Deciding to be silent and remain comfortable?

If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father’s family will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.” Esther 4:14 CSB 

We learn about the cruelty, planned against the Jews where the government (King) was convinced that the Jews were no good and follow entirely different law contrary to the norms and pattern of the nation. It just talks about anti-Semitism. What does it mean? It means the intense dislike for and prejudice against Jewish people.

 Anti-Semitism is not a recent phenomenon. Here in the book of Esther, set in the fifth century BC, we read of appalling anti-Semitism. Haman wanted to ‘annihilate all the Jews – young and old, women and little children – on a single day… and to plunder their goods’ (Esther 3:13). Haman estimated that he would be able to extort 375 tons of silver including all their possession and deposit in the king's treasury which convinced the king. It is extremely fearful to imagine such a decree was passed by the then government to get rid of the Jews and plunder their resources.

Isn't there an eerie resemblance to our present day's context? We see and hear in many places of our nation and in the world, radicals and powerful governments wanting to get rid of the Christians. There are subtle plots and in some cases, open ones to curb the privileges of Christians and persecute them in all possible manner; even though there are some Christians in powerful and influencing positions refusing to speak about it. How do Christians and leaders handle such context?  Should Christians just pray for justice and leave the rest to God?

That’s not what the Bible asks us to do. Instead Hebrews 11:33 tells us that we are God’s hands for dispensing justice and God uses us to “administer justice.”Prayer and action has to always go together. Is there a way Christians can come together to pray as a Church or community and do something about it? Or like most we think we are in a comfortable position and scared we may end up disturbing our comfort and security. We may even be wondering what if we are left alone fighting the battle without the support of fellow Christians or the faint doubt if God will actually make things happen, can linger in our minds. 

In the book of Esther when the decree was passed to annihilate the Jews we read Esther was informed by her uncle about the grave situation and at the same time also challenged her to get in action and not remain comfortable in the position she got into. We all know the story very well, Esther thereafter refused to remain comfortable. She decides to take a risk by planning to save her own people by influencing the king with honest report. Prayer was in the forefront but then the plan of action was not very far. Esther used a brilliant mixture of bravery, faith and skill. She had a discretion to find the right time to enter the presence of the King and get the attention from him. God at the same time was doing His part to Grant her favor in all the steps. This is exactly the Holistic gospel Esther lived. Every bit of the story is so dramatic thereafter. The Bible says in (Esther 9:1) "....just the opposite happened.." One person's willingness to stand daringly made an unimaginable difference to the whole Jewish clan. Is it not a strong emphasis on God's power and grandeur for saving the people from complete destruction?

 We read in Mathew 23:23 Jesus telling the teachers of law that they have neglected the more important matters of law, justice, mercy and faithfulness. The gospel that Jesus announced and lived was not only about rescuing and healing individuals; it was also about helping the poor and the needy and at the same time dismantling the oppressive systems of the world—spiritual, religious, political, economic, cultural, and so on, be it the individuals or Church.

Choosing to be silent and doing nothing about a situation which demands action is not a, measure to assure security for us and to our families. If God has kept us in a leadership position or in the area of influence, it is to be a blessing in our communities and in the nation in every possible manner. Do we have a plan or strategy? 

Blessings

Ready to Demonstrate??

We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3:16 NASB

We are in a Lenten season where we focus as individuals and Church on Christ's sacrifice for us in the cross of Calvary. My prayer is that God would help us to have an enhanced view in this season as we become His witness and carry the gospel of love effectively. The first part of theme verse overwhelms us with gratitude and commitment knowing that God laid down His life for us and it is the core message of salvation. It says in Roman's (5:8) "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.". The Bible would have been just a set of philosophy if it had confined itself only to love, goodness and virtues of life without demonstration. The latter part of the theme verse (1 John 3:16) says we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. It is a strong demand and not just a cordial suggestion to demonstrate our love by ministering to the needs of people. 

In 1 John, Apostle John clarifies on our responses and responsibility towards the people who are needy.  It is said in the same theme verse “.. whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." 1 John 3:17-18. The early Church demonstrated it and set a model for us. It says in the book of Acts that they brought all the resources and laid it in the feet of apostles which included selling of their properties. How are we demonstrating our love today? Is it just with niceties of conversation like" God loves you" and "I am praying for you"? Yes, we do understand that we need to affirm and intercede for people, but is there a higher ground in demonstrating it? There are so many people we can find all over, including in our Churches, who are desperately trying to make end's meet for their family each day. Most of the time we don’t even know about it and sometimes we think we are helpless and rationalize it as God’s business to help them.

  

Mother Teresa quotes "Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the grace we have received and not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work" and she further quotes by saying "one of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to somebody. ". I have heard people argue I have just enough for my family and if my status gets better maybe I will. Likewise, small Churches wait for a better status or for structured resources. My strong conviction is that you are called to give, help and render your service from the condition you are at present.

Your demonstration may not always include your money though it is significantly inclusive of the resources. The gospel of Mathew records Jesus saying, if someone asks you to accompany him for one mile, go with him an extra one, where does money picture in here? and then He further instructs "Give him who asks you and not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you" (Matthew 5:42). There are myriads of ways you can start demonstrating the gospel of Love. Are you out there for people who need support?

Blessings,

David Raj

HOLISM-A Focal Approach

I wish to give a brief introduction for my emphasis on the crucial topic, Holism. It is my strong desire and conviction by the spirit of God to accentuate the integration of holism in the churches so that its visibility is not merely by its name or location but primarily for the influence it creates. 

The community the church influences would find solution from it for every facet of life problem, be it spiritual, socio-economical or socio-cultural or political. I pray this series on Holism will be a blessing as it is a requirement to be the core of our ministry and life.

It is important to understand that the Bible exercises its full authority over Holism. God is Holistic and the Bible reiterates it. The Old Testament in the Bible  required mankind to act justly, to love faithfulness, to walk humbly before God (Micah 6:8) and stretched its focus yet wider demanding attentions towards poor, orphans, strangers and to all vulnerable category. 

The demand and expectation to operate and have its approaches Holistically remains unchanged. In the New Testament Luke narrates that Jesus grew Holistically -  “..Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52,NASB). The four areas Cognitive (wisdom), Physical (stature), Spiritual (favor with God) and Socio-emotional (favor with men) development. This passage translates to us clearly that man is made Holistic. 

We are able to see that the Holism is being reiterated throughout the Bible not as a concept or an idea but the core of a person's existence as meant by God. This will not be realized unless individuals and Church connect with Holism and exhibit the principle in all its approaches.  This is the mandate for each individuals and the church as required by God in the Bible. Therefore we can confer that the church is  the integration of the  three crucial areas; Fellowship of the believers, Biblical mandate and social dimension-which is its mission. This is further explained in the pictorial presentation given below:

The early church depicted this model strongly as described in Acts 4:34 - "For there was not a needy person among them..." By the time we come to Chapter 6 of Acts, we notice that the leadership had appointed seven anointed people to  manage the social wing effectively. The one thing that fascinates me is that the social intervention of the early church was not confined to external funding channels but  were able to mobilize resources internally (How often the majority seems to miss this opportunity). It is a clear indication that every individual and the leaders realize it      as a biblical call towards Holism. 

It is said, “The local church is the hope for the world, and its future rests primarily in the hands of the leaders”. 

• How is the Church going to respond? 
• What is the plan to address the physical needs, the social needs, physiological needs, the emotional needs of the people in the church and in the community? 
• How do the church, Christian fellowship, groups going to work it out? 
• Do we have a plan to make the approaches consistent and less sporadic? 

It is the demand of the Bible that the Body of Christ takes this issue very seriously and exhibit the gospel of love in action.  Definitely, not only confined to, as a worship center for believers, but also to become Holistic in nature and viewed that way by the world. Unless the Church raises to this standard, I am afraid it will not have any effect in the lives of the people.

David Bosch reminds us that “the church is both a theological and a sociological entity, an inseparable union of the divine and the dusty."  Our community is filled with varied problem that needs an Holistic approach from the Church to reach them.  It just cannot emphasize on spiritual facet alone. Bryant L. Myers in his book "Walking with the Poor" states "When we separate the spiritual from the physical, not only do we separate evangelism from development, but we separate gospel-as-word from the gospel-as-deed, and provide no home for gospel-as-sign."  May the good Lord help us as individuals and church to take up this call to integrate our life and approach towards Holism and transform our community.  

This is the vision God has given to SHEFA to work alongside the churches in building the Holistic approach. The intervention is to establish an active social program or revamp the existing program, derived out of the vision and mission of the Church, develop a Church strategy (short-term and long-term) and connecting to the resources available. You may reach us to know how we can impact your ministry or be part of your mission by extending your support in what we do.

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Blessings 

David Raj

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Building a Robust Strategy

The word strategy is becoming more and more conversant in every field of human life. All field of science have started using it to build their organizational plan around it. The Wikipedia defines strategy this way; “it is a high-level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. Strategy generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions.”

We notice in the Bible how Joseph translates Pharaoh's dream into a robust strategy. Gen 41:34-46. Joseph with a divine spirit had an astounding encounter with Pharaoh and used his gift to interpret his dream. A point to be noted, interpretation of dreams was not a recent gift Joseph developed, God has gifted him that ability from a very young age. God revealed to Joseph about the future happenings and developed him for a greater purpose. Joseph learnt to exercise personal management and professional management at a very high standard. Irrespective of several hardships lashing at him consecutively, Joseph remained consistent in every area of his life and exhibited spiritual maturity.

Pharaoh met Joseph in a completely disoriented mental status because of the recent disturbing dreams he had. Little did the king realize that the dreams were from God and it was about the future status of the nation. His leadership team unfortunately had no clue and were absolutely unprepared  to even fathom the implications of his dream. Joseph becomes the spokesperson for God. He not only interpreted the entire dream but also drew up a watertight strategy to save lives and build the nation.  The basic stages of building a strategy from the dream is typo graphed in the following figure:

I am sure each Church was started with a vision/mission as revealed by God. It will do a world of good if Churches ask themselves the question if our vision/mission is strategically deciphered and disseminated so that the impact of what we are investing today becomes meaningful and measurable in the future. Habakkuk 2:2 says “…Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.”. The verse is demanding that our vision is documented and translated into action plan, so that the reader is motivated to run with the mission.

The leaders and the core team (may it be from church, or organization, or small groups) to ponder on these questions and reconsider if it is not very active;

1.      Where have we been? (this will help the leader reminisce on the early days and recognize            successes along the way).

2.      Where are we today? (give status on the current state of church, organization, institution)

3.   Where we hope to be in the next 3, 5, or 10 years?

May our dreams and vision be translated and become strategic and Holistic in nature and be a blessing to our community.

Blessings

If Jesus is physically present now

How many times we thought if God was physically present to address the most demanding challenges of the present times and of our lives. Right? 

During the desperate times, when we come to a point that we can't take anymore with the evil surpassing over everything, we are left clueless. Sometimes in a flick of a moment we want it to be true to have Him walking around us in person. 

Looking back in the Bible when Jesus was in this world moving with the people, we noticed the political situation was not better, actually worse. There were classes among the people, friction and huge differences between clergy and laity and in fact continual plots against God Himself. And the world thought they can't have God live among men. Fear of God ruling and taking over was making them insecure, Power play was heightened and as a result killed a God who was giving life and making a radical difference in individuals.

History would again repeat and murder this same God if He chooses to live among us physically once again. What people are in search is a God who is not existing and unknown. Paul says in Acts 17:23 "I notice in an altar inscribed "To an unknown God" and it so true even now, when we believe god to be superficial.  We want to fashion our own God, customized to our own specifications and give us more wealth and prosperity alone. We promote selfishness and live as per our own standards.

Therefore, I am convinced it is a blessing to be substituted with His spirit dwelling among us and to have the Holy scriptures testify about Him. We have a reason and a privilege to trust in our God who is real and to walk in the path He has paved for us, as the song that says "Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus". We have a privilege to feel Him every moment in our being, if we are rightly connected to Him. He is now more personal and felt every moment unlike during Jesus time in the earth where we have to physically commute to reach where He is. If we believe in the deity of Christ then we have all the assurances and unfailing promises to help us and take us through every situation. 

Faithful in executing justice

We live in an age where everything is instantaneous and quicker. We are attracted by the fastest services and settle where we are benefited in the shortest span of time. I don’t think anyone in this world would prefer to wait unless it is promised, or been ensured of the assured consequences. Thinking about the great task entrusted to Moses and Aaron to get the Israelites who were in bondage to be taken out from Egypt, these two great men would have thought probably in the first encounter with Pharaoh, he would let the people in bondage go. But as you know the story, it did not happen that way. We read in Ex 10:3 where Moses and Aaron paraphrases the Lords voice by saying “…How long wilt thou refuse to humble before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.” and then at the same time we see the desperation of pharaoh’s servant too as they articulate in Ex 10:7 “…How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the man go, that they may serve Lord their God: Knowest thou not yet that the Egypt is destroyed.” The desperation to see things happen quicker, developed on both sides.

 David in Psalms groans seeing the wicked spread and that he brings infamy to the Lord. In Ps 74:10 David questions “How Long, O God shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever”? Do you see relevance? I am sure everyone at some point of time had to wait for a short period, and yet larger number for a longer period of time, and then when it gets still longer our inner heart cries, “how long”. Yes waiting is not very easy especially when you are waiting for justice or may be a favor. You need to have a greater level of Faith and Trust to be serene in such situation. After much communion with the Lord and through the experiences David in Psalms states in Ps 40:1 “I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined to me and heard my cry.” Nothing can go unnoticed my friend. Solomon in Prov 15:3 states “The eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good.” You don’t have to try various means to get the Lord in action, the Lord is sovereign and always in control.

And then if you recollect your readings from Habakkuk the prophet starts the book Hab 1:2 by asking a question “How long O Lord will I call for help..” He is frustrated to see the wicked gaining strength and “..Justice is never upheld” Hab 1:4 and mostly perverted. And we notice his questions become even more sharper as we read in Hab 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to approve evil and you cannot look on wickedness with favor, why do you look with favor on those who deal treacherously,,” We look around and see the surfacing of corruption in all level and how sad to know that there are much possibility to become victims and sometimes sufferers. How do we go about it? The prophet finds out the answer and articulates in Hab 2: 4 “… the righteous will live by faith.” and ends the book by saying “The Lord God is my strength” Hab 3:19. I think the greatest gift and blessing we need is to see our faith being strengthened and understand that God is our strength.

Prov 13:12 Says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” What do you wait for? Why do you wait for? Is your waiting justifiable and then what do you desire to achieve by waiting? In all this do you see God as a central figure? Just keep thinking and sharpen your thoughts on the light of the word of God and close communion with Him. I would like to draw your attention to the verse of Hope in Rev 10:6 “that there will be delay no longer”. Where do you stand? Do you justify your deeds? Or you think it’s high time that you introspect your life and get right with the Lord so that your waiting makes sense, definitely not to expect the evildoer to perish but the Lord of justice to restore righteousness and justice. Is 42:3 says “A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish, He will faithfully bring forth justice in the earth,” and in 42:4 “He will not fail nor be discouraged till He have set justice in the earth.” May the Lord God help us to maintain righteousness and exemplify the standard for righteous living, and He may help us to trust on the Lord that our longings are not spent in pain but with Hope and shaping our lives in Him. God knows your aspiration and desire. Prov 10:24 says “…the desire of the righteous will be granted” because “the desire of the righteous is only good..” Prov 11: 23.

 

Blessings

David Raj

"The MASTERS who are ruling US"

“O Lord other masters besides you have ruled us, but through you alone we confess your name.” Is 26:13

Who controls us?  How are our decisions being influenced?  Whom do we follow in real life? Whose style do we follow?  Who is our icon? What fascinates us? Who are we when we are in private? If you happen to give some thought on these, and ask yourself such pointed questions and may be more, then unquestionably the real image of yourself is displayed, and you know what predominately holds you and who controls you. How often in the Bible we find the Lord underscoring that there should be no God beside Him that we should worship or look onto, and even warns us not to make gods in any forms and shapes. Sadly most often for our convenient reason we interpret other gods to the deities that resembles to the idols and religions only and not to some of the habits that we aren’t free yet, and to the negative behaviours that has captivated us.

This above verse conveys that at one point of time there were masters besides Him who ruled them, but then through HIM alone they confessed and were delivered. For some people it is the power that rules them, and to some the position, to some the entertainments of the world, for some the lies, for some the gossips, for some the infidelity in all forms, the list goes on. Micah 2:1 says “Woe to those who scheme iniquity, who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes they do it. For it is in the power of the hands.” The masters that rule you and the choice that you make to be ruled by them together leads you the stage of wretchedness Rom 7:24. How often we make meaning from what matters to us, and attach meaning to anything important to us. If this is what we are then we better review who is ruling us and who our masters are. Quite often it is seen that we do what we want to do based on how it is going to benefit us, and then we use the word of the lord to justify what we do. Sadly all have their own rationale to make others believe, that it is from the Lord. It will be great if we try doing some spirituality check and consider our ways as said in Haggai 1:7, and get closer to God in reconciliation and have our Lord Jesus as our Master.

Micah 3:11 says “Her Leaders pronounce judgement for a bribe, Her Priest instructs for a price And her prophets divine for money, yet they lean on the Lord saying, Is not the Lord in our Midst? Calamity will not come upon us” We see the prophet Micah speaking the strong words of the Lord. I pray that we do not fall under the deceit thinking the Lord is our master when actually we are controlled by different rulers that is leading us to disaster. We are so familiar with the story of Samson in Judges, who vehemently took the Lord for granted while he was under the captivity of sin. And we read in Bible that the Lord departed from him, but he did not know that the Lord has left him and was trying to perform as usual Judges 16:20. A personal review in the light of His word, and conviction from the Holy Spirit will help us to see that we confess Him alone. Micah 4:5 “Though all the people walk each in the name of his god, as for us,  we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.”  What a strong assertive statement is made here. Can we confess strongly that we will allow our eternal Master our Lord Jesus Christ to rule us?

May God Bless us as we continue in the journey to know Him more and have our Lord Jesus Christ as our Master.

Blessings.