Righteous Desire

The fear of the wicked will come upon him, and the desire of the righteous will be granted. ...Proverbs 10:24 NKJV

Reading this verse, it is clear that the wicked are preoccupied with fears whereas the righteous with desires.

Both fear and desire require faith. What is fear? Fear believes that something bad is going to happen. To fear is to focus our thought on what we don't want happen. What is desire? It is to hope that something good will happen. To desire is to focus our thought on what we want happen.

The scary thing is that both can happen, depending on our choice. Job said the thing I greatly feared has come upon me. Jesus said whatsoever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them.

We better get a hold of ourselves how we think. Paul gave young Timothy a priceless tip how to conduct life. He says God has not given you a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power of love and of a sound mind. The Amplified Bible translates a “disciplined” mind. Yes, we have been given a spirit of disciplined mind to focus on thinking what we want happen, not what we don’t want happen.

The choice is simple, isn’t it? But you will be surprised how many choose fear over desire. Some may even think that it is being responsible to fear or worry, like Job did. Some may think it sinful to desire much.

But you know better, just as you know that I didn't try to take things out of context because I read this verse from the perspective of the New Testament. Who is righteous according to the NT? God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf that we might be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. So you are righteous, whatever others would have you believe, whatever you feel about how Solomon defined righteousness and wickedness in the whole chapter of Proverbs 10.

So righteous one, you know what to choose.

Congratulation! Your desire will be granted.

You Saved the Best for Last

For the past few days I have had to keep my emotions in check.

I didn’t expect the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew would have affected me so much. I tried to analyze, but it is all futile. I have lived long enough to know that when it is time to feel I should just feel, don’t try to understand.

Singapore holds a very special place in my heart. I had the privilege to live much of my life in Singapore, it is a wonderful country. I studied and worked there for close to fifteen years, and made some lifelong friends. Today I know many of them are mourning a great loss.

I saw the queues of people to pay their last respect to their great leader. I called a friend, no I whatsupped her, a cool-headed PhD and she couldn’t contain her emotions. I would have envied her and her fellow countrymen, that they could have a leader they so adore, if not for the fact that I myself had been privileged to live under the influence of the great man for a long time.

A great loss indeed. On his stage, he was peerless. But I am sure that Singapore will move on to greater heights, even without their founding prime minister. Let’s not forget that Mr Lee’s legacy started with a loss. It was so to him, so much so he cried on television.

Kicked out of the Federation, with a million mouths to feed, on an island state practically with no resources. And those who kicked him out must have thought: good riddance of a troublesome people.

But God is a father to the orphans the needy the oppressed. He will make sure that they have the last laugh.

I read in John 2, the morning of the passing of Mr Lee but not yet hearing the news, a verse that captivated me:

Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now! (John 2:10, MSG)

Look at the country Mr Lee built. Success is an understatement.

I don’t want to argue about Mr Lee’s religious inclination, but it couldn’t be clearer to me: he is God’s gift to Singapore, the Moses of his generation.

As in 1965, so in 2015, the Redeemer can turn a loss to gain.

The end of a chapter for Singapore? Maybe, but their Joshua is already here.

Jesus Came to Put the World Right Again

At the heart of Christmas is the reason why God sent Jesus.

John the Apostle wrote in his Gospel:

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. (John 3:16-17, MSG)

Did Jesus come to tell you how bad you are? Did He come to accuse mankind of making a mess of the world He created? No, not if we believe what God’s word says. Apparently people already have a good understanding how bad the world is.

He came to help, to put the world right again.

This is the posture He takes, since the beginning. He has not changed, and is not going to change. His heart has always been the same, He wants our good. He always comes on the scene for us when something turns bad. Always.

If you look at the world around us, there seems to be economic uncertainty, political instability and even religious extremism and persecution. When we send our hymnals to the photocopy shop they may be referred to the police. When you go for fine Christmas dining at the hotel, they may have no turkey. But take heart, He came to help, to put OUR WORLD right again.

When you look at your own world, is there anything amiss? Has anything turned bad? A bad report from the doctor? A business opportunity missed? A relationship turned sour? It is not His idea. Take heart, He came to help, to put YOUR WORLD right again.

So long as I remember and believe He came to help, to put MY WORLD right again, I cannot help but rejoice. I sense the spirit of Christmas in the air, and this year it is especially beautiful.

Merry Christmas!

Life Power and Dead Behavior

Jesus travelled all over to preach God’s kingdom and one time came to Jericho. There was a very rich man named Zacchaeus who was supervisor over all the tax collectors in town (Tax collectors were generally thought to be crooks serving the Romans fattening their own pockets with tax money). As Jesus was passing by he tried to get a glimpse of Him. But because he was very short and Jesus was thronged by a huge crowd he couldn’t see Him over the crowd. So he climbed up a big tree to try to see Jesus.

Zacchaeus had never seen Jesus before. But when Jesus noticed him He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come on down, I am going to stay at your place tonight.” Overjoyed, he scrambled out of the tree and led Jesus away to his home. Zacchaeus must have been astounded by the fact that Jesus could call out his name even though they had never met before. But many in the crowd were not impressed, and they said, “Look at this! Of all the people to have dinner with, He’s going to eat in the house of a crook!” (Luke 19:7 TPT)

In calling out Zacchaeus’ name Jesus demonstrated supernatural power – a word of knowledge. Imagine how you would react if you were Zacchaeus. Anyone who has his name called out by a stranger would stop to think. I believe this has a huge impact on Zacchaeus that finally led to his salvation (Read Here). The power brought life to Zacchaeus and his household.

But that’s not all to the story. I am amazed by the reaction of the religious crowd. Here they were witnessing God’s supernatural power on display, yet all they could think of was Jesus shouldn’t associate Himself with a sinner. They were very concerned about right and wrong, and that’s what they lived by. It didn’t matter to them that life has been served. They couldn’t care less if God has come on the scene. They just wanted to live by their principles and to look good.

That is how those who want to live by the Law live. In trying to fulfill God’s Law by their own effort, they found themselves estranged from God. It was like this in the Garden of Eden: Adam and Eve chose knowledge of right and wrong instead of life; they wanted to live independent from God. It was like this at Mt Sinai: Israel chose a set of laws instead of the presence of God. They didn’t want to go near God but instead asked Moses to get them a set of rules to live by. To me this is a big joke.

Paul told the Romans that he was not ashamed of the Gospel, and he said the Gospel is the power unto salvation for those who believe (Rom 1:16, NKJV). Let us not be offended by the power of the Gospel. It will surely bring life to many. It is Jesus’ method.

Scripture Link : BibleGateway.com

Power Indispensable

You cannot live the normal Christian life without a demonstration of power.

“Normal” as in being right. I recently learned a powerful paradigm: right is right if nobody is doing it; wrong is wrong if everybody is doing it.

Consider the following words form the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth:

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Cor 2:4, NKJV)

He is saying that you shouldn’t believe me if all I have is mere talk, but you should believe me when my message is backed up by a demonstration of God’s power – power to know of your problem before you tell me, power to heal you when you are sick, power to work miracle when you need one, power to differentiate if you are bothered by evil spirits or led by God’s Spirit, and power to prophesy into your future – speaking great things into being while they are not yet.

What is good for the great apostle is good enough for me. That’s why I insist that the gospel we preach must be backed up by a demonstration of God’s power.

What if we haven’t got it?

Then there’s only one thing to do: ask until you get it. You have not because you asked not.

The worst thing we can do is to make excuses. Paul couldn’t have meant what we read. The days of power is past with the apostles all dead. Because I don’t have it, it cannot be true. We don’t have to emphasize healing as we have good doctors now and good medicine. The supernatural only appeals to the simple and superstitious but today folks are knowledgeable and educated.

But does God’s word tell us that a day will come when our standard will be different from that of the Apostle Paul? Who gives us the right to demand faith without demonstrating God when even Paul dared not?

We are called believers, not doubters. Doubters doubt; believers believe. Every word God said. Plainly. Simply.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. (1 Cor 4:20, NIV)

So if we want to preach the Gospel, we must back up with power. It is that simple.

The Power of Righteousness

The Old Testament emphasizes on the power of sin, whereas the New Testament stresses on the power of righteousness. Believers ought to differentiate between the two, else they will be confused while reading their Bible and not be able to reap the full benefit for their lives.

One powerful illustration to bring across the point is this: in the Old Testament, touching a leper makes one unclean; in the New Testament, touching a leper makes the leper clean. In fact Jesus authorized his disciples to cleanse the lepers (Matt 10:8).

Have you ever thought about this: in asking them to touch the leper Jesus is asking His disciples to break the Law! Why could his disciples now break the Law? Because it is no more about right and wrong, it is about Life. Law defines what is right and what is wrong, but it cannot give life.

Remember what happened in the Garden of Eden? Adam and Eve chose to know right and wrong instead of choosing Life. And so began mankind’s downward spiral until the Redeemer comes.

The Old Testament’s emphasis is the power of sin. Again and again it tells us that we are unable to overcome the power of sin (and it is sin that causes all human misery). All that passing laws against sin did was to produce more lawbreakers (Rom 5:20, MSG). That is exactly why we need a savior. After the Savior has done His job saving, sin has no more hold over us. We have been made righteous by His work and now have His Life living in us and out of us!

It is a beautiful thing that we can now expect the Life of God to flow out of us. When it does, it will overcome all forms of darkness surrounding us. Sin, sickness, oppression, fear, poverty and you name it; they have no fight with this Life. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10, NKJV).

So for believers the focus now is the power of righteousness, not the power of sin. Christians are New Testament believers!

If we fail to grasp this we will be looking for the power of sin even in the New Testament. If we insist on trying to be right on our own, it is like trying to be like Adam and Eve, doing it all over again. This is reading the Bible backwards.

The Blinding Power of the Law

The Law has a power that blinds people, as evident in Paul’s statement: But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart (2 Cor 3:15, NKJV). No one is exempt, not even great men of God.

John the Baptist, son of Zechariah, lived in exciting time. More so for him than for anyone else because he was the man tasked to usher in a new era – the era of Grace. The era started with Jesus, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17, NKJV)

But the fact is that although John helped to usher in the era of Grace, he was very much steeped in the Law. All he knew was the Old Testament.

The pinnacle of John’s career was his pointing out Jesus. Afterwards it wasn’t up and up for him. At his low point he wavered as to whether Jesus was the right one. He was in jail, and about to be executed by Herod. So he sent his disciples to verify with Jesus. He wanted to die knowing that he’s done his job.

Why did John doubt at the last moment? I think his vision was blurred as a result of trying to see through the Law. “Hey,” John was thinking, “the behavior of this Jesus sure doesn’t fit someone who upholds the Law.” Jesus loved to mingle among sinners and break rules of the Sabbath. John was fervent in upholding the Law and seeing through the Law. There was nothing wrong with that, except he couldn’t see God clearly.

Perhaps some might think it harsh to judge John like that, for it was none other than him who pointed out Jesus. If he could have seen clearly then, why could not he later?

The reason is that Law has an expiry date. Just like the milk in your fridge, you shouldn’t drink it once it expires its fit-for-use date. Paul defined in Galatians Law’s expiry date as followed:

Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. (Gal 3:24-25, NKJV)

So after the Son of God was revealed, John should have no business dealing with the Law. Have you ever wondered why John did not become a follower of Jesus like his own disciples did? If he had, he would have understood and experienced grace: And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace (John 1:16, NKJV). Also, his vision would not have been impaired.

Likewise for us, if we don’t want our vision to be blurred that we can’t see God clearly, don’t meddle with the Law after we have come into God’s Grace.

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