Sunday, May 11, 2014

The Constancy, Consistency and Dynamism of God's Power

UV 1088/10,000 The Consistency, Constancy and Dynamism of God

And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

I Kings 20 v 28



God is in control in the high points of our lives-the mountain tops as well as in the valley times. Our faith needs to demonstrate our constancy and consistency in believing God and His Word. Life is neither a bed of roses nor a vale of tears. He allows sorrows and pain in the low points of our lives so that it has a cathartic or cleansing effect on our spirits, minds and bodies just as tears have a cleansing effect on our eyes. My faith would not have been nowhere it is today but for the valley of death experiences I went through in the human bomb assassination of Mr Rajiv Gandhi in Sriperumbudur. That night my faith became the only bullet and bomb proof jacket I was wearing. My faith and purpose in life became clearer and stronger and my character purer after these deadly experiences.


But on an average the Lord allows more high points or mountain top experiences in the lives of His children. He encourages us by showing us that His supernatural and abundant favour rests on us. He tests our faith in these good times to see if we acknowledge and honour Him with praise and thanksgiving or whether we forget and act as if we did it all on our own strength and abilities. The Syrians mistakenly thought that The Lord God could deliver the Israelites only in the hills and not in the plains. The Lord proved that the location of the battle or the strategy is not what determines victory for those who trust Him. He is the one who can move mountains or move us to the top of the mountains. He is also the one who can lift up the valleys or lift us up in our valley experiences in life. Whatever be the multitude of people, situations and forces challenging or confronting us, the Lord will deliver us from it and deliver it into our hands. The bankrupt Kingfisher Airlines of India had a tagline, the King of Good Times. Jesus is King in Good Times and Bad Times, King on the Mountain Tops and King in the Valleys of Life as well as on the plains and in the plateau, King of the depths and the heights. However, the strategy of deliverance, the weapon of victory, the means of redemption, the manifestation of power and grace will change dynamically from person to person, from one good time to another, from one bad experience to another.


Having said that God is consistent and faithful in the demonstration and manifestation of His power and grace in our lives, we tend to cling to the Lord more closely in our lowest points when we can turn to virtually no one else. In our daily walk and our good times we tend to be more distant and remote from God. We are not very keen to acknowledge our intimacy or our dependency on Him. We tend to rely on what we can see, hear, touch. We tend to be absent-minded as far as God is concerned, not remembering His spiritual presence with us all the times. Our prayers become less frequent and our worship and praise will happen in fits and starts. We compel God by our fickle behaviour to change the weather conditions. But He promises never to test us beyond our strength. When Elijah became weary of life and his challenges, the Lord sent a chariot of fire to deliver Him from his spiritual valley. When Jonah became weary of his prophetic ministry, the Lord sent him the sign of the gourd plant to encourage him. The ultimate purpose and meaning of all the high points and low points as well as what we call the normal days or averages of our lives is so that we know that He who spoke these words and got it written by His servants is God, the great I Am.

Prateep V Philip

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