Write it down!

“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.” Habakkuk 2:2-3.

When God inspired me to help Churches articulate the Vision and document the same, this was the verse that was overpowering and inspiring me to take this forward to help Church leadership, youth and congregation members so that they understand the real purpose of their existence and pen their vision down.

Once the Vision statement is articulated and the Church roadmap is drawn listing out the milestones, it gives the sense of purpose and satisfaction. God in the Bible always quantifies, measures and gauges the work including our intention. We are capable of so much, but because we are not defining the ministry/organization purpose and the strategy to achieve it's goal, we are unsure about the progress or the impact our work  actually makes.

Unless people are convinced of their sincere calling and commitment for the ministry it will just not be possible for them to put their vision down. They will manage to exist and survive but without a purpose. Zig Ziglar puts it this way, “An out-of-focus purpose can’t inspire us, but a crystal-clear lens on God’s purpose for us rivets our attention and gives us energy to keep going until we reach our goals.”

We need to write our vision down in clear and compelling language so that it grips our heart. A clear vision statement frees us from confusion so that we can ‘run' forward steadily rather than wander, stumble or go backward. But the fulfillment of our vision is in His timing, not ours. Seldom does anyone move in a straight line from the conception of a dream to its fulfillment. We may experience ups and down, delays and disappointment. But this cannot stop us if we keep our eyes fixed on the purpose and on the One who gave it to us.

Personally, I had challenges too working with no expectations, sometimes supported sometimes never considered at all, but because of the strong passion towards my vision I am still by the grace of God able to move bereft of resources.  If your Church vision is compelling nothing will stop you to integrate the Holistic model of connecting Church with active evangelism and ministering to the poor. Do you have a clear compelling vision?

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Sheep and the goats- Holistic perspective!

The holy book, the Bible is holistic in nature and addresses all facets of human life. We cannot by any chance separate the physical from spiritual. If you have to notice, the number of laws in the old testament addressed all areas of life that included, health areas (Physical), laws concerning relational well-being (Socio-emotional), to know the law and execute it correctly (cognitive), and finally revering God and establishing a spiritual connection (Spiritual).  

I am compelled to remind you on the two edicts Jesus gave. 1. The Great Commission (Mat 28-19-20) 2. The Great Commandment (Mark 12:30-31). In 1 Cor 9:16 Apostle Paul states, “woe is me if I do not preach the gospel”, this is the mandate given to all. We cannot escape as individuals or the Church and try to accommodate the gospel at our convenience. Apostle Paul reminds us that we are accountable for the souls of the one’s whom we are leading to God (Hebrew 13:17).

The second edict is the Great commandment, which says love God and love others. What did Jesus mean when He said to love others? He had to help us by narrating a story about, “the Good Samaritan”, about the good works. In Mathew 5:16 “. .that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven”. The sharing of the gospel and sharing of the resources are our obligation, not a choice. Somebody put this so beautifully, “If you practice the great commission and share about Christ you are an irritant, and if you practice great commandment and talk about the love of Christ you are interesting, but if you do both great commission and great commandment together you are irresistible.”.

Have you tried to figure out what Jesus was trying to tell us when He explained in detail the parable of ‘Sheep and the goats”? The details of the parable described in Mat 25:31-46 is trying to caution us that we do not fall short of this action but learn to live out effectively. God arranges and puts the sheep on the right and the  goats on the left and commences the allegations - You did not feed the hungry, you did not take care of the strangers, you did not clothe the naked, you did not take care of the sick, you did not take care of the people who are in prison and the consequences God had to lay was sending them to eternal damnation. 

Bryant Myers in his book “Walking With the Poor” states, “To think properly about human transformation, we must see the world of the poor and the non-poor in light of the whole Biblical account.". Let us understand this clearly, in the holistic judgement of God we are worthy enough to suffer eternal damnation just because we as individual and Church are not prepared to take care of the poor and the needy nor willing to take care of them because we thought the resources is not meant for them. We cannot escape from this crucial responsibility." Quite a point to ponder, isn't it?!

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3 Same Question posed by different people- What Will I get?

I was thinking on this important question that pointed to my motive and I had to take pause to really find the true answer. I implore that you give some thought to the same and check your heart status. What motivates you to do something that is basically maybe your obligation and then, what are the things you want to explore for obtaining reward & recognition? It can be frustrating at some point to keep doing things and not being rewarded or recognized, especially when it is not done for yourself. Psychologists name these two factors that motivates a person to do what he is doing as, Intrinsic motivation and Extrinsic motivation.The external factors like incentives, position, recognition, salary are examples of extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation are the values you hold on to, a greater satisfaction you receive through your deliberations, the divine excitements you derive by doing something worthwhile. Here are the three people who posed this same question in a different context. It has a deeper revelation on the Motive itself.

1. David posed this shrewd question to the intimidated soldiers who were on the battleground, “..What is the reward for killing Goliath?..” 1 Sam 17:26. David was aware how skillful he was using the sling and how God helped him to save the sheep from the mouth of the lion and the bear while tending his flock. Moreover. Therefore, David wasn’t prepared to do it for free. 1 Sam 17:25 describes the prize money which says that the successful person will be enriched with great riches and will get the king's daughter. What is worth doing should have value, failing which it can devalue or undervalue the act itself. And no doubt David followed the "same as" principle when it came to paying the cost to buy the field of Araunah for worshiping God. He did not purchase it for free. (2 Sam 24:24).

2. Judas question to the High priest “What are you willing to give me if I hand him (Jesus) over to you? Mat 26:15. The story that talks about a man who spent the years with Jesus and  also held a prime position in the team as a treasurer managing the accounts yet traded Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. This is still happening in Christendom where so-called Christians and leaders are using Gospel for the means of amassing wealth & status. Today this question is asked again and again subtly with all kinds of motives. Can we give a serious thought to this?

3 Peter posed this question, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?” Mat 19:27. An honest question from Apostle Peter who echoed on behalf of other disciples. Now we all know what he meant when Peter and other disciples meant when it was said they have left everything including their loved ones. Jesus ensured that they will be greatly honored in eternity.

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Has God displaced you from your familiar environment?

I don't like to stay on the edge at all times (I don't think anyone would like that for that matter). I lived in the top most of the time and I know the  way I was used by God and able to create an impact was beyond my imagination. But now when my journey in the wilderness keep protracting, I can't help, but ask what is God trying to do with me? People around me, those who know me, think they have all the answers concerning me. Their assumptions, calculations seem to match when they happen to look at my current status. But is that all true? How do we understand God's purpose in such a dark situation, when we are looking for an answer? In Isaiah 42:6 it says, “I am the Lord. I have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will hold you by your hand. I will watch over you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a light to the nations". But the current situation seems quite the contrary.

I am guessing Moses would have gone through the similar emotions, after being in the palace for such a long time and then to spend next forty years in the wilderness. What a contrast? Guillermo Maldonado puts this so perfectly, "When God calls someone for an unusual purpose, He often removes them from their familiar environment. This happened to Moses. The Lord needed him so He had to take Moses out of the comfort of Pharaoh’s palace, lead him to the desert, and then have him return to deliver the people of Israel from Egypt’s yoke".

You cannot juxtapose God's purpose with anything else however valuable it may be. His ways are sovereign. If you are going to be used for an unusual purpose, then the first thing God will do is to displace you from your familiar environment and train you to walk in the faith journey. God's way of operating things is rarely from the point of abundance but mostly from scarcity. Mission belongs to Him and He doesn't expect you and me to do a favor for him through our resources. He will take us through based on "one-day-at-a-time" model, and allow the sequence of miracles to follow, not necessarily your bags of resources are overflowing but His mission will get accomplished.

Sometimes every day and every month looks so challenging. In my case with scarcely much resources to take care of the upcoming needs, yet when I behold the way God takes care of the urgent needs for the month and for the day, it is just amazing.  One thing that I noticed is the amount of work I am able to accomplish for God in this current period from such a challenging point is beyond my comprehension. My capacity to write so much, (articles, blogs) creating a meticulous Ministry Blueprint for Churches, motivating young people to find purpose and align their journey accordingly through seminars is just mind blowing. The same God will get things accomplished through you when your commitment and willingness to reach out becomes significant.

Now I no longer pray God to take me out from this scary anxious way of living. I have learnt to trust God and exercise my faith on God. When I keenly observe, people with good resource system and status are increasingly becoming complacent and maintaining status quo compared to the ones who have barely anything, yet doing so much for him. Dear friends, there is hardly any time left. Let us learn to trust God and use our mission to integrate the full gospel and reach out, beyond our capacity and echo with what Apostle Paul who says, "But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.". Philippians 2:17

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Do you add value to what you say?

We are constantly gauging, evaluating, estimating when others say something which either directly or indirectly matters to us, but hardly concerned about what we say and whether we are able to keep our word. Most often we say just for the sake of saying and it doesn’t bother us at all. This is almost true with most of the people including people who are in a leadership position, sadly Christian leaders are not exempted. With the growing communication platforms, by which I mean, social networks, like WhatsApp and similar chats we have not become any better. We use the same to evade, slip away, escape, procrastinate, hypocritically respond, maliciously pretend and disrespect people by ignoring them forthright but most often in a subtle manner.

I would like to quote a verse, “don’t say to your neighbor “Go away! Come back later, I’ll give it tomorrow” when it is there with you” Pro 3:28. I have observed that people are so accustomed to ignore people when they can actually respond courteously. I am using this in the context of communication. We are so used to saying “I’ll get back” and never feel an iota of guilt to know, that word has been given and they need to keep it. ‘Tomorrow’ for such people never comes.

Why are people not honest and open to communicate correctly? Did they truly forget or pretend they have forgotten because they are not interested for some reason, but not honest enough to express? Let’s know that relationships are built with honest communication. Sometimes I am even forced to wonder about their conviction. Are they using it for their convenience or simply go with their preferences and based on the scope for advantage? It is important to understand that each time we mess up in the way we communicate we distort the gospel and disrupt the relationship.

King David in his psalms talks about the ones who would qualify to stand in his holy presence, in Psalms 24:4 states “.. one who has not sworn deceitfully”, as one of the traits. But most of the people fall in between the two, which means they would neither promise nor say a forthright 'No'. They become deceptive in their responses. Sadly, most of the time Christians also make such politically correct statements.

Drawing out in the context of communication there is this next verse which states “Don’t withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them.”. Proverbs 3:28. Whether it is communication or when you can do something today do not postpone things, it is a bad example of leadership trait. 

It’s a leader’s responsibility to know the difference between right and wrong, no matter what anybody else says or does. You can never be right by doing wrong, and you can never be wrong by doing right. Let us not forget that we are all accountable and are judged for every careless word we speak. (Mat 12:37)

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Prophecy vs prediction / Adjustment theories

The general purpose of prophecy and prediction is the same: to tell what will happen in the future. However, their source of authority for this information is very different. Prophecy relies on the authority of God-given information. True prophecy is therefore never wrong because it always carries the authority of God's truth and character. On the other hand, prediction is based on man's ability to determine what may happen in the future. Prediction is sometimes right but often wrong because it depends on man.

 We all have witnessed so many prophecies made by people over the recent election in India. Prayer was mobilized, discussion panels set, some even passed examples of other countries how things suddenly changed against all the odd expectation. Continuous circulation of encouraging WhatsApp messages claiming victories, and then the recent result that have shook if not all, at least the innocent believers for sure.

Significant men of God, leaders, Pastor's made several claims that things is going to change completely, some were too specific to name it, few had the audacity to prophecy saying a complete new set of leadership is going to take over, just to find they and all who followed them were miserably disappointed. How do we take this? Don't we even realize that God is bringing all things to culmination? In this whole process, God had to unmask the true identity of many people whose life were contradicting all through.

The heights of evil is manifested. Sadly, many Christians and Churches are in miserable stages living to their full expectation scraping to make a pleasant survival when they have to demonstrate holiness and exhibit God's love and judgement in this world. It looked like we all were trying to choose between the bad and the worse. Let's not forget one Haman catered the reverence and focus on God for all the Jews who were likely to be destroyed. Esther had to bring all people together to confess and pray for the nation to see things changed for real to their favor. Now we will soon find adjustment theories sweeping in, people trying to falsely comfort each other. It's time we all retrospect and identify our wretchedness and ask God to help us. Let's not forget to notice that Churches outnumbered, people were effective witnesses, only during the extreme environment. Be prepared to stand as a true witness for God in any situation.

You will continue to find, some who are not prophets claim the gift of prophecy. The Bible teaches that one test of a true prophet is whether or not his prophecy always comes to pass. Deuteronomy 18:22 states, "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." People who falsely claim the gift of prophecy are in danger of the judgment of God. It is a serious offense against the Lord.

As to prediction, all men try to do a little of this. However, even in this, we should be careful. Consider this passage from the book of James: James 4:13-16 ".. ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.".

We are not to brag or boast of our knowledge of tomorrow. Things may turn out as we expect, but they may not. We should always speak of the future with humility--"If the Lord will" or "Lord willing." These actions will keep us from the sin of false prophecy and the pride of prediction.

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Visiting Jesus and returned disappointed

"When the young man heard that, he went away grieving..." Matthew 19:22 CSB

What a joy it is to keep hearing God loves us and will bless us, our family and we will get all that we desire. We will be the head and not tail and we will be receiving in abundance, right? Jesus flips the coin in this real time incident when a young man who approached Jesus to know if he qualifies for the kingdom of God. He is the person who followed all the commandments ardently from his young age and wanted a confirmation of eternity.

Jesus' response grieved him severely. Not because he was not assured of the eternal life but because it challenged him on the summarized greatest commandment which starts like this; "The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:39 CSB. This guy was satisfied with only giving all that he owed to God alone. Jesus clarified by saying   

“if you want to be perfect go, sell your belongings and give to the poor,  and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Mathew 19:21. He never thought about his services to fellow neighbors and his responsibility towards poor which demanded sharing his resources, probably because he thought it is only for him and for his loved ones. The response from Jesus made him so uncomfortable that he went away grieving. 

In reference to Jesus' response, our perfection status depends upon our willingness to focus our attention towards poor and helping them with our resources, and there are no substitutes to it. In the book of Acts Paul says how he set an example for all of us. "In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”. Acts 20:35 CSB. This is a great principle which does not sink in us deeply. 

You remain blessed in your giving and not in your strategy to receiving. Most often people get disappointed because certain enhancements or blessing comes with a cost, and we just don't want it. There is an incident about King David planning to buy a field from Araunah to build an altar. Araunah refused to accept the money, obviously who would want to accept money from the king who comes in person? David response in 2 Samuel 24:24 is just amazing where he says “No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”.  

The second example is where we understand the context of Paul where he says he worked with his own hands to support himself and those who were with him. (Acts 20:34). How often from the Bible such demanding context where it involves the spending of our own resources towards ministering to the needy gets blurred because it hurts us. There are no alternative whatsoever, your service to God and to the less fortunate is the strong qualifier. 

Have you pondered over the sins of Sodom more than all the wickedness quoted in the book of Genesis, you will notice the same in this book which says like this, "Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had pride, plenty of food, and comfortable security, but didn’t support the poor and needy". Ezekiel 16:49 CSB. May God use our ministry to poor a model in the nation.

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Blessings.