What are we still missing?

Every single day, moves us closer to meeting our Lord God. Soon we will all face the King of kings to give an account of our lives and account of our obedience to the Great Commission. God is not intimidating us when He is talking about the Judgement day. But It is fair enough to understand on our part that when we are entrusted with resources, privileges and responsibilities, we are required to be accountable too. R.G. Lee coined this short Caption, “Pay-Day – Someday”. We cannot escape giving account of ourselves. The Bible says in Romans 14:12 “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”

Times such as this are difficult and unpredictable for all of us. Every believer including many Pastors and leaders who are contemplating to irk a living in this period of time are struggling to find an answer from God. Most of us struggle to handle the silence from Him. We get disoriented when things do not happen just the way we expected and prayed about. This was the case of disciples too. After Jesus was resurrected, He was appearing to the disciples and many others in His terms. He was no more present with them physically as He used to be with the disciples in the short time of His ministry. This was raising lots of apprehensions among the disciples and the silence disturbed them.

We find the incident where Simon Peter said “I am going fishing” in (John 21:8-14), immediately other disciples also consented to accompany him and said, “We are coming with you.”. The Bible records they caught no fish nevertheless as you follow the story, you will notice the disciples encountered Jesus and the miracle happened. These were the same disciples who followed Jesus leaving their livelihood, profession and families (Mat 4:19-22 Mark 1:20). Peter at one point on behalf of the other disciples remarked, “See we have left everything and followed you.”. Matthew 19:27. Do you realize, these were the same disciples who were revolutionaries and never again contemplated for their survival but went to the remotest part of the nation with the Gospel and died as a martyr?

Jesus remarked, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.”. There is a misunderstanding we have developed that we save our lives by our own capacities probably because the varied catastrophes are hitting the human race and it raises too many questions in the minds of the people. Christ is in full control over you. Do not panic nor be intimated.

He never became powerless, but maybe we are struggling to trust Him because our resources are running out. God’s work can still effectively grow devoid of finances or for that matter any resources. We have been given a mandate and most disappointingly it is not carried out by every Christian believer.

During crisis our focus on Christ's mandate, the Great Commission and Great Commandment is becoming optional or abandoned by many. For believers maintaining spiritual schedule by itself is a proud moment and a satisfying factor. Sadly, it’s not true. Your salvation isn’t complete till you share the Good news, the Gospel to the Non-believers. If you are still struggling to share your testimony and lead someone to Christ, then probably you are missing out on your responsibility. Do not confuse your Church engagements and activities as mission work. Go and Preach the Gospel! There are no alternatives.

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Incomplete deliverence!

God is not a vending machine to cater you with ATM (any time money) or provide you with whatever you want at your convenience. Most of the time we take God for granted because we think God is gracious, compassionate, ever loving and merciful, He is therefore obliged to come at your aid, even when you are not at the right state of heart. 

You cannot receive anything from a selfish stand point, where you willfully indulge in what is not right in the sight of God and yet expect Him to keep helping you.  Unless and until you make a prayer like David determining in your heart to keep yourself away from willful sinning, you cannot expect His complete providence while you are in a mess or in a serious problem.  Psalms 19:13 Don’t you think the prayer of David is so meaningful in this context? "Moreover, keep your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed from blatant rebellion.".

Temporary repentance will invite God to help you only temporarily. Rehoboam son of Solomon who was spoiled by the influence of power sought God's help only during desperate situation God did help but it was not a complete help. The Bible says “When the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the Lord’s message came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them but will grant them a little deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. 2 Chronicles 12:7 CSB Shishak was the king of Egypt who came to invade Jerusalem. Just a few verse later it talks about Rehoboam's rebellious state, "Rehoboam did what was evil, because he did not determine in his heart to seek the Lord.". 2 Chronicles 12:14 CSB. Mark the phrase 'little deliverance' this is conditioned to the state of heart.

John Ortberg in his book soul keeping quotes beautifully, "Sometimes we ask for forgiveness, but we know full well we will go back to the same sin tomorrow. We don’t really want forgiveness; we just want to get out of trouble. He says it would be better to pray like this: “Dear God, I sinned yesterday, I sinned again today, and I’m planning to go out and do the same sin tomorrow. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” It may not quite reflect the maturity of “Thy will be done,” but it is better to be an honest mess before God than a dishonest “saint.”. 

How true of our miserable state? Could we make a serious decision to keep our internal state of matters at the best? Mind, you would have continuous challenges and trouble in this world because Jesus promised it that way (John 16:33) but at the same time we have hope because He claimed "I have conquered the world". In a way it is a refining process, that renews and transforms us to be like Him. But most importantly determine in your heart to set things right and the Lord will take care of all the other challenges that tries to immerse you. His intervention will bring the divine peace. 

God is always prepared to help you in fact in Isaiah 30:18 NASB it says "Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him",  provided your decision to live right and follow Him matters to you and to God.

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