Col 1: 23

Continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.

Paul in his apostolic writing to the church in Colossae which is in the present day Turkey encouraged them to continue in their faith. They are in the region of Asia Minor near to Constantinople the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire at that time. It lies at the cross road of trade routes and there was must wealth in the region as the traders ply to and fro on the trade routes.

There must have been much commercial activities in commerce and also that there would have been much distractions in social and economic activities. It is somewhat like the modern cities that we live in, full of life throughout the day and night and there are much activities and distractions.

Temptations of the flesh would be all rounds and every man or woman would be easily distracted. It was very easily for the believers living in that location of heighten activities to remain focused on Jesus Christ.

It is in such a context that Paul writes to the church, ‘Continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.’ Paul exhorts the believer there to walk closely with Jesus and not be distracted with all that is happening there. He asked them to continue in their faith and be strong and established in their belief and not to turn away from the promises of the Gospel.

With all the distraction of sensual pleasure, it is indeed a challenge for the believers in Colossae to not stray away from Jesus and the gospel of salvation but to remain steadfast in it.

This also applies to us in our present lifestyle and locations. As we look around, we can see  all the different distractions around us and acknowledge that we can also be easily distracted and be sucked into the system of the world where we would comply with the norms of the world. When that happens, we would surely loose out salvation.

Psalm 145: 13

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.

The kingdom of God has endured through times and culture. It started off over 2000 years ago during the times of the Roman civilisation and it has evolved over these years and generations upon generations. Christianity has also been brought to the whole world to different nationalities, culture and languages.

The practices of worship do differ from place to place and culture to culture. We have seen how the people in different countries worship according to that their cultural practises. In the Middle East, the arabs have their own preferred style, in the continent of India, the believers also have their own culture and style incorporating the use of indigenous musical instruments and songs.

This is also true as Christianity and worship of our God is spread out even through the tropical jungles of the world. We see the traditional warriors in the world coming out of their respective past cultures of animistic religion and now having receiving Jesus Christ as their Saviour have developed their own form and style of worship.

We are familiar with these as we travel into the mission field of different countries and culture, we truly praise God that though they are all different and diverse but yet they have a common belief which is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Each national and cultural group worship the one and only true God and they turn to Him only. In their diversity we see the unity in that they only worship Jesus and they ensure that they remain faithful even throughout many generations. In fact we can see that irrespective of their nationality, wealth or education every tribe and tongue and people worship Jesus Christ and God the Father as one. They are indeed united in this and have inculcated it into their culture which has been passed on from generation to generation.

Praise God that whenever we get the opportunity to meet, we are able to accept and receive each other as one in the universal family of Jesus Christ.

Heb 12: 22-23

You have come …to the church of the firstborn.

 In this chapter the writer is reminding the believers of their great privilege to have been redeemed by Jesus Christ who had suffered and borne the suffering so that He can fulfil the divine plan of salvation for us sinners. The writer reminded the believers that we too may have to prepare to endure the same.

In fact the believers of the early Church indeed went through great suffering ad persecution for their faith but the endured as they have seen the example of the Lord Jesus Christ and every one of the apostles. They indeed count it their honour to have to be tested and found righteous in the eyes of God.

In this present time, the Church is also undergoing much persecution as we see what is happening in the Middle East countries where Churches are destroyed, the Christians persecuted and martyred. Many were threatened to be killed if they do not renounce their faith and accept the religion of the moon god.   

Praise God that most of the present day believers are strong in their relationship with our Lord and they were ready to lay down their lives and gladly become martyrs and these are now in heaven where they are now truly the saints of old.

Looking around us, the jihadists have indeed practically spread to all countries except for one or two countries in the world. Where the jihadists have sufficient numbers they have now become very militant and have started their persecution blatantly of the Christians in the host countries that they have migrated to.

The bible do tell us that in these last days, persecution would happen globally and the world government which are led by professional politicians who want to keep their position and power have allowed and encouraged the influx of the hordes of moon god believers. These have caused the nations to be insecure and lawless as the sons of the evil one are now rioting, raping and killing where they have most recently migrated to.

This passage of scriptures remind us that whether it was in the days of the early church or whether it is in these last days, believers in Jesus Christ must continue to stand strong and not succumb to the pressures of the anti-Christ forces. We are to remain strong especially as we see the day of the coming of our Lord draw near.

Psalm 119: 176
I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant.

Here is the longest psalm in the bible written by king David and after he has praised God for practically delivering him from every evil and danger in his life and in this last verse David confessed that ‘I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget they commandments.

David was once a shepherd boy who looked after his father’s flock and he had on many occasions to look out and search for a lost sheep which would have become prey to the predators which would catch and destroy it. A lost sheep is helpless without the shepherd’s protection. It may also never find its way home.

David was using this as a metaphor to describe his own lostness without God. He could remember how he had fallen into sin and could have been lost in sin had it not been for God who had rescued him through the prophets who gave him warning and restoration.

David remembered the many occasions that he could have lost his salvation and severed from God if not for God’s grace and mercy. Now he wrote and humbles himself before God asking that God would continue to give him the grace and mercy so that he would not be lost.

This is something that we can learn from David who God describes as a man who is after His heart. David would spend the better part of the day and night in worshiping God. We know that as a psalmist, David would be singing psalms and praises to God with his harp. We see the many pictures of David always with his harp and is continually in praise and worship of God. Can we imagine that such a devoted person to God could confess that he had strayed away from God, then how much more for ordinary men like us?

It is an easy thing for us to forget our prayers and devotions once in a while and when we missed that, soon we will form a habit of forgetting to praise and worship God, and before we know it we stop completely from worshiping God and would have gone astray from Him.

This is exactly how David realised it and he humbled himself before God and asked for god’s grace and mercy. Therefore we too must learn from David that we must also humble our hearts and reflect on our position with God, are we walking close with Him or are we walking further and further away from Him. 

2 Samuel 22: 17

He reached down from on high and took hold of me.

This was the praise that David gave to God in his prayers for delivering them from grave danger and death. He likens it to being saved at the last moment form deep waters which threaten their lives. If we can imagine someone who has fallen into the raging torrents of a strong river that is roaring with flood water, there is great danger of drowning and very little chance of the person ever getting out of the danger without help.

This was the parallel that David gave about God’s mercy of saving him and his soldiers. The enemies were all around them and they were outnumbered and faced certain defeat and certain death. Time and time again David had called out to God when there were in grave danger and God had heard his cries and saved them over and over.

Now in the later years of his life, David is recalling all the occasions when God had delivered him. There was much gratitude in David as he sat and meditates on his walk with God.  

In today’s verse, we read of how God had send David guards to come to his side and protected him as a Philistine soldier came close to David and was about to kill him. David’s bodyguards came and killed the Philistine and saved him from death. Then they said to David, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.”

God had been faithful to David and had used his body guards to protect him and after that, David praise God for his safety by declaring; “He reached down from on high and took hold of me”

Psalm 37: 25

I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

In this psalm David has already grown old and have gone through the whole journey of life, starting as a young shepherd boy rising up to become a general in king Saul’s army and then ascending the throne after king Saul had died.

Through this period David had experienced good times as well as bad, he had experienced being celebrated by the people and he had experienced being rejected by the people. He had seen and gone through both sides of the pendulum. In this psalm David reflects upon the contrast in life, there are the righteous and the wicked, there are those who put their trust in God and walk according to His law and there are those who are evil and lawless.

In this connection David wrote in verse 22-24 : “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one wh delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”

In today’s verse, David said; “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” Each and every one of us as we grow must become more matured and knowledgeable. We need to grow up and be more wise and considerate in our ways.

Some of us are already past the three score and ten years that God had ordained for men to live, literally we are already in our bonus years. Recently a former classmate decided to start searching for those whom he can connect with and I was blessed in meeting up with him as he travelled thousands of miles to where I am as he came to visit one of his family members.

It was a blessed and humbling time when after 59 years, we met again as old men and we could hardly recognize each other except that we communicated beforehand. Imagine the last we were together we were only in our early teens and now we are like David who had gone through the whole of life’s journey and we are in our sunset years.

We do not know whether we would meet again or how long more we would be around but the lesson that David tells us here is that as we live righteously God’s grace and blessing will be upon us and our children and grandchildren. The promises of God are that He blesses the righteous for a thousand generations. We should be mindful of this and be responsible to ensure that God’s blessings will pour upon our future generations and to do that we must continue to live holy and righteous lives.

As for David, scriptures records that indeed many great men was descended from him including the Son of God in the flesh. Jesus came from the lineage of David. Let us also pray that God will bless our future linage as well.

Eph 3: 6

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

Paul describes the mysteries that through the gospel we become joint heirs with Israel to the kingdom of God. This is true for in the church wherever we go and whoever we meet we get the affinity with our fellow believers which transcend language, culture and social limitations.

For us who have been to pilgrimage in the Holy Land, the first thing that the guide will greet us is ‘welcome home’ to Israel. There is so much of love and care for each other though we have not met before and we still do not know each other.

The same is true when we go to the mission fields whether it’s high up in the Himalaya Mountains in Nepal, or whether it is in the jungle villages where the native churches are, the acceptance and love that we experience is indescribable.

This is the working of the love that God has put into us that we naturally love and accept one another. There is no longer and barriers of position and status when brothers and sister in Christ meet.

Paul is telling us that what we experience here on earth is only a foreshadow of what we can expect in heaven. When we get to heaven which is our final destiny and home, all tongues and all people will be one and in unity worshipping the almighty. There will be no more division, jealousy, segregation and discrepancies.

Jesus revealed to us this truth when He taught on Lazarus the beggar who sat at the gate of the rich man and when Lazarus died, he went to heaven and was with God. In heaven all of us will inherit a new garment of righteousness, our filthy rags would be removed just as Joshua was given a new garment by the angel.

Yes when we get to heaven, Satan cannot accuse us anymore; he has no more authority and influence over us. We will be victorious and we will be in the presence of Jesus Christ and God the Father together with all the citizens of heaven.

Matt 5: 16

Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

God has different people doing different things, not all are in the front line or pulpit ministries. Some are in prayer and intercession and these people would not be seen in the foreground, they would be unseen in the background but their ministries are important as well. Then there are also others who are those in the back giving supportive work like props and audio and media ministries.

These days, every church is equipped with technical equipment unlike many years ago. Therefore there are also those who are technically skilled, very essential but hardly seen. The key is that the ront line ministries would not be able to function well without all these support ministries, for example the praise and worship ministry would not be able to produce the worship without the sound system.

Then there are also those in hospitality that needs to look after new visitors and new converts. Again these are seldom seen or heard of but they are also very essential to the Church ministry. Therefore when we are in ministry, we do not need to always identify with the front line work, though they may look glamorous but they are not the most important.

Some of the others are equally important like the ushers who makes the first contacts with the visitors, their warm smile and encouraging words would make the visitors fell welcome and valued.

All ministries work together to bring glory to God, even those who serve in hospitality in the kitchen or pantry, they are equally important for without them many things would come to a standstill.

Therefore Paul is saying that there are many ministries and calling in the Church and no matter what our calling may be, let us then do what we are called to do diligently. Let us do it well and not grudgingly but with a cheerful heart. This way not only do we encourage our brethren but others outside would see the love that we have with each other.

This would be a great testimony and would be a witness for the love of Christ in us.

Phipp 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

The days of our lives are full of challenges, from the days of child hood, and then to our youth and finally adulthood, there will be challenges facing us. Paul too understood this as he too had to face the same throughout his life especially after he had received his call from Jesus to be his servant.

In fact Jesus too reminded us that when he calls us, it is not for an easy ministry, He warned us that people will slander us, falsely accuse us, gossip against us, make false claims and some may even have to suffer severe persecution and imprisonment for His sake. Those who live in persecuted nations will understand the difficulty to be a practising Christian.

Like in the Middle East today, many Christians are challenged to the point of death to renounce Jesus Christ as their Saviour by the jihadists. Many had to become martyrs when they held firm to their faith. These include men, women, children and even babies. Throughout the bible we read of such accounts of the suffering of believers.

Even during the time of Isaiah, he tells us in Isaiah 41: 13 “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘Do not fear; for I will help you.”

Paul said the same in Phip 4: 6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

The peace of God that He gives us transcends all understanding because when our lives are going through some of the most challenging times, God peace will supernaturally transcend upon us and will grant us peace, this is a mystery but yet a reality.

Therefore Paul remind us that our spiritual eyes must never lose sight of our Lord Jesus so that in all circumstances we can always call to Him and we can be assured that He will answer us accordingly.

Roms 13: 14

Clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul wrote to the believers in Rome that they must not be like the other people in Rome who are seen with their clothing of fine linen which will so off their wealth and social status. Just as how people would recognize a person of good social status through their dressing, Paul is also reminding us that we must also present ourselves as believers in Jesus Christ who are unlike the people in society.

Paul said that we are to clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. This means that we have to demonstrate the characteristics of Jesus Christ in us so that the people can differentiate us from the unbelievers. We are now children of God, in Gal 3: 26 ‘For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.’

Each day when we dress and go into the marketplace, we would be seen in our business suits or working clothes. This set us apart for who we are in the community but we have another identity which is that we are children of God. How do we present ourselves to the world that do not know Jesus and who do not know the scriptures.

They would look at us and see whether we are different from them, whether we walk our talk. Do we practice what we preach? Therefore it is important that we must desire to be closer to Jesus through the study of the word, through praying in the Spirit and spending more time with our fellow brothers and sisters to encourage and build each other.

Paul further reminded us on this in Roms 13: 12.  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Paul here is reminding us that our time on earth is spent and we may soon move on in our lives, therefore in all urgency we must put off all the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light which is walking in righteousness and holiness.

We need to live like Jesus, behave like Jesus, and talk like Jesus, love like Jesus. Jesus has commanded that we must love each other so that the people in the world will know who we are. Others must see Jesus in our lives, when they see us, they would not see the old wretched man but they will see a renewed man having the full image of Christ in us.

Eccl 3: 1

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.

King Solomon in his wisdom wrote the book of Ecclesiastes and he described the conditions of our lives. In the opening verses he described every activity under the heavens. He pointed out all the activities and a series of opposites describing how there is a time for everything.

In the first verse he said, ‘a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plan and a time to uproot.’ King Solomon saw the frailty of man and how helpless men are on the earth. Every and all things are in the control of God’s plans and purpose. There is nothing that we can do to change it. King Solomon could see that there are cycles in life and there are fixed times for changes.

However, he acknowledged that God is in every change and He is in control. All these are the works of God and everything that God does will endure forever.

As we look around us, many of us are in the sunset years of our lives and we can remember the days when we were little children, the games that we played, the friends we had and all of a sudden we are already old and have families and some of our friends are also no longer with us.

The times and seasons fly  so quickly and before we realized it, we have live a full life and are ready to return to our heavenly home. The one thing we need to remember is that we must consciously put our lives in order so that we may be ever ready to go into our destiny.

Psalm 93: 1

The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength.

Here is another psalm of David who is familiar with the reigns of kings and he too was a king and had great power and authority. David knew what power comes with the position of being a King and David wrote this psalm in the language of kings. He could describe what majesty is and what power is because he yields them.

An ordinary man would not be able to write a psalm like this and explains the power and authority of kingship unless a king. An ordinary man would not understand the thoughts that are in the mind of kings. But David understands and he could express his thoughts as he wrote this psalm.

In this short psalm of just five verses, David acclaimed the majesty of God. In verses 2-4 Thy throne is established of old; thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.  

David described the roar of the ocean or even the waterfalls in the mighty rivers that roar continuously and with such a mighty and frightening sound. David said that God is even greater than the oceans and the large rivers, He is above all these and He is above all situations that we may be in.

No matter what our problems and difficulties may be, God is mightier and above all that and He is in control and able to deliver us from them. Therefore David reminds all believers that we are not to be distracted by the challenges and then circumstances around us but we must turn to God at all times.

Paul also wrote in Eph 3: 20 that God is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” Our God is above all things and He would be surely able to see us through all our troubles.

Roms 5: 8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Such is the love of God that though we are all sinners and have fallen short of the mark that would satisfy God, He provided a way for all sinners to return to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. In Rom 5: 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. There is no way that any man alive could come to God on his own merits. In fact our merits are far from the level of righteousness of God, because our righteousness is like filthy rags in the eyes of God.

Though we may live for a long time on earth and we may make every effort to be holy and righteous before God, if it depends on us alone, we will never qualify to enter heaven. God saw that this is the case with all men, every minute of the day, we are subjected to temptations and we succumb to it over and over many times a day.

God sees this and He does not require us to change by our own power. Now He has made a way where there was no way and Paul confirmed this in Rom 5: 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is the amazing love and grace that Jesus has for us that He was willing to step down from His throne in heaven and He came as the sacrificial lamb so that He can pay that price for us.

Now Jesus has open the way for us to enter into His rest and be with Him in heaven for all eternity. God does not see our weaknesses and sins anymore, He has sent His Son to redeem all sinners and now Jesus is standing in front of us and He covers all our sins. When the Father sees us, He sees His Son first and He sees the Son’s righteousness and he does not see our sins anymore.

This is the amazing grace of God which saves all men not because they earned or deserved it but because of the act of love of Jesus who died for us.

Thanks be to God that now we can have free access to the throne room of God and we can seek His face and holiness as Moses did. We can now speak directly to the Father because Jesus has opened the way for us.

John 5: 19
The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

This reminds us of the truth that all fathers will show and teach their children skills and duties. Growing up our parents have taught us various skills, some who lived in the country side learned farming skills, others learned hunting skills, yet others learned fishing or building skills depending on what background the families come from.

If there were a warring community, then the fathers will teach their children the skills of warriors, I have seen in different culture with warring environments teaching both their sons and daughters the skills and art of war. This was because of necessity for safety and survival.

In the case of Jesus Christ, His ministry was the redemption of the sinning man. This was the plan and purpose of God to save all men from destruction because of the curse of sin. God had His perfect plan and it was worked out in fullest details and He revealed it to His Son, Jesus progressively.

That’s why Jesus said He do only what He sees His Father doing. Jesus reveals to us that God in heaven is also bust at work, He is putting into operation His plans for men’s salvation and He sends out His Son and also ministering angels and human prophets to the world of sinners to redeem them.

This work has been going on forever because as men are born into the world, all of them need salvation and therefore this work of the Gospel is moving on. It cannot be stopped or the Gospel cannot reach out to the world of sinners and the sinners would not be saved.

Therefore as Jesus came to do what He saw His Father in heaven does, now we who have been called into His kingdom must take up the baton and continue on the race to save souls. Many are falling into the pits of hell, they are waiting and they need to hear the Gospel. We need to do the work of the Father so that His plan of salvation can be fulfilled.

Are we able to hear and see what God has planned for us?

Luke 24: 45
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures.

This was an occasion when Jesus having resurrected met with His disciples who were sad and afraid. They could not recognize Jesus at first until they went back to their home where they gathered. While they are there, Jesus then showed them His hands and His feet which bore the holes where the nails went through.

Immediately their spiritual eyes were opened and they recognized Him. Jesus then further gave them understanding as he shared about the prophecies in the Old Testament pertaining to His coming and crucifixion. According to the prophecies through the prophets of God, Jesus must bear the stripes of persecution for us, He had to die a painful death on the cross.

All these were part of the redemptive plans of God in that when Jesus was whipped and scourged, the 39 nine stripes that He bore healed us of all our diseases. There are 39 root causes of all sickness and diseases in man and when Jesus bore the 39 stripes, He bore our sicknesses and diseases and granted to us the healing for each of them.

Then when he was pierced on the cross, the blood and water that came out of His side washed away all our sins. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross was the price that was paid for the redemption of all our sins. When He resurrected on the 3^rd day, Jesus defeated death and became alive again. By doing that He died for all sinners once and for all and now we are free from the condemnation of eternal death, we are now alive through Him.

Jesus not only opened the spiritual eyes of the apostles, He gave them understanding of the scriptures and also the revelation of the doctrine of salvation. It is because of this revelation that the apostles could then travel all over the civilised world at that time and evangelized the whole world.

Thank God that Jesus completed His plan of salvation and gave spiritual knowledge to the apostles, now we can learn from them and also teach others in turn.

1 Sam 17: 37
The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the bear will rescue me.

Many of us go through life experiences and it is when we go through these that we learn the lessons of life. The children, who run in the streets to play and tumble over obstacles, get cuts, and wounds are the ones who learn survival skills and develop their leadership talents.

We can recollect our young days when we ran around the neighbourhood climbing trees, going on adventure trips in the bush, catching fishes in the streams, hunting for fighting spiders, birds etc. We learn the trapping skills, what bait to use for different types of traps. Many of us also learned to swim in streams from friends.

There were no swimming pools in those days; our recreation was at disused ponds and streams or rivers. There were dangers all around us but through these we learned not only survival skills but leadership skills as we learn to lead others.

These experiences of childhood saw us through our teen years as well as our early working lives. As we grew, we gather more and more experiences and skills. Now we are into ministries for the Lord and we often draw upon our life experiences and the skills we learned to help us through.

In the case of David, his experiences were the battles with the powerful predators of the wild which were the lions and the bears. Can you imagine the strong and powerful bears and lions that David had to combat as he protected his father’s flock? Imagine that a tiny young boy could have the courage and skills to fight and kill these animals.

If we imagine how fast and powerful these predators were, we can see the picture of  David darting and jumping to avoid the strikes and attack of the predators and in the same move, he would counter attack them and killing them. These are survival skills that David had learned and they gave him more confidence than even the most able soldier in the army.

Now David could stand in front of King Saul to testify of his boldness and experiences in defeating and killing stronger predators. In the same manner, as we experience more and more in Christian ministries like spiritual warfare and healing, then we would be confident in doing greater things for God.

The key to developing our ministry skills to a higher level is to go out and practice and keep on practicing. Just like anything else, there is no short cut to being excellent; it’s all practice and nothing else.

Let us therefore build our ministry skills so that we can be like David who can take up giant tasks and destroy gigantic problems.

Exodus 33: 11

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.

In this text, we see the privileged position of Moses which was that God had treated him as a friend. There was another man who had this privilege and that was Abraham whom God also addressed as His friend.

Can we imagine that God came down from His throne room in heaven and was upon the earth and spoke with Moses face to face. Of course God did not reveal His face but His presence was with Moses and they had a direct conversation with one another.

Moses did not talk to God through prayers as we would but he could talk to God as a friend. This was a unique relationship which God confirmed a second time when God reminded Aaron and Miriam of His relationship with Moses. In Numbers 12: 8 “with him I speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches; and the form of Jehovah shall he behold; wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”

In the New Testament we who are the believers of Jesus Christ are also considered His friends. In John 15: 12-13 “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Therefore Jesus who died for us on the cross has confirmed that He came to die for us who are His friends. Now as friends of Jesus we can also have the same privilege of communicating with Jesus on a one on one basis. He is not so far away that we do not know Him, though we may not physically see Him but just like Moses did, we can talk with Jesus on a personal basis because He is in our midst and he surely hears us.

This is the privilege that the world do not have; it is only to the believers who know Jesus Christ as their saviour and friend that we can bring all our needs to Him. Remember the hymn that we sign often in Church, ‘what a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and sorrows bear. What a privilege to bring all our needs to Him in prayer.’

Psalms 139 : 2

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

When David wrote this psalm he was in the midst of his problems and suffering as he had to keep running and escaping from those who hunted him. He acknowledged that though God is far above in the heavens yet he knew that God’s eyes is still upon him. David confessed that God knew where he was, what he did and even know his very thoughts.

David had such an intimate relationship with God that they knew each other well. David knew God in a personal way and God also knew him the same. This is a mystery that David understood because of his daily interaction. Like Moses who also knew God and was able to daily interact with God, the scriptures tell us that God treated Moses as a friend and would talk to him as a person to another.

From the psalms and other scriptures, we are truly amazed to learn of the love and relationship that man can develop with the Almighty. We also are reminded that it was for the purpose of fellowship that God first created man so that He could bless man and have a meaningful relationship with man.

This original intention of God has not changed, though man has drawn away from God because of his sins and transgressions, God had not forsaken man. In fact God was indeed saddened when men sinned and move away from Him. He has made a way for man to come back to Him through the way that His Son, Jesus Christ had opened for all men to come back to Him.

Jesus clearly told us that He is the way, the truth and the life and no man can come to the Father but through Him. Man on his own cannot come back to the Father as he is covered in sin but through the blood of Jesus Christ we can then be accepted back into the position of son ship and become joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

As sons of God, we can now regain our position like David and Moses and all the other saints of old, we can now call out to Gog our Father and be assured that He hears and would answer our cries to Him. Therefore as we see the signs of the end times, let us now come back to Him.

Psalm 73: 26

But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge.

Before Jesus came and opened the way for us to draw near to God, the people had to come to God through an intermediary who is the high priest. When God met with the Israelite at Mt Sinai, they needed Moses to be the intermediary and the people trembled and were in awe and fear and were afraid to draw near to God. This was the same throughout the Old Testament time where the people needed a prophet or a high priest to be the intermediary for them each time they needed to seek God’s direction.

When Jesus came He changed all that when He died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom and this symbolized that God had removed the veil that separated men from Him. All men can now come freely to His presence. Every believer can come directly to God, we can now come to God through Jesus Christ who said in John14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Paul also taught that we can have direct access to God in Roms 5: 1-2 “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Not only have we gained access to God through Jesus Christ, we are now God’s children when we received Jesus as our Saviour. Jesus said in John  1: 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name..

Coming back to today’s verse and as the psalmist said, it is good to be near God because that is where we can get all the protection, blessings and assurance from Him. The patriarchs of old knew that it is only in God that they can be secured and saved. This also applies to us today, we must also draw near to God each day and meditate upon Him continuously. In all things we need to give thanks to Him and also to seek His wisdom and guidance.

Roms 6: 11

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Paul is writing to the believers in Rome and reminding them now that they are redeemed and are children of God then they must consider themselves to be dead to sin but alive in Christ Jesus. He said in verse 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

The world that is without Jesus is dominated by sin as Satan rules the world and has his hands in the lives of all men who are not redeemed by the blood of Jesus. They are blinded in their minds and they cannot believe or understand the saving grace of the Gospel. Their hearts too are harden with pride and will not accept the truth of the Gospel.

This truth is revealed to all believers through the work f the Holy Spirit who Jesus promised would be given to all believers. Jesus said in John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will tell you things to come.”

The Holy Spirit will teach and lead us into all truth through the wisdom that He would give to every believer and also through the revelation gifts of the word of prophecy, the word of knowledge and wisdom. The Holy Spirit will also reveal new revelations and truth to the believers as He had revealed to Paul and the other apostles.

These days we are aware that God had raised up many end times prophets who have heard been hearing new revelations from God and are bringing them to the body of Christ. These are the truth that God had told Daniel to lock up till the end of times. Before this the world is still far behind in knowledge and understanding and such truths would not be understood by the people of the olden days.

However in these end times, knowledge has increased and men are wiser and more knowledgeable and are able to understand the new revelations that the Holy Spirit brings through His prophets and servants.

James also tells us that we need to draw near to God and to submit to Him continuously and when we do that we would have power to resist the devil who would flee from us. He said in James 4:6-7 “God resist the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and He will flee from you.”

Submitting to God means we are His friends unlike the people in the world who do not know Him. Since we are His friends then we must live according to His Kingdom and values and not according to the values of the world anymore. We now must live humbly and righteously before God as we draw near to Him through Jesus Christ.

James 4: 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts you double minded. This is our duty and privilege which the world cannot have, therefore let us live like the apostles and been holy and righteous to God.

Hebrews 11: 4
By faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. 

This verse was written by the author of Hebrews for we read in Genesis that God told Cain, “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” This is a mystery but the bible tells us that our life is in our blood. Perhaps the life of Abel had not been totally drained from the blood of Abel as he was freshly murdered by his brother.

This verse is meant to care about justice and about righting wrongs and about defending the powerless. It also reminds us that no one can get away from their crime and sin because God will find out and He will require the sinner to answer for His sin as Cain was.

It is in the nature of man to sin and it is also in our nature to try and hide our sin. The first man and woman did the same, they tried to hide their sin from God but He already knew. In the same manner all men too will try and hide their sins, we may be successful in hiding it from other men but God is omniscience and He knows all sin whether hidden or not.

Just like Ananias and Sapphira, who tried to hide their sin of cheating the Holy Spirit, their sin was revealed to Peter and they paid the ultimate price for sinning and hiding the sins from God.

Throughout the bible, we also learn that God is knows all things and He sees all things that may be hidden to man but will never be hidden from God. Like king David, when he committed adultery with Bathsheba, he thought he could also hid his sin but God knew all of his actions and called them out.

Therefore we are reminded and warned that we can never hide our sins from God, even when we do He can reveal them when He wants to. The lesson here is that we must never sin against God and men knowing that we can never hide it from God.

Let us not walk in sin but let us walk in holiness and the righteousness of Jesus Christ.