River of Life » Zac Poonen’s Word for the Week

Valuing True Christian Fellowship

Santosh — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:10:19 +0000

by Zac Poonen

Despite man’s advancement in many areas, human relationships continue to present problems all over the world. Business concerns and agencies spend huge sums employing personnel to promote harmony among workers. Well, one might think it is understandable that self-centred, unconverted people find it difficult to get along with each other, but surely when people are born-again and have become new creatures in Christ, such problems can never arise. For, after all, when God is the center of one’s life and service, what possible room can there be for the petty problems that besiege others?

Yet, sadly, no proof is needed of the fact that Christians fight and quarrel with each other, all over the world. Many are not even on speaking terms with some of their fellow-Christians; some cannot even stand the sight of certain other Christians. The Name of God continues to be disgraced in the world by the behaviour of professing believers. Jesus said that the world would identify His disciples by their intense love for one another. This was – generally speaking – literally fulfilled in the first two centuries of the Christian era. The world looked at the Christians with amazement then, and exclaimed, “Behold how these Christians love one another!” Today, the story is different and the world often says, “Behold how these Christians hate one another!”

Relationships are indeed most important. Gifts, talents, methods, techniques, programmes and finances are all secondary to people and to inter-personal relationships. The church can fulfill her God-ordained function as the light of the world only when there is true Christian fellowship among her members. Likewise, an individual believer can become a minister of life to others only when he himself has learned to live according to the law of love with his fellow-Christians.

The Bible plainly and repeatedly teaches that no Christian can have fellowship with God without fellowshipping with other believers. You cannot walk with God if you do not walk in love with your fellow-believer. The cross on which Jesus died had two planks – a vertical one and a horizontal one: Jesus came to bring peace not only between man and God (vertically) but also between man and man (horizontally). The vertical and the horizontal relationships go hand in hand. You cannot have the former if you ignore the latter.

John, the apostle of love, has some very strong words to say on this matter. One of the evidences, he says, of genuine conversion is that a man begins to love his fellow-Christians. If a man does not have this love, it is a sure indication that his conversion is spurious and that he is heading for eternal death (1 John 3:14). Doctrinal correctness was not the only test that the apostles applied to ascertain where a man stood in relation to God. Later on in the same letter, John says that if a man claims that he loves God while hating his brother, he is a liar. Mark that! The proper name for such a man is not “believer”, but rather, “liar”! And John’s logic is irresistible. He says a brother is visible whereas God is invisible. If you cannot love the visible, it is impossible to love the invisible. (1 Jn. 4:20).

Now compare this with the experience of most “believers.” Love for God is usually assessed in terms of busy activity in Christian work or in terms of rapturous feelings of delight experienced in a meeting. These can be most deceptive. I have come across believers who are out of fellowship with other Christians, who testify nevertheless to “wonderful times of prayer” and to “amazing results in service.” How could they possibly be walking with God when they have not even made an effort to settle matters with other members of God’s family against whom they have a grudge? Surely Satan has blinded their minds to the truth of Scripture!

Often, we do not realise what we deprive ourselves of, when fellowship is broken with other believers. The Bible tells us that we can discover the breadth, length, depth and height of Christ’s love and be filled with all the fullness of God only along “with all the saints” (Eph. 3:17-19). It is only as we know the reality of fellowship with the believers God places us with, that we shall be able to enter into an experiential understanding of the love of Christ and of the fullness of God.

The one who cuts himself off from any fellow-Christian, thereby deprives himself of the experience of Christ’s love and grace which could have been his through that person. When we fail to live by the law of love, we rob ourselves of some of Christ’s riches and some of God’s fulness.

An Exciting Life in the New Year

Santosh — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:30:14 +0000

by Zac Poonen

The Bible says that “the godly man’s life is exciting” (Prov.14:14 – Living).

Let me give you my testimony. I am 72 years old now (November 2011), and I have been a born-again child of God for more than 52 years. I can testify honestly that my Christian life has been exciting. I have been through many trials, but in all of them, I have experienced God in exciting ways. And I believe the best part of my life is still ahead of me. I am excited to be able to live for God and serve Him. To serve Him is the best thing that anyone can do in this world.

I don’t have a complaint against a single person in the world. Nobody has ever succeeded in doing harm to me so far. Many have tried to harm me, and some of my co-workers have betrayed me and turned against me. Many “Christians” have spread falsehoods about me in “Christian” magazines and on the Internet, and some of them have even taken me to court. But all of these have only been a part of “the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings” for me; and everything that everyone did has only worked for my good – as it says in Romans 8:28. So I actually thank God for all of them, because God has used their evil actions to make me a better man – more Christlike in my reactions. That was the main good that came out of their evil actions.

We need to be BROKEN first of all, before we can be useful to God. God uses many people and events to break our pride and our confidence in our own abilities and to make us small in our own eyes.

God broke me much in my younger days, and He is still breaking me today. This is the way of fruitfulness. The more we are broken, the more God can use us to be a blessing to others. We read in Exodus 17 that it was only when the rock was smitten that the waters begin to flow. When a woman brought an alabaster vial of perfume to anoint Jesus, it was only when the vial was broken that the sweet aroma filled the house (Mark 14:3). To feed the five thousand, Jesus took the bread and blessed it. But no-one was fed until the bread was broken. What is the message in all of these examples? Just this that brokenness is the way of blessing. When an atom is split, it generates enough power to give electricity to a whole city! An atom is so small that you can’t even see it under a microscope. But when it is broken, what tremendous power is released. The message in nature as well as in the Bible is just this: God’s power is released through brokenness. May that message grip us all in the coming new year.

God gripped me with this message in 1963 when I first sought Him for power in my life and ministry. Right then, before I resigned from the Navy, God showed me that the way of brokenness was the way of power. And I never want to forget this all my life. I want to encourage young people especially to learn this lesson while they are still young.

A second requirement is a living FAITH in the promises of God.

God made two promises to the elders of Israel in Egypt: “I will bring you (1) out of the land of Egypt and (2) into the land of the Canaanites.” (Ex.3:17). As you can see, there were two promises there. But only the first one was fulfilled. The second was not fulfilled. None of those elders entered Canaan – because they did not respond in faith when the time came to enter Canaan (Numbers 13). God’s promises are not fulfilled, until we respond in faith. God’s promise and our faith are like two electric wires. It is only when they touch each other (as in an electric switch) that the power begins to flow through the wires. You may hear about God’s promise and understand it. But it is only when your faith reaches out and says, “Yes, I believe that will be fulfilled in my life,” that the promise will be fulfilled. At the borders of Canaan, only Joshua and Caleb believed God’s promise, and so only they entered the promised land. May we have the same faith and live continuously in the promised land of victory in the new year.

We wish you all a very blessed New Year – one of greater brokenness and greater faith in God.

The Lord Knew Us Before We Were Formed in the Womb

Santosh — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 06:58:52 +0000

by Zac Poonen

The Lord called Jeremiah when he was a young man (Jeremiah 1:5, 6) and said to him, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I consecrated you and appointed you a prophet to the nations.” God knew Jeremiah even before his body was formed in his mother’s womb. There is a lot of dispute nowadays about whether an embryo is a human being or not. Here is a verse that should clear that doubt forever – because God says He knew Jeremiah before he was formed. When Jeremiah was a microscopic speck in his mother’s womb, God knew him and consecrated him to be a prophet. That is a great encouragement for us – to know that God had His eye on us even when we were just microscopic specks just conceived in our mother’s wombs. He has a plan for our lives just as He had a plan for Jeremiah.

Just imagine, when Jeremiah went through all those difficulties, how this thought must have encouraged him: “I am facing a lot of difficulties right now. But God knew me when I was in my mother’s womb and He planned my life then. And that plan will be fulfilled. I am going to yield to God utterly.” All of us too should think about that whenever we face trials and difficulties. God chose you before you were born and His plan for your life will be fulfilled. So don’t ever get discouraged.

Then Jeremiah said, “Lord, I don’t know how to speak.” It is amazing how God picks up people to be prophets who are not good at public speaking. Moses was like that. He also said, “Lord, I am unable to speak publicly.” I want to encourage all of you. Don’t think that God cannot use you to preach His word just because you don’t have the ability to speak or the boldness to stand before people. The Lord said to Moses, “I made man’s mouth. Can’t I then make you speak?” If you allow God to break you and to fill you with His Holy Spirit, He can make you also His spokesman. It all depends on your walk with God.

I was a shy, self-conscious person as a young Christian. But when God anointed me with His Spirit, He began to speak through me. He can do the same with you. And one more thing: Don’t ever say to God, “Lord, I am so young.” If God calls you and consecrates you, your age won’t make any difference. You don’t have to wait until you are an old man before you start serving the Lord. As soon as you feel a burden in your heart, seek God to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and go forth and proclaim the word of God.

The Lord told Jeremiah, “Don’t say I am a youth, because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak” (Jeremiah 1:7). And then the Lord spoke a word to him that He often spoke to His prophets: “Don’t be afraid, because I am with you to deliver you”(Jeremiah 1:8). One big advantage that all the true prophets had was this that the Lord was with them. Therefore they were not afraid of any man. That is the way we need to serve the Lord today as well. The Lord must be with us.

The Lord touched Jeremiah’s mouth and told him, “I have put My words in your mouth.” God did the same for Isaiah too. Notice then the ministry that the Lord gave Jeremiah. Six activities are mentioned here – plucking up, breaking down, destroying, overthrowing, building and planting (Jeremiah 1:10). Four of these were negative and two – building and planting – were positive. Jeremiah had to tear down the old structure first and then put up God’s structure. That is not an easy thing to do. It is much easier to build a building on an empty plot of land. Christendom today is in very similar condition to what Judah was in those days. There are huge religious structures in Christendom today that are contrary to the Word of God. A prophet who comes with God’s word to such a situation will have to first pluck up, break down, destroy and overthrow many things before he can build and plant something of eternal value. It is this initial work with the bulldozer that many preachers are unwilling to do. They seek to “stitch a patch of new cloth on an old garment”. But the Lord says, “No. You have to throw away the old garment. You have to destroy the old structure completely and start afresh with something completely new.” If you don’t do that, you will not be able to build what God wants you to build. The Lord went on to encourage Jeremiah saying, “They will fight against you, but they won’t overcome you, for I am with you” (Jeremiah 1:19).

Satan Has Power Over Those Who Do Not Forgive Others

Santosh — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 08:53:52 +0000

by Zac Poonen

We read in Revelation 9:1-11: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. And he opened the bottomless pit; and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth; and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And they were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment them for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; and they will long to die and death flees from them. And the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads, as it were, crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. And they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. And they had tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. They have as king over them, an angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.

This star is clearly a fallen angel, most probably Satan. This fallen angel was given the key of the bottomless pit where some demons are locked up by God (as we read in 1 Pet.3:19). All demons are not there. Most demons have freedom to roam around on the earth. Remember the man with a legion of demons whom Jesus met? The demons within that man pleaded with Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit. Jesus granted their request and sent them into the 2000 pigs that ran into the sea. But one day the bottomless pit is going to be opened; and the demons that are locked up there are going to be released on to the face of the earth.

That is part of the judgment that God is going to allow upon the face of this earth, as though the Lord says to the people, “You wanted to follow the advice of the devil. You wanted to obey the devil’s words rather than Mine. All right. Here are all your friends who are going to visit you now, the whole lot of them from the bottomless pit.” That is what we see here.

The smoke from the pit is the filth and muck of the unclean spirits. The locusts are the evil spirits who are granted power to poison men’s minds and torment them even as the scorpions of the earth have power to poison men’s bodies. The torment of these demons will be so bad that many people will want to die, but they will not be able to commit suicide!!

The description of the demons is terrifying – terrifying faces, flying hair like that of mad women and the teeth of lions – all pictures to show us how horrible it is going to be for those who will be tormented by these demons. But they are given permission to hurt men only for five months. Why only for five months? Because God is merciful.

Jesus told a story in Matt.18:23-35. of a man who was forgiven forty million rupees by a king, who would not then forgive his fellow servant a paltry sum of forty rupees. This unmerciful man caught his fellow servant by the throat and said, “Pay up.” And when the king heard it he was angry and handed the unmerciful servant over to the torturers. Those torturers symbolise demons who are permitted to torment unmerciful believers today. For Jesus said, “So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.” (v.35)

This is something serious, and I don’t want anyone’s blood on my hands. If you who are reading this, (whether you call yourself a believer or Spirit-baptised or whatever) have not forgiven even one person anywhere in the world, I want to warn you (no matter how long you may have considered yourself to be a “believer”) that you will certainly not enter the kingdom of God. You will certainly not be taken up when Jesus comes. You will instead be handed over to these demons who have the sting of a scorpion. That is as clear as black and white to me, because I believe the words of the Lord Jesus. That man who was handed over to the torturers was a man who was once forgiven. But his master withdrew that forgiveness, because he would not forgive someone else. God will not hesitate to hand over such a man to the demons. That is why I would plead with you earnestly, “Get rid of your bitterness (your Wormwood). Forgive everyone freely. Your heavenly Father will not forgive you if you do not forgive even one human being on the face of the earth.”

The name of the angel of the bottomless pit, Abaddon or Apollyon, means “Destroyer”. That describes, in one word, Satan’s purpose for man – to destroy him with lust or an unforgiving attitude.

Jesus spoke of scorpions in Lk.10:19 to symbolise the powers of darkness. He said to His disciples, “I have given you authority over serpents and scorpions to tread upon them.” The demons can only harm those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Spiritually speaking, you can’t have that seal on your forehead if you haven’t forgiven others.

Three Tips for Husbands and Wives

Santosh — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 03:41:55 +0000

by Zac Poonen

I want to say three things about loving one another.

1. Love expresses appreciation: There is a whole book on married love that God has included in the Bible – the Song of Solomon. All married couples should read that book – to each other! It’s amazing to see there how Almighty God expects a husband and wife to talk to each other! And that book is inspired Scripture just as much as the other books in the Bible!

Let me read you a few extracts from this book, so that we can all learn to appreciate each other as husbands and wives. We are all misers when it comes to expressing appreciation. We are quick to criticize, but very slow to appreciate. We look at people and find so many faults in them. That is human nature. And that is how the Accuser, the Devil gets a foothold within us. On the other hand, God gets a foothold within us, when we look at others and find something to appreciate in them. Each of us can examine our own conduct here.

See what the husband says to his wife here in Song of Solomon (from various verses in the Message Bible):

“You’re beautiful, my dear love, from head to toe – beautiful beyond compare and absolutely flawless. You’re as lovely as the ravishing visions of my ecstasy. Your voice is soothing and your face is ravishing. Your beauty, within and without, is absolute, my dear friend. You’re a paradise.” “You’ve captured my heart. You looked at me, and I fell in love. One look my way – and I was hopelessly in love! My heart is raptured. Oh the feelings I get when I see you and the stirrings of desire I have. I’m spoiled for anyone else!”. “There is no one like you on earth, there never has been, and there will never be. You are a woman beyond compare.”

And now listen to what the wife says. This is her response: “And you, my dear lover are so handsome! You are one in a million. There’s no one like you! You’re golden – you’re a rugged mountain of a man. Your words are warm and re-assuring. Your words are like kisses and your kisses are all words. Everything about you delights me. You thrill me through and through! I long for you and I want you desperately. Your absence is painful for me. When I see you, I will throw my arms around you and hold you tight. And I won’t let you go. I am yours alone and you’re my only lover and you’re my only man.”

2. Love is quick to forgive. Love is slow to blame but quick to forgive. There will be problems between husband and wife in every marriage. But if you put those problems on the back-burner, they are sure to boil over (That is, if you give those problems a LOW priority – instead of settling them immediately – then those problems will get worse). So be quick to forgive and be quick to ask for forgiveness. Don’t wait until the evening to do that. If you get a thorn in your foot in the morning, you will take it out immediately. You won’t wait until the evening. If you hurt your spouse, you poked him/her with a thorn – take it out immediately – ask for forgiveness immediately, and be quick to forgive.

3. Love is eager to do things together with one’s partner – and not alone: How different the history of man would have been, if when the Devil came to tempt Eve in the garden, she had just said “Let me consult my husband first before I take a decision”. Oh, what a different story it would have been then! Remember that all the problems in the world arose because one woman took a decision on her own, when God had given her a companion whom she could have consulted, before taking that decision. True love does things together. Two are always better than one.

The Difference Between Knowing God and Knowing the Bible

Santosh — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:28:56 +0000

by Zac Poonen

It is much easier to know the Bible than it is to know God – because you don’t have to pay a price to know the Bible; all you have to do is study. You can be immoral in your personal life and impure in your thought life, and still know the Bible very well. You can be a well-known preacher and yet be a great lover of money at the same time. But, you can’t know God and be immoral in your life. You can’t know God and be a lover of money. That’s impossible! And that’s why most preachers take the easier path of knowing the Bible rather than knowing God.

I want to ask you: Are you happy with just knowing the Bible or is there a desperate hunger in your hearts to know the Lord? The apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:8-10 that his greatest longing was to know the Lord better. He considered everything else as rubbish compared to knowing the Lord. Paul gave up all his pearls for this pearl of great price. The secret of Paul’s ministry is to be found not in the years that he spent studying the Bible at Gamaliel’s seminary, but in his personal knowledge of the Lord.

“Eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ personally” (John 17:3). We have perhaps defined eternal life as living eternally in heaven. But that was not how Jesus defined it. Eternal life has nothing to do with going to heaven or escaping hell. It has to do with knowing the Lord. To know God intimately and personally has been the passion of my life and the burden of my heart. I know that my ministry can have Divine authority only as I know God personally. And so, in all of our churches, I have sought to lead people to a knowledge of God Himself.

There is more Bible knowledge today than ever before in history. For nearly 1500 years after the day of Pentecost, there were no printed Bibles available anywhere. Only in the last two centuries have Bibles been so freely available. Today, we have so many versions and concordances and study-helps. But do you think all this increased Bible knowledge has produced holier Christians? No. If Bible knowledge could produce holiness, we should be having the godliest people in history living today. But we don’t. Satan himself would have been holy if Bible knowledge could produce holiness – for no one knows the Bible as well as he does. We have so many seminaries today teaching the Bible to thousands of students. But, are the godliest people in the world today found in those seminaries? No. Many seminary graduates today are worse than the heathen.

Some years ago, I met a seminary graduate from one of India’s top evangelical seminaries, who had stood first in his graduating class. He told me that after three years in that seminary, his spiritual condition was worse than when he first joined it. What then did that seminary teach him? It had taught him facts about the Bible and about Christianity. Satan himself could have graduated as first in the class, from such a seminary.

What was the use of that young man learning Hermeneutics, and what the “higher critics” had said, and what the root-meanings of Greek words were, if he hadn’t overcome anger, bitterness, lustful thoughts and the love of money? With his newly-acquired certificate, he would soon become a pastor of a church. But, what would he teach the people in his church, whose biggest problems would be moral and not theological? He wouldn’t be able to help them at all, in any of those areas. This is how God’s work around the world is being destroyed.

Only if you know God yourself, will you be able to lead your flock to know Him. If you have victory over sin in your own life, you’ll be able to lead your flock also to victory over sin. Then they too will be equipped to go out and serve the Lord – with authority and power. Do you think the devil is impressed by anyone’s Bible knowledge or degree-certificates? Not at all. Satan fears only holy, humble men and women who know God.

May God help us to lead our younger brothers and sisters to know God.

Let Your Marriage Be Like a Good Garden

Santosh — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 17:40:31 +0000

by Zac Poonen

Here are five rules that I found to plant a good garden; and we can apply the same to marriage relationships between husbands and wives.

1. Use seeds that are resistant to disease
The key to good disease-control is prevention. We sow seeds with our tongue. Make sure you don’t spread disease with the words that you speak to each other. Use words that are resistant to disease, when you speak. Some diseases require frequent spraying with chemicals to protect the plants. You’ll have to be ruthless in dealing with your tongue, if you want to avoid having weeds in your garden. I hope you will never allow weeds to grow in your marriage.

2. Improve the soil with fertilizers
If you want a happy marriage, encourage one another and appreciate one another. Put fertilizers such as these into the ground – and then you will get a really good crop!

3. Destroy any plants that have diseases that cannot be controlled
This refers to activities that have become uncontrolled and addictive – like watching too much television. Destroy that – I don’t mean the TV set, but the time wasted in front of it. Be in control of such activities. This rule refers to diseases that cannot be controlled. If you can control them, then it’s fine. But it is important to control such activities.

4. Cut off diseased leaves as soon as you notice them
This means that as soon as you realize that you have hurt the other person – that’s a diseased leaf – cut it off immediately. Ask for forgiveness immediately, and forgive immediately; and then the leaf is cut off. Otherwise, such problems can become severe. And one more thing: Throw away that diseased leaf: Don’t remember the past.

5. Do not plant more than you can take care of properly
Don’t overcrowd the plants. Over-crowding prevents good air movement and exposure to adequate sunlight. That means you shouldn’t try to do so many things in 24 hours a day that your marriage-garden gets neglected – and your family becomes your last priority. The garden of your ‘family’ must always be your Number One priority. Over-crowding will prevent exposure to adequate sunlight (God’s light) and also good air movement (good fellowship between husbands and wives).

These are the laws that God Himself has made for gardens all over the world. So make your family your first priority.

The Reality of the Body of Christ

Santosh — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:42:27 +0000

by Zac Poonen

Under the new covenant, God has not intended that we should be lone Christians living by ourselves – even if we are living in victory over sin. God’s will is that there should be a Body of disciples of Jesus manifesting His glory together.

There is a difference between a Body and a congregation. A congregation is no better than a secular club. The club may be a good club, where people care for one another and help one another. But a Body is more than that. In the Body of Christ, each member is first of all inwardly connected to the Head and then inwardly and inseparably connected to the other members. These members must grow in oneness until their unity is like the unity of the Father and the Son (Jn.17:21-23).

Satan opposes the building of such a Body anywhere on earth, for he knows that such a Body can rout him, put him to flight, and destroy his kingdom. Jesus said that it is against the church that the gates of Hell would not prevail (Matt.16:18). The gates of Hell may prevail against a lone individual Christian. But they cannot prevail against the church. That is why Satan’s attacks on spiritual unity among believers are far stronger than his attacks on purity.

Where any two disciples of Jesus are firmly united in oneness of mind and spirit, whatever they ask for will be granted, for in two such disciples is found an expression of the Body of Christ (Matt.18:18-20).

In fellowship with other believers, we will discover the selfishness and utter corruption of our flesh much more quickly and more deeply than if we lived all by ourselves. It is only through fellowship with others who have a flesh that our rough edges can be smoothened out.

Many believers merely spin theories about the church and the Body of Christ. But we must be among those who seek reality. There are enough theories about the church in Christendom. We don’t have to add to that number with one more theory or doctrine about the Body of Christ. Let us demonstrate the reality of the Body in our mutual relationships in our local church, and thus demonstrate to the world and to Satan that the Body of Christ is a reality on earth.

God Looks for Faithfulness in Little Things

Santosh — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 05:30:36 +0000

by Zac Poonen

In 1 Kings 19:19-21 we read of Elijah calling Elisha.

Elisha was working hard in the fields with his oxen, when Elijah called him.

Notice first of all, that God always calls those who are working hard and faithful in their secular occupations. Moses was faithfully looking after his father-in-law’s sheep when God called him. David was looking after sheep and fighting with lions and bears. Amos was a hardworking herdsman. Peter, James, John and Andrew were hardworking fishermen. Matthew was sitting at the table working on his accounts. We never see, anywhere in the Old Testament or the New Testament, that God called a lazy man for his service.

We don’t find Elijah going to Elisha’s house when he was fast asleep and calling him there – because we would have thought he was a lazy man. Jesus also never went to Peter’s house in the evening to call him. He called him when he was fishing.

All these examples show us that God wants us to be faithful and hardworking in our secular jobs, before He can call us to serve Him. If you are not faithful in earthly matters, how can you be faithful in heavenly matters? If you are young and still living at home, then be a faithful son or daughter at home.

Notice secondly, that all these men dropped everything and went, as soon as God called them. We see that in Peter, John and Matthew and also here with Elisha. God calls those who will respond to His call immediately and wholeheartedly. They may seek to confirm God’s call on their lives with godly people in order to be certain that they are not acting on their own emotional feelings. But once they are sure, they act quickly. God can use only such people to serve Him, because His service requires instant obedience, total commitment and hard work.

So God tests us in our secular occupations, to see whether we are faithful. If you are asked to clean a room and you are careless about the way you do it, or you are slipshod about it, I doubt if God will ever call you to serve Him. Because, if that’s the way you clean up a room that will probably be the way you clean up your heart as well. How then can God use you to clean up His church? It is faithfulness in the little things that God looks for.

God Moves a Heathen King to Fulfill His Purpose

Santosh — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 06:05:47 +0000

by Zac Poonen

We read in Ezra 1:2, that God moved King Cyrus to order the building of the temple. Cyrus said, “The Lord God has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build the house for Him in Jerusalem”(Ezra 1:2). See the sovereignty of God that moved a heathen king to order the building of God’s temple in Jerusalem!

Cyrus went on to say, “Whoever is among you let him go up to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of God.”(Ezra 1:3). He did not compel any Israelite to go. They were free to choose. Even so today – we are free to stay in dead religious systems or to move away from them to Jerusalem.

And then Cyrus said, “Let the men support him with a freewill offering for the house of God” (1:4).

To build Jerusalem, the Body of Christ, the first thing we need to recognize is that God is sovereign over all people. He could move ungodly rulers in that day, and He can move anyone even today to fulfil His purposes. If we do not believe that, we cannot build Jerusalem.

The second thing we need to recognize is that God never compels anyone to leave Babylon. All are invited to leave. But no-one is forced to do so. We must give people freedom to choose, for God loves only cheerful givers.

The third thing we see is that those who don’t go personally can still support God’s work with “a freewill offering” (1:4). If we can’t build Jerusalem personally, we can still support its building with freewill offerings.

Why did that Persian king Cyrus support God’s people so much?

The answer perhaps lies here: Nearly 200 years before Cyrus was born, the prophet Isaiah prophesied about him by name: “Thus says the Lord, ‘When I say of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd,” he will certainly do as I say. He will command that Jerusalem be rebuilt and that the Temple be restored. This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, His anointed one, whose right hand He will empower. Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed with fear. The Lord says: ‘I will go before you, Cyrus; I will smash down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord God of Israel. And why have I called you for this work? It is for the sake of Israel my chosen one. I called you by name when you did not know me. I have prepared you so all the world from east to west will know there is no other God’” (Isa.44:28-45:6).

Daniel who was still alive at that time, must have shown this Scripture to Cyrus – and Cyrus must have been overwhelmed to know that Almighty God had prophesied about him by name, two centuries earlier. This would have humbled him and he did what that Isaiah prophesied that he would do – command the Jewish people to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple!!

God’s ways are truly amazing.