Stability

Can the measure of our faith be dignified in relation to our obedience in finding grace, in order to put off our sinful natures, especially the sin that so easily besets?

The Apostle James teaches us that a double minded man is unstable, not only in a particular area, but in all his ways; that is quite a statement! However it must be taken to heart if we are to find freedom in serving our Glorious heavenly Father in the freedom of our beloved Saviour’s selfless sacrifice. I suppose I would not be that far off if I was to stretch that statement into every area of my life, fall in one and be found wanting in all. Some may conclude that that is somewhat of a stretch so let me stick to the fundamentals, which in this, faith! We all need faith to survive, without it we would certainly perish and remain silent with doubt or unbelief dictating. It is faith that God has chosen as a tool to establish His children.

It is imperative we zone into the text we explore, whatever it may be, that which jumps out at us when we are reading the Bible, that which the Holy Spirit illuminates for us. That which leaves us in awe must not simply be left there; we need to go deeper and when we apply ourselves by faith into the text it will leave us enriched beyond our wildest dreams.

I would like us to consider this truth; “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:15-16)

If I ask myself the question, why do so many people claim to have the powers of healing and yet lack the evidence of their claims? Although this portion of scripture refers to elders within the church (call for the elders), there is a deeper underlying truth that applies to all and is also backed up with other scriptures that drives the individual to God’s will for their lives. We cannot sweep sin under the carpet as if it is a light thing. God is righteous and we must all be single-minded by that righteousness. We must be driven towards God’s righteousness and when we live in His light, nothing will stand in the way of the believer, it cannot! For God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all. If we learn to live there it will be well with our souls. Obviously snares are place in our paths by the enemy to lure us into his traps and when we do not seek out the righteousness of God, we will fail.

We cannot claim to be covered by the righteousness of Christ and then live a life of debauchery, if this is where we find ourselves, we fool ourselves and we are then double minded and unstable in all our ways. We all have our struggles, but we need to own them and confess them to each other, so that we form the positive habits of faith as our “go-to” default. If we all applied ourselves well in this area of our lives then darkness would have no choice but to flee. There is no darkness on the planet or throughout the universe that can withstand the light of God, praise his name, Amen! We must all resolve to walk in His light. Today is the day for action and what will you or I do with our measure of faith. My prayer is that we will look to seek out God’s righteousness as the most important thing in our lives. I believe if we get this right the rest will follow; please pray for me as I am already praying for you.

Signing off

Tyrone

Logical deduction

Many of you may have seen or may have even read the account of a student and an atheist professor of philosophy that has made its rounds over time. I like to call it a “logical deduction”, banter concerning certain fundamentals that prove that God exists. God tells us that Creation is enough for us to understand that He is as real as the keyboard I now punch, however some dispute this truth. The atheist or the average scientist often clings to that phenomenon.

This account has opened my eyes to a far deeper understanding of who God is and it has helped cement certain factual truths that I had already grasped in part but now are truly grounded in them, praise God for His light! All it often takes is a slight trim with our “sails of reason”. Just a little tweak may be enough to differentiate north from true north. The “tree of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil” is where light and darkness part. “Good” is a depiction or reflection of the light whilst the darkness is swallowed up with “evil”. Even the Lord Jesus had this to say, “And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” (Mark 10:18) – So we understand that God is good and everything He is involved with is good even if we may not understand the evil we witness on the outside edges of our lives.

I trust this will help!

If God created everything, this then begs the question what about all the evil we see and witness throughout the world, how does it exist and where does God fit into that equation? For us to understand this, we must know that God is Light, God has saved true believers from the darkness, we have been born again, we are born of the Spirit of God and we have grasped this truth by faith.

Let us take this a little deeper…

In the Garden of Eden there was a tree of life as well as a tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. These are the two trees that are mentioned by name. Death was not a concept that the couple had grasped, it was foreign to their understanding. They were alive and walk in the light because God is light and He was there with them in the Garden.

 “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (John 1:5) - we must cement this truth into our understanding to find out bearings.

If God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all, then what is darkness or where is its origin? Darkness does not exist in itself; it is the absence of light. So where will we find darkness or all that is evil? The answer is clear; we find darkness and all that is evil where there is no light or where God cannot be found. To understand this we must understand the concept of light. “Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? That’s the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker.” (The student) -  With that settled it then begs the question, did God created evil? For us to answer that we must understand that God created everything including Satan. Was he created as an evil being? No! Is the answer, his original position was one of honour because he lived in the presence of God who is LIGHT and where there is no darkness at all. So what happened? This will give us some insight into that event; “Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers. "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:11-15) – Somehow Satan believed that he could overthrow God and his sin was exposed and then banished from God’s presence, God removed Himself from Satan, he expelled him from His presences; in other words Satan was no longer cover by the light of God and hence all that is evil now manifests itself in him. Satan depicts darkness and all that is evil because he no longer lives in God’s light. Darkness is not the opposite of light but rather the absence of it.

Mistakes are made, as individuals we often conclude on facts which in detail are the opposite. Does cold exist? Our obvious answer would be yes; we are often exposed to its cruelty and then need heat to help. Cold is not something of itself by rather the absent of heat, just like darkness is the absent of light. With that understood then consider this; evil does not exist within itself it is simply the absence of God. Evil exists we Gods light does not shine, use that as a formulae and apply it into any situation and then come up with you own conclusions. I am settled and I thank God for His light, Amen!

It is believed that this student was Albert Einstein

Signing off

Tyrone Arthur

Leaven!

(Galatians 5:9) “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”  

A little leaven affects the entire lump and it always brings about its objective when used correctly, it works as a raising agent. Similarly allowance of the smallest sins in our lives will have the same result. When we lighten the load to our sin with these types of thoughts, “it isn’t so bad” or “it could have been worst”. We certainly do not help our cause or the plight of others, and we play into the hands of the enemy with the same result every time, getting up from the dirt and dusting off our knees. Sadly its takes these kinds of knockdowns to teach us what needs to be learnt, “a little leaven leavens the lump”, it will more often than not leave us down and in the muck having to seek out God’s forgiveness. The truth of the matter is this; sin is sin no matter how you slice it and when we allow a fraction of it to remain alive in our lives, if we consent to it in any form, know this… “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” (Galatians 5:9)

Whether we are looking to find an excuse for our sin or if we err on the opposite side of lasciviousness and apply self-righteousness to our existence in order to prove our worth by applying the first covenant into our lives at the expense of the second. Pride rears its head and is resisted by God; we must never forget this, He seeks out the humble and He will only ever exalt the meek. It will never be about outdoing the person next to us with an arrogance that leaves us thinking we are better than the rest. In both instances, “a little leavens the whole lump”.

     

Lust (the natural offspring of a carnal and corrupt mind) of any form will have this result in our lives and we must be aware of its destructive power, I most certainly do not claim to have arrived but because of it destructiveness it has been brought to my attention and it needs to be rooted out before it brings forth death. Did you know? “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.” (James 1:14-16)

So from the smallest to the biggest allowances of sin in our lives let us not be fooled into believing that God will turn a blind eye to it, He detests sin so much that He sent his Son to die for it so that individuals would find deliverance in Him.

However as dismal as this reality may be; “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) - There is an upside to it all. “Jesus in my place”, praise His beloved name now and forevermore, Amen and Amen! “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Roman 7:25)

It’s not the power of the law or my application to it that saves me, but rather what Christ achieved for me on Calvary. Mankind was sold into slavery way back when, and sadly we are all benefactors of Adams rebellion. We were never taught to sin per say but rather born with a natural tenacity to sin. There is an obvious innocence to young children, but only for a time and then the slide becomes evident as they grow. As Christians we need to trim our sail on a regular basis, and the correct way to do that is to come under the sound of the Word, the Bible! We need faith to survive and we add to our faith in this manner; “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)  

Now that I have been saved, born again, having eyes to see God’s kingdom, I still have a carnal mind that needs transformation. The war rages on between my flesh and the Spirit, and so it is for all who have been saved. Do not be deceived “a little leaven affects the whole lump”. 

  

Yesterday is gone. It has passed and nothing we do will bring it back. Today comes with new beginnings and our gracious glorious heavenly Father affords us such forgiving mercy that He allows us new beginning every day. Today is the day of salvation; let us therefore make the most of it. We all have an opportunity to right our wrongs in Christ’s forgiveness and find His grace to overcome.

“… But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13)

We have been called to live one day at a time, it’s only the world with all its propaganda that teachers us something entirely different, it instils that we must plan for our future, I will not look to over stir that pot but I will leave you with this thought; "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34)

Whatever your troubles are we must remember to pray through it. I have said a lot, so here is my summary; Sin is sin and must never be tolerated as adequate. We must seek out God’s forgiveness on a regular basis for our sin, and then we must seek out God’s grace to eventually overcome. Our victories in Christ do not justify us before God as the sacrifice of an animal in the First Covenant was meant to achieve, In fact the “First Covenant” (the law of Moses) was there to teach us about our sinful natures and that we needed a Saviour in order to find rescue. God has accepted His Son’s sacrifice and not ours. We are justified because of Him and this must never be overlooked. When we look to pat ourselves on our backs, this amplifies our pride, it becomes about us and not HIM! “A little leaven leavens the entire lump”; we must grasp this with both hands if we are to grow in the good graces of our God and King.

Signing off

Tyrone

Saving Faith!

What is faith? - Belief in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or something, especially without logical proof. Or it could be a strongly held set of beliefs or principles. However even though there are other variations of what faith actually entails for many, the obvious conclusion for all factions that claim to have faith believes in the unseen without a necessity for logical proof to assist in their findings.

Faith stretches across many spectrums, for some radicals they are even willing to blow themselves up, a human-bomb in the name of their cause. There has to be strong motivation to get an individual to carryout such an act. Faith is pivotal for these types of actions. But this is not the faith I want, I want to be involved with saving faith and not a faith that hinges on hate. Christianity centres on the opposite, which is forgiveness and when I seek it out and find it, it will leave me changed forever; it will bring about radical transformation and be driven out of acts of love. I may even have to lose my life because of it and that I would welcome if such a time arrived, just so long as the name of Jesus Christ my Messiah is fundamental through it all. His ultimate sacrifice brings about such faith in the lives of those who have been called. Why a man like Peter would be prepared to be crucified upside down leaves me with an obvious conclusion, he had an encounter with the only true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He envisioned eternity, he caught a glimpse of the bigger picture and what God has in store for those whom He loves. 

What we all need is saving faith! Which results with us being assured that we are on the right track, it eliminates all guess work and its conviction brings understanding. This faith opens our eyes to see God in another dimension as if we were looking squarely at Him. The writer of Hebrews sums it up like this; “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) – It is nothing short of miraculous!

Let’s endeavour to unpack how it works and what we as individuals are call to do to find it; we will use the woman with the “issue of blood” (Luke 8:43) to get a clearer understanding. She did everything in her own power and spent her life saving trying to remedy her dilemma, but to no avail. However, somehow she had heard of the man Jesus maybe as she traversed the market place while shopping for her daily supplies, or she could have attended one of His rallies and finally it may just have been the testimony of the lives of those closest to her whose lives Christ had changed, God knows! One thing I am persuaded about was she believed with all her heart that He had the answer; she understood that the Lord Jesus Christ could heal her. All she needed to do was reach out and touch Him or just get close enough to touch the hem of his garment. She was motivated and nothing was going to stop her from, her intent was deliberate as her life depended upon it, how about you? Is there a need in your life to find the answer of your existence, have you asked yourself what the purpose of life is all about and where you fit in with eternity in mind? Are you as persuaded as she was to walk a life filled with faith, outside the control of our own capabilities? Or have you got everything under control? The majority of the earths’ population is always looking to take care of tomorrow at the expense of today. She didn’t care about tomorrow or next week all she purposed was to push through the masses to get to Jesus and somehow, hidden in the crowd she eventually achieved her objective and she touched the helm of his garment and was immediately healed. Wow! A miracle driven by faith!

As a photojournalist I too know what it is like to be swamped by a crowd, it can be rather daunting, and the only thing your mind keeps telling you to do is stay on your feet because if you fall you will never get up again. The most vivid memory I have of that was with Nelson Mandela in Smal Street in Johannesburg with thousands of people following him as he walk through the city, everyone trying to get closer to get a better look, it was maniac and the pressure from all sides was intense and I could feel an awareness of my adrenaline heighten as I recognized I needed to be on guard against any sudden mishap that would leave me at the mercy of the pressing crowd.

This woman must have given very little though to that, all she knew was that she needed to touch the helm of his garment, she achieved her goal and was miraculously heal right there and on the spot. “She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased.” (Luke 8:44) – Saving faith has an immediate upshot on those affected by it. Its not as if she was only partially heal, it was a complete restoration.  

Our lives are filled with goals, which vary between short and long term objectives. If your life does not revolved around reaching out and touching Jesus on a daily basis you have missed the purpose of life. The saved see Him as He is, their merciful Redeemer, whilst others cling to an idea of faith in God and remain blind to Him. Their lives are filled with attempts to score points with God and all because of their own merits, hoping that their good deeds will outweigh the bad. Unless we can all arrive at the same conclusion and forget all the other voices out there and push through the crowds to touch Jesus, we will not understand the concept of saving faith. We must be measured in our determination to find Him and seek out His forgiveness for our sins.

Although it is God who gives us faith, look at the Lords response; “But Jesus said, "Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me." And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."” (Luke 8:46-48)

Do you see the connection? It’s our faith in the unseen God that heals us, and once we have this type of faith all is understood. - “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) – If you have been called, if you have experience saving faith, if your eyes have been opened to God and His existence and His involvement with all of creation then it is up to us to use the gifts He has given us by getting involved in helping others. Just as Christ laid down His life for the called, so too must we lay down our lives for others.

Signing off

Tyrone