Spiritual brokeness needs spiritual dealing and healing

 

2Co 7:8 – 12 I know I distressed you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don't feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a while. Now I'm glad--not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss. Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets. And now, isn't it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You're more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you've come out of this with purity of heart. And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter. My primary concern was not for the one who did the wrong or even the one wronged, but for you--that you would realize and act upon the deep, deep ties between us before God.

When anyone in the Body of Christ is hurting all members suffer. The example of cutting of a thumb from the human body given by Ps Daniel explains this very brilliantly. The thumb will die if it is not connected back to the body and that is the distress the passage speaks of. As Paul explains to the Corinthians it was for the benefit of all that his first letter was written. The thumb by itself will start to decay and rot and that is the dealing we face spiritually if we are put away from the body. But if healing were to take place we need to desire to come back through God's grace with sincere repentance and then restoration becomes available to all who have gone astray.

At different seasons of our life we maybe tempted to break away and Ps Daniel related to us in his sermon over the weekend the time he did that and how God challenged him to come back to Him. Today I am proud to say we see a Pastor who is strong, restored and doing great exploits by His grace for Him whilst remaining in the Body. The bandwidth that he has has always amazed me and he is growing from one level of glory to another. Praise God for His restoring nature!

I pray in my season of distress I will turn back to God quickly in sincere repentance so that I can be restored again to His body.

Pastor Daniel is a great inspiration to me!

 

......continuation from last post

Henry commentary states, "Here we have, I. Orders given to send spies to search out the land of Canaan. It is here said, God directed Moses to send them (Num_13:1, Num_13:2), but it appears by the repetition of the story afterwards (Deu_1:22) that the motion came originally from the people; they came to Moses, and said, We will send men before us; and it was the fruit of their unbelief. They would not take God's word that it was a good land, and that he would, without fail, put them in possession of it. They could not trust the pillar of cloud and fire to show them the way to it, but had a better opinion of their own politics than of God's wisdom. How absurd was it for them to send to spy out a land which God himself had spied out for them, to enquire the way into it when God himself had undertaken to show them the way! But thus we ruin ourselves by giving more credit to the reports and representations of sense than to divine revelation; we walk by sight, not by faith; whereas, if we will receive the witness of men, without doubt the witness of God is greater.

In my estimation a bad report is when we walk by sight and this was amplified very recently when I displayed a lack of self control in the midst of loved ones and staff in an argument of my rights with my wife. Although my wife and I had resolved this later the visual experience would have left a bad taste in their mouths.

The very thing which we sometimes boast of to others that we would not do, is the very thing I fell to as I was tempted. May Our Good Lord Jesus Christ cause healing to come to those affected and may I continue to trust His Good Report for our lives.

Our children learn from our modeling

 

Ps Daniel gave a very heart provoking sermon this evening. It was one which I could easily relate to as I had at many times not been a good role model to both my natural child and spiritual children who the Lord has placed in my care.

Many times my behavior has not been reflective of God's character. Simple things like speeding up when the amber light is turning to red at a traffic junction comes to mind as an example. Our thoughts even excuse us by justifying and affirming us because we were rushing to do a "God deed". This simple act of justification talks about our right to do what we did. In the process our responsibility to do the right thing and being a role model is neglected.

The next generation which comes out of this behavioral training will have an uncanny resemblance to the generation which taught them. Sometimes we only become aware of this when another person relates to us this phrase "like father like son or like mother like daughter" concerning their behavior. Then when we recollect our behavior, usually talking to our parents, we will find they too were echoing then what we are saying to our children now.

The passage that was expounded on was Numbers Chapters 13 & 14. The verse which ....to be continued

Will I become a prodigal son?

Will I become a prodigal son?
Originally uploaded by chandrangopalan

Starting in Luke 15 verse 12 we see the story of a father which describes the Father heart of God. In the next ten verses I have chosen these following verses to highlight his heart for his prodigal son.

The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.' "So the father divided the property between them. ……. "That brought him to his senses. ……I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; ………."When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. ………"But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

The character of this father is so clearly reflected in way he dealt with his prodigal son. In asking for his inheritance the son was saying, “You are dead”. In giving him his inheritance before his death the father was saying, “You need to know for yourself”. In coming to his senses the son was saying, “Now I know my sin and as an outcast to my villager I am willing to die by being stoned”. The father watching for him through the seasons from a distance ran to meet him, which was saying, “I must reach him first before anyone recognize him as my son and stone him”. And finally when the father did see him, this old feeble man must have run to the gates of his community and without pay any attention to what the prodigal son said embraced him and protected him from the reaction of the villagers. Immediately to confirm this action he reestablishes him as a son so that the villagers could not stone him. Although the father restores his sonship, the son will never again be rewarded with inheritance.

Will I be a prodigal son?

What kind of fruit is showing in my life?

What kind of fruit is showing in my life?
Originally uploaded by chandrangopalan

What kind of fruit is showing in my life?

Many times in my life the truth of my inner being was revealed when I was put through a trial. The sermons in our church during the past weekend were simple and yet "brutal". It spoke about the fruit which I displayed in times of adversity.

Galatians 5:22-23 talks about all the good flavors in the fruit found in our lives. I pondered on the vices and virtues which are found in the Bible and in my life. My prayer is to have more of the virtues and less of the vices.

VICES: neglecting God and others - sexual immorality (Gal 5:19); impurity (Gal 5:19); Lust (Col 3:5); Hatred (Gal 5:20); Discord (Gal 5:20); Jealousy (Gal 5:20); Anger (Gal 5:20); Selfish ambition (Gal 5:20); Arrogance (2 Cor 12:20, Gal 5:20); Envy (Gal 5:21); Murder (Rev 22:12-16); Idolatry (Gal 5:20, Eph 5:5) Witchcraft (Gal 5:20); Drunkenness (Gal 5:21); Wild living (Luke 15:13, Gal 5:21) Cheating (1 Cor 6:8); Adultery (1 Cor 6:9, 10); Homosexuality (1 Cor 6:9, 10); Greed (1Cor 6:9, 10, Eph 5:5); Stealing (1 Cor 6:9, 10); Lying (Rev 22:12-16)
VIRTUES: the by-product of living for God - Love, Joy, Peace, Patience (long suffering), kindness, goodness, faithfulness (Gal 5:22) and gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:23)

The most frightening things about all this is when our hearts become hardened or like Pharaoh's heart when God hardens it we may not consider exhibiting virtues. The verse in Galatians 5:21 states for the "least" obvious sin to the "most" obvious sin the one who practices such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

When Daniel was serving 4 pagan kings he served faithfully until the last king released them at the appointed time (70 years later)and recognized Daniel's God as the Most High God!

Lord Jesus Christ, I pray I will have more of your fruit and less of my vices displayed in my life so that Your name will be glorified always. Amen

Will I choose to be a wicked servant?

wicked servant
Originally uploaded by chandrangopalan

Preparing for a Bible session I had to cover a few of the letters Paul wrote to Timothy, Titus and the Thessalonian church. It talked lots about keeping on the straight and narrow!

These verses in 1 Timothy 6: 3-5 spoke volumes to me about what not to do. "If you have leaders there who teach otherwise, who refuse the solid words of our Master Jesus and this godly instruction, tag them for what they are: ignorant windbags who infect the air with germs of envy, controversy, bad-mouthing, suspicious rumors. Eventually there's an epidemic of backstabbing, and truth is but a distant memory. They think religion is a way to make a fast buck".

I must constantly ask myself if I have denied the faith, am conceited and argumentative, cause confusion, envy and factions and looking to use spiritual things for financial gains!

At that judgment day what will Jesus say to me, "You ...............servant