Converting of our Soul

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: ….. (Psa 19:7)

Converting is to denote a turning back or a restoration and it goes deeper than the outward but deep into the soul. The soul is the seat of our mind, will and heart or our emotions. Jesus warns us to fear God who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt 10:28). We know that the body we have now is corruptible thus we wait for the redemption of our body when Christ returns (Rom 8:23). In the meanwhile our soul need saving as well. This is the parts of our lives that makes us human and respond both to fellow man and to God.

Jesus said at the conclusion of Matt 5 on the exposition of the spirit of the Law that the ‘being’ is what we are to attain…. The Perfection or maturity that Jesus is teaching about does not concern with the degree of excellence but rather the excellence that make a clear distinction of being a disciple in the Kingdom of God.

Why is it important to have our souls converted?
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Th 5:23)

Firstly, our salvation concerns the whole – spirit, soul and body. Our soul…mind, will and emotions need to be preserved blameless, purged of all that is of the old man and putting on of the new man (Eph 4:24).
Mind: And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Rom 12:2)
Will: I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. (John 5:30)
The converted mind and will need no longer question God and ask Him what His will is or are we still struggling and asking questions and not resting in His will? We learn to live for the Greater and not ourselves. We live to please and glorify God and not seek man’s approval. There is a purpose in our lives as we live in His Will. No longer purpose driven but lead by the Good Shepherd (Psa 23:2).

Emotions: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. (Luke 6:45)
Jeremiah warns us how deceitful and wicket our heart is (Jer 17:9), thus we need a ‘new’ one (Eze 36:26). That is why we are commanded to love Him whole heartedly as opposed to Saul who ‘turned his heart from the LORD God of Israel’ (1 Kings 11:9) because he loved his wives more than God. A good heart draws out good things that blesses men and brings glory to God.

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. (Prov 16:32)
A practical example of an unconverted soul is in the area of controlling one’s anger. Paul reminds unbridled anger can lead to sin (Eph 4:26) which certainly doesn’t bless men nor glorify God.

How do our souls receive it’s converting?
…… and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. (Jas 1:21)
How much have we allowed God’s Word to be inserted into our lives that cuts deeply (Heb 4:12)? The word ‘sword’ refers to the ‘machaira’ or scalpel like knife that is used to separate meat from the bones and for warfare. Have we allowed God’s word to do the surgical work on our souls to sanctify us such that self is cut off that the new man can be put on? Have we experienced being in face to face combat with the Word, self reacting and needing to be subjected to It's soul converting authority? If we view the Law as perfect in this perspective, we will appreciate the life-giving converting power that makes us free from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2). 'Converting' means that this is a continual process that keeps sanctifying us till we either meet Him in death or when He returns (soon).

Songs of Ascents (Scripture in Songs - NKJV)

Thoughts by Watchman Nee
From The Divine Self-Committal in Sit, Walk, Stand

God never ask us to do anything we can do. He asks us to live a life which we can never live and to do a work which we can never do. Yet, by His grace, we are living it and doing it. The life we live is the life of Christ lived in the power of God, and the work we do is the work of Christ carried on through us by His Spirit whom we obey. Self is the only obstruction to that life and to that work. May we pray from our hearts: 'O Lord, deal with me!'

Judge Not!

Wrong judgement vs. right judgement

Ps. Lee Shaw Ming

Are we allowed to judge?
Yes, but we must judge righteously, ie, according to God’s will.
Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” (Jn 7:24, cf. Jn 5:30; 8:16)

What to judge
- We are to judge sins.
3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. (1 Cor 5:3)… 12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.” (1Cor 5:12-13)

- We are to judge disputes among believers and not go to civil court.
1Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? 2Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1Cor 6:1-3)

- We are to judge prophecies or “word from the Lord”
Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. (1Cor 14:29)

- We are to judge teachers/prophets and the source of their inspiration.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1Jn 4:1; Mt 7:15-20; Deut 13:1-5; 18:20-22)

How to judge
- We are to judge as we would want God to judge us.
12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (Js 2:12-13)

- We are to judge as we would want others to judge us.
Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Mt7:12)

- We are to judge as we would judge ourselves.
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. (Gal 6:1)
And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Mt 22:39)

- We are to judge as a brother/sister
15 Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. (2Thess 3:14-15)

- We are to judge with love
And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins. (1Pet 4:8)
19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. (Js 5:19-20)

Judge Not
Jesus’ warning about 'judge not' is given in both in Matt 7 and Luke 6:
“Judge (krino) not, that you be not judged (krino). 2 For with what judgment you judge (krino), you will be judged (krino); and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. (Mt 7:1-6)

37 “Judge (krino) not, and you shall not be judged (krino). Condemn (katadikazo) not, and you shall not be condemned (katadikazo). Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Lk 6:37-38) (note: unfortunately some have taken the second part of the verse out of context, relating it to God returning blessing for giving).

Word Study
I. Judge (krino)
Depending on its context, this word can mean one or all of the following:
1) to separate, to pick out, select, choose
2) to be of opinion, deem, think,
3) to judge by pronouncing an opinion concerning right and wrong
4) to judge by pronouncing judgment of punishment for wrong (ie, as like a Judge)

II. Condemn (katadikazo)
1) To give judgment against or to pronounce as guilty (ie, as like a Judge)

The word ‘judge’ (krino) in context is referring to the action of judging the faults of others as like a judge who condemns an offender in pronouncing guilt and punishment.

1. We must judge not the faults of others as a Judge, and pronounce condemnation. In so doing, we have taken the place of God the Judge (Mt 7:1).
11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? (Js 4:11-12)

2. We must judge not others hypocritically for the same faults we still have (Mt 7:3-4).
Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things… 3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? (Rom 2:1-4)

3. We must judge not blindly, and thus, falsely, due to ‘planks’ in our own eyes (Mt 7:5)


‘Judge Not’- Matthew Henry
- We must judge ourselves and our own acts, but we must not judge our brother, not magisterially assume such an authority over others, as we allow not them over us, ie, be subject to one another (Eph 5:21).
- We must not sit in the judgment-seat, to make our word a law to every body. ( ie, insisting on our rights)
- We must not judge our brother, that is, we must not speak evil of him, so it is explained, Jam. 4:11.
- We must not despise him, nor set him at nought (contemptible), Rom. 14:10.
- We must not judge rashly, nor pass such an unjustified judgment upon our brother, but is only the product of our own jealousy and ill nature.
- We must not make the worst of people, nor infer such invidious (offensive) things from their words/actions…
- We must not judge uncharitably, unmercifully, nor with a spirit of revenge, and a desire to do mischief.
- We must not judge of a man’s state by a single act, nor of what he is in himself by what he is to us, because in our own cause we are apt to be partial.
- We must not judge the hearts of others, nor their intentions, for it is God’s prerogative to try the heart, and we must not step into his throne;
- Nor must we judge of their eternal state, nor call them hypocrites, reprobates, and castaways; that is stretching beyond our line; what have we to do, thus to judge another man’s servant?
- Counsel him, and help him, but do not judge him.

The consequence of judging wrongly
For with what judgment you judge (krino), you will be judged (krino); and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you (Mt 7:2)
18 And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother… 21 Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. (Deut 19:15-21)

We receive the same degree of condemnation we give others through our wrong judging.

(Note: 'Jesus said, "Judge not, that you be not judged" ( Matthew 7:1 ). He went on to say, in effect, "If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way." Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, "My God, judge me as I have judged others"? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.' - Oswald Chambers)

Judging Righteously
First Step: The Lord’s Supper
- To judge righteously to remove the specks in others, we must begin at the Lord’s Supper.
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine (judge) himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment (damnation) to himself, not discerning (diakrino) the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge (diakrino) ourselves, we would not be judged (krino). 32 But when we are judged (krino), we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned (katakrino) with the world. (1 Cor 11:27-32)

-To participate in the Lord’s Supper is to come before God our righteous Judge for judgment:

- If we humble ourselves and repent of our sins, including that of a judgmental spirit, God will judge us worthy of receiving His grace for forgiveness, healing and deliverance.

- If we are unrepentant and presumptuous, we receive condemnation…
1. Because we participated unworthily if we have not judged ourselves to discover and deal with our own faults/blind spots (v.27-28).
2. Thus, we have despised the physical body and blood of Christ and defile the spiritual body, the church, of which we are a part of (v. 29, cf Heb 10:26-30).
3. Therefore, we are judged with weakness, sickness and premature death (v. 30).
4. But then, even this judgment of weakness, sickness & premature death God used to chasten us to repentance that we are not ultimately condemned with the world (v.32)

Judge ourselves first: Removing planks from our eyes
1. First repent of and renounce the sins that we are aware or made aware of in our lives.
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Mt 7:4-5)

2. Specks and planks are “blind-spots” that may need the help of others to reveal and remove: humbly ask spiritual leaders, parents and fellow believers to point out your blind spots.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (Js 5:14-16)

Born again
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)

Baptism unto repentance
There are 2 baptisms that we are to obey one of baptism of water which is unto repentance and the other of the Spirit which is unto transformation or renewal. Baptism of water is by man (usually the pastor or spiritual oversight), but the baptism of the Holy Spirit is by the Lord Himself. Water baptism is baptism unto repentance which is to ‘change or reverse’ our decision, from one of sin, world and the devil to one of following Christ in righteousness (right conduct towards God and man)

Baptism unto renewal/transformation
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Mat 3:11)

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is one that renews us. The Lord will baptize us and we will begin on the journey of being cleansed internally. Cleansed internally permanently change our decision as well as our status to be children of God. Fire makes permanent changes, even as it purifies (Prov 17:3)

that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word (Eph 5:26)

We begin the journey of our cleansing internally by the Word of God, if we allow the power of the Word to renew us. Repentance means we decide to stop sinning and follow Jesus, to be renewed means allowing the Lord, through His Word to renew us to seal our decision in following Christ. By our decision alone we cannot be saved, we need to be renewed inside otherwise our salvation is not complete and cannot sustain until Jesus takes us home or when He returns.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Rom 12:2)

Our decision to follow Jesus means that we cannot conform to the old life of sin and the world anymore but conform to Christ, but we need to be transformed to know God’s good, acceptable and perfect will. We leave ‘self’ will and go into God’s will, we no longer live for ourselves but live for Christ (Gal 2:20). That is the reason why our born again doesn’t start at the birth of Jesus but rather at the cross. Died to old that the new may live.

not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, (Tit 3:5)
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, (Eph 2:8)

We must be continually thankful for our salvation and know that it is God’s work of salvation; otherwise we might end up in pride and self-righteousness

New life after baptism
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2Co 5:17)

New creation means our old life is passed away (died) and our life is new (born again)

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.. (Rom 6:3-4)

Our water baptism is likening to death unto resurrection. We died to our self and sin but now live to God and this life glorifies God. The other way of looking at this is that without the death (of the old life), there is no resurrection.

Important proofs of a new life
1. Humility, meekness, patience and in love
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, (Eph 4:1-2)
2. Being truthful in speech
but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— (Eph 4:15)
3. Not living in vanity or futility, meaning to be morally pure not ‘heathenistic’ in our life, that is to live as though there isn’t a moral God watching (Eph 5:3-5).
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, (Eph 4:17)
4. Controlled emotions
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. (Eph 4:26-27)
5. Don’t steal and work honestly (Eph 6:5-7)
Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. (Eph 4:28)
6. Treat each other with love (also Eph 5:2, 21)
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.. (Eph 4:31-32)
7. Don’t thrive in excesses but ready to bless others
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, (Eph 5:18-19)
8. Obedience to parents and honor them
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: (Eph 6:1-2)
9. Biblical husband and wife relationship
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord…. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, (Eph 5:22, 25)
10. Father and children relationship. Our training and admonishment has to be Biblically based not humanistic. We plumb line has to from the Bible, therefore to fathers need to be grounded in the Word in order to train and admonish appropriately.
And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. (Eph 6:4)

Jesus told Nicodemus that the way into Kingdom of God is by the baptism of water and the Spirit. It is not ‘pick-and-choose’ or optional. Baptism unto repentance is the start of our journey of the baptism of Fire that metamorphosis our life permanently into a child of God. He doesn’t just merely want to ‘save’ us but also want to harvest fruit of righteousness (Phil 1:11).

‘Your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly’
Matt 6:1-4, 5-8 and 16-18

A. Reward
Three important disciplines we are to do in secret
- Jesus warns the people who live in the Kingdom of God to jealously guard secrecy in doing charitable deeds towards the poor, in prayer and in fasting toward God
- ‘When’ and not ‘if’ we follow the Jesus commandments
- All these 3 disciplines have expected rewards. Interestingly it is the Father who rewards, not Christ Himself.

What or Who is our reward
Gen 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
- This verse came after the rescue of Lot (Gen 14:23), not seeking man’s reward and God appeared to him (‘after these things’). Abram’s righteousness (conduct and/or state of being right before God) was clearly displayed by his response to the king of Sodom in that he (Gen 14:22) has ‘lifted his hand’ to the most High God, Who possesses all things. Also from Whom he receives all things
- Abram (as he was called at that moment in time) received God’s Word (do we get Rhema?). Have we been confronted by the Word Himself?
1. Called by name, denoting relationship and communion with the Almighty. We may claim to know God, but truly, does He know us?
2. ‘Fear not’. This is the blessing of living in peace with the Prince of Peace reigning over us.
3. With peace comes security – how true is this Psalm to us personally?
Psalm 121 (A Song of Ascents) I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. 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.
4. God Himself is our reward, not ‘what’ is our reward. This will reveal the depth or shallowness of our faith
Psa 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

It’s a question of our love
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him
- If God is our exceeding great reward, it is because we obey the first and greatest commandment to love Him
- There are times when we look for another ‘reward’ in the form of justice
1 John 4:20-21 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
- If we look for justice as our reward we forsake both commandments to love God and to love others as we love ourselves, for Jesus specifically asked us to even live the extraordinary life to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us (Matt 5:44)
- Seeking for justice as our reward voids us of God’s love, thus missing out the reward that Father wants to give us

B. Secret
- Why ‘secret’? The answer is the consciousness in giving, praying and fasting and not is literally hiding our deeds from human eyes
- Does this contradict with Matt 5:16 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven?
- Jesus certainly didn’t give conflicting commands. We are indeed to be salt of the earth and light of the world; He is reminding us it is in the ‘being’ that important. Being salt and light is more of a natural character as much as dogs bark and cats meow. There is neither show nor self consciousness involved.
- When there is self consciousness, pride can creep in unknowingly. Instead of the Father getting the glory, we steal from Him
- How can we check this? Is there is continually hungering and thirsting for righteousness? Are we meek? Is there purity of motives?
- Jesus is warning against hypocrisy; pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude
- ‘Secret’ is in the sense of losing our self consciousness in doing those 3 important disciplines but it becomes a natural unforced Kingdom life
Zec 7:5 “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?
- For example in fasting, is there only a consciousness towards our Father or for self benefit

C. Charitable deeds
Prov 19:17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what he has given.
Psa 112:9 He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever; His horn will be exalted with honor.
- It is the unforced action of the righteous to give to the poor and when we give to the poor we lend to the Lord. Guess Who will be paying back our righteous deeds?
- We are reminded again on the issue of the reward
Acts 10:4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.
- God remembers our consideration for the poor and it becomes a memorial (preserving memory) before Him as it did with Cornelius
Jam 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
- James shows us the test of purity of our religion or he means in our practice of religion showing inward Godliness. This determines how much we are conformed to the image of Christ
Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
- We are created for a purpose, so that we are the ones that fulfill God’s will on earth as it is in Heaven. Count it a privilege to participate in God’s divine plan
- The warning is vainglory or glory obtained from man. Blowing a trumpet is a selfish act that draws man’s praises and celebration which doesn’t carry an eternal value
- Lauding of one’s self is a sure sign that we have not obeyed Christ command to follow Him and carry our cross daily…. Praises from man feed the self and denying the glory that is due to God
1 Sam 2:7 The LORD makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up.
- Hannah’s prayer reminds us that its God’s sovereignty to make one rich, those who have extra are accountable to God. We are reminded in Luke 12:15 about covetousness (for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.)
- What does it mean to be ‘rich’? We often correlate riches to abundance in wealth but God’s perspective of rich is having enough to share with others. It is the level contentment (1 Tim 6:8) and not hoarding.

D. Praying
1 Thess 5:17 pray without ceasing
- ‘Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts.’ – Oswald Chambers
- Praying as Paul puts it is our lifeline, done again, as unforced. It would be as natural to pray as a baby crying out to his or her parents
- ‘in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets’, this is our privilege; our prayers are not confined to places

The ‘place’ of prayer
Eph 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Luke 22:41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed,
Prayer is humility, not one that stands on one’s confidence. It is in meekness we approach His Holiness
- Others may love praying for prayer itself, we pray because we love God. Prayer is not meant to be a refined ‘art form’ but rather building a deeper relationship with our Father (‘In this manner therefore pray…‘Our Father…’)
Matt 7:8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
- The place of prayer is one that is ready to hear clearly for answered prayer; we must believe that God has will answer as we ask. The place of prayer has to be ‘secret’ because there will be times when the answer from God requires deep searching and making the right response. Often God wants to deal with us privately. Dare we pray such a prayer.....
Psa 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

Babbling
Job 9:14 “How then can I answer Him, And choose my words to reason with Him?
- He doesn’t mean repetitions but itself but making vain ones that would amount to nothing but meaningless words. Our prayer would be meaningful if we pray what is God’s heart so that the will of God will be manifested ‘on earth as it is in heaven’. Keep in mind that ‘For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.’ Thus our prayers should confirm what He knows best for us, He wants us to grow into this maturity in prayer.
- What better prayers to offer than to pray from His Word back to Him
Rom 8:27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
- Maturity in prayer is finally we have learned ‘We are not to prescribe, but subscribe to God’ – Matthew Henry.
Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
- Another way our prayer becomes vain is when we form a ‘god’ of our own imaginations and offer prayers to that god. This is where we even form the answer that suits us rather than we coming into God’s will

E. Fasting
Psa 35:13 But as for me, when they were sick, My clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting; And my prayer would return to my own heart.
- Fasting is an act of humbling our souls before God. Knowing who God is and where we are in Him.
- When we are humble in fasting our prayer will go back to the heart, meaning it will come back to the heart matters of prayer and God will teach us this, lest we return to vain prayers.
1 Cor 7:5 Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
- Fasting is a denial of self, which means that the flesh is made to subject to the spirit. It is certainly more than a bodily exercise and weight control, but rather brining our flesh under the spirit’s control.
Prov 16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
- A good example is in dealing with anger. Our spirit is weak and can’t control this emotion that may result in destructive end. Fasting provides the means to put this emotion under the control of a stronger spirit.
- Fasting puts us in the place where the areas of fleshly struggles can be severely dealt with and victory will soon come.

Who author’s our faith?

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:2)

The immediate answer is that Christ is the author of our faith. But have we considered what has He authored for us to live on the earth as His church (called out ones)? Most will respond that Jesus has completed our faith for us, thus we just continue living our lives according to what we perceive is right and wait for either His Second Coming or we go and meet Him. If we live our Christian life with this frame of thought, we may have missed our purpose as strangers and pilgrims (Heb 11:13) to live the extraordinary life of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 5, 6, and 7). This is when we begin to author our faith rather than living out what Jesus has authored out for us.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. (Ecc 1:9)

Often we look for human models or new ideas as substitutions to our faith, could that be the reason why popularity of books has increased. It’s time to go back to the Word of God, the ‘original’ as it were or rather to return to the Ancient Ways of God. We don’t have to strive to make His Ways ‘relevant’ to today’s society; if we do then we are denying the complete power of His Word. There really isn’t anything at all to update nor upgrade with regard to what Jesus has authored for us to live by.

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. (1Cor 11:1)

The path of our pilgrimage that was authored for us is through the cross; following Jesus means to take up the cross which is a daily affair for us. The only road to glory is through the cross, because it spells death the flesh and self. If self continue to exist than our lives are not authored by the Master, it would then be we who authors our faith.

How do we know that self is vanquishing?
Jesus never stated what the cross is for us. It could be people, circumstances, etc. We can’t determine the cross for ourselves nor can others do for us, it is given by Christ Himself Who have perfected faith. However we can check how much of the self is still alive and kicking; have we considered others better than ourselves (Phil 2:4-5), have we loved others as we loved ourselves, have we fulfilled the royal law (Jam 2:8), is there a greater conforming to Christ image as we mature in Him (John 3:20, Rom 8:29) or our minds conformed to everyone around us (Rom 12:2).

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (Heb 2:10)

Let us not kid ourselves, the cross is about suffering. But when we come to the revelation to ‘reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us’ (Rom 8:18), we will have a hope so deep, so wide, so high and eternal that becomes our blessed hope (Tit 2:13). Or we still hope for what we see and perceive with human desire (Rom 8:24). With this hope, we can, as Jesus did to despise the shame and endure. God’s original plan is to bring many sons unto glory, do we aspire to this eternal reward, or still wallowing in something of lesser significance.

Beware of Hypocrisy
By Ps. Lee Shaw Ming

In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
(Luk 12:1-3)

Jesus condemns most about hypocrisy, which he says is a leaven, that is, it spreads! Hypocrisy is not just about not being true outside as per our inside, but it is also denying and/or not seeing the evil of our inside and projecting a false righteousness outside. Hypocrisy causes blindness and hardness, as seen in the Pharisees. Hypocrisy causes us to resist God's truth that discerns our inward condition, resulting in sins not being dealt with. Thus, hypocrisy can lead to disqualification from the kingdom of God if not dealt with. Jesus says that everything about us, hidden or otherwise, will be revealed one day, and therefore, judged. Therefore, this means that we not only need to be outside what we are in the inside, but that we also need to be acceptable to God. We can be transparently unrighteous, which is no credit to anyone, but God wants us to be transparently righteous!

Revenge and Love – Matt 5: 38-48

A. Revenge – Matt 5:38-42
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away

1. Retribution
- The Old Testament (Exo 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21) allows for physical retribution for injury. But note that the proportion is equal, an eye for an eye, etc; not more and not less. Revenge inevitably requires more than needed, that is our sinful nature
- Retribution is to seek compensation for a loss that someone has done to us or we have done to someone else
- Note that this is an act that is void of love, meekness and mercy

2. Love
- To love God is the first and greatest commandment; the second is to love our neighbor. To love unconditionally is the choice that we make; it is a commandment of the Lord that requires our obedience
- Jesus came in obedience to the Father (John 3:16) and He died while we were still enemies (Rom 5:10). He didn’t save us when we love Him, the converse if true
Rom 13:8, 10 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jam 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well;

3. Meekness and mercy
- Jesus explicit stated two antithetical beatitudes of the blessed
- The meek not only inherit the earth but also will be saved in Day of the Lord and His judgment
Zep 2:3 Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD’s anger.
- We want God’s mercy to answer our prayer in our desperation (Psa 4:1), for strength and healing (Psa 6:2), help from our enemies (Psa 9:13), for forgiveness (Psa 25:7), etc. The blessed ones are those who first show mercy to receive more mercy. If we cease to show mercy to those who wronged us, then we will stop receiving God’s mercy

4. Don’t resist an evil person
- This is where we have to decide if we are concern with self preservation or with obedience
- This commandment (Jesus tells us plainly which doesn’t warrant explanation) reminds us that we have no rights, if indeed we belong to him
- Instead we are reminded to submit to God and resist evil and the Devil. Godly humility brings victory, while retaliation or revenge doesn’t
Jam 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
- Vengeance is God’s responsibility. Waiting for God is to totally trusting Him for the outcome; we don’t determine the next course of action nor the judgment to be meted out. Trusting Him entirely is a journey in our spiritual pilgrimage that we are privileged to learn as sons of God. Ultimately it is our salvation that God is more concerned about
Prov 20:22 Do not say, “I will recompense evil”; Wait for the LORD, and He will save you.

5. Three things we are asked to bear patiently
- ‘Turn the other cheek’: be ready for the next one. This is about forgiveness, if we can’t forgive the first time, we won’t be able forgive at all
Matt 6:14,15 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matt 18:21,22 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
- ‘Let him have your cloak also’: A tunic is an undergarment or inner garment, but Jesus asked us to let go of the outer garment as well. Jesus is telling us the antithetical life is a costly one. We must learn to willingly count all things as dung for a greater Treasure. Have we found the pearl of great price (Matt 13:46)? It is costly to be Christ’s disciple.
Php 3:8 (KJV) Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
- ‘Go the second mile’: Unfortunately people use this to indicate one’s initiative. Rather this speaks to us about willing to go further in meekness. The blessing of the meek is inheriting the inheritance of what Christ has for us.
Rev 21:7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
Matt 19:28, 29 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
Psa 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

6. Give generously
The paradox of the Kingdom of Heaven is give cheerfully in order to abound. The reason why people are not generous because there is a fear that they won’t have enough, however this ‘fear’ can and will replace our dependency on our Father.
2 Cor 9:6-8 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
Godly generosity is having beatitude of mercy, and God will provide in His mercy to those who show it, abundantly!
Psa 37:25, 26 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed.

B. Love your enemies – Matt 5:43-47
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?

1. Love your enemies
- Here again the emphasis is love, but now love is to shown to those outside the boundary of brotherhood
- We will be hard press to find anything in the Old Testament that tells us implicitly to hate our enemy; Jesus was destroying a manmade law concocted by those who don’t know the extent of carrying our crosses daily. The truth of the matter is the law teaches us to do good to our enemy and to those who hates us
Exo 23: 4,5 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.
- This part of the sermon is an extension of being a peacemaker. It not peacekeeping that God wants His children to do, but turning situations that isn’t peaceful to one of peace.
Matt 5: 9 Blessed (happy) are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
- To love our enemies is the power to uproot any bitterness. Bitterness is a bondage which can only be set free through love and forgiveness
Acts 8: 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

2. Three actions we must take
- ‘Bless those who curse us’: we are not to respond in reviling (to assail with our mouth) but to bless that we in return will inherit God’s blessing
1 Pet 3: 8,9 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
- ‘Do good to those who hate us’: This is as commanded in Exo 23: 4,5. Not merely a suggestion.
- ‘Pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us’: Being persecuted shouldn’t be a strange to us because we are who are in the world and not of the world, we have God’s glory which awaits us. True Christ-likeness in our life should culminate to the moment on the cross where the fullness of God’s love opened like floodgates to pray for those who don’t understand their actions (Luke 23:34)
Phil 1: 29, 30 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
1 Pet 4: 12-14 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
Rom 8: 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
- Jesus had every reason to react negatively to those who nailed Him to the cross; likewise as the Son of God died, we too have to grasp this life of taking up our crosses and following Him daily. The Father didn’t spare His son; neither will He spare us (Psa 44:22, Rom 8:36 , if indeed we are considered His sons.
- God’s mercy avails to all by causing His Son of Righteousness to shine on all and sends rain His Word and Gospel. It is not our duty to determine otherwise.

Tax collectors
- ‘Do not they also do the same’ is the message that Jesus wants us to note, are we living the antithetical life that is beyond the ordinary?
- The tax collectors are that who live in the natural, with more concern with self, earthly life that is doesn’t carry any connotation of an extraordinary life or supernatural life that is fit to live a life in the Spirit. We don’t live for ourselves but live for the Greater (Gal 2:20)
Rom 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
- This is where the goats and sheep divide, the righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the Scribe and Pharisees. This is determining factor whether we inherit the Kingdom of Heaven or not!

Jesus calls us to spiritual maturity
God wants to bring us to completeness in Christ. He wants to build into us the beatitudes of His Son (conform to His image, Rom 8:29) to His Children who will be eventually glorified to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven
Matt 5:48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Victory Over Lust

Matt 5:27-30 (NKJV) “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Introduction
- The second point of the Sermon on the Mount has to do with another part of ourselves that can go beyond our personal control. The first one being anger and the other is lust.
- Jesus is again stressing beyond the external but the condition of the heart. Have we wondered why our prayers remain unanswered?
Psa 66: 18 (NKJV) If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
To regard is to think highly of, in this Psalm it means that if we esteem iniquity our prayers will be unanswered
- The key heart matter of adultery is basically dealing with the issues of faithfulness and uncleanness
- The root Jesus was preaching is with regard to lust. Lust is an uncontrollable desire (mostly with regard to sexual desire, but can encompass things with regard to fulfillment of the flesh in any form). The respond to failing to have control over lust is to take action to fulfill the desire
James 1: 13-16 (NKJV) Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
- Lust is being drawn away and succumbing to our desires. It becomes a trap or being enticed
- The entrapment brings life to sin and full-grown sin leads to death
- People trapped in lust may not see the issue or even be in denial, same with any form of addiction. The Apostle warns against self-deception

Feeding the eye
- Feeding is of the eye: Joseph's mistress (Gen_39:7 – casting her eyes. Like fishing casting a bait to entrap), Samson (Judges 16:1 – saw a harlot and went – action was taken to fulfill the desire), David, 2Sam 11:2 (saw Bathsheba washing herself)
- We can feed our eyes many ways through going to wrong/unhealthy places, window shopping, magazines, internet, etc
- Unstable souls fall prey to what they see. Unstable souls are people who can’t control their emotions, mind and will but easily yielding to desires uncontrollably by taking action
2 Pet 2:14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls…..
- Controlling our wandering eyes. It is not that Jesus don’t want us to see but our focus must be right
Job 31:1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?
- We need a strong spirit to control the soul. Beyond looking at the opposite sex, there can be other objects of desire like food, fashion, cars, etc.
- Lust has to do with fulfillment of self without consideration of others, especially Jesus Christ

The remedy
1. Changing our focus to Christ, right focus take us out of our short term fulfillment
- Having a single focus on Christ will give light to us and we don’t walk in darkness
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Heb 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

2. Cutting off
- Jesus remedy is to simply ‘cut off’ which is profitable to us in the long run with regard to our destination: heaven or hell. This is not literal because He knows that wrong desires have to be dealt with at the root. Cutting off requires that we bring all the flesh into subjection of the spirit
Gal 5: 16-18 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

3. Changing our desire
- Desire for righteousness
Prov 11: 23 The desire of the righteous is only good, But the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
Matt 6: 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matt 5: 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
- Know that the Kingdom of God is more than the essentials of the flesh
Rom 14: 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- Changing our desire shows our trust in Him to be our fulfillment. Fulfilling our wrong desires or lusts shows on mistrust in Him to fulfill us
Psa 34: 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Faithfulness
- Adultery is about the question of our faithfulness. God if faithful and He requires us to respond in similar faithfulness
Duet 7:9 “Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
- He looks upon the faithful with favor, in fact He looks through out the whole earth to look for the faithful
Psa 101: 6 My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me.
2 Chron 16: 9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him…..

Holy and unholy, clean and unclean
- Distinguishing has to be done soberly, God is looking beyond clean. It is holiness (separated unto Him), proof of our faithfulness to Him.
Lev 10: 8-10 Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying: “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean
- Clean is to be free from blemish or irregularities. There are those who say they are good, normally mean they are clean. That is why there are many good people who aren't Christians, Christians on the other hand has to be beyond good
- God is looking for beyond clean, which is holy or to be special, separated and belong to Him alone. Are are lives lived exclusively for Him and do our actions reflect that?
Exo 19: 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ …..

Purpose of our body
- Glorify God in Body and Spirit. Our God given bodies serve a Godly purpose and part of Christ Body. If we have the revelation that we belong to Christ's body, we will have a clear perspective on holy living
1 Cor 6: 12-20 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
- There is fruit to show of the death of the flesh. Dead to the flesh but alive to the Spirit
Gal 5: 22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
- No condemnation to those who live according to the Spirit! We need a strong spirit to overcome the unstable soul
Rom 8: 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Our true satisfaction and eternal destiny
- Taking lust into our own hands by satisfying our own desire is not trusting God to satisfy us. We take matters into our own hands.
Psa 16: 11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
- God will personally show us or help us attain to abundant life. Jesus promised life in abundance and He doesn't mean after He returns, it can be realized now, but it is a life He will reveal to us by living in obedience with a knowledge that we are Holy unto the Lord
- Know our final eternal destiny
Col 3: 1-4 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Cause and Cost of Anger

But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: ………….
(Mat 5:22)

The natural reaction when rights are violated upon, whether it is for themselves or others is to retaliate. Inevitably anger will be involved because the emotional part of our soul (mind, will and emotion) will be stirred demanding corrective action to make right what we deem as necessary. For example today we have many who form causes to fight world hunger, animal cruelty, global warming, political injustices, etc. Some of these causes have recently erupted in violence stemmed from anger and people get hurt, some mortally.

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, .....
(Rom 2:29)

The ‘but’ in Jesus statement in the Sermon on the Mount seeks to beckon us to see matters from His Divine perspective. The teachers of the Law in His time were zealous forceful guardians of it, unfortunately focusing on the external more than the root of problem… the heart. We can fall into the same trap that Samuel did (1 Sam 16:7), to measure a man or a woman from the outward. So our righteousness or moral right-ness has to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees to consider what God looks at. Anything short of that will cause us to miss entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

Why Jesus did said that we cannot be angry without a cause? Surely anger is aroused for a cause? I believe Jesus meant that we can’t afford to be angry for the matters that He is unconcerned for. When we start evaluating the things we get angry over, how much of it concerns the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness? If it doesn’t, Jesus means that our anger is causeless having no basis to take the next retaliatory step.

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
(Eph 4:26-27)

Our anger if it doesn’t concern God’s cause can lead to the devil’s advantage. In Mark 3 is an account of Jesus being judged for righteousness sake and anger rose within Him leading to grieving for the hypocritical hardness of hearts and went on to heal the man with the withered arm. Righteous anger leads to grieving for what is sorely missed, mercy did prevail and the man was healed. Conversely the Pharisees sought to kill, clearly the devil already had his foothold on them (John 10:10).

For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
(Act 8:23)

The outcome of anger is usually bitterness which then imprisons us until the ‘last penny’ is paid (Matt 5:26). In other words, it will be very costly for us when we end up bitter. To avoid being a prisoner of bitterness Paul ask us to put away bitterness and forgive even as Christ as forgiven us (Eph 4:31, 32). The paradox of the Kingdom of God is first take the action to forgive and God will forgive us in return, just as mercy is experienced only by the merciful (Matt 5:7). We can’t afford to let causeless anger control our life.

Preparedness

But as the days of Noe (Noah) were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
(Mat 24:37)

We were warned by our Lord to learn the parable of the fig tree (Matt 24:32). Israel is being referenced here as the fig tree which was decreed to be a nation on 29th Nov 1947. He continues to say that generation will not pass till all that He has stated in Matt 24 are fulfilled. Psa 90:10 says the years of our days are 70 years and by virtue of strength 80. I won’t conclude what year or date of our Blessed Hope (Titus 2:13), but the time is very near. Are we prepared?

Noah’s name (rest from weariness) was given by his father as a comfort to our work and to the toils of a cursed land because of sin (Gen 5:29). His birth was like a relief for his father, Lamech, entering into rest from toils of labor. Heb 4 talks about entering into rest, ceasing from our own labor as God did (Heb 4:10). Man was created on the sixth day and his first full day was the seventh day of the Sabbath. Jesus also said that the Sabbath was made for man, not the other way around (Mark 2:27). We know the history about man’s disobedience that instead of the blessing of the Sabbath, curse was brought about.

Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
(Gen 6:22)

Noah was preacher of righteous (2 Pet 2:5) as he was building the ark for hundred odd years. He was also obedient in what God commanded him; similarly we see the same obedience in Moses in adhering to every detail pertaining to the making of various holy things for the tabernacle, the priesthood, etc including the Ark of the Covenant. Also interesting to note that Moses life was saved in an ark.

Heb 9 tells us that in the Ark of the Covenant were 3 items; the pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded and the 10 commandments. We know that the Ark represent the Presence of God and Paul tells us that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit; therefore the proof of our salvation is in the contents.

The pot of manna
Jesus quoted Deut 8:3 in the face of temptation, and moving on further to declare that He is the Bread of Life (John 6:35) and the beginning of the Gospel of John says that Jesus is the Word Himself. This shows the oneness of Christ with the Word of God so much so that He was the fulfillment of the Word of God. God will write His law in our heart, and we must be diligent to hide and engraft His Word in our heart. Our life must carry the oneness with His Word as did our Savior.

Aaron’s rod
It was a resurrected shepherd’s rod used by a priest. This tells us that there must be the rule and reign of the Great Shepherd who is at the right of God, Who makes intercession for us day and night. Christ has to have complete rule and reign. To just reign means He would be like a figure head, but to also rule means He takes control, direct and govern every area of our lives.

The 10 commandments
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
(Rom 13:10)

These are the Moral laws which Jesus taught the spirit of it in Matt 5. For many the challenge is not to love God but the true test is to love our enemies, our haters, those who curse us, those who spitefully use us and even our persecutors. John exposes our hypocrisy by saying how can we love God whom we have not seen, yet not loving our brother – such hypocrisy amounts to being a liar (1 John 4:20). Dare we ask Christ who is our neighbor and brother (Luke 10:29).

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
(Heb 11:7)

We have heard the warning with regard to the parable of the fig tree, how prepared are we? After Matt 24 Jesus talks about the 10 virgins, all waiting for the bridegroom but only half were prepared. I don’t think Jesus was talking about unbelievers, but Christians who are suppose to anticipate His coming. Only half made it into His Kingdom at His coming. Similarly two are in the field and two grinding at the wheel, only half were taken. The statistics is staggering.

Are we prepared? Are we building into our lives the Word, the rule and reign of our Shepherd-Priest and fulfilling the Law by loving the un-loveable? We don’t have to be caught unprepared by being watchful over our lives by walking the light.

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
(1Th 5:1-8)

Our Completion in Christ

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
(Mat 5:17)

To fulfill is to bring to completion or full realization, for Jesus it encompassed the Law (we must think of it as a whole, not just as laws, for if we break one, it’s as good as breaking all, Jas 2:10) and all prophecy. What Jesus fulfilled was in fact the will of the Father with reference to the Old Testament. In fact the fulfillment was so complete that there was an oneness that Jesus had with the will of the Father and it was as important as the sustenance of food (John 4:34). As Jesus continued He began to unfurl the spirit of the Moral Law…. About murder, adultery, etc.

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(Jer 31:33)

Antinomian teaching try to nullify the law, but here Jesus is further affirming it. If we see that the moral Law as coming from the mouth of Christ, and thus we know the oneness with the Law as also our oneness with Him. Hebrews also mentions twice (Heb 8:10, 10:16) about writing them in our hearts. In Deuteronomy 17 and 27, the king and elders are to write a copy of the law, but now God has gone another step further to write it in our hearts.

Why the heart? Because there is the seat of our emotions, for example Jesus spoke of anger being as good as murder. So if we are one with Christ and His Law, anger and any other emotions can be brought into subjection. Secondly, our mouth reveals the content of our hearts (Matt 12:34). Also from the intent of our hearts comes forth actions as with good trees producing good fruits and bad trees producing bad fruits (Matt 7:16). So the law and the spirit of it are for Christ disciples, the others who are not disciple will deem the law as legalistic. To us who are disciples it is a freedom from sin and fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life (Rom 6:22).

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(Mat 5:20)

What does it mean to exceed their righteousness? In Matt 5:19, Jesus did not just say that we must not just break (to annul or make invalid) any of His commandments but also to teach them. Jesus pronounces woes unto them that sit at Moses (representing the Law) seat (Matt 23:1), who impose high standards unto others but themselves are not doers. To exceed their righteousness means to obey and to teach, Jesus abhors hypocrisy. He wants us not just to fulfill, but to be fulfillment of the Law as He was. We become one with the Law that it becomes an unforced obedient life, not one that is legalistic. Secondly, we are taught to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt 5:6), meaning to be void of any other forms of righteousness save that which comes from God as even righteousness was accounted to Abraham by God. The danger of self righteousness is legalism which the scribes and Pharisees subscribe to.

As our Lord fulfilled every jot and tittle of the Law, so let Him do a work in us so we are made complete by Him writing His Law into our hearts that He be God to us and we be His people.

Mercy Because Someone Else Died

And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
(2Sa 12:13)

The mercy of God is something we must never take for granted. David knew the fullest extend of God’s mercy after his sin was exposed by Nathan the prophet. Some of us could be wondering how this man could live for at least 9 months (a child was conceived in this illegitimate relationship with Bathsheba) being so numb to sin, but we must not judge this man without first considering the beam in our own eye (Matt 7:3). We need to be truthful before God lest we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:9). The Moral Laws of not murdering, not coveting, not bearing false witness were bundled into this affair that cost a faithful servant (Uriah) his life and wife. Interestingly David still had a sense of justice because he could even say ‘As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die’ (2 Sam 12:5), dare to even stand in judgment on behalf of Jehovah. The beam must be dealt with first prior to judging others.

And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
(Exo 25:21-22)

Physically the covering of the Moral Law is the mercy seat, here is a beautiful picture that mercy triumphs over judgment and God says He will commune with Moses from above the mercy seat, meaning from the place of mercy, we will come to a place of revelation in our deepest relationship with God. From that place of mercy, His commandments are not burdensome to us and we will begin to delight in them (Psa 112:1).

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
(Gen 3:21)

A very important Levitical practice is the sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat (Lev 16:14), so mercy and blood has to go hand in hand. When Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of the Garden of Eden but God provided clothing for them as they departed. They lost the covering of God’s glory and needed a substitute covering lest they succumb to the environment; an animal had to die to provide for them. Someone else had to die in their stead (Gen 2:17) for disobedience that they will be covered both physically and spiritually.

How do we respond to God’s mercy?
It is to ‘be merciful’ to those i) who don’t deserve mercy, ii) who can’t by any means repay back our love, and iii) willingness to bear others’ burdens.

But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
(1John 3:17)

Being merciful is love in action, even as God’s love in sending His own Son to save us (John 3:16). The interesting thing is that we will not know God’s mercy unless we know how to first show it…. With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful…….(Psa 18:25)

Psa 41: 1 Blessed is he who considers the poor; The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

Have you ever wondered why there seems to be always trouble in your life and all the prayers uttered didn’t seem to matter? Perhaps it is because we have not given any thought towards the poor. Providing for the poor has always been the natural behavior in the early church. Especially in these hard financial times, are we ‘fearful’ to release our resources to those in dire needs? Jesus is very clear about the requirement of entering into Heaven in Matt 25:31-40, it wasn’t about great miraculous exploits but it is about providing for desperate needs.

In Psa 51 David wrote so wonderfully for us to that forgiveness is on the basis of God’s mercy and knew that he will not be cast away from His Presence (Psa 51:11), having the revelation that some else had to die in place of his sin. God’s Presence must be very precious to us, because it came with cost of the life of the Son of God.

The Son who Serve

…. Let my son go, that he may serve me……
(Exo 4:23)

This was the message to Pharaoh which Moses brought. No other complications, just to be set free from our sinful past and bondage to the devil to serve the Father. The danger for Christians is to think that there is a need to serve people because that is the ‘natural’ response to meeting the needs of people around us. Here we see our primary call to fulfill God’s need to serve Him as a son, which is ‘to the Lord, and not unto men ‘(Col 3:23). He saved us that we might serve Him in love and in deep gratitude for our salvation. If the intent is responding purely to human needs than we are in danger of missing the point for our salvation and because in our human weakness people may see the servant clearer than the Father, if people are in the light of our well doing they will glorify our Father in Heaven (Matt 5:16). There is a fine line between serving Father and serving men. Our service has to be light to others not mere fulfilling human needs. Not able to see is the absence of light, there is only one seeing, that seeing is toward the Father.

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
(Exo 19:4-6)

The Israelites were saved from their bondage from one king to the King of kings thus living in the Kingdom of God. Our service to our King is basically two fold. Firstly is to obey and secondly in our ‘being’. As the Israelites were saved than given the laws, so we are saved by grace (Rom 3:20, 24) to able to fulfill the spirit of the law because we live not by the flesh but by the Spirit (Rom 8:4). The sequence of the Israelites salvation by grace and the giving of the law to live in the Kingdom is the same, save first then presented with the law. Jesus went further to give the spirit of the law in Matt 5 (‘ye have heard that it was said by them of old time…..’), so the Old and the New Covenants don’t contradict each other.

Secondly, our being is seated with Christ (Eph 2:6), our spiritual position. Our spiritual being is heavenly but our purpose on earth is salt and light (Matt 5:13-16). We can’t afford just to be heavenly but of no earthly use. The call of Israel to serve the Father is to be a declaration not isolation. Peter adds to ‘show forth the praises of Him’ who called us (1 Pet 2:9). Declaring the virtues and excellencies of His glory. If we don’t live in obedience to the laws of the Kingdom, how then can we be citizens thereof? What rights have we to declare God’s praises if the vessels don’t reflect the call to be a holy nation.

And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: …….
(Luke 15:29)

In our call to serve the Father we must continually take heed that we serve with meekness and love for the Father. We have nothing to boast about in our service (‘these many years do I serve thee’), but we in the cross of Christ (Gal 6:14), that the life we live, we live by ‘the’ faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal 2:20), the redemption that led to our calling to serve the Father. May we long to wait for our Savior’s welcome into His Heavenly Kingdom after our task on earth is done…. ‘Well done my good and faithful servant’.

As a Weaned Child

Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. (Psa 131:2)

In the light of the world’s economy spiraling down, it is a good time for us to check where our heart is. Jesus spoke very plainly in Matt 6:19-21 where to lay up our treasure and He warns us about the dwelling place of our heart. Interesting that He put it this way, ‘where our treasure is, that is where our heart will be also’, indicating that our heart can leave its rightful place.

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (Php 1:23)

Luther said ‘What a man loves, that is his God’. The Apostle Paul knew where his heart is. He again said the same thing earlier in 2 Cor 5:8 to be present with the Lord. It is then possible to attain to this attitude that our citizenship or being is heavenly and this life that we live is a faithful race we are running looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:1,2). May we have the revelation as our spiritual forefathers’ had, desiring ‘a better country, that is, an heavenly’ (Heb 11:16).

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. (Psa 84:10)

The Psalmist echoed the same thing as Paul. Let us not deceive ourselves, can we sincere say that to be in His Presence we have experienced fullness of joy (Psa 16:11), unless we have not been there ourselves but only read or heard about such a thing. This is a test if we have been truly been weaned from carnality and living the Kingdom of God. David declared that he is as a weaned child. David goes to say that a weaned child is one that is knows how to behave and is quieted, two characteristics of being weaned.

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. (Rom 6:15)

We will know that we have been weaned of the world and carnality if we know how to behave because our minds are no longer controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit of God (Rom 8:4) and this Spirit led life is evident in the fruit unto holiness (Rom 6:22). Are we still struggling with moral misbehaviors or at least started on the journey of yielding ourselves to God that He might work in us according to His good pleasure (Php 2:12)? Remember it is God's work to save us and translate us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love, ours is just having faith that He will do so.

The second thing about the weaned child is there is a quieting of the spirit for ‘to be spiritually minded is life and peace’. In Matt 24 Jesus warns us that economic downturn is the least of our concerns. Worrying won't add a single hour to our life. There will be pestilences, political upheaval and natural disasters unheard of. Worst of all is deception, because Rev 20:10 warns us that the deceived will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Therefore consider the latter of greater importance that losing things.

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. (Matt 24:32-34)

In May 14, 1948 Israel became a nation. We have been reminded recently at our small community of believers that we are the generation that have witnessed of the budding of the fig tree (the Israeli nation) and we are the generation that will live through the fulfillment of all Jesus said in Matt 24. May we not be ignorant of the second coming of the Lord and may we be found with established hearts that are blameless before God (1 Thess 3:13).

Let us then be encouraged not to be lofty in our earthly pursuits, neither aiming for anything high or great, but allowing God to wean us of carnality. As it is the mother who weans the child, so God will wean us in order that we will be prepared for the Day of Jesus Christ, therefore yield ourselves totally to Him for His working in our lives.