Abba, Father, I …

In the last post, i mentioned three conditions needed for someone to be able to “create” things out of “nothing”, as the Lord God does.

They are:

• You must be born again.
• You must be Spirit filled.
• You must be on speaking terms with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Is it possible to cause things to happen outside of those three conditions? Yes. But the worker behind such works is then obvioulsy not Jesus Christ. It is another god. It is in all likelihood the god of this world, the devil.

Today i will offer more passages to expound ( and hopefully convice the doubtful ) on this ability that all children of God have.

Jesus: “As the Father is, so i am”

Some background :

Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

⁴⁹The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” (John 4:46-49 NIV)

Sick and close to death, but Jesus says: “Go your way; your son lives.”  (v50 NKJV)

Why is He capable of this? He explains why it is possible:

For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. ²¹ For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. ( John 5: 20,21 NKJV)

And

²⁶ For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,

That is, the Father, who creates by  saying “Let there be”, gave to Him-Jesus Christ- while he was on earth as a human ( or the son of man ) the same creative powers and authority.

And He used these powers within the will of His Father :

“Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. ( John 5:19)

But you probably knew this already.

Me: As Jesus is, so am i

Once you believe in Christ, you have been elevated to the child of God status ( a position, i must add, that is  far greater than that which the angels  of God or Lucifer have!)

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ( John 1:12,13)

Not only that, He also gives you the same powers that He had while He was here on earth:

¹⁹ Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. ( Luke 10:19)

So that, you can also say “let this go away!”

²¹ So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. ²² And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:21,22)

So why have i not moved a mountain?

The power is there. The authority is there. So, how comes i have not moved any mountain?

Perhaps it is because you have not matured enough to be able to rightfully wield the power.

Have you ever fantasized about moving a literal mountain “just to see”? Or, thought how cool it would be to be able to teleport yourself to “kenya ,run some errands and be back in a blink”? Or smiled at the thought of getting billions of dollars out of nowhere?

If so, then right there is your answer.

Jesus could move a mountain, but he never did. He could get billions of shekels but only got a “piece of money” for the tax. He could have send fire to punish all those oppressive Romans colonialists [ or oppressors/terrorists/tribalists- add your own bad guy description here], but he did not. He could do a lot of things with His powers, but he did not. At least not “just for the heck of it”, or to avoid hardship.

The power is not to be used “just to see” or to “mersmerize” or to “make them believe” or to “punish the enemies” or  to get yourself some glory and TV face time and celeb status. No.

But once one  is not bothered with such motives,  then one is ready to wield the power and exercise the authority that they have been given, for the kingdom and for God’s glory.

So, if you ever asked, “why am i not able to do this?”, the answer is “you are not yet responsible enough”.

This is what the Lord told me when i thought on these matters.

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Here is one way of being as your heavenly Father is.

The Lord God wanted some things to be. But the things were not. So what did the Lord God do? He called them into being. He said, “Let there be”. And it was.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so

(Genesis 1, NIV)

Are there things that ought to be that are not? Are there things you desire to be? Speak them into being.

But this great power has  its limits, unfortunately.

You are not the Lord God. You  do not have limitless power and infinite knowledge as He does. So,

• You must have a friendship relationship going with Him for Him to let you tap into His power. That is, you must be born again.
• You must have within you the wonder working power. That is you must be Spirit filled.
• Your ability to call things into being must be within His will. That is, you must be on speaking terms with Him.

Else nothing significant you call into being will be.

What is it that you would to be?

Ask Him what His will on it is, and then speak it to be.

This is part two of the everlasting fame post. See part one here.

In the last post we said that humans  seek not just fame, but everlasting fame. And many people work at it with all of their might. But we also saw how those people who have become super famous in their lifetimes and soon after, are hardly a memory in most people’s mind just 500 years down the line.

Gone in 1000 years

It is true that there are some great people we still hear about 1000s of years later. But the audience they receive is limited to only certain specialty groups. For example, philosophers remember Plato and Socrates. Military students study Alexander the Great. Historians know one or two things about Pharaoh Tutankhamen.

By contrast, those people who did things requested of them by the Lord God, have everlasting memorial in the minds of people who identify themselves with Christianity. And this memorial is refreshed every new generation, as their “good” and “bad” deeds are used as lessons in life matters.

Zero fame now, infinite fame later

The reason for this is because of the types of reward system that are in operation on this earth.

Now or later.

To fully understand this, consider the person who discovered penicillin ( or antibiotics ) . If you are not a “student” of medicine or biology, you probably have no idea who he was. Or consider the person who first discovered the use of anesthesia. Who was he?  ( Psst: I heard that in it’s early forms as chloroform, it was denounced by some church people. They said it was an evil invention, because, they said, it denied people the chance to suffer through pain. And that it prevented their cries of pain  from being heard by God!   ).

These two discoveries have made life on the 3rd rock palatable to most people. Imagine our current world with no  antibiotics!

Should we feel bad that we are ungrateful by not knowing  these people yet we enjoy their labors? No. They have been rewarded already. Their reward is now. They gave the lad from Scotland a Nobel prize and Knighted him. Last time i got some antibiotics, i paid for it. Any time a person has surgery he pays dearly for all the anesthesia and other medical wonders he receives.

On the other hand, if you do an act for the Lord, it is He who will reward you, later. He will reward you, that is, if you do not seek to be rewarded  ( or honored ) by fellow mortals now.

The Lord owes you, your reward is pending, stretched out, to everlasting. As long as the earth endures, the Lord makes sure you are in people’s memory, as a remind that you are owed for your acts. And when finally the earth folds over, then you get your reward, and people are then free to “forget” your acts.

⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. ( 2 Timothy 4:8 NIV)

I am almost certain that in the new world, most people will seek out Paul of Tarsus or Enoch of Genesis, but not Sir Alexander Fleming of Scotland.

Does that mean you do not get some reward now? No. You do get a certain percentage, but the best portion is banked for you for later:

I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. ( Mark 10:29-30 NIV)

Me? Seek fame? No!

You certainly have noticed how “men” of God and people in the “ministry” introduce themselves or like to be introduced by others?  Sample this:

• “Best selling author..”
• “Senior pastor of largest church..”
• “Founded 100s of  churches”
• “My ministry gave millions of dollars to those..”
• “Has syndicated shows on..”

You think this is not a problem? Why?
Read the rest of this entry »

I will also give him the morning star. Rev 2:28

Is a Hollywood star worth anything if she/he has no star in the Hollywood walk of Fame?

The Hollywood Walk of Fame, if you do not know, is a sidewalk along Hollywood Blvd and Vine Street in Hollywood, CA, USA,  that is embedded with more than 2,000 five-pointed stars featuring the names of (mostly) human celebs honored for their contributions to the entertainment industry.

But you already knew that, not so?

These and other types of honor are a sought after commodity in the heart of humans (and non humans). It is perhaps an attempt to make one’s mark in the world. A  desire to outlast our quick and fleeting -70+ passage in time through terra firma. Something that says to us:

“I did something while i was here!”

Who did that?

All over the world, people read books. Who invented the printing press?  My mother does not know which German that was, nor does she care. Do you? Who invented these everyday must have life items:- the  TV, the mobile phone, the digital camera? How about the male suit or the female mini skirt? Who came up with the “arial” font face? Perhaps you do not know, and that is okay. You do not have to know these people.

500 years from now, no one will know or care about the fact that one Bill Gates gave us Office with Windows ,  or that Sergey birthed Google and  Steve Jobs made us very excited with his i* series if electronic magic creating devices or that Mark made it possible for you to digitally live forever on Facebook or that Jack Dorsey made it possible for the Library of Congress to catalog even your idling mundane thoughts, and that Tim Bernes-Lee made it possible for me to very easily share this post with you.

All these people have done things worthy of praise and deserve some measure of honor.

This is honor

While many people may not know who Tim Bernes-Lee is, when i mention the following people, most of us (and many other people in other countries ) immediately  know who i am talking about:  Abraham, Moses,  Rahab the prostitute, Esther, Mary and Joseph, the good Samaritan, the woman who wiped Jesus feet with her tears and hair, the boy with five loaves of bread and two little fish.

And, you bet, that as long as the gospel is being preached, even 1000 years from know, Christians all over will care about these people, but they will be amazed that people in the 21st century ( me and you ) could actually get some work done by the use of rudimentary tools such as the the PC and iphone and Internet 2.

Why is that so?

Whom God honors..

Because, the only honor worth having is that which is spoken from the mouth of God. All else is like the dew of the morning, which flies away as soon as the sun comes into its brightness.

What that means, my friends, is that, even as you do a work or seek to leave a mark or in whatever you desire to be known of, if it did not originate as an act of obedience to the word you heard from the Lord God, it really is a waste of time, for when you stand before the son of God, it shall not be counted on your behalf:

I will also give him the morning star (Rev 2:28 NIV)

Whose star is that at?

Going back to the Hollywood walk of fame, there is actually one star that might shine for generations and generations and will be remembered at the end of time. And that person had initially refused the honor!

So, here is your assignment:

Whose star is at address: 6901 Hollywood Blvd?

Do you work for your house? You do not have a mortgage? Well, read on, you might be just surprised that you actually do.

I usually commute to work via car pool, about 30 miles one way. One question i like asking my fellow rider is whether, given the long commute and heavy traffic, they enjoy their job, . Over 70% of them do not.  Whenever the person happens to be a working mom, i hear a common complaint  ( almost  90% )

“I wish i did not have to work so hard. I wish i could spend more time with my kids. But i have a mortgage .”

The men simply say “I have bills to pay”

The elusive dream

One of the components of the American dream, house ( or home  )  ownership, is actually a good goal to aspire towards in life. For one, it motivates men and women to work hard, real hard, which is a good and godly thing to do on this earth.

But, given the maddening  competitive nature of people who have grasped this dream, it almost always happens that one ends up buying way too much house. People do this for various reasons, but here are three very common ones:

• What one can afford is not always what one really wants. Ever gone to a car dealership seeking a 20K bargain vehicle and found yourself driving out with a 30K ride? When you see a house developer advertise “Homes starting at 220″, let me assure you what you really want will probably be in the 350 range ( If you are an average Texan, 350 is really a lot of House). The sales agent is only too happy to show you and sell you the  houses with the very appealing upgrades. And since the house is most likely being financed by someone else’s money, few people resist the urge to buy the more glorious. They are only being human, after all.
• Looks. You want the  “Wow!” factor. You want to impress people.
• Class. You believe you have worked hard and “deserve” that type of a house. And if you are an immigrant from, say Kenya, you surely want to reward yourself for all the suffering you might have gone through to be where you are. Or you need to have “something” to show for your “long absence” from “home”.

So, people end up buying too much house than they really need. So they need to work extra hard ( or they need two incomes ) to maintain this chosen lifestyle.

In other words, people end up working for the house.

For most people,10+ hours is spend away from the house, and in the office. Weekends are mostly spent outdoors. Most of the time when you are at home in your house, you spend it sleeping ( perhaps a goodly 8 hours?) or just recovering from exhaustion to notice the surrounding beauty that you bought.

People who drive by may see your beautiful house and envy your life.

But it is you who pays the mortgage and the bills, you who has to suck up for the  job that you hate, only you know the high price you are paying. And you may not notice any of the beauty of which the y speak.

You my never get enough time to really enjoy your house. And before long, you are in your 60s. Big houses mean nothing to you, the kids are gone away to repeat the cycle elsewhere and you have little energy left to enjoy what is left of life.

The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10 NIV)

Is this wise, to work for the house? Might it not be better to have a less glorious house, and have the extra time and money to spend on yourself and your family?

The  over-pampered house
Read the rest of this entry »