Musings

2009-04-28T02:05:00.001-07:00

Just joined Ping.fm and I hope it's going to be a cool experience.

Paul's Letter to Philemon

2008-08-03T06:51:00.001-07:00

This personal letter is unique, not only for the elegance of its style, but for the depth of the truths it teaches. We have been told about imputation, as revealed in verse 18: 'But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account.' So also all our sins have been reckoned to the account of 'Jesus Christ and Him crucified', for He bore all my sins on the cross of Calvary. The Lord Jesus Christ is 'the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world', 1 John 2.2.

But what struck me when I went through this Letter was the phrase: 'Yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you.' That is grace. Grace points us to the love of God, the mercy of God, the forgiveness of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says, "I have enough confidence?to order you to do what is proper." But he does not order Philemon. The law orders; grace appeals.

'For love's sake...' Love should be the motive force. Whatever we do has to be done in love. The Father chastens us out of love. Our preaching has to magnify the love of God. We cannot frighten anyone into the kingdom of God. No doubt the terrors of hell are real, but God's mighty love is greater than the terror of judgment. In fact, the Bible declares: 'Mercy triumphs over judgment.' Jas 2.13. The great gospel story of the Prodigal Son is in fact the story of the Father's love. 'I have loved you with an everlasting love?' Jer 31.3

Behind all this, however, is the crucial issue of forgiveness. Will Philemon forgive Onesimus who has done him great wrong? Will I be able to forgive someone who has done me great wrong? It's so hard to forgive; nay, it is impossible to forgive. But God forgives, and we must pray: 'Lord, help me forgive. I cannot forgive, until I am so full of Christ and His Calvary love. And I have such a long way to go!'

Forgiving love is the greatest love of all. God tests us on that point. Even in the family we are so hurt by one another, and sometimes we don't talk to each other for days. In our jobs, we have enemies, and what they have done to us rankles in our hearts for years. In the church, perhaps, we have those who hurt us the most. And yet we must forgive! Philemon, I believe, forgave; and so Onesimus went on to become a great shepherd in God's church.

God has great expectations of us. See Paul's great expectation regarding Philemon: "I know that you will do even more than what I say." 21. But we continue to live petty lives, with petty resentments, and often fall short of the grace of God. It's been a long time since we have refreshed the hearts of our fellow-saints, 7. And when have we last refreshed the heart of God?

My Brief Testimony - How I was Born Again

2008-08-03T06:42:00.001-07:00

I was born again through the power of prayer. My wife prayed for me for 10 years, and one day in a marvellous way God came into my life. The date: October 24th, 1990.

I was in a Sabbatarian cult, somewhat like the Seventh Day Adventists. But there was a mixture of Jehovah Witness theology also. I concentrated more on the Old Testament. The Sabbath was a burden to me. I never knew what joy was.

But God in His marvellous grace and mercy, heard the prayers of my wife, and one day when I was going through a severe crisis in my life, God not only opened my eyes but He also gave me great victory in that crisis. So I know what it is to come out of darkness into God's marvellous light. I know what it is to come out of bondage into God's glorious liberty. I know what it is to be dead in sin and then experience eternal life.

I believe strongly in the born again experience. There is a time in your life when Christ comes in, and then you see, you know, and there is 'joy unspeakable and full of glory'.

But those early days do not last. God deepens our faith. He takes us through painful experiences of the cross. Each time we go through a severe trial, we come out on to 'higher ground'. God wants us to experience Him, through the power of resurrection. But death has to take place. So we die to ourselves, our desires, our ambitions, our will -- and we come to realise that God's will is the best for us in our life. There is a verse in Psalm 66.12 which speaks to us:

You made men to ride over our heads;
We went through fire and through water,
Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.

God's ways are mysterious and baffling, but His steady hand keeps holding us and bringing us through. And heaven opens, spiritual things become very real, and the Bible becomes our staple food and we obtain last-minute answers to our prayers

Isaiah 40

2007-03-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

The Lord is dealing with His people. Chapter 40 begins with the word, ‘Comfort, O comfort, my people!’ Comfort is a word linked with afflictions. [See 2nd Corinthians chapter 1:3-7.] Then follows the statement that Jerusalem has received double for all her sins; which is very strong and painful. Even the New Testament maintains parity; ‘as a man sows, so shall he reap’ [Gal 6.7]. But here Israel [God's people] have sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind! They have gone into exile. They are dead and buried; read Ezekiel chapter 37. They are forsaken and forgotten [Isa 49.14].

But the Lord says He will save His people [40.10] and He will shepherd them [40.11] He is a God of infinite power, and all the nations are nothing before Him [40.17]. There is an indictment of idolatry. Oh, how we limit God! How we reduce Him to our earthly level! We create God in our own image. We are unable to comprehend His mighty power. He sustains the whole universe; every star He knows by name and not one of them is missing. The New Testament says He has counted the hairs on your head. Can we really grasp God? His understanding is infinite. He is the God who has all the power and wisdom. Let us bow down before Him. You are the Almighty God, and the Only Wise God!

And then come those wonderful words: ‘He gives power to the weak.’ This is what the Lord told Paul: ‘My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ [2 Cor 12.9]. Those who wait on the Lord shall gain new strength [resurrection power?]. They shall mount up with wings like eagles [the power of ascension?]. They shall run and not be weary [divine energy, as seen in the cherubim in Ezekiel chapter 1]. They shall walk and not faint [the power of endurance, the capacity to bear heavy load and stress]. They shall stand and yet withstand. They are like pillars in the house of God. But do we have the strength to 'wait upon Him'? Only when we are
utterly weak can we do so.

Girl with Drawing

2006-12-11T02:12:00.000-08:00

Girl with Drawing
Originally uploaded by prolix6x.

I like the pose of this little girl displaying her drawing. Part of a children's drawing contest photos that I took 8 months ago in Delhi.
The girl is cramped for space, which explains part of her facial expression. Otherwise, notice her lovely black eyes.

35. India Gate, Evening Time

2006-12-07T00:41:00.000-08:00

India Gate, Evening Time
Originally uploaded by prolix6x.

Lots of folk at India Gate. In the foreground, we have a kulfi wallah, with a pot of kulfi or frozen icecream. Then just behind the family in the foreground, we see a chap selling papads in a large wire-basket; papads are crunchy fried stuff [like huge wafers] which Delhi-ites seem to relish. And then you can see a bhelpuri stand beyond the papad-wallah.
Behind the kulfi-wallah, there is a balloon seller and near the monument [under the balloons, as it were] you can see a group of visitors gathered. They often have their photos taken by on-site professional photographers.
India Gate is a hub of activity in the evenings, because of its vast green lawns.

Outdoor Kitchen

2006-12-05T00:23:00.000-08:00

Faith

2006-05-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

This is what Watchman Nee writes about faith in his book, The Normal Christian Life:

1. 'Faith is the substantiating of things hoped for.' [J.N. Darby].

2. Faith makes the real things to become real in our experience. Faith 'substantiates' to us the things of Christ.

3. The Devil is a skilful liar... He will resort to lying signs and feelings and experiences in his attempts to shake us from our faith in God's Word... So we must choose. Will we believe Satan's lie or God's truth? Are we going to be governed by appearances of by what God says?

4. Remember that Satan's attack is always upon our assurance. If he can get us to doubt God's Word, then his object is secured and he has us in his power.

5. 'We walk by faith, not by appearance.' [2 Cor 5.7 mg.]

6. If we refuse to accept as binding anything that contradicts God's Word and maintain an attitude of faith in Him alone, we shall find that Satan's lies begin to dissolve and that our experience is coming progressively to tally with that Word.

7. Faith is 'substantiating' God's facts; and faith is always the 'substantiating' of eternal fact -- of something eternally true.

[These are extracts from the chapter 'Reckoning' in the book, 'The Normal Christian Life' by Watchman Nee. Read the book!]

Reminder

2006-05-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

Just to remind my readers that I have a collection of photographs on flickr.com under the names Prolix6x and Prato9x. You can see the flickr badge in the sidebar on the bottom right side of this blog. Wish you all happy viewing, besides the serious reading in my blogspot blogs!

I also have a testimony blog at http://borax.wordpress.com which is a must-see and a must-read. All for the glory of God and our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ!

Coronation Bridge, Beyond Sevoke, Road to Kalimpong

2006-04-24T00:27:00.000-07:00

30. Before And After Rain

2006-04-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

The wind has exposed the light undersides of the leaves,
The sky darkens into a mass of ash and bluish grey,
The neem trees, all a-huddle, heave
And sway,
The unploughed fields, dry and parched with pain,
Eagerly await the first reviving flush of rain.

The arid landscape, languishing and about to die,
Weeks later looks refreshingly alive.
Fields covered with saplings moist and green
Present a healing scene.
In the ditch where gurgling waters flow
Reposes a tranquil milch-buffalo.

Tom Prato

God Does Everything!

2006-01-20T02:40:00.000-08:00

We know that justification is ours through the Lord Jesus and requires no work on our part, but we think that sanctification is dependent on our own efforts. We know we can receive forgiveness only by entire reliance on the Lord; yet we believe we can obtain deliverance by doing something ourselves. We fear that if we do nothing, nothing will happen. After salvation the old habit of 'doing' reasserts itself and we begin our old self-efforts again. Then God's word comes afresh to us: 'It is finished' [John 19.30]. He has done everything for us on the Cross for our forgiveness and He will do everything in us for our deliverance. In both cases He is the doer. 'It is God who works in you.'

The first words of the delivered man are very precious - 'I thank God'. If someone gives you a cup of water you thank the person who gave it, not someone else. Why did Paul say, 'Thank God'? Because God was the One who did everything... Paul saw that he was a 'wretched man', and that God alone could meet his need; so he said, 'Thank God'. God wants to do all, for He must have all the glory. If we do some of the work, then we will get some of the glory; but God must have it all Himself, so He does all the work from beginning to end.

But the Christian life is not a matter of sitting still and waiting for something to happen... All who truly live it know it to be a matter of very positive and active faith in Christ and in an altogether new principle of life - the law of the Spirit of life.

Extract from 'The Measure of Christ' by TAS

2006-01-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

The object of the Father from first to last is that the Son, the Lord Jesus, shall fill all things, and all things shall be filled with Christ. The value of everything in the eyes of God is according to the measure of the manifestation of Christ in it. It is from that standpoint God determines the importance of everything.

If we become focussed there, it will make a great difference, much will have to go because it is not manifesting the Lord Jesus. We must understand that the Father has set the Lord Jesus before His eyes, and the Father's eyes are full of only one object, that is the Beloved, His Son; and in the eyes of God the value of everything is determined by the measure in which His Son is manifested and glorified; that is His end and that is His object.

Spiritual service, vision, vocation, glorification, have no existence apart from Christ; they are not things as things, and cannot be had except in the Person of the Lord Jesus...

Christianity is not a doctrine, not truth as truth, but the knowledge of a Person; it is knowing the Lord Jesus. You cannot be educated into being a Christian. Christianity is the knowledge within of a Person, knowing Him as dwelling within us...

You cannot go outside of A and Z in the realm of literature; you box the compass of language with A and Z; likewise Christ Jesus is First and Last of God's new creation, and all that is in between; you cannot get outside of that. We must never think of anything as outside of Christ; He Is Salvation; He Is Sanctification; He Is Redemption, Justification, Peace; Wisdom, Love, Heaven. "Know ye not as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you," this Christ - in you! Do you see the possibilities and the tremendous reach of this?

God will transform His universe, not from without, but from within. How? By putting Jesus Christ within the believer by His Holy Spirit; and thence there will be a two-fold activity - being conformed to Him by His Spirit, and He being formed in the believer; thus He is going to make His new creation...

The Christian life is not by effort, and not by struggle; not merely by trying to put into practice certain maxims, or by trying to attain to a certain measure; but from beginning to end, and all together, it is a matter of knowing the Lord Jesus within. Of course this implies response to Him, and a continual yieldedness to His working by His Spirit within, and so co-operating with Him in His purpose of conformity to His image.

[It would be wonderful to read the entire article on www.austin-sparks.net, the online library of T. Austin-Sparks.]

Dr Graham's Home, Kalimpong

2005-12-26T00:27:00.000-08:00

New Song

2005-12-18T09:01:00.000-08:00

Revelation 5.8-9 says that the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, and they sang a new song. It was a song of worship; they said, ‘Lord, You are worthy. You were slain. You purchased the redeemed with the price of Your blood shed on the Cross of Calvary.’ They were singing on their harps. They also had golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. The incense of prayer and the song of worship: they go together.

Again we find in Revelation 14.3, that the 144,000 who were on Mount Zion with the Lamb were singing a new song before the throne and the four living creatures and the elders. And, it is stated, no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who were purchased from the earth; purchased as firstfruits to God.

Then in Revelation 15.3, we find another group – those who obtained victory over the beast. They stood on the sea of glass, holding harps, and they sang the song of Moses. They sang of God’s marvellous works and His righteous ways.

They sang a new song. It was a song of deliverance. In Psalm 40.3, David sang a new song after he was brought out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and his feet were established upon a rock [Christ]. It is a song of faith that has persevered and come out triumphant through a terrible trial. We sing a ‘new song’ only after coming out of this kind of experience, a deep and powerful experience of the cross. An experience that involves a kind of passing through deep waters [Psalm 69.2], passing through the Red Sea. Remember, they sang the song of Moses, the song of worship, after they had come out through the Red Sea experience.

When we examine that song in Exodus 15, we find that is totally occupied with the Lord, His great deliverance, His mighty power, His righteous right hand, His awesome holiness, His wonders! And in the second part of the song, the people are given a revelation of the future; they are led to God’s holy habitation, the mountain of His inheritance, His sanctuary. They are delivered from Pharaoh and Egypt and they are brought into the Church. In the same song, we notice that the people ‘pass over’ [a phrase that is repeated for emphasis]; there is a great transition – a transition from the earthly to the heavenly; from the carnal to the spiritual; from the human to the divine. Yes, they have passed out of the ‘old world’ into a ‘new world’, just as Noah and his family did during the Flood. The old man is crucified and buried, and now together they are the new man. Old things have passed away; all things have become new. No wonder they sing a new song.

We need to experience this ‘passing over’, this passage through the Red Sea, this baptism - moving from ‘self’ to ‘Christ’. From being occupied with self and circumstances to being occupied with Christ, contemplating Him, meditating on His virtues. Not in an academic or theoretical way, but in real experience, when He answers our prayers, when we experience sudden deliverances through the ‘hand of God’. When we are walking in the Spirit and living in the Word. It is really a marvellous experience and we can sing, The Lord is my strength and my song and He has become my salvation! The Lord is my sufficiency, and He is my satisfaction. This is the new song, the fresh and fragrant song of worship. This is the song sung in heaven. [And it will never grow stale!]

25. Beetroots and Carrots

2005-12-09T00:07:00.000-08:00

Elisha

2005-12-03T02:33:00.000-08:00

What do we learn from the life of Elisha? His name means 'God is salvation'. From the life of Elisha we can learn much about God's salvation; it is truly a great salvation. We remember the healing ministry of Elisha, the ministry of grace, as opposed to the ministry of judgment of Elijah.

What is the significance of the journey that Elisha made with Elijah before the latter was taken up by a whirlwind into heaven? 2 Kings 2.1-11. Surely there is a significance, because at each stage Elijah wants Elisha to stay back, but the Elisha persists in accompanying Elijah across the river Jordan. This is not just a matter of discipleship. While it is true that there is no turning back for the disciple of God, and while we see clearly the persistence of faith [Elisha refusing to give up] - I believe that there are deeper truths in this passage than the truth of discipleship.

I believe there are three important spiritual realities that are seen in this passage. The first relates to our heavenly inheritance. Elisha asks for a double portion of the spirit of Elijah, and he receives it. Elisha performs twice as many recorded miracles as Elijah. The double portion is the portion of the firstborn, Deut 21.17, and we are the church of the firstborn, Heb 12.23, registered in heaven. We are a heavenly people, who have received a heavenly vision, and ours is a heavenly inheritance to be possessed here on earth.

The second reality is spiritual vision and spiritual intelligence. Elisha sees Elijah taken up to heaven. In fact the double portion is related to Elisha seeing the heavenly chariots and horsemen, 2 Kings 2.10. In 2 Kings 6 we find that Elisha knows all about the Aramean plots against Israel, 6.12. In the same chapter we find Elisha praying that the Lord open the eyes of his servant that he may see. And what does he see? Horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha, 2 Kings 6.17

The third reality is the power of resurrection. Elisha has crossed the river Jordan. He is on resurrection ground. What mighty resurrection power this man of God had! He raises up the Shunammite's son from the dead, 2 Kings 4.34,35; 8.5. They cast a dead man into Elisha's grave and when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet, 2 Kings 13.21

Are these mere stories? What is the Lord trying to tell us? Surely that for every child of God this is the heavenly inheritance available to him: the double portion of the Spirit; spiritual insight and vision; the power of resurrection; a heavenly inheritance of life and power; rivers of living water. If Elijah was a man just like us, so was Elisha. And what Elisha did, the child of God can do.

Heavenliness

2005-11-11T22:04:00.000-08:00

We are a heavenly people. We should seek those things that are above, Col 3.1. We should not be earthly-minded, Phil 3.18. We have a heavenly vision. We live under an 'open heaven'. I believe that an 'open heaven' is possible, if we allow the Cross to work in us deeply. The flesh must be crucified. I am crucified with Christ, Gal 2.20. I am crucified to the world, Gal 6.14.

The Cross connects us with heaven. When Jesus went into the river Jordan, heaven opened, Matt 3.16. Elisha saw the heavenly chariots of fire. Heaven is more real than earth. We seek a heavenly city, whose builder and maker is God. We must live like Abraham, and walk in the footsteps of faith.

We walk by faith, not by sight [outward appearance]. May God open the eyes of our understanding. May we see by faith. May we appreciate the reality of heaven. May we be truly spiritual. May we glorify God by our heavenly walk.

Sunday School Boys, Kalimpong

2005-11-02T00:47:00.000-08:00

Sunday School Boys, Kalimpong

2005-11-02T00:45:00.000-08:00

Sunday School Children, Kalimpong

2005-11-02T00:42:00.000-08:00

19. Sunday School Children, Kalimpong

2005-11-02T00:39:00.000-08:00

School Girls, Road to Bijanbari, Summer of 2004, Darjeeling

2005-10-05T03:56:00.000-07:00

God is Able

2005-10-03T04:32:00.000-07:00

'God is Able'. The phrase appears 10 times in the Bible. Our God is able. Able to do anything. Nothing is impossible for Him. Nothing is too hard for Him. He is the Almighty God. He is God.

Twice the phrase appears in the Old Testament. In 2 Chron 25.9, the man of God tells Amaziah, king of Judah, 'God is able to give you much more than this!'. Much more than the 100 talents of silver that you think you have lost. What you lose for God, God will give back 'many times more'. In Luke 18.29-30, our Lord tells Peter so.

In Daniel 3.17, Daniel's three friends tell Nebuchadnezzar, 'God is able to deliver us from this blazing, fiery furnace.' Oh, God is able to deliver us from every trial, even the most terrible and bitter trials of life. Was not the Lord Himself - one who looked like the Son of God - with them in the fiery furnace?

In the New Testament, we find John the Baptist stating emphatically that, 'God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these [dead, inanimate] stones!'. Yes, God gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that were not there before, Rom 4.17. In the same book of Romans, we are told that God is able to graft the Jews into the olive tree again - by faith. Yes, all things are possible to him who believes, Mark 9.23. Faith is the key. And again we are told that God is able to make every frail and weak believer to stand, Rom 14.4; and hence we should never look down upon anyone, for we all stand by grace.

There is that lovely promise, which appears to have a clear condition fixed to it. In 2 Cor 9.8, Paul says that God is able to make all grace abound unto us, so that in all things and at all times, having all that we need, we will still abound in every good work. It reminds us of those famous words in Luke 6.38, 'Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, poured into your lap [in such an overflow!]'

In Phil 3.21 we are told that God is able to subdue everything to His divine will and purpose, according to His mighty power, even transforming our vile bodies into glorious bodies. Such is the power of God's transforming grace!

In 2 Tim 1.12, Paul says that God is able to keep what we have entrusted to Him, and morever [he implies] that God is able to keep even what He has entrusted to us! Such is God our Keeper; we are kept by His grace, kept by the power of God.

But surely the most staggering of the promises containing the phrase 'God is able' are the ones in Eph 3.20 and Jude 24. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. And Jude says, He is able to keep us from falling and is also able to present us faultless before the Presence of His glory.

God is a God who not only promises all things [to him who believes], but who performs all things for us [Psalm 57.2] and who has perfected all things concerning us [Ps 138.8, Heb 10.14]

What a great God we have. Let us keep looking unto Him with the steady gaze of faith, knowing that what He has begun in us He will surely complete, for He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is Faithful and He will do it [1 Thess 5.24, Ps 37.5]

In our journey of faith, we learn from Abraham. He knew the Almighty and All-Sufficient God. He reached the summit of faith when he believed that God was able to raise up from the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from the dead! Heb 11.19. God wants us to have that kind of faith, the faith that believes in Him who is the Resurrection and the Life. If we have that kind of faith, we will see the glory of God, Jn 11.40, and rejoice even as Abraham rejoiced, Jn 8.56

Road to Dooars, beyond Gorubathan

2005-10-03T04:13:00.000-07:00

15. View of Darjeeling Town, from the Zoo

2005-10-03T04:09:00.000-07:00

By His Spirit, Zech 4.6

2005-09-28T23:46:00.000-07:00

You don’t have to push with all your strength.
Without Him, you can do nothing.
You don’t have to worry so much.
It is not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit.

It is not by our wisdom, nor by our strength.
It is by His Spirit.

Be led by His Spirit.
Wait for the leading of the Spirit.
Be still. Let the peace of God keep your heart and mind.
Keep trusting in Him.
He will do it.
By His Spirit.

Four Compromises in a Believer's Life

2005-09-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

Difficulties in the Exit from Egypt

The book of Exodus is the book of redemption or deliverance. The children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt through the hand of Moses, the servant of God. They were delivered by wonders and miracles, as God poured out ten terrible plagues upon Egypt, the last being death to the firstborn in every house in Egypt. Death would have struck the Israelites also, but for the blood of the Passover Lamb applied to the lintels and doorposts of their homes. The Passover Lamb speaks of Christ, and therefore the spiritual parallel becomes clear to us -- that our deliverance from this wicked and soon-perishing world [symbolized by Egypt] is by the Blood of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ shed on Calvary -- that same blood applied by faith to our spirit and sprinkled upon our heart.

Now Moses made it very clear to Pharaoh that he had been sent by the LORD [Jehovah] [YHWH] to deliver his people, Israel, out of Egypt. And the reason given is that the Israelites should make a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that they might offer a sacrifice acceptable to the LORD. [The spiritual implication being: We are saved in order to serve the Lord.] So the book of Exodus gives us an elaborate picture of the tabernacle and the arrangements for serving and worshipping God.

After three terrible plagues, viz. turning the water in the Nile into blood; sending frogs to cover the land; and striking the dust of the earth to bring forth gnats – the magicians of Pharaoh admit defeat and declare, ‘This is the finger of God.’ But Pharaoh hardens his heart, and does not let the people of Israel depart from Egypt. [Pharaoh, we know, stands for Satan, the ruler of this world.] The fourth plague brings great swarms of insects into the houses of Pharaoh and his servants and these insects lay waste to the land.

First Compromise
It is then that Pharaoh makes a concession. He says, and this first suggestion is, ‘Go, sacrifice to your God, but do so within the land.’ [Exod 8.25] You may worship God, but only within Egypt. Now the Bible makes it very clear that true worship cannot be done within Egypt [i.e., the world]. The Satanic suggestion is: “Be a worldly Christian; conform to the world.” There are Christians who say they believe, but they lack testimony. They cannot stand up for Jesus; they have never confessed Christ; they love the world; and there is no life of separation unto God. A true Christian is one follows Christ. He is one who is crucified to the world. This is what God says to you and me, “Come out and be separate and do not touch what is unclean and I will welcome you and be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to Me”, 2 Cor 6.17, 18. We cannot be bound together with unbelievers; we have no association with them.

Our Lord emphatically stated that a disciple [or true believer] will be hated by the world, Jn 15.19, 17.14. So Moses says, “Our sacrifice [or worship] will be an abomination to the Egyptians.” In other words, the world will hate true worshippers who worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. Traditional Christianity with its vast network of denominations is accepted by most of the world. Lack of separation affects our testimony, and we become insipid and powerless Christians, unable to impact the world. All our religion, all our denominations, are in vain. We have not come in touch with the living God. We are still in bondage to Satan, and still rooted in the world.

Moses makes it very clear that ‘We must go a 3 days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD as He commands us.’ It is an obligation; a divine directive. We cannot do otherwise.

Second Compromise
Pharaoh then comes up with his next sinister suggestion. ‘I will let you go…only you shall not go very far away [from Egypt].’ He is saying in effect: ‘Stay close to Egypt.’ The problem with modern evangelical believers is simply this: They are staying too close to the world. They enjoy the best of the world in what is called the ‘prosperity gospel’ and they also claim to follow Christ. Unfortunately, there is no self-denial, no cross, no clean-cut separation from the world. This kind of ‘TV gospel’ has infected most Christians; it is mass-entertainment and lacks the missionary spirit. The missionaries in the days of old left their homes and comforts to visit dark and distant lands with the gospel of Christ.

So often we face this criticism: ‘Yes, be a Christian, but be practical also.’ ‘Don’t be too other-worldly.’ ‘Be rooted to the earth, be worldly-wise.’ ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ ‘We cannot be ‘fools for Christ.’ ‘How can we be the ‘off-scouring of the world?’ ‘We must live respectably and with dignity.’ ‘Don’t carry the cross too far in your life.’

This leads to a very common compromise, seen in the life of so many believers. They follow worldly customs and traditions, enjoy worldly entertainments and pleasures, and keep so-called Christian festivals which were never kept by the early church. They live one kind of life in the church and another kind of life at home. They are not whole-hearted for the Lord. They may have faith to some extent, but they lack surrender.

What was the fate of the Israelites in the wilderness? Though their bodies were delivered from bondage in Egypt, their hearts were held captive by Egypt. The missing dimension in popular evangelical Christianity is this ‘inward separation’ - unto the Lord. That entire generation of Israelites – 600,000 men [barring two] – perished in the wilderness.

Third Compromise
Pharaoh’s third compromise [or rather, Satanic threat] is seen in Exod 10.10. Seven plagues have almost destroyed Egypt. Pharaoh’s servants plead with Pharaoh, saying, ‘Let these people go that they may serve their God!’ But Satan is very stubborn. He says, ‘You may go and worship God in the wilderness, but I will not let your children go.’ That is why so often it is such a battle to get our children saved by the Lord. The fault lies with us. We have a first-hand experience of the Lord; we have experienced redemption in our life; we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. But, as regards our children, we want them to live cosy, comfortable lives; we seek prosperity and worldly position for them. We are satisfied if they have a superficial, second-hand experience of the Lord. We want them to go abroad, earn money, live a contented life, without worries, without pains. We want them to come up in the world, and have name and fame. How many parents have ruined their children by such worldly desires! Seek ye first the kingdom of God, Matt 6.33. In all things, Christ must have the pre-eminence, Col 1.18. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, Josh 24.15. There is no greater joy for us [as parents] than to see that our children walk in the truth, 3 John 4. Do our children delight in the Lord, or is their worship merely perfunctory? Hence, so often revival is limited to the first generation [parents]; the second generation [children] soon becomes cold, and worship declines into a routine Sunday service, displeasing to God and dissatisfying to the spirit.

Fourth Compromise
Even after the ninth plague of thick darkness, Pharaoh is still not willing to let the Israelites go. His fourth restriction – how Satan hinders our exit from his kingdom! – is, ‘You and your children may go and worship the LORD; but you must leave your flocks and herds behind.’

Our hearts may be with the Lord, our homes may be for the Lord, but our wealth remains in the world. This fourth compromise in the life of believers - even in those who are spiritual and ardent for the Lord - is: ‘We really love the Lord, we know that He lives in our hearts, but we are unable to accept His Lordship over our lives.’ Is He really the Lord of all that I own? Is my worship in words only? Where is the sacrifice that is involved in worship? Abraham used the word ‘worship’ when he went up the mountain to give up his most beloved possession to the Lord. Are we willing to give everything over to the Lord? What are we doing about tithes and offerings? How much are we prepared to give to the Lord? In the Old Testament, worship had to be with a sacrifice, either from flock or herd, and it had to be without blemish. Moreover, every offering to the Lord had to come from a willing heart. We are willing to give our heart to the Lord, we are willing to give our time and energy to the Lord – but our wealth is our own. Our security is in our property and riches. We have never abandoned ourselves to the Lord. The Bible says, You cannot serve [worship] God and mammon. It is on this point that most believers are tested. We must realise that whatever we have or own is given by the Lord. Nothing is really attained or earned by us. It is entirely by His grace. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord, Job 1.21. That is the heart of true worship.

In the next message we will talk about the 3 days journey into the wilderness required for a worship & sacrifice that is acceptable to God.

The Fuller Meaning Of The Cross

2005-09-28T23:13:00.000-07:00

[Certain extracts from a message of T Austin Sparks on the Cross]

The Cross (or its type - the Altar) was ever God's new starting-point in the realization of His full thought...Calvary is not an end in itself, but the beginning of everything...The great values of the Lamb slain, as related to the first stage or phase of Christian experience, [i.e.] deliverance from the judgment resting upon the world; deliverance from condemnation and death; deliverance from the tyranny or the bondage of an evil conscience - all in virtue of the righteousness which is by faith in that Righteous One who offered Himself without spot to God for us...What Christ by His Cross was and is for us was our anchor-ground...

Yes, the objective meaning of Calvary - Christ crucified - is of unspeakable importance in the matter of a believer's standing...But, when we have taken account of this and have it well settled, it may only relate to deliverance from "Egypt". It was a mighty thing that happened in Egypt, in virtue of the slain Lamb and shed and sprinkled blood...While an outward bondage was destroyed, there still remained an inward bondage. Israel in the wilderness represents the dominion of the natural life, the self-life, the "flesh"...This wilderness life represented much expenditure of energy, much laborious effort, much longing and aspiration, much service and much religious devotion and activity, but it never got through, and it was one big circle, coming back, in effect, to where they were before...

We really only come into the good of things by being "pressed out of measure"...Thus it was that we were turned in [a] dark hour to Romans chapter six, and, almost as though He spoke in audible language, the Lord said: ‘When I died, you died. When I went to the Cross I not only took your sins, but I took you. When I took you, I not only took you as the sinner that you might regard yourself to be, but I took you as being all that you are by nature; your good (?) as your bad; your abilities as well as your disabilities; yes, every resource of yours. I took you as a "worker", a "preacher", an "organizer"! My Cross means that not even for Me can you be or do anything out from yourself, but if there is to be anything at all it must be out from Me, and that means a life of absolute dependence and faith.’

At this point, therefore, we awoke to the fundamental principle of our Lord's own life..."nothing of (out from) Himself", but "all things of (out from) God"...This is the whole meaning of life in the Spirit, and that it is an altogether different life from the natural ways of men, even of Christian men...While an end is written large in the Cross, and while that end is to be accepted as our end indeed, so that there can be no more of anything so far as we are concerned, Jesus Lives! and that means boundless possibilities...

Thus we came to see that the Red Sea and the Jordan are but two sides to the one Cross. Both symbolize the spiritual death and resurrection of the believer, but the latter carries it into another realm. Jordan sees the deliverance from judgment, death, and doom, carried on to deliverance from self; it is the practical disconnection of what is dead from what is risen. In the first it is my sins; in the second it is my self. At the crossing of the Jordan a monument of twelve stones, a type of the Israelites themselves, was left buried in the bed of the river, as if to signify that the self-life of the wilderness was to be henceforth reckoned as judged and ended as absolutely as was the bondage to Pharaoh. And then another memorial of twelve stones was taken from the bed of the river and placed on the Canaan shore, as a type of themselves, as risen not only to newness of life, but also to a perpetual and practical separation from their dead and buried selves. All this is as by union with Christ crucified and risen...

Israel after the flesh in the wilderness, and Israel after the Spirit in Canaan, while both having known the blessing of salvation from judgment, are like two different peoples. So it was with us. The difference is unspeakably great...There is one phrase that puts so much of it all into expression - ‘an open heaven'. How the life of nature blocks the way to the life of the Spirit! How doing, or attempting to do, work for God in our own natural energy closes the way to the energies of the Spirit! How our mental strivings and intellectual labours to apprehend spiritual truth lock the door to illumination by the Spirit!

There is a double tragedy that may be associated with this subjective or experimental meaning of the Cross. On the one side, there is the tragedy of the ignorance of so many of the Lord's people, leading to or resulting in a wilderness history in life and service. A tremendous amount of energy, expenditure, effort, and strain, with spiritual results so incommensurate. The wilderness is ever a bounded place; limited by the horizons of sense; never characterized by the realization of the limitless fulnesses of the heavenly emancipation from nature.

If the "natural" man (not the unregenerate man, necessarily) still exerts an influence in the realm of Divine things, there is bound to ensue a static system of teaching, a fixed horizon of vision, a legal bondage to tradition, a fear of man, a deadening domination of the "letter" as separated from the "spirit", and many other unhappy situations of spiritual death, endless divisions, and spiritual pride. Paul's remedy for traditionalism and legalism in relation to Christians, was Christ Crucified, as see ‘Romans’ and ‘Galatians’. The same remedy was resorted to for all the painful fruits of carnality amongst believers, as see ‘Corinthians’...

Israel in Canaan did not represent introspective self-occupation and morbid engagement with how much more they personally had to be crucified. They were free, and free to do the Lord's business. The 'Jordan' meaning of the Cross, carrying, as it does, the ‘Red Sea’ aspect into the realm of self-life, means freedom from self...

The crisis is like the touch upon the sinew of Jacob's thigh. The strength of nature is definitely and permanently crippled, so that "Jacob" will carry that veto to his last day, when he will still be "leaning upon the top of his staff". The progressive outworking will be in the discovery of how much there is that we cannot do - are not allowed to do - of ourselves, because of that basic forbidding of the Cross.We have said that this 'Jordan' experience of the Cross is a crisis - and what a crisis it is! It is not only the end of one realm, it is the opening up of and entering upon a new one. So it proved to be with us, as with Israel. Through this experience we entered into a great expanse of spiritual life, light, and liberty.

From Explanation of the Nature and History of "This Ministry" by T Austin Sparks

Darjeeling view

2005-09-28T01:17:00.000-07:00

Darjeeling view
Originally uploaded by remus9x.

Early morning view from the Circuit House in Darjeeling. This is the summer of 2004. A pretty sight, with the hills fading in the distance. Brings memories of Darjeeling tea and biscuits.

10. Morning view Darjeeling

2005-09-27T23:37:00.000-07:00

Morning view Darjeeling
Originally uploaded by remus9x.

That house with the blue dome is the mansion of an old rajah of Burdwan. And beyond you can see the blue hills of Darjeeling district. And if you keep on looking intently you can see the mountains behind the line of clouds. Hope you like this picture.

Darjeeling St Josephs School

2005-09-27T23:31:00.000-07:00

Darjeeling St Josephs School
Originally uploaded by remus9x.

A cold windy day in May 2004. The school is empty. The boys have gone on holiday. I was struck by the impressive Gothic facade of this school. Hope you like it.

Thoughts on Four Seas

2005-03-29T02:59:00.000-08:00

There is so much history in the Bible, but we have to reflect on its geography also. Not just the history of Israel, but the geography of the Promised Land. The setting. On one side, the Great Sea, the Mediterranean. The Philistines came through [or rather, over] the Great Sea from Crete. They lived in Canaan, alongside the Israelites. But the land was not theirs. They lived in the land as encroachers, or squatters; they had no legal title over the land. They came through the sea – but it was not the sea that God had in mind. God calls them the ‘uncircumcised Philistines’. They are living in the land, but they are not ‘true’, not ‘genuine’ – they lack the real experience.

So what is the real experience? They came over the Mediterranean Sea in their great ships, but they never came ‘through the Red Sea’.

Have you not wondered why the Red Sea experience is mentioned in the Bible again and again? The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. The Israelites sang the song of praise and worship after they came through the Red Sea. They went through the experience of baptism and they spontaneously sang the glorious song recorded in Exodus 15 – a fragment of which is repeated several times in the Old Testament – and which is mentioned finally in the last book, Revelation.

Now on the other side of Palestine we have two more seas – inland seas. One is a fresh sea, a living sea – and the other is a Dead Sea. The fresh-water sea is called the Sea of Galilee or the Sea of Tiberias or the Sea of Gennasaret [Chennerith]. Jesus crossed that sea several times in a boat with His disciples. He stilled that sea when a tempest raged in it. He walked over its stormy waves. Jesus is closely associated with that Sea.

The Sea of Galilee is formed by the waters of the river Jordan as they flow down from Mount Hermon. It is a fresh-water sea, full of fish. We remember how Peter one mid-morning [Luke 5] caught a huge haul of fish, so much so that his boat started sinking. We remember how in John 21 how the seven disciples caught 153 large fish – and although there were so many, the net was not broken. The Sea of Galilee is famous both for its fish and for its storms.

The Sea of Galilee receives fresh water from the mountains and sends that water downstream through the River Jordan. It receives and it gives. The water flows through it. There is a continual supply downstream into the valley of the Jordan.

But there is another Sea, the Dead Sea.

There are no fish in it. It is a heavy and stagnant sea. It receives water, but does not send the water downstream. It is a Dead Sea. You can float in that sea. Long ago, by the shores of the Dead Sea, there was a green and flourishing valley ‘like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar’, Gen 13.10. There were many prosperous cities near that sea, such as Sodom and Gomorrah. Today, the region around the Dead Sea is a desert and bears the scars of divine judgment.

I believe that God is speaking through the geography of these three Seas – the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. We can be like the Sea of Galilee – fresh and living and giving – or we can be like the Dead Sea [always receiving, not giving]. But the important thing is that we all need to go ‘through the Red Sea’. It is that baptism [1 Cor 10.2] that is important if we want to have a living faith in the Lord Jesus [Psalm 106.12, Exod 14.31b] and allow the streams of living water to flow from us. Not just one experience, but several such experiences of the Red Sea – if we must know the power of the living God and the reality of [death-burial-and-] resurrection.

Closer to God

2005-03-21T05:11:00.000-08:00

Thought #1

God is good. He really cares. If only we trusted in Him!

The problem is we are so half-hearted. We are not focused. We need to will with all our heart, all our strength. Yes, tell the Lord: I need YOU! I can't do anything without you! Lord, come into my life, heal me, cleanse me, wash me, strengthen me, bless me. Our prayers should be more focused. What do I want? Can't I tell Him clearly what I want, what I need? Why should my mind drift? Why can't I stay focused? Lord, save me from a wandering mind. Lord, save me from a wayward heart.

The presence of God. This is the most important thing about a Christian, about a child of God. I have His presence with me. I have to recognize that. I can lose that presence - the sense of that Presence! Straightaway, we begin to understand the Psalms. They have a lot to do with the presence of God. Do we have such a close, intimate walk with God? Am I conscious of the fact that He lives in my spirit? in my heart? He is there! And I have to get in touch with Him...to hear His still small whisper. To feel His loving and living touch. The warm embrace of His presence. 'Under the shadow of His wings', as David puts it.

Lord, give me the strength to continue this Journal.

In Jesus name,

Amen.

Still Closer to God

2005-03-21T04:32:00.000-08:00

Thought #2

Being still closer to God. How can I be intimate with God? By being honest, holy and humble. Lord, you know I love you. Lord, you know my heart. Lord, you know how weak I am. How often I have grieved your Spirit! Lord, I want to be close to you, to experience the wonderful Presence of the Lord.

It is a fact. There is the Presence of the Lord. He is right there by your side. He is right there in your heart. A loving and living God. A loving God. How often I have grieved Him! How often my wayward heart has sought other pleasures! The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. O wretched man that I am! Again and again I have failed. Lord, I need you. You have to hold me with your right hand. You have to lead me and guide me. You have to keep your presence with me. 'Under the shadow of Your wings'. 'Underneath ...the everlasting arms'.

You are a real Presence. When I have gone astray in thought, word and deed - I lost your presence. But when I confessed, how quickly did the Blood heal and cleanse and revive me! You are a faithful God. You are my loving and living Lord. I worship You.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Lord, I can only keep trusting in You - keep abiding in You, in Your presence. Keep holding on to You. I have to WILL to be closer to You. I can't drift. There has to be a focus on You. It is a fight. Keep holding on to You. Keep feeding on Your word. Keep on praying: Lord, I need You. I need Your grace. Without you, I can do - I am - nothing.

In Jesus name, Amen.

5. Prayer and Coming Closer to God

2005-03-21T04:25:00.000-08:00

Prayer and Coming Close to God

How can I come close to God? How do I feel His presence? When I read the Bible, sometimes it speaks to me. But I want God to be more real than that. Really 'real', if you know what I mean. Walking with God, talking with God...and getting answers to your prayers!

Yes, that's it. Getting answers to our prayers! There are big prayers and small prayers. Or rather, prayers for big things and prayers for small things. But whatever they may be, you've got to put your heart into it. Lord, help me. [That's how Peter prayed, and that's how David prayed!] Is God helping you in the situation you are in?

I think I must put this across in another way. Remember when Nehemiah was talking to the king. He was praying in his heart. That's how it should be. Sometimes you pray even as you talk. You're praying inside, while talking 'outside'. That conveys intensity. You are really putting your 'will' into it. You mean it! Those little, intense, unspoken prayers to God that flow rapidly even as you are caught in some tough situation.

Unless I have a 'pray without ceasing' attitude and 'keeping in touch with God' - it's so easy to break away from Him. The natural tendency is to drift away from Him. We need to push closer to Him, hold on to Him, 'hug Him tight' as it were.

He is a real God. It is a real Presence. When you lose that presence, then you say, as David did, in Psalm 30: 'You hid Your face, and I was dismayed'.

Lord, help me explain this clearly to whoever is reading this, so that the message touches his/her heart with the 'touch of God'. Amen.

Psalm 77

2005-03-20T23:53:00.000-08:00

This is Asaph's Psalm. He wrote some powerful psalms. They come from the bottom of his heart. When we pray do we really mean what we pray? Do we put our heart into our prayers?

'My voice rises to God. I will cry aloud. And He will hear me.' How intense can you be? He is crying out from his heart. He wants God to hear him. He says, God will hear me. When you put your heart into your prayers, you get the assurance that God has heard you.

What was his trouble? This is anguish at night. He 'stretched out his hand without weariness'. How soon we give up! We can't pray for long.

His soul refuses to be comforted. This is really anguish. He is praying earnestly, crying out to God, yet there is no comfort. He is touching the point of despair. Where is God's grace and mercy? Where is His loving-kindness and compassion? Is it to going to be only wrath and darkness?

Then he remembers God. He remembers, remembers. Do you remember the past? The great Red Sea experience in your life. Not just coming out of Egypt, but passing through the Red Sea. This is the experience of every true child of God. We have to pass through the Red Sea. That promise, the great promise of Exodus 14.13,14, has to be tested and proved in our lives. Not just once, but twice...and again and again, till we know that God is true, that God is faithful. And though we pass through the waters, He will be with us.

How was I saved? Was it by mere mental acceptance? No, it was the truth that went into my heart. I was saved by the sheer grace and mercy of God. And I experienced the power of His deliverance, even as the enemy pursued me as I left his kingdom. Our faith is a battle. The Christian life is a battle. There is spiritual reality and spiritual forces are working behind this life of circumstances. But, praise God, He fights our battles and we only have to hold our peace.

Eventhough God's ways are unsearchable - His footsteps are not known - we know that He cares for us, even as a shepherd cares for his sheep, even as He led us out of Egypt and through the Red Sea and through the Wilderness into the Promised Land.

2005-02-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

blueberry muffins

2005-02-09T01:03:00.000-08:00

avocado

1. Musings

2005-01-31T01:13:00.000-08:00

The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.
The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in
from this time forth, and even forevermore.
Psalm 121.5-8

The Lord is the One who protects me, who keeps me safe.
The Lord is the shade at my right hand, my shield.
He will preserve me from all evil.
He will preserve my soul.
He will preserve my going out and coming in.
He is there by my side.
He is my Protector and Defender, He is my Way and my Guide.
He is the Light that shines upon my path.
He is my Refuge and my Strength.
He is my Preserver, my Keeper.
He is my Good Shepherd.

His eyes are always upon me. He will neither slumber nor sleep.
He will not allow me to be shaken.
My foot will not slip. He will hold me up.
The eternal God is my refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Nobody can snatch me out of His hands.