2001 Zac Poonen's Messages

ZAC POONEN’s 2001 ARTICLES

Three Marks Of A Spiritual Man ­ Zac Poonen

What makes a man truly spiritual could be summed up in three statements: An upward look, an inward look and an outward look.

A spiritual man looks in these three directions constantly: 1. Upward ­ in worship and devotion to God and Christ. 2. Inward ­ in acknowledging and repenting of his unChristlikeness. 3.

Outward ­ in seeking to help and bless other people.

A Spiritual Man Looks Upward God has called us first of all to be His worshippers ­ to hunger and thirst after Him. A spiritual man worships God. His one desire is God. He does not desire anything or anyone other than God in earth or in heaven (Psa.73:25). Money does not mean more to him than God. As the deer pants after the waterbrooks, so the spiritual man longs after God. He longs for God more than a thirsty man longs for water. A spiritual man longs for fellowship with God more than he does for ease or comfort. He longs to hear God speak to him daily.

Those who worship money, ease and their own convenience, will always find something or the other to complain about. But the spiritual man never has any complaints, because he desires only God and he always has Him. He is never disappointed with the circumstances of his life, because he sees the mighty hand of God in all those circumstances and he humbles himself underneath that hand joyfully at all times.

Because a spiritual man is in touch with God he does not need any laws or rules to regulate his life. He has found the tree of life (God Himself) and so he has no interest in the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Because he is taken up with simple and pure devotion to Christ, he is not sidetracked by secondary issues. Looking at Jesus, the spiritual man becomes increasingly like his Lord year by year.

A spiritual man humbles himself constantly. And so God exalts him constantly. He is exalted higher and higher ­ into a closer and closer relationship with God. Such a man having seen the realities of the heavenly life will always seek to do his good deeds hidden from man's eyes.

A Spiritual Man Looks Inward The upward look leads on to an inward look. As soon as Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, he immediately became aware of his own sinfulness (Isa.6:1­5). It was the same with Job, Peter and John (Job 42:5,6; Lk.5:8; Rev.1:17). When we live in God's presence, we become aware of many areas of unChristlikeness in our lives. The spiritual man is thus constantly getting light over the hidden sins in his life.

We are commanded to worship the Lord "in holy array (dress)" (Psa.29:2). Without the clothing of holiness, we are naked before the Lord. So the spiritual man "does his best" at all times to keep his conscience clear before God and before men (Acts 24:16). Just as the businessman does his best to make more money, and the research scientist does his best to make new discoveries, even so the spiritual man does his best to keep his conscience clear at all times.

A spiritual man judges himself constantly, because he discovers many things in his life that need to be cleansed away ­ things that other believers may not be disturbed by, in their own lives.

A spiritual man realises that he has to die inwardly every day, to many things that hinder him from being effective for God. So his lifestyle becomes one of taking up the cross and "always bearing about in his body the dying of Jesus" (2 Cor.4:10).

The spiritual man has no problem in humbling himself before anyone or in asking for forgiveness from anyone ­ whether that person be older than him or younger than him. He realises that his prayers and his service will never be accepted by God, if he has hurt even one other person ­ whether wife, brother or neighbour ­ in any way. And so, as soon as he realises that he has hurt someone, he "leaves his gift at the altar and goes and settles matters with that person first, and then returns to offer his gifts to God" (Matt.5:23,24).

A Spiritual Man Looks Outward The upward and inward look lead on to the outward look. A spiritual man is one who realises that God has blessed him only in order that he might be a blessing to others. Since God has forgiven him so much, he gladly and readily forgives all who have harmed him. Since God has been so good to him, he is good to others too. He has received freely from God and he gives freely to others.

A spiritual man is genuinely concerned for the welfare of others. He is filled with compassion for lost and suffering humanity and can never ignore a brother whom he sees in any need ­ like the Levite and the priest did, in the parable of the good Samaritan (Lk.10:30­37).

God is concerned for fallen man ­ to help him, to bless him, to lift him up and deliver him from Satan's bondage. The spiritual man's concern is the same. Like his Master, the spiritual man seeks to serve others and not to be served. Jesus went around doing good and delivering people who were bound by Satan (Acts 10­:38). The spiritual man does the same.

A spiritual man does not seek to gain anything from others through his service for them ­ neither money nor honour. Like God, he only seeks to bless others through his life and his labours. He will NEVER expect any gifts from anyone ­ for he trusts in God alone for his every need.

A little booklet that has come down to us from the second century titled "The Teaching of The Twelve Apostles" tells us that the early apostles taught all believers in their time to beware of any preacher who asked them for money, for such a person was always a false prophet. If only we understood this, we would be saved from many false prophets today!!

A spiritual man looks upward, inward and outward. If he looked only upward, he would be unrealistic ­ "so heavenly­minded as to be of no earthly use". If he looked only inward, he would be depressed and discouraged most of the time. If he looked only outward, his work would be shallow.

But a spiritual man looks in all three directions constantly. May God help us to be balanced ­ and spiritual.

Knowing God Intimately Is the Secret of Being Strong ­ Zac Poonen "The people who know their God will be strong" (Dan.11:32) Today, God does not want us to know Him second­hand through others. He invites even the youngest believer to know Him personally (Heb.8:11). Jesus defined eternal life as knowing God and Jesus Christ personally (John 17:3). This was the greatest passion of Paul's life and must be our greatest passion too (Phil.3:10).

One who desires to know God intimately, will have to listen to Him always. Jesus said that the only way man could keep himself spiritually alive was by listening to EVERY word that proceeded from God's mouth (Matt.4:4 ). He also said that to sit at His feet and listen to Him was the most important thing in the Christian life (Lk.10:42).

We must develop the habit that Jesus had of listening to the Father from early morning every day (Isa.50:4), right through the day; and then to be in a listening attitude in the hours of night when we are asleep too ­ so that if we ever wake up from our sleep at night, we can say, "Speak, Lord, Your servant is listening" (1 Sam.3:10).

Knowing God will make us overcomers in all situations ­ because God has a solution for every problem that we face ­ and if we listen to Him, He will tell us what that solution is.

A Life of Constant Triumph ­ Zac Poonen God's will for our lives is CONSTANT VICTORY. This is clearly taught in a number of Scriptures.

Consider just a few....

"Thanks be to God Who ALWAYS leads us in His triumph in Christ" (2 Cor.2:14).

"In ALL THESE THINGS we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loves us" (Rom.8:37).

"I am writing these things to you that YOU MAY NOT SIN" (1 Jn.2:1).

In spite of these and other Scriptures, it is still a difficult task to convince many believers that God wants them to live victorious lives.

If we take Scripture just as it is written and believe it simply, as a little child, then this message will come through to us clearly. But if we rely on our reason, we may find many convincing arguments why such a life is not possible in this evil world. Many unbelieving believers will then add their testimony to what our reason tells us. And then we will convince ourselves that a victorious life is impossible in this world.

Unless we are convinced first of all that God wants us to live in continuous victory, we will never be able to have faith for such a life. And without faith, it is impossible to enter the victorious life. Everything in the Christian life is utterly dependent on faith. And faith is based on the revelation that God has given us in His Word.

Even if you have lived in defeat for many years, it makes no difference. If only you can see this truth of a life of constant victory clearly in God's Word, it would be the first step towards a victorious life.

God Calls "Zeroes" ­ Zac Poonen In 1 Corinthians 3:5, Paul asks the question "What then is Apollos and what is Paul?". We would reply that Paul was a mighty apostle of the Lord, who had raised the dead, established many churches, and even written Scripture. But he says of himself, "What is Paul? A SERVANT".

That was his opinion of himself until the end of his life. No wonder Paul never fell by the wayside.

The moment we begin to think of ourselves as anything other than servants of others, we have begun to backslide.

Paul says further, "I planted, Apollos watered". Which of the two is greater? The one who plants ­ who goes as a pioneer to an unreached area and does a work for God where nothing existed before? Or the one who comes along later and waters the plant through the teaching of God's Word and encouragement, and builds the believers into a Body? The answer is "Neither". Both are "nothing" ­ says Paul (v.7). Both are zeroes. Only God ­ Who caused the plant to grow ­ is everything.

Paul considered himself a zero until the end of his life. And so God could use him till the end of his life. God was everything to Paul.

The Lord needed a donkey once to speak to Balaam. He needed a donkey at another time to ride into Jerusalem. And He has need of donkeys even today for His purposes. Who are we then? Just donkeys whom the Lord has picked up, to speak through, or to ride on.

Wherever brothers are willing to be nothing so that God might be everything there will never be any competition among them as to who is considered to be the most spiritual or the greatest etc.,

Whenever a person tries to project himself as the leader of a group, God will put him on the shelf. It is true that every church must have leaders. But the leader is someone whom God selects.

And if God gives another brother the grace to be recognized by the others as their leader, we should be quick to humble ourselves and accept that fact. If however, we become jealous of his ministry, or covet his position, we will become agents of Satan who hinder the building of the Body of Christ in our locality.

God in His sovereignty knows who is the best person to lead any church. And He doesn't look for the clever and the intelligent. He chooses those who are weak and broken and those who realize that they are zeroes. Have we realized that?

Taking God's Word Seriously ­ Zac Poonen A bad habit that many believers have is that of taking God's Word lightly. Take Jesus' words in Matthew 12:36, 37 for example: "Every careless (idle) word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified and by your words you shall be condemned."

Most believers do not believe that they will have to literally give an account for every single useless word that they have spoken. When we really believe this, all backbiting, gossiping, evil­ speaking and anger will be eliminated from our lives. All who take these words of Jesus seriously will be radical in cutting out useless words from every part of their speech. Jesus says here that we will be justified by our words. We all know about justification by faith. But faith without works is dead, and a faith that does not cleanse our speech is a dead faith. Think of all the words that you have spoken (or written) during the last three months ­ at home and in the office, to husband, wife, children, servants etc., Would a tape­recording of your speech prove that you are a justified child of God, different from the world around you? Or would your words be similar to the speech of unbelievers?

The speech of many believers has not been cleansed, because they have not taken the words of Jesus seriously. This in turn is because they do not fear God. They fear men more than they fear God. We cannot hope to make spiritual progress in our life if we don't develop the habit of taking God's word seriously. James 1:26 says, "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless." If a man cannot control his tongue, his Christianity is worthless ­ for, as Jesus said, the words we speak show what our heart is like. "The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart."(Mt.12:34). The way we use our tongue is one of the clearest indications of our spiritual condition.

Here is another example: God's Word says that husbands should never be bitter against their wives."Husbands, love your wives, and do not be embittered against them."(Col.3:19).What does that mean? Does it permit a husband to be bitter against his wife EVEN ONCE? We know that when God's Word forbids adultery or murder, we must not commit such sins EVEN ONCE. Yet

when we read that a husband should not be bitter against his wife, it does not hit us with the same force. Why is that? It's because we pick and choose which commands of God's Word are serious and which are not. We don't realize that all of God's Word must be taken seriously.

Those who take every word of God seriously will mourn over their sin, each time they fail. Thus they will find the comfort (strength) of the Holy Spirit, and be led into a life of victory, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."(Mt.5:4).Here then is the secret of victory: Take every Word of God seriously and mourn over your sin whenever you come short of God's standards. Thus you will prove that you fear God ­ and the fear of God is the beginning of that wisdom that leads to a victorious life. God looks with grace and favor at those who are broken and contrite in their spirit and who tremble at His Word. "To this one I will look, declares the Lord, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My Word" (Isa.66:2).

A Daniel­Ministry and A Lucifer­Ministry ­ Zac Poonen Daniel (who wrote this prophecy) was one of those men whom God could use in his generation.

When he was a 17­year old young man, "he determined in his heart not to defile himself" (Dan.1:8). And when Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah saw young Daniel taking a stand for the Lord, they too got the boldness to stand for the Lord themselves (Dan.1:11). They did not have the courage to stand on their own. But they became bold when they saw Daniel's stand. There are many people like that today, who do not have the boldness to stand for the Lord alone, but who are waiting for a Daniel to take a stand. Then they will join him. Will you be such a Daniel? Will you say, "I will not defile myself? I will not seek to please the king, or the commander, or any backslidden elder, or anyone. I shall stand 100% for what the Word of God says."

There is a great need for a Daniel­ministry in our land today ­ men and women who will "lead many to righteousness" (Dan.12:4). That verse does not refer to preachers who preach about righteousness, but to those who lead others to righteousness ­ by word and example.

We read in Scripture of yet another ministry ­ and this is the exact opposite of this "Daniel­ ministry" ­ a "Lucifer­ministry". In Revelation 12:4, we read that Lucifer succeeded in getting millions of angels to follow him in his rebellion against God. Why did God permit Lucifer to lead so many angels astray? So that heaven could be purged of all the disgruntled and rebellious angels. Their evil hearts would not have been exposed, had not a Lucifer arisen in their midst to lead them in their rebellion against God. And so, even today, God will allow brothers and sisters to have a Lucifer­ministry in the church. They will be permitted by God to go around from house to house backbiting, accusing, telling lies and speaking evil, so that all the disgruntled, rebellious and worldly believers in the church can be identified, exposed, gathered together and taken out of the church ­ so that the Body of Christ can be purified.

God will not stop those who are engaged in such a Lucifer­ministry from moving around the church, any more than He stopped the original Lucifer in heaven, millions of years ago. That is Divine wisdom.

The Spirit of Praise ­ Zac Poonen In each of the 7 glimpses of heaven given in the book of Revelation, we see the inhabitants of heaven continuously praising God with a loud voice ­ sometimes as loud as thunders and as the noise of roaring rivers. This is the atmosphere of heaven ­ one of continual praise, without any complaints or demands. And this is the atmosphere that the Holy Spirit desires to bring into our hearts, our homes and our churches as well. It is thus that Satan will be driven away from all these places.

I read of a fiery brother (who lived in the last century) who used to frequently praise God with loud `Hallelujahs'. One day, one of the dead Christians around him, who was irritated by this spirit of praise, asked him what the brother would do if God finally sent him to hell. To this the brother replied, "If I go to hell, I will keep on shouting `Hallelujah' and the praises of God there, until the Devil tells me to get out of Hell, lest I infect others in hell with the spirit of praise!!"

No, there is no place in Hell for those who have a spirit of praise! The ones who go to Hell are those who are full of complaints and demands against others. They were like that when they were on the earth and they carry that evil nature with them when they leave the earth too.

Satan has paralyzed the vast majority of Christians, and made them ineffective in spiritual warfare against him, because he has succeeded in getting them infected with the spirit of murmuring and complaining against their brothers and sisters, against their relatives and neighbors, against their circumstances, and even against God Himself.

We overcome Satan, when we obey the following exhortations: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in ONE BODY; and be thankful" (Col.3:15).

"I urge that thanksgivings be made FOR ALL MEN" (1 Tim.2:1).

"Always give thanks FOR ALL THINGS in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father" (Eph.5:20).

We are exhorted first of all to be thankful for all whom God has called into Christ's Body. If the choice had been left to us, we might not have called many of those whom God has called ­ especially those who belong to some other group than ours!!! But God's wisdom being higher than ours, even as the heavens are higher than the earth, He obviously had a different opinion about them than we have. And if we are wise, we will re­align our thinking in line with God's.

Once we have learnt to be thankful for our brothers and sisters in Christ's Body, we can then learn to give thanks for all men and then for all our circumstances. We know that our Heavenly Father sovereignly controls all men and all circumstances. If we really believe this, we will certainly praise God at all times, and thus prove that our kingdom is of heaven and not of this world. Then Satan will lose his power over us. Only then will we be able to wage an effective warfare against him.

There is a wonderful word written in Revelation 12:8 that no place was found in heaven for Satan and his demons. This is how it must be in our lives too ­ in our hearts, in our homes, and in our churches. SATAN AND HIS HOSTS MUST FIND NO PLACE IN ANY OF THESE PLACES. The Presence of God ­ Zac Poonen What is the primary mark of a new­covenant church? Many think that it is having a particular pattern of church government and a particular form of meeting. But it is neither of these. The important thing about the church is that it should have Divine life.

When a baby is being formed in its mother's womb, in its early weeks it does not even have the shape (pattern) of a human being. It only has life. The shape (pattern) comes later. It is the same when a new church is being established anywhere. It will take time for the proper pattern to emerge. But meanwhile there must be life.

The primary mark of a new­covenant church is that God is present in its midst. When the church comes together, and everyone prophesies under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, those who come to the meeting should be convicted of their sins and acknowledge that God is present in the meeting (1 Cor.14:24,25). That, and that alone proves that such a church has the right pattern.

If the presence of God is absent, we must confess that we have come short of God's perfect plan ­ and we must repent.

Faithfulness in the Hidden Life ­ Zac Poonen (Matt. 25:1­13). In this parable, Jesus spoke of ten virgins. Notice that none of them were harlots (See Jas. 4:4 for a definition of spiritual harlotry). They were all virgins. In other words, they had a good testimony before men. Their lights were all burning (Matt. 5:16). Their good works were seen by others. Yet among all these virgins, only five were wise. But this was not obvious to everyone at the beginning. Only five had taken oil with them in their flasks (v. 4).

That oil in the flask was not visible in the night, like the light was, and speaks of our hidden life before God that men cannot see in the darkness of this world. All of us have a flask. The question is whether we have any oil in it or not.

Oil is used throughout the Scriptures as a symbol of the Holy Spirit and refers here to that life of God that the Holy Spirit communicates to our spirit. The outward manifestation of that life is the light (Jn. 1:4). The inner content is the oil. Many are taken up with their outward testimony alone. This is their folly. It is in times of trial and testing that we find that the outward light alone is insufficient. One needs an inner content of the divine life to carry us through triumphantly.

"If you are weak in a crisis, you are weak in reality" (Prov. 24:16). The crises of life show us how strong or weak we are. In this parable, the crisis was that the bridegroom delayed his coming. It is time that proves the reality of our spirituality.

He who has faith endures until the end and is saved. It is time also that proves who has an inner content in his life and who does not. Many are like the seed that sprouted up immediately, but have no inner life. There is no depth of soil in their hearts (Mk. 4:5).

This is why it is difficult to assess new believers concerning their spirituality, or their wholeheartedness. Time will reveal everything, if we have the patience to wait. The way to be ready for Christ's coming, then, is to have an inner life of purity and faithfulness before God's face ­ in our thoughts, attitudes and motives that people around us cannot see. If we do not have this, we are deceiving ourselves if we think we are ready for Christ's coming.

Living For the Glory of God ­ Zac Poonen "To Him are all things" (Rom. 11:36) God is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. And so, as all things of an eternal nature originate in Him, they find their consummation in Him too. All things were created by God to bring glory to Him. This is not because God selfishly desires our glory. He is completely self­sufficient in Himself, and there is nothing that we can offer Him that can add to His sufficiency. When He calls us to seek His glory, it is because that is the way for our own highest good. We would be self­centered and miserable otherwise.

To be centered in Him is a law that God has built into creation. That law can be violated only by moral creatures with a free will. Inanimate creation joyfully obeys its Creator and glorifies Him. But Adam disobeyed that law, and we see the consequences in the misery of humanity.

In the prayer that the Lord taught His disciples to pray, the very first request is, "Hallowed by Thy Name." This was the primary longing in the heart of the Lord Jesus. He prayed "Father, glorify Thy Name," and chose the way of the Cross since that was to the Father's glory (Jn. 12:27,28). One supreme passion governed the life of the Lord Jesus ­ the Father's glory.

Everything He did was for the Father's glory. There were no separate sacred and secular compartments in His life. Everything was sacred. He made stools and benches for the glory of God as much as He preached and healed the sick for the glory of God. Every day was equally sacred to Him; and money spent on the necessities of daily living was as sacred as money given to God's work or to the poor. Jesus lived in perfect rest of heart at all times, because He sought only the Father's glory and cared only for His Father's approval. He lived before the face of His

Father and did not care for the honour or praise of men. "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory," said Jesus (Jn. 7:18).

The soulish Christian, however much he may appear or pretend to be seeking the glory of God, is really, deep down, interested in his own honour. Jesus on the other hand, never sought any honour for Himself. That which originates in man's cleverness and is carried out through human ingenuity and talents, will always end in glorifying man. That which begins in the soul will only glorify the creature. But there will be nothing in heaven or in earth in the ages of eternity that will bring honour or glory to any man. Everything that survives time and enters the portals of eternity will be what was from God, through God and to God. It is the motive behind an action that gives value and merit to that action, as far as God is concerned. What we do is important, but why we do it is far more important.

Progressive Sanctification ­ Zac Poonen Jesus told His apostles to teach others to obey all that He had commanded (Matt. 28:20). One who loves the Lord will first of all seek with all his heart to find out what those commandments are; and then he will seek to obey them (John 14:21).

Under the Law, God gave man commandments, but not the power to obey them. Why then did God give the Law? Only in order that man might discover that he's unable to come up to God's standards, and thus see his need of a Saviour and a Helper. "The Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ" (Gal. 3:24).But now God has made a new covenant with man. And He has given us, not only commandments, but also an Example in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus demonstrated by His earthly life that it is possible for us to obey all of God's commandments.

God has also promised under the new covenant to put His Laws into our minds and to write them upon our hearts (Heb. 8:10). He does this through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. The Holy Spirit is our Helper Who not only shows us what the will of God is, but also gives us a desire to do that will and grace to obey all of it too.

God is the One Who is going to sanctify us entirely (1 Thess. 5:23). We can't do it on our own.

We have to depend on Him ­ for He is the One Who works in us giving us both the desire as well as the ability to do His will. But we have to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12,13). We have to work out what God works in, for He hasn't turned us into robots!

God cleanses us from the guilt of sin. But we are commanded to "cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1). We have to do this, as and when we get light on any defilement within us. It is thus, as we "by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body" (Rom. 8:13) that the fruit of the Spirit ­ love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self­control ­ will become more and more manifest in us. This is what it means to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. Thus our path

will become one of increasing light (Prov. 4:18). This is the glorious way of sanctification that God has made for us.

We Do Not Struggle Against Flesh And Blood ­ Zac Poonen "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the HEAVENLY PLACES" (Eph.6:12).

3500 years ago, Moses came down from Mount Sinai and brought the Israelites a promise from God of a kingdom on this earth. But 2000 years ago, Jesus came down from heaven and brought us the promise of a heavenly kingdom. This is the fundamental difference between the new covenant and the old. If we don't understand this, we will not be able to wage an effective warfare against Satan.

Our kingdom is not of this world. And so we must NEVER, NEVER fight or quarrel with human beings concerning any matter . This is the Number One requirement for effective spiritual warfare. One of the chief ways by which Satan tries to sidetrack believers from their calling, is by getting them to fight or quarrel with others ­ with their relatives or their neighbours or their brothers and sisters. And invariably the quarrel will be concerning some earthly matter. Thus he succeeds in dragging believers down from their heavenly position to this earth and its affairs, and thus makes them ineffective in their battle against him.

If you want to fight Satan effectively and to build the church, determine that you will never get involved in a dispute with any human being, or concerning any earthly thing. We must not even wage imaginary battles in our minds, with others. We must not have a single complaint against anyone.

And we must not have an inward demand on anyone either. We must not, for example, have a demand that people should treat us with respect, or with consideration, or show love to us, or that they should never cheat us or deceive us etc., We must not have such expectations even from our marriage­partners. All such disputes and complaints and demands are indications that a person's kingdom is of this world, and that he has given place for Satan in his heart. And such people are doomed to live a miserable life.

God is the Only One with whom we have to do (Heb.4:13). All our circumstances (including the way others treat us) are designed by our loving Father for our very best ­ to conform us to the likeness of His Son. Therefore we have no room for any complaints against anyone, but plenty of room for praising God at all times.

Thine Is The Kingdom The Power And The Glory Forever ­ Zac Poonen The prayer that Jesus taught his disciples ends with these words, "Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever" (Matt.6:13­KJV). All these three belong to God alone.

1. Thine is the Kingdom The phrase "the kingdom of God" can be better understood in our day as "the government of God", since we don't normally use the word "kingdom" nowadays. The government of a country has authority over every one of its citizens. So to be under the government of God means being totally under His authority.

Do we allow God to control and restrain us in our speech? This is the first area we could examine ourselves in.

What about the money we earn? Are we lavish in spending it? God cannot anoint and bless those who are careless in the way they spend their money. When God give us much, He tests us to see how we spend it.

How do we spend our time? Does God have a say in it? It is a great challenge to see that Jesus knew the Scriptures thoroughly by the age of 12. At that young age, He also had a sense of responsibility about his Father's business. God is greatly grieved when His children do not spend time studying His Word, but yet have time to read other books and to watch TV programs.

Heaven is a place where everyone accepts the authority of God. This is why it is a place of joy and peace. Our lives and homes can be like that too, if we submit to the government of God in every area.

2. Thine is the Power We must acknowledge that all power belongs to God (Psalm 62:11). When we see God as Almighty having all power, it will free us from the fear of men and fear of the future. Psalm 112 (Living Bible) says that "...such a man will not be overthrown by evil circumstances . God's constant care of him will make a deep impression on all who see it. He does not fear bad news, nor live in dread of what may happen. For he is settled in his mind that Jehovah will take care of him." God's power can also free us from all our sinful habits. We must acknowledge that God has all power to do that for us too.

3. Thine is the Glory We must give God the glory due unto Him. This involves giving thanks to Him for what He has done for us. Praise and thanksgiving will characterise our lives increasingly if we are growing spiritually. We must not be like the ungrateful lepers who never returned to give thanks to the Lord (Lk.17:17). We must also be careful to give God the glory for anything that we have accomplished ­ for everything comes from the ability that He has given us.

Salvation From Self­centredness ­ Zac Poonen Jesus came to save us from sin. In other words, He came to save us from self­centredness. Put the word "self­centredness" instead of the word `sin' in the New Testament and you'll see what

meaning comes up in many passages. "Sin shall not be master over you" becomes "Self­ centredness will not be master over you" (Rom. 6:14). That's God's desire for His people. And yet if we examine our lives, we'll find that even in our most sacred desires, there is self­ centredness. To ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit can be a self­centred desire, if we want this power in order to be a great preacher, or a great healer etc., That's as self­centred a desire as wanting to be great in this world. Do you see how sin enters even into the most holy place?

That's why Jesus taught us to pray, first of all, not even that we might be filled with the Spirit, but that God's name might be hallowed.

Only a truly spiritual man can pray this prayer in sincerity. Anyone can repeat this prayer, of course. Even a parrot can do that. But to really mean it, from the depths of our hearts, will require a total devotion to God, where He is first in our lives, where we are centred in Him, and where we are not seeking His blessing as much as Himself. If He gives us His gifts, well and good; and if He does not give us any gifts that's all right with us too, because we long for God Himself, and not His gifts.

Why did God teach the Israelites to love Him with all their hearts and to love their neighbour as themselves? Only to deliver them from their self­centredness.

There is an acrostic on the word joy that says, "Put J ­ Jesus first, O ­ others next, and Y ­ yourself last. Then you can have joy." God is perpetually full of joy. There is no sorrow or anxiety in heaven, because everything is centred in God. The angels are always rejoicing, because they are centred in God. The reason we lack joy, peace, and so many other spiritual virtues is because we haven't found our proper centre. We tend to use God for our own ends. Our prayers reveal how self­centred we are.

"Delight yourself in the Lord" the Bible says, "and He will give you the desires of your heart."

(Psa. 37:4). To delight ourselves in the Lord is to put God at the centre of our lives. And so it is only a God­centred person who can have all the desires of his heart. "No good thing, will God withhold from those who walk uprightly (that is, from those who are walking with their head on top ­ who have God controlling their lives)" (Psalm 84:11).

"The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much" ­ and the righteous man is the God­centred man (James 5:16). On the contrary, the fervent prayer of the self­centred man, even if he prays all night is going to avail nothing. It is the type of life we live that gives value to the prayer we pray. That's why the first three longings of our life should be : "Father, Your Name should be hallowed. Your kingdom should come. Your will should be done."

We may have many other requests such as, "Heal me of my backache, help me to find a better house to live in, help my son to get a job," etc. These are all good requests. But if you can say, "Father, even if you don't grant these requests, my primary desire is that Your Name will be glorified" ­ then you're a spiritual man.

That Which Costs Us Everything ­ Zac Poonen Abraham's devotion was tested that day when God asked him for Isaac (Gen22:1­2). Had God asked Abraham for 10,000 sheep or for 5,000 rams, that would have been far easier for Abraham to offer. But one Isaac cost him everything, and he decided to offer nothing less than what God asked for. Abraham could have echoed the words that David said, years later, " I will never offer to my God that which costs me nothing " (2 Sam. 24:24). Yes, true worship involves our offering to God that which costs us everything. It is more than mere coincidence that it was on this very spot on Mount Moriah (where Abraham offered Isaac), that the threshing­floor of Araunah the Jebusite was also located (where David said those words just quoted). And finally, Solomon built his famous temple on this very spot too (2 Chron. 3:1). God ordained His House to be built in the place where two of His servants (Abraham and David) had made costly sacrifices. That was where the fire fell from Heaven and that was where the glory of God was seen (2 Chron. 7:1). It is even so today. God builds His true Church and manifests His power and glory where He finds men and women who are willing to deny themselves and offer to Him that which costs them everything.

Does our Christianity cost us something? Is our service for God an easygoing, cheap thing that does not cost us much travail of soul? Does our prayer­life cost us something? Have we drawn a limit to the sacrifices we are willing to make for God? Do we look for ease and comfort? And are we still expecting the fire to fall and the glory of God to be seen in our lives? Let us not deceive ourselves. The fulness of the Holy Spirit can result only from a wholehearted giving up of ourselves to God. The way of the Cross is difficult. How difficult it must have been for Abraham to face the thought of slaying his son himself. It is not easy for us to see our children suffering as a result of the stand we have taken for God. That can be very costly. But blessed are we, if we are willing even for that. God is no man's debtor. If we have honoured Him, He will certainly honour us; and we shall find our children following God too, as Isaac followed in Abraham's footsteps. Isaac's willingness to be tied to the altar and slain was itself an indication of his devotion to his father's God. He was a strong and able­bodied young man, and his aged father could never have tied him to the altar, if he himself had not been willing. But Isaac had seen the reality of God in his father's life, and so he too was willing to submit to anything that God desired.

On the other hand, many believers have often lowered their high standards and compromised Christian principles, for the sake of some material advantage for their children ­ only to see their children growing up to break their hearts and live for the world. Oh the tragedy of it! Heaven's greatest rewards are reserved for those who have followed in Abraham's footsteps, and who like him have not withheld anything from God, whatever the cost.

Preserving The Church From Satan's Agents ­ Zac Poonen Jesus said that the church He builds has one identifying mark : It overpowers the gates of hell (the forces of spiritual death). On the other hand, if a church is itself overcome by the forces of

spiritual death ­ that is, by jealousy, or strife, or a competitive­spirit, or by honour­seeking, or immorality, or the love of money, or worldliness, or by bitterness, or pride, or arrogance, or Pharisaism, etc., then we can be certain that that is NOT the church that Jesus is building. There are carnal believers in every church who are slaves to these sins. But they must forever be kept on the periphery (in the outer court), so that they are given no ministry, or responsibility, or power in the church. None of us should ever be a part of any church that does not seek to battle these evils constantly.

Satan perpetually seeks to destroy the church. And most of the time, he tries to do this by infiltrating into the church through his agents. Jude speaks of "certain people who have crept into the church unnoticed" (v.4). Like the Gibeonites who deceived Joshua (Josh.9), there are many today who have deceived the elders and pretended to be disciples and crept into the midst of the churches unnoticed. But how did these people manage to deceive the elders? Perhaps because the elders were overawed or bribed by their wealth or their worldly position. In all Babylonian denominations, it is the people who have worldly position or wealth who are able to influence the decisions taken in their group, even if they are not elders. But it must never be so in our midst. If we are not careful however, the Gibeonites will come into the church too. God may sometimes allow these people who have "crept in unnoticed", to be in the church for a period, to give them time to repent and to be converted. At times, He may also allow these infiltrators to fulfil the task that Lucifer fulfilled in the third heaven ages ago. Lucifer dragged away one­third of the angels with him, when he rebelled and fell away (Rev.12:4) ­ and thus the third heaven was cleansed of all rebellious elements. So today also, the Lord allows self­seeking people to come into the church, so that when they leave, they can take other insincere people along with them, and thus cleanse the church of all rebellious elements! This is part of God's wonderful wisdom.

We can see an example of this, from what the Lord has done again and again in the various churches. He has wonderfully and deftly arranged circumstances, and exposed and removed from our midst those who sought position in the church, and who had a divisive and a controversial spirit (See Rom.16:17). He has caught the clever people and the big people who came into our midst "in their own craftiness" (1 Cor.3:19) and thus frustrated their secret plans to "hijack" the church!! This is a mark of the Lord's care for us, and of His intense desire that there should be a pure, untainted testimony for His Name in our land. We praise the Lord that He watches over us constantly to preserve us from such Satanic attacks. "Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchmen keep awake in vain" (Psa.127:1) It is only where brothers dwell together in unity that the Lord can command His blessing (Psa.133:1) ­ and only a united church can triumph over the gates of Hell. So the Holy Spirit works mightily in our midst, to preserve us in that unity. Now we must be alert and pray that the Lord will continue to do this work in the future too. His perpetual promise to us is: "I will remove from your midst the proud, exulting ones,.......and I will leave among you a humble, lowly people, who take refuge in the Name of the Lord" (Zeph.3:11,12). The church can be built in unity only with humble, lowly people.

It is not our task to drive anyone away from the church with human zeal ­ for "the anger of man cannot achieve the righteousness of God" (Jas.1:20). No. Our task is to receive all who come to

us, and to show them the way of life. But the Lord is jealous to preserve His church in purity, and so He Himself will expose and remove self­seeking people in His own way and in His own time, just like He drove the money­changers out of the temple at the right time.

Jesus spoke in Matthew 18:17­20 of a brother who sins and thus brings defilement into the church. We must remember that such a brother is usually not aware of the fact that he has become a tool in Satan's hands. Jesus therefore said that we must go and speak to him privately at first, in order to WIN HIM. That is always our aim: To win the brother ­ to win him away from Satan, and for the Lord and for His church. If he does not listen, we must try to win him again, this time with one or two more brothers. If he still does not listen, then we must tell the church about him. And if he does not listen even to the church, then he must be put out of fellowship, so that he can see his own need and repent, and so that others are not defiled by his spirit.

We must be strong in the Lord to pray and bind these workings of Satan, so that God's work in the churches proceeds unhindered. We must also learn to forgive every brother quickly and totally, so that Satan does not get any advantage over our own lives(2 Cor.2:11).

God Uses Those Who Have Failed ­ Zac Poonen Peter could become a compassionate apostle only after he had blundered and fallen into the sin of denying the Lord three times. It was certainly not God's perfect will for Peter to sin like that.

But yet we see that God allowed it in order to do a work in Peter. It made him tender and sympathetic towards those who had failed in life.

Jesus never sinned even once, and yet He was infinitely compassionate and merciful towards sinners. But with the rest of Adam's race, that has not been the case. Those who have never fallen into gross sin usually end up being hard and unmerciful and haughty towards sinners.

When we look at the circumstances through which Peter fell into this gross sin, we see that God could have easily prevented him from even facing the temptation to deny the Lord. Yet God chose not to protect him from those moments of temptation.

In John 18:15­18 we see that John and Peter followed Jesus to the court of the high­priest. Since John knew the high­priest, the doorkeeper let him in. But Peter could not go in. So John came and spoke to the doorkeeper and gained admission for Peter too. That looked like a good thing at that moment. But notice the fact that Peter would not have sinned that night, if John had not got Peter into that courtyard ­ for it was only inside there that Peter was questioned, and that he denied the Lord three times (See John 18:17,25,27).

So we could ask the question, "Why did God allow that to happen? Why didn't He prevent Peter from gaining entry into the courtyard?" Was that a mistake on God's part? No. God in His sovereignty permitted John to get Peter inside, so that Peter could get an education through his failure. He could not have become the leader of the apostles and the leading evangelist of the early church without having completed this course in his education.

Satan had his agents ready to tempt Peter, but he had to get God's permission to do that. But Jesus was praying for Peter that his faith would not fail in that moment of utter failure (Lk.22:31,32). And Jesus' prayer was answered. Peter came out of that experience a broken, compassionate man. Never again in his life would he be able to denounce sinners with harshness.

Every time he was tempted to do that, he would remember his own failure and tone down his denunciations.

God can make the very worst things that ever happened in your life to work for your very best, if you have faith. During the seven weeks before Pentecost, Peter may have wished many times that John had not gotten permission for him to enter the courtyard that fateful night, so that he would not have denied the Lord. But then he would not have been broken either, and he would have been unfit to preach the gospel to sinners on the day of Pentecost.

We know that Peter still preached against sin, for he writes in his letter about following in Jesus' steps "who did no sin", and of "ceasing from sin" (1 Pet.2:2,22; 4:1,2). But now he preached with compassion. This was why he was given the privilege to open the door of the gospel to the Jews on the day of Pentecost, and also to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius. God could have used James or John in either of those instances. But he didn't. He used Peter ­ the one who had failed miserably ­ for he could speak with greater compassion to wayward sinners than those others.

True And False Prophets ­ Zac Poonen We read in Daniel 11:32, that those who are influenced by the spirit of the antichrist will use smooth words (flattery) to draw people to themselves. The one unmistakable characteristic of every false prophet in history has been flattery. And the one unmistakable characteristic of every true prophet has been rebuke.

False prophets flatter people in order to win them to their group, or to build their own kingdoms, or to get honour, or to get money, etc., Many of these false prophets correspond faithfully with people, in order to retain their personal hold over them. Their letters will not however contain words of rebuke and correction (as in the letters of the Lord and of the apostles ­ as we read in Revelation 2 and 3 and the epistles). Instead, they will only contain words of flattery commendation.

Smooth words will only defile your heart with pride and self­satisfaction. Words of rebuke on the other hand will cleanse your heart and make it pure. Jesus said "Those whom I love, I reprove and I discipline" (Rev.3:19). Rebuke is one mark of Divine love.

When God sends a prophet into our midst, to rebuke us, that is a proof of the fact that God loves us. When God forsakes a church, it will "no longer have a prophet in its midst" (Psa.74:1,9) to rebuke it. Instead, it will have preachers who preach smooth words (2 Tim.4:3,4). That is a sad condition for any of God's people to be in.

In Revelation 2 and 3, we see that even though five of the seven churches there were in a bad shape, yet the Lord had not forsaken them as yet. The proof of this is seen in the fact that He sent a prophet (John the apostle) to rebuke and correct them through his letters.

John had strong words even for the elders ­ words such as, "You have left your first love....You are spiritually dead....You are wretched and poor and blind and naked". If those elders and those churches did not respond to those words of rebuke, and repent, they would be forsaken.

Once the Lord "takes away the lampstand" (Rev.2:5), He will not send His prophets to rebuke that church any more. The false prophets will then take over, and smooth words will be heard regularly at the meetings, Sunday after Sunday!! This has happened in church after church, in generation after generation, throughout these twenty centuries. And it is happening all around us today.

Life And Fellowship ­ Zac Poonen John begins his gospel and his first letter by mentioning the things that were in thebeginning. In the beginning when there were no doctrines, church patterns, baptism, etc.,over which Christians debate now, there was only God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and they had life and fellowship among themselves (1Jn.1:1­3). It is life and fellowship that we should value more than anything else. In 1 John, chapter 2 John writes about three levels of spiritual life.

Children (1 John 2:12):The main characteristic about children is that they rejoice in the forgiveness of their sins They know that they have a Father who loves them and would take care of them. If we are occupied with forgiveness of sins and the Father's blessings, it shows that we are only children spiritually.

Young Men(1 John 2:13): Young men are strong and the word of God abides in them and they overcome Satan. Even if we have victory over sin, and are occupied with serving God and are able to overcome Satan, we are still young spiritually.

Fathers(1 John 2:14): There are those who have grown to become spiritual fathers, and the only thing that matters to them is knowing God as He has been from the beginning, signifying life and fellowship. The greatest calling we have is to manifest the life and the character of God. In the beginning God was not doing miracles or casting out devils, but having divine life and enjoying fellowship. We too can experience the life of God and have fellowship with others who have that life.

Many go to church to listen to gifted preachers, to listen to good music, watch healings and miracles, receive help for earthly needs, etc. We read in Mark 6:20 that King Herod loved to listen to the fiery preaching of John the Baptist but that did not make him spiritual. God draws out people who are seeking from the depth of their heart for His life, and such people have fellowship with others with the same life, even if the others have no outstanding gifts. If we are only being drawn to gifted people, it shows us that we could be just like Herod. Those who are

being drawn to gifts and not divine life and fellowship with humble, godly people, will fall away soon. But those who are being drawn to life will not fall away.

It takes many years for us to partake of divine nature. But spiritual gifts can be received in an instant. But gifts are like garments which can be put on, but which do not change the person inside. Balaam's donkey could speak in a unknown tongue, but it was still only a donkey. Balaam himself could prophesy about the Messiah, but he was one who led Israel to sin. God has not placed many gifted brothers in the church to sift between those who would seek for life and others who would seek for gifts. A person who cannot have any fellowship with godly brothers who are not so gifted manifests that it is not life that he seeks.

Jesus said that false prophets would prophesy, do miracles and cast out demons in His name (Mt.7:22). But He would have to tell them that they had never been His (Mt 7:23 LB). Most people do not understand that those who have such gifts may not even be born again. Jesus tells us not to look for gifts, but fruit like patience, goodness, mercy, kindness, etc. When you listen to a great preacher, do you ever seek to find out about his family life, his relationships with co­ workers, his attitude to money and honour etc. That is how we distinguish between true and false prophets.

Babylon is built on the basis of gifts which is admired and valued much. But Jerusalem the true church is built by life and fellowship.

Fellowship ­ Zac Poonen The most valuable brother and sister in any church is the one who can bring the atmosphere of heaven into a church and who can build fellowship in that church.

And such a person need not necessarily be one of the elder brothers. All of us have the opportunity to become such valuable brothers and sisters.

Think of a brother/sister in a church, who whenever he/she comes into a meeting or into a home, is like a pure breeze from heaven blowing through the room. What a precious brother/sister such a person is! Even if he/she stops by and visits you for just five minutes, you feel refreshed. You feel as if heaven came into your home for five minutes! He/she may not have given you a sermon or even a word of revelation from the Scriptures. But he/she was so pure. He/she was not moody or gloomy and had no complaints against anyone. Such a brother/sister may never speak first in a meeting (as many have the lust to do). He/she may speak fifteenth in every meeting perhaps, and that too for just three minutes. But those will be three minutes of heaven in the meeting ­ worth waiting for, to listen to!

Since the world is full of complainers and murmurers, it is so refreshing to meet a brother or a sister like that. It is just like having a bath, on a hot, sticky day! That is the type of brother/sister that we all should long to be like. Jesus was like that and He wants to make us like that too.

How sad it is that instead of being like that, many brothers and sisters go around creating problems wherever they go. They separate the brothers and sisters from each other by their gossipping. These are the servants and agents of Satan.

We are called to live with each other exactly as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit lived with each other. They were not preaching to each other back there in eternity past, but having fellowship.

We too are not called to preach to each other, but to have fellowship.

That is heaven. And that is where the new and living way is meant to lead us to. I fear that many of us have got so taken up with the way that we have never arrived at the destination ­ fellowship with the Father.

The Holy Spirit ­ Zac Poonen It is impossible to live a victorious Christian life or to serve God effectively, if we are not filled with the Holy Spirit.

Forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit are the two gifts that God offers to all repentant sinners AS SOON AS they turn to Him. There is no need for anyone who turns to the Lord and receives forgiveness of sins to wait for even a single day before he receives the Holy Spirit. That is how it was in the early days of Christianity. In those days, as soon as people repented and believed, they were baptized in water and then received the Holy Spirit at once. That was part of their initial experience. But nowadays, we find believers waiting for years before being baptized in water and then waiting for many more years before receiving the Holy Spirit.

What every believer needs to know is that there is no need for any extra qualification in order to receive the Holy Spirit, other than what is required for the forgiveness of sins ­ namely, repentance from sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is due to ignorance of this fact that many, many believers are not baptized in the Holy Spirit. If only they knew the truth, they would not be deceived by Satan any longer.

To try to be worthy enough to receive the Holy Spirit is as foolish as trying to be worthy enough to receive the forgiveness of sins.

The fulness of the Holy Spirit will primarily bring the fulness of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives ­ fulness of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self­control (Gal.5:23).

Secondly, it will equip us to be powerful witnesses for Christ and effective members of His earthly Body.

The anointing of the Holy Spirit is the prime requisite for being an effective member of Christ's Body. Without this, however holy our lives may be, we will be limited in our usefulness to God for His work on earth.

Although Jesus lived a pure and holy life for 30 years, He still needed to be anointed with the Holy Spirit, before He could have the supernatural gifts necessary for Him to fulfil His ministry.

God wants to equip us in the same way today, so that we can carry on that ministry, as the Body of Christ on earth. Those who either despise or don't believe in these supernatural gifts will of course not have them. Thus their service for the Lord will also be limited.

We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit DAILY, for this is not a once­for­all experience that takes care of our need forever.

Becoming A Blessing ­ Zac Poonen The gifts of the Spirit are compared in 1 Cor.12 to the organs of the human body ­ the eye, the ear, the hands and the feet. We need eyes to see, ears to hear, hands to help others and feet to take us to different parts of this world. Even so, God has given us these gifts of the Spirit, so that a needy world around us can be blessed through them. He wants to give us power to free people from Satan's grip over their lives and from their frustrations and their fears.

When God anoints our heads with His oil, our cups WILL overflow with blessing to others. And if we keep pouring our oil into the vessels of others, we will find like the widow found (in Elisha's time ­ 2 Kings 4:1­7) that there is enough power and blessing in the anointing of God to help every single person who comes across our path. There wasn't a single vessel that remained unfilled with oil that day in that poor widow's house. Her whole neighbourhood was blessed through her. And our neighbourhood can be blessed in the same way too.

But we have to keep pouring out into the lives of others. That is a Divine law. If we selfishly keep God's blessing for ourselves alone, it will begin to stink like the manna did, even if our blessing came from heaven (like the manna did) in the first place.

Proverbs 11:25 says that it is only the one who waters others who will himself also be watered by God. Jesus became a curse for us on Calvary's cross so that we might receive the blessing of Abraham ­ the promise of the Spirit (Gal.3:13). The blessing of Abraham is described in Genesis 12:3 as "being a blessing to all the families of the earth". This is what it means to be a servant of the new covenant : To be a blessing to EVERY family that we meet on the face of the earth. That is our birthright in Christ.

So, let us not "despise the day of small beginnings" (Zech.4:10). Maybe the Spirit will urge us to start by writing a letter of encouragement to just one person whom God lays on our hearts.

God may test our eagerness to serve Him by sending just one needy brother across our path ­ one hungry visitor. What will we do? Will we seek God for power to help that brother?

If we are unfaithful in such matters, we will miss everything that God has planned for us. To live under the anointing constantly, we must be faithful in the smallest of matters. It is through small actions that all mighty ministries begin. That is how the rivers of living water (that Jesus spoke of) began to flow from the sanctuary. It began as a trickle, but later on became a mighty river (See Ezek.47:1,9).

May God help us all to be faithful in the little things.

The Proof Of Our Faith ­ Zac Poonen Those who are eager to bring praise, glory and honour to Christ when He comes will be careful to make sure that when their faith is tested, it is genuine (1Pe.1:7). But it is generally difficult for human beings to live just by faith. We tend to look for some sense of God's presence with us or some sign of His approval as we go through trials. The opposite of living by faith is to walk by sight! Peter talks about believing in Christ, loving Him and rejoicing greatly even though we cannot see Him (v.8). Many talk about seeing visions, etc. But actually very few have 'seen' Jesus. It would be impossible to have any airs about us and we shall be simple and ordinary people once we have seen Him. The proof of our faith is that we can believe and rejoice even when we are passing through the heat of the trials. Trials become hotter for us when we seek to be faithful and cannot see any mark of approval from Jesus. When we seek to be faithful and see that others who are unfaithful are still happy without problems, our trials are more difficult to bear. The proof of our faith then is that we continue to believe, and be faithful even when no one can see us. Our faith is proved to be genuine when we continue to be faithful even when we see others in the same church being careless with sin and going towards worldliness. It takes faith to be different from them and not to judge them at the same time. There will be praise, glory and honour when Jesus comes, if we have remained faithful and denied ourselves in secret just to keep our sharpness for the Lord.

God has given us a wonderful promise that we will only have to face trials which others are also going through, and that we would never be tested beyond our ability (1Co.10:13). But we tend to imagine that we should not have any trials because we are God's children! It is because God allows us to face difficulties that some of our prayers for escaping from problems do not get answered. But we can be sure that the devil is not going to be able to come upon us suddenly with a terrible trial that is too much for us.

Unbelievers, and believers who act selfishly, unrighteously and in disobedience to God cannot expect that they would not be tested beyond their ability. Those who are greedy for money will surely walk into the devil's traps which God never planned for them! (1Ti.6:9,10). We must keep ourselves in the place where God's grace can be upon us.

Many people are willing to set things right when someone points out their sins to them. But the surprising thing is that they never seem to be able to hear directly from God! This is because they are actually craving after other things and are too busy to listen to God (1Co.10:6). God cannot be fooled, and we have to reap what we sow (Ga.6:7). It is worth being faithful in secret before God so that there will be glory and honour when Jesus comes again.

"In Christ" ­ Zac Poonen Our salvation began in God's mind. It was He Who "chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world" (Eph.1:4). We love Him because He first loved us (1 Jn.4:19). In Ephesians, we are told first about what God has done for us (Chapters 1 to 3). Only then are we told as to what we must do for God (Chapters 4 to 6).

In evangelical circles, the phrase "accepting Christ" is very commonly used. Although the New Testament does speak about "Christ IN us" (Col.1:27; Eph.3:17), it speaks much more about our being IN CHRIST.Accepting Christ is what WE do, whereas placing us in Christ is what GOD does. It is not surprising therefore that a man­centred theology places much more emphasis on what we do rather than on what God does. If we want our Christian life to be strong, we must first of all be rooted and grounded in what God has done for us IN CHRIST.To illustrate what it means to be "in Christ", consider a letter that we mail in an envelope. We mail the envelope. But the letter goes with the envelope wherever the latter goes. Similarly, since we were placed in Christ before the foundation of the world, when Christ was crucified on Calvary's hill, we were crucified in Him too. When He was buried, we were buried in Him. And when He was raised, we were raised in Him. When He ascended, we ascended in Him. And where He is now, we are ­ IN HIM. Only if we believe this truth of God's Word, can we experience it ­ not otherwise.

"According to your faith be it unto you", is a law of God.It is something like God having put millions of rupees in our bank account and then giving us blank cheque­leaves signed with Jesus' Name on them (2 Cor.1:20). All we have to do now is fill in the amount and go to the bank and claim our inheritance ­ in Jesus' Name.

The good news of the gospel centres primarily around what God has done for us in our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of what Christ has done for us, we can have a foretaste of heaven in our hearts right now. Heaven is a place of perfect peace and perfect joy. No­one is ever gloomy or depressed or sour or bitter in heaven. No­one is fearful in heaven, because there is no problem that God cannot solve. The gospel message is that we can have a foretaste of that heavenly life here on earth. As an old writer has said, we preach the gospel so that people might experience TWO heavens ­ one on earth now and the other after we leave this earth ­ in heaven itself. But why is heaven such a wonderful place? Basically because no­one does his own will in heaven.

Everyone does the will of God. That is why Jesus taught us to pray: "Our Father Who art in heaven. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". When that is our sincere prayer too, the atmosphere of heaven will pervade every part of our hearts as well.

Those who pray that prayer will eagerly seek to find God's will in every area of their lives. And they will want to do God's will in its entirety. To such believers, the will of God will not be a

burden, but a joy and a delight. They will never be depressed or gloomy or fearful, for they know that they can never face a problem that God cannot solve. When Jesus said, "I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me" (Jn.6:38), He was saying that He had come to earth to bring the atmosphere of heaven to earth. And throughout His life on earth, He demonstrated what it was to live with the atmosphere of heaven ruling His life.

Wherever Jesus went He was a blessing to others. This is the life that He now wants to give us too.

Your Decisions Determine What You Become ­ Zac Poonen "I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me" (Jn.6:38).

Jesus tells us here in His own words what He came on earth to do. And in this one sentence we have a description of how Jesus lived every single day of His life on earth.The thirty years of Jesus' life in Nazareth are referred to as hidden years. But here Jesus tells us what He did during every day of those 30 years: He denied His own will and did His Father's will.

When Jesus was with the Father in heaven from eternity past, He never had to deny His own will, for His own will was the same as His Father's. But when He came to earth in our flesh, that flesh had a self­will that was diametrically opposed to the Father's will at every single point. The only way in which Jesus could do His Father's will then was by denying His own self­will all the time. This was the cross that Jesus bore throughout His earthly life ­ the crucifixion of His own will ­ and which He now asks us to bear every day, if we are to follow Him. It was the consistent denial of His own will that made Jesus a spiritual Man. And it is the constant denial of our self­will that will make us spiritual too. Every day we make decisions concerning various matters. We make decisions in relation to how we are going to spend our money or our spare time, or how to speak to, or about someone, or how to write a particular letter, or how to react to another's behaviour, or how much time to spend in studying the Word or in prayer or in serving the church etc., We react to the actions and words and behaviour of people around us from morning till night. We may not be realising it, but we make at least a hundred decisions every day ­ and in each of those decisions we decide either to please ourselves or to please God. Many of our actions are not the result of conscious decisions. But even then, we do them in one of these two ways ­ either seeking to please ourselves or to glorify God. Our unconscious actions are determined by the way we make our conscious decisions. Finally, it is the sum total of these decisions that determine whether we become spiritual or carnal.

Think of the millions of decisions that we have made ever since we were first converted. Those who have consciously and consistently chosen to deny their self­will many times each day and to do the will of God, have become spiritual. On the other hand, those who have rejoiced merely in the forgiveness of their sins, and who therefore chose to please themselves most of the time have remained carnal. Each person's decisions have determined what he has finally become.

You are today as humble and as holy and as loving as you yourself have chosen to be, through the thousands of decisions that you have made in the various situations of life in past years.

Spirituality is not something that comes through one encounter with God. It is the result of choosing the way of self­denial and of doing God's will CONSISTENTLY day after day, week after week, and year after year.

Being Like A Little Child ­ Zac Poonen In Isaiah 11:6, we are told that during the 1000­year reign of Jesus on earth, when He returns, everything will be peaceful. There will be no wild animals, and life on earth will be simply wonderful. But we have a foretaste of that life in the church already ­ because the kingdom of God has already come in the church. "Wolves" are already lying down with "lambs", "leopards" and "goats" are at peace, and "cattle" are safe amidst the "lions" ­ in the fellowship of the church.

In the world, people with such diverse personalities as these, cannot get along with each other.

But in the church, they die to their Self­life, and live in glorious peace with each other. And in this kingdom, Isaiah says that "a little child will be the leader" (Isa.11:6). Thus we see who is really fit to lead a church ­ the one who is most like a little child. The real leader in a church is the one who is guileless and humble like a little child. It is easy to fellowship with such a brother. People develop confidence in such a brother ­ who is himself, who is not trying to impress others with his personality or his gifts, and who is not trying to imitate some other more mature brother. In many Christian groups, leadership is given to those who are smart, talented and humorous, and who are good musicians and organizers. But in the new­covenant church, God appoints those who are like little children ­ for they are the greatest ones in His kingdom. If the "wolves" in a church are tearing up the "lambs", then the kingdom of God has not yet come to that church. And that must be because the leader is not like a child!! So it is the leaders who should judge themselves when things go wrong in a church.

Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 18:4 to humble themselves like little children, for a child is the greatest in the kingdom of God. Now we know that the greatest person in God's kingdom is Jesus Himself. So that must mean that Jesus humbled himself at all times like a little child. There we have an example for all Christian leaders to follow. We read on one occasion that Jesus healed multitudes of sick people, but told the people not to tell anyone about it. He didn't want any publicity for Himself. That was in order to fulfil a Scripture that said that He "would not make his voice heard in the streets" (He would not advertise Himself) (Matt.12:15­20). That Scripture begins with these words "Behold my Child..." (Matt.12:18 ­ margin). God is saying there, "Look carefully at My Child ­ the One who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven ­ He heals the sick and then disappears as though He has done nothing." In the church, the one with this spirit is the real leader.

A little child realises that he is a nobody, and that he knows almost nothing. And it is the realization that we are nobodys and that we know almost nothing of spiritual matters, that will keep us as little children always. It is only such a person whom God can attest as His representative in the church. Jesus gave us only two examples to learn humility from: Himself

and little children. In the gospels, we can see how Jesus lived, and learn humility from His example. Around us, we can see little babies, and learn humility from them. What are the thoughts that go through a little baby's mind when it is lying in its cradle? Does he think how smart he is or how much others appreciate him etc., No. He has no such thoughts at all. He has no self consciousness whatsoever. He is just himself ­ natural, with no pretence or artificiality.

That is our example. Are we bothered with thoughts about what others think about us or our ministry? Then we are not like little children. We must battle these high thoughts until we are converted and become like little children. Only then will we be fully qualified to lead God's people. Then we will be happy with any small corner on this earth that God places us in, to do His work. And we won't have any ambition to become great in the eyes of men. We will be happy to fulfil the task that God has entrusted us with in Christ's Body. And we won't be jealous of anyone else's ministry either.

Praise God that we can experience as well as proclaim such a wonderful gospel ­ that we can unlearn all our corrupt "grown­up ways" and become like little children once again.

Fellowship And Unity ­ Zac Poonen Love is the primary mark of Jesus' disciples. So fellowship between the disciples of Jesus is vital. In Matthew 18:18­20, we read of the power that results from such fellowship among the disciples of Jesus. A paraphrase of those verses would read something like this: The Lord Jesus said, "If two or three disciples of Mine are found in one place and have no disunity between them, but instead a unity like the symphony ("sumphoneo" (Greek) = agree) produced by a number of musical instruments playing together in harmony with each other, then I will be present in their midst. And then, if they ask My Father for anything, it will be granted to them.

They will have authority to bind the workings of Satan in any place on earth; and whatever activities of Satan they bind here on earth, will be bound at their source in "the heavenlies" (from where these spirit­powers operate). Such believers will also have the power to deliver (loose) people who are bound by Satan on earth".

The devil knows the amazing power there is in unity and fellowship among Jesus' disciples, but many believers do not know it. And so Satan's main aim has always been to bring disunity among believers so as to make them powerless against him. What power there would be in a home, if the husband and wife were one in spirit! Satan would never be able to overcome such a home! What power there would be in a church if even two of its elders were one in spirit! Satan would never be able to overcome such a church! Satan triumphs over most Christian churches and homes, because such unity and fellowship is not found in them. I am not talking now about casting out demons. Any believer who has faith for this, can cast out demons in the Name of Jesus, single­handedly, as Jesus said in Mark16:17. In fact, we read in Matthew 7:22,23 of even unbelievers who cast out demons in Jesus' Name. But to bind the activities of Satan, so as to release people from the problems Satan has created for them is far more difficult. A believer cannot do that alone. That requires an expression of the Body of Christ ­ and the minimum number of disciples that can express Christ's Body is two! Only the authority exercised by such a "body" can keep the powers of darkness at bay.

There must be at least two people at the centre of every church who are totally united with each other. Satan will always target such a core seeking to split it up and divide it. If he succeeds, then that church will become powerless against him. But if that core keeps itself united, Satan will be powerless against that church. This applies to a home as well. In every church there will be mature people as well as new converts ­ just as there are babes as well as grown­up children in a family. The babes may fight with each other, backbite, complain and gossip, because they have not understood the way of peace. Such babes will be found in every growing church. But they can never hinder God's work. A core of united elders at the centre of a church can make it an overcoming church. Babes may constitute the vast majority of every church. But God is always seeking to build up the core ­ both spiritually and numerically. It is this core that fights the battles against Satan and preserves a church in life and victory. Fellowship in a church is more important than evangelism. In the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus said that the 99 sheep in the fold were "ninety­nine righteous persons who need no repentance" (Luke15:7). Who are the ones "who need no repentance"? Obviously those who are judging themselves constantly. Such people do not need any repentance, because they are constantly repenting of their sins. Such disciples have no problem becoming one with each other.

Acceptable Sacrifices ­ Zac Poonen The sacrifices of God are a broken and a contrite heart, that is aware of its own nothingness and helplessness (Psa.51:17). That is what Abel had, and what Cain did not have. And that is why it is written, "The Lord had regard for Abel, and (therefore) for his offering ...... But the Lord had no regard for Cain and (therefore) not for his offering either (Gen.4:4,6).

Faith is the helpless dependence of the soul upon God and it was "by faith that Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain" (Heb.11:4). Therefore Abel's gifts were acceptable to God. There is a great deception in the teaching that what made the difference between Abel and Cain was that Abel offered blood and Cain did not. The application of such teaching is that what makes a man acceptable to God is his presenting the blood of Jesus before God. It is almost as though the way the man lives and the condition of his heart (whether broken or not, whether with faith or not) makes no difference. All he does is plead the blood of Jesus as though it were some type of magic charm, and he gains acceptance with God. This is a lie and many are being deceived by it.

The blood of Jesus cannot be claimed by anyone and everyone. It does NOT say in the Scriptures that the blood of Jesus can cleanse anyone and everyone from their sins. No. That is a subtle perversion of Scripture. What the Scripture does say is that the blood of Jesus will cleanse all those "WHO WALK IN THE LIGHT AS GOD IS IN THE LIGHT" (1 Jn.1;7). To walk in the light of God, one must have a broken and a contrite heart, as Abel had. Only then can one's offering be acceptable to God.

If a man says that he trusts in the blood of Jesus, but has a proud and arrogant spirit, God will resist him and oppose him (1Pet.5:6), just like He did Cain. It is only the humble who receive grace from God (Jas.4:6).

Our offerings of worship, prayer and service are acceptable to God ONLY if they come from a broken and contrite heart of faith (humble dependence an God). It is not the fluency of our speech or the efficiency of our service that God looks at, but rather the attitude of our hearts.

This is the first lesson that we can learn from this incident in Genesis 4.

From the days of Cain and Abel and on until the end of time, the sacrifices of God have always been a broken and contrite spirit. He does not change. His laws remain the same.

God would not have accepted Cain even if Cain had brought a lamb and shed its blood, for his heart was proud and lifted up.

Humility of heart is the first step to salvation Then we can come into the light and ask for the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from all sin.

It is only the humble of heart who can shout Paul's shout of triumph, "If God be for us, who can be against us " (Rom.8:31), because God is only on the side of the humble. The proud cannot say that, for God is against them. Anyone who has high thoughts concerning himself, as Cain had, will end up like Cain too, even if he keeps claiming the blood of Jesus. "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap" (Gal.6:7). And that law applies universally without respect of persons.

The Secret Of Discernment ­ Zac Poonen "The religious rulers were sneering at Jesus.......The soldiers also mocked Him......One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him......But the other rebuking him said, `This man has done nothing wrong" (Lk.22:35­41). It is indeed amazing that while the elderly Bible­scholars in Israel, and the shrewd, educated Roman soldiers could not discern Who Jesus was, a thief­cum­murderer who knew nothing of the Bible could do so in his last moments on earth. Why was this so? Discernment does not come through intelligence, Bible­knowledge or experience. It is given by God to those who are sincere of heart. The thief on the cross teaches us how we can have discernment. The entire range of bishops, priests and Bible­scholars in Israel were there at the foot of the cross that day accusing Jesus of one thing and another (Mt.27:41).

Many of the chief citizens of the nation also, who were passing by, were abusing Jesus mercilessly and accusing Him of saying that He would destroy the temple (a false accusation, since Jesus never ever made such a statement) (Matt.27:39). Both the thieves were so convinced by these accusations, that they too joined in the tirade against Jesus (Matt.27:44). But all of a sudden, one of them stopped, and said concerning Jesus, "This man has not committed a single sin" (Lk.23:41).

How did he know that? How did he discern that Jesus was the Messiah that He claimed to be?

How did he reject all the accusations of the people as false ­ at a time when no­one took up for

Jesus? After all, "there cannot be smoke without a fire". Going by the worldly wisdom of that proverb, the thief could have thought that there must be some grounds, however small, in Jesus, for all these hundreds of people to accuse Him. Yet the thief said that Jesus did NOTHING wrong!! How did the thief become so spiritually­minded as to reject "what his ears heard" (Isa.11:3)? Because he heard Jesus saying, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Lk.23:34). On one hand, the thief saw the unrest, the agitation, the bitterness and the hatred of those Bible­scholars. On the other hand, he saw the forgiving spirit, the total absence of a complaining spirit and of any self­justification, and the rest that there was in Jesus. Thus he discerned who was right and who was wrong.

In the church too, this is how we are to exercise discernment. When two brothers or sisters have a controversy, if you use this thief's yardstick, you will soon be able to discover who is right and who is wrong. "The wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud. `There is no peace', says my God, `for the wicked'" (Isa.57:20,21). Those who are wrong in God's eyes are doomed to a life of constant agitation and unrest, in which they will keep on tossing up rubbish and mud from their mouths (gossip, acccusations, complaints and abuses) against godly brothers and sisters. When you meet such a brother or sister, you can, without any hesitation, categorise him/her as a wicked person, for that is what God calls him/her (in Isa.57:20,21). There is no need for further evidence or even to look into the facts of the case.

The unrest and agitation in that person are the clearest evidence of all. In worldly court­cases, the judges sometimes take many years to sift through all the evidence, before arriving at a judgment.

And even then they could be wrong. If we have to adopt this method for disputes in the church, then we will have to spend all our life just listening to one side and the other before arriving at a conclusion. And we could still be wrong! But God has given us a better way: Just check as to who is at rest and who is in unrest. Check as to who refuses to justify himself and who is full of complaints. And you will have the answer straightaway, as to who is righteous and who is not.

The thief on the cross has shown us the secret of discernment.

The Humble Receive Grace And Revelation ­ Zac Poonen "You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

(1Pet.5:5). Here Peter speaks about the importance of learning submission to spiritual authority in our younger days itself. If a young man is saved by the age of 20, it is usually God's purpose that he should have an effective ministry by the time he is 35 years old. But for this to be fulfilled, that man should learn the all­important lessons of brokenness and humility by the time he is 35. And those lessons can be learnt only as he submits to spiritual authority. Only thus can He receive grace to exercise spiritual authority later in his home and in the church. Young people who do not submit to spiritual authority invariably end up losing the ministry God had in mind for them. This does not mean that we don't have to humble ourselves once we are older!!

Subjection to elders must be learnt when we are young. But following Jesus along the way of humility is something that we have to keep on doing until our dying day. That is the only way to keep on receiving grace until the very end of our lives.

Bible­knowledge cannot give us grace. It is an amazing fact that our Lord was crucified by Bible­believing Jewish zealots, and not by the heathen Romans or Greeks who had no knowledge of the true God. The leaders of the only true religion on earth in Jesus' day (Judaism) and the scholars of the only true Scriptures (Genesis to Malachi), were the ones who called Jesus a deceiver, a heretic and the prince of devils. Those scribes and Pharisees were intelligent, Bible­ believing, well­educated and ardent for the truth of the Scriptures. Yet they were totally blind spiritually. They did not get grace. Why? The answer to that question is important, because history has repeated itself again and again in the Christendom. Ardent Bible scholars even today, are totally blind to the true Jesus of the Scriptures and to the true grace of God. Like the Pharisees of old, they too are unable to receive the hidden wisdom of God (1 Cor.2:7­10). The reason in both cases is just the same: They are proud and seek the honour of men.

Jesus said to the Pharisees, "How can you have faith who receive honour from one another and do not seek the honour that comes from God" (Jn. 5:44). Those who live before the face of men, seeking their own honour can never receive revelation on the true meaning of the Scriptures, for God blinds them to the truth (Mt.11:25). God has written the Scriptures in such a way that the wise and intelligent will not be able to understand it, if they do not humble themselves. That cannot be said about any earthly book. There is no book in the world that requires humility as an essential qualification in order to understand it, except the Bible. The natural mind (no matter how clever) will consider the revelation of the Spirit that comes forth from a humble brother as foolishness (1 Cor.2:14). One requires grace to understand God's Word. Proud theologians today proclaim many different interpretations of the Scriptures. But they are totally unaware of their blindness. We have to humble ourselves before the face of God, and finish with seeking the honour and approval of men. Then God will REVEAL to us what He hides from others.

God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. If we are proud, then even if all our doctrines are right, we shall end up like the Pharisees, deceived and blind concerning spiritual realities. Then we shall not be able to recognise the true prophets of God in our day, any more than the Pharisees could recognise Jesus, the True Prophet of the Lord in their day. All sin has its origin in PRIDE and SELFISHNESS. In the same way, all the virtues of Christ have their origin in HUMILITY and SELFLESSNESS. The more we humble ourselves, the more we will receive grace from God. Then we shall live in victory and manifest Christ's character more and more in our lives. If anyone does not have victory over sin, that would indicate clearly that he has not humbled himself ­ because all who humble themselves will certainly receive grace (1 Pet.5:6), and all who come under God's grace will certainly get victory (Rom.6:14). There are many false ideas of humility in Christendom. But this is the test by which we can evaluate ourselves unfailingly: Have we got victory over sin and is the character of Christ being manifested increasingly in us?

Inward And Outward Sacrifices ­ Zac Poonen It is true that many in Christendom have placed a greater emphasis on the external sacrifices, than on the inner sacrifice of taking up the cross, that the New Testament calls us to. But it is

possible for us, in an over­reaction to that error, to go to the other extreme of living a life where all our sacrifices are only inward ­ and sometimes imaginary!!.

If Jesus had made only inward sacrifices, He would never have left heaven and come to this earth. And if His apostles had made only inward sacrifices, the gospel would have never gone further than Jerusalem!! Jesus and the apostles were balanced, and knew that God wanted them to make inward as well as outward sacrifices for the gospel's sake.

It is only those who are willing, like Jesus and the apostles, to go through hardship and inconvenience in order to bless others, who will be able to carry the burdens of others in prayer and to stand in the gap in prayer in the church today.

It is a great deception to imagine that we are walking in the footsteps of Jesus, or that we are sanctified and spiritual, if we are occupied only with our own needs and hardly ever sacrifice ourselves or our time in any way for others.

Jesus lived in such a way that others might be blessed and brought near to God. This is the new and living way that He has inaugurated for us.

That which we give priority to in our lives is usually a clear indication of what we really worship. If, for example, we never forget to eat or to sleep or to go to work, but find ourselves having forgotten to take time to hear God speak to us on many days, then food and sleep and money must certainly have become our gods.

How much of our time, energy and money are we willing to sacrifice for the Lord? We may find a false comfort in the fact that under the new covenant, we are not commanded to set apart one day in the week and 10% of our income for the Lord. Many who used to give 10% of their income to God when they were in the denominations, have now backslidden to the point where they give God almost nothing at all. This is certainly not the way that Jesus walked. Such a state of affairs has come about, because comfort and prosperity have become their gods.

Perhaps we don't lose our temper or lust after women now. That's good. But these can never be a substitute for the external sacrifices that should also be found in our lives, if we are to follow the Lord.

Many of us have now come to the place where we are able to explain the doctrine of `victory over sin' better than the apostles themselves!! But we need to get a little more light on the utter selfishness that characterises our way of life.

Spiritual instability is often caused by the fact that a person's `knowledge' leg is over 3 feet long while his `life' leg is only about 1 or 2 inches long!! And he still spends his time seeking to stretch his `knowledge'­leg!!! Despite the purest revelation of God's truth that he may have, his selfishness still remains uncrucified.

The Ministry Of Melchizedek ­ Zac Poonen

"Thou art a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek" (Heb.7:17). Melchizedek was an unknown man ­ but a man who knew God intimately ­ who met Abraham when Abraham was returning from a war, and blessed him with food, and with a word from God (Gen.14:14­20).

Abraham was tired and was in great danger of being puffed up after being so victorious. He was also in danger of coveting the property of the king of Sodom that he had captured in the war. But God sent Melchizedek with food that refreshed his tired body, and with a word that saved his soul from being defiled by pride and covetousness.

Melchizedek told Abraham, "Blessed be God, the Possessor of heaven and earth Who gave you the victory over your enemies." He did not preach a long 7­point sermon to him. No. He just spoke one sentence ­ but that was a prophetic word that met Abraham's need exactly. Through that one sentence, he reminded Abraham that since it was God Who had given him the victory, he should not take the credit to himself. He also reminded Abraham that since his God owned the heaven and earth, there was no need for him to take any of the spoils of the battle, as victors normally do.

A few minutes later, when Abraham met the king of Sodom, these words of Melchizedek helped him to do the right thing. He told the king of Sodom that since his God was the Possessor of heaven and earth, he would not take even a thread from the spoils (Gen.14:22­24). Jesus has now been appointed by God as a high­priest after the order of Melchizedek. And we are now to be priests according to the same order ­ and are to fulfil this Melchizedek­ministry.

Consider how Melchizedek, without any show, or pomp, or publicity, or advertisement, appeared quietly and gave Abraham just what he needed ­ food for his bodily needs, and the right word to save Abraham from pride and covetousness. After meeting Abraham's need, he disappeared just as quietly as he came. This is the ministry that we must all covet ­ to quietly bless those in need and then to disappear without seeking any honour, appreciation, thanks or publicity for ourselves.

People come to the meetings of the church, tired and exhausted from their battles in the world in which they live and work. How wonderful it is to prophesy in the church like Melchizedek, so that the believers are provided with spiritual food and nourishment that can refresh them. How blessed also to be able to help them in practical, earthly ways, when they are in need of it, so that we can make life easier for them. It is sad when brothers have high thoughts about themselves, and speak for a long time in the meetings of the church with very little content in what they say.

Such long, boring sermons bring death into the meeting. How wonderful, on the other hand, to be able to have the right word ­ a prophetic word ­ for the brothers and sisters in every meeting.

But if we are to prophesy like this, we must be priests who have offered sacrifices to God in secret, and who keep in touch with God at all times, with a clear conscience. There is no partiality with God. He desires that every brother and sister in the church be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, and prophesy (See Acts 2:17,18; 1 Cor.14:31). If you are willing to lay your all on the altar of sacrifice as a priest, if you long to prophesy, if you have a real care and concern for the welfare of your brothers and sisters, and if you have no desire for your own

reputation or honour, then God will surely put a word in your mouth to meet the needs of the brothers and sisters, in every meeting ­ even if it be just one sentence.

In the priesthood of Melchizedek, no­one is a special brother. Do not seek then to be known because of the gifts you have. Seek to be a nobody. Be anonymous, if you really want a Melchizedek­ministry. Let there be no thoughts within you that you are the brother who brought certain souls to Christ, or that you are the brother who casts out demons, or prays for the sick, or that you are the brother who leads the meeting, or who does this or that. Be content to be an ordinary brother without any name, title, honour or reputation.

Bless the others and disappear. Seek to be unknown.

Holiness With Love ­ Zac Poonen "May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness" (1Th.3:12,13).

These verses teach us that if we are to be unblamable in holiness, we must increase and abound in love for all men. Holiness without love is a counterfeit ­ and any such holiness is actually self righteousness and legalism, that are like filthy rags in God's sight (Is.64:6).

The Old Testament emphasized the HOLINESS of God and taught people to fear Him. The New Testament however reveals God as a God Who is LOVE, and invites us to partake of His nature.

God is Light and God is Love (1 John 1:5; 4:8). So the Light spoken of in the New Testament is actually the love of God. When it says that there is no darkness in God, what it means is that there is no hatred in Him (1 John 1:5). When we partake of His nature, there will be no hatred towards anyone in us either.

The greatest manifestation of HATRED this world ever saw was at the crucifixion of Jesus. And the greatest manifestation of LOVE too was seen there on the cross. And when Jesus defeated Satan on the cross, He demonstrated thereby that hatred can be overcome only by love and that evil can be overcome only by good.

The unmistakable identifying mark of the fullness of the Spirit (according to Romans 5:5) is LOVE. What a difference it would have made in Christendom in the 20th century, if love had been emphasized more than tongues ­ if Romans 5:5 had been emphasized as the identifying mark of the Spirit's fullness and not Acts 2:4! The Bible says that even if we have the gifts of tongues, prophecy and faith to move mountains, we still get zero in God's eyes, if we don't have love (1Cor.13:2). On the other hand, even if we don't speak in tongues, never prophesy and never move any mountains, we will still get 100%, if we have love. Love is the greatest.

The lie that Satan has propagated all over the world is that evil can be overcome only by evil ­ that if someone attacks us, we can defeat him only by attacking him in return. Our calling is to disprove this lie of the devil. Like arms dealers who supply weapons to both sides in a battle, Satan supplies hard words and evil plans to people (and to believers too) to attack each other.

Having done this, he sits back and watches them fight each other and rejoices therein. Believers who are sensible will recognize this scheme of Satan and will never ever fight against human beings. They will fight only against Satan (Ep.6:12).

[Note: We are not talking here about how a nation must respond to war or terrorist attacks against it, but only to how an INDIVIDUAL Christian must respond to attacks against him. The nations of the world are NOT under grace, but under Law and so must follow the Old Testament law of retaliation and punishment ­ an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (as it says in Lev.24:17­22 and Deut.19:15­21). Otherwise there will be no law and order in this world.]

There was not even a smell of hatred in Jesus towards those who crucified Him. This is the love we are called to manifest to others here on earth. Forgiveness of sins is free. But this love is costly. It is the pearl of great price that we have to give up everything to attain.

God has kept us on earth to demonstrate this great eternal truth that love is more powerful than hatred and that good is more powerful than evil. Let us take our calling seriously. The Lord can build His church only with those who are determined to respond IN LOVE, to all people, at all times. The gates of hell will never be able to prevail against such a church or against such a home. Amen.

Persecution Is Inevitable ­ Zac Poonen We read in Daniel 11:33, that in the last days, godly people will be attacked, imprisoned and killed. True servants of God are always persecuted.

James was killed by King Herod (Acts 12:2). No angel came to set him free. Abel was killed.

Every true prophet in the Old Testament was persecuted. (Acts 7:52). John the Baptist was beheaded. Jesus was crucified. Stephen was stoned to death. Paul was beheaded. History tells us that Peter himself was finally crucified ­ and no angel came to rescue him then. As far as we know, all the apostles, except John, were killed. Many Godfearing missionaries have been killed in heathen lands.

The Bible clearly teaches that the church will go through the great tribulation before Jesus comes, and that many of God's finest saints will be killed during that time (Rev.13:7). Some of God's finest saints have been killed in Communist lands even in our lifetime.

God's purposes are different for each person.But one thing is certain: If you desire only to glorify God in your earthly life and to walk in the will of God, you will be immortal until your life's work is done.

"Those who have spiritual understanding will have a wide teaching ministry in the last days.......

Wise leaders of God's people will share their wisdom with many others." (Dan. 11:33 ­ Living, and Good News Bible).

On the other hand, there will also be many in the last days "whom the Lord hates, who go around sowing discord among the brothers" (Prov.6:16­19). We do not fight against such people, because we refuse to fight with flesh and blood (Eph.6:12). We fight only with Satan, and we leave it to the angel of the Lord to deal with all our human opponents.

Many years ago I decided that I would never fight with any human being concerning any matter ­ and I have never regretted that decision. When anyone comes to quarrel with me, I either keep quiet, or get up and go away. When people accuse me by letter, I do not reply. It is sheer waste of time to reply to such people. I only forgive them, bless them, love them, AND LEAVE THEM ALONE. I want to concentrate all my energies on fighting Satan. I have realised that God can deal with these agents of the Accuser better than I can.

Vengeance belongs to God alone (Rom.12:19).

We read further in Daniel 11:34 that "many will join with these evil men in their hypocrisy".

Many will become hypocrites in a time of persecution. They will act like wholehearted brothers when in the midst of the church, and talk about judging themselves and taking up the cross etc., But when they are in the midst of their worldly friends and their unconverted relatives, they will seek man's honour and behave and speak in such a way as to be accepted by them.

There are many believers who having a root of bitterness within them have defiled others in the church (Heb.12:15). But God has been longsuffering with all of them, and so they are all still in the church. But in due course, they will all be exposed (if they don't repent), and then they too will fall away, like others before them.

If we know God, we will remain "rooted and grounded in love" (Eph.3:17) ­ and rooted in the church too. If others hate us and betray us and kick us out of their houses, we will forgive them, love them and wait for another opportunity to serve them. And when that opportunity arises, we will be quick to grasp it, to bless them to the best of our ability. No­one will be able to make us evil. If another person's evil behaviour makes us evil, then we too become servants of Satan like him.

We are told that in the last days, "even those with insight will fall" (Dan.11:35). But if they humble themselves and judge themselves, there will be hope even for them. They can then be "refined, purged and made pure" (v.35). Those who don't judge themselves however will fall into Satan's hands, even though they had insight and understanding of God's ways at one time. Today is the day of grace, and those who repent and judge themselves can still ascend to great heights spiritually. But you have to be honest and you have to walk in the light.

This refining and purging will carry on until "the end of time" (Dan.11:35), so that God can fulfil His goal of conforming us to the likeness of Christ. So we must not expect an easy time on earth, until Jesus comes. In the world we shall have tribulation ­ CONTINUOUSLY. Sacrificing Everything ­ Zac Poonen

Jesus said to the Father, "All that is mine is Thine." And so He could also add, "All that is Thine is Mine" (Jn.17:10). When all that is ours is freely given to God, then all that God has will also be freely given to us. In the measure that we give to Him, He gives to us. This is why many Christian leaders are so poverty­stricken when it comes to spiritual authority: They have not given their all to God. In John 2:23­25, we read that even though many believed in Jesus, yet He did not commit Himself to them. We may also be among those to whom the Lord doesn't commit Himself because He sees what is in us, and what our motives are. If it comes to a choice between our profession and building the Body of Christ, which will we choose? Are we willing to give up advancement in our earthly occupation in order to have more time to build the church? If not, why should God commit Himself to us? Are we willing to open our homes for the Lord's people?

Or are our convenience and our privacy more important to us? If we seek our own in any area, we won't get spiritual authority from God, even if we fast and pray for it. God cannot be fooled.

Everything ­ yes everything ­ in our life must take second place to the kingdom of God, if we want to build the Body of Christ. There is no partiality with God. All of us are the same to Him. What He has done for others he will do for us. Jesus and Paul were mightily attested by God in their ministries, because they paid a price. God will do the same for us, if we are willing to pay the same price. Even our money and our savings must belong to God if we are to build the church. When God told Noah to build the ark, Noah did not ask God as to who was going to pay for the expenses involved in building such a huge ship. If he had asked that question, God would have told him, "You have to pay for it yourself, Noah. Who else will pay for it?" But Noah did not need to ask, for he knew that already.

The question is whether we know it. Noah probably had to sell some of his own property in order to build the ark. But how many servants of God do we find who are willing to sell their personal property in order to finance God's work? Those who do not give their all to God will discover that God does not give His all to them either. With most servants of God, their attitude is that if it is the Lord's work, the money for it must come from somewhere else, and not from their own pockets. They are lavish in spending the money that comes in through the offering­box. But they are not lavish in giving their own money for the work of God. A servant of God who is not freed from the grip of money in his life can never have spiritual authority.

Have we ever said to the Lord, "Lord, Your work is my work. And my savings are Yours. I won't make a distinction between my money and Your money"? If we haven't said that to the Lord (and meant it), then we are still under the old covenant, where they considered 10% of their money as belonging to God and 90% as belonging to themselves. Once they had given their 10%, their obligation was over. But Jesus did not come to give only 10% of His income to the Father. He came to establish a new covenant and to build a new­covenant church. And so He gave 100% to His Father. And now He says to us, "Follow Me." The only one who can have spiritual authority is the one who has given his ALL to God. We must be willing to build the Body of Christ, whatever the cost to us ­ whether that cost be our money, our honour, our convenience, our physical energy, our reputation, our job, or anything

else . There should be no limit to what we are willing to sacrifice for the Lord's sake. We are not to seek our own convenience or our own comfort in anything. Everything we do must be related to building the Body of Christ. Even our earthly occupation must only be a means of earning our living, so that we don't become a burden to others in the church for our financial support.

Let us then repent of our miserly attitude towards God. May we be rich towards God in the coming days, so that we can have spiritual authority in our lives and build the Body of Christ in our land for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Men With A Burden And A Concern ­ Zac Poonen The whole movement of Israel FROM BABYLON TO JERUSALEM was born and carried forward by men who were selflessly concerned for the furtherance of God's work. For this they fasted and prayed. This is how it is going to be in the church in our day too. Those who seek the honour of God's Name, the coming of His kingdom and the fulfilment of His will on earth as it is in heaven, will fast and pray and bind the workings of evil spirits, and thus accomplish God's purposes.

Daniel was a man who frequently fasted and prayed. Ezra too was a man who knew how to fast and pray when leading a group of Israelites from Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:21).

Nehemiah wept and fasted and prayed when he heard that Jerusalem was broken down and its walls burnt with fire (Neh.1:4). He didn't criticise the Israelites in Jerusalem for being lazy or selfish. No. He fasted and prayed for them. He was so burdened that even his boss (the king) noticed his grief. Finally, Nehemiah gave up his position and his comfort in the palace in order to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Have we ever been grieved like Nehemiah, because the work of the Lord is not progressing?

Have we ever fasted and prayed like he did, because we saw that things were not going well in the church? Do we ever pray for those who preach God's Word to us?

I wonder if we realise that those who serve God and preach His Word faithfully (and their families) are targets of Satan's wrath. They are high on Satan's hit­list. Let me recommend that you stop criticising them, for Satan can do that job quite well, without your help! Instead pray for them a little more in the coming days, that they will be preserved from the attacks of the enemy.

As in Israel 2000 years ago, so in India today, many of the Lord's sheep are scattered here and there, without shepherds to care for them. Many are the hirelings in our land who work for pay.

Few are the shepherds who are willing to lay down their lives for the flock. No­one has the right to preach God's Word to God's flock if he has no burden for the sheep, and if he does not pray for them regularly.

Pray that the Lord of the harvest will thrust forth shepherds after His own heart into the harvest at this time (Matt.9:36­38; Jer.3:15).

Freedom From Selfishness ­ Zac Poonen God is looking for men and women even today in our land, who will stand in the gap for the church ­ selfless people, who are not taken up with just their own needs, but who are concerned about God's work. Many believers think that sanctification means just the refinement of their personal conduct and behaviour. But true sanctification makes a person selfless like God is ­ or in other words, like Jesus.

No­one knew what God was like until Jesus came to earth, and explained Him (Jn.1:18). And what do we learn of the nature of God, when we look at Jesus? We see that the Divine nature is one that is willing to give up everything, and to be inconvenienced to any extent, if as a result, sinners can be saved from their sin and brought back to God. Jesus did not come down from heaven because He wanted to gain something for Himself. No. He came to earth totally for the benefit of others. He lived for others. He fasted and prayed and gave Himself ­ all so that others might partake of God's salvation. It is this spirit that is so rare to find even among the leaders in the church today. Although many speak of partaking of God's nature, very few actually partake of this selfless love for others.

Many are willing to deny themselves and take up the cross if that will bring them some benefit ­ perhaps some spiritual benefit such as a place in the Bride of Christ finally ­ but still something for themselves. But if we were to ask ourselves, what we have denied ourselves solely for the benefit of others, we may discover that the answer is, `Almost nothing'.

It is easy to criticise full­time Christian workers, when we see them fail somewhere. But before you criticise them, it may be good to ask yourself whether YOU would be willing, like them, to resign your job in order to preach the gospel to the heathen. If not, you are not qualified to criticise them. It is easy to despise others who don't have as much light as we have. But despite all the light that we have received, we may still be loving our comforts and unwilling to give up anything valuable for the Lord's sake.

Jesus gave up His place in heaven in order to come and live on this earth for 33­1/2 years, without any of the comforts of modern civilization ­ only so that others might hear the gospel and be saved. He also resigned His job as a carpenter, so that He might devote all His time to be a `full­time worker' to preach the gospel to others.

It is this Spirit of Christ that has urged missionaries through the years, to suffer hardship and loss, so as to take the gospel to heathen lands, where the Name of Jesus had never been heard, to bring others to Christ. Those on the other hand, who travel and stay in 5­star comfort these days, and preach the gospel, are all tourists, by comparison.

It is good for us to read the biographies of saintly missionaries who gave up everything for the Lord, so that we too can be challenged by their sacrifice and their devotion to the Lord. A holiness that does not lead to a sacrificial life is a deception ­ for true holiness is not just being free from sin, but being free from Self­love too.

The fire of God does not fall on many today, because they have not placed everything on the altar. They are willing to give up everything for the Lord, except their jobs and their comforts. If anything on this earth is still valuable and precious to you, then you are not a disciple of Jesus.

Faithfulness In Serving Our Fellow Believers ­ Zac Poonen In Matt. 25:31­46 Jesus deals with our attitude towards our fellow believers in need. That need may be spiritual or physical. Here we see that some inherit the kingdom because they served their fellow believers as unto the Lord. Their service was so much in secret that their left hand did not know what their right hand was doing (Matt. 6:3). So much so, that when the Lord reminds them of the good that they did, they do not even remember it! (Matt. 25:38).

Jesus also taught here that any service that we do to the least of His brothers is considered as service done to Him (Matt. 25:40). It is significant that He speaks of the least here, for our tendency is to serve the most important believers and to ignore the poor and the despised! Those who are occupied with eating and drinking, buying and selling, and building and planting for themselves alone, will certainly be left behind when Jesus returns (Lk. 17:28,34).

Only those whose service for the Lord involved a loving concern to serve their fellow believers, will be taken up. In another passage, Jesus spoke of another group of people ­ who are a contrast to this group. These are the ones who remember all the good things that they have done in the name of the Lord. They are also at the judgment seat, and they remind the Lord that they have expelled demons, preached, healed the sick in Jesus' name, etc. But they are rejected by the Lord, even though they did all these things, because they lacked the very first requirement, of a hidden life of holiness before God. They were taken up with the greatness of their gifts. It is interesting to see the contrast.

Those who healed the sick are cast out (Matt. 7:22,23). But those who merely visited the sick inherit the kingdom! (Matt. 25:34,36). God does not ask us to heal the sick if we have not been given the 'talent' of the gift of healing. But we can visit the sick and encourage them and bless them in the name of the Lord. We shall then find that we are ready for Christ's return, while many who healed the sick are left behind! To serve others in this way, we have to be willing to be inconvenienced.

Those who never want their daily plans to be disturbed by interruption from needy people, will certainly be left behind when Jesus comes. We have to sacrifice time, money, and above all, our own plans and our will, if we are to serve others in the name of the Lord. Selfishness is so rooted in our flesh that even when we have cleansed ourselves of the sins of lusting with our eyes, anger and covetousness, it is still possible to live just for ourselves. There can be a holiness, like the holiness of the Pharisees, which is occupied only with ourselves, and which does not deliver us from self­centredness. This is a counterfeit of the true holiness; yet it is easy to be deceived by it.

Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us ... Forgive us ... Deliver us ..." (Matt. 6:11­13). A sanctification that does not give us a concern for others who are still in their sins and need, is a worthless counterfeit that is fit for only being thrown into the garbage bin.

We need to re­orient our way of thinking ('renew our mind' Rom. 12:2) so that we put ourselves 'in the shoes of others' and try and understand what they are going through. This is Christ­like thoughtfulness that prepares us to inherit the coming kingdom. One who thinks only of his own and his family's need, however 'holy' he may be, is only deceiving himself if he thinks that he is ready for Christ's coming.

The Influence Of One Man ­ Zac Poonen "I searched for ONE MAN among them who should build up the wall and stand before Me........but I did not find even one man" (Ezek. 22:30).

God has many tasks to accomplish in this world, and all of them are not of equal importance. For the unimportant tasks, He may use anyone. But for the really important tasks, any man will not do. For such vital tasks, God has to have a man who has been tested and proved through many trials and testings. And if such a man is not immediately available, then God will wait until such a man IS available. God does not do His work with the best available person, as men do.

We use a matchstick to light a fire. But then we throw the matchstick away, because it is no longer of any value to us. There are some people whom God uses like that. He discards them, after He has used them, because they are not valuable to Him. We should never therefore desire to be merely used by God. We should seek to be valuable to Him. "In a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, some to honour and some to dishonour. If a man cleanses himself, he will be a vessel for honour, sanctified, useful to the Master" (2Tim.2:20,21).

A man may use vessels of different materials in his work. But he will not value the earthen pots and the wooden crates as much as he values the gold and silver vessels. In the same way, although all who are born again may be equally children of God, every child of God is NOT equally useful to Him in His work. Although there is no partiality with God, yet every vessel is not a sanctified, useful vessel. God prizes only very few, because they alone seek His will and His glory wholeheartedly.

This is why we must cleanse ourselves constantly from "all filthiness of the flesh and spirit" (in other words, from everything that is unlike Christ within us), if we are to be valuable vessels to God (2 Cor.7:1) Once a person becomes a valuable vessel, God will depend on him greatly for His work. If such a man fails God, God's work will be halted temporarily, until God can find another man whom He can use.

In the history of the world, of Israel and of the church, we see a number of examples of how God has very often been dependent on just ONE man in a particular situation to accomplish His purposes. But one man with God is always a majority.

The Influence Of One Man ­ Noah & Joshua ­ Zac Poonen Noah When the whole world was filled with wickedness and rebellion against God, in Noah's time, although there were 8 God­fearing people on the earth, yet the fulfilment of God's purposes depended entirely on the faithfulness of just one man, Noah.

Noah was the only man who found favour in God's eyes at that time (Gen.6:8). If that one man had been unfaithful to God, the entire human race would have been wiped out, and none of us would have been alive today!! We can certainly thank God that Noah remained faithful.

Jesus said that the last days would be like the days of Noah. The sexual perversion and violence of the days of Noah would characterise the last days too. This is the time that we are living in today. And so, uncompromising men like Noah are what God needs even today.

Joshua Joshua was another man whom the Lord exalted and stood by. The Lord told Joshua when Israel reached the border of Canaan, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you" (Josh. 3:7) The Lord had already trained Joshua, for 40 years during the wilderness journey. Now He exalted him to leadership and stood by him just like He had stood by Moses. The Lord even stopped the earth from rotating on its own axis for a number of hours once, to support Joshua.

The Bible says that "there was no day like that before it or after it, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man" (Josh.10:14).

Once God has chosen a man to represent Him, it is amazing what miracles He will do to manifest to others that He stands by him.

We read that the Israelites "served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua" (Judg. 2:7).

Joshua's influence was so powerful on the Israelites that they did not dare to worship idols during his lifetime and during the lifetime of his fellow­elders. But once Joshua died, Israel backslid badly. Such is the effect of the life of one man of God. How God's Will Is Done In Heaven ­ Zac Poonen We are to pray, "Thy will be done on earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN." (Mathew 6:10) How is God's will done in heaven? Let me mention four things.

First of all, the angels are in a perpetual state of WAITING UPON GOD for His commands.

They don't run around heaven trying to do `something for God' according to their own ideas. No. They wait for God to speak first ­ and only then do they act.

God says, "I'm looking for one who will wait and watch For My beckoning hand, My eye ­ Who will work in My manner the work I give, And the work I give not, pass by.

And oh the joy that is brought to Me When one such as this I can find ­ A man who will do ALL My will, Who is set to study his Master's mind" So, when we pray "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," it means, first of all that we want to hear what God has to say to us.

Secondly, when God speaks, the angels obey IMMEDIATELY. They don't say "Lord, I'll wait a few days and think about it. I want to find out what my fellow angels think about this." There's no such thing in heaven. When God has spoken, that is final. Obedience is immediate.

Our prayer then should be, "Father, help me, that I don't delay when I hear Your voice. I don't want to rush ahead of Your time, but once You have spoken I want to obey immediately."

Then thirdly, when God commands something in heaven, it is done COMPLETELY. Those angels don't go out and obey God partially. Our prayer therefore should be, "Father, help me to do ALL your will in my life ­ to obey every commandment completely, whatever the cost."

And finally, the obedience of the angels is JOYFUL. They are not grudging and complaining in their obedience. No angel compares his task with another's and says, "Lord, why have You given me a more difficult task than You've given that angel" etc., We hear such complaints even among believers, "Why should I make all the sacrifices? What about him/her," etc., But we never hear such words from the angels in heaven. They consider it a privilege to do anything for God and they rejoice at every opportunity to obey Him. And so when we pray this prayer, we are asking that God's will may be done in our lives like that ­ joyfully and without any complaints and without any comparisons with others.

A Loving Father ­ Zac Poonen Many have the wrong idea that God the Father is a very strict Person and that it is only Jesus Who loves them. This is a Satanic distortion of the truth. It was the love of the Father that sent Jesus to save us from our sins. Jesus told His disciples, "The Father Himself loves you" (Jn. 16:27). He also told them that if their Heavenly Father fed the birds and clothed the flowers, He

would certainly take care of them. There was no need for them to be anxious then, for their Heavenly Father knew all their needs (Matt. 6:26­34).

He also told them that if earthly fathers knew how to give good gifts to their children, their heavenly Father would certainly give good things to His children too (Matt. 7:11).

You may say that all this is very elementary. Yet many times when we come to God in prayer we don't really believe that God is going to grant us our request, because we are not sure of His tender, loving, fatherly care for us. Thus we limit God by our unbelief. Do you really believe that when you pray, you are speaking to a loving Father Who delights to hear you and Who cares for you?

Some may have the feeling that God will hear them only if they are mature saints. How is it with an earthly father? If he has a number of children, does he listen to his 20­year­old son more than to his 3­year­old daughter? Does he tell his little daughter, "You are too young to talk to me. I can't listen to you?" Certainly not. In fact, the father is more likely to listen to his youngest child than to His older children. It's even so with God. He says, "All shall know Me (as Father), from the least (youngest) to the greatest (oldest)" (Heb. 8:11). Notice that the youngest are mentioned first!

Even if you were born again but yesterday, you can come to God boldly saying, "O God, You are my Father, I am Your child, and therefore I have a right to talk to You." That's the way Jesus encouraged His disciples to go to God in prayer.

Every time we pray, we must approach God as a Father who loves and cares, and who is interested in us. Only thus can faith be generated; and without faith it is no use praying at all.

God is a good God. He delights to give good gifts to His children. The Bible says in Psalm 84:11, "No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly." In Psalm 37:4 it says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." These promises in the Old Testament are endorsed and confirmed and amplified by Jesus in the New Testament along with many more promises.

This is the foundation for our faith ­ the conscious acknowledgement of God as our loving Father.

Living By Faith ­ Zac Poonen Many Christians through the ages, have sincerely sought after holiness and victory over sin by taking up their cross and denying themselves. But they have often found the Christian life to be a "hard grind" instead of the glorious life that the Bible describes. Their failure has been this that they never understood the life of faith under the new covenant. They sought to be holy by the principles of the old covenant and thus missed what God had for them.

2 Corinthians 3:6 tells us that the new covenant is a ministry of the Spirit that brings life, whereas the old covenant was a ministry of the letter that brought death! And if we walk according to the letter of God's commandments ­ even in the new covenant ­ it will still bring death. Only if we live by faith and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, will we enter into the "life of Christ".

Since Jesus has now ascended on high and sent the Holy Spirit to this earth, our life can be far more glorious than that of any Old Testament saint. So if we find ourselves living under condemnation, depression and gloom today, it must be because we are still living by old covenant principles (2 Cor.3:9).

There were two things that Jesus emphasised frequently in His ministry ­ faith in God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Adam missed this life of faith in the power of the Holy Spirit when he chose the tree of knowledge of good and evil instead of the tree of life (Gen.2:9). He chose to have the knowledge of good and evil resident within himself, instead of being dependent on God for it.

The tree of life represents the life of faith under the new covenant while the tree of knowledge of good and evil represents a life of self­effort under the old covenant.

If Adam had chosen the tree of life he would have lived by faith ­ in constant dependence on God. Then the Holy Spirit would have given him Divine life. But instead, he chose to live in dependence on himself, independent of God. And so he died. All unbelievers live like this ­ without constant dependence on God. Unfortunately many believers live this way too.

All religions teach their followers to do good and to avoid evil. Christians who seek after holiness also do good and avoid evil. And in their pursuit of holiness, they usually end up making finer and finer distinctions between good and evil, through various rules and practices!!

Yet most of them still never come to a genuinely holy life. Why? Because they seek it by works and not by faith.

For 1500 years God taught the Israelites through the Law what was good and what was evil. But obedience to the good works commanded by the Law did not lead a single Israelite to partake of eternal life. Living by any set of rules and regulations ­ however high the standard ­ will never lead anyone to genuine godliness, even today.

True holiness is the life of God in the soul of man ­ and God has to give this to us as a gift. We can never attain to it. We must receive it by faith.

Paul said that in the days when he was unaware of the Law's demands, he felt he was "alive". But when he understood the demands of the Law of God, he became so aware of the wrongs in his life that he felt "dead" (Rom.7:9)!! This is the experience of many who are born again too. They appear to be happy and "alive" as long as they hear only about the forgiveness of their sins. But

as soon as they hear about victory over sin and obedience to God's commandments, they feel condemned and miserable and "dead".

But Paul did not stop with the old­covenant law ­ and neither should we. God showed Paul another law ­ the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. This was the law that finally set him free from sin (Romans 8:2).

Many seek to be holy by doing good. Remember that Eve ate of the tree because it looked good!!

She wasn't seeking to do something evil!! She ate the fruit, not because she wanted to become like the devil, but because she wanted to become like God ­ for that was what the devil had promised her (Gen.3:5). People who live according to the Law also make the same mistake today ­ thinking that they can be like God through external good works.

Much of the good that we see in the lives of many Christians comes, not from genuine holiness, but from a good upbringing. Many of these Christians are upright, but they don't have a passionate hunger after God. They spend their lives accumulating Bible knowledge, but without any revelation from God. As a result, their lives are not much different from the lives of some good unbelievers around them. All such believers have missed something vital that God wants them to have ­ the Divine nature.

God is not first of all trying to make us do good, but to make us trust in Him so that He can give us His nature. In His eyes, the righteous are not those who do good but those who live by faith (See Rom.4:5 and Hab.2:4).

In Habakkuk 2:4, God contrasts two groups of people ­ those who believe in the Lord and those who are proud. Those who are proud cannot live by faith. The reason many do not accept God's gifts freely, by simple faith, is because they are too proud to accept anything freely. They would rather earn their forgiveness and their holiness by doing something themselves.

Satan tells Christians even today (as he told Eve) that they don't need to depend on God to know the difference between good and evil. He tells them that they can know the difference through their conscience or by reading the Bible. But many unbelievers also live by their conscience ­ and live fairly decent lives. A Christian can live like that too ­ but he won't be righteous in God's eyes.

Many believers begin their Christian life right ­ by trusting God alone for their justification. But then like the Galatian Christians, they seek to become perfect through their own efforts (Gal.3:3).

They evaluate their spiritual worth by how much they have done things for God or by the results they have seen in their ministry. And they feel satisfied. But when people asked Jesus how they could do the works of God, He did not tell them to do good works. He told them to believe in Him (Jn.6:28,29)! Without faith it is impossible to please God. There are many paradoxes in the Christian life and here is the first one that we encounter when we are saved: We know that Jesus justifies us so thoroughly that we now stand before God just as if we had never sinned ­ for God promises never to remember our past sins against us

(Heb.8:12). At the same time we are also told never to forget our past sins, lest we become blind and shortsighted (2Pet.1:9)!!

So, on one hand we see that God does not remember our past sins and on the other hand we are told never to forget them!! How are we to live with this apparent contradiction?

Only by being MORE conscious of the fact that the blood of Jesus has cleansed away our past sins, than we are conscious of those sins themselves.

Read that last sentence once again, for this is one of the most important principles of the Christian life. If you believe it, this truth can liberate you.

There is no humility in feeling guilty about our past sins. That is unbelief, not humility, and is an insult to the blood of Christ. Such unbelief does not glorify God in any way.

Paul called himself "the chief of sinners" even after being a Christian for 30 years (1 Tim.1:15).

Yet at the same time he also said, "I am conscious of nothing against myself" (1 Cor.4:4). Both facts were true.

This assurance is what gives us great confidence before God and great boldness against Satan's accusations and against the fears with which Satan tries to frighten us.

The most popular books in Christian bookshops today are those that deal with faith and the Holy Spirit. But most of these books lead Christians into a counterfeit faith and into counterfeit experiences. The "faith" that these books teach is faith to become wealthy and healthy ­ not to become holy and spiritual. Christians are told that they can get whatever they want from God if only they can believe sufficiently. Such teaching is fundamentally opposed to the teaching and the practice of the first apostles and to that of godly missionaries (of the 19th and early 20th centuries) who sacrificed their lives for the promotion of the kingdom of God. Genuine faith is that which enables us to overcome the world (1 Jn.5:4) ­ the world being "the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life" (1 Jn.2:16). As Jesus overcame this world, we too can overcome it. (See John 16:33 and Rev.3:21). When we overcome the world, we will no longer be deceived by Satan telling us that the pleasures that come through health and wealth are superior to the pleasure that comes through fellowship with God. God wants us to taste the pure pleasure of fellowship with Him. That alone can drive away the desire for other pleasures (Psa.16:11). Many are trying hard to overcome the attraction of sinful pleasures by human means. But only when we taste fellowship with God can we be truly set free.

Faith in God and the power of the Holy Spirit can set you free from every bondage that Satan ever put upon you.

Do you find yourself unwilling to give up some particular worldly pleasure that attracts you.

Then cry out to the Lord, like Peter did when he was sinking in the sea, saying ­ "Lord save me".

You will find that God gives you not only the desire to be free from sin, but also a hatred for it!!

In the new covenant, it is God Who works in us both to desire and to do His will (Phil.2:13).

What a wonderful gospel the new covenant is!!

The life of Jesus is not something that we can imitate. We must partake of it through the Holy Spirit. Most Christians do not experience this because they are not poor in spirit. That means that they do not live their lives with a constant awareness of their need of God. They are self­ confident and independent.

Jesus invited only the thirsty to come to Him and drink. To walk by faith we must be constantly thirsty (poor in spirit), always aware of our need of the Holy Spirit's power. There must be a constant cry in our hearts (even if unspoken) to be filled with the Spirit and to experience His power. Those who come to Jesus and drink will find rivers of living water flowing out from their innermost beings (a life in the fullness of the Holy Spirit ­ Jn.7:37,38).

Thus the weakest believer can experience the glory of this life of faith in the new covenant and become as strong as the strongest.

He who has ears to hear let him hear.

Taking God’s Word Seriously ­ Zac Poonen A bad habit that many believers have is that of taking God’s Word lightly. Take Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:36, 37 for example: "Every careless (idle) word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgement. For by your words you shall be justified and by your words you shall be condemned." Most believers do not believe that they will have to literally give an account for every single useless word that they have spoken. When we really believe this, all backbiting, gossiping, evil­speaking and anger will be eliminated from our lives.

All who take these words of Jesus seriously will be radical in cutting out useless words from every part of their speech. Jesus says here that we will be justified by our words. We all know about justification by faith. But faith without works is dead, and a faith that does not cleanse our speech is a dead faith. Think of all the words that you have spoken (or written) during the last three months ­ at home and in the office, to husband, wife, children, servants etc., Would a tape­ recording of your speech prove that you are a justified child of God, different from the world around you? Or would your words be similar to the speech of unbelievers? The speech of many believers has not been cleansed, because they have not taken the words of Jesus seriously. This in turn is because they do not fear God. They fear men more than they fear God. We cannot hope to make spiritual progress in our life if we don’t develop the habit of taking God’s word seriously.

James 1:26 says, "If any one thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless." If a man cannot control his tongue, his Christianity is worthless ­ for, as Jesus said, the words we speak show what our heart is like.

"The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart." (Mt.12:34). The way we use our tongue is

one of the clearest indications of our spiritual condition. Here is another example: God’s Word says that husbands should never be bitter against their wives. "Husbands, love your wives, and do not be embittered against them."(Col.3:19). What does that mean? Does it permit a husband to be bitter against his wife even once? We know that when God’s Word forbids adultery or murder, we must not commit such sins even once. Yet when we read that a husband should not be bitter against his wife, it does not hit us with the same force. Why is that? It’s because we pick and choose which commands of God’s Word are serious and which are not. We don’t realise that all of God’s Word must be taken seriously.

Those who take every word of God seriously will mourn over their sin, each time they fail. Thus they will find the comfort (strength) of the Holy Spirit, and be led into a life of victory. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (strengthened)." (Mt.5:4). Here then is another secret of victory: Take every Word of God seriously and mourn over your sin whenever you come short of God’s standards. Thus you will prove that you fear God ­ and the fear of God is the beginning of that wisdom that leads to a victorious life. God looks with grace and favour at those who are broken and contrite in their spirit and who tremble at His Word. "To this one I will look, declares the Lord, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My Word" (Isa.66:2) Nobody Can Harm Us Except We Ourselves ­ Zac Poonen "Who can harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?"(1 Pet.3:13) God is so powerful that He makes ALL THINGS work together for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose ­ that is, for those who have no ambition on earth outside of His will for their lives (Romans 8:28). One who has selfish ambitions cannot claim this promise. But if we accept the will of God totally, we can claim this promise every minute of our life on earth. Nothing can harm us.

Everything that others do to us ­ good or evil, accidental or deliberate ­ will go through the filter of Romans 8:28 and will come through working for our very best ­ conforming us each time a little more to the likeness of Christ (Rom.8:29) ­ which is the good that God has planned for us.

This filter works perfectly every single time for those who fulfil the conditions listed in this verse.

Further, 1 Peter 3:13 tells us that no­one can harm us if we are "zealous for what is good".

Unfortunately this is not as well known a verse as Romans 8:28 is. But we must popularise it now. However, this promise too is applicable only to those who are zealous to keep their hearts good towards all people. It will be impossible for any demon or human being to harm such a believer.

So whenever any Christian complains that others have harmed him, he is indirectly admitting that he does not love God, is not called according to God's purpose and has not been zealous for

what is good. Otherwise, whatever those others did to him would have only worked for his good, and then he would not have had any complaints at all.

Actually, the only one who can harm you is you yourself ­ by your unfaithfulness and your wrong attitudes to others.

I am nearly 60 years old now and I can honestly say that no­one has ever succeeded in harming me in my entire life. Many have tried to do so, but EVERYTHING they did only worked for my very best and for the good of my ministry. So I can praise God for those people too. Those who have opposed me have been mostly so­called "believers" who have not understood God's ways.

God’s Servants Have To Be Broken ­ Zac Poonen When Moses was 40, he was strong in himself and felt qualified to be the leader of the Israelites.

Yet in God’s eyes he was not ready.

Acts 7:22 says that at the age of 40, “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.” (Living). When Moses visited his Israeli brethren one day, he saw one of them being unjustly treated by an Egyptian. He defended the Israelite and killed the Egyptian. He thought that the Israelites would recognise him thus as their God­appointed leader. But they did not.

Moses still did not understand what it was to be a servant of God. And so God took Moses out into the wilderness to break his confidence in his human strength and wisdom. In God’s perfect plan, that training was probably scheduled to take only 10 years.

But it took 40 years instead, for Moses to be broken.

And so the Israelites had to wait for 30 more years ­ for their leader to be ready.

God’s plans can be delayed when God’s leaders are not broken in time. God has an appointed time­period in which we must be broken. We cannot shorten that time­period. But we can lengthen it, if we do not yield to God’s training. If we are hard and unyielding, we ourselves will lose much. And God’s work also suffers.

We may see ourselves, like Moses, well­taught in the doctrines of Scripture, knowing the whole counsel of God, anointed with the Holy Spirit and in our own eyes, as “men of power in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22). We may even be concerned, as Moses was, about our defeated and oppressed brothers. And so, we may imagine that we are well­equipped to serve God. But we are not.

We may be eloquent in our speech (“mighty in words”) as Moses was. The mere fact that others are willing to listen to us preach for one hour proves nothing, for people are willing to listen to political leaders for even two or three hours!! We have to be careful that we don’t seek to do God’s work with our natural resources.

The more gifted we are, the more we are in danger of depending on our human abilities to serve God. That’s why we need to be broken.

The Israelites did not have confidence in Moses. God also did not have confidence in him to appoint him as their leader. How can a man lead others when neither God nor man has confidence in Him? We may consider ourselves as fit for God to use as His representatives. But God may not think so. If we are to do an effective work for the Lord, we must have the attestation of God on our ministry. And He won’t attest our ministry until we are broken.

Once Moses was broken, the same man who was once mighty in words, finally said, “Lord, I cannot speak” (Exod.4:10).

How did God break Moses? He sent him into the wilderness. There Moses got married and had to live with his wife’s parents in their home. It is amazing how quickly one can be broken when he has to live in helpless dependence upon his in­laws!! That was how God broke Jacob too, many years earlier.

It was in Moses’ home situation (with his wife and children, and in­laws) and in his work situation (looking after his father­in­law’s sheep) that God broke him and humbled him. And that education took 40 years. God was willing to wait. And God’s people had to wait too ­ for God’s man to be ready.

God is waiting even today. There are many places in India where there are needy souls who need to be built together as the Body of Christ. But God is waiting for men whom He can find, whom He can break and prepare, to be used as His servants to build that Body.

That is why we need to see our home and work situations as God’s University. The tense situations that we face with our in­laws and other family members are all part of God’s education process whereby He prepares us to be His servants. He is teaching us something more than doctrine in these situations. He is breaking us.

But how few God finds who submit to Him, as clay in the potter’s hand. Most trainees rebel and refuse to die to themselves ­ and so God sets them aside.

What Moses learnt in those 40 years was not doctrine. Doctrine can be learnt in a very short time, if one has a clever mind. But it takes time to be broken. It is not easy to be rooted and grounded in small thoughts about ourselves at all times.

We may not consider ourselves as important people when we are in the midst of more mature believers. But when we go to our own home­churches, there we can begin to think we are quite important. That’s the danger. God has to break us so thoroughly that we recognise ourselves as the least of all the saints, everywhere we go.

Encouraging Others ­ Zac Poonen Paul and Barnabas strengthened the souls of the disciples in the churches they had established, by encouraging them. (Acts 14:22). We too can strengthen others through a ministry of encouragement ­ not only through the preaching of the Word, but also by offering appreciation where it is due.

Jesus was always quick to give a word of appreciation where due. He praised a centurion for his faith (Matt. 8:10), a repentant woman for her love (Luke 7:47) and Mary of Bethany for her devotion (Luke 10:42; Mark 4:8,9). To His failing disciples, He said, "You are those who have stood by Me in My trials" (Luke 22:28).

Paul when writing to the churches ­ even to the most carnal ones ­ usually found something to appreciate in them. To the Church in Corinth, riddled with factions, disputed and immorality, Paul began is letter thus: "I can never stop thanking God for all the wonderful gifts He has given you, now that you are Christ's. He has enriched your whole life. He has helped you speak out for Him and has given you a full understanding of the truth; what I told you Christ could do for you has happened! Now you have every grace and blessing; every spiritual gift and power for doing His will are yours during this time of waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. And He guarantees right up to the end that you will be counted free from all sin and guilt on that day when He returns. God will surely do this for you, for He always does just what He says, and He is the One Who invited you into this wonderful friendship with His Son, even Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:4­9­TLB).

Only then did he go on to say, "But, dear brothers, I beg you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves' (verse 10). Paul tried to begin with something positive.

So must we. This does not come naturally to all of us. Most of us tend to see the negative side of others first. But if we submit to the discipline of the Holy Spirit, we shall find Him showing us something to appreciate in everyone.

A teacher once spread a large white sheet of paper with a small ink­spot in one corner, in front of his class and asked the children to write down what they saw. All of them described the small ink­spot rather than the large area of unspoilt paper. So, in human relationships, we often tend to concentrate on other people's minor defects.

Altering one's outlook requires determination but it is worth the effort. Gradually the habit of noticing other people's good qualities can be acquired. The next step is to tell them how much one appreciates those good qualities.

God's Sovereignty ­ Zac Poonen Abraham's two sons Ishmael and Isaac grew up in the same home with the same father. Yet God chose only one of them ­ Isaac (Rom.9:7). That was not because God was partial, but because He is sovereign. He has the absolute right as the Creator of the universe to do exactly what He likes

and to choose whomever He likes for any task. No­one can question His right, because He created all things for His pleasure, and as Paul says (at the end of these three glorious chapters), "From Him, through Him and to Him are all things" (Rom.11:36).

Isaac had two boys, Esau and Jacob who grew up in the same home with the same parents. Yet God chose only the younger Jacob. "Though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him Who calls, it was said, 'The older will serve the younger''" (Rom.9:11,12). There was nothing unjust in this action of God's, for He is the sovereign Ruler of the universe.

Moses and Pharaoh both lived in Egypt at the same time and in the same palace. Yet God raised up Moses to be a prophet of His. And Pharaoh was raised up, "to demonstrate God's power in him and that God's Name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth" (Rom.9:17), through the hardness of Pharaoh's heart and the judgments that God would send on him as a result.

In all these three examples, we see the sovereignty of God in choosing people. We need to see the same sovereignty at work in our salvation too. Why did God chose you and not some of your relatives ­ your brother, your sister, your uncle etc.,? Was it because you were better than them?

Certainly not. Perhaps you were a greater crook and a hypocrite than them (like Jacob was). Yet God chose you. It is sheer mercy and grace.

What shall we say in the light of all this? We can only bow before this Almighty Sovereign God and worship Him with all our hearts, and acknowledge that He alone is worthy, and that our salvation is entirely (100%) due to his grace. It is true that we accepted what He offered us. But the work was entirely His. There is nothing that so humbles man to the dust as the fact of God's sovereign choice of His children. That is why clever people find it difficult to accept it, and fight against it, and try to twist the Scriptures to make them mean what they don't mean.

It is not because a man determines to be a child of God (or to be holy), or because he decides to run faithfully, that he is saved. It is only because God has shown him His mercy. It is God Who "grants us repentance unto life" and it is He Who "works in us to desire His will and to do His will" (Acts 11:18; Phil.2:13). What can we glory in then?

Here is what Romans 9:16 says: "It does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God Who has mercy".

And here is what 1 Corinthians 4:7 says: "What do you have that you did not receive? If you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"

Memorise these two verses and keep them always in your heart. They will help in keeping you small in your own eyes at all times.

The new birth does not come through the will of the flesh (human determination), but by the will of God (Divine determination) (John 1:13).

Jesus told his disciples, "You did not choose Me but I chose you" (John 15:16). Do we realise that fact?

Very often we imagine that it was WE who had accepted the Lord as our Saviour and that that has made the difference between us and the unbelievers. It is good for us therefore to remember that it was God Who chose us. And He chose us in Christ before we were born ­ in fact, even before He created the world!! (Eph.1:4).

From start to finish, our salvation is 100% from God ­ so that no man might boast in God's presence one day.

Have you done something wonderful for the Lord and for His kingdom? If so, then try your best to forget about it. Recognise that you could have done nothing if God had not given you health, strength, intelligence, gift, talent, opportunity, knowledge of His Word and of Himself etc., etc., The list is endless. How can you glory then?

When we are taken up with how spiritual we have become or how much we have done for the Lord, we are already Pharisees. A true disciple is one who is taken up with the Person of the Lord Himself at all times.

There are many things God does for which he gives us no explanation. There are many prayers for which His answer is "No", and we don't understand the reason why. It is as impossible for God to explain all His dealings to us as it is to fill the Indian Ocean into a cup. God's wisdom is like an ocean. But our minds are only like a little cup.

Scripture says, "Who are you O man to criticise God?" (Rom.9:19,20 ­ Living). When we are small in our own eyes we don't have any complaints about God's ways. We just submit to God, even when we don't understand His dealings, because we accept His sovereignty.