John 3: 16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

This is the proclamation by Jesus Christ giving us a clear outline of His mission when He came to earth as the confirmation of God’s plan for all sinners. We also know that without Jesus we too have no hope of salvation and eternal life.

But praise God that with the coming of Jesus, we now have the assurance as Jesus proclaimed in John 11: 25-26 “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

This is the hope and promise that we have; as long as we believe in Jesus and put our trust in Him, then we would be assured of this eternal life and we would not have to suffer eternal death in Hell.

Though this is the case, nevertheless to gain eternal life, there needs to be a crossing over from the realm of the natural to the realm of the supernatural. This means that the only way to inherit eternal life is that we must leave this perishable body behind and only then can we cross over an inherit eternal life.

This is important for us to remember and not to hold too tight to earth things which are all perishable. What the world can offer may be attractive today but it can be gone tomorrow. Look at the effects of the destructive forces of nature and also the destructive forces of riots and war.

All these forces which are unpredictable can occur at any one time without giving any form of notice. One moment it is there and the next moment it can be gone and destroyed forever.

While we understand this assurance from Jesus Christ, we must respond to it by separating ourselves away from the distraction and bondage of the world and to focus on securing the promise of Jesus Christ instead.

John 3: 20

Everyone who does evil hates the light.

The gospel in John emphasizes that there are only two choices for men that is, one that is evil and leads to eternal judgement in Hell or secondly it is salvation which leads to eternal life. What we do and how we live on earth will determine which destiny we will be headed to.

In this chapter John said in 3;18 He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

In the earlier verse John said that ‘God did not send His Son to the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.’ This was the plan of God, He already knew that the judgement He passed on Adam at the Garden of Eden still stands and all men who sin (and every man is a sinner) shall be condemned into eternal judgment in Hell.

Therefore to save men, God send His son to the earth for the specific purpose of saving mankind and not to condemn it. Jesus is the light of the world and anyone who comes to Him come to the Light. Anyone who turns away from Jesus turns away from the light and turns towards darkness.

This is what John says in John 3: 20 ‘Everyone who does evil hates the light’. It can also be rephrased as anyone who does evil hates Jesus. We can see the behavior of the people in the world today, all believers in Jesus Christ truly love Him and all who do not believe in Jesus Christ hate Him and also His believers.

That is the reason we see so much Christian persecution going on around the world. In many Antichrist countries, Christians are being killed daily and pastors and leaders are also being kidnapped and tortured and finally martyred. This is an ongoing phenomenon even today.

Looking around the world, churches and church leaders must teach and remind the believers of the challenges ahead that the believers will face. The day will come when everyone of them would be challenged for their faith.

Today I read in the news that more and more of the western Christian countries are being targeted by the Antichrist believers to turn them into Antichrist ideology countries. Sadly I just saw that the senior pastor of a big church in the USA has changed his name to that of one of the Antichrist ideological names.

Apostasy is coming and as Jesus had prophesied, there will be a great falling away from the Christian faith in these last days.  Be strong, be courageous and be faithful until we receive the crown from Jesus.

Eph 3: 12Through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

Once I was leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and had to transit halfway to change flight. We had a few hours of layover at the airport and one of the pilgrims who is a business man and he had the facilities to bring in guests into the VIP lounge. He was kind enough to bring me in as his guest and I was able to enjoy all the luxurious facilities in the VIP lounge.

I would not have that privilege if it was not for this kind brother. In a similar aspect, now we too have a friend who can invite us into the VIP room of heaven where we can come into interaction with God. He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is our friend and saviour. He is the One who leads us and invites us to have fellowship with His Father in heaven.

When we were yet sinners separated from God, Jesus Christ came to be our friend and Saviour so that He can invite us into the presence of the Father God. This is a mystery because though all are called but few are chosen to enjoy this privilege. Paul also acknowledged this when he wrote in Eph 3: 8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Paul acknowledged his wretchedness as a vile and wicked man in the past who had persecuted the Church and Jesus Christ and he had cause much grief and hurt to the body of Christ. He humbled himself to write in Gal 1: 13-14 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jew’s religion, how that beyond measure I persecute the church of God and wasted it. And profited in the Jew’s religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

Gal 1: 23 But they heard only, that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.

This is the mysterious way that God works; he takes the most unlikely person in the world to be his honoured vessel and to accomplish His plans. In the case of Paul, everyone who knew him was surprised including Paul himself. He was such a wicked man that it was not an easy thing for anyone to believe in his conversion and transformation.

When he was converted by Jesus Christ and then having been taught by Jesus and having received much revelation on the doctrine of salvation he was not readily accepted by the other apostles and the church. They could not believe his genuine conversion at first but God opened the door for him to be accepted into the fellowship of believers and into the brotherhood of the apostles.

Paul also confessed his past when he wrote in Eph 2: 11-12 wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

Therefore when we look at the way that God choose and raise His workers, we are reminded that God does not see the outward appearance of men but he looks into the hearts of man and their qualities that God can use for His kingdom work.

Num 14: 24

Because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.

When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and they were at the edge of the Promised Land, he sends 12 spies to spy out the land. Ten of them came back with negative and discouraging reports whereas Joshua and Caleb came back with good reports. Because both of them had a positive spirit, God said in today’s scriptures that He will bring Caleb into the Promised Land and will also allow his descendants to inherit it.

God fulfilled this promise 45 years later in Joshua 14: 14 “Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb unto this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.” Clearly we can see the love of God and his blessing upon those who are faithful and obedient to His commands. This blessing does not only come upon those who are obedient, but it also flows down to the future generations.

God promised this and He did it as seen in the case of Caleb. We are promised that God’s words and promises are eternal, what he has promised the patriarchs do not stop there but His love and promises are the same. God is eternal and His words and promises are also eternal.

Jesus told us that every word that has been spoken in scriptures will be fulfilled and His very mission was to fulfill God’s promises. This is a strong encouragement for all believers that whatever promises that God had given to the patriarchs, all these will eventually be fulfilled and we His children today will be able to receive the fulfillment of his promises made long ago.

As for heads of families today, we have even a greater responsibility to be like Joshua and Caleb to be faithful and obedient to God’s command upon our lives. Just as God’s blessing came upon the descendants of Caleb, the same blessing of God can also come upon our future generations and to secure that, we must obey God just as Joshua and Caleb did.

Daily Devotions 24th Feb 2017

1 Thess 4: 13

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.

In this letter to the Thessalonians, Paul assures them that we who are the children of God are different from the world; these people who do not have the salvation of Jesus Christ are lost forever whereas we His children have the assurance of eternal lives.

Paul is reminding us of this position that we have in Christ and we should be fixed in our faith and not waver through doubts. We must remove all doubts that as we maintain a daily dedicated relationship with our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, and then we are assured of our place in heaven with Him.

Paul said, ‘do not grieve like the rest of the world who have no hope.’ This is the difference between the lost in the world and we the children of God. In Christian circles, whenever there is a death, the family and believers would not have excessive grief for the scriptures assure us that the loved one who has left is at a much better place in heaven.

Though there may be temporary grief but the hearts of the believers are comforted with this assurance and confidence. Whereas the non-believers would continue to grieve because they know that their loved ones would not be able to get to heaven.

This is indeed a sad truth as the non-believers are lost and have no hope. In addition they do not know how and where to seek for salvation. As such we the believers have the responsibility to go out and share the gospel as commanded by Jesus Christ in the Great Commission.

Let us be reminded that this is our calling, every one of the children of God has this call, and they cannot wait for others to do it. They are called and they must rise and do it.

Daily Devotions 23.Feb.2017

Phip 3: 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Like all men, Paul also had his weaknesses and failures. In his past while he was a zealot for the temple, he was one of the most notorious persecutors of the Christians. He was arrogant, obnoxious and generally a violent man. However after Jesus had personally appeared to him and gave him a calling to bring the gospel to the gentiles, Paul had a complete turn over and became a whole new person.

In this letter to the Philippians in verse 13-14 Paul wrote; I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize.

Paul did not look back and allow his past failure to weigh him down with guilt. No one can go back to the past and undo whatever mistakes they have done. Another way of putting it is we cannot rewind the clock anymore. Just like sometimes we adjust the hands of the clock by rewinding it backwards, that is not possible in life.

We cannot revisit our past anymore, there is no point crying over spilled milk, we need to look forward and look to the future. In our age, we cannot look back to the days of our youth; we cannot try and do what we did when we were young. Now we are older, we need to act more maturely and prepare and plan for the days ahead.

In the case of Paul he relates this vision of the future as a parallel to running the race as an athlete. Every athlete has only one aim and that is that he may be the winner in the race and to win the prize.

This must also be our aim and purpose as a Christian that we may also run the race of our life for the single purpose of winning the crown of glory and also our inheritance in heaven.

Daily Devotions 22.2.2017

John 8: 11Neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared.

Jesus represented the Father while He was here on earth. He came in His own capacity as the Son and He is part of the trinity of the Godhead. Being so, His heart is the same as the Father. Though God hates sin but He is compassionate to forgive every sinner and to give each one endless opportunity to repent and return back to Him. God does not shut the door to repentance and salvation; it is the sinner who shut his door but being stubborn and rebellious.

The grace of Jesus was seen not only when He said this to the adulteress that He did not condemn her but even when He was beaten and tortured by the crowd during His crucifixion. He had suffered tremendous pain at the hands of His attackers but as He hung on the cross and in His dying breath called out to the Father to forgive them.

Jesus interceded for the sinners in Luke 23: 34 “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” His heart was broken but yet it was tender and merciful. He still was loving and forgiving. Jesus said in John 3: 16 ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believed in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’

This same love was in Jesus, the love for sinners never left Him for He knew that it was for this purpose that He came to die for them. In his letter to Timothy, Paul also expounded on this grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. Paul acknowledged that he was a great sinner but because of the love and grace of God, he was given a second chance and was even called to become an apostle.

In 1 Tim 1:12-14 And I thank Jesus Christ our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly I unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

Throughout the bible we can read of God’s mercy and grace. Except for the fallen angels that fell together with Lucifer who were not given a chance to repent, all other men are given more than ample chances to repent and to return back to Him. No matter how great a sin man can commit, as long as he repents genuinely, God will hear in heaven and will forgive their sins.

Such is the love of our God. Let us hold firm to this privilege. 

Daily Devotions 21.Feb 2017

1 Thess 1:8The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--- your faith in God has become known everywhere

Paul is crediting the believers in Thessalonica for their faith in Jesus Christ and their good works which have spread throughout the region. This is the region of Europe which is part of the Grecian peninsular and predominantly the people are well educated and are great philosophers. In terms of culture and religion, these people used to believe in and worshipped multiple gods.

We are familiar with Greek mythology and all the ancient stories of gods and strange supernatural beings. However as people who are thinkers and who are seeking for the truth, they found the truth in the Gospel that Paul had brought to them in early years. Now there has been a strong and scriptural based church which not only teach the word of God but they moved in a great demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul wrote in verse 5-6 ‘…because our gospel came to you not with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction…you became imitators of us and the Lord,…’

Vs 7 ‘And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia…vs 9 .. they tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.’

Paul confirmed that the Thessalonian Church had been faithful to the teachings of the apostles and they have become true disciples doing exactly what they have seen and heard the apostles did. This is what Christian leadership is about. As the apostle have learned and received from Jesus, they in turn passed on what they have to others in the body of Christ.

In other words, leaders must duplicate themselves through the Church. What they have received, they are to pass it on to others. This is true disciple making. Jesus commanded that we go to the ends of the world preaching and baptising and making disciples.

This is the great commission, not only to preach the gospel but we are also to make disciples so that the work can be carried on for posterity. We are here for a short time and a short season, when our work is over then we need to pass it on to others. No one is supposed to hang on forever. This was what Jesus showed the disciples and in turn they too passed on the mission to others who reached the whole world with it.

Let us also be the faithful ones like the Thessalonians and become good testimonies for the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever we are.

Daily Devotions 20th Feb 2017

Jeremiah 17: 8They will be like a tree planted by the water.

The context of today’s scripture starts from verse 5-7 onwards which reads, ‘Cursed is the one who trust in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a slat land where no one lives.’

This is a warning to all who turn their backs to God and who rely on their own strength and human resources. When the people turn away from God, they invoke a curse upon their lives, because verse 5 clearly tells us this.

Then this warning turns into a blessing if the people turn back to God. In verse 7-8 it says; ‘But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.’ Jeremiah made a comparison of a person who is obedient to God, instead of facing the wrath of God and bearing His wrath, an obedient believer will receive the blessing of God.

Jeremiah liken it to the example of a tree planted besides the river where its roots will go deep and strong. It would also be continuously able to draw the life giving water from the river. The tree would be strong and healthy with much leaves and will bear much fruit.

Jeremiah is illustrating a comparison of a strong and fruitful tree to that of a faithful believer. He will also have a strong spiritual life; his faith will be secured upon the foundation of the word of God which is compared to the fresh running water in the river which will give him the spiritual nourishment. With the strong foundation of the scriptures in his life, the faithful believer will not be shaken even when facing the strongest storms.

Today the Christian community at home is still very much affected by the abduction of a pastor by an unknown gang of men over the last week. However the pastor’s family members are believers who are well grounded in the word and they are spiritually matured. No matter what happens, they are looking to God and trusting in Him. They are comforted in that they know that God is still in control and even in the worst case scenario they know that God is still in control.

This is a simple illustration of what Jeremiah is saying in today’s verse, the family members are like a tree planted by the water. Having said that let us stand in unity in intercession for the pastor and his family at this very testing and challenging time. Let us continue to pray and believe in a miracle from God for this family.

Daily Devotions 19th Feb 2017

Eph 2 :5By grace you have been saved.

I read today that in Nigeria a terrorist group has been systematically killing hundreds of thousands of Christians in their attempt to remove Christianity from the country. Similarly the persecution of Christians in other parts of the world is also intensified. Many hundreds of thousands of Christians in the ongoing war zone of the Middle East countries have become martyrs for the Lord.

Just last week a pastor was abducted along a busy highway by men in ski masks travelling in three SUVs in broad daylight where traffic was heavy. Security cameras in the surrounding houses had captured the whole episode of the criminal abduction. At the time of writing no one knows where the abducted pastor is, there has been no contact and no ransom demanded.

From past events, there was also a similar case of abduction of a senior civil servant and sadly he was found murdered. This is the pattern of challenge that the people of God face in the present spread of the work of the Antichrist world-wide.

Just in the US there is a concerted effort of the Antichrist leaders and followers who are actively sabotaging the elected President and his government. This lawlessness is funded by billionaires who want to bring in the new world Order.

The bible tells us that lawlessness will increase in the last days that we are in. Our safety, our faith will be challenged and threatened. This is not a surprise as this has been going on since the times of the early Church and throughout Church history the people of God have all been experiencing persecution.

However we must not be worried or concerned because God knows all these beforehand and He assures us that His grace is sufficient for us to overcome or endure all these. We have been saved by grace and His grace will see us through.

This morning while in Church, I heard personal testimonies of how God has answered the cries of His people. He has lifted them from their difficult situations. Our God is alive and the same yesterday, today and forever, this is the God whom we serve and this is the God whose grace is able to see us through all challenges and dangers.

Daily Devotions 18th Feb 2017

John 8: 7
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

The temple scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who was caught in adultery to Jesus and they wanted to test Him by quoting the Law of Moses which demanded that anyone caught in adultery must be stoned to death. They were trying to test Jesus and to find fault with him.

How could he answer them and justify the law? Is He said that she has not broken the law then they would have accused Him as a flase teacher. Jesus knew their hearts and intention and all He did was He stooped down and began to write on the ground with His finger as though He has not heard them. He did not want to entertain them in argument.

Finally He said ‘He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone at her.’ Jesus did not say that the woman was guiltless but instead He reverses their accusation to reflect upon the accusers that they were imperfect and were sinners as well. He spoke so casually but sharply that He words pricked their conscience so deep that they were convicted of their own sin and corrupt nature.

The words of Jesus burned in their hearts and one by one the Holy Spirit caused them to be filled with remorse and they turned away. This is the power of God who promised us that no weapon that is formed against will prosper.

This is the grace of God who not only grants us He salvation but He also gives us the gifts of the Holy Spirit. What we cannot do, He will do for us. I was just informed by some friends that there was this member who had been under oppression for a couple of years and who withdrew from everybody but God did a miracle and restored this believer just as He restored the woman in this text. Jesus simple said “neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

This is the merciful God who we worship and serve, though He has given the laws and He is strict but yet His love and mercy are greater than His discipline. God does not want to punish His children if they are ready to repent and to live righteously after that. In the case of the woman, we know that she did repent and became a close follower of Jesus and in fact she was one of the women who followed Him to the cross.

We also read about the life of David who wrote most of the psalms and in them David confessed his sins whenever he had sinned against God. Though David was also punished for some of his mistakes but after the punishment, God always restored him to his position as a favoured son of God. In fact David is so favoured that his name is recorded for all eternity as a reference for our teaching.

Like David and the woman who was caught for adultery we too are just as sinful as the scribes and Pharisees. We too must be remorse about the sins we have committed against God and repent just as they did. Only then can we be forgiven when we called to God like David did when he said; ‘create in me a clean heart O lord and renew a right spirit within me.’ When we cry out to God, He wills surely hear and forgive.

Daily Devotions 17th Feb 2017

John 8: 32
And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

Jesus said ‘I am the way, the truth and the light and no one come to the Father but by me.’ The world is seeking for the truth of life and it is turning to different ideologies trying to seek the truth.

Where I am at this city, I saw the advertisement by a Christian cult which puts up their scriptures on the TV popular programs enticing the people to read the scriptures of their cult and to experience their teachings.

There is also another cult which is also very hard working; they have stands, manned by their faithful workers beside the train and bus stations where they hand out literature on their teachings. They claim to be another denomination of the Christian faith but we know them to be cults for a long time.

Yet I also see that there are some in the west who run after Asian mysticism such as Yoga, other Indian religions and practices, some also run after Buddhism, meditation, etc. The sad thing is that a good number of these were former Christians or who come from Christian homes.

Then the latest shock is that many Christians have also run after the radical IS terrorists. Some have joined these and some girls are offering themselves as wives and sex slaves to these terrorists. They do that thinking that their ideology is something exciting and worthy not knowing that their ideology is totally demonic.

In the world today the people continue to rebel against God as they had thousands of years ago. The god of this world, Satan has blinded their eyes and mind and have cause them to believe in lies and deception instead of the gospel. They have fallen into the trap of the devil and are completely disillusioned by the devil’s teachings. They have deserted the truth and have become captives of the devil and are deeply in bondage.

Jesus came to set the captives free, He saw that all men are under the bondage of lies and therefore He came to bring the truth of the Gospel and He declared in John 8: 32 And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

Therefore it is important that every believer in Jesus Christ must study the word and be strong in the word so that they can put on the full armour of God and stand against all the wiles of the devil that is thrown against us.

Daily Devotions 16.Feb.2017

John 9: 25

One thing I do know: I was blind but now I see!

This was the statement by the blind man who was healed by Jesus when the Pharisees and temple leaders questioned him about his healing. These spiritual leaders were against Jesus and made all kinds of accusations and denial for the healing of the man who was blind. They accused the poor man of all kinds of false accusation about hiss blindness.

Finally all he could do was to speak the truth when he said; ‘One thing I do know: I was blind but now I see.’ A blind man cannot see a single thing, everything would be dark, and he would not be able to see any light and sight and movement. He can sense that there are people and things around him, he sense the sound and movements but he would not see them.

I have seen quite a number of blind people in the city as I move around, some of them have developed a high sense of independence, they can cross the road at traffic lights, and they can board trams, trains and buses. They can remember where the shops and restaurants are and they can get around.

In spite of all these, they are still handicapped with their blindness. They cannot see the beauty around them, they can hear and smell but they cannot see. We remember the story of five blink men who were lead to an elephant and they touched different parts of the elephant. From their touch they perceive what an elephant is and each gave a different picture of what they think an elephant looks like.

In the world the people who do not know Jesus and the Father God, they are living in spiritual blindness. They do not know who God is and what he is like. This morning I met a young man who came and collected something from the house and in the process I asked him whether he is a Christian. He came from the South Pacific Islands which are all 100% Christian nations but he was not taught and brought up in the Christian faith.

We do not know if it was the church or the family that did not reach out and give the teaching but the end result is that there are many in the world from Christian nations, Christian homes and society who still do not know Jesus. They have not heard of the Gospel, they have not heard the word of God and do not know the promises of God.

They have no knowledge of God’s love and promises given in the scriptures and therefore they are still spiritually blind. These are people lost and under the bondage of the devil. Their lives are controlled by the devil and they have no chance to receive salvation. This is why there are millions of people in the world who are without Christ are being used by Satan to create trouble in the world.

They persecute Christian pastors/leaders and the persecute Christians in their Antichrist nations. Their master the devil is in control of their lives and is using them to conquer the world through invasion as refugees into western countries and then they begin to spread their ideology. Today many western cities are in turmoil and lawlessness.

Soon it will continue to spread to many more countries. This lawlessness will continue to spread and will lead to the coming tribulation soon. The time is getting shorter and we the church must continue to bring the light to the world and to healed the world of its spiritual blindness.

Daily Devotions 15 Feb 2017

Roms 5: 21

Just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rues instead.

Paul confirms that without Jesus, sin rules over us. From a new born to the very old, our sin nature is always in control and unless we have the grace of God and the empowering of the Holy Spirit that gives us the wisdom and strength to bridle our tongue and also to control our anger, we will naturally be lead to react in acts of sin.

Even little babies throw their temper and scream when they want something. Young children too can tell lies without showing any emotions. No children need to be taught to lie but every child needs to be taught not to lie. Every child also has bad behaviour which is also an inborn nature but every child needs to be taught good behaviour and good manners.

This morning I was at the McDonalds for breakkie and I met two grand parents with their grandchild, they were giving the grandchild a treat. When I talked with them, they taught their grandchild to address me. They took the effort to impart good behaviour and good manners to their innocent grandchild. This is the love of the grandparents to their grandchildren

King David wrote in Psalm 51: 5 Behold I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. David confessed that all men are born with the sin nature and we inherit this from our parents as all men inherited this from the first parents, Adam and Eve. We inherit our parents’ DNA which is the sin nature and evil hearts and minds.

Paul also highlighted this problem in Rom 5: 12 Wherefore; as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

However God is a loving Father and He loves all men who are His children. Just as the doting grandparents love and want the best for their grandchildren, how much more our heavenly Father wants the best for us. God does not want anyone to lose their salvation, He is loving and patient and He pour out this love upon all men.

Paul continued in Rom 5: 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.  Paul reminds that when the law was given, the acts of men are judged according to the law and their transgression against the law revealed their sins. When there are sins, then the sinners would be judged and condemned.

However, God being a loving and merciful God, He covers our sins with His grace and mercies. Paul said that God is giving us the sinners more opportunities to repent and to be reconciled back to Him. Paul said where there is much sin, God also increase His grace so that we may have the opportunities to come before Him in repentance and to receive His forgiveness and to escape the eternal judgement.

God is the loving heavenly Father who dotes over us, He loves us and bless us. Most of all He does not want to see us falling into Hell. He is long suffering and merciful giving us more and more of His grace so that we can qualify for His love and blessing.

We can give an analogy like God being a kind school teacher who is lenient and try his best to get the students to earn enough marks to pass the exam. God does not want us to fail.

Daily Devotions 14th Feb 2017

1 John 4:9

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

This morning when I went to the shopping mall to get some groceries, I saw bouquets of fresh flowers and lots of red rose stalks. Then I remembered that today is ‘Valentine Day’ and in the western culture it is such an important day when couples young and old give flowers and presents to their loved ones. Some people think that this is only meant for the young people to celebrate but the older couples do celebrate too.

Generally people appreciate love and attention from others especially from those whom they love. The gifts that they bring will demonstrate the level of love they have for their lovers. How expensive would the gift be? Many would take their love to a special dinner tonight, then perhaps to a dance or a movie. The amount of expenses spent will demonstrate the amount of love from one person to another.

In the scripture today, we see God giving to us a gift which is immeasurable. This gift is the most precious gift that He could give, it is the gift of His only Son, Jesus Christ who came and lived on earth in order that He could personally bring the gospel of Salvation, He could also give us the Holy Spirit who enables us to do the works of the Kingdom with the power to do miracles, signs and wonders.

Jesus demonstrated this power by showing and setting an example for us to follow. He tend promised to pass on this gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. Jesus said in Acts 1: 4-5 …”Do not leave Jerusalem, nut wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Considering this, we now understand that God gave us such a big present that it came in two parts. First God gave us His Son to die for us on the cross so that by His blood our sins are washed clean, by His stripes we are healed of all diseases. By His resurrection He defeated death and now we can inherit eternal life.

The second part is that God gave the third person of the ‘trinity’ who is the Holy Spirit to be our teacher, counselor, friend, empowerer so that we may receive His anointing and His power to perform all kinds of miracles including healing of diseases and casting out of demons and raising the dead.

These two gifts that God gave to us demonstrated His limitless love for us who are sinners. He loved us so much that He gave the second and third persons of the ‘Trinity’ to man so that we can get to know Him better and to turn back to Him. Sadly too many of the believers have lost their first love, they have turned back to the world and their relationship with God is only luke warm and superficial.

God wants us to be on fire for Him, truly dedicated and committed to Him and His ways. Only then can we be acceptable to Him and are able to secure our salvation. 

Daily Devotions 13th Feb 2017

John 20: 25

Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

The English has a saying, ‘seeing is believing’ this tells us that most people are very pragmatic. They want to have solid proof before they will believe or accept certain truths. The present form of education where emphasis is on critical thinking and questioning, has caused many to have doubts on things of the Spirit.

It is often that when the Gospel is shared, many cannot accept the gospel of Salvation because they cannot rationalize the plan of Salvation that God had given to us. Then again when this doubt has been overcome there is yet another hurdle which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The mode of teaching in higher institute of learning has emphasized on philosophical thinking.

This kind of teaching tends to make a person consider himself to be wise and he will not accept things that he cannot analyse or reason out. In everything he will try and find an excuse or a reason that would disprove the ‘thought’ that is taught. They will pride themselves out of the belief that there is a God and He will real and living through us.

They will not be able to remove this doubt of the person of the Holy Spirit and His work. Therefore we can see that many of the well-educated who pride themselves as great thinkers and leaders will find that they cannot accept the Holy Spirit’s baptism. It is only when they have repented and renounce this unbelieve that they would be able to receive the baptism.

There are many doubting Thomas’s in our Christian Church today especially among the traditional Churches where many man made regulations are in place. These who quench the Holy Spirit and their Churches are dry and unproductive.

These Churches will be without power and they will remain as a reserved and dry Church. However those Churches who believe in and receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and they move in the grace and anointing of the HS, these will flourish and will grow exponentially.

Daily Devotions 12.Feb 2017

2 Cor 8:7See that you …excel in this grace of giving.

The servants of Jesus Christ were told to minister by faith as He had. Jesus and His disciples needed financial support as they went about from town to town sharing the gospel of salvation. They share the word, healed the sick and most of these were people from the poorer class. In return these showed their gratitude to Jesus and His disciples by giving to their support.

What they gave was not something very substantial but they gave what they could afford. Many of these were women who had very little income of their own but they were the ones who had remained faithful in their support. Luke 8: 1-3 After this Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. The twelve were with him and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary Magdalene from whom seven demons had come out. Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

From the time of Jesus Christ the main support for ministries were from the grassroots. Though there are other richer people around, but the main support was from the faithful who are mainly the wage earners and the poorer ones.

The support that the Apostles received were the same and Paul wrote to commend the sacrificial offerings of the grassroots believers in Corinth who had been faithfully supporting him. In the verse we are studying today, we see that Paul encouraged the believers to continue to do so in this grace of giving. The work of the ministers and the Kingdom need financial support. There has been a consistency in the teaching from both the Old and New Testaments on giving to the Lord’s work.

In fact from the time of Moses, tithing had been taught and encouraged. Though it is a requirement there was never a compelling to do so. God had always promised that by the measure you give that would be the same measure you will receive.

Can we imagine that when we give to the Lord a cupful that would be the same measure he will give to us but if we compare it to giving through a bucketful, then God would also give to us by that same measure. His blessings will come upon us as bucketful. That is why Jesus said that by the measure we give that would be the measure we will receive.

In Luke 6: 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured onto your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measure to you.

Today all Christian ministries remain the same; all operate in faith and must rely on the support of like-minded believers. Some are national bodies, some are local bodies and some are individuals, the needs are the same. Everyone needs the same support to sustain their cost of operation. Believers are encouraged to give their support wherever they can.

Daily Devotions 11th Feb 2017

Psalm 139: 3

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

In this psalm David declares the Omniscience of God when he started off in verse 1 ‘You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down.’ As David continues he acknowledged that our God is truly omniscience and though He is far away in the third heaven, but yet His ears and His eyes hear our cries and He sees all that we do.

David declares that God’s eyes are upon us 24/7 and His ears too are open to our cries continuously. There is nothing on earth or even beneath the earth which can be hidden from God. He knows us when we get up and when we lay down. In fact before anything happens or before we think about saying anything, He already knows and He prompts us.

Personally speaking, I have experienced God’s presence and prompting in many instances where even before I could decide anything, He was already prompting my spirit. Sometimes it is a confidence and surety that the decision I was making is right and sometimes, I also get the prompting that what I was planning was not the right thing.

There were some instances that in the flesh I decided to proceed with what I wanted even when the Holy Spirit had given me a prompting that I should not pursue the plan and the result was I fell flat on my face. At other times when I hear from Him and obeyed then He took care of the situation even though at that time things did not look good. I have since learned to be obedient but must confess that I am in no way perfect but trying to walk in obedience.

This is what David is also teaching us, we must die to self and surrender totally to God in our lives. In order to please Him and to secure our relationship with Him, there is no other way but to obey all His commands and to walk in His precepts.

It is only then that we can enjoy that intimate relationship with God just like David did. These days we are beginning to see that many of the believers are becoming more and more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit as we build a closer relationship with God.

The way to do this is to repent of our sins and to spend long and quality time with Him for He has promised that when we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. 

Daily Devotions 10th Feb 2017

John 13: 23

One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.

The scene at dinner is one that is familiar with many other cultures in Asia where the dinners will sit on the floor with the food served on a low table or just laid out on the floor. Even today in many countries and rural areas where the traditional way of life still holds, this form of having family meals are a normal way.

Sitting in this position of close proximity, the diners would be literally in contact and rubbing shoulders with the person next to him. In today’s text, John wrote about himself but put it in an indirect way referring to himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’

This is a great honor as when someone is loved and trusted by another, then the person would be able to have special favour and privilege of information and knowledge that others do not have or who would receive them at a later stage.

This position is developed over time where trust can be build and later on in the gospel, we read that Jesus entrusted his mother to John to take care of after His crucifixion. This is the level of love and trust that Jesus had for John, though Jesus had other brothers and sisters born to His parents, He did not entrust His mother to any of them. This speaks very highly of the personal relationship that John enjoyed with Jesus.

Can you imagine this privilege that even God the Son has so much trust in you that He passed on His mother to you to care for? Today, Jesus mother is no longer around but we do have many older people with us in the congregation who are equally lost in terms of security and financial needs. 

Looking at all the Churches, we will see that there are indeed many who are in need, some may have recently lost their jobs, others may have other types of failure in life like losing a love one who was the sole bread winner for the family.

Jesus is still looking for people who would be close to Him whom He can trust and whom He can entrust with the welfare of others. Today some Churches might be financially very strong with lots of money in the bank, they are rich financially but they are poor spiritually because they are too zealous about keeping their money in the bank instead of using the money for ministry.

If we want to draw near to Jesus, we must know and understand His heart. Jesus came to draw all men back to Him. All men mean the rich and the poor, the educated and the less educated. He does not see us as we see others. We look at the outward appearance but Jesus looks into our hearts.

That is why He called the Pharisees white washed tombs that look nice on the outside but is dirty on the inside with the remains of the dead bodies. In the eyes of Jesus, he sees the purity, the righteousness and holiness in man, He does not look at the outward appearance, but He sees our hearts.

If we want to be a disciple whom Jesus loves, then we must make ourselves lovable first.

Daily Devotions 9th Feb 2017

1 John 2: 1If anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father --- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

John is giving a reminder and warning rather than an encouragement to the Church. We are all born with the sin nature; we cannot help but commit sin either knowingly or unknowingly on a daily basis. When we say we do not sin, then we fool ourselves. There is no man who does not sin on earth except the man Jesus Christ.

Look around us at home, at work or in the market place. There is so much sin and evil that has been going on. Even right inside the Church, the whole congregation from the leadership down to the very small child sin prevails. This is a fact and cannot be denied.

In this letter, John reminds the church that we all struggle with sin and because of this our struggle has many drastic consequences. Hurt and failure are the fruit of sin. How many people are hurt and how many relationships have suffered in churches. Leaders have clashed with leaders, members have slandered and gossip against one another.

These have been going on and are still going on in Churches even today. The bigger the Church is, the more problems it has because every man is a sinner and a potential to bring sin and disharmony into the Church.

Some will turn around and say they do not sin just like the Pharisees. 1 John 1: 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1 Joh 1:10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Though we know that we are sinners but this does not keep us away from God provided we do what he has asked us to do.

Again John has given us the key to this.

In 1 John  1: 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Daily Devotion 8th Feb 2017

Heb 13: 5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’

The writer of Hebrews knows the difficulty of the believers living during that time, they people were mainly simple farmers,  fishermen and holding other menial jobs which did not enable them to earn large income.

Poverty was the normal way of life; this is still true in most communities outside the urban towns or cities. In third world countries the people can hardly survive on what little they can earn. Life is indeed a struggle for most and for many this is their worry day after day.

With the progress of education and society this has opened the door for people to be more skilled and has enabled them to be higher wage earners. But for the less educated, they are caught in this poverty trap and they struggle to put food on the table. Unfortunately this is part of the fabric of society and we will find some of these within the local churches.

Whether the people are poor or rich, they are equal in the eyes of God and sometimes because of their poverty they have to put in long hours in their work to earn the little extra. These economic demands have often caused them to be unable to spend more time with God. They miss out on the weekly worship, they miss out on the prayer meetings and soon they will grow distant from the Church and they will grow cold spiritually and fall away.

The writer of Hebrew recognized this and he addressed it in this letter. His advice was ‘Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ God who is Omniscience knows all our needs, 

He knows every single need that we have even before we bring it before Him and He has a plan and a blessing for us.

All that we need to do is to trust in Him and ask Him to bless us. We have seen this becoming a reality so many times but there are responsibilities to this. Firstly we need to be a true child of God, faithful in our walk with God and fully committed to His ways. God needs to see that we are faithful before he can bless us.  If not His blessings can become a stumbling block to us and cause us to fall.

By this I mean that God must see that we are able to be trusted in handling the skills or blessings that He puts in our hands. This can be wisdom, wealth, positions, authority etc. How do we deal with each of this? Would we continue to be faithful and humble or would we be overcome by pride and lust?

God knows who we are and what we are. God also knows if we can handle the blessings that He will give to us. If we cannot handle it, we will be destroyed by it. Many have started well but have fallen along the way like the prophet Balaam. There are in fact many in ministry who have fallen because of money and fame, this is what the writer of Hebrew is telling us. ‘be content with what you have’ do not run after greatness and greatness will run after you.