"And seeing a fig tree
afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing
thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the
time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it." - Mark 11:13-14
The tree was seen "from afar". When the world looks at us, they see us from afar. They see the show we put on for them. The world sees the many masks you put on to deceive them. Are you truly a child of God? When your friends see you, when your family sees you - do they see God in you? You profess faith and trust in the Lord and Savior, yet do you produce what you were ordained and made for? God is now coming to you hoping to "find something" in you. When God comes to you does He find "nothing but leaves"? Are you just full of words of deception and actions of hypocrisy?
Child you were called for a purpose, yet you are wandering around as if nothing matters.
The fig tree here was only the object of teaching that Jesus used to instruct his disciples, to instruct us. Though it was not the season of figs, this tree was flourishing. Do you go about your life pompous, making others who look at you to think that you are a fruitful christian? Understand this, your show will come to an end when they run to you to find solace and peace that the God you profess gives. Don't stray the children who God wants for his kingdom. Don't pretend to them like you know everything, and waver them in the path of finding Christ.
It had an abundance of leaves. The way it grew, made it seem like it lacked nothing.But little does the tree know that if the fig tree has too much nitrogen it produce very nice and lush leaves, but that is all! There is a lack of phosphorous that hinders the tree from giving fruit.
We need to examine our lives these days to see what we have too much of and what we have too little of. As a christian one of our goals is to bare fruit. If we have yet to produce any fruit for our gardener and Father, it is high time to examine ourselves. Do we partake in the world too much that we often forget to feed ourselves with God's word? Are we getting too much nitrogen and not enough phosphorous? Do we spend too much time talking to friends and family that we have lost the number to dial God? Do we spend too much energy and will power for worldly things that we become too tired to pray and praise God in the spirit? Do we spend too much time paying attention to the world that we end up hearing nothing that God wants to share? I could keep going with these Do we's.
Child, if you lack in even one of this area you are only producing lush leaves. It is very nice to see from the outside, but when a tired soul comes to find peace and hope, these leaves will do him no good. When a lost soul seeks to find guidance these leaves will do him no good. Do not wait for the day when God will say, "I do not know you." If you want to be known by God, then bring forth some fruits for his Kingdom. Live in the path he has drawn for you! Eat of the book of God, drink from the fountain of life and then only will you begin to bloom flowers which will bring the desired fruits for the Lord.
Reproved and Approved by the Fire
"I will stand upon my watch, and set myself upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved." Habakkuk 2:1
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Psalms 51: Guilt, Confession and Restoration
"What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!"
Sometimes it takes an accusation to move us to repentance. Sometimes it is the troubles that assault us that bring us to examine our lives. This is human nature, this was also the nature of King David. In Psalms 32: 3-4 David tells us, "When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer" David knew the gravity of his deeds, the depth of his sin. He could feel it in his soul, he experienced a wasting away, a void in his life. Yet! Yet, he did not come to Lord and confess his sins UNTIL Nathan came to deliver the message of wrath from the Lord. We know the background story with Nathan's parable and the proclamation of David's sin to his face. Nathan confronts David and asks, "Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?" - II Samuel 12:9. Finally, the push and the prod has come, and David is ready to confess. Coming back to Psalms 51, we see David owns his sins. It is a very hard thing for us to own up to our sins. We always try to push the blame on to someone else. In just the first three verses of this chapter we see David using the word 'my' five times.
- blot out my transgressions. vs. 1
- wash away all my iniquity vs. 2
- cleanse me from my sin vs. 2
- I know my transgressions vs. 3
- my sin is always before me vs. 3
- Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean vs. 7
- Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow vs. 7
- Blot out all my iniquities vs. 9
- Create in me a clean heart vs. 10
2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty(freedom)" Without God's restoration of our salvation in our lives, we are forever bound in the revelation of our betrayal and treason against our King.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Life's Purpose...
“I, the Lord, have called you in
righteousness, and will hold your hand; I will keep you and give you as a
covenant to the people, as a light to the gentiles, to open blind eyes, to
bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison
house. I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another,
Nor my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
Isaiah 42:6-9
Many
times I have thought that I have no purpose in life. I think that I exist
because of mere grace and as a useless and broken vessel. But every time I
conceive these thoughts, I hear God’s voice (through a verse I read, through
self instructions, and through preaching) confirming and assuring me that I
was not placed in this world without a reason. In fact every one of us has a
purpose in life. Not a single human being is alive in this world by mere
circumstance, because God designed us, and his designs and inventions always
come with a function.
In Jeremiah 29:11, it states that God knows
the plans he has for us and they are of peace and not of harm. This purpose, of
peace, is only entitled to the children of God. It is a gift, a part of your
inheritance from the Father. Look around you, what do you see? Disasters after
disasters, war after war, religion against religion… but do these affect our
sleep? Does the violence take away our peace? Does our relationship with
family, friends or other race change? If they do, then we need to see if we are
still in the hands of God, if we are still in the right path. Because Jesus
tells us, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world
gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid” (John 14:27). When we see the destruction around us, we are not afraid
or troubled, because we are under wings of the Lord.
There is
always a time for our purpose and plans to be revealed. A coffeemaker’s purpose
is fulfilled only when you need a cup of coffee. The same way when the right
time, as said in Ecc. 3:1-8, comes for us to shine for God, we will understand
why we are put in this world.
Now coming back to the core verse in Isaiah,
we see that there is always a great purpose for those He has “called in
righteousness”. When you are called, get ready for a wild ride, because God’s
plans are not in small measurement. When He plans, He goes full-length. The
called is given the spirit of healing, is given the authority to rid of evil,
to blot out darkness and inject light, to raise His name above all else. God
does not leave the “called” alone, unattended. His reassurance is there with
his plan for you. He tells you that he will “hold your hand” and “keep you”.
What more do you need from God? He has a purpose and a plan for you, He reveals
them to you in the due season, His plans exceed our imagination, and He
promises a pillar of fire to guide us in the night and an angel “to keep you in
all your ways”. All we have to do is, make sure we have not strayed away from His
path but that we are still in the arms of God. Every one is called with a
purpose and when God reveals His purpose in our lives we must submit and do His
will. Nehemiah found his purpose and pursued to build up the broken walls of
Jerusalem. “What is God’s purpose in my life?” “What is His will for my life?” finding
the answers to these questions should push us to obey the purpose and will for
our lives.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Speak Lord
"Speak, for Your servant is listening." 1 Samuel 3:10
1 Samuel 3 is a great example that teaches us the art of being still and listening. While I was thinking about God speaking, I thought maybe first I need to be where God speaks. In this day and era, its hard to find a quiet place or a time of calm to even sort out our everyday problems. But we need to put ourselves in a place and position where we can hear God most clearly. Little Samuel was in the best place to hear God speak. He was in the temple where God dwelt. If we think and look hard enough, we can also find that place for us...for some its our car, our bedroom, our kitchen while cooking, our little corner of peace.
Even after being in that corner of peace, we should remember that prayer most definitely is not a monologue, but a conversation where I should wait to hear from my Lord. Often times I see myself going with the motion of praying, forgetting that God is searching for even a tiny interval to speak a word. In the book of Samuel we see that Eli and his sons have wandered away from God. They have robbed God by putting themselves first through immoral and impure lives and their arrogance. Because of his own arrogance of his 'priestliness' we see God passing over Eli to speak to a little child like Samuel. Even as a little boy, Samuel had the desire to hear from God, when God saw the readiness and the preparedness he started speaking. We need to prepare ourselves to hear from God.
Often times, we are too
focused on the wrong things waiting to hear from God. Though we have
heard the sermon a thousand times of the still small voice, we still
think God speaks in grand terms. Lighting flashes, thunder roars, clouds
surround us, trumpets blasts...we are waiting for these impressive
introductions to sit up and say, "Speak, for Your servant is listening".
None of this happened when God spoke to Samuel. Instead, God calls his
name quietly in the night. Okay, so my mind is wandering off to Balaam's
donkey. So there are some times when God speaks by opening a donkey's
mouth or speaking through a fiery bush, but often times expect God to
speak in quiet and simple ways.
Distractions are our worst enemy when it comes to sitting down and
waiting patiently. I have heard this story from some of the sermons in
the past and its a great little moralized story. --- A pilot was having
difficulty landing his plane due to unexpected fog on the runway. So the
airport decides to land him by radar. As he is receiving instructions,
the pilot remembers of a tall pole that he saw before the fog in his
flight path. Fearing his life and the possible accident, the pilot
radios the control tower with panicked refusal. A blunt reply comes
back to the pilot, " You obey the instructions, and we will take care of
the obstructions." God will take care of all distractions as long as
we take care of our end, and that is sitting at the feet of God like
Mary and just listen. Jesus said in John 8:47 "He who belongs to God
hears what God says." It is time and past due for us to cry out to God
and say, "Speak, for Your servant is listening."
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Fellowship With God
How is your fellowship with God
these days?
Do you spend enough time with God? Do you sit in His presence waiting for Him to talk? Do you meditate upon His words? If you are able to answer yes to these question, then you have surpassed all of human kind. You see, spending time with God cannot be evaluated or calculated. It is an on going process, where every moment you spend talking to God brings you one step closer to him. A closer walk with God is an essential part of our lives. Without spending that 5 minutes or 1 hour in his presence, we cannot surpass this world's temptations and trials that come our way.
Here are some Bible verses that might be useful in your day to day meditation:
Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against the.
Philipians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Let us not wait for God to tell us"...Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God" Mat 22:29. Lets take initiative and start reading the Bible and Meditating on the scriptures before we go off to our work or classes. We make time to catch up on a show we missed last week or meet with friends once in a while, don’t we also have the obligation to visit God once in a while and thank him for the air we breathe everyday? Shouldn't we thank him for all the goodness and wealth He has showered upon us?
Do you spend enough time with God? Do you sit in His presence waiting for Him to talk? Do you meditate upon His words? If you are able to answer yes to these question, then you have surpassed all of human kind. You see, spending time with God cannot be evaluated or calculated. It is an on going process, where every moment you spend talking to God brings you one step closer to him. A closer walk with God is an essential part of our lives. Without spending that 5 minutes or 1 hour in his presence, we cannot surpass this world's temptations and trials that come our way.
Here are some Bible verses that might be useful in your day to day meditation:
Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against the.
Philipians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Let us not wait for God to tell us"...Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God" Mat 22:29. Lets take initiative and start reading the Bible and Meditating on the scriptures before we go off to our work or classes. We make time to catch up on a show we missed last week or meet with friends once in a while, don’t we also have the obligation to visit God once in a while and thank him for the air we breathe everyday? Shouldn't we thank him for all the goodness and wealth He has showered upon us?
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