According To Your Faith

29Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”;
Matthew 9:29 (NIV)

I am feeling a bit down. Why is the world so dull? Why am I not seeing my millions of dollars coming into my account like rushing rivers flowing to the sea? So, I have decided to write something to cheer myself up. What should I write? My favorite topic, of course: prosperity. For some strange reason, I can see prosperity in every page of the Bible. In this article, I am going explore on Jesus’ words in the above verse.

Here is the background. After Jesus had raised a girl to life in her funeral, he went on his way. Two blind men followed him and cried out loud for his mercy. Jesus turned back and asked them whether they believed he could heal them.

27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
28When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
“Yes, Lord,” they replied.
Matthew 9:27-28 (NIV)

Then, the miracle happened.

29Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”;
30and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.”
Matthew 9:29-30 (NIV)

This is the whole story. My emphasis here is the words Jesus said in Verse 29. Those words are in contrary to the standard practice in many churches. In a typical religious church, they will tell you that everything is God’s will.

· If you are sick, it is God’s will for you to be sick.
· If you are healthy, it is God’s will for you to be healthy.
· If you are poor, it is God’s will for you to be poor.
· If you are rich, it is God’s will for you to be rich.

If you are sick, you can still pray and ask God to heal you. You will only be healed if it is God’s will for you to be healed.

As you can read in the above verse, Jesus has a totally different idea. When Jesus said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”, he was identifying the blind men as the decision makers on whether they will be healed. Jesus did not say, “According to my will, it be done to you.” The decision on whether those men were healed was not on Jesus but on the faith of those men. God was never a factor on whether those men got their healing.

Do you get the idea now? Whatever we want in our lives, we don’t have to ask for God’s permission for them. God has given us the power to get whatever we want and this power is called “faith”. This truth has been repeated throughout the Bible. This truth is in harmony with the First Commandment in Genesis 1:28-30. As mentioned before, the First Commandment has established the position of the human species as the masters of our world. As masters, we have the full rights to decide what we want and get them all.

However, knowing about the First Commandment is useless unless we put it to use. Ask yourself this question: What do you want?

· If you are sick, do you want to get well?

· If you are single and want to get married, do you want to find a perfect partner?

· If you are married and are facing some problems in your marriage, do you want to restore harmony in your marriage?

· If you have problems at work, do you want solutions?

· If you are poor or facing financial problems, do you want to have a lot of money, preferably 100 times your debts?

· If you are already rich and are currently helping a few people, do you want to have even more money so that you can help even more people?

I declare to you, by the authority of the First Commandment, all your wishes are granted unto you. You will definitely get what you want if you use your faith to get them. There are a few steps here:

1. Identify the things that you want. Make them as clear as you can.

2. Believe you receive them. Make it a habit to give thanks to God as though you have received what you want. Visualize yourself enjoying them.

3. Begin to make preparations for the things you want.

Let me explain more on the Step 3. Supposed you have been wishing to go to New Zealand. Start to find more information on this country. Plan for your trip as though you already have the money to go there. As you plan, visualize yourself stepping your feet there. Before long, you will find yourself physically in the place you have visualized.

This method is applicable to our wishes.

That is all for now. I am going to visualize myself getting rich.

Life Of Rest

28″Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

I am back again from my vacation in Hong Kong. It was supposed to be my rest but I can hardly do so. Do you know why? My 4-year-old son kept pestering me to carry him wherever we went. So, I have to carry a 25kg boy most of the time until I did not really feel cold in the winter. In other words, I did a lot of weight lifting there. I am also glad that I brought the book “The One Minute Millionaire” in which I read it in the plane and hotel. It is a real eye opener. It makes me more determined to be rich by the end of 2010.

Let us get back to the topic. In the above passage, Jesus was preaching to his disciples on his role in taking away their weariness and burdens. Jesus wanted to take away their heavy yoke and replace them with his light yoke.

In Verse 28, Jesus made an open invitation to everyone who were weary and burdened because he wanted to give them rest. This principle is still true today. Jesus is a rest-giver. The life of Christians is the life of rest. If you have attended any religious church, you will find Matthew 11:28 to be missing in their practices.

Religious pastors think it is the will of God for believers to be burdened and weary. So, they made it their tradition to blackmail their members to go for missions or volunteer as free labor in the church. I can still remember that in my first church, every sermon I heard from the pastors was about blackmailing people to work for them (in missions or free labor) or to give money to the church. Every public holiday was packed with activities. There was hardly any rest. Being a Christian was such a wearisome and burdensome experience. Yet, the above verse says the opposite. So, I am glad I have left that church.

The truth is, Jesus wants us to rest. If you happen to be in a church that has been piling burdens on you, the wisest thing for you to do is to leave it. Churches that create weariness and burdens to their members are not operating from the teachings of Jesus. Therefore, they must be of the devil.

In the subsequent verse, Jesus wants us to take on his yoke and learn from him. He is gentle and humble in heart. He is the source of our rest. It appears that these 2 qualities are crucial to our rest in him. Let us explore further.

Jesus is gentle. Gentleness is not weakness. It is about having full control over one’s strength. When we have full control over our strength, we are in position to achieve maximum result with minimum cost. We will not get confused and tired easily. We will appear as miracle workers to others because we can get more things done with less effort.

So, how do we get that way? We need to go to Jesus and learn his way. Read the Bible on the life of Jesus. Find out how Jesus solve problems and remain positive even when the situation turned bad. He is the master of using his faith to overcome every problem that came into his life. He can turn every sickness into health, every poverty into prosperity and every failure into success. He is also not a pervert. His definition of the terms “prosperity”, “health” and “success” are the same as in the dictionary.

The other quality, Jesus used was humble at heart. Jesus was very humble. He has humility. Please note that his humility is true in contrast with the false humility displayed by the theologians. What is the difference between true and false humility? True humility comes from a confident and steadfast heart. When you are truly confident and believe in the blessing of God in your life, you will automatically display true humility. In contrast, those who are insecure doubters will resort to running down themselves in order to create a mask of humility. Insecure people can never achieve true humility.

Therefore, having a confident and steadfast heart is necessary for us to have peace and rest. How to get it? The answer is the same. Go to Jesus.

In Verse 30, Jesus emphasize that his yoke is easy and my burden is light. Why would he tell us that? There are 2 reasons:
1. He wants us to take on his yoke and burden.
2. He wants us to be able to identify false yoke and burden.

If you have been to a religious church, you will notice that it is a status symbol to tell people that the Lord had given you a heavy burden. This is supposed to give the impression that the Lord considers you to be a faithful servant. If fact, the heavier your burdens, the higher your status among the religious people. Yet, Jesus seems to have an opposite opinion. In short, if you have heavy burdens, you are not submitting to Jesus.

In conclusion, living a life of rest is not just our right as Christians but also a testimony to our submission to the leadership and teachings of Jesus.

Childlikeness

25 At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike.
26 Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way!
Matthew 11:25-26 (NLT)

In the above passage, Jesus tells us the benefits to be like children compared with those who think of themselves as wise and clever. According to Jesus, God hides important things from those who think of themselves as wise and clever and revealed them to those who are childlike. The important things must be very important. What do you think they are?

If they happen to be perverted things like God makes you poor and sick to show us his sufficient grace, I don’t think any one of us will be interested. The reason is because we are not perverts. We do not worship God to seek the opportunity to suffer in sickness and poverty. We Christians are not masochists. The idea that God is a sadist who creates disasters, sicknesses and poverty to show us his sufficient grace is nothing more than a perversion of theology. If you want to learn to be a pervert, learn theology.

When we read the Bible, we have make up our minds that our God is not a sadist. Whenever God gives us a revelation or wants us to do something, his motive is always for our good. The term “good” is in accordance to the definition of the dictionary, not the perversion of theology. Let me give you an illustration on God’s definition of “good”.

2Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
3 John 1:2 (KJV)

This is only one of many other verses in the Bible that shows the true nature of God. The Bible is clear in its message that God is not a pervert. When we receive revelations from God, we are effectively receiving the tools to attain prosperity in every area in our lives. Health and wealth are part of the prosperity in every area in our lives. We don’t need any health and wealth gospel because the Gospel of Jesus Christ provides us with health and wealth as a part of its prosperity package.

The next step is how to receive these revelations. Jesus said we must be childlike and not be arrogant to think of ourselves as wise and clever. Who are the ones that like to think of themselves as wise and clever? I think the answer is very clear, theologians.

Throughout history we can see from Jesus’ time to the Dark Ages and up to today, theologians are the most arrogant, miserable and bitter people on earth. They think they are the only ones who have the right to decide what the Bible says. Anyone who reads the Bible and come out with meanings that are not approved by the theologians will be branded as heretics and be called all sort of names. During the Dark Ages, the theologians even had Inquisitors to kill anyone who dared to defy theology.

Today, the theologians do not have such powers but their arrogance is the same. They will not hesitate to spread lies and slanders on anyone who dares to place the truth of God above the lies of theology. Anyone who dares to obey God instead of theology will be branded with names like “being deluded by the Prosperity Gospel”.

I take advantage of this phenomenon to create my own filter on good churches and ministries. I consider any church or ministry that has not been accused by the theologians for preaching the “Prosperity Gospel” is not worthy of my attention. Most likely they have not been preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a pure and unadulterated form. The truth is, anyone who preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a pure and unadulterated form will be slandered by the theologians as preaching the “Prosperity Gospel”. This is how I choose churches and ministries.

Enough on the theologians. Let us move on to childlikeness. How to be childlike? I happen to know the answer because I have a 4 year old boy at home. Through him, I have learned a lot of the term “childlike” and I would like to share them with you.

Living by full faith.
My son lives by faith every moment of his life. In his view, his father is infinitely rich and powerful. When he is hungry he asks for food. When he wants a toy, he asks for it. Whatever he wants he always asks for it. He does not know the meaning of recession. Neither can he comprehend the idea that sometimes his father wants him to suffer hunger in order to experience some sufficient grace. Thank God for that.

My son lives his life with full confidence that he can always ask for anything he wants. There is always food when he is hungry. There is always water when he is thirsty. There are always toys for him to play.

Living in joy.
I name my son Isaac, which means laughter. He lives up to his name. He is a happy boy. It seems that even simple things can bring him joy.

I bought him a small ball and he enjoys rolling it down the slides. When I played Age Of Empires, he wanted to play as well. So I let him move the characters there. He enjoys building houses, windmills, towers, farms and castles. He had a great time. Bringing him out is such a joy for my wife and I because he knows how to express joy on things we take for granted.

This is how God wants us to live. He wants us to enjoy every moment of our lives on earth.

Living In Simplicity.
My son has never asked me what is my will for him. He never asked me what toys he should be playing on any day. He plays what he wants to play. That makes him happy. When he is happy, I am happy. This is the will of God The Father for all of us, his children.

What is the will of God for you? The answer is what makes you happy? If drinking coffee makes you happy, then it is the will of God for you to drink coffee. When you are happy, He is happy. Can you come up with a revelation more simple than that?

In conclusion, God wants us to be childlike. He wants us to trust in him, believe in his faithfulness to bless us and to deliver us from every trouble we face. He wants us to live each day with joy in our hearts. Do you intend to obey?

I Desire Mercy Not Sacrifice

6I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.
7If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.
8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Matthew 12:6-8 (NIV)

The above is an exchange between Jesus and the theologians. Throughout the Bible, we can see that Jesus’ greatest enemies were not the clear sinners like the prostitutes and the tax collectors. It was the theologians who hated Jesus the most. Ironically, many Christians today allow themselves to be manipulated by Jesus’ enemies today. We Christians must always remember that theologians are the real enemies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The above passage tells us that one of their weapons is religious ritual.

Here is the background. Jesus and his team walked through a grain field. Some of them felt hungry and took some grains to eat. A theologian saw that and rebuked Jesus for doing something unlawful in Sabbath. Does this sound familiar to you? Theologians and doctrine worshippers like to impose their rules on us through terms like “unlawful”, “against doctrines” and “non-biblical” as though we cannot read the Bible ourselves and see through their lies. In Singapore, we have some Christian militants doing their evil under the mask of “conservative majority” as though they can fool us into believing that they have the support from all religions here.

Jesus told the theologians off by telling them that his desire is mercy and not sacrifice. This is an important lesson for all Christians who choose to obey God and not the lies of theology. A Christian life is a life of mercy, not sacrifice. There may be times where we have to make mutually exclusive choices where sacrifice may be necessary but it should not be a norm for us. The norm for all Christians must always be mercy.

What is mercy? It means helping others to overcome their bad situation whether they deserve it or not. We are presently in the worst recession. Many people have lost their jobs and homes. Many people have been living in poverty, not having enough to eat and having no access to basic medical care. How should out mercy respond to these people?

It is definitely not telling them that it is the will of God for them to be poor for his glory, or God wants them to starve to show them his sufficient grace. God wants you to sacrifice your health and wealth because your poverty and sickness makes him happy. All these are perversions from theology.

The true will of God is for us to do what we can within our capability to help these people. This is mercy. Not only that, our capability can increase if we allow God to help us. For example, you may only have enough money to feed one starving family in your neighborhood. This is very merciful of you. However, God expects much more from you and he intends to help you to do it. God wants you to be richer so that you can provide for 100 families. Once you have reached that stage, God wants you to be even richer and help 1,000,000 families. This means financial prosperity is a part of being merciful.

Those theologians who said that sometimes God wants us to be poor are lying. The truth is God wants us to be merciful. To be rich is to be merciful to the poor. Therefore, all Christians are called to be rich. We are blessed to be a blessing. When Jesus said he desired mercy, he will also provide us with all the means to be merciful.

So, how merciful are you? That will determine how much prosperity you are going to get.

Can Jesus Afford A Pillow?

20Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
Matthew 8:20 (NIV)

This must be one of the most abused verses in the Bible. Theologians and doctrine worshippers love to use this verse as their “indisputable proof” that Jesus was poor when he was on earth. After all, Jesus himself said he has no place to lay his head. How poorer can a man gets? So as far as the theologians and the doctrine worshippers are concern, this verse alone is good enough to prove their heresy.

It does not matter to them that Jesus’ family received many chests of gold before he reached the age of two. It also does not matter to them that Jesus financed his own ministry. Jesus never conducted any fund raising activities like the religious preachers of today. Jesus never begged or threatened anyone for money. He never behaved like the pastors of my first church. Jesus had his own money and he even had assigned a disciple to carry his wallet for him. This tells us that Jesus’ wallet must be quite heavy. Jesus’ life story tells us that he must be very rich. Yet, some heretics can use just one verse in Matthew 8:20 to say otherwise.

In this article, we shall look into the real meaning of the above verse. What was Jesus actually saying? Did Jesus really say he was poor? Based on the context of his life story we know for sure that Jesus was rich, not poor. The only time the Bible said Jesus was poor was when he was at the Cross. At the Cross, Jesus died poor for us to live rich.

Please note that Jesus did not just say he had no place to lay his head alone. He compared himself with the foxes and the birds. Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but Jesus has no place to lay his head. This sounds like Jesus was poorer than the foxes and birds. Let us look into the foxes and birds. How do the foxes get their holes and the birds get their nests? How much do they pay for their holes and nests? The answer is nothing. Foxes dig their own holes and birds build their own nests using branches. So, if Jesus wanted a hole, he can dig one. If he wants his own nest, he can build one himself. How can Jesus be poorer than the foxes and birds?

Obviously, Jesus was not talking about how poor he was. This means the idea that Jesus was so poor that he has no place to lay his head is pure heresy that comes from the pit of hell. Only theologians and doctrine worshippers believe in it.

What exactly was Jesus referring to when he said those words? He was simply referring to the fact that he has no permanent base for his ministry. In today’s context, he did not have a headquarters to base his ministry on. The above verse was Jesus’ reply to a teacher of law who said he wanted to follow him. It seems that the man wanted to be one of Jesus’ disciples.

Jesus was basically letting him know about the working environment in his ministry so that the applicant can make an informed choice on whether he wanted to join Jesus’ team. Jesus’ message to this man was his ministry was always on the move. Anyone working for him will be expected to travel from place to place. You cannot expect to have a permanent office in Jesus’ ministry. That is all. There is no other hidden message.

Jesus was not trying to tell us that he was very poor. Jesus was rich, not poor. If anyone quotes the above verse to “prove” Jesus’ poverty, you can refer this person to this article.

Jesus Heals All

24 News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all.
Matthew 4:24 (NLT)

This is the part where Jesus had recruited his first few disciples and begun his ministry. Jesus’ ministry is not empty talk. It involved real healing. Jesus healed all the sick, demon possessed, epileptic and paralyzed. Please note the word “all” at the end of the above verse. I have a disclaimer here. It does not mean Jesus healed all the sick, demon possessed, epileptic and paralyzed in that region. What it means is mean Jesus healed all the sick, demon possessed, epileptic and paralyzed who came to him.

You may also have noticed that Jesus did not lay down any conditions to be healed. He never said that in order to qualify for healing you must confess all your sins regularly, read the Bible at least one hour every day, serve in church at least once a month, go for mission at least once a year, give money to church whenever the pastors ask for it or any other religious nonsense. Jesus’ healing in the Bible is unconditional. All you have to do is to go to him ask for healing and you will get it. He will never tell you that God wants you to be sick in order to show you his sufficient grace. The idea that sufficient grace equals sickness and disease is nothing more than theology, which is a lie from the pit of hell.

This reminds me of the Superman series. If you are trapped in a burning building, all you have to do is to call on the name of Superman. Superman will fly over faster than a speeding bullet to rescue you. I have never watched a series that shows Superman refusing to rescue people because he wanted to show them his sufficient grace in being barbecued in the burning building. Neither have I come across any scenes where Superman rescued people selectively. Superman rescued as many people as he can. These include those who do not pray, confess their sins nor go to church.

So, if you are still unable to understand the character of Jesus, watch Superman shows. Some cartoon can reveal more truth about Jesus than the theologians.

What do all these mean to us? We need to have a strong Bible foundation to do well in life. Whether you want to be happy, healthy, rich and successful in any area in your life, you need a strong Bible foundation to help you to achieve them. A strong Bible foundation is also necessary to overcome the lies of theology.

The Bible tells us that God is always on our side. His greatest desire is for us to prosper and be in health as our souls prosper. Health and wealth are a part of God’s desire for us. So, we don’t have to feel ashamed in admitting that we want to have abundant health and wealth in our lives. Jesus did not die at the Cross for us to be sick and poor.

As for the doctrine worshippers and theologians, they are the ones who should be ashamed of themselves because they had exchanged the truth for a pack of lies called theology.

As for us Christians, let us mind our business in using the Bible for our prosperity in all areas of our lives.

How Smart Is The Devil?

8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”
10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”
Matthew 4:8-10 (NLT)

We have come to the remaining temptation of Jesus. Among the 3 tests, this must be the dumbest of all. Do you know why? The devil offered Jesus the ownership of all the kingdoms of the world and their glory in return for Jesus to kneel down and worship him. Why is this dumb? Obviously the devil has forgotten where did Jesus come from. Jesus came from the Kingdom of God where gold is used to make roads. By comparison, the kingdoms of this world, which the devil offered Jesus, are the equivalent of a garbage dump. Imagine offering a garbage dump to a rich prince as temptation. Will it work? Of course, not.

Let me give you another illustration. Suppose I bring a stack of US$100 bills to a group of homeless and starving people. I offer to pay US$100 to anyone there who is willing to kneel down and worship me. What do you think will happen? I am sure many will compete to kneel down and worship me for the sake of the money I offer. US$100 means a lot to people who are homeless and starving.

However, if I am to repeat the same feat to a group of billionaires, I don’t think there will be anyone taking the offer. Why, not? The amount I offer is nothing to them. Basically, in this test the devil offered US$100 to a billionaire.

So, in this test Jesus won due to the stupidity of the devil.

We have been warned not to underestimate the devil. We should also be reminded not to overestimate him either. The test in the above passage proves beyond doubt that Satan does not have much intelligence. All his temptations are based on the same pattern. Once we master one, we can beat him a million times.

Let me give you a real life example. Recently, there is big earthquake in Italy. I can predict right now based on the past pattern that there will be some agents of Satan (otherwise known as theologians) who will proclaim this earthquake as a judgement of God. God is judging Italy for some sins and coincidentally these sins happen to be the agenda of those theologians.

Should there be more disasters in the future, you can be sure that there will be proclamation of judgement of God to the particular nation. This is my “prophecy”. This “prophecy” always works not because it is a direct revelation of God but because of the stupidity of the Theologian (also known as Satan). You can test out my “prophecy” yourself by doing some simple search everyday on this earthquake. Soon, you will have some proclamations on the judgement of God.

The same will happen for any future disasters.

In conclusion, the devil is dumb. Don’t join them.

You Must Not Test The Lord Your God

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple,
6 and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect you.
And they will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”

7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”
Matthew 4:5-7 (NLT)

We have come to another test from the devil for Jesus. This time, the devil dared Jesus to jump from the highest point of the Temple and see if God will really send his angels to save him as written in the scriptures.

In my previous article, I have shared that I have a similar experience of being challenged by a worshipper of doctrines to put my hand in front of some poisonous snakes. As explained in that article, I have enough common sense not to do it. It seems that Jesus also has common sense. He went on further to quote the Scriptures in saying ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’ This is the topic of this article.

What is considered the testing the Lord your God? The answer is don’t do dumb things to see if God will really come to rescue you. Don’t jump from a tall building. Don’t put your hands to the cobra. Don’t cross a busy road with your eyes closed. God has given all of us something called common sense. He expects us to use it.

Let me make this clear. God did promise that he will rescue us from all our troubles. However, this does not men we must intentionally look for troubles to give him the opportunity to play hero. God does not need such vain glory. He is not vain. His greatest desire is for us, his people to live in prosperity in every area of our lives. He wants us to be blessed with good health in our bodies, great peace in our hearts, a lot of money in our bank accounts and success in everything we do. Should we make any mistakes and fail in any of the above, he will certainly rescue us because he will always keep his promise.

At the same time, God expects us to take some responsibility and due diligence in our lives. Let me give you some examples:

1. When you eat, eat moderately. Avoid eating too much food that has high fat and cholesterol contents.

2. If you happen to be in a job does not require too much physical movements, take some time to exercise your body.

3. When you are on the road, observe all traffic rules. If you are challenge by other drivers, don’t take it. Your life is more important.

4. Don’t drive after you are drunk.

5. Read the contents carefully before you buy any investment product especially on the amount and probability in the risk of losing.

The above are not exhaustive and I am sure you get the idea. Living in faith does not mean we must neglect our own responsibility to our own safety, health and prosperity. Don’t put God to test. Living responsibly is a part of living by faith.

We Do Not Live By Bread Alone

4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:4 (NLT)

This is the part where Jesus was lead to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He had fasted for forty days and forty nights. Then the devil came.

3 During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”
Matthew 4:3 (NLT)

Jesus answered,

4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:4 (NLT)

This is the foundation text for our studies today. The devil challenged Jesus to turn stones into bread. The question is why bread? He knew Jesus was hungry. If he can make Jesus create bread, the bread could be used as temptations to break Jesus’ fast. Jesus knew about the devil’s ploy and replied ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ What does that mean?

Bread represents food, which is our daily necessity. Food is essential for us to keep on living. Jesus did not say we do not need it. What Jesus said was we should not live by food alone. Food is basically the aid for us to live on. It should not be the main reason we live for. We eat to live. We don’t live to eat.

I realize that many of us love to eat good food. God has no problem in this. In fact, God is the one who created a lot of delicious food and placed them on earth. It is obvious that God wants us to enjoy eating and have a great time in doing so. So, eating for fun is a godly pursuit. However, there is a limit on how much and often we should eat no matter how good we feel in eating. We should not neglect our health as we eat. Let me put it in another way. If you moderate your eating habits and maintain a healthy lifestyle, you will live a longer life. The longer you live, the more you get to eat. So, live healthy if you want to eat more.

What does Jesus mean by living by every word that comes from the mouth of God? Did he mean we must obey all the rules of theology? After all, theologians always claim that they are the only ones who know the God’s words. Anyone who defies them is defying God.

The answer is no. The Bible tells us that the theologians were Jesus greatest enemies. How can they represent God’s words? Jesus had even called the theologians as brood of vipers, white washed tombs and hypocrites. It must be obvious to us that God’s words cannot be theology.

The “every word that comes from the mouth of God” must therefore be the words in the Bible. God gave us his words for us to live by. His words are for our prosperity. If we focus on his words and not on bread, we will have more bread than we can ever hope or dream of. The main message of the above verse is, always put God’s words at the central of our focus and we will prosper exceedingly and abundantly above all we dare to ask or hope for.

That is not all. Have you wonder why Jesus did not just turn the stones into bread and still keep fasting? The answer is, he have no intention to subject himself to unnecessary temptations. He did not fall into the devil’s dare.

I remember one doctrine worshipper challenged me to put my hand to the poisonous snakes to prove my faith. My reply is why should I prove my faith to the worshippers of doctrines? Even if I want to do that, why must I choose poisonous snakes? If I am to put my hand to poisonous snakes, there can only be two outcomes. If my faith works, nothing happens and I am still alive. If my faith fails, I got bitten and die in agony. So, I have nothing to gain and everything to lose.

If I want to test my faith, I will choose a better way. For example, I will do it by causing a billion dollars to be transferred into my bank account. It my faith works, I am a billionaire. If my faith fails, nothing changes and I will live on as usual. I have everything to gain and nothing to lose. This is called common sense.

In conclusion, there are two lessons for us to here: We need to live by the Word of God and common sense.

Back From Egypt

19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.
20 “Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead.”

Matthew 2:19-20 (NLT)

We shall continue from the story in the previous article. In the previous article, we learn that Jesus’ life was in danger the moment he was born. Yet God was with him. However, his natural parents knew nothing about the danger until after they were visited by the wise men. After that, an angel told them that they must flee to Egypt because Herod was planning to kill Jesus. At that time, the family would have no problem in complying with the angel’s instructions because they had a lot of money.

Subsequently, Jesus’ family went to a luxurious holiday trip to Egypt. I added the word “luxurious” because there was no reason for them to be thrifty when they had so much money. So, the family spent quite some time having fun in Egypt until an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and told him to get back to Israel because Herod had died. The family went back to Israel.

Let us stop here to identify the lessons that we can use for our prosperity. In the previous article, we learn that God always release the necessary information at the right time. Premature release of information can cause us unnecessary worry and fear. God does not want us to live that way. In addition, God will only tell us to do certain things after he has provided us with the means to do them. God will never tell you to flee to Egypt if you do not have the money to do so.

The central message here is Jesus eventually returned to Israel. Egypt was place of refuge but Israel was the place of action. Jesus’ place was in Israel and not Egypt. No matter how comfortable life in Egypt was at that time, Jesus still returned to Israel because Israel was the place that he was called to create prosperity.

I believe all of us will enjoy vacations. These are the days where we put aside all our pressures of work, go to a far away place, stay in wonderful hotels, enjoy being treated like kings and focus only on having fun. Sometimes we even wish that we have more money so that we can live like that for the rest of our lives. However, we still have to face reality on having to go back to our jobs or businesses.

The truth is, God does not have problem with us having fun and live like kings. It is not a sin in wanting to live like kings. God wants us to live like kings. In fact, we Christians are called to be kings. Jesus is the king of kings. Who are the “kings” who worship Jesus as their king? It is definitely not the head of states of the kingdoms of this world because not all of them worship Jesus. There is only one group of people who worship Jesus as their king and that is us Christians. So, when you came across the phase “king of kings”, remind yourself that Jesus is the “king” and all Christians are the “kings”. Therefore there is nothing wrong with us kings wanting to live like kings.

The crucial point here is that living like kings is not limited to vacations alone. Kings have the responsibility to defend and prosper their respective kingdoms. God did not design us to live in a vacation setting forever. He designed us to be achievers.

There is nothing wrong to spend some time in a nice resort but there must be a time for us to pack our bags and return to the real world. The real world is the place where we fulfill the desires God has placed in our hearts in creating prosperity for ourselves and for the people around us. We are blessed to be blessings to others. There are many people who live and die every day around the world without knowing the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many people who live in hopelessness and despair around the world because they do not know of a God who loves them and wants to prosper them.

It is up to us Christians to spread the word of the Gospel. The best way we can do that is to live the lives God wants us to live. Live a life of prosperity, good health, long life and success in every area. When we do that, we will be beacons of light shining in the darkness. People will be drawn to us. Soon, they will realize that Jesus is the one who prospers us. They will want to believe him. This is what true evangelism is all about.

It is time to leave Egypt and go to Israel.