Ask, Seek and Knock

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

As we enter the last day of the 3 Day Lent, I would like to look into the Gospel reading for the day. The reading is from the Gospel of St. Luke 11:5-13. This particular portion comes right up after Jesus teaches His disciples the Lord's Prayer. This shows the importance of prayer and the amount of importance Jesus placed on it too. Throughout the four gospels we can see Jesus teaching us on why, how, for whom, and what we are to pray. And though we might think that the Son of God would be above the need to pray, He sets the example for us, as a perfect human being, by rising early in the morning to pray (Mark 1:35) and seeking times alone to pray (Matt. 14:23) and sometimes spending the whole night in prayer (Luke 6:12) and, in the end, preparing for His suffering by prayer (Luke 22:41-42).

While, I will not be dealing with the whole aspect on why, for whom and what to pray, which I am keeping aside for the next edition of the newsletter, Alethia - by MGOCSM Diaspora, India, I will try to give a short description on how Jesus taught us to pray.

In today's fast paced world, where every thing that we need gets to us in an instant and we can also restrict the time and place of the occurrence, we also expect our prayers to be answered by our Lord. We expect Him to come down to our timeline and bless us with the blessings that we ask for within the time frame we set up. How ridiculous it sounds that the creation is demanding for the blessings from the Creator who created both the time and space. And once the requirement is fulfilled, we place our God into a closet to be taken out again in another time of need. That's one picture. Another picture - What happens when we do not get the blessings? For a time, we complain to God to keep away the blessings, even though we prayed so much. And then we forget about it.

Jesus gives the picture of an earthly father. A father is always loving towards his children, even if the father is the hardest of criminals, he will always try to give better gifts to his child who has asked for something. He will try to give him the best fish, if the son has asked for a normal fish to satiate his hunger. So how much more does our Heavenly Father loves us? The One who created each and every cell in our body with utmost care. he has taken care to provide for us with all that we need, even before we ask of it.

But, He wants us to come closer to Him. And we can come closer to Him only by prayer. And how should we pray? Jesus says "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (St. Luke 11:9-10). He tells us to be persistent in our prayers to Him. He wants us to seek Him through our prayers and to keep on knocking at the door of God, because our God is a loving and compassionate God and He will hear our cries.

I would like to end on a warning too, given by Jesus on the same note in St. Matt. 6:5-14. Here Jesus warns us that being persistent in our prayers is not being repetitive in our prayers but to be thoughtful. He tells us not to heap up empty phrases, because that is the way the non-believers pray. He also tells us not to be loud about our prayers where everyone will see you, but to be silent in the closed quarters of our room and to pray that our Father might hear in Heaven and not the people surrounding us. 

I now close my thoughts here and more thoughts are being added as I end this small session here. I am praying that the Lord bless me to write more on the topic for the newsletter. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, may this 3 Day Lent bless you with all the blessings that you seek. Our Father is a merciful and loving one, keep on praying and asking, and He will provide it to you in His time.

Please keep me in your prayers.

Your Brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

True Fasting

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ Jesus
Hope you all are in good health and enjoying the fellowship of our Savior in this New Year.

As we enter the Nineveh Lent, or the Three Day Lent as it is commonly known, I would be deviating from the series that I am currently writing to write about the Orthodox teachings on True Fasting .

True Fasting 

Gluttony makes a man gloomy and fearful, but fasting makes him joyful and courageous.

And, as gluttony calls forth greater and greater gluttony, so fasting stimulates greater and greater endurance.

When a man realizes the grace that comes through fasting, he desires to fast more and more.

And the graces that come through fasting are countless....

~St. Nikolai of Zicha

What is fasting? If you Google it out, you would find this answer, "Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from all food, drink, or both, for a period of time." But is that only it? In the words of St. John Chryostom, "Fasting is a medicine", but in the hands of an inexperienced person, the same medicine which can be used to cure the ailments of the soul can become a poison and destroy the person who is taking the fast. When we pray, or make an invocation, or make any supplication, or when we go to the Embassy of our Lord with many tears, this Fast is an ally, and as an assistant is a Good Intercessor. 

Just like while taking a medicine, while taking a fast, the person has to know the appropriate time that it has to be taken, the appropriate amount, the condition of the body which is to observe the fast and many other things. If any one these is overlooked, it causes more harm than good. Just as we are concerned for the healing of the physical body and such accuracy is required for the same, then it is also necessary to examine and observe everything with every possible detail for the healing of the soul too.

So how do we examine and observe these details? St. John Chrysostom again gives a solid example as such:
When the winter is over and the summer is appearing, the sailor readies his ship for voyage by taking his ship to deeper waters; the soldier polishes his arms and rubs his horse to ready him for battle; and the farmer sharpens his sickle; and the wrestler strips his clothing and bares himself for the fight.
So too, when fast, like a kind of spiritual summer, makes its appearance, let us like soldiers ready our weapons, like the farmer sharpen our sickle, and like the sailor order our thoughts against the waves of extravagant desires; and as travelers let us set our journey towards heaven, and as wrestlers let us strip ourselves for the contest. For the believer is at once a farmer, and a sailor, and a soldier, a wrestler, and a traveler. 
St. Paul also says "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against power. Put on therefore the whole Armour of God" (Ephesians 6:12)

Fasting is the change of every past of our life, because the sacrifice of the fast is not the abstinence but the distancing from sins. Therefore, if anyone limits the fast to the abstinence of food, he is, in the words of St. John Chrysostom, "is the one who in reality abhors and ridicules the fast". So are you fasting?

Give me proof of it by your works. Which works?
If you see someone who is poor, show him mercy.
If you see an enemy, reconcile with him.
If you see a friend who is becoming successful, do not b jealous of him!
If you see a beautiful woman on the street, pass her by. 

In other words, not only should the mouth fast, but the eyes and the legs and the arms and all the other parts of the body should fast as well. Let the hands fast, remaining clean from stealing and greediness. Let the legs fast, avoiding roads which lead to sinful sights. Let the eyes fast by not fixing themselves on beautiful faces and by not observing the beauty of others. You should not eat debauchery with your eyes as well. Let your hearing also fast. The fast of hearing is not to accept bad talk against others and sly defamation of others.

Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers? He who condemns and blasphemes is as if he has eaten brotherly meat, as if he has bitten into the flesh of his fellow man. It is because of this that Paul frightened us, saying: "If you chew up and consume one another be careful that you do not annihilate yourselves."

So what about those who cannot go without eating all day because of some medical issues?

Dear Brothers and Sisters remember that we have a Lord who is loving and who does not ask for anything beyond our power. He does not require us to abstain ourself from food, nor taht we keep our stomachs empty, but that we offer our entire selves to the dedication of spiritual things, having distanced ourselves from the worldly desires. We should regulate our lives with a sober mind and direct all our interest toward spiritual things. Therefore, you who eats and cannot fast, display richer almsgiving, pray more, have more intense desire to hear divine words. Become reconciled to your enemies, distance your soul from every resentment. If you are able to do this, then you have observed the true fast, which is what our Lord asks of us more than anything else. It is for this very reason He asks us to abstain from food, in order to place the flesh in subjection to the fulfillment of His commandments.

You should remember the bold and daring saying that "he who eats for the glory of the Lord eats and he who does not eat for the glory of the Lord does not eat and pleases God." For he who fasts pleases God because he has the strength to endure the fatigue of the fast and he that eats also pleases God because nothing of this sort can harm the salvation of his soul, as long as he does not want it to. Because our philanthropic God showed us so many ways by which we can, if we desire, take part in God's power that it is impossible to mention them all.

In the end, you should not be ashamed because you were not able to maintain the fast, because food does not bring on shame, but the act of wrongdoing. Sin is a great shame. If we commit it, not only should we feel ashamed but we should cover ourselves exactly the same way those who are wounded do. Even then we should not forsake ourselves but rush to confession and thanksgiving. We have such a Lord who asks nothing of us but to confess our sins, after the commitment of a sin which was due to our indifference, and to stop at that point and not to fall into the same one again. If we eat with moderation we should never be ashamed, because the Creator gave us such a body which cannot be supported in any other way except by receiving food. Let us only stop excessive food because that attributes a great deal to the health and well-being of the body.

Let us therefore in every way cast off every destructive madness so that we may gain the goods which have been promised to us in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Abridged from St. John Chrysostom homilies "On Fasting"

Demands of Jesus - Worship GOD - 3

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

In the previous chapter, Worshiping GOD - 2, we learnt that Jesus introduced a new form of worship which does not place importance of the geographical and historical importance of the place or temples, but whether we worship God in accordance with the truth and whether our spirit is authentically awakened and moved by that truth.

What is worship in truth? What is the truth?

Now, lets learn on how to worship God in accordance with the truth...

ALL WORSHIP SHOULD BE THROUGH JESUS

AND OF JESUS

The key new truth is that worship now happens through Jesus. He is the temple where we meet God. This is true first because He poured out His blood "for the forgiveness of sins" (Matt. 26:28) and "gave His life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45) and opened the way through His own crucified and risen body for us to be reconciled with God (John 3:16,36). There is no way that sinners could offer acceptable worship to God without having Jesus' blood as a  go-between with God.

It's true that worship now happens through Jesus because He Himself is God. He is not simply the mediator of worship between us and the Father; He is also the one to be worshiped. He made this claim directly and indirectly. He forgave sins, which only God can do (Mark 2:5-11). He accepted worship from His disciples (Matt. 14:33; 28:9). He claimed eternal preexistence with God: "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). He said He was one with the Father: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). So all should "honor the Son, just as they honor the Father" (John 5:23). Therefore, all worship "in truth" will be worship of Jesus and through Jesus. For "whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him" (John 5:23).

Dear Brothers & Sisters

I now stop here to let you ponder on the above words. We now learnt what is the truth that we should worship. In the next session, lets learn what is this worship in spirit.

"The Lord bless you and keep you; 

The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 

The Lord lift His countenance upon you, And give you peace." - Numbers 6:24-26

Demands of Jesus - Worship GOD - 2

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ Jesus

Last week, we started learning about the teachings of Jesus from the incident with the Samaritan woman by the well. We learned that the time of the Messiah had come upon the world and there was to be a change, a radical change at that, in the people of the Lord worship.

So lets continue to learn what is this radical change....

"DESTROY THIS TEMPLE, AND IN THREE DAYS I WILL RAISE IT UP"

We all know this famous saying of Jesus from the Gospel of John 2:19. Jesus says these words to the priests and Pharisees when they asked Him for a sign from heaven to know that He was sent by God. The reason Jesus says it is because He intended to take the place of the temple Himself. In other words, the "place" where worship would happen - the "place" where people would meet God from now on  - would be Jesus, not the temple in Jerusalem.

He communicated the same in several ways. When Jesus said the above words, the people were astonished and said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you will you raise it up in three days?" But the Gospel writer explained, "He was speaking about the temple of his body" (John 2:21). In other words, Jesus meant that when He was raised from the dead, He would be the new "temple"-the new meeting place with God.

Jesus said something almost as startling when He was criticized for letting His disciples pick grain and eat it on the Sabbath. Jesus' response to this criticism was to point out that David, the king of Israel, had fed his band of men with the bread of God's house that was only designed for the priests to eat. He made the connection with Himself and His band of men by saying, "I tell you, something greater than the temple is here" (Matt. 12:6). In other words, "The Messiah, the son of David, is here, and he himself is going to take the place of the temple."

"NOT IN THIS MOUNTAIN OR IN JERUSALEM,

BUT IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH"

So when Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth," He meant that a whole new approach to God in worship had come with the coming of the Messiah himself. No longer would geography be relevant: "Neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father." Instead, what takes the place of external geographic concerns are internal spiritual concerns: "Those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." The external places of Samaria and Jerusalem are replaced with the spiritual realities of "spirit and truth." What matters now is not where you worship but whether you worship God in accordance with the truth and whether your spirit is authentically awakened and moved by that truth.

Dear Brothers & Sisters

I now stop here to let you ponder on the above words. We learnt that true worship does not happen in any 'spiritual' place, but it happens in spirit and truth. In the next session, lets learn what is this worship in spirit.

"The Lord bless you and keep you; 

The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 

The Lord lift His countenance upon you, And give you peace." - Numbers 6:24-26

St. Stephen, The First Martyr

Dear Brothers and Sisters of Christ Jesus

Today we remember the martyrdom of St. Stephen. He was the first of the believers of Jesus Christ to be martyred for His name. His life and death are a constant reminder to the followers of Jesus on how to live a true Christian life.

Life of St. Stephen

Stephen's name is derived from the Greek language Stephanos, meaning "crown". In the words of Asterias, St. Stephen was "the starting point of the martyrs, the instructore of suffering for Christ, the foundation of righteous confession, since Stephen was the first to shed his blood for the Gospel." 

Stephen was a Jew and is believed to have been the student of the renowned rabbinical tutor Gamaliel, who had been the mentor of the great St. Paul. We hear of Stephen in Acts of the Apostles 6:5 to 8:1. Stephen was among the seven chosen deacons of the original church of Jerusalem to help the apostles in the distribution of food and water among the widows from both the Hebrew speaking and the Greek speaking population. Stephen was the foremost among the seven because "he was a man full of faith and Holy Spirit" (Acts 6:5). Being so filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, he worked many miracles and spoke as a messenger from God. Apart from the service he did, he was well versed in the Scriptures and was a great orator and debater.

Since his acceptance of Jesus as his Savior, he was seen as a defector of the Jewish teachings. His staunch faith must have occasionally led him to take a stance which was opposing to that of the teachers of the law. His knowledge of the Jewish teachings were so true that the leaders of the Jewish faith would often find no words to contradict him. The inspired words that sprang forth from his mouth through the grace of God, so filled his heart and so heavenly that his face was illuminated with divine light. All who sat gazing at him, saw him thus clothed in shining glory like an Angel (Acts 6:15) 

"Which one of the Prophets did your fathers not persecute, and they killed the ones who prophesied the coming of the Just One, of whom now, too, you have become betrayers and murderers." (Acts 7:52)

While on trial, he experience a theophany in which he saw both God the Father and God the Son:

"Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." (Acts 7:56)

In the end, he was taken to court on false charges and he was accused for blasphemy against God and Moses. He was stoned by an infuriated mob at the gates of Jerusalem, where the then Saul, and later known as Paul stood watch. This incident is then to be one of the life changing incidents of Saul's life.

Even at the point of death we see how close St. Stephen was close to Jesus that he knelt and prayed for those who stoned him to be forgiven.

"Lord. don't charge them with this sin!" (Acts 7:60)

Relics

His body was then left at the foothill of the city to be eaten by the dogs for two days. But on the second night,  Gamaliel— teacher of the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Barnabas— along with his son, secretly came and took the body to his own estate, in Capharganda, to be buried.

Nicodemus, who died while weeping at this grave, was also buried there along with Gamaliel's godson Abibus and Gamaliel himself upon his repose.

After many years the memory of St. Stephen's burial place had left the minds of men, until 415 when Gamaliel appeared three times to Father Lucian, priest at Capharganda. He revealed to Fr. Lucian the place of his burial and everything about it. Fr. Lucian received the blessing of the Patriarch to exhume the saints from their grave where a strong, sweet fragrance filled the cave.

St. Stephen's relics were translated to Zion and honorably buried, and many of the sick were healed by his relics. The other three relics were placed inside a church atop the cave on a hill. Eventually, his relics were translated to Constantinople.

Today, you wil find his whole right arm at The Holy Trinity of St. Sergius Lavra, established by St. Sergius of Radonezh in 1345, at Sergiyev Posad, Russia

Prayers

Troparion (Tone 4) [Holy Tradition]

O First Martyr and Apostle Of Christ,Thou hadst fought the good fight.And didst expose the perversion of the persecutors,For when thou wast killed by stoning at the hands of wicked men,Thou didst receive a crown from the right hand on high,And didst cry out to God saying,"O Lord do not charge this sin against them!"Yesterday the Master came to us as a man,And today his servant departs from life.Yesterday the King was born as a man,And today His servant is stoned to death.For the sake of Christ Holy Stephen became the first martyr.

Kontakion (Tone 3) [Holy Tradition]

Yesterday the Master came to us as a man,

And today his servant departs from life.

Yesterday the King was born as a man,

And today His servant is stoned to death.

For the sake of Christ Holy Stephen became the first martyr.

Your Brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

Demands of Jesus - Worship GOD

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

Wishing you all a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year. It's been 5 days into the New Year and as I go through the social networking sites all I find is many people expecting how their New Year to go compared to the blessings they received during the last year. For me, I would like to take you through the Demands of Jesus which He made during the 3 and half years of His ministry. From my perusal of The Bible and the book "What Jesus Demands from the World" by John Piper, I have found about 50 Demands of Jesus. But in the next few series, I will only be going through very few of the demands. Today, I will be going through the demand of "Worshiping God in Spirit & Truth"

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. -MATT. 6:24

Everyone in the world worships something. From the most religious to the most secular, all people value something high enough to build their lives around it. It may be God, or it may be money. But what makes it worship is the driving power of some cherished treasure that shapes our emotions and will and thought and behavior. Into this universal experience of worship Jesus demanded, "Worship (God) in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). In other words, bring your experience of worship into conformity with what is true about God, and let your spirit be authentically awakened and moved by that truth.

The Hour Is Coming and Is Now Here

Today, there are many Christian sects, claiming that their form of worship is the true worship. So we are often confused where do we go to worship. Is it this particular church famous for its miracles, or is it this other church where some famous saint has been buried, or is it this other church famous for its grandeur? When I think about these, I am reminded of the incident of Jesus with the Samaritan woman by the well near her hometown. During their conversation, she had challenged Him about the difference between places where Samaritans and Jews worship. She said, "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship" (John 4:20). Jesus responded by turning her attention away from geography to something astonishing that was happening in her very presence  He said, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father... The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:21, 23). This is a radical statement - to say that the hour is now here when worship in Jerusalem would cease!

The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Hm must worship in spirit and truth. - JOHN 4:23-24

Jesus made the breath taking claim to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things." Jesus responded, "I who speak to you am he" (John 4:25). So when Jesus says that the time "is now here" when we will no longer worship in Jerusalem, He meant that the kingdom of the Messiah has dawned and there was going to be a radical break in the way people worship.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

In the next session, I would be writing on the meaning of Worship in Spirit and Truth. I hope to do justice to the topic. Please do keep me, a sinner in your prayers so that the Lord Almighty would guide me to write more about Him to you.

May the peace of our Father, the love of Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Your brother in Jesus

Jobin

The Pathway to the Christ Life (2) - Being Emptied - Part 9

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

This is the last chapter in this series. hope you loved reading all the writings.

In the previous chapter, Lesson 8, we learned that true worship begins when the Giver Himself fills our heart and our vision. Only then can we safely use His gifts. Otherwise we shall abuse God's gifts and prostitute them away to selfish uses. This is what we see many a times, a misuse of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Today, we will learn about...

That which costs us everything

Abraham's devotion was tested that day when God asked him for Isaac. Had God asked Abraham for 10,000 sheep or 5,000 rams, that would have been easier for Abraham to offer. But one Isaac cost him everything, and he decided to offer nothing less than what God asked for. Abraham could have said the words that David said, years later, "I will never offer to my God that which costs me nothing" (2 Sam. 24:24). Yes, true worship involves our offering to God that which costs us EVERYTHING.

Interestingly, it was on this very spot (where Abraham offered Isaac, on Mount Moriah), that David spoke the words quoted above (the threshing floor of Araunah was located here). It was here too that the Lord chose to build His temple, a thousand years later (2 Chron. 3:1). God ordained His house to be built on the very spot where two of His servants (Abraham and David) had made costly sacrifices. That was where the fire fell from heaven and that was where the glory of God was seen (2 Chron. 7:1). It is even so today. God builds His true church and manifests His power and glory where He finds men and women who are willing to deny themselves and offer Him that which costs them everything.

Does Christianity cost us something? Is our service for God an easygoing, cheap thing that does not cost us our time, money, or energy? Do our prayers cost us something? Have we drawn a limit to the sacrifices we are willing to make for God? Do we look for ease and comfort? If not, how can we expect the fire of God to fall upon us and the glory of God to be seen in our lives? Let us not deceive ourselves. The fullness of the Holy Spirit can result only from a whole hearted giving up of ourselves to God.

The way of the cross is painful. How painful it must have been for Abraham to face the thought of slaying his own son himself. It is never easy for any parent to see their children suffering as a result of the stand they have taken for God. That can be very costly. But blessed are we, if we are willing to suffer even that. God is no man’s debtor. If we have honored Him, He will certainly honor us; and we shall find our children following God too, as Isaac followed in Abraham’s footsteps. Isaac’s willingness to be tied to the altar and to be slain was an indication of his own devotion to his father’s God. Isaac was a strong, able-bodied, young man, and his aged father could never have tied him to the altar, if Isaac himself had not been willing. But Isaac had seen the reality of God in his father’s life, and so he was willing to submit to anything that God desired. We see Isaac’s devotion to God just as much as we see Abraham’s. And we see how true it was what the Lord had said that Abraham would “command his children and his household to keep the way of the Lord” (Gen. 18:19).

On the other hand, many believers have lowered their high standards and compromised their Christian principles, for the sake of some material advantage for their children – only to see their children growing up to break hearts and live for the world.

Heaven’s greatest rewards are reserved for those who have followed in Abraham’s footsteps, and who like him have not withheld anything from God, whatever the cost.

I have once read about the story of a young American couple who went to China as missionaries, before the Communists took over that land. They asked their mission board to assign them to some unreached area that had not yet been evangelized. Accordingly, they were posted to a little village in the interior, near Tibet. They labored faithfully there for several years, but did not see a single soul saved. God then gave them the gift of a baby daughter. And as that daughter grew up, they saw a miracle taking place before their eyes. They taught their little girl Bible verses and choruses in the local language, and she in turn taught them to the children with whom she played. Those children went home and taught these verses to their parents. Soon one person was converted to Christ.

This missionary couple continued to labor there for another 14 years (making a total of 21 years) without a furlough, and in that period seven more souls were saved. (God doesn’t measure success by statistics as men do. This couple had spent 21 years to show 8 souls the way to eternal life. Surely their reward will be great when Christ returns). At the end of those 21 years, one day the father noticed a patch on the hand of his 14 year old daughter. They took her to a doctor who told them that the girl had contracted leprosy. It broke their hearts to think of what their child had to suffer because of their devotion to God and to His call. The mother and daughter traveled back to America for the daughter’s treatment. But the man himself stayed on in China. When they asked why he did not go back to America with his family, he replied, “I would have liked to have gone with my family. But back there in my mission station, there are eight souls who need to be instructed and fed. If someone else replaces me, it will take years before they develop confidence in him. And so I feel I should go back to them.” It cost that family everything they had, to serve God.

So many believers, who have much, give so little to God. But a few who have so little, give so much. And it is through this small and faithful remnant that God builds His church. The kingdom of God does not come through a spectacular outward show, but through men of God such as that missionary. Some of these men may not be well known on earth. But they will shine as stars in eternity.

The apostle Paul came from a wealthy business family in Tarsus and could have chosen an easy life, when he was saved on the Damascus Road. He could have settled down to a comfortable life as a Christian businessman in Tarsus. But he didn’t do that. He went out to serve God and endured hardship. He got 195 stripes on his back, he was stoned, and suffered shipwreck, and he faced many dangers in his service for God. If we were to ask him why he endured all that, he would say, “When I gave my life to the Lord, I determined that I would never offer Him any service that cost me nothing.”

Two hundred years ago, the Moravian brethren formed one of the greatest missionary movements that the world has ever seen. Two of their number, heard of a slave colony in the West Indies and went there, willing to be sold as slaves on that island. Two others heard of a leper colony in Africa where no one was allowed to enter and return, for fear that the disease might spread. They volunteered to go into that leper colony for the rest of their lives, in order to present Christ to the inmates of the colony. The motto of those Moravian brethren was “to win for the Lamb that was slain the reward of His sufferings”. They certainly knew what it was to worship God, by offering Him that which cost them everything.

How shallow and superficial our lies and labors are, compared with these men of men like these. How much has it cost us to serve God- in terms of loss of money, comfort, reputation, honor and health? Do we realize that we do not really know what it is to worship God if our Christianity has not cost us everything that this world counts dear? Those who serve God wholeheartedly, giving up everything for Him, are the only ones who will have no regret in eternity. The Lord is calling today for those who will follow Him along the pathway of the cross – being emptied of everything.

Margaret Clarkson places this challenge so clearly before us in her hymn:

“So send I you – to labor unrewarded,

To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown

To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing,

So send I you – to toil for Me alone.

So send I you – to loneliness and longing,

With heart a-hungering for the loved and known;

Forsaking home and kindred, friend and dear one,

So send I you – to know My love alone.”

This is the way of power. And we need to be reminded of it again in a day when many think that there are short cuts and once for all experiences that guarantee spiritual power. The way of the cross alone is the way of power. Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to the cross. What about us? We shall face this choice daily. If we are looking for three easy steps to the victorious life, then the Bible has no message for us. But if we are willing to pay the price of denying ourselves and taking up our cross daily and following Jesus, then we shall indeed know the power of the Spirit of God resting upon us for our life and sacrifice.

Dear brothers and sisters, the above extract has been taken from the book "Beauty for Ashes" by Zac Poonen. This is the last part of this series of being broken. Please keep me, a sinful servant of our Lord Jesus in your prayers for His guidance and enlightenment to know more about Him and to be obedient to His will. Also please pray that I might be guided into writing these messages in my own manner and understanding.

May the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the felllowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Your brother in Christ

The Pathway to the Christ Life (2) - Being Emptied - Part 8

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

In the last chapter, Lesson 7, we learnt that a deep and intimate knowledge of God can come only through an obedience like Abraham. We may accumulate plenty of theological information in our minds; but real spiritual knowledge can come only when we give everything to God. There is no other way.

Now moving on....

The Giver or His Gift?

When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, he was being tested as to whether he wold love the Giver or His gifts more. Isaac was undoubtedly the gift of God, but Abraham was in danger of having an inordinate affection for his son. Isaac was becoming an idol  who would cloud Abraham's spiritual vision. And so God intervened to save Abraham from such a tragedy.

In his book The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer speaks of "the blessedness of possessing nothing". God was teaching Abraham on Mount Moriah the blessedness of being emptied of everything and possessing nothing. Before that day, Abraham had held Isaac with a possessive spirit. But after he laid his son on that altar and gave him up to God, he never possessed Isaac again. Yes, it is true that, God gave Isaac back to Abraham, and Abraham had him at home. But he never possessed Isaac as his own again. Isaac, thenceforth, was God's. And Abraham held Isaac as a steward holds the property of his master. In other words, he had Isaac, but he never again possessed him.

This is to be our attitude to the things of this world. We can have them and use them. But we are never to cling to any one of them. Everything we own should have been placed on the altar and given completely to God. We must possess nothing. We can then keep only that which God gives back to us from the altar - and we are to keep even such things only as stewards. Only then can we truly worship God. This is the pathway to the glory of the Christ-life.

This principle does not apply to material things alone. It applies to spiritual gifts as well. It is possible for us to hold even the gifts of the Holy Spirit in a possessive way. Was not Isaac the gift of God? Why couldn't Abraham hold on to him then? To have to send away Ishmael was understandable, because he was not the promised seed. But Isaac's case was different. He was God's gift, produced in God's strength. Why should Abraham have to give him up as well?

And so we may argue too. We can understand the need to give up our attachment to the things of the world. But surely, we feel, we can hold on to the gifts that God Himself has given us. But God says, "No. Lay even your spiritual gifts (which I have given you) on the altar and give them back to me, lest they fill your life and cloud your vision of Me, the Giver." God would have us delivered from any inordinate attachment to even the most sacred gifts of the Spirit that He has given us. He wants us to sacrifice even the "Isaacs" that we have received from Him and not cling to any one of them. Isn't it this that many believers have not seen? They have given up their Ishmaels but not their Isaacs. They have given up sinful things. But the gifts that God gave them they are now using to glorify themselves - like the prodigal son, who took his father's gifts and spent them on himself.

What is it that fills our vision - our gifts and our ministry, or the Giver Himself? This is what we need to ask ourselves constantly. We are in most danger when God has blessed us much and used us greatly. It is so easy at such time to lose the vision of God. We need to go back to the altar on Mount Moriah again and again and give our all to God repeatedly.

True worship begins when the Giver Himself fills our hearts and vision. Only then can we safely use His gifts. Otherwise we shall abuse God's gifts and prostitute them to selfish uses. Isn't this the reason why there is so much misuse of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our day?

Dear brothers and sisters, the above extract has been taken from the book "Beauty for Ashes" by Zac Poonen. Please keep me, a sinful servant of our Lord Jesus in your prayers for His guidance and enlightenment to know more about Him and to be obedient to His will. 

May the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the felllowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all

Your brother in Christ

The Pathway to the Christ Life (2) - Being Emptied - Part 7

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

In the last chapter, Lesson 6, we finished learning on what it means to trust to God, through Abraham's life. We learned that trusting God meant not just merely intellectual belief, but also being emptied of self-sufficiency and self-dependence. We learned to depend on the Holy Spirit in an area which is usually not much looked into - the area of prayer. In the end we learned that dependence upon God is an end to ourselves, an end to our self-sufficiency and self-dependence.

We now start with the second lesson we learn from Abraham's life - Worshiping God. Hope you all are enlightened by the lessons that are taught by some of our fathers in the Holy Bible. 

WORSHIPING GOD

The second lesson that Abraham had to learn was the true meaning of worship. If trusting God means to be emptied of self-confidence and self-sufficiency, worshiping God means to be emptied of everything (including one's possessions).

As in Genesis 15, in Genesis 22 also, the paragraph begins with the phrase, "After these things...." Here too, as we look at the circumstances that immediately precede this hour of testing, we find Abraham in a triumphant position. The heathen had come to him and said, "Abraham, we've been watching your life and we know that God is with you in all that you do" (Gen. 21:22). No doubt they had heard of the miraculous way in which Sarah conceived  and were convinced that God was with this family. Ishmael had been sent away. Isaac was now the darling of Abraham's heart. Abraham stood in grave danger, at this time, of losing his first love and devotion for God. And so God tested him again, and told him to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice.

Sacrifice and worship

Have we heard God calling us to hard and difficult tasks like that? Or do we only hear Him comforting us with promises all the time? Oswald Chambers has said that if we have never heard God speaking a hard word to us, it is doubtful whether we have ever really heard God at all.

It is easy for our carnal minds to imagine that God is speaking to us with comforting promises all the time. Because we do not like the hard way, we can be deaf to God's voice when He calls us to a difficult task.

But Abraham had ears to hear, and a heart that was willing to obey anything that God commanded. He rose up early the next morning and went forth to obey God (v. 3). The record does not tell us what the old patriarch went through, during the previous time, after God had spoken to him. I am sure he did not sleep that night. He must have kept awake and gone and looked at his beloved son again and again; and the tears must have rolled down his eyes as he thought of what he had to do to him. How difficult it must have been for Abraham to offer up the son of his old age. But he was willing to obey God at any cost. Fifty years or so, earlier, he had put his hand to the plough when God called him to Ur; and he would not now look back. In the words of another, what Abraham was saying was:

"Keep me from looking back - 

The handles of my plough with tears are wet,

The shears with rust are spoiled, and yet, and yet,

My God! My God! Keep me from turning back"

There were no complaints and no questions. Abraham did not say, "Lord, I have been so faithful already. Why do you ask this hard thing also?" Neither did he say, "Lord, I have already sacrificed so much - much more than all those around me. Why do you call me to sacrifice more?" Many believers compare the sacrifices they have made with those that others have made. And they hesitate when God calls them to go further than others around them. But not so Abraham. There was no limit to hs obedience and no end to his willingness to sacrifice for his God. No wonder he became the friend of God.

There was faith in Abraham's heart as he went up to sacrifice Isaac, that God would somehow raise hs son from the dead. Hebrews 11:19 tells us that. God had already given Abraham a foretaste of resurrection-power in his own body and in Sarah's, through the birth of Isaac. Surely it would be np problem for such a God to bring back to life an Isaac who was slain on the altar. And so Abraham tells his servants when leaving them at the foot of Mount Moriah, "I and the lad will go yonder and worship and (we will both) come (back) again to you" (v. 5). That was a word of faith. He believed that Isaac would come back with him.

Notice too that he tells his servants, "We are going to worship God". He is not complaining that God is requiring too much from him, neither is he boasting about the marvelous sacrifice that he is about to make for God. No. Abraham did not belong to the category of those who subtly inform others about the sacrifices they make for God. Abraham said he was going to worship his God. And there we understand something of the real meaning of worship.

Remember how Jesus once said, "Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56). Surely it must have been here on Mount Moriah that Abraham saw the day of Christ. In prophetic vision, the aged patriarch saw in his own action, a picture (faint though it be) of that day when God the Father Himself would lead His only begotten Son up Calvary's hill and offer Him up as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. And that day on Mount Moriah, Abraham knew something of what it would cost the heart of God to save a wayward world. He came to a place of intimate fellowship with the heart of God that morning. Yes, he worshiped God - not just with beautiful words and hymns, but through costly obedience and sacrifice.

A deep and intimate knowledge of God can only come through such obedience. We may accumulate plenty of accurate theological information in our minds; but real spiritual knowledge can come only when we give up everything to God. There is no other way.

Dear brothers and sisters, the above extract has been taken from the book "Beauty for Ashes" by Zac Poonen. Please keep me, a sinful servant of our Lord Jesus in your prayers for His guidance and enlightenment to know more about Him and to be obedient to His will. 

Your brother in Christ

The Pathway to the Christ Life (2) - Being Emptied - Part 6

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

It has been long since I last wrote, and this post is a continuation of where I left off in "Being Emptied - Part 5". So to put t short in what I last wrote - we learned through Father Abraham's life not to depend on what the human hands make or to depend on the acts of the flesh, but to depend on the works of the Holy Spirit. We learned that even today, we need to be emptied of our self sufficiency and filled wit the Spirit of God, if we are to produce "Isaacs" that please God.

Now to continue to the next part....

An end of ourselves

In Edith Schaeffer's book L'Abri, she recounts how God brought her husband Francis Schaeffer and his co-workers, again and again to a point of utter helplessness. More than once they found no way out of their problems. The enemies of the gospel almost triumphed at many a point. In their impotence they looked to God to work on their behalf. And He did - not just once or twice, but repeatedly. This is the type of work - a work of faith - that will remain for eternity.

It is not the size of a work that  impresses God. The world looks for size and numbers. But God is looking for works of faith - even if they be the size of mustard seeds.

And so, when God brings us to an end of ourselves, hedging us in on every side and shattering our hopes, let us take heart! He is preparing us for greater usefulness by bringing us first to the place of impotence. He is equipping us to produce Isaacs.

This is how Jesus prepared His apostles for His service. What do you think was the purpose of His training them for 3 1/2 years? They were not being coached to write scholarly these that would earn them doctorates in theology! That's how some people today feel they can be equipped to serve the Lord. But Jesus didn't train His apostles for that. None of the twelve disciples would have qualified for a basis theological degree, even if they had tried. Jesus trained them to learn one lesson primarily - that, without Him they could do nothing (John 15:5). And, I tell you, a man who has learned that lesson is worth more than a hundred theological professors who haven't learnt that lesson.

Total dependence upon God is the mark of the true servant of God. It is true even of Lord Jesus Christ, when He was on earth, as the Servant of Jehovah. In a prophetic reference to Him in Isaiah 42:1, God says. "Behold My Servant, whom I uphold". He does not stand in His own strength; He is upheld by God. Because Christ emptied Himself thus, God put His Spirit upon Him, as the verse goes on to say. It is only on those who have come to an end of themselves and emptied themselves of self-confidence and self-sufficiency, that God pours out His Spirit.

Look at some of the remarkable statements that Jesus made, which clearly show how emptied of self He was: "The Son can do nothing of Hiimself...... I can of Mine own self do nothing....... I do nothing of Myself........ I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father Who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak...... The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself" (John 5:19,30; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10).

Amazing!! The perfect, sinless Son of God lived by faith. Emptied of all dependence upon HIs own self, He depended entirely on His Father. It is thus that God calls us to live too.

When we are self-sufficient, we try to use God to help us serve Him. But when we are emptied, God can use us.

As I finish this part, I am remembering a hymn written by A. B. Simpson, a great man who founded the Christian and Missionary Alliance

"Once it was my working, His it hence shall be;

Once I tried to use Him, now He uses me.

Once the power I wanted, now the Mighty One;

Once for self I labored, now for Him alone."

This is what it means to trust God. And this was the first lesson that Abraham had to learn.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, hope you like reading the above lesson from Abraham's life. Next would be on the lesson Abraham learnt of the true meaning of worship. Dear friends, if you would like to let me know anything, please put in some comments to know whether you like reading and learning. And friends, please pray for me a sinful servant of Jesus to not to trust in my own strength but to trust in our Lord.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas season.

God bless you all. 

Your brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George