Believers' Compass

BELIEVER'S COMPASS

In approaching this meditation, we come to a subject out of which has already sprung countless sermons and songs, several books and biographies. Admittedly then, we are about to travel on familiar grounds. For this very reason, we must tread cautiously lest we allow previous acquaintance with the text rob us of its ever-present freshness. May the blessed Spirit of truth guide our feet into paths of understanding as we patiently explore this treasure mine together.

 

Our text is a very popular one. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen—Heb.11:1. If we pass over that passage in a hurry, we shall without doubt, see nothing of value other than a superficial impressiveness that would cause us to miss great thoughts which can only be discovered by patient researchers. However, if we draw closer to examine the declaration with care and caution, we shall be rewarded with spiritual insights that would strengthen our belief in God and gainfully brighten our vision of Him. 

 

Faith is described in two ways. First, it is the substance, that is, the certainty of things hoped for. Next, it is said to be the evidence of things not seen. Before we go into any detailed analysis we must note two things which are always in danger of being overlooked even by very sensitive minds. 

Tenses of Our Pilgrim Walk

Tenses of Our Pilgrim Walk 

Scores of people who truly and whole-heartedly confess the Lord Jesus as Lord and Savior are inclined to doubt the certainty of their salvation due to the occasional resurrection of old desires in their lives. This meditation  is therefore devoted to helping us realize our position in Christ Jesus and our responsibility as saints towards the ultimate realization of God’s purpose. It is to this effect that we shall speak of the pilgrim experience under three tenses as applicable to the Christian believer.

 

First, we shall consider God’s position on our past. 

 

For every soul that has trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of sins and has been regenerated by the saving power of the risen Christ, the Holy Scriptures declares an unchangeable fact. We have been saved. The Bible illuminates our understanding with eternal light.  Knowing this that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin-- Rm.6:6-7, For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God--Col.3:3. The Scriptures are plain. Our old man, that is our old nature of sin was crucified when we believed. No longer are we in danger of the possibility of an eternal loss of our souls. Between us and the dominion of Satan is an impassable gulf. We are dead to sin. Death describes cessation of life, and in this case, insensitivity to the kind of life that once controlled and ruled me. By the entrance of God’s word, my soul has been made to experience an irreversible spiritual revolution. My citizenship as an indigene of Satan’s kingdom is eternally revoked and nothing anywhere can change that fact. Every passion and desire that motivated me yesterday and continued then as the joy of my heart are now separated from me by a difference whose vastness is only captured in the difference illustrated between life and death. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires-Gal. 5:24. 

Suffering

Suffering

 We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed,

We are perplexed but not in despair—2 Cor. 4:8

Suffering is a major course in the Christian syllabus. This truth is a stumbling block to many. Often we do not understand why God’s chosen ones should suffer. We typically conceive it to be the consequence of some sin of the sufferer. But this may not be so. Suffering in this world can be and indeed is God’s will for His children. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake—Phil. 1:29. This Scripture grieves many, others think it is archaic. But God’s ways do not evolve.

 

Forever, O Lord Your word is settled in heaven—Ps. 119:89. Hence the truth remains. God permits suffering and that as a favor to His children. To you it has been granted to suffer for His sake This is the wisdom of God.

 

We have no natural explanations for certain situations we encounter. Suffering, though distasteful to our natural appetites, places us in fellowship with God. That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death—Phil. 3: 10. Suffering, for the Christian, is fellowship with Christ. Christ Himself suffered much in this world. He was made perfect through sufferings—Heb. 2:10

 

In the Temple

     In the Temple      

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him,

And the world did not know Him-Jn.1:10.

           

Jerusalem’s temple buzzed with activity. Old and young alike excitedly flocked into the sanctuary each seeking his own purpose.

            

Various reasons attracted the multitude to the same religious edifice. God Himself was not the only reason that people thronged to Jehovah’s temple.  Mammon, tradition, and self as well were eagerly sought and worshipped there.

            

Joseph and Mary were in the temple, but not for the fellowship of the brethren or to gain understanding of God’s word. The dictates of tradition conveniently explain their presence. Fulfilling the legal requirements of the law was given  precedence over their actual meaning … The parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law-Lk.2:27.

            

The wonderful things spoken of Mary’s Child were hidden in her heart, but the realization was obscured to her notice! Seeking the blessing and pronouncements of the high-priest were uppermost in the minds of the young couple in attending the religious meeting.

  

Forgiveness

 Forgiveness

Then Jesus said, “Father forgive them,

For they do not know what they do”-Lk.23:34

 

There is a God who knows your pain.

 

Your unspoken griefs are not concealed from Him. The indelible scars of your wounds with all their attendant miseries are not hidden from the One who knows all. Omniscience knows what you’ve gone through and He sees how you have been unjustly treated.

 

This God, however, watches out for your response. You’ve brooded over this injustice for long. Nurturing bitterness as the scars of the past refresh your memory about the ills of which you were a victim is eating up the vitality of your soul.

 

The Lord God calls you to learn from His Son Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus came to His own people but they rejected Him [Jn.1:11]. Though He is the Savior, they referred to Him as a Samaritan [Jn.8:48]. He came as the Deliverer but was regarded as a demoniac [Jn 7:20]. For His love, He constantly gained hatred.

Pathway to Revival

PATHWAY TO REVIVAL 

Our Lord Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem and as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it—Lk.19:41. That our Lord should express His heart in tears upon sighting a city should immediately cause to descend upon us a solemnity that should very reverently and fearfully provoke serious contemplations in the mind of any sober Christian. 

That which should first arrest our attention is that He saw the city. This points us to a fact that transcends merely having visual contact with the city. It implies that the Lord saw that town as it truly was and not as it appeared to be. This is proven in the fact that His tears of grief were immediately connected with what He saw. And with that in mind, we pause to investigate, why did Jesus approach the city at all? What was He looking for? What did He see that made Him take to mourning over the city even before saying a word about that holy metropolis?

To understand the heartbreak of our Lord, let us begin with the city itself. Jerusalem was the one city in all the earth in which God chose to put His name and locally establish His presence [2 Chr.6:6]. No other nation could claim the same. Jerusalem was God’s chosen city to represent Him before all other nations that peopled the world. It stood for the noblest ideals and functioned as the religious headquarters of God’s chosen people and where all other lands had gone apostate and totally rejected the one true God, Jerusalem was meant to stand out differently. But this was far from being the case as was observed by the heart of our approaching Lord.

Ask and Be Blessed

Ask and Be Blessed!

Ask….Seek....knock (Matt.7:7)

 

Never has a verse been more misunderstood, misconstrued and abused than these words of Jesus which forms our opening text. 

Vast numbers of people have treated and indeed continue to treat this Scripture as though it were an blank cheque, issued to materially prosper all who choose to appropriate it. Others insist that the message of the text is that men should persist in troubling heaven with their desires until they get whatever they want. Both schools of thought have prevailed among men so that so-called “Christian ministries” have been discovered to be founded upon these principles.  

Let it at once be said that neither position is a correct exposition of our Lord’s intent when He announced those words. The Son of God did not descend from heaven to show us a spiritual way of amassing financial wealth, neither did He come only to better our lives with material things through the avenue of religion. Christ Jesus is no minister of sin. It is impossible that He would take up the body of flesh just to awaken desires of greed and to tell men that heaven approved of such desires. If nothing else, the Scriptures faithfully document the stern denunciations of The Lord and His apostles over the attitude that seeks to amass wealth and accumulate material substance. Ye cannot serve God and mammon, at once reveal the attitude of men towards money. Money is another deity, when it becomes the focal-point of human devotion. 

The Sound of Silence

 The Sound of Silence 

Heaven appears to be indifferent over the abominable activities that presently dominate the earth. And because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil—Eccl.8:11

But a life destitute of spiritual worth and dominantly evil in its course of existence postulates an ignorance which could be irrevocably fatal. 

Breathing over the habitations of men is a divine silence which in spite of human rebellion, continues to be reserved. Silence in itself is a message on its own. It proclaims in mute eloquence, the necessity for caution.

Recorded throughout the word of God are punitive measures meted out to evil-doers. The children of Israel, in response to the cravings of an uncontrolled appetite gave in to harsh expressions against Jehovah and His messenger. They took God’s silence to mean God’s absence and eventually were made to reap the bitter harvest of their spiritual irreverence [Ex. 17:7, I Cor.10:10].

The Potter and the Rebel



The Potter and the Rebel

So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night Because the sun had set…Gen.28:11 

Jacob was a schemer. 

The consequences of his deceptive nature compelled his flight from the place of blessing [Gen.27:42—43]. Full of trickeries and cunning, he proceeded as a fugitive on the way to Padan-Aram. It was on this journey, that we read, that the sun set when Jacob arrived at a certain place.[Gen:28:11]

The setting sun is the unmistakable sign of impending darkness. More than a mere indication of time, the setting of the sun, as indicated above, is representative of the descent of Jacob into the dark pools of confidence based on natural prowess.

Though Jacob was determined to travel on his self-chosen path, the Way out of his restlessness into the liberty of God’s presence was revealed to him [Gen.28:15, Jn.1:51].

This was to inform treacherous Jacob that his self-chosen ways had, for its banner a darkness endorsed by the frown of heaven. The sun had set. It refuses to shine over all such ways that men choose for themselves. Instead the only true Way to fullness of life was revealed to Jacob. All other ways lead to death [Prov.12:14].
 

Intercession

 Intercession

We live in perilous times.  All over the world, turbulent visions confound world powers. Global insecurity exposes the impotence of peace-movements, while moral decline is steadily being accepted as a universal culture. 

 

Governments of the world may have diagnosed the various social and moral ailments, which threaten societal health. Yet, they are confirmed powerless, as their remedies do nothing to procure the healing of these wounds. 

 

Pharaoh, one-time most powerful ruler on earth, saw visions of ruin [Gen. 41:1-7]. Nebuchadnezzar, ex-global potentate, favored with apocalyptic glances into ages unborn, saw the certain destruction of the ungodly [Dan.2:31-35]. 

 

In both cases, righteous men whose devotional lives are attuned to the frequency of genuine spirituality, arose to arrest the situation. Joseph standing before Pharaoh, in the former case, gave his advice with the voice of one who, in secret, had maintained an unbroken fellowship with the Almighty. Daniel in the latter case spurned royal favors and even imperiled his own life for the greater task of seeking the face of God.