The Universal Gap

UV 2896/10000 The Universal Gap
For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.
Job 23 v 14
In this world, we face an universal gap- the gap between our dreams and our achievements, the gap between our words and our deeds, the gap between our thoughts and our actions, the gap between our intentions, feelings and reactions, the gap between goals and realization, the gap between people or in relationships. Whatever man generally aims for, there is a gap or hamartia between aim and achievement or performance but the Lord always fulfils His purpose fully. We need His grace to fill the gaps in our lives, the gaps in our character, the gaps in our relationships, the gaps in our goal-achievement graphs. Jesus is the only One who can stand in the gap between God and man and fill it. His grace is sufficient to fill all the other gaps in our lives.
The Lord has performed, performs and will perform His promises to us. His promises are His appointments that He has held in store for us. Unless we believe in these precious promises, unless we claim these promises, we cannot experience and proclaim either His grace or His glory. He is not like a man who does not fulfil his promises. Scripture says that in respect of His word and promises, God is not a liar and His hand is not too short. He is able to do that which He promised- namely, to save us, to deliver us, to lift us, to use us to prove His own greatness. His ways are too deep and complex for us to discern at one go but He will reveal what He has appointed for us over our lifetime as we hold onto our faith. Nobody can thwart the fulfilment of His promises to us. The Lord has appointed many things in our lives that are beyond our senses, thoughts, imagination, expectation. As we cling to the promises of the Lord, He will reveal these wonderful plans. His plans are not only deeper than we can fathom, they are bigger and higher than we can imagine or perceive. We need to wait on Him to unroll or unpack it in His time, in His inimitable style.
Everyone needs a promised land, a promised Saviour and a promised life. The hope that these three provide for us is like the life-sustaining oxygen that is released to all parts and cells of our being from the haemoglobin that is bonded with oxygen in our blood. Faith is like the heart that keeps pumping love and hope to all parts of our being. Like the blood that is deoxygenated and has to be renewed with a cellular load of oxygen again, our faith needs to be continually renewed. While the Lord is interested in the end results, He is also engaged with the process of our continual renewal and revival. He expects us to be patient, to be responsible and responsive to do our part in whatever promise we have claimed. Once the promise is fulfilled, we are also expected to be thankful and grateful even as we were hopeful while the process was on.
Prateep V Philip

The Essence of Jesus-like Leadership

UV 2895/10000 The Essence of Jesus-Like Leadership
Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
Matthew 21 v 5
If the King of Kings, to whom even one of the last surviving monarchs of the contemporary world, Queen Elizabeth II could bow to, could use an ass to ride triumphally into Jerusalem, the spiritual capital of the world, He can use an ass like you and me. Jesus could have commandeered a white steed to ride into Jerusalem to announce His kingdom on earth but the fact that He deliberately chose to ride a donkey that had never been ridden before points to His extreme humility. From His birth till His death and resurrection, He divested Himself of all trappings of earthly power and pomp.
Instead of us going to the King, the King Himself comes to us. Jesus asks us to only emulate two of His many great qualities- humility and gentleness. He did use His kingly authority to overturn the tables of the money lenders in the temple. Likewise, we too need to use our God-given authority to over turn the love of the world and the love of money in ourselves and others, so that our whole being is dedicated to the worship of the Lord. If we only imitate Jesus in terms of His humility and gentleness, absence of any need for any external trappings of power and authority, we would have understood the essence of godly leadership. We do not need the paraphernalia of power but only the Paraclete- the Holy Spirit to give us the sense of direction and leading we need.
Humility and gentleness or meekness is not a virtue of leadership that comes to us naturally but a supernatural grace of Christ. It comes from the quiet assurance that our identity, security and destiny comes from Christ even as Christ knew that His identity, security and destiny came from the Father. But along with the meekness, we also need the undercurrent of firmness, forcefulness, zeal and the confidence to assert on matters of right relationship with the Lord and the need for holiness or reverence in a place of worship. Meek but assertive is a perfect but paradoxical paradigm of leadership behaviour.
Prateep V Philip

Drinking Gladly from the Cup of Suffering

UV 2894/ 10000 Drinking The Cup of Suffering


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And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father."
- ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭20:23‬‬

Suffering is endemic in this world due to the phenomenon of sin or rebellion against God’s good order. Once we are redeemed by faith and grace in Christ Jesus, we are also not immune or exempted from suffering. We need to share the baptism or immersion of suffering like Christ. We need to identify ourselves with Christ by sharing in the suffering of Christ. Every believer or follower of Jesus by definition needs to drink from a cup of suffering. Each one ‘s suffering is distinct and different as willed or allowed by the Lord. For some drink the cup lifelong, for some it is a serial of trials , for some it ends after a season. Our response should be to endure it with hope of coming out of it better not bitter even though we may not exactly enjoy it. After the suffering has passed, we can look back and thank the Lord even for the suffering as the psalmist affirmed, “ It is good that I was afflicted that I might learn His holy will.” We should, therefore, not push away with resentment or sadness or self pity when we are offered the cup of suffering to drink from. We should not complain or murmur or doubt the goodness of the Lord. Instead, we should ask the Lord for grace to drink it.

The enemy of our souls brings suffering to destroy us, to rob us of our health, peace and well being. Christ does not willingly want His children to suffer but when He sees it inevitable, He allows it for our greater good, our long term refinement or sanctification. Suffering is allowed by the Lord for a variety of reasons : to test the strength of our faith, to deepen our faith and knowledge of Him,to prune and correct our character, to build patience and endurance in us and to give us opportunities to testify and witness the redeeming glory of God. Suffering is compared to the hardship of training an athlete goes through in order to take his position on the victory stand.

Our suffering for Christ will always have a good ending either in earth or in heaven, here and now or in eternity. It is His sovereign decision or prerogative when and where and how our suffering ends or we are rewarded by the Lord. It is not for us to question His will or to doubt if our suffering was in vain. One thing we can be sure is that when a child of God suffers, He is not alone but Jesus is close and nearest to him, pleading or interceding. He is nearby doing what He is best at - healing, wiping tears, encouraging, comforting by sending the Comforter to us, teaching us the true meaning and significance of His words in the context of suffering. He proves to us that He is not a fair weather friend but one who stays the course with us during our fiercest storms. If the Lord is a Master Weaver, one of the needles and threads and patterns He uses is suffering, the other being well being. Sometimes, suffering and well being co exist, sometimes these alternate, sometimes cut across each other and sometimes run parallel to each other.

Prateep V. Philip

The Firewall and Blood Shield

UV 2892/10000 The Fire Wall and Blood Shield
Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Job 1 v 10
Scripture talks of God Almighty being a shield to Abraham, an encompassing 360 degree shield to David, a hedge to Job,a fencing, a wall to Moses, everlasting arms holding up the Israelites, a wall of fire and glory in our midst, a camp of angels surrounding and guarding the faithful, the wings of a hen that protects the tiny and vulnerable chicken from predators. The progression of godly protection culminates in Jesus being a blood shield that protects us every visible and invisible threat, every earthly or terrestrial threat as well as eternal danger or threat. As the blood shield that covers every believer, He first and foremost protects us from the deadly and just wrath of a holy God.
Not only are we protected from both godly anger and worldly danger, the Lord blesses the work of our hands and the words of our lips. He reveals or manifests His glory in us and around us. The glory of the kingdom of God does not consist in vast armies, pomp and splendour but in the eternal well being of His people. To secure our well being, He builds and maintains several layers of protection around us as satan in the words of Jesus is a killer, robber and thief. God is not in the business of causing human suffering. That is the work of the enemy of our souls who like a sinking man wants to drag more people down with him. He however does give permission to the enemy to test our faith and character even as He did when satan sought permission to afflict Job. He robbed Job of his possessions, family, cattle and flocks and yet Job withstood the severe test. A lesser man would have denied God and repudiated his faith in Him. Job only said with characteristic patience, “What God has given, He has taken away.” He respected the sovereignty of the Lord and even praised Him for the act of “taking away.” Ultimately, Job’s story has a happy ending of restoration with double of whatever he had and owned before he was afflicted. He thanked God like David that it was good that he was afflicted that he might learn His holy will.
We need to continually cultivate a hedge of prayers around us, maintain the fencing of specific promises for specific issues of life, build a wall of faith, a shield that turns in all directions- in and out, up and down, in good times and tough times, in plenty and in famine. The Holy Spirit is the firewall of protection the Lord lays deep inside our souls and lives. Above all is the blood shield of Jesus, the armour of God that protects us from our inner vulnerabilities and external threats.
Prateep V Philip

Lion, Yet Lamb-like

UV 2893/10000 Lion, Yet Lamb-like
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Genesis 49 v 10
The promise to Judah was fulfilled through the royal lineage of David as well as that of Jesus. Jesus is therefore known as Lion of Judah. We, His brothers bow down before Him. The sceptre of heaven and earth is in His hands. Yet, Judah at the start of his life was not someone who one would connect with nobility of character. He joined his brothers in conspiring to do away with the dreamer Joseph. In later years, he did not keep his pledge to a widowed daughter-in-law and ended up having an intimate and illicit encounter with her when she disguised herself as a prostitute. His transformation is seen in that when Joseph, now as Pharaoh’s right hand and mighty minister, asked that Benjamin be left in his custody. Judah offered to take the place of Benjamin in order to prevent their aged father Jacob from dying from grief. In this single action, we see that Judah had a change of heart. His action of offering himself was a foreshadow of Jesus offering Himself for the sake of all human beings. Though possessed of lion-like or qualities of a ruler, we too should be ever ready to make the sacrifice that we are called to make as a gentle lamb.
Likewise in our lives, the Lord shapes our character through many experiences, suffering, highs and lows, mountains and valleys. Judah died to himself finally in a spiritual sense even as Jesus died physically to redeem all mankind. This is the mark of a true follower of Jesus as well as true servant leader. He should be ready to give himself up as a sacrificial lamb though he had the strength of a lion. The Lord God overlooked the unsavoury past of Judah to look at his good qualities which He endorsed through the final blessing of Jacob who spoke this uni-verse under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The expression in this uni-verse “to him shall the gathering of the people be” is also a prophetic foretelling of the historic leadership of Jesus of the moral and spiritual world. His living and resurrected presence is with believers even if two or three gather in His name. The Lord rules, judges and redeems the world through the followers of Jesus. The sceptre or the emblem of the kingdom rule of the Lord shall never leave us. We rule over the spiritual world as spiritual descendants in the line of Judah. The principles and precepts that govern our lives are derived from the word, not from the world. The example of Judah gives us hope that however unsavoury our past, He can make our lives and our legacy impactful and attractive to people of our generation and succeeding generations.
Prateep V Philip

Treasures and Pleasures of the Heart

UV 2891/10000 Treasures and Pleasures of the Heart
For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
Proverbs 3 v 2
The word of God holds all the treasures and pleasures of the heart. These are the treasures that thief cannot take, moth cannot destroy or rust decay. These are the treasures that we bring out from time to time to meet our various human needs. These are the pleasures for evermore at the right hand of the Lord that satisfy but do not satiate us. When we store it, it is a treasure. When we use it, it becomes a pleasure. When we store the commands, promises, precepts, examples and models of the word of God in our hearts, we obtain productivity of our days, longevity of our lives and peace. If our days are productive, it implies that we will over a period of our lifetime, also become prosperous even though prosperity is not mentioned as part of the ‘package’ God promises in this word. A little later in this same chapter, it also says that when we rely or depend completely on God’s wisdom contained in His word, fear the Lord and shun evil, it will bring health to our bodies and nourishment to our bones. In short, all our ways of living and behaving are godly and pleasant, not ungodly and unpleasant or nasty. This scripture underlines the inter connectivity of spirit, mind and body. A person who is in an intimate relationship with the Lord will never agree with the world view of Hobbes that “life is short, nasty and brutish.” An absence of such a relationship can certainly make life short, nasty and brutish.
The Lord rules us by adding and multiplying while the enemy of our souls rules people by subtracting and dividing. He adds life to our hours and hours to our lives. He adds His wisdom to our lives so that we know how to navigate the complex choices and challenges we face day to day. Proverbs chapter 3 personifies wisdom as a woman and states that His wisdom will bring longevity in her right hand and riches and honour in her left hand. It implies that health and longevity are more significant in our lives than riches and honour.
Christ being the word embodied and wisdom personified, He fills His followers with wisdom. He gives us grace to obey the commands of the Lord, to believe, trust and claim the promises, learn the lessons of life from the examples, good and bad, positive and negative that are spread across the Bible, emulate the heroes of faith. We take shelter or refuge from the world and its troubles and temptations by hiding in Christ and He satisfies us with long life and after that show us His salvation on the eternal plane. Peace and holistic health are our primary needs and priorities while prosperity is a secondary goal.
Christ as a divine heart surgeon works from within our hearts using the variety of tools available in the word and with the help of the Holy Spirit to justify or straighten out our naturally perverse and crooked hearts. Our regeneration is a lifelong process but we need not wait for the end of the process for every moment with Jesus, we enjoy heaven or eternal life which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. We obtain everything we need and desire in and through Jesus. But Jesus also taught us that life in Him is not about gratification of our desires but it is about denial, about identifying with His own suffering by taking up the cross. It implies that we need to embrace suffering and sacrifice with equal zeal as enjoying the blessings of the Lord. Denying ourselves implies negating all our evil impulses and ending our bad actions, reactions and habits. In so denying ourselves, we are affirming that Christ lives in us, that He rules over us as Lord and King.
Prateep V Philip

Now Knowledge

UV 2890/10000 Now Knowledge
Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
Psalm 20 v 6
Salvation is not something that happens in the distant future or after our deaths but it is “now knowledge”. It is firm and blessed assurance that Jesus is an all sufficient Saviour in all of life’s struggles- our moral struggle with sin, our struggle with suffering, our struggle with disease, our struggle with scarcity and poverty of different kinds, our struggle with spiritual adversaries as well as those in flesh and blood. It is knowing for sure that the Lord will intervene and give us ultimate and certain victory over all these visible and invisible forces and factors.
Our knowledge that we are a saved people is the source of joy, hope and strength. We are not saved on our own merits or our own resources or strength but by the grace of the Lord. He anoints us or enables, equips, empowers us to wrest victory over every force and factor. When something seems beyond us to wrestle with and gain victory, we cry out to the Lord and He hears and delivers us from where He is seated at the right hand of the Father. David had this experience. He was given the triple anointing of the sinner or leper that delivered him of his own inner weaknesses, lusts, pride and folly; the anointing of the priest that enabled him to worship the Lord with abandon and in spirit and beauty of holiness, to pray for his people, to prophesy and preach to the people; the anointing of the king to reign, to rule, to administer, to serve, to lead, to conquer, to judge, to render justice, to bless and reward, to punish. For most people, the right hand is the dominant hand. Likewise, the Lord demonstrates His closeness to His anointed people with “right hand” proximity and power. He delivers us with the saving power of His right hand. Death, danger, disaster was always close at hand in the life of David in different phases of his life but the Lord as his redeemer was always closer. David was personally strong, personable, skilled, multi-talented, courageous, magnanimous but he did not depend on any of his personal qualities and strengths but only on his ‘now knowledge’ of the awesome salvation prepared for him by His Saviour and ultimate ruler. Salvation in Christ has two aspects- immediacy or acts to save or rescue us here and now and ultimate salvation of our souls after our demise. Both these aspects together constitute eternal life in Christ.
Prateep V Philip

Resurrecting Hope in Hopeless Situations

UV 2889/10000 Resurrecting Hope in Hopeless Situations
Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died
John 11 v 32
Mary and Martha had given up hope now that Lazarazus, their beloved brother, was dead four days. They had enough faith in Jesus that He could have kept him alive, healed him of whatever illness he was dying of but they did not believe that He could raise him from the dead so long after he had passed on. They had accepted the fact of the death of their dear brother Lazarus. Yet, the Lord often acts in our lives when we have given up on our hope, when it seems too late. He can turn facts into miracles, problems into amazing opportunities to reveal evidence of the glory or greatness of the Lord.
Mary and Martha knew that Jesus could heal but they did not know or believe that He could raise the dead. Lazarus was not only dead but decaying fast as it was the fourth day, past seventy two hours when not only have the internal organs begun decaying but the whole body bloats up and the internal blood with foam begins to leak all over with a foul smell. All the mourners who remained even after four days were afraid of the smell of death and decay but Jesus asked them to remove the shroud and clothes in which Lazarus was wrapped to set him free. Jesus thereby proved with convincing evidence that not only did he have authority and power to command healing but the authority to resurrect the long dead and gone. Even at our point of helplessness and hopelessness, Jesus is able to act. It is never too late or too early to call Jesus into our desperate, near dead, dead or long dead situations and circumstances in life. Jesus merely thanked the Father ahead of the resurrection of Lazarus for having heard Him and He said it in order that those who heard Him would believe that He was sent by the Father. Mary, Martha and others present there had underestimated the greatness of the power and glory and identity of Jesus. We too underestimate every day and in every situation the authority, power, glory, greatness, love and compassion of Jesus in our lives.
There is an English expression- “too little, too late.” Jesus is never too little, never too late. He acts just in time. He acts justly. The resurrection of Lazarus was a foretaste of His own resurrection in the run up to the events leading to His crucifixion. The Lord can reverse any situation or circumstance in our lives. He can restore and redeem. Like Mary and Martha we should not give in to our sorrows, regrets, disappointments too soon. There is nothing that Jesus cannot end or mend or bend in our favour. He is the Resurrection and the Life we need every moment and every day and in every hopeful and hopeless situation.

Prateep V Philip

Dreams and Their Interpretation

UV 2887/10000 Dreams and Their Interpretation
And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.
Genesis 40 v 20

This uni-verse has a lot of ironic humour in it. Pharaoh as predicted by Joseph, a prisoner lifted the heads of two of his personal staff- his butler or cupbearer and his baker. In the case of the former, he was restored to his position from which he was removed to be thrown into prison for some unknown annoyance he had caused to his boss. The baker also similarly thrown into prison as he had angered the Pharaoh in some unknown way not explained in scripture however had his head literally lifted.

The head of John the Baptist was similarly cut off on the orders of Herod to satisfy the whim of his wife and her daughter. The enemy of humanity is constantly trying to lift the head of people while the Lord God is trying always to lift the heads of His children so that they are restored, healed, blessed, prospered, promoted, delivered, redeemed. The Lord sent dreams to both the baker and the butler for the same purpose so that Pharaoh would recognise that there was no one like Joseph in all the land of Egypt who could help him rule the land wisely. Dreams are a means of divine communication that the Lord uses to make men listen which they would not when they are awake. Since Joseph was given both the gift of dreams and their interpretation, he was positioned at the right time in the wrong place- the prison in order to be the one to give the ruler of the day pin-point advice on what precisely to do.
The application of this uni-verse is that we too in this day and age can pray to the Lord to send dreams and visions to rulers, young and old, to give us the gift of interpretation of dreams. We can also be God’s dreamers dreaming of how He is going to lift our heads so that His name is honoured, His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Joseph was given wisdom and discernment on how to speak truth to power. He was given both the grace and the boldness. He alone like Daniel in another age had the divine skill to interpret dreams. That became the means of his elevation to the second highest position in the land of Egypt. Some dreams can bode ill for a person as it did for the baker with uncanny and tragic accuracy even in the details and some can be for good.
Prateep V Philip

The Multi-Coloured Coat of God's Favour, Visions, Wisdom, Suffering and Good Success

UV 2886/10000 The Multi-coloured Coat
The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.
Genesis 39 v 23

Joseph was the fruitful bough overhanging the walls of the divine well of God’s grace. Inspired by the faith of his grandfather Abraham who declared that Jehovah is his shield and the sword of his excellence, implying both his protection and the means of success in life, Joseph had strong faith in God. By staying grafted to the Vine of the Lord, namely a strong and intimate relationship with Jehovah, he remained fruitful in all that he did. Even in adversity, God prospered him and gave him good success. The Lord looked with favour upon him and blessed all that he did and blessed all who looked upon him with favour. His natural father Jacob had given him a multi-coloured coat as a sign of his favour but the Lord gave him an invisible multi-coloured coat- a divine covering that blessed him, prospered him, gave him wisdom, insight, spiritual gifts of discernment and interpretation of dreams, foresight for the future, the ability to speak graciously and win the favour of those who were placed over him. Joseph was reliable and trustworthy. The prison warder could afford to relax once he entrusted matters to Joseph. Joseph was a natural leader wherever he was placed- in his father’s home, in the house of Potiphar, in prison and in the land of Egypt. God was preparing him for leadership and historical leadership in the sense that he is among the best of biblical leaders influencing even the contemporary leaders.
The life of Joseph has many lessons for people of the present world who are obsessed with being successful. Many people try to succeed by their own intellectual brilliance, artistic talent, musical talent and so on. Many people try to succeed by dint of hard work and perseverance. But the best form of success happens when the Lord looks upon us with favour, when we have an intimate relationship with the Father in heaven through Jesus. An intimate relationship with the Giver is primary, what He gives is secondary. He is not the means but the end. The greatest success is not self made but God given. He gives us a supernatural multi-coloured coat – the anointing of Bezaleel, the craftsman, the versatile skills of both head and hand but above all – favour with God and man that comes from faith in Jesus. In order to walk in favour with God and man, one needs to be grafted or deeply connected at every level with Jesus, the True Vine. One needs to be overshadowed by the third person of the Trinity-the Holy Spirit.
Circumstances did not cause a great swing in the faith of Joseph. He remained stable in his faith and able in his ways in his father’s home, with his brothers, in the household of Potiphar, in prison, in Pharaoh’s palace. The greatest pearl that Jesus spoke of – the touchstone of success then is a stable and growing relationship with the Triune God. We are blessed in spirit, mind and body or in other words, our success and prosperity is not the dysfunctional kind we find in this world, the transient, non-fulfilling or tantalising success of the wealth and fame of this world but the holistic kind that affects all aspects of our lives and all of our relationships and both our inner and outer life, our personal, familial and professional spheres.
Prateep V Philip

Believers and Followers, Hearers and Doers, Chokers and Blockers

UV 2886/10000 Believers and Followers, Hearers and Doers, Chokers and Blockers
But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
Matthew 13 v 8

The same truth of the gospel produces different effects and results in different hearts and minds. But the good ground produces and reproduces manifold. The good ground is the metaphor for a fruitful follower of Jesus, not a mere believer. The point to note is that the former imitates the rocky ground believer in one positive aspect whose mind believes it with joy but whose heart being stony does not receive it. His mind rejoices over the truth that he being a miserable sinner needs the grace of Jesus to live forever in the spirit. He rejoices that he can receive eternal life at no cost to him.

But the good ground follower does not stop with believing at his mind level. He transfers the truth to his heart. His hitherto hardened heart is softened by the tears of repentance. He wants to change for the better. He does not allow his heart to swing like the “thorns and roses” believer who swings from deep bout of depression at his sorrows to delighting in the seductive or deceitful pleasures and treasures of this world. His heart is anchored in Christ. He also avoids the pitfalls of the pathway person who hears the truth and allows it to either bounce off or be eaten up by the predators of this world. The seed once planted in the ground, turns around, dies to its own identity as a seed, throws down a radicle or what becomes eventually a root, throws up a shoot that becomes the sapling overground. As a follower of Jesus, we need to imitate this organic process of nature even in the supernatural. We need to cast down deep roots into the word and move the shoot away from the world.

In other words, the mature follower of Jesus is neither shallow in his faith, in his knowledge or in his practicing the teachings of Jesus. There is a constant or continual transfer of the seed of truth from ears to mind to heart to mouth, hands and legs. He does not merely hear the word but puts it into practice and delights in practice as much as in hearing the word. He does not allow the weeds, the thorns, the flowers to divert his attention from being a faithful follower of Jesus. The distinction between a believer and a follower of Jesus is that the former merely believes and seeks the benefits of such belief, the follower of Jesus imitates Him and produces the fruit of salvation and the fruit of the spirit in abundance. Certain chokers and blockers prevent a believer from being a follower. Identifying the chokers and blockers and having these removed from our hearts, minds and lives is essential to fruitfulness.

Prateep V Philip

Holistic Imperatives for Life

UV 2885/10000 Holistic Imperatives for Life

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

Romans 12 v 12

The Lord delights in building people of character in the mould of Jesus who are meant not only to enjoy good times but for all seasons. Three phrases stringed together as life imperatives in this uni-verse sums up how a person who trusts in Jesus can be fruitful in all seasons of his life: in normal times, in times of affliction, persecution and hardship and in times of fear, doubt and challenges. Very often all these three circumstances come together at different times of the same day. Our hope in Jesus not our pleasant or unpleasant circumstances are the cause and source of our strength and joy. Christ in us is the hope of the glorious and eternal life both now and in forever land. It makes the blessings that we enjoy on earth something lasting and not mere fleeting illusions. It is the cause for constant gladness and thanksgiving.

In a season of good news and comfort, we should rejoice and praise the Lord. In a season of afflictions and suffering, we should be patient and endure it with the hope that it will soon cease. In all seasons, we ought to pray with thanksgiving, making known our requests to the Lord. In seasons of suffering, we should wait for the Lord and seek Him. We should wait with hope and patience. We should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord to be manifested in that situation from which we seek relief. He will surely comfort us in every way. He will counsel us and give us the peace that is beyond the comprehension of our minds. The assurance or confidence that the Lord will save us in any situation and from every affliction fills us with both hope and joy.

The power of the Holy Spirit which anoints us or covers us fills us with overflowing joy and peace that bubbles forth from our hearts like living streams of water. Through the whole process of life –through both enjoyment and suffering, through happiness and suffering, He builds the character of Jesus- the patience of the Lord in us. Christ endured extreme suffering on the cross and in the events preceding it and yet He was resurrected to take a seat of glory in heaven next to the Father. Hence, our suffering too is not in vain. It will lead to us sharing in the glorious inheritance with Christ.

Like Joseph fled from the adulterous woman, we should flee from the sinful pleasures and temptations of this adulterous world and prefer to suffer the accusations and repercussions of our so fleeing from the world and pursuing righteousness, goodness and godliness. We should not expect instant gratification of our desires. Rather, every instant we should be praying in the spirit, communing with the Lord, remembering the word the Holy Spirit places in our mind to meditate on. Scriptures build the patience of character in us even as our faith is tested in the crucible of suffering in this world. Like a farmer waits patiently over many months to see and rejoice in the fruit of his labour of ploughing, sowing, watering, tending and reaping, we too should wait for the seed of the promise of the Lord to grow before we are able to reap or obtain the promise. Like the farmer continues to toil all through the year with hope of a good harvest, we too should continue our labour of love with hope.

Prateep V Philip

Degrees and Need of Agreement

UV 2884/10000 Degrees and Need of Agreement
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
Amos 3 v 3
This uni-verse is a remedy for God-man conflict, husband-wife conflict, parent-child conflict, man-woman or a conflict between friends or partners in a business. Agreement or a meeting of minds, reaching a common decision is prerequisite for unity in the family, in the church, in the nation. We need to agree on choices, methods, habits, timing, lifestyle, views on what is acceptable and what is not for a particular individual, family or group. Agreement is based on common aspirations, convictions, beliefs, values and principles. Disagreements can lead to break up of relationships, ego clashes, friction, stress, marred and foolish decisions taken in the heat of the moment during a conflict. Living and working together requires mutual agreement. If we submit the issues that cause disagreement between a couple or between parents and a child or between business partners to the Lord, He will help us iron out the differences and reach a godly or wise consensus. The story is told of a Tamil savant and thinker Thiruvalluvar who when asked to explain how to have a happy marriage, he took the questioner home for a meal. He told the wife when she brought warm rice why it was cold and she nodded in agreement. Again, when she gave them warm water to drink, he asked why it was cold. He then explained to him that agreement is needed for a happy marriage. It is not as if the wife is to be a door mat and suppress her own personality. She might not disagree in the presence of a third person but later confront him. This is the rare and exceptional kind of agreement which takes it to an extreme or absolute level. It does not mean that the wife has no sense of individuality or right to her own opinion that one of the partners in a marriage needs to swallow his or her pride and agree, even when something seems on the face of it –untrue or unacceptable. We can also disagree without being disagreeable for very often it is the accompanying emotions over even a petty disagreement that exacerbates matters. Another level of agreement that is realistic and practical is to agree on the basics and not expect agreement on secondary or non essential matters. This will ensure a modus vivendi or a peaceful way of living or working together while respecting the individual differences in characteristics, opinions, ideas, tastes and choices.
Our relationship with our Redeemer is compared to a walk together. The question is : are we walking away from Him or with Him? Are we walking close to Him to hear Him as we walk or are we walking at a distance? The emphasis in the new testament of being yoked together equally is that our common belief and commitment to Christ will keep or bind us together even when conflict and disagreement on other issues loom large. Yoking together also implies that we are agreed on the priorities, that we are moving in the same direction and not pulling in opposite directions. The relationship between Christ and the believer is likened to a marriage. Christ is the bridegroom, the head and the church is the body. A husband and wife cannot live together or do anything together unless they agree with each other. Walking together is an expression meaning knit together as one, to synchronise our steps with one another as soldiers march to the beat of a drum. We cannot live with God unless we agree with Him, agree with His word, agree with Jesus, agree with the Holy Spirit. We need to submit our wills to Him as He knows what is best for us, as He has complete knowledge of the totality of reality and not a partial knowledge that we as humans have. We need to submit our wills to Him as we can trust Him not to do anything that will permanently harm us. We might seem to have temporary setback or loss but it is permitted to enable us to have a greater experience and understanding of His grace, mercy, justice and love.
Praying over disagreements or the issues causing disagreement can help us often resolve the conflicts that arise in families and between couples. Mutual submission and respect underline the spirit of agreement and unity. The enemy knows our inner weak points and targets these so that we become powerless or ineffective. Strengthening the spiritual fencing of our inner life, our marriages, our homes, our relationships is something we need to do on a daily basis to prevent sudden ‘fox attacks’, emotional sabotages, flashes of temper, hot –headed arguments and such guerrilla tactics of the enemy. The book of Proverbs states that the best time to stop an argument is at the very beginning. The more we engage in angry or bitter argument, the more the damage like the first breach in a dam causes the damage to escalate more and more. Sometimes, we must also reach a point where when no consensus emerges, we agree to disagree if it is only a matter of opinion and no immediate decision needs to be taken. It means that we do not allow our disagreement on some issues to rock our marriages or disturb the peace of the home.
Prateep V Philip

Dealing with Opposition

UV 2883/10000 Dealing with Opposition
When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.
Psalm 9 v 3
Believers in Christ attract opposition, enemies, persecutors like fire attracts flies, honey attracts ants. We are hated just because of the One we believe in, what we believe in and stand for. The enemy of our souls will turn people even in our inner circle against us even as he turned Judas against Jesus. But we must be thankful for such opposition. We must be tolerant of such opposition. We should rest assured that our enemies will melt like wax in the presence of the Lord. We are not to retaliate in kind or in the same manner they attack us or accuse us. We are to leave them in the hands of God who is a righteous and just judge against whose judgement, decree, actions there is no appeal. That is why it is written in scripture that it is a deadly thing to fall into the hands of the Lord.
We are not only to be tolerant of our enemies and thankful for them but enjoy the challenge they pose to us. These challenges build our inner strength and endurance. But the Lord will not allow us to be tested beyond our strength to endure. He will surely deliver us and break through any barriers, nullify any weapons they aim at us. They will be turned back and scattered like the wind drives away smoke. The Lord will act powerfully on our behalf to redeem us from their conspiracies and plots. We are neither to be surprised, discouraged or disappointed at being surrounded by enemies in the flesh. God allowed a powerful Pharaoh and his army to rise against Moses and the Hebrew people in order to reveal His might, mercy, power, glory and grace. Every move of the enemy against His people only led to their defeat and destruction. The Hebrew slaves were given the promise that they would never see their Egyptian oppressors any more.
Jesus is either a stumbling stone, a stone that causes our enemies to stumble and fall on their own weight, at their own hands, into the very pit that they have dug or a climbing stone on which we can climb to safety and rescue. He is the Rock of our refuge and our escape. We ourselves should be gracious and forgiving when our foes approach us out of contrition. We heap coals of fire or judgement when we are kind and merciful to our enemies. The latter may draw satisfaction that they have thwarted our progress or plans but the Lord will surprise them by vindicating us with the end result. Our faith will increase, our love for the Lord will deepen as we experience His deliverance even as it caused David to rejoice and praise the Lord at his many battles, struggles and victories over innumerable foes including some from his own people and household.
Prateep V Philip

Wells of Well Being

UV 2882/10000 Wells of Well Being
For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.
Genesis 26 v 15
The Philistines in this uni-verse are the people of the world who envy the people of the word. The more the people of the word are blessed, the envy of the people of this world increases. The wells dug by his father Abraham were filled with mud by their enemies out of envy. Similarly, the enemy of our souls attempts to fill our wells of blessing with mud so that we cannot access it or drink or enjoy the blessings. Like Isaac, we should re-dig the wells of our blessings. We re-dig the wells of blessings by prayer, praise, thanksgiving, diligent study, meditation and application of the word.
Each promise or uni-verse is a well of blessing. The prophet Isaiah wrote that we should draw with joy the water or eternal truths needed for life and well being from these wells. Each uni-verse is a spring of everlasting blessing that will never dry up. But it can be blocked by our unbelief, by our sins, by the wilful acts of the enemy of our souls. The responsibility of digging hidden or buried truths is ours. We should be always alert and vigilant at this strategy of the enemy to cover our spiritual assets and prevent us from benefitting. Some of the blessings we enjoy are ancestral- due to the faith and obedience of our fathers or forefathers. Some are dug by us to pass on as a source of blessing to our heirs-physical and spiritual. The water in each well is unique and different suited for different purposes- some are useful to water the plants, some for the animals to drink, some are sweet water meant for human consumption. The water or word will be useful to bless, to heal, to quench thirst, to wash, to clean, to anoint, to cool, to refresh, to strengthen. Some wells dry up in famine while some are perennial. As we use the different wells, we flourish like a spiritual oasis of faith in the desert of human reason.
The Lord wants us to be like Joseph who was a fruitful bough whose branches overhang the walls of the well around which he was planted-meaning that he was the source of blessings to many in his generation and succeeding generations. He wants us not only to be consumers of blessings but producers. We are to be a fruitful vine around His table, yielding fruit worthy of the Lord that He can taste and enjoy. We will be able to produce fruit in all seasons and every month, nay every day of our lives. Like many people in this world, we may not be able to laugh all the way to the bank but like Isaac we can sit and laugh with joy on the banks of our wells, on the bank of the river of God that feeds our wells and be graceful, gracious and grateful like Isaac.
Prateep V Philip

The Joy behind Laughter

UV 2881/10000 The Joy behind Laughter
And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.
Genesis 21 v 6
The Lord is not a joy killer but a joy giver. He has given us innumberable promises in the word so that our joy shall be full when we appropriate these promises. When our soul rejoices, our bodies laugh. Of course, there are several kinds of laughter. There is the laughter of disbelief for example when Sarah heard the promise that she would bear a son in her old age. There is the laughter of derision or mockery. There is also the laughter of joy, of having received that which we were promised and that which we believed. The joy causes laughter and the laugher causes joy. This is the laughter that is referred to in this uni-verse by Sarah. She who was barren was made to bear a child whom she named Isaac or “He made me laugh.” As the child grew, everything he did or said reminded Sarah to forget her former sorrow as well as present hardship and to laugh with joy in her inner soul.
Sorrows jerk tears from our eyes and deep within our souls while joy tickles us into frequent smile s and laughter. Jesus came to turn our tears into laughter. He Himself is called the Man of Sorrow and scripture never recorded anything to show that Jesus laughed though it is mentioned that Jesus wept. Doubtless, He must have smiled at children, smiled at the responses of the faithful for He was a born natural as well as a born supernatural. Today, Jesus wants us to celeberate our every victory with laughter and joy. He desires that we laugh again and again and again for as St Paul wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.” When Jesus reaches out from His present and eternal throne in heaven and touches our cheeks to wipe away a tear, the sorrow that caused it is removed, healed, forgotten. We can laugh at any trouble, any threat, any fear, any danger, any loss, any circumstance. Jesus does not want us to be downcast or depressed except when we experience godly sorrow over our own personal sins even after coming into His saving knowledge. The sorrow of the faithful causes Jesus to manifest Himself as He did with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who were saddened by the happenings in Jerusalem surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus.
Like Sarah we need to rejoice again and again over all the answers to prayers we have received, all the blessings the Lord has sent our way even without our asking or imagining. Joy not sorrow should be the default mode of the average believer and follower of Jesus so that all who hear us, see us, converse with us would catch the holy and wholesome infection of the joie de vivre or the joy of living, the joy of being forgiven, the joy of forgiving, the joy of giving, the joy of receiving, the joy of serving and of being served, the joy of overcoming struggles and emerging victorious, the joy of healing and being healed, the joy of worship and fellowship. It is our default mode of being and feeling as only when we are joyful can we truly and fully worship, praise and thank the Lord without a divided heart. Like Isaac was the cause of laughter for his mother Sarah, we are to be someone else’s Isaac, causing them to laugh, not sorrow.
Prateep V Philip

Visitations of the Lord

UV 2880/10000 Visitations of the Lord
And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
Genesis 21 v 1

The Lord visits us as He has promised. He will do as He has said even as He did unto Sarah and Abraham. To “visit” is to look upon us with favour and to grant that which we need or asked for. Abraham and Sarah had not even asked for an heir or a son. Yet the Lord heard the cry of their heart and gave them what they lacked. He did not cause a full grown child to fall from heaven but caused Sarah’s dead womb to come alive. She went through the process of a normal pregnancy- conception to delivery. She had a period of waiting and a period of pregnancy or process. We all need to go through a spiritual waiting period and thereafter, a gestation period wherein the signs of that which we are hoping for are almost visible and palpable like the child in the womb of Sarah. In addition to positive or good visitations, there are visitations of the Lord to demonstrate His wrath, His judgement and to reward bad or evil intentions, actions or reactions as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, as in the case of serpents killing many Israelites in the deserts of Egypt.
Before a physical manifestation of anything, there is a spiritual manifestation in the dimension of the spirit. It happens in the mind of God even as it occurred in His mind to bless the aged couple Abraham and Sarah with a child. It could be triggered by the silent cry of our hearts or a silent prayer or a prayer that is vocal. The cry or the prayer should be backed by faith or spiritual eyes to see the invisible, a spiritual mouth to call into being that which is not as if it is. Faith is the human capacity to receive the Lord and allow His grace to work in our inner being first before it is manifested in our external dimensions.
While human beings try to build a bridge over rivers or over problems and challenges, the Lord often tunnels through it. While He is tunnelling, we may not see the light at the end of the tunnel but if we wait out the process, we will come into the fullness of His light and grace. We all have like the ancient Israelites our little Red Seas and Jordans to cross. Instead of building bridges over these Red Seas and Jordans, the Lord moves along with us as He creates a tunnel through our great mountains, a bridge through the seas and rivers. The key thing is to invite the Lord to visit us, to show favour or grace and mercy to us.
Prateep V Philip

Remember Lot's Wife

UV 2879/10000 Remember Lot’s Wife
And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
Genesis 19 v 17
Having been saved by grace through Jesus, we should only progress and not regress or look back. We cannot return to our former life of rebellion against God, our Creator and Maker. We cannot turn away from His love manifested through Jesus and His sacrificial life and death for the very journey of Christ on earth was sacrificial not just in His death. We cannot look back with regret on the pain, anguish, sufferings of our past or even on the comforts and pleasures of our past. Jesus has caught us on our hands and brought us out of Hades, out of curses, out of darkness into light. We should not for even a moment look back into the darkness of our past as Lot’s wife did. The poignant parallel of this uni-verse is contained in the three words of Jesus in the gospel of Luke, “Remember Lot’s wife.” We ought to learn from her example and not look back into our past. Like St Paul we need to look at our Christ-less lives as baggage and garbage of our past- be it our gains or losses, our achievements or failures, our strengths or weaknesses, our hopes or frustrations. The Lord has called us to be new creatures with a new forward-looking vision, new passion and a new sense of mission to save our souls, those of our near and dear as well as other fellow beings.
Lot’s family was saved by the intercession of Abraham, the intervention of angels. We have been saved by the intercession of many and the intervention of Jesus. He has led us into so great a salvation from so terrible a past, so horrible a death. Our eyes should focus on Him and His leadership and not on our petty squabbles, our ego struggles that drag us down and not move us toward our eternal destiny in Christ. We have escaped and taken shelter in Zion, God’s mountain. We have been asked to forsake the world and love the Word. We are warned never to look back wistfully at our past as if it would have been a greener pasture even as Lot’s wife wanted to steal one last look at the house, the possessions, the pleasures she enjoyed in the city of Sodom that was faced the brunt of the wrath of God for her ungodliness and abounding evil.
The Lord desires to lift our heads up and to cause us to turn away from the world. We need to heed His warning, obey His command explicitly and continually. We cannot allow ourselves slack or even a moment’s pause to neglect so great a salvation that has been wrought for us at such great cost. We need to value our “great escape” from eternal death and judgement. We should take neither godly admonition nor God’s mercy lightly. If we love the world, we will hate the Lord. If we love the Lord, we will hate the world. We cannot have a divided heart, divided mind or be double minded. The double- minded will not only not receive anything from the Lord but will loose what they already have. We cannot keep our feet in two boats- one in the boat of Jesus and another in the boat of the world. We are bound to fall in between.
Prateep V Philip

Focus on Positive Continuities

UV 2878/10000 Focus on Positive Continuities
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Matthew 6 v 25

Whatever we do continually, we will get good at it. If we worry, we will get good at it. If we meditate, we will get good at it. If we persist in doing good, we will get good at it. But the results or fruit of worrying are not good but highly negative, of no use to self or others. Worries choke or suffocate the fruitfulness of our faith and of our character and our very lives. The results or fruit of meditation are good and highly positive, of use to self and others. Jesus in this uni-verse is asking us to focus on the positive continuities of life or good habits. We need not worry about what we do not have, rather we need to think about what we can do with what we have. Focus on positive continuities will release the pure oxygen of hope to energise, sustain and move us into taking action here and now to improve things, to get a little closer to obtaining that which we need.

Food, clothes, shelter and transport are essential but these are not what constitutes the essense or purpose of life. If we focus continually on our relationship with God through Jesus, meditate on His word, do our best to imitate Him, the Lord will take care of our needs in more ways and in a better way than we can imagine. Jesus did not say, “Do not make plans for these creature comforts or work to get them.” He said that we should not waste our thoughts, time and energy on worrying about our lack or future lack in any of these essentials. By worrying or giving into anxious thoughts, we are not able to add an hour to our days or an year to our lives in the sense it is not going to make us more productive. By worrying, we are not going to grow intellectually, emotionally, physically or spiritually. Instead, Jesus encourages us to cast all these burdens on Him who cares for even the tiniest and least significant of His creatures and provides for them. The Lord God has a grand plan for each of His children who depend on Him. By praying and meditating on the word of the Lord, we will be inspired, motivated to work harder at realizing our goals, sustained by the hope that the Lord is partnering with us in all of our efforts and that He will bring it to perfection or completion of fruit or results. We need to worry about nothing but pray about everything with thanksgiving and faith and the assurance that our prayer will be answered, our need will be met in the Lord or by the Lord will envelop our hearts and minds exuding a peace that is beyond our human conception or understanding.

Therefore, we should meditate and aim on obtaining the spiritual equivalent or parallel of physical food, clothing, shelter, spiritual weapons and armour, riches, the treasures of wisdom hidden in His word- the kind that bacteria and moulds do not attack, the kind that moths do not destroy, the kind that rust and time cannot erode and that thieves cannot steal. When we are obsessed with these priorities of the kingdom of Jesus, we achieve the higher or primary purpose the Lord has both created and redeemed us for. The more we find and give away the spiritual victuals and provisions, the more blessed we are, the more we are a blessing to the world.
Prateep V Philip

Meekness is not Weakness

UV 2877/10000 Meekness is not Weakness
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Matthew 5 v 5
When we are at our peak, we should be meek. When we are weak, we should be strong. The meekness that Jesus recommended and modelled is not weakness but strength and power. Meekness is not weakness but might under control or supernatural restraint, human nature under the control and leadership of the supernatural. The best metaphor to illustrate meekness is “breaking a horse.” The horse is not literally broken down or harmed or injured but it is brought under the discipline of its rider. The horse so broken will prove more powerful, not harmful but useful to all concerned. A tamed horse is better for even itself as its needs are better taken care of in terms of getting enough fodder, water, rest, exercise and appropriate shelter. The needs of the meek are better met in and by the Lord. Likewise, meekness in a follower of Jesus is coming under the discipline and direction of the Holy Spirit in the use of all of our faculties and senses. Just as the horse that is ‘broken’ is only useful to the rider or owner and its power is put to proper use, the followers of Jesus are broken in the same way. Their passion and power comes under the sovereign control of Jesus. The white horse that Jesus rides in Revelation is a symbol of the believer who has a bit in his mouth and the reins of the Spirit of God- the word firmly attached to the bit to make him go right or left as the Lord desires and to halt, trot or gallop under the direction of the Lord. He reigns and rides us with the help of these invisible reins. Suffering and painful human experiences are like the stirrups that are used to stir our spirit and make us go faster in the direction the Lord takes us. A horse that is not tamed and under control of its rider is as good or worse than a donkey for with some carrot or a stick even a stubborn donkey can be persuaded to move in a particular path or direction. Meekness is like the process by which a dam controls a gushing river to tap its water for greater and better uses than to allow it to run waste into the sea or ground.
A meek person then is one who lives in submission to the Lord. He subjects and submits both his strengths and weaknesses to the Lord to use as He wills. Scripture promises that such a person inherits all the blessings of this earth. His needs will be met for the Lord will undertake for him. He will enjoy abundance of peace. He will be able to give an answer to defend his faith without offending anybody. He disciplines his tongue and uses his words with careful deliberation. He is assertive without being aggressive even as Jesus scattered the merchants in the temple in order to cleanse it. A meek person is never in competition with another to prove himself right and another wrong. A meek person waits patiently and with hope for a perceived wrong to be set right. Meekness is not retaliating by repaying evil for evil or insult for insult, betrayal for betrayal. Meekness is waiting patiently for the Lord to act, judge, defend, acquit, avenge or vindicate us.
Jesus wants His followers to emulate Him on these two qualities more than anything else: to be humble and meek like Him. We are blessed and become a source of blessing when we are meek. A meek person is not a “doormat” or a “pushover” but he voluntarily lowers or humbles himself to take a position than what he is entitled to. A meek person does not think or speak ill of others. St Paul for instance though certainly one of the greatest of apostles referred to himself as the worsest of sinners. He forgot his credentials, achievements and accomplishments of the past as mere garbage but he did not forget his sinful past when he hunted and killed the followers of Jesus. Though he was washed of the guilt and cleared of condemnation in the eyes of God, he used it to remind himself to be meek. We too when we are at the peak can recall that we are actually MS or Miserable Sinners saved by grace. It will keep us from pride and from the easily acquired habit of judging others. Meekness is getting divested of all the pettiness and vanities that afflict the human race from the time of Adam and getting invested in the kingdom qualities redeemed in, by and for Christ. To sum up, meekness comes from learning, leaning and living by the wisdom of Jesus. Meekness is not the excuse of the weak but the strength of the wise.
Prateep V Philip

Beware of Your Mountain Tops

UV 2876/10000 Beware of Mountain Tops
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Matthew 4 v 8
God deliberately deglamourized His Son Jesus. He was born in a circumstance and surroundings that only the poorest of the poor can afford. He was born without a trace of the glory of His famous ancestor David though in his lineage. He did not have the good looks and physical charm or charisma of modern day leaders or film stars such that none would give Him a second look or desire Him. He grew up in equally modest surroundings and the comforts and challenges of a carpenter’s home. When He was at His physical weakest after forty days of fasting, He was taken by the devil to the highest point where He was just one step away from coming into the power, pomp and glory of this world. Jesus had sought out solitude and wilderness to spend alone time with His Father in heaven and to deeply meditate and study His words. The devil attempted to tempt Him on the three common weaknesses of humanity- the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.
Likewise, when we are taken to the heights of success, position, power and influence, we need to resist the three temptations of our own inner lust and pride of life. It is not always God who takes us to these high points but the enemy of our souls. The latter will attempt to deceive us offering in exchange for our souls, the glory, power, wealth and pleasures of this world. Our senses are so powerful that we will feel overwhelmed unless our spirits wax strong as the Spirit of Jesus waxed strong even as He fasted and prayed continually over forty days and nights. Sometimes, when we are at our spiritual strongest and most mature, we would be so tempted. The sting of sin may be dormant and not dead in us, silent and not visible and the enemy knows how best to awaken it. The word of Jesus is competent to crush the head of the enemy, to defang or remove the sting of the serpent and render him harmless and innocuous. Jesus was so rooted in the word through days and nights of meditation on scripture with specific reference to Deuteronomy chapters 6 to 8 from which He quotes to repel the enemy and counter His deceitful suggestions. The times when we are placed on the peaks of our career, our professions, our achievements, our influence in society and in this perilous world are the times when we must be most spiritually vigilant, most diligent in studying and reflecting on the word and in engaging in faithful prayer or conversation with the Triune and Unique God.
The conversation Jesus had with the enemy is similar and yet a contrast with the conversation Adam and Eve engaged in with the devil. They agreed with the wily foe while Jesus refuted the subtle serpent effectively with the sword of His tongue. Our minds and mouths become quivers and arsenals and our tongues become a sword in the hand of the Spirit of God when we engage in conversation that is based on scripture. To stand on human reasoning as Adam and Eve did is to step on quick sand. The enemy was promising Jesus dizzying heights of glory when what he was intending was a deep plunge or crash into the very depths of hell for all humanity should the one and only designated Saviour, the only Son of the Eternal Father to fall to the perfidy of satan.
Prateep V Philip

Always Hungry, Ever Satisfied but Never Satiated

UV 2875/10000 Ever Satisfied but Never Satiated
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Matthew 5 v 6
The amazing thing about tasting God and His word is that the more we have of Him and of it, the more we long for even more. Every bite and sip of God’s word and of His love satisfies a man but it never satiates. We need to work up a “holy hunger” or a passion for the Lord and His word. It is not a hunger and thirst for something abstract like goodness or righteousness but a hunger and thirst for a relationship with God, the only truly holy or righteous person. Our hunger will be satisfied at each point. Yet, we will not be satiated. This explains why millions fo people right through history in all nations throng to places of worship and undertake arduous pilgrimages. The way we are made and wired, nothing in this world with all its pomp, fame, treasures,worldly wisdom, traditions, religions, power and pleasures can satisfy us. We get satiated with these and beyond a point, we feel quite disgusted and want to throw up the excess like a drunkard vomits after drinking too much. This is the reason the Psalmist David cries out, “ My soul is thirsty and parched in a dry and weary land where no water is.” The religions, the philosophies, the ideologies, the leaders of this world give us nothing that will satisfy our hunger and thirst for God.
The uni-verse spoken by Jesus in the course of the Sermon on the Mount promises that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness by faith in Him will be satisfied but never satiated. There are more hidden treasures, pleasures, experiences and wisdom hidden in Him that we need to explore, discover, consume and enjoy. If we so spiritually hunger and thirst after Jesus and His kingdom or rule in our lives, we are instantly blessed and continually blessed till we enter His eternal kingdom where no food and drink is needed as we are satisfied to be continually in His presence. We are both fully filled and fulfilled in Jesus.
In proportion to a person’s spiritual hunger and thirst or passion, the Lord reveals Himself. We experience the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit in proportion to our zeal and desire. As for our earthly needs and desires, the Lord will incidentally provide and satisfy these both naturally and supernaturally. Often, things happen in the natural triggered by the supernatural. The word or the water that Jesus feeds us with does not remain inert or dormant but wells up in us into a spring of everlasting life to satisfy the thirst and hunger of others for a righteous relationship with a righteous God.
Prateep V Philip

Versatility and Efficacy of The Word- An Edible Weapon

UV 2874/10000 Versatality and Efficacy of the Word

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Matthew 4 v 4

Jesus had fasted for forty days and nights. He was extremely famished but He rejected the suggestion of the evil one to turn the stones into bread. The same Jesus out of compassion for the hungry multiplied two barley loaves and five fish to feed a multitude. Jesus referred in this uni-verse to the Word of God as food for our souls and spirits. It shows that from His perspective that though our physical or material needs matter, it never matters as much as our spiritual needs- our need for a relationship with God, our need to be affirmed as children, our need to serve as servants of God, our need to sustain our hope of eternal life, our need for wisdom, our need for spiritual strength and stamina to withstand life’s great challenges and difficulties, our need for comfort. Jesus is underlining the fact that the word is more than necessary food. Jesus uses the specific uni-verse to deftly defend Himself from the temptation of satan as a veritable sword of the spirit. It is a rapier thrust to keep the enemy at bay. The word also acts as a defensive shield to prevent the second Adam as well as His descendants by faith from falling to suggestive temptation. The word is the only edible weapon that is useful for our inner battles as well as our outer or external battles and struggles. The whole spiritual armour of man is derived from the word- from the helmet of assurance of salvation to deal with all assailing doubts to the shoes of the readiness to go places as a messenger of the Lord. The word is also the lamp or light that shows us step by step our way back to the Lord, our way to victory in the battlefields of life. It is also effective medicine for our internal wounds and hurts.

Though the word is weapon, arsenal and armour, the word is also spiritual manna that does not spoil- bread from heaven, eternal bread to sustain us in life’s journey providing us energy, guidance, wisdom, power and strength. The manna that the Hebrew former slaves under the leadership of Moses gathered and ate for forty years in the wilderness was but a physical symbol of the manna for our spirits and souls. By feeding on the word all our lives, we strengthen ourselves to face life’s great battles, we are equipped with faith shields, helmets of assurance on different dilemmas and issues we face in life, girdles or belts of truth to support our lives with life- sustaining and life-enhancing principles derived from the word.

The infinite value of the words contained in the Bible are that these are not uttered by mere fellow beings but spoken through or written by men through the ages under the direction and inspiration of the Lord. The emphasis is on the words in this uni-verse “ every word”. Every word in the scriptures is valuable as every part of a loaf of bread is useful to satisfy physical hunger and provide energy and strength. What was spoken by God in time and space was reduced to writing by men under the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that we develop patience of character, obtain comfort and strength for our souls and hope of eternal life. Bread has to be eaten and digested. A sword has to be firmly held. A shield has to be worn. Boots or shoes have to be worn on the feet and tied securely to prevent losing it while walking or running. Hence, we have to eat what God has spoken for our benefit, wear and use what God has provided for our advance and our defence in the battles of life.



Prateep V Philip

Matching Words, Works and Worth

UV 2873/10000 Matching Words, Works and Worth
Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Matthew 3 v 8
A newer translation of this uni-verse puts this uni-verse in these words spoken by John the Baptist to the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to him to be baptised, “Produce fruit that is suitable for those who have repented.” Our words and our works should be matching with the words and works of the good root of our faith- Jesus. Our thoughts and atttitudes and motives should be apt for a believer and follower of Jesus. Our obedience and striving to live a righteous life giving up our former lifestyle of sin and rebellion against God should be the evidence that our repentance is genuine.
Our faith should not be for lip service or eye service but genuine. Repentance comes from humility and godly sorrow. In humility, we acknowledge that we are no good and that God is all good. Godly sorrow leads to a firm resolve in our hearts not to speak or do anything that would grieve the spirit of the Lord. Godly sorrow should lead to godly change in our thoughts, words, deeds, habits, decisions, behaviour, aspirations. We cannot return to our sins as a dog that returns to its vomit. It should produce revulsion and distaste in us, causing us to change for the better. Our motives thereafter should be not to satisfy our lusts, our whims or our egos but to please the Lord and to walk in obedience but to glorify the Lord. We need to excel to make the word of the Lord credible in this world.
The fruit of the indwelling spirit of God of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control should grow and be more abundant and evident in our character and responses to various stimuli in our daily lives. Our lives should truly show that we are followers of Jesus. We have a responsibility to undertake a plan for lifelong learning, lifelong improvement in all that we are, do and speak. We cannot take the stand that Jesus is the same, yesterday and tomorrow and try to be ourselves the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. As the Holy Spirit points or focuses His light on different areas of our lives where we need to change, we must do so post haste and with reverence and a spirit of obedience. It might mean that we give up bad or unproductive habits and patterns of thinking, speaking and behaviour and replace these with ways modelled or patterned on Jesus. We need to aim to be as tall a pedestal as possible to hold forth the light of Jesus so all can see and find the truth themselves. We need to be problem solvers who make a positive difference to wherever we are placed, harbingers of hope and dispensers of justice, pitting our weight on the side of the weak and hapless against the mighty and well placed.
Prateep V Philip

Separation and Integration

UV 2872/10000 Separation and Integration
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1 v 10
A human without God is like dry land. He feels safe being on firm ground. But the truth is that the real safety and blessing lies in being in the water of the deep ocean of God’s love. In truth, a man without God is like fish out of water, struggling for love and hope. Incidentally, the only creatures that escaped death in the great flood of Noah’s times were the sea creatures and fish. God of the Bible is like a deep ocean. The more we dive into Him, the more there is to discover. Yes, there may be many storms and floods occurring on the surface of the water but the fish that swim deep continue to swim unaffected by the surface storms.
The most precious pearl of all for which it is worth giving up – the Kingdom of Jesus lies in the ocean of God. The ocean of God’s infinite goodness contains many treasures and pleasures of wisdom, spiritual riches and blessings of every kind. As we continue to go below the surface and swim in His love, discovering its length, depth and width, He will affirm and sustain us. We find two processes working side by side in the acts of creation of God- separating and integration. He separates light from darkness, dry ground from water symbolic of the ongoing process of separating evil from good around us and in us through Christ. After the process is over, God calls or defines the dry land –earth and the water as the seas. Hence, there is an ongoing churning, refining, purifying going on in us. He is separating His children, the redeemed from the rest of creation. He is separating good from evil in each of us. We are first refined and then defined or given a new name or identity.
How do we learn to swim in God, the great and deep invisible ocean of love? How do we aid or cooperate and not resist the process of separation, integration and refinement? The name “earth” has in it a clue: ear+th. We need to hear the word of God, spoken by the very source of all creation, separation, integration and affirmation and then think deeply on it so that we go far below the level at which our physical senses tend to keep us at. We need to move from the natural to the supernatural, the physical to the spiritual, the temporal to the eternal. Of course, like the fish, we can keep coming to the surface from time to time to get some air and to get our bearings in this world.
Prateep V Philip