Dr.C.V. VadavanaFounder & Chairman, Sathyam Service Trust

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A COMPLETE CHRISTIAN FAMILY MAGAZINEVolume 3 Issue 9 September 2012

Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.

Everyone who is the truth hears My voice’’ Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” John 18:37-38 (NASB)

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Dear Readers,

“Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!”(1 Chronicles 16:11)

For many years, Sathyam Service Trust has been working in the field of social welfare but a key focus was in activities surrounding the disabled. It was this focus that led to the creation of the Sathyam Research Institute and Disability Center in Tiruvalla, Kerala. The mission of SRIDC is to expose and develop the hidden skills and abilities of a person with disability; to provide education and training for betterment in the life of a disabled person; to remove social, cultural, economic barriers from the disabled; to organize and implement a comprehensive, integrate programs of research and training; and to achieve their own goals by leading healthy and independent life. Disability can become a condition of dependence but this can be alleviated through proper guidance and training. God is calling all of us to be a part of His great mission.

We must always be willing to accept the Lord's charge despite our own lack of knowledge or foresight of the His ultimate goal. Dr. David H. Mills tells the story of Moses' call to action and describes how the greatest asset of a leader is obedience to the Lord. Our fear of the unknown can deter us from following the call of God. Sometimes our desire for total knowledge and under-standing can led us to forget that some of the greatest things are accomplished due to the courage to take a risk and the faith to always look to God.

In his article “Good God in Bad Times”, Pastor Mike Harrison reminds us that every situation enters our lives only as God allows and it is only He who has the understanding and wisdom we seek. All circumstances are for creation of the most good for most people. He may not grant us under-standing for every action but he always acts for our good. It is with that faith that we must always turn to the Lord for our wisdom and strength. Even in bad timesthere is a good God.

In this issue we have also included various articles on thoughts about the spiritual life of God and our relationship with him, including an article on ways to grow your faith.

God bless you and happy reading.

3September 2012

facebook.com/sathyam.indiatwitter.com/sathyam_india

4

Rev. Barney Kinard21

5Digging DeeperDr. Alexander Kurian

9

Launa Stan19

Pastor. Mike Harrison

Dr. Jon Marshall

7

The opinions of the advertisers and contributors are not necessarily those of the magazine or Sathyam Publications.

Send us your feedback on the magazine at: truthalive@truthintl.org

We would love to hear from you!

26Ines S. Franklin

Write to us!

Have you been blessed by an article in Truth Alive? What more would you like to see on the pages? Share your experience with us. We would love to hear from you. Mail us at truthalive@ truthintl.org or post your letter to Truth Alive Sathyam Publications Thottabhagom P.O. Thiruvalla-689541, Kerala.

Dr. David H Mills

From “A Stick” into the “Staff of God”

Contents

A Good God in Bad Times

11

A Throne of Grace

Dr. Charles C. Ryrie

Spiritual Ropes

Grow Your Faith

Roadmap to God’s Will;Trust God with the Future

13 The Power of Sin

Jolly Ann Thomas

Spiritual Disciplines: Meditation

4 September 2012

from a throne of grace, and that while experiencing them he can be sustained by grace from that throne.

But we must come to that throne of grace. We must ask God in prayer for specific help for each need. If we do experience God’s grace, it may be because we do not ask for it. “We have not because we ask not’’(Jam. 4:2). God could not encourage us in any better way than to reveal His throne as a throne of grace.

Did you meet your Lord this morning

Before you saw a human face?

Did you look His beauty

Through His-abounding grace?

Did you bow in prayer before Him

Ere you went on your way?

Did you ask for strength to carry

All the burdens of your day?

How He waits to give His blessing

On our lives every day;

Christian, never start without Him,

Let Him speak, and them, obey - Unknown

Charles C. Ryrie

Did you ever play that word-association game? You remember someone says a word like “color,” and you’re supposed to say the first thing that pops into your mind, like “blue.”

If we were playing the game, and said “throne,” what you say? “King.” “Rule.” “Pomp.” “Regal.” Possibly one of these responses. But not likely the word “grace.” Throne and grace don’t seem to go together, But they do in the Bible, for the Christian has a throne of grace (Heb. 4:16).

What is grace? “Unmerited divine assistance” says the dictionary. whether or not the compilers of the dictionary know it, this good definition reflects the impact Christianity had on the word.

You see, to the Greek, grace was not unmerited. They used the word to describe the beauty of a person or work of art, or of graciousness of speech, or of the glory of victory or of favors which the gods bestowed. But they considered man to be virtuous, so grace was not entirely unmerited.

But with the coming of Jesus Christ came a new revelation of grace. The apostle John declared that “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Likewise, the apostle Paul said that the grace of God which brings salvation appeared when Christ came (Tit. 2:11). That first Christmas revealed grace to the world with a meaning the word had not had before. Jesus displayed grace because He offered the word something completely undeserved- The gift of eternal life. His grace was in the truest sense unmerited.

But now He is risen, ascended into heaven, and reigning on a throne of grace. Not a throne of Judge-ment, nor a throne of wrath, but a throne of unmerited divine assistance. Assistance in meetings, man’s great-est need of forgiveness of sins, and assistance to help with lesser needs that arise for all of us daily.

Indeed, in that verse in Hebrews, the writer urges us to approach that throne of grace “to find grace to help in time of need.” Whatever difficulty the Christian is called on to bear, he can be assured that they originate

A Throne of Grace

September 2012 5

continued in page 8...

Dr. David H Mills

From “A Stick” into the “Staff of God”

The story of Moses is an account of one of the greatest leaders of the Old Testament! It has been said of Moses that for 40 years he learned to be important. Then for 40 years he learned to be unimportant. Then for the last 40 years he learned what God can do with someone who is not important. This journey of Moses’ leadership is the story of how God takes a “weak stick” and turns it into a “powerful scepter” that commands nations and becomes a divine channel of power.

During Moses’ first 40 years he became acquainted with the world of power and of dominating men. He was the prince of Egypt and commanded thousands of slaves as well as the entire population of free Egy-ptians. Here Moses was in reach of the scepter of Pharoah, a “rod of iron” seemingly unbreakable. He was second in line to the throne. To have that rod of precious metals in his hand was to visualize his potential. He was a man of power in the most powerful nation of his world. He knew fame, victory in war, and achievements that were recognized by the whole nation. It was a world of success, wealth, and comfort for him. Many in our world today seek such a life, the lifestyle of the rich and famous. However, for Moses, this only left him empty. Once he realized he was really a Jew, the identity crisis of this knowledge changed everything for him. He was motivated to help these poor victims, seeking to deliver them from the unjust slavery that had been forced upon them. His heart’s passion was revealed as he is seen trying to rescue a helpless Jew from being killed during a confrontation with an unjust Egyptian supervisor. This confrontation ended in that supervisor’s death since the supervisor would not back down. This shocking event was misre-presented and misunderstood by the Egyptians and the Jews alike. Moses was accused of creating a revolution against the king and trying to take command as a self-appointed “leader” over the Jewish slaves. The king sentenced him to death. His life of power and wealth ended in what looked like a failure to all those who watched him.

Moses then became a fugitive and was forced to enter the world of obscurity where he became a wand-erer in the empty Midian desert. This quiet life was the exact opposite of the former 40 years. Here he picked up a stick to manage the sheep of Jethro (not even his own sheep). Dealing with sheep was offensive to the sophisticated and powerful Egyptians. This had became Moses’ fulltime occupation. To do this job he had to have a stick from the unimpressive and unim-portant desert. The stick was with him all the time. He used it to defend the sheep, guide the sheep, stop the sheep from hurting each other, and for numbering the sheep. This stick symbolized his identity as a despised shepherd. It’s message…”You do an unimportant job in an unimportant place and you are an unimportant person.”

After 40 years of living in this world of unim-portance, Moses had the well-known burning bush encounter (Exodus 3-4). There God called him to deliver the Jews from the all-powerful Egyptian king and nation, truly an impossible mission by all human measurements. As God was recruiting and preparing the reluctant Moses, Moses pushed back with the question, “What if the Jews do not believe You sent me? How can I convince them?” He was pondering his unimportance, his lowly status, and his lack of any type of military power. Why would the Jews follow him?

God’s answer was, “What is in your hand?” Moses responded, “A stick.” God was getting ready to explode Moses’ mindset and feelings of unimportance. “Is that all it is, a stick?” Then God commands, “Throw it down.” I can imagine Moses saying, “Why? How is that going do anything?” Here Moses was being mentored to obey even when you do not understand. Once Moses obeyed what God said, the stick was transformed into a lethal snake. Moses ran away from it. That snake terrified him! God commanded him to pick up that snake. Next Moses was being trained to

September 20126

K n o w Y o u r B i b l e

II Chronicles

Author: Ezra has traditionally be assumed that the author of this book by making use of the prophetic records by Samuel, Isaiah and others (see 1 Chr. 29:29; 2 Chr. 32:32).

Date of writing: Around BC 450-425.

Purpose:

(1) To show the divine reason for the dealings of God with Israel.

(2) To reveal the sin of the wicked Kings.

Key verse: 7:14.

Key people: Solomon,Queen Sheba, Reheboam, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Uzziah, Hezekiel.

Brief Summary

* 2 Chronicle mainly records the reign of king Solomon.

* The Book portrays the building of the temple by king Solomon.

* Queen Sheba’s visit to Solomon is an another important matter in this book.

* 2 Chronicle focuses only in the King of Judah and excluded those of Israel.

* The book ends with the proclamation of King Cyrus to build the temple of God in Jerusalem.

Outline

1.The reign of solomon, and his construction and dedication of the temple (Chs. 1-9).

2. The period of the kings of Judah from Rehoboam through Zedekiah (Chs. 10-36).

3.The proclamation of Cyrus to go back to Jerusalem (Ch. 36).

September 2012 7

Dr. Alexander Kurian

Digging DeeperTHE GOSPEL OF GOD Romans 3 (Exposition)

The Righteousness of God through Faith (3:21-31)

The saving righteousness of God is the theme of 3:21-4:25. Since no one can be righteous before God by keeping the law, Paul now explains that righteousness (right standing resulting in right relationship with God) comes through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Paul answers the age-old question: “How then can a man be just with God?” (Job 25:4).

3:21: Righteousness of God is dispensed apart from legalism and human effort. It is not based on human merit or obedience to the works of the law. The right-eousness of God is divinely revealed “being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.”The Law and the Pro-phets is a reference to the Old Testament.

3:22: Righteousness of God is acquired through faith and it is available to all who believe. A person is saved through faith in Jesus Christ alone, apart from anything else.

3:23: Sin is defined in various ways in the Bible. Here it is defined as lack of conformity to the glory of God.

3:24: Righteousness is given freely through grace (unmerited favor), not because of any good thing in the one justified. To justify was a legal term meaning to secure a favorable verdict, to acquit, to vindicate, to declare righteous. A believing sinner is declared not guilty but righteous by the divine judge. The rede-mption of a sinner could come only by Christ Jesus. He paid the price to redeem sinful men.

Three ideas are involved in the doctrine of redemption:

1. Paying the ransom with the blood of Christ (1 Cor. 6:20; Rev. 5:9).

2. Removal from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13; 4:5).

3. Release from the bondage of sin in to the freedom in Christ (1 Pet.1:18).

3:25-26: Jesus’ blood propitiated or satisfied God’s wrath and His holy demands were met. His holiness and justice were not compromised in forgiving sinners.

The only propitiation that could be acceptable to God had to be made by God Himself. In the New Testament propitiation is always the work of God, and not the work of man. The death of Christ also paid fully for sins committed before He died. “In the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.” Paul again repeats the supreme truth that God has demon-strated His righteousness and that He has shown Him-self to be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. God alone is the one who can provide the means of justification and who can declare people to be righteous. This is the heart and soul of Christian faith.

3:27-31: God’s righteousness is defended against criticism. In his diatribe style Paul asks three questions (27-28, 29-30, and 31) and answers them. Three impor-tant conclusions are drawn in this passage:

1. Since salvation is by faith no one can boast before God.

2. Since God is the God of Jews and Gentiles, there can only be one way of justification – by faith.

3. Justification by faith does not nullify the law, but establishes it.

The role of the law is to make men conscious of sin and it is confirmed by everyone who ack-nowledges sin. The law itself testifies to the fact that obedience to the law cannot save and that righteousness can be achieved only thr-ough faith in Christ.

Summary:

l The revelation of the righteousness of God is in Christ and His death on the cross.

l The source of our justification is God’s grace and grace alone.

l The ground of our justification is Christ and His cross.

l The means of our justification is faith and faith alone.

September 20128

continued from page 7

From “A Stick” into the “Staff of God”

obey even when full of fear. When he picked it up, it was transformed back into a stick but with a newidentity.! This was no ordinary stick, it was “the staff of God!”

Something very powerful had just happened that st

may be hidden to the 21 century reader. The snake was the symbol of power in Egypt. The Pharaoh, the king, wore the cobra on his head. The cobra was in engraved and represented in many of their tombs to show the power of the one buried. Moses’ stick was the very instrument that would defeat the powers of Egypt, both natural and spiritual. Bible teacher Burton commented, “The Egyptians despised shepherds; and now, it was to be a shepherd’s staff that would humble and overthrow the all-powerful enemies of God’s people. The might and glory of Egypt would be humbled and destroyed by it, yet it was merely an instrument in the hands of an instrument (Moses) of God!” Did you get that? “An instrument in the hands of an instrument.” This stick was an object lesson as to what God was doing in Moses’ life. His image as a despised shepherd was being transformed into the image of one who would overcome and overthrow the greatest powers on earth! But there was only power when under the authority of God. Moses must first obey God even when he does not understand or when he may be full of fear. But when he did that, his life would be full of spiritual power demonstrating the very power of God!

The lesson here is worth noting. Obedient leaders are channels of greatly needed spiritual power and insight. What unleashes this power? Obedience! The challenges to obedience are two: needing to be fully informed first before obeying and secondly raw fear. These two attitudes stop many leaders from following the sometimes frightening call of God. Consider the attitude of needing the vision fully explained before we do it. If we have this attitude then I ask, “Who

would marry anyone with this stipulation? Who would have a child? Or work for a company? Or move to a new city?” Etc.” It is impossible to know all the details before any adventure. If former men had done that, there would be no progress until this day! The church of Christ would still be in the upper room in Jerusalem! Why? Because everything accomplished is the result of risking and having the courage to try something new before they were comfortable or secure or even understood what may happen afterward. As someone has asserted, “Decide to do it and let the chips fall where they will.”

The second challenge followed in reaction to what Moses’ obedience created, a living snake with lethal potential. It seems out of control. It seems to be something that will destroy rather than build. Moses liberated between 2 and 3 million people! He will be responsible for feeding them and giving them water in the barren and hot desert. What God sometimes unleashes can be scary. But God reminds the leader that his obedience keeps it under control. This can be a huge comfort to a leader when his church grows too fast, or when people are excited to do small groups, or when they are asked to speak in front a king, or president. Keep doing what led you there, obey!

Stay focus on the simple formula God gave Moses: God speaks, we obey. That was how Moses led a nation through the wilderness for 40 years, and it will be the same formula for success in our leadership as well.

Father, we thank You for speaking to us. Forgive us when we feel we must have an explanation before we will do what You say. Forgive us when we let fear stop us from obeying You. We do believe that You speak to us and we ask that You please help us when we allow other influences to slow us down in our response. May our “obedience of faith” please You as we go forward and do what You have called us to do… to truly lead our people in accomplishing Your plan and purposes. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Who am I?

Because I prophesied the word of the Lord that Babylon would come against Judah, take it, and burn it, the princes were angry with me. They smote me and put me in prison. After many days King Zedekiah delivered me. But Lord’s word came to me again and I prophesied. This time I was cast into a miry dungeon. But Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch of the king, pleaded for my deliverance and he took me out from there and saved me. Who am I?

Jeremiah, Jer. 37:15, 38:6-10)

September 2012 9

Pastor. Mike Harrison

A Good God in Bad Times"David said in his heart..." (1 Samuel 27:1) "David strengthened himself in the Lord..." (1 Samuel 30:6)

Both of these scriptural excerpts come from the life of David during the years he was running for his life from King Saul. In both of these verses David finds himself discouraged, distressed and in danger. Yet in these two similar circumstances David looked for wisdom, guidance and encouragement in two very different places.

In 1 Samuel 27, weary of Saul's relentless hara-ssment, David consulted "his heart" for direction. A person's own heart is a poor place to search for a solution to trouble, because the heart is prone to emotional extremes, unrealistic expectations and self-deceit. In fact, Jeremiah 17:9 says "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"

Because David consulted his heart he fled in fear from his homeland and lived in hypocrisy and com-promise in the land Philistines for 16 months. In fact,

the decision he made when he consulted his heart created the crisis he faced in 1 Samuel 30. There, with his city smoldering, his family taken away by raiders and his men ready to kill him, David inquired of the One who does understand the heart; God. And as he sought the Lord he was granted strength, wisdom and eventual victory.

Every situation--even the seemingly unimaginable and unexplainable--enters into our lives only as God allows. He understands the things we misunderstand. He has an explanation for the things we cannot explain. He does not always grant us understanding or an explanation every time we ask, but it does good for us to remind ourselves that God is always good. If He chooses to limit my abilities or shrink my sphere of influence or to not meet my expectations, it is the best thing for my good and His glory (see Romans 8:28). A friend reminded me today, that in any given circumstance God's will is about accomplishing the most good for the most people. That said, wherever you find yourself today, God has circled it on a map for you...for good. Therefore, strengthen yourself in the Lord.

September 201210

September 2012 11

Spiritual Disciplines: Meditation

Dr. Jon Marshall

Remember it is not hasty reading, but serious medi-tation upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee’s touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that he reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian.

Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, 21-22.

Godly people love to meditate on God’s word, His attributes, and His actions. But some Christians fear meditating because they have seen its corruption in other religions. For the next few issues of the magazine I will be focusing on various “disciplines” or “practices” that Christian ought to regularly engage in. The first to be addressed is Christian meditation.

Let’s start with the big idea, God’s people medi-tated and urged meditation. A quick list of godly people who meditated includes: Isaac (Gen. 24:63), David (Ps. 63:6; 119; 15, 23, 27, 48, 78, 148; 143:5; 145:5), the sons of Korah (Ps. 49:3), and Asaph (Ps. 77:3, 6, 12). God and His people also urged medi-tation. Meditation marked Joshua and subsequent leaders’ guarantee of success (Josh. 1:8). It is the hallmark of the godly person (Ps. 1:2). David hopes that the object of his meditation pleases the Lord; we all meditate on something all the time and the content of that meditation determines our character to some extent (Ps. 19:14; contrast Ps. 38:12). Songs flow out of a heart that meditates on God (Ps. 104:34). In seve-ral of these passages meditation links up with “remem-bering.” To remember God is to bring to mind again all that he has done (1 Chron. 16:11-15). It is to replay the story, the event, the rescue, the advice, the command, the pro-mise. You do this in order to reassure, motivate, comfort, challenge, or calm yourself.

What does Christian meditation look like? Were they out in a pagoda chanting and swaying back and

forth? Were they humming “ohmmm, ohmmmm” over and over? Did they drop into trances and move into “another dimension” for a.while? To understand the Biblical concept of meditation a little better we can see how the various words are used. There are different words we translate as meditation and they have various meanings which give us an idea of what was going on. Resounding music, muse, imagine, murmur, soliloquy, take pains with, groan, growl, utter, speak, plot, cultivate, think about. Since people in those days prayed out loud, or at least moved their lips (see 1 Sam. 1:12-13), meditation and praying overlap. The ideas of murmuring, speaking a soliloquy (monologue), groa-ning, growling, uttering, and speaking obviously parallel a really intense prayer. But there seems also to be the idea of thoughtfulness involved. Plotting, cul-tivating (spending time to develop), thinking about, musing, and taking pains with all speak of intensity and focus. Repetition comes into the picture too. I love the idea of “resounding music” since that’s pretty familiar to us. David’s psalms sometimes have a refrain that’s repeated over and over (“His love endures forever;” Ps 118:1, 2, 3, 4, …). The notion of imagining also comes into the term and this can be really beneficial. How do you meditate on God’s goodness without imagining a

continued in page 12.

12 September 2012

Cross Word - “Women” of the Bible

Answers on page 20

5

Across

Down

1. What was Hosea’s unfaithful wife’s name?

2. “Call me Marah”, she said: “The almighty hath dealt bitterly with me”

3. Sheltred to entice and educe Joseh and tailed and was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.

1

2

4. She laughed, but said she didn’t.

5. She spoke against her brother’s marriage to an Ethiopian woman and was struck by leprosy.3

4

5

scene? How do you consider God’s glory without imagining a picture? Of course you’ll take scripture’s pictures as your starting point, but again you only have words in there so you’ll have to put words into shapes, colors, sounds, and smells. So meditation is like an intense prayer which involves the imagination, repetition, speaking to oneself and God while attempting to cultivate something (godliness, praise, motivation, etc.).

Now I want to prove to you that Jesus saw medi-tation as one of the main ways we live the Christian life. Jesus describes the way we relate to him in John’s gospel as “abiding.” Jesus says one aspect of abiding is to meditate on his words. “Let my words abide in you.” Let them rest or dwell in you. Let them sit there for a long time and get comfortable. “If my words make themselves at home in you then you’ll begin abiding in me.” Look at John 15:7. The word abide is sometimes translated as wait or dwell like two people are traveling from one place to another and they stopover in a small town for a few nights. They abide in that town. That’s what Jesus wants his word to do in us. Let it sit there for awhile. Jesus’ word living in us helps us to maintain our connection to him. So imagining that vine, you picture Jesus’ life, his sap, coming up through the stalk

into us as we receive his words and let them sit in us for awhile. Jesus rebukes some Jews earlier in John be-cause they failed to acknowledge his supremacy; their problem was that God’s word didn’t “remain” or “dwell” in the guys (John 5:38). After that He told some would-be believers that if they remained in his word they’d prove to be disciples (John 8:31). Here the interplay of meditating and obeying comes out. Bring His word into you and His teaching will live itself out of you. After these brief references to abiding Jesus gives the whole vine-branch picture to explain what he means. Jesus spiritually unites Himself to His people and they unite to him like a branch and vine unite to one another. We open ourselves to His presence in our lives by meditating/abiding on His word. We prove that we

1 have abided in him when His fruit comes out of us.

If you’ve never meditated on scripture, I suggest you begin today. Pick an important verse from scri-pture. Read it slowly through once in its context (maybe the whole paragraph). Then read just your verse two or three times. Then go through it word by word letting each one sit in your mind for 10-20 seconds. Ask God what the verse means. Ask him to give you faith to believe it. Ask him to conform you to it. Ask him questions and wait for him to open the verse to you. Repeat it, memorize it, receive it. Let the words of Jesus abide or dwell in your heart!

1John really liked this topic. He picked it up again in his letters: 1 John 2:24, 27; 2 Jn 9.

continued from page 11...

September 2012 13

Jolly Ann Thomas

The Power of Sinhe word of God differentiates between 'sin' & 'sins'. Sin represents the 'power of sin' which Timprisoned mankind at the fall. Romans 5:12

notes that “by one man sin entered into the world.” Sins represent the various sinful acts or wrongdoings one commits. 1 John 1:9 talks about the forgiveness of sins – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.” Though there can be varying degrees of 'sins' one can commit (for example, lying vs. committing murder), both the harmless and egregious ones are caused by the fallen nature or the 'power of sin' that was inherited from Adam.

Every descendant of the first Adam is born captive to the power of sin, but the world does not quite get it when we quote Romans 3:23 that the need for a Savior is because,'all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.' It is unreasonable to the natural man that the solution (or the punishment) for a small and harmless sin be compared with that for a severe one such as murder.

The 'power of sin' can be compared to a 'sleeping giant within.' Statistically speaking, children who are brought up in 'good' families, with loving parents, in a God-fearing atmosphere, and with adequate education for a bright future are very unlikely to end up as a menace to the society. However, in their so called 'good' personal lives, they may harbor, for example, unfor-giveness towards others who might have hurt them. A sense of 'justification', in having a reason for his unforgiveness, might perhaps soothe his conscience in such an instance. It won't be surprising to see such a person dismiss outright, the idea of a Savior to cleanse him from his 'sins'. He may even 'boast' about how 'good' he is in not having broken any of the Ten Commandments of God! The sleeping giant might never be awakened to its full and catastrophically destructive potential in his lifetime. In contrast, a child who has experienced a harsh and pitiless upbringing in poverty would have a high probability to end up as a

drug dealer or a murderer.

Thus, the credit for the degree to which the sinful nature bears fruit (sins) many a time goes to the circumstances in which a person is born and raised. That is, it is not the goodness within that causes a person to be a 'good' person per societal norms but rather it is the suppression of the bad (sin nature) through external factors that causes a person to look good in the eyes of man. All the while, 'the seed of the sinful nature' stays alive in the heart, which is what God is concerned about.

Here's an illustration of the power of sin, from which stems the legal authority of satan and his comrades to oppress humanity. It is so heavy a burden that no am-ount of good works can balance (forget overcome) this power.

continued in page 20...

Therefore, the concept of Jesus dying for the sins of the world is more profound than what meets the carnal eye. At the Cross, it was not just forgiveness of the sins of all humanity (past, present & future) that took place but the defeat of the root cause of sins, the power of sin.

14 September 2012

15September 2012

IT’S NOT MY FAULT! Have you noticed how today it is nobody’s fault?

There is no fault divorce, if you do not water the plants you buy at Home Depot, but bring them back within a year you can get all your money back. It’s not your fault!

Then there was the lady who bought coffee at Mc Donald’s and spilt it on her lap and sued and won with the idea it was Mc Donald’s fault for selling her coffee that was too hot.

Amazing! Who would have ever believed we would have gone from human reasoning to emotional circular reasoning. It all goes to prove it is the premise that you begin with that determines the final outcome of your logic. How do jurors or judges come to these crazy verdicts we hear about all the time? It is because thinking has been dumbed down. Dumb and Dumber has become not only a comedy but a documentary! It’s no wonder that the people of California turned down the recent proposition requiring parents be notified if their daughter was going to have an abortion. Everything today is emotion or politics, reason be damned! What kind of jury awards a man intent on committing suicide and then changing his mind, but still getting hit by the train and becoming paralyzed a large settlement, contending that the train was traveling faster than it was allowed to by law? What kind of thinking awards people million of dollars for having lung cancer, because they smoked cigarettes for years even though there are all sorts of warning labels on the packages? Where else but America can we become rich through our stupidity? But this is more

than just stupid reasoning. This is an assault on God’s word. Our laws were originally created as a model of God’s laws. Nowhere in the Bible does it call for men to enrich the foolish of the world. In it are consequences for our sins and mistakes. There are no foolish laws in there that says that if a man is shot while robbing a house, make sure he is found inside a house and not outside it when he is found by the police.

Otherwise, you may be found guilty of committing a

crime. Neither should the law say on the one hand if a

man who strikes a woman who is pregnant and kills her

unborn child accidentally is guilty of a crime, but which

on the other hand, says it is legal to willfully kill an

unborn baby as long as the mother gives her permission

to do so. The Bible is logical and righteous in its

judgments, but our present judicial system says it is

perfectly O.K. to perform these abortions, and the

woman and doctor are even praised for doing it!

While it is common for man (even Christians) to deny their guilt when they are wrong, (even my dear godly wife recently when she hit another car from behind and admitted she was legally guilty, felt the person who stopped suddenly was the one really at fault- (I’ve fear I’ve put my foot in it); So it is understandable for people to deny their guilt, but for judges to concur on these outlandish lawsuits is really appalling. When will sanity reign again in our land? I believe that will only happen when self centeredness and the religion of liberalism is rejected as a heresy of the heart and mind and people stand up for the law propagated in the Word of God.

John Stanek

O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, Futility and things of no profit.”( Jeremiah 16:19)

16 September 2012

Question TimeQ: How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God?

Ans: The Holy Spirit endorses it as the Word of God, causing us to accept its message and to prove its power in our lives. (To this “internal” evidence there may be added many “external” evidences which give supporting testimony to the endorsement of the Holy Spirit.)

1.The Holy Spirit is connected very intimately with the Bible.

(a) All the books of the Bible owe their origin to Him (Matt. 22:43; Heb. 3:7; Acts 28:25).

(b) The writers were ‘”borne along” by the Holy Spirit’s influence (II Pet. 1:21). The exercise of their natural faculties was not interfered with, yet spont-aneously they produced what God planned-so per-fectly so that what they said, God said (Dan. 9:10).

2. As the Bible is either read or preached it is the Holy Spirit’s particular right to endorse its truth to individual readers or hearers, according to His will.

(a) When the Holy Spirit chooses so to act, the message of the Bible comes over with power behind it-the Holy Spirit’s power-which results in con-viction (I Thess. 1:5).

(b) The message of the Bible is recognised to be then what it is-the Word of God and not the word of men (I Thess. 2:13).

3. The Christian’s conviction that the Bible is the Word of God grows as his experience of God increases.

(a) Every promise he claims rightfully is fulfilled (II Cor. 1:20).

(b) The more he learns of the Scriptures the more he finds them suitable to his need (Ps. 119:49-56).

(c) He finds that the Holy Spirit speaks to him through the Bible, whether he reads in the Old or the New Testament (Ps. 95:7-11; compare Heb. 3:7-11, noticing verse 7- “as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice...”).

(d) The Bible becomes more and more of a power in his life (I Thess. 2:13; Heb. 5:14).

4. As the Christian considers the “external” evidences that the Bible is the Word of God his conviction is strengthened.

There are many such evidences and each is worthy of thought:

(a) The Bible’s age.

(b) Its preservation inspite of many attacks.

(c) Its amazing unity, although made up of 66 different books, written by over 40 authors, over a great period of time.

(d) The Prophecies made in the Bible which have been fulfilled (Deut. 28:64; Jer. 30:11; Micah 5:2; Zech. 9:9; 11:12,13).

(e) Its Knowledge of human nature.

(f) The testimony of much of modern science. The evidence which science gives concerning the cre-ation of the universe, the evidence of geology, archaeology and geography all add confirmation to the fact that the Bible is the Word of God.

(g) Most important of all the “external” evidence is Christ’s repeated testimony to the Old Testament as the Word of God (e.g. Mark 12:36; Matt. 5:18).

5. The essential conviction that the Bible is the Word of God comes not from these “external” evidences, however, but from the Holy Spirit.

(a) Spirit insight is given to the Christian believer (I John 2:20, 27).

(b) The Holy Spirit guides the Christian into everything which is true (John 16:13, 14).

(c) Christians are given understanding which is not natural to man (I Cor. 2:10-12): this fact explains the growing conviction they possess that the Bible is the Word of God.

17September 2012

Dr. C.V. Vadavana

Sathyam Research Institute

and Disability CenterFor 22 years, Sathyam Service Trust has been working in the field of social welfare and charity and had thrown light to the downtrodden in the society, through its outreaching programs and activities. It has mainly focused its activities in the area of disability and has prepared thousands to be independent. We understand disability as a condition of dependence, which can be ameliorated through proper guidance and training.

Hence, with the vision to empower the disabled population through the help of the society, I started the Sathyam Research Institute and Disability Center in Tiruvalla, Kerala. SRIDC is the result of immense requirement of uplifting the disabled population in the Indian society. The mission of SRIDC is to expose and develop the hidden skills and abilities of a person with disability, to train and develop life skills, to promote and direct employment opportunities to people with disability, to remove social, cultural, economic barriers of disability towards development, to provide basic education and training for betterment in the life of a disabled person, to organize and implement a comprehensive, integrated program of research and training, to develop rural community infrastructure, to enhance opportunities for people with disabilities and to achieve their own goals by leading healthy and independent life.

We at SRIDC provide services like screening and identification, referrals for hospital and surgical inter-ventions, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, mobility aids like wheelchair and tricycles, social survey and research works, day care and resi-dential services, parent and student counseling, com-munity and house based rehabilitation, health care and medical facility, daily living skills, and nutritional skills.

Apart from the Sathyanikethan School for the mentally retarded children, SRIDC also supports Women Employment Program, Industrial Training Center, Computer Training, Training Program for staff and parents, Skill Development Programs, Pre-voca-

tional Training, Printing Technology and Tailoring Unit.

Sathyam Ministries organized the 2nd International Seminar on Mental Retardation on 27 November, 2009 and 28 November, 2009 at the Kaviyoor Disability Center, Tiruvalla, Kerala. Around 250 people keenly participated in the seminar.

Jackie Mills- Fernald, Washington DC, who is considered to be the most valuable resource person interested in improving the access for people with disabilities, was the key-note speaker for the two-day seminar. She instituted the Capital Area Disabilities Ministries, a coalition of 20 Washington DC churches, in 2007. She has been an active participant of the Access Ministries since 1999.

The parents of mentally retarded children were taught the techniques to educate their child. They were also introduced to the ways to prepare a special curriculum tailored to their child’s needs. “Involve your child in extracurricular activities to foster a sense of social interaction”, said Jackie Mills.

The aim of this seminar to provide awareness to the parents as well as teachers in making their child self

The tailoring unit of SRIDC

18 September 2012

dependent, was successfully sent across to the hearts of all the parents.

About 100 mentally retarded children were left with excitement and happiness when they were given a great opportunity to cut a 300 kg cake in the form of a shooting star, as apart of the 2009 Christmas celebrations, which was organized in collabora- tion with the Physically Handicapped Association,

Pathanamthitta, Kerala.

At the dawn of a new century, we are witnessing a new day in missions. A few years ago, no one dreamt that the Asian church would be ready to lead the final thrust. But dedicated native evangelists are beginning to go out and reach their own. Even more exciting: we have a role. God is calling all of us to be part of what He is doing.

Dr. Frederic Loomis leaned back against the pillows. He was so desperately tired that even sitting up was an effort. He was a sick man, and article called “The Best Medicine,” and he was determined to write it.

He knew, as he lay propped against his pillows, that death was waiting at the bedside. There was so little time left to him now! This message might be his last... and it was a pity, too, for there was still so much he wanted to say, so many ideas gleaned from his long years of practice that he had hoped to put down on paper.

Well, he’d probably never get to them now. But there was no use worrying about what couldn’t be helped. “It’s but little good you’ll do, watering last years crops.”

As that familiar line from George Eliot went through his mind, Dr. Loomis was suddenly no longer tired. He reached for his pen-he knew now what he wanted to say:

“Its but little good you’ll do, watering last year’s crops.” Yet that is exactly what I have seen hundreds of my patients doing in the past twenty-five years- watering with freely flowing tears things of the irrevocable past. Not the bitter sweet memories of loved ones, which I could understand, but things done which should not have been done, and things left undone which should have been done.

I am a doctor, not a preacher; but a doctor, too, must try to understand the joys and sorrows of those who come to him. He should without preaching be able to expound the philosophy that one cannot live adequ-ately in the present, nor effectively face the future, when one’s thoughts are buried in the past.

Thought of the Month

Moaning over what cannot be helped is a confession of futility and of fear, of emotional stagnation-in fact, of selfishness and cowardice. The best way to break this vicious, morbid circle- “to snap out of it”-is to stop thinking about yourself, and start thinking about other people. You can lighten your own load by doing something for someone else. By the simple device of doing a outward, unselfish act today, you can make the past recede. The present and future will again take on their true challenge and perspective.

As a doctor I have seen it tried many times and nearly always it has been a far more successful prescription than anything I could have ordered from the drugstore.

Dr. Loomis’ premonition came true. These words were his last, for he died soon afterward. Published shortly after his death, “The Best Medicine” is an enduring testament to the doctor’ s own courage and undaunted spirit. Many who read it, along with the editorial comment explaining the circumstances in which it was written, were doubly inspired. For here, if ever, was a man who practiced what he preached! Dr. Loomis knew he was dying, but he didn’t believe in “moaning over what cannot be helped.” He turned his thoughts away from himself, to the needs and problems of other people and what he could do to help them.

On his Death bed, out of a Lifetime of service and devotion to others, Frederic Loomis left us this inspiring message: Stop thinking about yourself... lighten your own load by doing something for someone else... it will keep you from morbid worry and fears...it’s the best medicine.

The Best Medicine

Courtesy: Light from many Lamps

September 2012 19

Launa Stan

Spiritual Ropes e as Christians are continually praying for lost family members and those in our realm Wof influence who do not yet know the Lord.

Sometimes we feel that the burden is too great upon us to say the right thing or quote the correct scripture. The truth is-the onus is squarely upon God. Scripture tells us that only His own Spirit can draw a man’s heart toward Himself. A soul cannot come to salvation any other way.

Reflect back to when you surrendered your life to Christ and died to your sins. Was this turning from sin your brilliant idea or did something miraculous ha-ppen? Speaking for myself, I sensed that God was getting my attention in subtle but substantial ways. Each day, He seemed to be pulling me closer to the knowledge of who He was. Eventually, I completely succumbed to His goodness and His mercy and collapsed in His open arms. In an instant, I became a different person and my life has never been the same. This is what salvation brings.

Romans 2:4 says it this way, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and the tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance.” Often we think of that word “lead” as the idea of God wooing us as a husband draws a wife. There might be some truth to that, but as I see the definition of that word it means more to “drive or to impel like an animal.” God uses everything at His disposal to pull and drag the unsaved from hell, just as a person would put a rope around a foolish animal to keep it from being slaughtered or destroying itself. He loves His creation that much! The unsaved are in a burning building, so to speak, and The Almighty isn’t singing love songs and quoting poetry to them. He is shouting and attempting to bring them out of danger by powerful

methods. Sadly, many fight His efforts and run back into the thing that will destroy their souls.

The Bible tells us in 2 Peter 3:9 that “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

Does that mean that we can sit back and not worry about winning souls? Of course not! We as Christians have a responsibility to bring the Good News to all who are spiritually hungry and thirsty. Often, we are a cru-cial part of His plan in bringing the lost sheep into His fold. We are His hands and feet. We absolutely must continue to intercede for those who are without Christ and we must continue to witness to them about what the Lord has done in our lives and hearts. What I am saying is that we have to keep in mind that ulti-mately a person cannot come to Him unless God’s own Holy Spirit drags them with chords of supernatural love.

So as I wait for many of my own family members to have their spiritual eyes open, including an 85 year old family member, I mustn’t feel undue heaviness. I can’t be frustrated thinking there must be something else that I can say or some other scripture that I can quote. Neither should you. If you have shared the gospel fully and you pray without ceasing for that cherished person, you have done what you are called to do. Jesus loves them more than you do and He is doing the work that needs to be done. He died so that none would perish and all would come to repentance. Have you been carrying a burden for the lost that is not yours to carry? Today, let it go and understand that without the Spirit’s drawing, a person cannot come to the truth. This is God’s job. Our part is to be faithful.

September 201220

Cross Word Ans.

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One day a rich Greenock merchant, walking along the quays, incautiously missed his footing and fell into the Clyde. He would have been drowned but for the bravery of a poor man, who leaped in after him and rescued him from immediate death. The millionaire, after coming to himself, and knowing what he owed to his deliverer, put his hand into his dripping pocket, and rewarded him with the trifling sum of sixpence!

This caused a commotion in the crowd that had now gathered, and language more strong than select was hurled at the merchant of his unheard-of stinginess and he began to sneak off, actually afraid of something worse than hard words. At this stage a stout, broad-shouldered, dark-eyed, noble-looking son of toil came up and ask the cause of the turmoil. On hearing it, with a withering look of contempt at the merchant, he turned to the crowd and said: “My freens yere a’wrang. Let him alane; surely he kens the value o’ his ain worthless life-saxpence-better than ony o’ us.”

With a shout of good-natured, but derisive laughter, the crowd dispersed. The speaker was the celebrated Robert Burns.

Miser Viewing His Own Worth

Thereby, as recorded in Colossians 3:15, every anti-God power and authority was disarmed and made a public spectacle, as Jesus triumphed over them by the

continued from page 13The Power of Sin

Cross! (No wonder there was a great earthquake when Jesus won the victory on Calvary. Matt. 27:51). The good work that remains for man, therefore, is only to

believe in this mighty good work that the Son of God performed on the Cross (John 6:29).

To every man born captive to the power of sin, as an offspring of the first Adam, God offers the option to believe and be born-again into the freedom of God, through the death of the second Adam on the Cross. The power of sin was passed on to us through the first Adam's DNA, but in Jesus, through the new birth, God gifts us a new spiritual DNA that replaces the former. This new DNA is literally free of the power of sin as well, as Jesus was conceived through the Holy Spirit and not through a fallen human being. Further, through water baptism, we agree with God in destroying the power of sin over us and we rise up from the water as a new creation like the second Adam, with an incorruptible spirit (1 Cor. 15, Rom. 6).

Praise God! We are no longer burdened like the religious, driven by guilt to do good works to compensate for our sins. We only need to rest in the finished work of the Cross, where the 'power of sin' was FINISHED (John 19:30) once and for all, for all eternity.

21September 2012

Rev. Barney Kinard

Grow Your Faith“Call upon Me and I will answer thee and show you great and mighty things that thou knowest not.” Jer. 33:3 (KJV)

If you want grow your faith, you have to understand what it takes to do that. Work!

1. Read the Scriptures Notice the promises and the stories of men and woman of faith. Notice that how Jesus responded to those who had faith. Read about the heroes: Heb. 11

2. Listen to Scriptures Go where the Bible is being taught and/or read. Have you considered audio Bible? You can listen to the Bible as you drive.

3. Create a Prayer List Write down requests. Mark when they are accomplished. Nothing helps your faith grow faster than knowing that God is answer ing your prayers. It yields confidence.

4. Give Thanks Early Learn to express your thanks to God before you receive the request of your prayers. Giving thanks early takes faith. Believe He will an-swer.

5. Record Answers to Prayer Create a place where you accumulate a record of your answers to Prayers. This is tangible proof that prayer works.

6. Make Bolder Requests God is awesome and great. Don’t show timidity by bringing little requests to Him. Bring something worthy of more glory to God. May He give you the faith to request bigger things of Him. “You have not because you ask not!”

7. Claim Promises From God Find some faith-build-ing verses and claim them for your self. Heb.11:6

8. Read Biographies of People of Faith Learn from their struggles. Understand how God works with His servants and teaches them faith lessons.

9. Exercise your Faith Muscle What is it they say about muscles? “If you don’t use it, you loose it.” One

begins the Christian life by faith and it takes faith to live the Christian life too.

10. Emulate Children’s Prayers Listen to the con-fidence of children’s prayers. Emulate the “certainty” that God will provide for you, like kids do.

11. Act Upon Your Prayers Take another step closer to what you believe. Your movement forward just might demonstrate your faith.

12. Find Out What God Is Doing Form a partnership with God and pray He might use you to help accomplish something He wants done.

Here is the Challenge Faith is work, not merely mental assent, rather a deliberate commitment of your whole self to rest your faith in the promises of God. Faith is more about the unseen than the seen. Isolate your will and your humility to depend on God and none other. So the challenge is: Pray that your faith will “Work” for you. God will bless those who put their trust in Him. “Ask BIG things from God and expect BIG things from God.” Your faith can grow!

22 September 2012

enesis 20 relates Abraham's sojourn in Gerar, where he resorted to a lie about Sarah's true Grelationship to him to safeguard himself aga-

inst assassination. Chapter 21 records the episode about Abraham's securing property rights to the well of Beersheba; and then it is said, “So they made a cove-nant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol... Returned to the land of the Philistines” (v. 32). In Genesis 26:1 we are told that Issac “went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines.”

These references to philistines before 2050 B.C. have been rejected as impossible by many authorities. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (14 Ed. “Philistia”) states categorically: “In Gen. 21:32, 34 and Exo. 13:17;15:14;23:31 the references to Philistia and the Philistines are anachronistic.” The ground for this assertion is found in the circumstance that up until now, at last, the earliest reference to Philistines in Egyptian records is found in the record of Ramses III concerning his victory over the “Sea Peoples'' in a naval enga-gement fought in the Nile River in the 1190s B.C. It is supposed that after the P-r-s-t (as Egyptian spelled their name) and their allies were thus repulsed by the doughty Pharaoh, they retreated to the southern coastal region of Palestine and settled there as a military colony on a permanent basis. But to conclude from the mere fact that the earliest extant references to the Philistines in Egyptian records dates from the1190s constitutes any objective proof that there were no Philistine immigrants from Crete there at any time previously is an irresponsible violation of logic.

The Hebrew Scriptures constitute the most trust worthy of all archaeological documents; and they state very clearly that Philistines lived in the Philistia as early as the twenty-First centuary B.C. They also affirm that the Philistine for tresses that guarded the northern route from Egypt to Palestine were so formidable in the days of Moses ( the 1440s B.C. ) that a Circuitous southern route remained the safest for the

Israelites to use in their journey toward the Promised Land (Exod. 13:17).This record was centuries earlier than that of Ramses III, and there is no reason to assume that the earlier a record is the less trustworthy it must be. (Until recent times some critics argued that the references in Gen.18-19 to Sodom and Gomorrah as purely legendary and unhistorical. But now that the recently discovered Ebla tablets, dating from the twenty-fourth century B.C., contain references to both cities' maintaining commercial relations with Ebla, this critical contention is exposed as absured). The five main cities of the Philistines, or at least those that have been excavated, uniformly show occupation extending back to Hyksos times and before. The earliest level uncovered at Ashdod is certainly seventeenth century B.C. Inscribed seals found at Gaza bear the names of Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian Kings like Amenemhat III. Hence there can be no doubt that this area was occupied by strong kingdoms back in the patriarchal age.

The Philistines are referred to in Scripture as belonging to various groups, such as the Kaphtorim, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites. The commercial activity of Minoan Crete is known to have been most extensive; and its mariners must have discovered even before Abraham's time that th Philistine shore was blessed with an equable climate, rich soil, and a good rainfall for raising grain. They apparently migrated there in successive waves, more or less as the Danes kept migrating to the east coast of England. Migrations by the population of a homeland across the sea are a frequent phenomenon throughout world history; so it is sure that the Cretan emigrants continued their settle-ment activity over a period of several centuries, from before the time of Abraham until the unsuccessful naval expendition against Egypt in the early twelfth century. Therefore we conclude that there is no truly scientific evidence for classing the Philistine references in the Pentateuch as unhistorical or ana-chronistic.

Do you know?

Courtesy : Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties

23September 2012

September 2011Sathyam MinistriesWE CARE FOR BODY & SOUL

facebook.com/sathyam.india twitter.com/sathyam_india

www.sathyam.org

The sun is a great power plant. If you were to mark off one square yard on the sun you would find that it is giving off 70,000 horse power of energy continuously. There are a tremendous number of square yards on the sun's surface: more than 10,000 times the number of square yards on the surface of the earth.

Suppose that we decide to buy the energy that the sun gives off for a period of twenty-four hours. Suppose we can buy this energy for one-fourth cent per kilowatt-hour. To pay for this energy in silver dollars would require enough money to cover the United States four miles deep.

This represents a tremendous amount of energy. Yet when God created the Sun, He had to put into that act of creation all of the energy that has come from the sun and all that which may yet to come from the sun. There is still enough energy in the sun to last for some thirty billion years.

Energy of The Sun

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24 September 2012

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25September 2012

continued from page26

to replace Judas. But, there is no evidence of the use of any divination practices to seek God’s will after Pentecost, when believers were filled with the Holy Spirit. God now gives guidance to His people through the Word, prayer and by the power of the Holy Spirit. The danger of resorting to divination is that we separate ourselves from our Almighty Father and therefore cannot hear His voice.

Another way we try to secure our future is by our religious life. In our search for divine guidance, Christians can easily fall into the temptation of re-sorting to divination through religiosity and legalism. We might not even notice the equation that can start to dominate our approach to this subject: if we do this, then God will do that, and our lives will be great. Subtly, we start to believe that if we make the right choice, we will receive God’s favor, fulfill our divine destiny and succeed in life. Sometimes this leads to a crisis of faith when things don’t work out as we expected. John the Baptists chastised the Pharisees and Sadducees for relying on their heritage, temple practices and strict obedience of laws to insure God’s blessing (Matthew 3:7-10). Christians can drift toward relying on their good deeds, attendance to church and even their fervent prayers to demand from God clarity

about their future. Manipulation perverts our relationship with God and deflects His powerful grace and mercy. We subconsciously turn God into a genie, responsible of granting all of our wishes, and then we cannot experience God’s faithful love.

It is part of our fallenness to seek to control of our destiny so that we can take charge. I have to admit that I am a control freak. What if I make the wrong decision? Am I alone in this? When we embrace that there is a God, our Creator (Genesis 1) who loves us so much that he sent his Son to die for us (John 3:16), gave us the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), wants us to know Him intimately (John 10:14, Hebrews 10:11), and has plans to prosper us (Jeremiah 29:11), we can easily turn the relationship into a quest to know or control our future.

As for me, it has never worked out well when I try to take control of God’s agenda, but I find myself trying all too often, which is why I am passionate about this subject. Our destination with this study is not to figure out with precision what our future might look like, but to understand what God wants us to know about Him and His will. As followers of Christ, we need to focus on what the Bible teaches about the way our God guides His people to do what He desires. This will be the subject of our next post.

Which one of these dangers are you most likely to underestimate?

Roadmap to God’s Will; Trust God with the Future

26 September 2012

Ines S. Franklin

continued in page 25...

Have you ever wanted so badly to know the specific will of God in your life that you resorted to seeing messages from heaven in every little thing? It is natural to have a desire to know what to do and what the future holds. Perhaps you’re like me, I long for a detailed roadmap where I make no mistakes or disappoint God. But has this actually worked? Do these messages give us direction or do they confuse and frustrate our walk with the Lord? We must find a balance between looking for signs from God in every grilled-cheese sandwich, and professing to love God and yet making every de-cision in strictly human terms.

One of the greatest dangers in our effort to discern the will of God is to make it into a method of discovering the future. In my previous post we talked about how a Christian’s longing to discern and do the will of God is modeled in Scripture, is essential to what we do and it is expected by God. Unchecked, this desire can lead us in the wrong direction and cause us to miss the beauty of trusting the Lord. The Bible says very little about discerning the will of God to foreknow what lies ahead. We must be careful in choosing the method to seek God’s wisdom so that we do not turn to dis-cerning God’s will into divination.

Divination is “the attempt to influence or control 1

people or events through supernatural forces.” History reveals that humans have always sought to know the mind of God through all sorts of divinations such as fortune telling, prediction, soothsaying, casting lots and clairvoyance. The motivation for these practices is mostly fear and desire for God’s power, but also craving to tap into God’s intelligence. Some Christians believe that divination is Biblical because in the Old Testament we read stories where, under specific situations, God revealed his will to his people through certain divination practices (prophets, dreams, casting lots, signs and even sacred lots and stones). They

interpret these circumstances to mean that it is OK for Christians to engage in divination. This is using passages of the Bible as proof text to our personal agenda.

God also warned his people not to practice any form of divination that undermined dependence upon Him and circumvented His laws, as in Deuteronomy 18:9-

“13: Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who

2 consults the dead.” These were the “detestable” pract-ices of the nations who did not worship YHWH. In Acts 1:24-26 we find the last documented use of sacred lots

Roadmap to God’s Will; Trust God with the Future“Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is.”

Oswald Chambers

1Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1375.2Bruce K. Walke (1995), Finding the Will of God; A Pagan Notion? (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.) p. 41.

00 January 2011

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Truth Alive 00