Exodus 23:12

Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work.

Though it is a necessity for all men to work, God had laid down this instruction that we need to rest on the seventh day. This is according to the plan of God, our bodies and our organs need rest. Those of us who work in demanding jobs will understand that our bodies get tired both physically and mentally by the end of the week.

The workers in the field will feel his body aching and tired after six days of work, our internal organs are also tired and need to rest. It is when we lie down and sleep that our muscles rest and at that same time our organs also go through maintenance which is that they would also do a work of cleansing, washing out all the toxins in the organs.

If we do not rest, then our muscles will get into trouble and we will experience all kinds of aches and pain. Similarly if we do not rest and give time to the internal organs to undergo maintenance then our internal organs will also break down.

Jesus also taught us that we need to rest and in Matthew 11: 28-30 He gave the invitation “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.”

In this passage, Jesus speaks of life’s burden some of which are physical and some are emotional. Both will weigh down and have effects on our health. Emotional burdens can cause us to have emotional breakdown and problems, whereas physical burdens will also cause physical breakdown and bodily problems as well.

Jesus has invited and opens a way for us to find rest in Him. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to us and guide us and help us to overcome all our problems and heavy loads. This invitation has not ceased but is still open and valid for Jesus is alive and is among us. All that we need to do is to approach Him and find our rest in Him

Phipp 3:8

I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Paul is writing in his personal capacity of the transformation in his life after he has received salvation and the assurance of the inheritance of heaven. He says that he was ever willing to lose everything in exchange for the salvation of Jesus Christ.

What was the cost for Paul when he decided to make this change? He was born into a family of high standing in the community when he confessed that he was a Pharisee of all Pharisee, perfect in all ways according to the Mosaic Law. He explains that he was born into a well-respected pharisaic family, from the tribe of Benjamin and educated in all the law and fully observant of it.

He obeyed the law to the letter and would be seen to be perfect in terms of the standards and practice of the Pharisees. He was meticulous in following and observing all the rigid practice of the law. He was also zealous in protecting it by coming against everyone who does not observe the law and in this case he was fully against the Christians who followed Christ.

All these came to an end when Jesus appeared to him personally and convicted him of his sins and called him into the ministry of the gospel. Now that he has found the truth and the power of the gospel, Paul has given up everything related to his past. He has forsaken family, property, position and fame. Now he is a full time apostle of Jesus Christ, emptied of all material wealth and position and power.

He is now the called and chosen one of God as the apostle to the gentiles and he writes to declare that he is now a happy and free man from all worldly bondages and he is happy to exchange all the world for the salvation in Jesus Christ.

Paul also tells us that this must also be our priority, to secure and ensure our salvation and position in Jesus rather than running after worldly positions and recognition. Looking at the world and also those who are in it, we see the bondages of the lure of fame and position that so many are in bondage of. For these the positions and powers of the world is all that they are craving for and they have forgotten all about God and the kingdom of heaven.

Unfortunately we also see many believers who have grown cold and have also back slidden away from Jesus Christ.

Let’s be reminded of what Paul is instructing us here. Let us turn our eyes upon the eternal and turn away from the perishable.

1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.

In recent days, I have been seeing many posts in the FaceBook with photos depicting the love of parents and grandparents for their children and grandchildren. These pictures depict the love and sacrifices that were shown and given to the children and grandchildren.

There is a great amount of tolerance and affection given to the little ones, in turn the adults confessed their love for the little ones. They would express their joy and mysterious love that they have for the children and grandchildren.

I remember visiting my friends who are grandparents and they told me that they have so much love for their grandchildren that they must see them daily otherwise they would feel empty and incomplete for the day. They would just like to hug and kiss them; pour out their love to them.

This is the spiritual gift that God has given to us, Our Father in heaven in so much bigger and greater than us and in this direction we can say that the amount of love He has for us is proportionate to His bigness. If God is immeasurable, surely then His love to us is also immeasurable.

The scripture is full of reminder to us that God is love and He desires the same for us. The scriptures also tell us that because of this love, God is most merciful when His children sinned against Him. We can see how frustrated He was when His children repeatedly turned against Him and rebelled. He had to punish them for their sins but even when He does, He set in place a plan of mercy and redemption for His people.

As we have seen from biblical history, God did punish but after a time He will restore and forgive. He also gave them a choice and a chance to turn back to Him. Even when the people did not repent, God’s love will lead Him to be merciful and forgiving. He will gather His children back like a mother hen gathers her chicks.

In today’s understanding many people would not be able to understand this analogy of the mother hen gathering her chicks. For those who are older and have grown up with experience in rearing chicken, the mother hen will call all her chicks to her and come under the shelter of her wings when rain breaks out or when she sensed danger around her.

The mother hen would call and all the chicks would respond and run to hide under the protection of her wings. This again illustrates the love of God that He has put into all living creatures.

In my garden, I see many birds that are flying and resting around and I see the love that they have for each other. We are in winter now but in spring, we will soon see the little chicks coming out and learning to fly with their parents which would be patient and loving to guide and teach them.

All these remind us of the love that God has for all His creation whether it is man or the animals. God is love and He tells us that we must also love each other as He has loved us. 

Gen 45: 8

It was not you who sent me here, but God.

We read of the account of the meeting between Joseph and his brothers when they came to Egypt to buy food when the famine has struck the land. Much time had passed since Joseph was sold as a slave to Egypt and he had spent a long time in prison for being falsely accused of seducing his master’s wife.

Now Joseph has already been vindicated and is the Prime Minister of the whole of pharaoh’s empire and has been governing the land for over two years for pharaoh and making huge profit for pharaoh as well. Joseph was much loved by the pharaoh and he had absolute power over the entire kingdom and was only under the pharaoh in power.

Now when Joseph’s brothers were brought before him, they came in fear as they were aware of the position and authority of Joseph. Then when Joseph saw them and revealed himself to them, they were even more afraid as they realized their past error. They beg and asked Joseph for mercy and in reply Joseph did not accused them of any wrong doing but said instead that it was God who had sent him there.

Ordinarily, any men would have been angry and unforgiving to those who have wronged them but instead Joseph told them he did not bear any grudges and revealed that it was God who arranged for his being brought to Egypt for his mission of preparing the nation for a great famine and also to provide for his family.

This brings us to the understanding that God works in mysterious ways; we may not understand some events at first, even though things may not seem right but the end result is that God’s perfect plans would be revealed and then we will be able to see the full picture. God’s ways are higher than ours and His thoughts are higher than ours.

The scriptures remind us that we are to walk by faith and not by sight. God’s plans are above our understanding. He sees far into the future whereas we see only the present circumstances around us.

We need to seek God’s gift of discerning to be able to know and understand His will and plans for us.

Roms 8: 2
The law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Paul was given the honor by Jesus Christ to receive the revelation on the doctrine of salvation and in the book of Romans Paul dealt with the different aspects of this doctrine exhaustively. In this chapter, he is explaining the freedom that the Holy Spirit has given us to be free from the law of sin and death.

The law is revealed in Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Then Paul further wrote in Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul has explained that all men have sinned and fallen short of the standard of God and because of their sin; they are already condemned to the punishment of death. However God had made a way for man to escape this eternal death, this is through the salvation of Jesus Christ and also through the law of the Spirit that keeps us free from the law of sin and death.

Now that we have this freedom and assurance, we must treasure this as Paul says in Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. This is the gift of God that since we have been made free from sin, we must preserve this through developing and growing in the fruit of holiness.

This means that each day, we must determine to walk in holiness and to also build up our holiness continually. This is the path of sanctification that we need to embark on and to persevere. Granted that we are buffeted with temptations on a daily basis, but we have the Holy Spirit in us who helps and strengthen us to overcome all the temptations of sin. However we know that by our own strength, we do occasionally succumb to the temptation of sins.

When this occur, we are reminded that the Holy Spirit is our advocate and He helps us to intercede through the prayer in the Holy Spirit through moans and groans. The Holy Spirit will help us to repent of our sin and not to be condemned by it. The main thing is genuine repentance and asking for forgiveness and mercy from God, then the Holy Spirit will intercede on our behalf.

As Paul said, the Holy Spirit has set us free from the law of sin and death; we must endeavour to remain free from sin daily and continuously.

Joshua 7: 12

I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

This is the occasion where God had exposed the sins of Achan who had stolen and hidden some of the treasures from Jericho in his tent. God had specifically instructed Joshua to order that nothing of the enemy must be taken. All material things that have been align with idol worship must be destroyed.

We are not to crave for the gold or the silver that these items are made of. No matter how much value is attached to the items, they are all abominations to God and anyone harbouring them bring and abomination to their home. In the case of Achan because he sinned by hiding some of the articles in his tent, he brought the full judgement of God upon the whole nation and God told Joshua that until the one who had committed the sin is punished, the whole nation would suffer.

This is a lesson for us that we must not crave after unholy wealth. We must not be consumed with the greed of worldly wealth and compromise with our relationship with our God. When this happens then we will find ourselves being separated from God.

It is very clear in today’s verse that when we choose the items that belong to idol worship then the presence of God will be lifted from us and we will be abandoned by Him to our destruction. This is a strong lesson to us as I have seen how people were held under the bondage of demonic possession when they do not let go of all the idolatrous possessions.

In my experience of spiritual warfare, some of the victims could not be delivered until all idolatrous items in their possessions are destroyed and only then could their ties with the demonic be cut free.

Luke 9: 23

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

Jesus reminds us that once we have decided to follow Him, there must be a dramatic change in our lives. The change must be that our old lifestyle must be removed and we need to have a new lifestyle which is focused upon the values of Christian living.

To help us to get along, Jesus said that He would send us a helper who is the Holy Spirit. He will become our comforter and advocate. Jesus said in John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and I will be in you.

Jesus said that the world does not know the Holy Spirit and they cannot receive the Holy Spirit. Only believers of Jesus can have the Holy Spirit for He resides in each of us.

The work of the Holy Spirit is also to point the world of unbelievers to Jesus Christ and He will guide us into all truth. We ae also told by Paul in Roms 8:11 that the Spirit is the source of life. ‘But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.’

The evident of having the Holy Spirit in us proves that we have a new relationship with God the Father. In Roms 8: 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

In vs 14- 16 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption when we cry out ‘Abba, Father.' the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are Children of God.

This is the privilege and advantage that we have, the Holy Spirit cares for us and He prays for us. Only believers in Jesus have this and no one else.