|
For
Those Seeking The Truth & Dynamic Living Christ is Victor |
January/February
2003
Volume
16, Number 1
Definition
of True Power
"Thine,
O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the
majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine;
thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as
head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee,
and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine
hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all."- 1
Chronicles 29: 11,12
David ascribes glory and greatness and power to God.
Power comes from the hand of God. Mao, the former leader of
You see people who are duly elected to positions in the Government; they misuse power, Government power. They misuse Government money in other parts of the world. All that people want is power. They think money gives power. Some people think naturally that education gives power. In a sense, yes; when you are educated, you have a wider mind. You are able to plan for the future. But I don't see that education is solving the problem of this world today.
There is power that comes from God, and David can speak about this power because David won a complete victory over all his foes, and one of his foes was his own body, his flesh. He went to God and said, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest." (Psalm 51:4) He saw himself crippled. “Your judgment is very clear against impurity and adultery. My sin is ever before me. I make my bed to swim in my tears," he said. When sin comes in there is no power.
Also the Bible says "I am full of power by the
spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his
transgression, and to
Here the prophet says. "I am full of power. What for? "To show my people their sins." You know what is the use of going to a surgeon if he says. "Yes, I think you may have cancer. Probably you have it in some form and probably you'll die in two weeks." Who wants such a surgeon? Who wants such a diagnosis or prognosis? You want somebody who says, "Here's the cancer, and I have taken out all the secondaries also."
What kind of preachers do you want? The buffoons and the clowns, the actors and the entertainers! All over the world I find such people destroying the Church of Jesus Christ. They are not full of power, to speak the truth in love! They can't speak the truth. You shouldn't be standing there in the pulpit or the platform. You cannot be working there in that office, or factory or hospital, if you can't call a spade a spade, if you can't call cheating cheating, tax fraud tax fraud, lying lying, stealing stealing. Can't you call stealing by its proper name?
So we see people stealing from the Government-- stealing paper, stationery and pens from their offices. They have no power. If they see something they must steal it. "I'm full of power to show my people their sins."
Tribalism is an anachronism, for it makes you live in the dark ages. If you are a tribal, if you are thinking of your class superiority or if you are thinking of your little clique, or your little group or your little castes, you are an immature intellectual dwarf. How many millions of people go and try to wash their sins away with pilgrimages, with washing here and washing there! But you come back dirtier!
You have no strength to tell the truth. You have no strength to tell where the cancer is. You want to send your mother and your father to their graves and to hell fire. You want to send whole nations to hell fire because you are afraid to declare the Lord Jesus Christ, the only mortal who ever said "I am the truth." No mortal or immortal can ever say 'I am the truth' justly and truthfully as Jesus does.
You are afraid to declare Jesus. Then you haven't got any power. The Bible also tells us, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6). So what is this power which is greater than man's power? It's the Holy Spirit. The Spirit that brought again Jesus Christ from the dead, the Holy Spirit. To whom is the Holy Spirit given? Peter said, “to all who obey Him”. Today people who are liars, people who beat their wives, and all such people say they're filled with the Holy Spirit. Nonsense. You are filled with the other spirit, not the Holy Spirit. People who divorce their wives say they are filled with the Holy Spirit. No. You are filled with the spirit of lies, of breaking of vows and of the devil.
Again the Bible says, “The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked." (Nahum 1: 3). He is great in power but he will not acquit the wicked. So God's power is going to bring you into judgment. One day you are going to see the Judge of the whole earth. On that day your ablutions, your incantations and all of your religions garbage is not going to save you. The Lord will not acquit the wicked. He's great in power.
Peter was questioned. "By what authority
have you made this lame man walk?" This is what Peter said, "Be it known to you and to all the people of
Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom
God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole." (Acts
-Joshua Daniel
Reality Check
“And he
said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but
he that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark
True Riches
“And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. … For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."
Mark 12: 42-44
Jesus watched and He saw the self-congratulatory way in which the rich gave their contributions. It was not with gratitude they gave that much that God had enabled them to give for His great purpose. Now about the widow: according to Mathematics, she gave cent percent and that was in greater proportion than that of the rich. It is not the hand, but the heart behind the hand that God sees. It is not with the attitude of bribing God she gave.
God is specially mindful of widows. It was the widow's oil that the man of God multiplied. It is the widow that has the brokenness, which is very acceptable to God. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27) This widow was grateful.
There is no hatred or resentment or unfaith in God. The rich men have a very different attitude. Their money has buried them in self-satisfaction and hence prevented their talents from coming out. God sees in the rich man wealth greater than his riches. It is not on your personality, life and preaching that God depends but he looks for faith. How many young people in Christian homes die early! They never cared for God and developed faith and now they cannot cope with sickness. What a loss their death is! The rich man's faculties are never developed because they lie buried in big riches and the talents God has placed in him for the benefit of the world also lie hidden.
How Hudson Taylor and Wesley developed their spiritual faculties
and proved a blessing to the
world! How many men who came into riches in
the middle of their lives, have become useless for the
Who has known God's mind? Do you know how much He has given for yon? If you did, you would give all. You would empty yourself. 'Empty the barrel and empty the oil out of the cruse’ was what the man of God had said. You will see how it will be filled again. How Christ made His way to the widow's son! But God was mindful of her. He sent the prophet to her. He came to turn death into life, sorrow into joy. Let not disappointment pull you down. When you come to the end of. your resources, it is God's time- God's opportunity. As long as you have something to look to, and to rely on, you will look in that direction. But when there is nothing to depend upon, then you come to the place of the widow's helplessness, the widow's brokenness, and that is God's opportunity. The widow had no future. But God created a future. When there is no one to help you, God will help you.
Once Sadhu Sundar Singh was in a desert and missed his way. In that helplessness, he cried to God. He could see nothing but sand all around. Then there came a man who engaged him in a gentle conversation which completely relieved him of his fatigue. Very soon they came to a village and the man disappeared. He knew it was an angel.
God's angels are always watching those in despair. It is not God's purpose to let any one die in despair. God has great things for you. When you come to a place of despair, you will see God's glory. Keep your heart humble then you will see God's blessing and His provisions multiplying for you.
-Late Mr. N. Daniel
Missionary Love
A missionary call is a love call and comes from One whose very name is Love. This not only calls forth proof of our love to Christ but must be expressed in self-denial. Christ has first claim on the life of the missionary and all other allegiances must be secondary and subordinate to Him. In order to execute the will of God properly, it may in some cases, require the delay or exclusion of physical love. Physical attraction may not be of God at all. How often Satan lures one of God's choice into a marriage which puts missionary work out of the question. On the other hand, experience has proven that a marriage can make as well as break the missionary. In those cases where it is God's will to go through life alone with Him. Many a servant on the field has found his or her love for Christ sufficient to bridge the gap of loneliness and lack of a human mate. When centered in the Christ, love is at its zenith. It compasses everything. No other kind of love can compare with it. It surpasses everything known to man. This cannot be said of marriage. Marriage cannot substitute for the perfect will of God: but if God wills it, perfect love can substitute for marriage.
Those who are burdened for the lost but who do not feel they are suited or called to do missionary work personally, can do much to evangelize the world. These are the ones who send out others, and God considers those who "stay by the stuff" as necessary and as worthy of reward as those who go. Can the one who goes be more necessary than the one who sends him? No!
If God wanted a man or woman at home, he or she would certainly not be safe or happy on the field. But whether His will for you is to go or stay, you need to be entirely sanctified and filled with the Spirit, or you will not be fully able to perform that will. A divided heart and a double mind is not capable of giving its all to Christ.
Many are the benefits that come to the one perfected in love. Peace, joy, the abundant life-- all are most desirable benefits. But these are only the beginning, the immediate objectives, and are not the long range objectives with which the Church is confronted now. The most pressing need for love is that the millions of unsaved may be reached for Christ.
-selected
The Artist and
the Gypsy Girl
Many years
ago in the city of
He had been engaged to paint great picture of crucifixion, and this he was doing, not from real love for Christ, or faith in Him, but for money and fame.
One beautiful morning Stenburg was seeking recreation in the forest where he came upon a gypsy girl plaiting straw baskets. She was gifted with more than usual beauty, and the artist determined to engage her as a model for a picture of Spanish dancing girl. So he bargained with Pepita to visit his studio three times a week to pose as a model.
At the appointed hour she arrived. Her eyes roved the studio and she was filled with wonder as she looked at the pictures. The large one (that of the crucifixion) caught her eyes. Gazing at it intently, she asked in an awed voice, as she pointed to the figure on the cross in the centre, “Who is that?”
“The Christ”, answered carelessly.
“What is being done to him?”
“They are crucifying Him”
“Who are those about Him with the bad faces?”
“Now look here,” said the artist, “I cannot talk. You have nothing to do but stand as I tell you.” The girl dared not speak again, but she continued to gaze and wonder.
Each time
she came to studio, she was more fascinated
by the picture.
Then again she ventured to ask a question; for she longed to learn more concerning the meaning of the picture.
“Why did they crucify Him? Was he bad-very bad?"
"No, very good."
That was all she learned at one interview, but it added a little to her knowledge of that wonderful scene.
At last, seeing that she was eager to know the meaning of the picture, Stenburg one day said , “Listen I will tell you once for all, and then ask no more questions!" He told her the story of the cross- new to Pepita, though so old to the artist that it had ceased to touch him. He could paint dying agony, and not of a nerve of his quivered, but the thought of his Saviour's sacrifice wrung Pepita's heart. Tears filled her eyes, and she could scarcely control her emotion. On her last visit to the studio she stood before the great picture, loath to leave it, “Come,” said the artist, “here is the money and a gold piece over.”
“Thanks, master.” then again turning to the picture, she said, “You must love Him very much when He has done all that for you; do you not?"
Stenburg could not answer Pepita, her heart sad, went hack to her people, but her words had pierced Stenburg like an arrow. God's Spirit sent the gypsy girl's words home to his heart. He could not forget them. 'All that for you,' rang in his ears. He became restless and sad. He knew he did not love the Crucified One. He did not know the peace of God.
Some time after, Stenburg was led to follow a few poor people who gathered in a retired place to hear the Bible read and the Gospel preached. There, for the first time, he met those who had a living faith. He was made to realize why Christ hung upon the Cross for sinners; he realized that he was a sinner, and therefore Christ was there for him, bearing his sins. Thus God led the artist to the knowledge of salvation, and he began to know the love of Christ and could say, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me."
Now he longed to make that wondrous love known to others but how could he do it? Suddenly an idea flashed upon him. He would paint! Praying for God's help in the work, he painted as never before; and the picture was placed among other paintings in the famous gallery of Dusseldorf. Underneath he placed the words: "All this I did for thee: what hast thou done for me?”
One day Stenburg saw a poorly dressed girl weeping bitterly as she stood beside the picture. It was Pepita.
"O Master, if He had but loved me so." she cried.
Then the artist told her how He died for her, poor little gypsy girl though she was, as well as for the rich and great. Stenberg did not weary now of answering all her questions: he was as eager to tell as she was to hear of the Love of Christ: and as it was presented to her, she received it and went from that room a sinner saved, rejoicing, in that wonderful love. Thus the Lord used Pepita's words to bring the artist to Himself and then used the artist's words to reveal Himself to her.
Long after this, a wealthy young nobleman found his way into that picture gallery, and as he gazed upon that picture and the words underneath it, God spoke to his heart. He was Count Zinzendorf- who from that day became an earnest Christian and the father of the Moravian Missions, by means of which God led thousands of souls to Himself.
-Selected
This newsletter is produced six times per year by the
Laymen’s Evangelical Fellowship International. It is printed and
distributed in the
This Fellowship
is an inter-denominational missionary and prayer group working for revival in
churches and amongst students in several countries. We invite every layperson
to become God’s ally in changing his or her corner of the world. We train
people in evangelistic work and to be self-supporting missionaries.
r
r
r
r MALAYSIA:
P.O.Box 236, Jalan Kelang Lama, 58700 Kuala Lumpur West Malaysia, Phone
– 019-3260727
or Wisdom Hall, 37 Persiaran Shahbandar, Taman Tambahan Krian VI, 34200 Parit Bundar, Perak, Phone – (05)
7164100 T.K. Ong
r
r
r
r
INTERNET: http://lefi.org
r
EMAIL: post@lefi.org
PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO A FRIEND