Squeaky Clean, Not!

Dedicated to all of us Peter’s who have denied but are still accepted.

Mat 26:33 Peter answered and said to Him, though all shall be offended because of You, I will never be offended.
Mat 26:34 Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you that this night, before the cock crows, you shall deny Me three times.
Mat 26:35 Peter said to Him, though I should die with You, yet I will not deny You. All the disciples also said the same.

Mat 26:69 And Peter sat outside in the court. And a girl came to him, saying, You also were with Jesus of Galilee.
Mat 26:70 But he denied all before them, saying, I do not know what you say.
Mat 26:71 And when he had gone out into the porch, another saw him and said to those there, This one was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
Mat 26:72 And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.
Mat 26:73 And after a little while those who stood by came and said to Peter, Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.
Mat 26:74 Then he began to curse and to swear, I do not know the man. And immediately the cock crowed.

Mar 16:6 … You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen, He is not here. Behold the place where they laid Him.
Mar 16:7 But go tell His disciples and Peter that He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see Him, as He said to you.

Unlawfully Lawful

Num 15:32 And while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day.
Num 15:33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation.
Num 15:34 And they put him under guard because it had not been clearly said what should be done to him.
Num 15:35 And Jehovah said to Moses, The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.
Num 15:36 And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died, even as Jehovah commanded Moses.

Luk 6:1 And it happened on the second chief sabbath, He went through the grain fields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate, rubbing them in their hands.
Luk 6:2 And certain of the Pharisees said to them, Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?
Luk 6:5 And He said to them, The Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath.

Pastor Chris has preached a message to us once about the higher truths in Christ. I was doing my bible reading this morning, and this scripture in Luke caught my attention. Let’s look at it from the Pharisees POV, they were not wrong; their accusations were accurate and according to law. In a court of law, the prosecution had a close and cut case.

However, In verse 5 of Luke, Jesus made a statement that changes perspectives on everything, and unless we want to choose the words of Jesus that we believe, i think this puts a 180 degree view on certain beliefs of Christianity. Or as Pastor Chris puts it – the Higher Truth.

The Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath. And i am born again in His image. SO that makes me Lord of the sabbath; Lord of the laws. So my actions can no longer be judged by the law; because the life which i now live i live by the faith of the Son of God.

Similarly, it is true that God heals the sick, but it is a higher truth that God has given me eternal(read divine health). it is true that God will bless me, but it is a higher truth that God has already given me all things pertaining to life and Godliness.

Just a thought.

Jesus Pays Up

Luk 5:3 And He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, He asked him to thrust out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people out of the boat.
Luk 5:4 And as He stopped speaking, He said to Simon, Launch out into the deep and let your nets down for a haul.

I am truly grateful for one thing. I am finding my hunger and thirst for righteousness back. In recent days, i have been doing my bible study and speaking in tongues. Coming from a place where I inadvertently neglected this precious and necessary spiritual exercise, i believe i appreciate quiet time better. and i am convinced of one thing…those voices that made me pen words in my little book of prophecy were not my imaginations. because in the last few months, i have been unable to pen any words of the spirit, whether imagined or real. No, God didn’t stop talking; i don’t believe he does….i only lost my reception.

But i am tuning in slowly but surely. As i read my bible in the mornings, i see beyond the words of scripture. Today, i saw a simple message – Jesus Pays Up. Or like another part of scripture puts it, He is a rewarder of those who diligently see him. So what i saw this morning, was Jesus stepping into Peter’s life, and making use of him. But he didn’t just get up and leave. Even without asking for compensation, Jesus offered Peter a net-bursting catch of fish.

Now, if God does not change, and he did this miracle for Peter just for using his boat, think what he could and would do for me, having offered him my life and professional services in the past four years.

Thank you Jesus, because my profiting is surely evident.

The Prosperity Gospel

For those who think the prosperity gospel is a deception, pray explain this scripture to me…

Deu 8:7 For Jehovah your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills,
Deu 8:8 a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey,
Deu 8:9 a land in which you shall eat bread without want. You shall not lack any thing in it. It is a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper.
Deu 8:10 And you shall eat and be satisfied, then you shall bless Jehovah your God for the good land which He has given you.

It seems to me both from the old and new testament that God delights in abundantly and exceedingly blessing, both spiritually and materially, those whom he has called and chosen. So why then does it bother you if i wear the latest designer suits, or drive the latest model, or live in the nine-zeroes condo, or fly in my private jet? It seems consistent with God’s purpose and desire for his chosen ones.

That said, i am also acutely aware that this is not the experience of many professing believers. Question then is, is this a rip-off, or is there a principle to be learned and followed?

I believe that God wants me to prosper and be in health even aas my soul prospers. I strongly believe in this message. I may not agree totally with all the methods of the propenents of this gospel, but i can see from scripture that a God who paves his streets in gold doesn’t want me broke and down.

Just a random thought.

The Beauty of the Bible

I do not want to believe that it is because I have a dire need that I have re-discovered the beauty of the bible. I hope not. Anyways. I have missed reading my bible. It used to be a cliche when they said “don’t get so busy working for the lord that you neglect to walk with him”. To me, this is no longer a cliche; it is the safety net beneath the tight-rope walker. I did not deliberately neglect fellow-shipping with God; but somewhere along the line of being a church staff, (with plentiful harvest and few laborers) I didn’t have the time to meditate, pray or study the bible – for the souls that needed to be ministered to. I was the kitchen staff who was dying of starvation.

So I picked up my bible recently; feeling a hunger that I used to have back in my school days, when all that mattered was fellowship, and there were no need for schedules and bills. I read a few verses of Galatians, and got stuck in the 4th verse: “Jesus gave his lie for our sins, just as God our father had planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world …”. Somehow, I couldn’t get past that verse, and it struck me like I had never read it before; well, in the NLT version. See, the beauty of that verse for me was to realize that God had a rescue plan in place for me – even when I was a convict of sin. And the astounding thing about the rescue plan was that it involved the sacrifice of his son. So am thinking, if God could have such a selfless rescue plan for me when I was a sinner; what wouldn’t he do for me now that am a saint? He rescued me from an evil world; wouldn’t he be able to rescue me from not having accommodation?

Indeed, I should “cast your cares upon the Lord; for he cares for you.”