However, there was one problem. The people who lived there were giants. These spies looked like grasshoppers before them. Now their hearts were troubled and they were totally discouraged. They thought they would never be able drive away these giants from the land. They spread this bad report among the people. Now everyone started complaining and whining.

All, except Caleb and Joshua, were scared.

Caleb and Joshua had a different spirit and a different perspective. They believed that God was with them and will help them defeat the giants. They urged the people not be afraid. They told them to have faith in God and His power. But the people tried to stone both of them.

Now God was angry. The faithlessness, the whining and the grumbling was a great insult to God’s promise and His power. He was now contemplating about sending a plague among the people. If not for Moses’ pleading before God, they would all have been destroyed that day. But God said in His anger that none would enter the promised land, except Caleb and Joshua.

Forty years later. Israelites inherit Canaan. The people who had doubted and grumbled were all dead. It was Joshua and Caleb who led the people into the promised land.

Lessons to be learnt:

1)  When God makes a promise it is sure and will definitely get fulfilled.
Heaven and earth may change, but God and His word will never change.

2)  When you doubt God’s promises it’s an insult to God.

3)  Both faith and fear are contagious.
It’s yours to choose which one to spread.

4)  Present circumstances and the promise will always contradict each other.
It’s yours to choose on which one to set your eyes on.

5)  A leader should always have a strong faith and clear vision about the promise.
This applies to your family, business, work, etc….

6)  There’s always a waiting period before the promise gets fulfilled.
It builds up your faith and prepares you to receive the promise.

7)  Walk by faith and not by sight.

“Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.”   – St. Augustine

The following is one of my favorite songs:

He did not bring us out this far to take us back again.
He brought us out to take us into the promised land.

Though there be giants in the land, we will not be afraid.
He brought us out to take us into the promised land.

Tell me that it’s gonna be okay
Tell me that you’ll help me find my way
Tell me you can see the light of dawn is breaking
Tell me that it’s gonna be all right
Tell me that you’ll help me fight this fight
Tell me that you won’t leave me alone in this

‘Cause I need
I need a hand to hold
To hold me from the edge
The edge I’m sliding over slowly
‘Cause I need
I need your hand to hold
To hold me from the edge
The edge I’m sliding past
Hold on to me

‘Cause I need
I need a hand to hold
To hold me from the edge
The edge I’m sliding over slowly
‘Cause I need
I need your hand to hold
To hold me from the edge
The edge I’m sliding past
Hold on to me

Even our life is like a piece of cloth that is being weaved each day. We as human beings tend to commit mistakes or sins that kinda spoils the cloth – our life. This makes us feel bad and very often gets us into depressions. At times we are clueless about what to do with all the mess that we had become.

But, if we give our lives to God who is an Expert Weaver and honestly tell Him about the mess we are into and request Him to take over our lives and do the designing…. then He will convert all our mistakes into a beautiful design that we would’ve never imagined.  The mess we are into might be because of our past or our failures or addictions or it could be anything. It doesn’t matter. All we have to do is just allow Him to do the weaving and designing.

One day when we look back ….. each of our lives will be an unique masterpiece designed by God for His glory.  We just need to allow the Expert Weaver to take over.

- Martin

“But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him” – Jeremiah 18: 4

“Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I’ve become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can’t do this myself
You’re the only one who can undo
What I’ve become” –  ’Undo’ by Rush of Fools

]]> http://ajourney.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/the-expert-weaver/feed/ 3 Martin http://ajourney.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/choices/ http://ajourney.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/choices/#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:30:53 +0000 Martin http://ajourney.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/choices/ ]]> Everything that we experience in our life is dependent on the choices that we make everyday. The consequences that follow after we make a choice decides whether it’s a good choice or a bad one. But, is it possible to make the right choice every time? Or can we make the right choice when we are aware of the consequences for each of the choice? Eve also faced a similar situation when she was about to eat of the tree of the knowledge of both good and evil.

God took a huge risk by creating man with a free will. And man made a choice to move away from God. That’s why the first step(and the hardest step) to become a good christian is to surrender one’s will. God has placed before us both good and evil and it’s our responsiblity to use our will to choose the right path.

Isaiah 5.1-4 speaks of a situation where all the necessary things for a vineyard to yield good grapes is provided. But the vineyard yielded wild grapes. Choosing to disobey God can make us unfit for God’s purposes. Jesus, when He was in the garden of Gethsemane, prayed three times pleading with the Father:”My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me”. I think Jesus very well knew the consequences of being crucified and not being crucified. But He choose to obey the Father and said:”Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

It’s the nature of man to make a choice that is against the will of God. But we still have the ability to use our will to choose what we want to do.

My prayer is that the Lord may enlighten our minds to understand the will of God and give us the guts to choose to do it.

I think, in the sight of God, the six days creation of this world is just a paper cup that is crushed and thrown into the trash can. If this world, which was created to be destroyed later, could hold vast and deep mysteries which are still incomprehensible to man, how about a place which is going to last for eternity. Really wonderful… isn’t it?

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain…”(Rev21.4) If at all we shed tears in Heaven, I think, it will be tears of joy. It’s just joy unspeakable and full of glory.

There’s one thing that I firmly believe. The initial salvation was by grace of God and not by our works. And also we live our lives each day by the grace of God. Even so, the final salvation is going to be by the grace of God. Of course, we need to follow and obey all the commandments of God….but it’s still by the grace of God that we’ll be entering Heaven. Remember the thief who said to Jesus at the cross:”….remember me when you come into your kingdom” and Jesus replied: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise”(Luke23.42,43). It’s the grace that’s going to enable us to reach our destination. Thankfully, this GRACE is NEVER-ENDING and when we all get to heaven we’ll be able to truly appreciate why this GRACE is so AMAZING.

There is a beautiful song about Heaven sung by U2. “Where The Streets Have No Name” Enjoy the Video!

If life is a race…..it’s hard to keep running. So what do I do? There’s one thing I don’t want to do….that is, to stagnate in one place. If I’m not able to run, I just want to walk slowly. Praying a little and crying a little. Getting some comfort from His words.

One special verse that keeps me going is Jer 29:11: “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

But accepting to tread an unknown path is not easy. Trusting becomes a difficult task. I’m reminded of what Philip Yancey states in his book ‘Reaching for the Invisible God‘: ‘to fear God or to fear everything else, to trust God or to trust nothing’

I feel it’s better to trust a little in God than to trust nothing and living in fear and depression. So let me keep trusting and walking even if the it’s the darkest night. Maybe, the dawn is just in sight.

Jesus says: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing”(John15:5).

Here Jesus is the power supply and we all need to plug-in and make a connection. Establishing a connection may be easy but sustaining or abiding or remaining in that connection is sometimes difficult. Bearing much fruit completely depends on remaining in the connection.

Sometimes I find it difficult to be plugged-in. When the road gets rough I pull the plug off from the power supply thinking that I can manage on my own. But it doesn’t work. So I run back again to get plugged-in. I can’t do anything apart from Him.

Being plugged-in always keeps us renewed and burning brightly for His glory as His grace and power flows within us. All our gifts and talents can be used for His glory only when we are plugged-in.

So, just plug-in and remain there.

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

These verses really trouble me. Was that a good time to sing, rejoice and be joyful? How can one sing and rejoice when there’s nothing favourable and good? I also found similar situations in the Bible. The only time we read that Jesus sang was few hours before his arrest (Matt26:30). And there’s also Paul and Silas singing in a Roman jail (Acts16:25). How could these people react to a grave situation by singing?

If I were to be in such a situation, I will probably react with anger, self-pity and will be murmuring against God. Sometimes, maybe I will accept it with a sigh but the relationship with God will remain unsteady for sometime. But to sing and rejoice seems to be impractical.

But Habakkuk seems to have a completely different perspective about it. Even when the ‘Physical reality’ around him was breaking down, he was finely tuned to the ‘Spiritual reality’. He was able to look beyond the shattered reality to a God who is still in control. Hence, he is able to sing, rejoice and be joyful.

To find meaning in such a situation is to see it from a higher perspective. But such a perspective seems elusive in the midst of a storm. It’s a choice, but it’s still difficult to sing and rejoice.
I’m just praying for the grace to have more faith in God and to sing and rejoice in the midst of a storm.

Firstly, God loved and chose us even before the creation of the earth(Eph1:4,5). He was rejoicing and took delight in mankind while the earth was being created(Prov8:30,31). It’s not something that is easily comprehensible but, it’s wonderful that we were born into this world being loved of God.

Secondly, when man fell because of sin, God sent His only beloved Son to die on the cross for our sins because He loved us. That divine love constrained Him to come down to the earth to save mankind (I John4:10). Otherwise we would have perished in our sins. He endured the cross because of the ‘joy’ that was set before Him(Heb12:2). The love that He had for you and me gave Him meaning to suffer and die on the cross.

Thirdly, He is preparing great mansions in Heaven so that we would be able to dwell with Him eternally to enjoy and rejoice in that love for eternity.

The love of God spans from ‘former’ eternity to the ‘latter’ eternity and continues forever. It’s so huge, vast, immeasurable, undescribable, unimaginable, incomprhensible. But it’s a fact.

So, what do I infer from this? From the day I was born till the day I reach home, every day of my life is completely covered by the love of God. Therefore I need not fear because perfect love casts away fear. When I’m guilty of sin, He forgives because of his love and helps me to live better. When I fall down, He lifts me up and gives me more grace to move forward. When I feel things are not going my way, He says that He loves me and has got better plans. When I call to Him in need, He answers and provides out of His love.

His divine love does not change. It’s an eternal love. When we all get to heaven and look back on our lives….it will be the greatest love story we have ever known.

1. Wake Up!

Decide to have a good day. “Today is the day the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalms 118:24)

2. Dress Up!

The best way to dress up is to put on a smile. A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks. “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at outward appearance; but the Lord looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7)

3. Shut Up!

Say nice things and learn to listen. God gave us two ears and one mouth, so He must have meant for us to do twice as much listening as talking. “He who guards his lips guards his soul.” (Proverbs 13:3)

4. Stand Up!…. for what you believe in.

Stand for something or you will fall for anything.. “Let us not be weary in doing good; for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good…” (Galatians 6:9-10)

5. Look Up!… to the Lord.

“I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

6. Reach Up!… for something higher.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, And He will direct your path.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

7. Lift Up!… your prayers.

“Do not worry about anything; instead pray about everything.” (Philippians 4:6)