God has been faithful in the past and He will continue to be faithful. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is always with us. It may be that we do not understand what He is doing, but He is there nonetheless.

Who do we call?
The God of our righteousness. The righteous God who imputed His righteousness to us the day we accepted the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

What will He do?
He will enlarge our heart. He will open up the paths to hope and joy. The difficult situation may still be there or be removed. It does not matter because God will reveal new things to us that relieve our heart of the burden.

Hear my prayer
David just assumes God will listen. And why not? God is our heavenly Father. And He will listen and act according to His perfect will and plan. All we have to do is trust. I have no difficulty with trusting God.

Let us make this our good spiritual habit – to count our blessings always, and to plead past mercies as THE basis for present favor.

Amen
Dr Joshua Raj

How do we avoid compromise?

Gal 5:9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Recently I attended a missions conference in Toronto, where various ethnic communites (they were all Christians) presented their culture and traditions, together with sights and sounds of various cultures. Having lived in Asia for a long time, I have been exposed to and deeply experienced many of these cultures before.

My conclusion is that it has always been difficult to separate what is cultural from what is religious, when it comes to dealing with issues in Asia.

To briefly put this issue in context, there has been a revival among academic circles and seminaries in Asia to remove the “cultural” baggage that the western missionaries brought to Asia, and to articulate an authentic Asian theology. The presupposition is that if one can find what the essential kernel of Christian belief is, then that is what we can present to Asians, in their own cultural setting. For example, the early Indian converts changed their names to English ones (not Hebrew, as one might expect) due to the need to identify with the “new” religion. They also started wearing shirt and pants, and changed their dietary habits. Much of this change was cultural, and in and of itself, was not wrong. But the effect was to identify Christianity as a western religion.

But there is a change in the 21st century! In North America, as mainline Christianity has become “diluted”, and may I say “polluted”, by the world, the trend has reversed. Now, many religious Asian customs are being foisted onto churches and society under the guise of “culture”.

How do we know what is religious and what is custom? A North American would readily accept something as cultural if the church presented it as such. Yet it is not so simple. As an ethnic South Asian, I have difficulty because what I feel is a religious custom may not be that way for another Asian Christian. And this is where the issue becomes heated.

In an evangelical community of South Asians, there is the movement toward ethnic dress. This is good, and it is nice to see the cheongsam of the Chinese and the saree of the Indian make a comeback. But then, what do we do when the dragon dance or the yoga classes make their debut? What about henna tattoos, with their images of the zodiac? What about yin-yang healing or zen meditation?

The cardinal rule that I think a Christian must ensure is that the historical roots of the custom are not based on the pagan religion. This requires research and talking to the practitioners of these customs.

For example, yoga practitioners readily say that the philosophical foundations of their system are Hindu based. Yet, churches readily start yoga classes and do not enquire as to what the mantras mean or whether the “exercise” poses reflect a worship of the hindu gods.

But read what was written on 15th Feb 2006, by Cathy Lynn Grossman in USA Today entitled “Hindu Lite”:

“Reincarnation is a core belief in Hinduism, says Mark Hawthorne, who writes for Hinduism Today, but the ultimate aim is for the soul to transcend its individuality and reunite with the one God.

Yoga's mind-body workout has attracted at least 16.5 million Americans, says Yoga Journal. And, the magazine assures readers, it's not necessary to study or follow a Hindu or Buddhist path to practice.

However, authentic Hindu yoga is a 5,000-year-old discipline "designed to change your consciousness," says Hawthorne. Yoga's meditative chanting is believed to carry spiritual vibrations that bring one close to God”.
Source: (http://www.usatoday.com/life/2006-02-15-hindu-lite_x.htm)

The writer titles her article Hindu Lite! If secular writers are noticing that Hindu Lite is influencing American culture, what are churches doing about it? We are to guard against it. Any light “Lite”, be it “Zen Lite” or “TM Lite” is not compatible with the gospel, for any other philosophy is not of God. And there can be no fellowship.

2 Cor 6: 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

The same process of discernment must be applied to all other eastern customs and traditions that are popular these days. North Americans culture has been redeemed of much pagan influence over the centuries, though some still persist (e.g Halloween). But new trends must be evaluated and church members warned if necessary.

Yes, we can talk of redeeming customs from their pagan roots, but do we really want to fight that battle when we have not even reached out effectively to preach the gospel to all peoples?

As Christians we must think hard about any new eastern customs or traditions that we want to introduce in churches, and only accept customs that have no religious roots. If in doubt, it is better to wait rather than to give the devil a toehold in the sanctuary of God.

I have noted that God has gifted us differently. Some Christians are strong in their faith with regard to exposure to idols and demonic customs. Yet others, just as faithful, feel a reaction or get sick if they encounter the same. Yet the latter might be far more gifted prayer warriors than the former! Such is the Lord’s gifting and it makes us stronger as a local church family when we respect and utilize each other’s gifts to the maximum.

In that context and principle, those who argue that it is all right to allow questionable practices in to the church because they look innocuous, or are not being used in their religious context, must think of their fellow believers to whom this might be a stumbling block.

1 Cor 8:9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. 10 For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; 11 And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?

We are to remember that syncretism can affect those who are strong in faith (a reminder for those who think they are strong - 1 Cor 10:12 "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall".), but will adversely affect those who are weak or lukewarm Christians. It will definitely dilute the gospel for those who have grown up in religious Asian homes with strong teaching of Buddhism, Hinduism or Islam. As leaders, we are not to do anything that might lead people astray, for great is our judgment if we do. Appropriate research is mandatory, together with dialogue with converts from that particular religion and ethnic group, before proceeding.

It is better to wait than to err.

Amen
Dr Joshua Raj

Do you “see” the Lord?
Pondering "spiritual eyesight"

I have always been amazed at how human beings are able to overcome physical disability. Patients born without eyesight have been able to learn new ways of communication, and been productive members of society. Individuals born without upper limbs have learnt to use their feet to write and feed themselves, in ways many of us can never do.

This is the result of having practice using parts of their body that they may never have thought of using. The question to those of us who are Christ followers is this:
Do we endeavor to develop our spiritual eyesight?

I want to draw a few lessons for us from Isaiah 6, where the prophet received his commission from God.

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.


While this story chronicles Isaiah’s call, it gives some principles that we can use in our own lives.

Firstly, Isaiah “saw” the Lord (v1). Today we may not all get visions like this. God gives this gift to some, while to others, we “see” God in the scriptures, in creation, in the love of fellow believers, in the peace that comes through trusting Him and the like. The way we see will depend on how God has gifted us.

The point is: we must be willing to “see”. We must be willing to allow God to speak to us, in our heart. The prerequisite is the humble and contrite spirit

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Secondly, we learn that we must recognize our own sinfulness. When Isaiah saw the Lord, he realized his own “smallness”. (v5). One of the attributes of God is His infinitude (as Tozer said). It gives us perspective.

In the realization of his own sinfulness, Isaiah was shown that it is not what we do that brings us into God’s presence, but what He does! Just as the coal was placed on Isaiah’s lips, we see it as the forerunner of the free gift of eternal life given to us through the death of Jesus.

We can see the Lord, if we see our own sinfulness in the light of God’s glory, repent, and then accept his free gift of forgiveness through Jesus. Then, like Isaiah, we can stand before the throne of grace.

Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Lastly, in this simple study, we learn that once we are called to be God’s child, we are then called to service. (v8). To know Him is to love Him, and to willingly serve. God, is His divine wisdom and providence, has ordained that we his children on earth will do the work of reaching lost souls for Christ. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Often we think that service involves going into the mission field or into Christian service. Actually, living faithfully according to God’s word is the service required of us. Many will come to know Christ just by being around us and seeing how we live.

Christians have to be people of hope and joy. In this world of uncertainty, that hope and joy will be a wonder to those who do not know the Lord. And if we are called to some service, let us do it. Let not the devil convince us otherwise, or distract us, or deceive us. If there is a conflict between two volunteer jobs, one for the church and the other secular, give priority to the church.

John 4: 35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

Question:
Do you see the Lord daily in your life?

The answer lies in the “perspective” lens that you use.

If you look at life with an eternal perspective, and that you are here on earth for a time only, and that there is eternal purpose to what we do daily. If we live with a temporal perspective, then it will be near impossible to “see” God, and know Him.

There is no greater tragedy than to choose to be spiritually blind!

Amen

Dr Joshua Thambiraj MD., ThD

Why do we ignore the obvious? Demons exist.

Have we Christians lost the awareness of the devil and his schemes? Has the non-Christian world opened itself up to demonic activity like never before?

1 Timothy 4:1 "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; "


“Why did I do that? Doctor, is something controlling me?”

Many years ago, I was asked this question by an earnest young man, sitting quietly in his hospital clothes in the lounge area between two large wards. I had called him out to talk to him, since the wards were noisy that day, and he was not willing to open up to me unless we in a private place. It was the Psychiatric ward, and I was rotating through this posting as part of my clinicals.

The young man was found to be having antisocial and psychopathic behavior at home and was brought into hospital by his terrified parents. He had been violent and threatened to kill them.

On 12th Sept 2006, a young man in Canada ended up killing people during a shooting rampage at a school in Montreal. This is how his behavior was described by eyewitnesses:

Many witnesses described his acts as follows:
"He was all in black. He had very big black eyes . . . he was so calm, like he was dancing a waltz." A video game rather than a movie because the images are crude and undimensional, compared to films. "He said nothing. He had a stone cold face. He didn't yell out any slogans . . . he just started opening fire." (1)

While it took me sometime in 1975 to realise that I had a demon possessed patient on my hands, it was obvious to me that this was the case with this young man.

His face was blank and calm. He was obviously in a trance. Whatever demon had possessed him was intent only on doing damage. The young man then suddenly burst into a violent shooting spree. Demons can cause the possessed to be violent (Mathew 8:28).

Question:
"Why did he do it?"

Newspapers in Canada have repeatedly asked the question, “Why did he do it?”. Some have speculated that it was the gothic subculture, that made him morose and brooding, or that he was depressed, or that he was influenced by the Columbine massacre.
But his parents tell a different story. To them, he was a quiet, obedient boy, who had never had problems with the law. His mother insists her son was not the solitary, taciturn person the media have portrayed.

"He had friends and everything," she said, but adds that he had changed lately.
"Since Christmas, he became more sad, more tranquil. He started to spend more time on his computer, playing video games." (2)

Modern man does not accept that he is a created being. Humanism is the order of the day. Many profess belief in a god, but live as if god does not exist. The hypocrisy is overwhelming. I must say that I am not surprised. Jesus said that anything that is true (and He is the absolute Truth), will be rejected by the those whose minds are not tuned in to Him.

Answer:
The danger of “Giving heed to seducing spirits”

It is obvious to me that he had opened his mind to the occult. He was part of a subculture called the Goth. The Goth subculture and vampire freaks forum are nothing short of a portal for unsuspecting kids to open their mind to the demonic.

Society denies that Satan exists. By this denial, they remove the fear that man must have of all things demonic. Today, even church members get involved in soothsaying, or divination, and even fortune telling, because they are not fearful of the devil.

Coming from a nation where spiritism is rampant, I can only warn my fellow believers that we can never let our guard down. If the Holy Spirit is prompting us in our heart that there may some demonic element in what we are doing, or in the place that we are visiting, then it serves us well to avoid the situation. Again, not all of us may have the same level of sensitivity. But when we are personally aware of it, we should refrain.

Pastors and leaders should begin warning of the dangers that lurk when we allow a gate for the demons. Churches that encourage yoga, tai chi, shiatsu, new age exercises and remedies that talk of “inner power” or “external power” that is not from Jesus, are putting the flock in danger by opening them up to the demonic. Our friends and neighbors may not end up like this young man, but will more likely end up with relationship problems, behavior and temper tantrums, job failures and the like.

Question:
Does life "suck"?

On his website, the young shooter records the question many youth (and adults) are asking today:
"Work sucks ... school sucks ... life sucks ... what else can I say? (3)

Well, may I say that until we recognize who the boss is, and that God is sovereign over all, we will find that everything is meaningless? God has a plan for all of us.

If we are Christian, he wants us to live a life that is pleasing to Him, and He gives us all the power we need to resist the evil one. If we do not stay close to Jesus, and submit to Him, then the devil can irritate and confuse us, and can make our daily life more miserable than it should be.

How do we avoid the snare of the devil?

The book of James (4:7)says:
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. "

Submit to God: We are to accept what He tells us through His Word. There can be no debate or variance to what is clearly taught in scripture. We need to have contrite hearts to accept what the Lord tells us.

Resist the devil: We should know how he operates, and to know that when we are vulnerable, to use scripture promises to resist him. Our model is the Lord Jesus, who used scripture to resist the devil during his time in the wilderness.

He will flee: If we submit to God and resist the devil based on the promises of God, the devil will not bother us. We have to daily submit and resist. We are in a spiritual battle till the day we die.

Miles Stanford put it this way:
The two aspects of the Christian life are: “... death to sin (the old man, the law, the world, and Satan), and Christ as Life, with the Christian life hidden with Christ in God. Romans. 5-7 comes before Romans 8. All ascended life is predicated upon death. The believer is to be taught to count himself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11). Then, if there is to be any dealing with Cross-defeated Satan and his demons-all of whom are under the Sovereign Father's control at all times--it is simply to stand, and resist, upon the basis of his total defeat at Calvary”

Pastors and leaders have to watch themselves and those whom they look after with extra effort. Be very careful to avoid anything that may open up our life to demonic attack.

Living in the West, I find that demonic attacks mainly as a deceptive confusion of the mind, masquerading as an “enlightened” mind. It is so easy, in this era of tolerance, to end up acceding to the doctrines of demons and think it is scriptural. Just look at where the Catholics and other mainline denominations are today. Their leaders have been deceived by the devil.

Let us constantly pray for guidance and the power of the Holy Spirit to keep us on the right track.

Amen

Dr. Joshua Thambiraj MD., ThD


Footnotes:
1. The Globe and Mail 14th Sept 2006
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060915.wxcosalu15/BNStory/National/home

2. The Toronto Star 15th Sept 2006
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1158357012736&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

3. . http://www.thetrenchcoat.com/archives/1484-Kimveer-Gill.html

Wilt thou not cry unto me?

God love us to put Him first in all things. It is, not surprisingly, the first commandment of the Decalogue, and reflects the heart of God. He wants us to love Him above all things. Imagine the chagrin of a spouse who finds out that his/her partner has been unfaithful. God uses the same picture to explain to us how He feels.

Jeremiah
3:1They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.

2Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

3Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

4Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?

5Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.

We are easily distracted today. I find it so much easier to switch on the TV news, or to listen to the radio, or call a friend on the phone, or just think of work or some other matter, rather than use these extra time to think or meditate on God and Hi goodness.
Practicing the presence of God daily is not an easy exercise. It has always been a problem for human beings, even for those whom God has called to him (his people or his elect).

Anything or anyone who takes our attention away from God is an idol. But Jeremiah intimates to us that to God, who love us so much, any attention or deviation that gives power and value to something else is very painful to God. So we come back to the question - How would we feel if our spouse were unfaithful? This is the picture God uses to tell us how He feels (v. 1-2).

As I ponder this, I realize it is very painful to God. Even the trivial things that we dismiss as not very sinful, is painful to God.

Yet we often return to Him for help in times of need. God never turns us away when we come back to Him. But He wants us to be repentant and to learn from the experiences (v.2). He welcomes us back.

This is particularly so because God knows that we suffer consequences because of our sin (v.4). If a smoker develops bronchitis due to smoking, he will suffer further consequences if he does not heed the call to stop smoking. It is the same in the spiritual realm, though it may not seem so dramatic. The choice is left to us, says the Lord.

In summary:

1. God loves us so much that He is greatly pained when we ignore or disobey Him. We do that if we give too much importance to something or someone. Not everything we do is “bad”. But we may need to give up even “neutral” things that deviate our attention or take time away form God. (v.1)

2. God wants us to look at what we are doing and realise what we have done (v.2). This is often the most difficult part, because we such good rationalisers of our own actions.

3. God wants us to see that this type of behavior will affect the blessings we receive from God.(v.3) The consequences of sin will find us out, especially if we remain unrepentant.

4. God wants us to turn to Him in repentance. We are promised that God will forgive, if we are truly penitent (1 John1: 9).

God is constantly asking, “Wilt thou not turn to me?” We can safely come to His presence, no matter how great or small or indiscretions. For many of us, our sins may seem small or insignificant (e.g. we may not have murdered someone), but in God’s eyes, we have played the harlot even if our sin is “small” by human standards.

Turn to Him now and seek forgiveness. If you are a Christian, ask the Lord for forgiveness and turn from the ways that divert your attention from Him. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you, promises Jesus. It does not depend on feelings.

If you are not a Christian, there is no better time than now to accept His free gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Often, you may feel that God will not forgive you. Will God always be angry (v.5)? It is a rhetorical question, and the answer is obviously no. He has provided the way to forgiveness. The Lord always seeks to save. Thanks be to God that He is love. He has made provision for the sin, by sending Jesus to atone for our sin. Through Jesus, there is redemption and forgiveness of sin (Ephesians 1:7).

Will you turn to the Lord today?

Amen
Dr Joshua Raj

Freedom in Christ? Really knowing how much Jesus loves us can result in a totally liberating experience.

A short meditation on:

Eph 3: 17
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by
faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18May be able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height;
19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,
that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

The steps to liberation in our hearts and minds are simple. It is man who makes it complicated because he wants to do it his way. Secular philosophy and psychology purports to know how man can liberate his mind from the tyranny of daily living. But the fact is that secular theories have been abject failures.

Depression is now the number one health concern in North America. Prescriptions of the newer class of anti depressants have soared, mainly because the new drugs called SSRIs have much less side effects than the older phenothiazines. I am not sure if the discovery of SSRIs has been the beneficial to mankind. Now, apart from failed self help strategies, many are resorting to pill popping. They consume SSRIs like many people eat peanuts – by the mouthful!

But God, who made us in His image, knows what we lack.

1. We lack communion with Him – we need Christ to dwell in our hearts (Eph 3:17). This can only happen by faith. Just intellectual assent is not enough. By faith we are saved, and by faith we accept the gift of God for salvation. By faith, we know that the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us, to work through us and in us to become the person God wants us to be.

2. The indwelling Holy Spirit helps us to be rooted in the love of Christ. This love surpasses all understanding, and we can only marvel at the love that made the Son of God come down to die on the Cross for our sins. Knowing the magnitude of this love is essential (Eph 3:18). It is broader than the widest ocean, longer than the vast universe and deeper than the deepest sea, higher than the heavens above. It is infinite. My finite mind cannot fathom God’s love. But by faith, I am rooted in that love.

3. The love that passeth knowledge (Eph 3:19) has to be known, and this will liberate man from the tyranny of this world, with its bondage to sin, and the lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eyes and pride of life. It results in being filled with the fullness of God.

What is this fullness of God? What is the practical expression of this fullness?

1. The fullness of God does not mean we are suddenly sinless. It means that we are accepted despite all our shortcomings. Yet as we grow in the Lord, we see changes in our lives. Thins that interested us before pale in our new delights, things of the world pale compared to things of the Kingdom. We may find ourselves less inclined to watch TV or play golf as often as we did, and now participate in church or bible study or acts of compassion. Our focus changes and this will become evident with time.

2. A practical expression of the fullness of God is shown in the joy of the Lord filling our hearts. No matter what the circumstance, we can be sure that He is there with us, nothing need depress us. Of course we may feel the anxiety and stress at times, but these do not linger.

One good way, when we are stressed or getting depressed, is to remember the love of God, stop what we are doing and just rest in that love for about 5 to 10 minutes. It helps if we meditate on all the verses that promise us that He will never leave or forsake us. Memorize verses that are meaningful, so that they will help in time of need. Much of our anxiety will be relieved if we learn his art of practicing the presence of God.

Blessed
is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the
way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.But his delight is in
the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Psalm
1:1-2

Amen
+ Dr. Joshua Raj

Is God Disappointed?

I am always afraid to disappoint my friends. Something in me disturbs my spirit when I do not live up to what I have promised or what my friends expect of me. It is even more when it comes to my parents. My father has always worked very hard to provide for my family. As a father today, I can understand his struggles and difficulties. I must have disappointed Him many times. Though he may have been unhappy, even angry, he always continued to have my best interest at heart.

I believe the LORD has the same feelings for us. He is love, and He loves us unconditionally. Unfortunately we disappoint him all the time. At the level of the body of believers (the church), God is very disappointed in those who call themselves Christians today. Why?

It is because we have not produced the fruit that He wants us to produce.

• The fruit of the spirit on the personal level are: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance Gal 5:22

• At the level of the organized body of believers, I believe the church should be a fruitful vineyard, in that it should be a place of discipleship (for believers) and evangelism (reaching out – the Great Commission).

The church today is like the vineyard of Isaiah 5.

Isaiah 5: 1Now will I sing to
my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a
vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and
planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and
also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes,
and it brought forth wild grapes.

3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I
pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.

4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not
done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought
it forth wild grapes?

5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take
away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall
thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there
shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain
no rain upon it.

7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men
of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression;
for righteousness, but behold a cry.

The vineyard today (v.7) is the house of the Lord, the church. It applies to an organized local body or to “denominations” as we have today. There is something that God demands of these vineyards.

(v4) wherefore, when I looked that it should
bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

God’s Disappointment

Many churches today produce wild grapes. “Wild grapevines are often considered a nuisance weed, as they cover other plants with their usually rather aggressive growth” (Wikipedia)*

Is this not a picure of today’s mainline churches that have gone off focus? They have had agressive but untidy growth. Masquerading as Christians at the top, they have diluted the pure doctrines and introduced all kinds of errors into church life. Pluralism and syncretism are the order of the day. In the name of “tolerance”, many mainline churches have strayed from the path that produces good fruit.

In both the areas that matter, the church has emasculated itself of God’s power.

Discipleship has become subservient to social activities. While fellowship activities are good, they cannot replace good discipleship and teaching programs.
Evangelism becomes moot when the church sunbscribes to pluralism. That leads to grave consequences for the lost souls who need to hear the pure gospel.

How does God’s power diminish and disappear in such churches? God removes the hedge of protection:

v5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my
vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and
break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down

This is a warning to those of us who are in spiritual leadership in our homes (the smallest church group) or the local church. Are we producing good fruit or wild fruit?

God is love, but He is also just. He will give us all the opportunity to turn from ways that disappoint Him and back to the true paths. But we have to respond. At some point, He will take away the protection, and allow all manner of difficulty and destruction to come.

And this happening in all the mainline churches - which were built on the blood and sweat of godly men centuries ago. And it appears that He has removed the protective hedge in the traditional Christian lands. Churches are losing membership and property at alarming rates. Hindu temples and mosques are springing up in former church property. Crime rates are soaring. Fear is gripping the hearts of men. Depression and psychosomatic sickness has become an epidemic.

The hearts of men needs to be addressed. This can only be by preaching the true gospel. This is the responsibilty of a good vineyard.

It is a warning to us all. It is a warning to me.

Gal 1: 8 if any man preach any other gospel unto you
than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Amen.
+Dr. Joshua Raj

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape