The Pathway to the Christ-Life - Being Broken - 5

The Sun Rises - Contd.
Alone with God
First of all, Jacob was blessed in the place where he was alone with God. He sent everyone else away and was alone (Gen. 32:24). 20th century believers find it difficult to spend much time alone with God. The spirit of the jet-age has got into most of us, and we are in a perpetual state of busyness. The trouble is not with our temperament or our culture. We just don't have our priorities right - that's all.

Jesus once said that the one thing needful for a believer was to sit at His feet and listen to Him (Luke 10:42). But we don't believe that any longer and so suffer the disastrous consequences of disregarding Jesus' words. If we are always busy with our various activities and do not know what it is to get alone with God in fasting and prayer, we shall certainly not know God's power or blessing - His real power, I mean (not the cheap counterfeits that many are boasting of)...

Broken by God
Secondly, Jacob wsa blessed in the place where he was broken completely. At Peniel, a Man wrestled with Jacob. God had been wrestling with Jacob for twenty years, but Jacob had refused to yield. God had tried to show him how everything he had put his hand to had gone wrong, despite his cleverness and his planning. But Jacob was still stubborn. Finally God struck Jacob's hip-socket so that his thigh was dislocated (v.25). The thigh is the strongest part of the body, and that was the part that God struck.

The strong points in our life are what God seeks to shatter. Simon Peter had once thought that his strong point spiritually, was his courage. Even if everyone else denied the Lord, he would never do so. And so God had to break him there. Peter denied the Lord before any of the others did, and not just once but thrice, and that too when questioned by a weak little servant-girl! That was enough to shatter Peter. In the physical realm, Peter's strong point was fishing. If there was one thing he was an expert at, it was fishing. And so God broke him at that point as well. Peter fishes all night and catches nothing. And that happened not just once but twice (Luke 5:5; John 21:3). God broke him at his strongest points to teach him his total inability to serve God.

It took 3 and half years for the disciples to learn, that without Christ they could not do anything. It takes even longer for some of us. But it is only in the measure in which we learn the truth of those words that we can know God's power. When Peter was shattered at his strongest points - when he had been struck by God in his "thigh" - then he was ready for Pentecost.

Moses' strong point was his leadership potential, his eloquence and his training in the best academies of Egypt. He thought he was well qualified to be the leader of the Israelites (Acts 7:25). But God did not stand by him until, forty years later, shattered in his strongest points, he said, "Lord, I am not the person for a job like that ...I'm not a good speaker ... please send someone else" (Exod. 3:11; 4:10,13). Then God took him up and used him mightily. God has to wait till our self-sufficiency and our self-confidence are shattered, and we are broken and no longer think highly of ourselves or our capabilities. Then He can commit Himself to us unreservedly.

To know more, please await the next portion in the series. The above extract has been taken from "Beauty for Ashes" by Zac Poonen. Hope you all enjoyed reading it.

Please keep me, a sinner in your prayers

Your brother and friend in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

The Pathway to the Christ-Life - Being Broken - 4

THE SUN RISES

We have seen how the sun set upon Jacob's life and how the darknesss deepened through the ensuing twenty years. He was indeed an ordinary man just like us. And so such a man the sun rose one day. God met with him a second time and changed him into an "Israel"- a prince of God.

Only God could have seen any good in such a useless person as Jacob, and followed after him patiently, without giving up hope. There we see the grace and greatness of our God. And this is what encourages us. In spite of all our self-centeredness, God does not throw us on the scrap-heap. He is patient with us.

We may  not believe in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, but we cannot but believe in the perseverance of God. "I will not leave you until I have done that which I have promised," was His promise to Jacob at Bethel - and His promise to us. How wonderful and how humiliating it is to know the long suffering of God in His dealings with us. If He were not like that, none of us would have any hope.

At Peniel, God dealt a final blow to Jacob. He had been disciplining Jacob and breaking him, bit by bit, over the previous twenty years. But now the time had come to finish the work with one final blow. If God had not done that here, it might have taken twenty more years for the sun to rise on Jacob. God knows the right time to shatter our self-confidence once-and-for-all.

Blessed by God

And when God finally broke Jacob, then he was truly blessed. The record reads, "God blessed Jacob there" (Gen.32:29). The word "bless" is perhaps the most frequently used word in the prayer of the Christians. But few understand its real meaning.

What is blessing? What was the blessing Jacob got? It is described in verse 28 as "power with God and power with men". This is the blessng we all need and that we should be seeking for. And this alone can make the sun rise upon our lives. Nothing less than this is what God desires to give His people. Jesus referred to this blessing when He asked His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father. He said, "When the Holy Spirit is come upon you, you shall receive power" (Acts 1:8) - power with God and power with men. Jacob would be transformed by the Spirit's power into Israel. This was what made the sun to rise upon Peter's life and upon the lives of the other disciples that day in the upper room at Jerusalem.

And this alone can provide the answer to the crookedness of our self-life. It is not a question of reformation or of good resolutions or even of our determination. It is the a question of the Holy Spirit possessing us fully and governing and ruling our lives.

But where does the Spirit lead us? Always to the cross. It is only when we are crucified, that Christ can live in us in His fullness, it was when Jesus was baptized, buried under the waters - symbolically accepting death to Himself - that the Holy Spirit came upon Him (Matt.3:16). It was when Jacob was broken that he was blessed. It was only after Moses' self-confidence had been shattered through 40 years of looking after sheep, that he was ready to deliver Israel. The rock had to be smitten before the living waters could flow. The Israelites had to go through the River Jordan (symbolizing death and burial) before they could enter Canaan (symbolizing life in the fullness of the Spirit). Gideon's army had to break their pitchers before the light inside was visible. The alabaster vial had to be broken before the odor of the ointment could fill the house. Peter's boastful self confidence had to be shattered before he was ready for Pentecost. We find this truth throughout the Scriptures.

It would be dangerous for God to empower an unbroken man. It would be like giving a sharp knife to a 6-month old baby, or like handling 20,000 volts of electricity without proper insulation. God is careful. He does not give the power of His Spirit to those in whom self is still unbroken. And He removes His power from a man when he ceases to be broken.

Jacob was now blessed by God Himself. Earlier, Isaac had laid his hands on Jacob and blessed him, when Jacob brought him the venison (Gen.27:23). But that had brought no change in Jacob's life. The real blessing came at Peniel. And this is the lesson we need to learn too. No man can ever give us this blessing, A man - even a saintly man like Isaac - may lay his empty hands on our empty heads and pray for us. Yet we may get nothing. Only God can really empower us. When Isaac put his hands on Jacob's head, the sun merely set on Jacob's life. But when God blessed him, the sun rose! Power belongs to God and He is the only one who can ever give it to us.

The record says, "God blessed Jacob there" (Gen.32:29) - there, where Jacob fulfilled certain conditions and came to a certain point in his life. There were reasons why God blessed Jacob there - at Peniel.

To know more, please await the next portion in the series. The above extract has been taken from "Beauty for Ashes" by Zac Poonen. Hope you all enjoyed reading it.

Please keep me, a sinner in your prayers

Your brother and friend in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

The Pathway to The Christ-Life - Being Broken - 3

THE SUN SETS - Contd.

Divine Discipline
In order to fulfill His promises to Jacob, God had to discipline him severely. And so we see from this point in the story up to the second meeting at Peniel, twenty years of Divine chastening in Jacob's life in order that Jacob might come to the point where he would accept God's highest for his life.

First of all, God placed Jacob alongside another shrewd person. Laban was as smart as Jacob, and as they lived together and came into close contact with each other, plenty of friction was generated and some of Jacob's rough edges were rubbed off. God knows whom to place us with in order to purge us of our crookedness. God measures out His disciplines to us, according to our individual need; and He makes all things work together for our good, even when He places us alongside someone like Laban - provided we don't rebel against God's providences. Many people have learnt sanctification through God leading them to marry someone just like themselves. "The sparks fly when iron strikes iron" (Prov.27:17) - but it sharpens both pieces of iron!

Jacob, at last, begins to reap what he had sown. All his life he had been cheating others. Now he gets cheated himself. He goes through his wedding ceremony, thinking he was marrying Rachel, but discovers next morning that he has actually married Leah! He had met his match in Laban! He now gets a taste himself of the bitter medicine that he had  been doling out to others. God does not discipline without a purpose or arbitrarily. He knows what dosage each person needs and gives the medicine accordingly. With the merciful, God shows Himself merciful; with the stubborn, He shows Himself stubborn (Psalm 18:25). He knows how to deal with every Jacob.

Jacob's problems were not yet over. After fourteen years of hard work, he obtained Rachel, only to discover that she was barren. God was merciful and finally gave Jacob a child through her, but even this brings no change in Jacob. He still cannot trust God, but continues to scheme.

He next plans to rob Laban of his property. Jacob was clever. He knew all the tricks of the trade, and he knew how to get the best of Laban's cattle. How long God had to wait before Jacob learned to trust in Him and forsake his own human ingenuity. It is the same problem that God has with many of His children today. He is not impressed by our cleverness. He waits for us to see the folly of all that, before He can use us to fulfill His will.

We find Jacob finally scheming to run away from Laban. He is tired of living with his father-in-law and wants to go away. But when he does run away, he finds that he has only jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. He learns that Esau is approaching him with a large army and that Laban is pursuing him from the rear. The one who tries to escape God's disciplines finds that it is not an easy task. If Jacob had left the matter in God's hands, God would have released him from Laban in His own way. But Jacob had not learned to trust God yet.

Finding himself hedged in and his life in danger, Jacob now begins to pray. He is quick to remind God of His promises made at Bethel (Gen. 32:9-12). But prayer alone is not sufficient for Jacob. He has to scheme too. He thinks up a clever plan of saving part of his company at least - just in case God lets him down. How very much like those who talk of trusting God and "living by faith", but all the time have some earthly source of security to fall back upon just in case faith in God alone does not work! Jacob was indeed very much like us.

And how often we have seen, as Jacob realized when he met Esau, that our fears were unfounded, that there was no need to have schemed and worried and doubted God. Esau's heart was in God's hands, and God could turn it (as Proverbs 21:1 says) in whichever direction He chose. "When a man is trying to please God, God makes even his worst enemies to be at peace with him" (Prov. 16:7). God had told Jacob clearly that He would take care of him. But Jacob could not believe God's promise.

Jacob had twenty long and painful years of chastening under God's hand. We are not given all the details of what Jacob underwent - but he must have had a rough time. It must have been physically exhausting too - working and sleeping out in the open, exposed to the sun and the dew and the rain. But all this discipline was necessary, in order to shatter Jacob's self-sufficiency and self-confidence. Only in later years, when he looked back, would he be able to appreciate what God took him through -not now. "God's correction is always right and for our best good, that we may share His holiness. (But) being punished isn't enjoyable while it is happening - it hurts! But afterwards, we can see the result, a quiet growth in grace and character" (Heb.12:10-11).

As the well-known hymn says:

"With mercy and with judgement, my web of time He wove,

And aye, the dews of sorrow were lustered by His love:

I'll bless the Hand that guided, I'll bless the Heart that planned

When throned where glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land."

-

The above extract has been taken from the book "Beauty from Ashes" by Zac Poonen. Hope you all enjoy reading it and inculcating the teachings in your life and learn to trust God in all you do. Please do keep me, a sinner in your prayers.

Your friend and brother in Christ Jesus
Jobin George

The Pathway to The Christ-Life - Being Broken - 2

THE SUN SETS

Jacob came out of his mother's womb, grabbing his brother's leg. "So they called him Jacob (meaning Grabber)" (Gen. 25:26). And this is exactly what he was. He was always grabbing something from someone for himself. He grabbed the birthright from his brother and later the blessing from his father. He grabbed Rachel from her father Laban, and later grabbed Laban's property as well.

Jacob was a bargainer too. He bargained with Esau for the birthright. And later, he bargained with Laban for Rachel. At Bethel, we find him bargaining with God.

Jacob was a deceiver too. When he wanted his father's blessings, he was prepared to deceive his father in order to get it. He was even prepared to take the Name of God in telling the lie. When Isaac asks him how he got the meat so quickly, he replies, "The Lord brought it to me" (Gen.27:20). How lightly he could even take the Lord's Name and tell a lie! He certainly had no fear of God.

Such was Jacob's nature - grabbing, bargaining and deceiving - looking after his own earthly interests all the time. He was very much a child of Adam.

Coming short of God's calling

Finally, at Bethel, the sun set upon his life. There, in a dream, God gave Jacob a revelation of His great and glorious purpose for his life. He gave Jacob the same promises that he had given Abraham. But how does Jacob respond? He says, in effect, "Lord, I'm not so interested in all those spiritual blessings. If you'll only protect me from harm and danger and give me food to eat and clothes to wear, I'll be quite happy. I'll give you one-tenth of my income and acknowledge you as my God" (Gen.28:20-22).

Many Christians are just like that. God calls them to something great and glorious and they settle for something far, far inferior. God calls them to expend their energies in His work, but they waste their lives making money and seeking honor in this world. How few there are among God's people who recognize their high calling! One such was a man of God who told his son, "I should not like it, if you were meant by God to be a missionary, that you drivel down to becoming a king or a millionaire. What are your kings and nobles compared with the dignity of winning souls to Christ."

God's purpose for us - as for Jacob - extends far beyond mere physical blessings. His purpose is basically twofold - first that we might manifest the life of Christ to others; and secondly, that we might minister that life to others. This is the calling of the Christian - and there can be no greater calling on earth. Yet many Christians like Jacob, don't recognize this - even some who are in Christian work. God gives them some spiritual gift or ability and soon they are taken up with that, and go off on a tangent, away from the central purpose of God for their lives. Like a child who is taken up with a toy, they are taken up with their gift. It fills their whole vision and they never see anything beyond. How cleverly Satan has sidetracked them without their even realizing it!

Jacob could not take in the vastness of God's purpose for his life. He was satisfied with toys, when God wanted him to have heavenly riches. The result of such a narrow vision was that God's purposes for Jacob's life were delayed. God had to wait 20 years, before Jacob was willing to take his mind away from the things of the world and set it on thing above. How many Christians are hindering and delaying God's glorious purposes for their lives, because of the narrowness of their vision, because they are taken up with things lesser than God's highest.

Paul was a different man. He could say at the end of his life that he has not been disobedient to the heavenly vision. On the Damascus Road, God had given him a vision of the great ministry He had for him - to open the blind eyes of people and to deliver them from Satan's power through the message of the gospel (Acts 26:16-19). And Paul never got bogged down with social work or anything lesser than what God had called him to.

But Jacob did not respond like that, when God spoke to him. And so the sun set on his life, and things grew darker and darker. But the wonderful thing is that God did not let Jacob go. God had promised him at Bethel, "I will not leave you until I have fulfilled My promises to you;" and God kept Hiss word. This is what encourages us - the perseverance of God with His stubborn children

The above extract has been taken from the book "Beauty from Ashes" by Zac Poonen. Hope you all enjoy reading it. The continuation will soon be posted, so keep yourselves updated through our blog. Please keep this sinner in your prayers

Your Brother and Friend in Christ

Jobin

The Pathway to the Christ-Life - Being Broken - 1

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

This is a start of a new series which I would like to share with you all and hope that you inculcate them in your life. Seldom does the Bible give unwanted examples. Throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testament God gives us ample examples on how to live as a true Christian, following the will of God Almighty. Through this series of "Being Broken" I will majorly be depending on the example of Jacob and his sufferings. Hope you all enjoy them.

One of the verses which clearly describes the pathway that leads us out of our self-life nto the full beauty of the Christ-life, is Galatians 2:20: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live. But it is no longer I that live but Christ Who lives in me." To us, this may be merely a good verse to be memorized or to get good points for a sermon from! But to the Apostle Paul who wrote it, it describes his experience. He had exchanged the ashes of his self-life for the beauty of Christ's own Divine life. And this had become possible for him, because he had accepted death to himself.

It is only when the "I" (the self-life) is curcified that Christ can manifest Himself in His glory within us. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, we read that the Holy Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ from one degree of glory to another. This is the primary ministry of the Holy Spirit. Day by day, and year by year, the Spirit of God seeks to conform us increasingly to the likeness of Christ. But the pathway from each step of glory to the next is via the cross. If we through the Spirit, put to death our self-life, we shall know the abundance of Christ's life, not otherwise.

We today, can no longer go freely to the tree of life as Adam could, before He fell. In Genesis 3:24, we read that God placed a flaming sword in front of the tree of life. And so, before we can partake of this tree, the flaming sword has to fall upon and slay our self-life. There is no other way to reach the life of God. The way of the cross is the only way to fullness of life. This truth is taught in plan words as well as through symbols, throughout the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation.

The cross breaks us as well as empties us. We will cconsider these two aspects of the cross in the following chapters.

Jacob's two meetings with God

Jacob was a man who learnt experimentally what it meant to be broken. We can learn many truths from his life.

One excellent thing about the Bible is that it is absolutely honest in recording faults and failings of its greatest men. The Scriptures do not portray marble saints. We see in the Word of God, men and women exactly as they were - their shortcomings in their life. This is why the biographies of Biblical characters are a great encouragement to us than many biographies written in our day (which invariably hide the failings of the men they describe, and present them as super-saints).

Jacob was a man of like passions as we are. He was called of God, no doubt, and eternally predestined to be chosen vessel for the working out of the Divine purposes. But he had a corrupt and deceitful heart, just like ours. God calls ordinary people to His service - not supermen. Very ofte, He calls the base and the despised and the weak of the world, to fulfill His purposes. He puts no premium whatever on human cleverness and ability in His service.

Jacob must have met God many times in his life. But in the record given us in Genesis, there are two meetings with God tthat stand out. The first at Bethel, where he dreamt of a ladder reachng up to Heaven, and where he said, "This is the house of God" (Gen. 28:10-22). The second at Peniel, where he wrestled with God and where he said, "I have seen God face to face" (Gen. 32:24-32). Between these two incidents lay twenty years.

At Bethel, we read, he stopped to camp, when the sun had set (Gen.28:11). That of course is only a statement indicating the time of day at which Jacob arrived at Bethel. But as we read the susequent record of Jacob's life (in the next four chapters), we find that the sun had indeed set upon his life. And during the twenty years that followed this incident, the darkness grew deeper and deeper. But that was not the end of the story.

At Peniel, he met with God again. And there, it is recorded, immediately after his meeting with God, that the sun rose, and he journeyed on (Gen.32:31). Again a geographical fact - but true of Jacob's life as well. He was a different man from that day. The darkness passed away and the light of God shone upon his life.

God has given us the record of Jacob's darkness to show us that he was an ordinary man. He experienced the same darkness that we do. But he experienced a sunrise as well. And this encourages us to believe that no matter how great the darkness of our self-life, we can yet see the rising of the sun, if we follow in Jacob's footsteps at Peniel.

Let us then look at Jacob's life - first when the sun had set on him; and secondly when the sun rose.

The above extract has been taken from the book "Beauty from Ashes" by Zac Poonen. Hope you all enjoyed reading it. The series will be continued soon. 

Please keep me a sinner in your prayers

Your Brother and Friend in Christ

Jobin

The Self-Centered Person's Attitude to his Fellowmen - 4

LOVELESSNESS

The self-centered person does not have any real love for his fellowmen and this is the root cause of his hard attitude towards them. He may pretend to show much love, but lacks genuine Christ-like love. The elder son had never gone to his father even once in all those years, volunteering to go and search for his lost brother. He did not care whether his brother was dead or alive. All he was interested in was to make merry with his friends (Lk.15:29). So long as he himself was happy, it did not matter to him what happened to others.

Are we wrapped up in ourselves like that? What is our attitude to backsliders? It is easier to love an unbeliever than a backslider. But if we truly have the compassion of Christ, we shall love both. The younger son in this story is a picture of a backslider. It's easy to condemn him. It is even more difficult to love him and help him. The Bible says, "If a Christian is overcome by some sin, you ho are godly should gently and humbly help him back onto the right path" (Gal.6:1). And again, "If you see a Christian sinning... you should ask God to forgive him and God will give him life" (1 John 5:16). Do we ever pray like that for those who have fallen? No. Why not? Because we are so centered in ourselves.

When we seek for a deeper life and a closer walk with God, let us never forget that a deeper life should make us more outgoing. God does not grant us a closer walk with Him merely for us to "make merry with our friends." It is so easy for us to get into our little holy huddles (with those who believe as we do) and to think of our enjoyment alone - all the time looking down on those who have not had our "deeper life experience". That is not the deeper life at all. That is self-centeredness under the guise of spirituality; and it is an abomination to God.

Let us not be deceived. If we are only interested in "making merry" (even though it be spiritual merry-making) with other members of our "spiritual clique", and are unable to fellowship with believers who do not see eye-to-eye with us, then we are indeed in a state of spiritual stagnation. The Bible says, "He who does not love his brother is abiding in death" (1 John 3:14). The word translated "love" in this verse is the Greek word "agapao", which means "to value, to feel a concern for, to be faithful to, and to delight in". And so this verse really means that if we do not value our brothers and sisters (even those in other denominations than our own) if we do not feel a concern for them, then, in spite of all our Bible knowledge and our spiritual experiences, we are in a state of spiritual death.

THE PRIMARY MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We may be young or old, holding any doctrine of "holiness", with any number of experiences and blessings to our credit, but self dies hard, I'll tell you that. We must know what it is to take up the cross daily and follow Jesus if we are to live in victory over self. There is no other way.

But let us remember in the meanwhile, that the Holy Spirit has come to help us put our self-centered life to death. The Bible says, "We naturally love to do things that are just the opposite to the things that the Holy Spirit tells us to do; and the good things we want to do when the Spirit has his way with us are just the opposite of our natural desires. These two forces (our self-life and the Holy Spirit) are constantly fighting each other to win control over us" (Gal.5:17)

In these days, particularly, when many Christians are confused about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it is good for us to bear in mind that He has come as a Helper to help us put to death the deeds of the flesh (the self-life). He does many other thing in and through us. Let us not despise any of them. But if we do not allow Him to put our self-life to death, then all our experiences are valueless.

The Bible says, "If you live after the flesh, you will die, but if you through the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live - for as many as are led by the Spirit are the sons of God" (Rom.8:13,14).

In the parable in Luke 15, we notice that the father's love was the same for both his sons. He did not love the elder son any less than the younger. He came out of his house for both his sons. When his younger son came home, he went out of the house to welcome him, and when his elder son refused to come into the house, he went out to invite him in too. In fact he even tells him, "Son, you are ever with me and all that I have is yours." Do you see the largeness of God's heart even towards self-centered individuals? He loves us and wants to give us all that He has. But He has to deliver us from our self-centeredness first.

God does not love the harlot more than the self-righteous Pharisee. He loves both equally and He gave His Son to die for both. But the response in the hearts of the two may be different; and that is what makes the difference ultimately in the Father's house. The younger son who was once away from the father's house is now sitting at the table enjoying his father's riches. The elder son who had been inside all along is now outside. Truly, as the Lord said, many who are first now will be last in eternity, and many who are last here will be first there. It is only as we are willing to humble ourselves and acknowledge our corruption and respond whole heartedly to the Father's love, that we shall be able to feast with Him at His table.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, this is the final session on 'the Self-Centered person's Attitude". Hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I had the pleasure to share these words to you all.

The above portion has been an extract from the book "Beauty for Ashes" by Zac Poonen. Please provide me with your valuable comments. Also please keep this pitiful sinner in your prayers always.

Thanks

Your brother and friend in Christ always

Jobin