“I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters” (Isaiah 43:15-16).

This is how the Lord describes Himself. To be the redeemer of the people of Israel, the Lord had a way for them right through the sea. He showed that Pharaoh was no longer their king. When Pharaoh was their king, they had to bear a great burden. They were under hard task-masters. They wanted deliverance.

The devil knows the areas in which he can oppress us with the maximum pain. He does not normally inflict pain which is easy to bear. He creates pain and oppression in that area where you are most pained, thereby inflicting huge loss and damage.

Who is a redeemer? One who delivers you in that area where you are a captive. Certain thoughts are very strong. Oh, you put them out of your mind but they come back again. They chase you. They persist in pursuing you. You cannot run away from them. You may cross the oceans but the thoughts are still there. The devil oppresses many people with wrong thoughts. They are weakened. So there is no rest for them. That is not the work of God. God's thoughts are strengthening, ennobling and freeing.

Very often we do not see the difference between our thoughts and God’s thoughts because of the spirit of perversity. That is why the Bible says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man” (Proverbs 14:12). You say, “My thought is right!”, “My plan is right!”, “My ways are right!” No! No! You must know how to go to God, who searcheth your heart, and weigheth your spirit, to know whether this is a perverse spirit or the spirit of God. This perverse spirit can be a very strong spirit. It can afflict the whole family. It seems to afflict father, mother, sons and daughters. It makes it impossible to see what is right and what is wrong. The spirit of perversity is always to be found wherever there is idolatry. This perverse spirit is also found where Christians make an idol of something. I can detect this spirit very well.

“The Lord delivered them from all their oppressions,” says the Word of God. But their nature of grumbling was still persisting for forty years. There remained in Israel the spirit of unbelief in the face of daily miracles for forty long years.

But the Lord was trying to make a way for them. Right from the start, it was a way in the wilderness. When they came out of Egypt, they came against the sea. When you come against a forest, you ask somebody, “Is there a path through this?” But when you stand by the shore of a mighty sea, you never ask such a question. But God says, “I am the God, who maketh a path in the mighty waters”. When you see the mighty waters before you, you tend to get fearful. I do not think in the Christian life there is ever a person who does not confront mighty waters some time or other.

I look to the one who alone can make this path. To many of you in your personal lives there may be the desire for sanctification. But somehow, it is slipping away. Somehow you seem to fail. Some evil thoughts still prevail. Some anger, some wicked and covetous desire, some bitterness or some lust is lurking somewhere in the heart. The mighty waters are before you. But what does God say to you? “I am the LORD, who maketh a path through the mighty waters.” Maybe you are despairing about your condition. No, these mighty waters are going to divide by a clear path of victory.

—Joshua Daniel

“...I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it” (Ezekiel 36:36); Jeremiah 33:1-11.

God is love. He is a creative force. We that are born in sin are destructive forces. However educated and wealthy we may be, we must remember we are destructive forces. When you take a man as an inmate into your house, unless he knows the Lord, he is a destructive force. Your children are in danger. God changes men into creative agents. At first He takes hold of them and leads them to His Cross. There they come to know they are sinners. To know that you are a sinner is a great revelation. You are incapable of doing any good. You are a destructive force.

Jesus called to Himself twelve disciples. But one among them slid back to be a destructive force. David had many sons. The most handsome and beautiful of them all was a destructive force. No one by his effort can become a power to build something good that can last. Human nature is so complicated. It is a sinful nature. One must know that he is a sinner. All the sins he has committed are there in his heart. These sins will give him evil imaginations. But when we come to the Cross we realize we are sinners.

There is power in the Cross to make you realize you are a sinner. This is a great gain. It took a long time for me to know that I was a sinner. ...

I went to church. I knew the Word of God. I was brought up in a disciplined church. I thought I was a good boy. No one could convince me that I was a sinner. But when I realized it, it was a great gain to me. The Spirit of God prompted me to confess my sins. I obeyed the Spirit's promptings. I began to love the Word of God. It penetrated into the recesses of my heart. I was a proud person full of boasting about my ability in games. I was proud about my wrestling abilities. Boys used to say I was a strong man. But no one told me I was a sinner. A man of God while preaching convinced me I was a sinner. I did not know that I was a destructive force. I was disobedient to my father. I was a headache to him. I made my parents unhappy. I was a destructive force.

Every sinner is a destructive force. A sinner who does not repent for his sins will destroy his family even though he may seem to direct his family wisely. In Luke 5:8 we see [that] the light of heaven entered Peter's heart. He knew he was not fit to be in the presence of Jesus. From that time he became a different man. Jesus prophesied he would become a great man. It all began when he realized he was a sinful man. From the time St. Augustine realized he was a sinner he became a creative force.

If you do not know your condition you will destroy your children. The love of God which is a creative force will not work through you. You will be a man of mere words. [See Bible verses] Jude 10-13. You can indulge in big talk about things which you do not know. People can speak evil of things they do not know. Christians are careless in their speech. Because you are a lawyer you are not entitled to expound Scripture and judge a man of God. The wrath of God will come upon you. 2 Peter 2:11-14: “They will utterly perish in their own corruption.” Slandering God's children has become a common thing among Christians. They do not know it will bring punishment.

I have seen destruction coming even on church dignitaries for this. One ought to be careful in his words. You become twice dead in your root and in your fruit. If you are unhappy when your neighbour bears more fruit than yourself you should feel ashamed. Do you throw stones on the man who does the true work of God? Many families have suffered on account of it. I have seen people dying. This is a sad thing. The Word of God warns us of impending destruction.

You have destructive forces within you. You cannot build the kingdom of God. When you come to Christ, He will teach you to be humble and to cleanse your heart. You may confess your sins. But that is not enough. Sundar Singh used to say that salvation is not just forgiveness of sins but freedom from sin. Many of us go as far as receiving forgiveness. But we do not go further—as far as to get freedom from sin. Prayer is a process by which we rise higher and higher. You are lifted above temptation after temptation until one day you are crucified with Christ. The love of money completely dies in you. The love of the flesh also dies. If a man loves the world, he has not the love of God in him (see 1 John 2:14-16).

If you stop with the forgiveness of sins, you will not get the greater blessing. You must meditate on the Word or God. There is also cleansing power in the Word of God which eradicates our evil nature. Joshua 1:8: meditate on it day and night! Then you will get the mind of God. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life will be removed completely from you. Christians are ruined by vanity. They appear very good but there is a lot of vanity in them. You must examine and set right your heart often. Then you will get creative power. Can you build the ruined places? [See] Ezekiel 36:35-36: God will build the ruined places. There was a man called Lot. He was not a creative force. He had the love of money within him. He was with Abraham but he did not learn the secret of life. He took his family to a destructive place. We must have the light of heaven in us. I had a relative who used to walk aright as long as he was with me. After a time he started visiting a place where there was no fear of God. We were at college together. We lived together in the same room. He had respect for me. Gradually he started choosing his own way. I began to grieve for him. What would the end be? My people said, “He is doing well. Why do you grieve for him?” A man of God sees things well ahead of time. My friend married into an ungodly family. He appeared to prosper, but ten years ago, he died suddenly, leaving behind children who had no fear of God. Did you build anything for God? No! A Christian builds the desolate places wherever he goes and makes them like Eden.

You may live in a village. Why did God put you there? To build that place. First of all, you should sow the word of God there. If you do not, that place will become wicked. Children will become wicked. Lot went to Sodom. Did he change it? Did he sow God's word there? No! He went to earn money. He himself was not a bad man. He had been with Abraham. He was sad when those around him talked wickedly. But he had nothing positive to pass on to them. When God wanted to destroy Sodom, God saved him for the sake of Abraham. He could not be saved with his family. His wife died. His children became wicked. If people do not know God as they ought to know, their end will be like this.

If you are in a family, make it godly. If you are a daughter-in-law you should enter the family with the power of God to lift that home into righteousness and to the obedience of the Word of God. Take the message of God to that new home. God says, “Call unto me.” Have you learnt to call unto God? When I was a student, my college-mates felt there was no need to pray so much. But God taught me I should change the hostel where I lived. Within a year, those who were ashamed of the Gospel came along with me when I went out to preach. They had laughed at me when I read the Bible on my knees. Jeremiah 33:3: “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” You do not know what great and mighty things God has got for you. For every one of you God has got a great thing. You must know how to call on God. You must be converted. Lust and vanity must leave you. These are destructive forces.

Read the lives of William Carey and Livingstone. You cannot find vanity in their lives. The devil will try to catch you. Beware! If you have a pure heart and a clean conscience, you would know how to cry to God saying, “Lord, the situation is like this. What shall I do?”

Once there was a quarrel among the students in my college hostel. When I joined the hostel God said, “You are a pastor for these 100 students.” I cried unto God and prayed for those hundred every evening. When a bitter quarrel broke out I met the principal. He listened to me. He took my suggestion. He allowed me to handle the situation. The breach was healed. Has your principal listened to you? Do you set a good example before him? As long as I was there in that hostel Jesus was glorified. Wherever you are, if you call unto God, He will show you great things.

Remember there is no defeat for you. Do you know why you fail? Why you do not achieve anything for God? You are not calling unto God. Have a good conscience. Call unto God. Suppose you are in a village where everything is topsy-turvy; begin to pray to God. Things will come to order. If there is no water supply adequate for your field, pray and you will get it. If there is no green grass in our lawns, we pray. Then God sends rain. There is nothing that prayer cannot solve. Wherever you go, you will bring peace. Teach people the Word of God.

I stood firm to stamp out copying when I was a teacher. If our Christian schools teach character to children in India [the country from which this preacher spoke], this country will be blessed. Have you built anything for God? You cannot leave the nation to its fate. It is in a bad condition. It has no light. “Call unto me,” says God. If Joshua and Nehemiah achieved great things it was because they called on God. You also call unto God. Nehemiah wept when he heard the walls of Jerusalem were broken. How is your church? Your children have to grow there. We must pray day and night unto God. Do not say I am only a young woman or a mere boy. If we keep quiet, soon our Church will become a wilderness.

There is sin and adultery in homes and dishonesty in schools. ... God says, “Call unto me.” There are mighty things for you to do. God cannot show them to you now. You are not yet prepared. God's Word has not gone into your personality. Your evil nature has not left you.

I am sometimes afraid of the fulfilment of God's promises. “Can I make use of the good things God will give me? Will I be honest and perfect?” I am careful. I am searching my own heart.

Are you all crying to God? Is the Word of God going into us? Is it purifying us? Christian workers will have to work among men and women. Is there sanctity amongst us? “Call unto me”. Prepare yourself and study the Word. Eliminate everything in you which is not according to the Word of God. One day you will be a Moses or Joshua or Peter. This nation must see such people. ...

You must transform your place into Eden. God has created you to build ruined places.

—N. Daniel