There Is Always A Way Out

13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

The above verse is on how we can face the challenges in our daily lives on earth. The theme is “temptation”. What is that? It refers to external factors that force us to do things that we will regret later. I prefer to call it “trouble”. It sounds more natural. In this article, I shall use the term “trouble” instead of “temptation” but the meaning is the same.

If you have been living in the real world long enough, you would have realized that nothing always works according to plan. Things will invariably get wrong. You can get into trouble by your own mistakes or somebody else’s mistakes. Do you think this is unfair to suffer for somebody else’s mistakes? Let me give you some comfort. Somebody else can also suffer from your mistakes.

Based on my experience from the troubles I have been through, I did not always have a positive mindset when I went through them. I used to think I was the most unfortunate person on earth. I wished I were somebody else. (I suspect many had also thought the same.)

The first part of the above verse seems to have read my mind. If you are to think logically, you should have realized that no matter what trouble you are in right now, you cannot be the only one suffering from it. Many others throughout the world and at all times have the same experience. You are not that special after all. So, stop that self pity routine.

The second part of the verse tells us that God he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. Can you bear the troubles that you are facing right now? If you cannot do it, God would have made sure that this trouble would not have come to you in the first place. However, if you are in it right now, it must mean one thing: In God’s personal opinion, you have what it takes to overcome it.

In other words, God has given you all the power you need to overcome the problems you are facing right now. So, if you choose to give up, you are basically making a declaration saying that God is incapable of doing his job. I don’t think he will feel very honored by that.

However, should you choose to fight on and refuse to give up, you are effectively making a declaration to the whole world that your God is the true God who is faithful, a person of integrity and fully capable of doing his job. Do I have to convince you that you will get more blessings this way?

The last part of the above verse tells us what happen when we are already tempted, meaning we are already deep in trouble. It gives us the assurance that God will provide a way out. If you are with God, you will never be in any situation where there is no way out. There is always a way out no matter how impossible it appears to be. Why? God guarantees it? I choose to trust in him.

Unfortunately, here is some bad news. The last portion says, “so that you can endure it”. Why do we have to endure anything? The only answer is, the the way out will not appear immediately the moment we need it. There will be some waiting time between the time we get into trouble and the time we get out of it. This is the period we have to endure.

How do we endure? The above verse tells us that when we truly believes our God will provide a way out from our troubles, we will have the strength to endure it. Enduring does not mean giving up and surrendering to the present situation. Just because you are poor now, it does not mean you have to be poor forever. Just because you are sick now, it does not mean you must be sick forever. Just because you have failed now, it does not mean you must be failing forever. Just because you are in sin now, it does not mean you must be in sin forever.

God has promised you a way out. Can you believe him? If you can, you will be able to live through the present troubles with joy in your spirit and hope in your heart. You will live with confident expectation that you will see your dreams coming true even if the present situation tells you the opposite. You choose to believe in God rather than circumstances.

This is the true meaning of endurance. This is the life of faith.

What Is Faith?

1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

I have not been writing for quite some time. Now, I would like to get to the basics. I am writing on faith. What is faith? In the current social norm, most people will think of religious affiliation when they hear of this word. If you bother to ask a theologian, he will tell you that faith means believing in whatever he wants you to believe.

What is God’s definition of faith? The above verse gives us a clear answer on what Bible faith is all about. It tells us that faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen. Through faith, we have the assurance that we can have what we want even if the situation around us tells us how impossible it is.

A Christian life is a life of faith. We are not supposed to be moved by what we see, hear or feel. We are only moved by what we believe and we believe in the Word of God. In other words, we choose to think positive, talk positive and feel positive even if we are physically in a bad situation.

Sounds good but how do we put this into practice?

Read the above verse again. The first part tells us that faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen. This means we need to have things to hope for before we can use our faith. This is the truth where theological infested minds can never understand.

Faith is never meant to be an idol. It is a tool God gave us to get whatever we want. In order for us to start using it, we have to decide what we want.

Think of a map. A map tells us how to get to the places around us. However, if you have no idea on where do you want to go, the map is useless. You have to decide where you want to go and then use the map to help you to get there.

The same applies for faith. Decide on what you want right now. What do you want? Do you want to have a lot of money, good health, long life, happy family, good friends or anything else that will make you happy? Determine what you want and then use your faith to get them. This is the real application of faith.

The second part of the verse tells us that through the right use of faith, we have the assurance of a good life even if we cannot see them in the natural. This is crucial for those of us who are presently in a bad shape right now.

You may be poor and debt ridden. You may have a terminal disease and there is no hope for recovery. Your marriage may be breaking down. All these scenarios are real to you and may seem like a huge immovable mountain to you but in the eyes of God, they can easily be changed. God has given us the tool to move even the highest mountain and this tool is called faith. We don’t have to pray to beg God to move the mountains for us. We use our faith to move our own mountains.

23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.
24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.
Mark 11:23-24 (NLT)

The bottom line is, no matter how big your problems appear to be right now, they are not immune to faith. You have been given the power to overcome them. You have been given the power to have everything you desire. It is the will of God for you to use this power.

Welcome to the power of faith.

He Will Strengthen And Protect You From The Evil One

2And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith.
3But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
2 Thessalonians 3:2-3 (NIV)

The above passage is on the topic of dealing with the evil plots and schemes from those who seek to harm us. It comes with good news and bad news.

The bad new is there are wicked and evil people around who want to harm us. If you have been living in the real world long enough, you would have realized that you don’t have to purposely offend others to make enemies. There are people who just want to harm you or make things difficult for you for unknown reasons. The person who looks nice, polite and appears to be your best friend can the same person who has been spreading slanders and plots against you.

So, how are we going to defend ourselves against these people? The answer is in the good news in Verse 3.

3But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 (NIV)

We can rely on the faithfulness of God. Through his faithfulness, he will strengthen and protect us from the evil one. What does that mean? The strengthening and protecting are dependent on God’s faithfulness. Therefore, let us first look at his faithfulness.

The faithfulness of God refers on his integrity in keeping all his promises. This is the core value of God. This is also the part that separates the truth Christian teachings from the lies of theology.

In short, when God promises something, he will do it. Here are some examples:

· When God says we are saved by grace through faith, he means what he says. We don’t have to do anything extra to maintain this promise like going to church, reading the Bible, going for missions, giving money to church etc.

· When God says he will prosper us, he means what he says. Out of context quoting like Jesus has no place to lay his head and the part on camel going through the eye of the needle cannot change that. Neither does the existence of poor believers can cause God to break his promise.

· When God says he will heal us, he means what he says. No matter how the theologians choose to glorify sickness and disease, God still keeps his promise.

Through the faithfulness of God, we have the confidence to face all the trials and tribulations in our lives.

He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

When God strengthens us, it means he gives us the strength to fight the battle. This implies that we have to do the fighting. In other words, we have work to do. Do not, do nothing when you facing difficulties. God has strengthened us. Our role is to use this strength to overcome and triumph over whatever difficulties we are facing right now.

· If you are sick, you have the strength to be healthy.

· If you are poor, you have the strength to be rich.

· If you have failed, you have the strength to be successful.

This is what the strength of God can do for us. Do not be ashamed of it.

Next, the faithfulness of God protects us. This means God will personally ensure that no harm can come to us. We can live our lives in confidence that no matter how bad the situation around us appears to be, we are protected.

God is good.

New Creation In Christ

14For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:14-17 (NIV)

The above passage explains why Christians are the new creations. We are no longer our old selves. We are created as a new product. In other parts of the Bible the phrase, “born again” are used to describe our new position with God. In this article, I shall explain deeper on the entire context of new creation stated in the above verses. Of course, knowing what the Bible says is useless unless we can use it for our prosperity. Here we go.

Verse 14 starts with, Christ’s love compels us. We are compelled by the Christ’s love. Compel is neither a threat nor a blackmail. When we obey God, we are doing it willingly out of the abundance of love God has poured into our hearts. So, we do it joyfully. We do not obey God out of fear that if we defy him, he might do perverted things to us like giving us some thorns in the flesh to show us his sufficient grace. This is the truth that no theologians or doctrine worshippers can understand.

We do not need some theological preachers to threaten or blackmail us to live holy lives. We live holy lives because holiness is our nature. This is why you can never hear any threats or blackmails in churches that preach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What does Christ love compels is in? The answer is in the subsequent part of the same verse.

“because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.”

The crucial point here is “one died for all, and therefore all died.” Who is the “one” who died for all? Jesus is the one. At the Cross, Jesus dies for all our sins. His work is complete. He knows how to do his job properly. This means we do not have to die for our sins. We do not have to do anything else to pay for the penalty of our sins.

The last part says “therefore all died.” After we have become Christians, we are as good as died for all our sins. Therefore, we are holy in the eyes of God. Our holiness is a result of what Jesus has done and not by our own actions.

All our sins, may they be the past, present or future, are all accounted for at the Cross. Therefore, we can commit all the sins we want and still go to heaven when we die. It is only by believing in this truth that we can live truly holy lives.

This is also the reason why theologically infested churches are so obsessed in persecuting people who proclaim this truth. They do not mind using this truth in their evangelistic activities to recruit more members but at the same time, they are also quick to slander others to make this truth a part of their lives. This is an example of religious hypocrisy. Why do they resort to such hypocrisy? Their master, the Theologian (also known as Satan) does not want Christians to live holy lives.

Verse 15 tells us that since Christ has died for us, we should not live for ourselves but for him. This is another verse that is highly abused by religious churches. They will tell you that you must live for Jesus. This means you must obey everything Jesus said (through the preachers, of course) like serve in the church, go for missions and give money to the church. Is this what the writer of the verse means?

Verse 16 tells us the answer.

“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.”

The phrase “living for Christ” refers strictly on seeing the world on a different perspective. What perspective should we adopt. Throughout the Bible, we can read that we are always reminded to see things from a positive perspective because our God is a very positive person. He knows how to do his job. He never gives up, he is always on our side and he always keep all his promises including promises on politically incorrect things like health and wealth.

This is what the Bible means by new creation.

17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

As the new creation, we live by faith and not by fear. No matter how big the problem is, we believe deep in our hearts that our God has the answer for it. We live with great expectation that we can overcome every problem, trial and temptation. He who is in us is greater than he who is in this world. Our God is both able and willing to help us to triumph over every difficulty in our lives.

We may face setbacks or defeats from time to time but we will never give up. No matter how many times we have fallen, we shall always get up again. We are confident that we can never lose. We are like the heros in the action movies. As long as the hero has not won, the movie must continue. The only way the movie is allowed to end is for the hero to win. This is how movie of life is played.

Have you triumphed over all your difficulties? Do you have more money than you can spend? Do you have perfect health? Do you enjoy great family relationships? Have you receive everything you desire? If you have a “no” in any of the above, you have not reach the end of your movie. Everything you desire is just ahead of you. Get up and take it.

This is the life of a new creation.

Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled

1″Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
John 14:1 (NIV)

The above verse is a part of Jesus’ farewell message to his disciples. I believe those words are for us as well. In this article, I am going to look deep into the meaning and explore ways to use it for our prosperity.

Jesus began by telling us not to let our hearts be troubled. He simply means we should not allow ourselves to get worried and think negative. There are many things around us that we do not have direct physical control. None of us has the direct physical ability to stop earthquakes, typhoon, terrorism, economic recession or any other major disasters from happening. However, this does not mean we must allow them to get into our minds and lead us into the state of hopelessness. We can choose to think positive, talk positive and fill our hearts with hope even if we are physically in a bad situation right now.

This is the same message we see repeated in the Bible. A Christian life is a life of hope. Our calling as Christians is to live our lives in hope and joy at all times, both good and bad. We may not always have direct control over the situation around us but we always have direct control over all our thoughts. It is through our thoughts that we can change our situations from bad to good. This is the core message that Jesus was trying to get to us.

The next question is how not to let our hearts be troubled? The answer is in the second part of the verse. “Trust in God; trust also in me.” Jesus asked us to trust in him. Again, what is that? If you have been attending a religious church, the phase “trust in God” is as meaningless as “God bless you” or “hi”. Those religious people who are under the bondage of theology can never get rid of the perverse idea that God is a sadist.

According to the theology infested minds, trusting in God can mean believing that God can do perverted things like making people poor, infecting them with diseases, creating disasters or giving them thorns in the flesh to show his sufficient grace. So, it is important to note that when Jesus tell us to trust in him in John 14:1, he is referring to God and him as who they are. They are not sadists. God is good. Being good is the opposite of being a sadist.

Trusting in God means believing that God is on our side no matter what happens or how impossible the situation appears to be. We believe that our God is both able and willing to help us to overcome all our troubles and give us all the victories we desire. Our role as believers is to believe. It is only when you truly believe this, you will be able to be filled with hope regardless of what the circumstances say. Your heart will not be troubled. Instead, it will be filled with hope and joy.

Through the heart of hope and joy, we are in position to receive the blessing from God to overcome all our troubles. Our lack will turn into abundance, sickness into health and failures into success. God has prepared his abundant prosperity for you. Are you willing to take them? Can you believe that? Will you not let your heart be troubled? Can you trust in Jesus? Your decision will determine your prosperity.

This is the will of God for all believers.

The Good Shepherd

14″I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—
15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.
John 10:14-15 (NIV)

It is common for Christians to acknowledge Jesus as our shepherd. Even the perverse churches that are infected by the lies of theology do that. So, the idea of having Jesus as our shepherd is not a problem among us. The main problem is the term “good” that is attached to the title “shepherd”. Jesus is not just our shepherd, he is our good shepherd. What does that mean?

In one of my articles, I have pasted a long passage on the meaning of “good” from the dictionary. I don’t think I want to do that again, as it will be a waste of space. Suffice to say that good means good. The meaning of this term in the Bible is the same as the dictionary. In other words, it means what it means.

As our good shepherd, Jesus is committed to bring us good things like good health, abundant wealth and all the success we desire. He will never do perverted things to us like giving us thorns in the flesh to show us his sufficient grace.

I suspect the main reason for many Christians who are struggling today is they do not know that Jesus is their good shepherd. They must have been deceived by the theologians like I once was. When I was in my first church, I was deceived into thinking that God is only interested in 2 things:
1. Getting me to go for missions.
2. Asking me for money.

This is why I treated God as though he is a plague. I thank God for setting me free from such lies.

We need to constantly remind ourselves that Jesus is our good shepherd and he means what he said. His priority is our benefits and welfare, not in getting us to be missionaries or ask for our money. Those preachers who used high pressure and manipulative tactics (like those my first church) to get us to go for missions or give money to the church, did not speak for God. They spoke on behalf of the demonic spirit from hell. Never trust them at all.

After telling us he is our good shepherd, Jesus continued to tell us that as his sheep, we know him. How much do we know him? Verse 15 tells us that we know Jesus as much as Jesus and the Father know each other. This means we know him very intimately.

Here is an important point to note. Jesus had never said we must get to know him. He said we know him. The second part of John 10:14 and the first part of John 10:15 are a statement of fact, not a commandment. However, I am not surprise if there are theologians who turned them into another of their theological commandment.

Some may ask, “What does that mean? What if I tell you that I don’t know Jesus even after I have become a Christian? Am I disqualified from salvation?”

The answer is, no you are still saved. Your mind may not know Jesus but your spirit does. When we first believed in Jesus, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit as a deposit to guarantee our salvation. The Holy Spirit interacts only with our spirit. So, our spirits know everything we need to know about Jesus. We only need to get our minds (meaning our souls) to get in line with our spirits. This involves listening to faith messages, reading faith literatures and thinking faith thoughts.

Once our minds know what our spirits know about Jesus, we will finally know the truth and the truth will set us free. We will know that theology is nothing but lies from the pit of hell. We will not be afraid when we hear some crackpots saying that God will judge us by sending earthquakes, tsunami, plagues, typhoon, floods, economic crisis, terrorism or any perverted things because we believe our God is not a pervert.

Don’t you think it is a good life to believe that our God is for us and not against us? This is the result of knowing the real Jesus.

Verse 15 ends with Jesus telling us that he is even willing to die for us. He did not ask for the reverse. Never trust anyone who tells you that you must die for Jesus. If death is really necessary, Jesus will do it himself.

In case there are people with suicidal thoughts reading this article, I want to remind you that if your death can solve whatever problems you are facing right now, Jesus will be willing to do that for you. In fact, Jesus had already died for you. All your problems are as good as gone when you turn to Jesus for solution. Your suicide is no longer necessary because Jesus has done it for you. Just remember, he is a good shepherd.

The Law Of Sowing And Reaping II

7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Galatians 6:7 (NIV)

This is a revision on one of the basic Bible principles. I am sure the above verse is quite familiar even among those who attend religious churches. This is where the phase “you reap what you sow” comes from.

However, most people use it in a negative way. All you have to do is to approach a Christian who attend any religious church and ask on the meaning of this verse. You will get a very negative answer. In case some may wonder how to classify any church as religious, I have a very simple way. Find out whether that church will ever be accused of preaching prosperity gospel. If the answer is “no” then it is definitely religious.

In this article, I am going to look into the Law Of Sowing And Reaping again as shown in the above verse. The writer began with warning his audience on not to be deceived. This implies that the recipients were deceived. There must be theologians in the church who spread the heresy that the Law Of Sowing And Reaping doesn’t work. The writer wrote in to expose such lie.

He went on to say that God cannot be mocked. This means the denial of the Law Of Sowing And Reaping is a mockery to God. So, if there are any well-intentioned Christians who tell you this law will never work, they are in reality mocking God.

Next, the writer affirmed on the law itself: A man reaps what he sows.

This is what I call the Law Of Sowing And Reaping. I am going to show you more details on this law and how to use it to get anything you want.

It must be put to work.
It is essential to believe that this law exists and always works. It is a natural law like the law of gravity. The Law Of Sowing And Reaping has the power to give us anything we want. It can give us abundant riches, good health, long life, successful career and any other good things God wants us to have. Believing in it is the first step we need to do.

However, believing along cannot make us rich. We need to put it to work by sowing something. If you do not sow, you will never reap the harvest. This is where works meet faith. This is what “faith without works is dead” really means. Start sowing.

Ask yourself what type of harvest do you want to reap. The sow the same type of seed.

The seeds must grow in the right environment.
Any farmer who knows his trade can tell us that we must create the right environment for the seed to grow in order to reap a huge harvest. In this regard, there are 2 issues that we must keep in mind in order for our seeds to grow until they can produce harvest – faith and tithe.

Apart from sowing, we need to water the seeds sown with faith. We need to think and talk positive.

1. Think and talk riches, not poverty.
2. Think and talk health, not sickness.
3. Think and talk success, not failure.

In other words, we need to exercise full control over our thoughts and speech. There may be many things out there that we cannot directly control. However that does not include what we choose to think and speak. God has given the complete control over our minds and tongues for a reason. The reason is our thoughts and confessions can create the world we want.

If you think and talk negative, you will live in a negative world. However, if you think and talk positive, you will live in a positive world. This is the system God has created. Our role is to take advantage of it to make our seeds grown into a huge harvest.

The other way to create the right environment is through tithing.

10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty.
12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.
Malachi 3:10-12 (NIV)

I have written a separate article on this topic at
(https://cheee.wordpress.com/2007/12/13/open-the-floodgates-of-heaven/)

We can sow ourselves out of every trouble.
The Bible has examples of people sowing their way out of their troubles. In 1 Kings 17, God sent Elijah to help a poor widow in famine. (https://cheee.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/a-rich-widow-in-a-poor-country/)

Elijah only did one thing. He told the widow to make some bread for him with her last handful of flour and a little oil at the bottom of the jar. He got her to sow her last food and she obeyed. As a result, she received an endless supply of flour and olive oil until the end of famine. She did not have to starve anymore. She had an abundance of food in the midst of famine.

Do you understand why this woman only received flour and oil? She only sowed these 2 items. Why did she not receive any gold? She did not sow any gold. Does this mean she did not get rich? This woman had a unlimited supply of flour and oil during famine. In a famine, any food like flour and oil can fetch very high prices. She could easily use her flour and oil to buy over all her neighbours’ land and become a real estate or a farming tycoon.

The message of this story is we can sow our way out of every trouble. If you have a money problem, sow the little money you have. If you don’t have a single cent, you can sow you prayer time or offer services to the people around you. You will receive a harvest of a lot of money coming your way. If you are sick, you can sow health. Help others to get healthy and you will receive a harvest of health.

Conclusion.
The Law Of Sowing And Reaping was created by God to help us to get anything we want. Our role is to put it to work.

Thanksgiving In The Midst Of Troubles

17 I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people—
19 in the house of the Lord in the heart of Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 116:17-19 (NLT)

We have come to the final verses of Psalm 116. In Verse 17, the writer promised to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord. If you have read the earlier verses, you may have noticed that this guy must have faced with some serious trouble or he would not have said things like death and calling all men as liars. Throughout the psalm we have seen how he had managed to change his mood from negative to positive just by focusing on the goodness of God. At the same time, there is no indication in the psalm that his physical conditions have changed.

Yet, the writer wanted to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. Why would he want to do that when his troubles were still around? Obviously he must be acting in faith. He believed his God would deliver him from all his troubles even when he could not see the manifestation himself. So, he gave thanks in advance.

Heretics like theologians and doctrine worshippers will twist this verse into their heresy that we should give thanks to God for our troubles. That is equivalent of accusing God to be the pervert who started those troubles in the first place. I find that to be sickening. No wonder, Satan himself is a theologian.

The truth is, we do not thank God for our troubles because he is not the pervert who started them. We thank God because we believe he will deliver us from all of them. We thank him in advance because we believe beyond any shadow of doubt that he is working behind the scenes to deliver us from all our troubles and prosper us beyond our wildest dreams.

In Verse 18 and 19, the writer promised to fulfill his vow to the Lord in the presence of all his people. As I have written in the earlier article, the vow here is not religious vow. You can never find anywhere in the Bible that says God wants his people to make perverse vows like vow of poverty and vow of sickness. The vow of God is the vow of prosperity in every area of our lives.

So, the writer had not only promised to live in God’s prosperity, he wanted to live in it openly for all to see. He wanted the whole world to see how good his God is. As I have also written in my earlier article, this is what true evangelism is all about.

All religions are the same. They can only promise things that cannot be proven. This is why religions can never be proven false. Our God is the opposite. He dares to promise us things that can be proven like health and wealth. When we live in abundant prosperity like good health and great wealth, we are effectively sending a loud signal to the world that our God is able and willing to deliver his promises. He must be the true God.

This is why we praise him. He is worthy of our praise.

When You Are In Great Affliction

10 I believed; therefore I said, “I am greatly afflicted.”
11 And in my dismay I said, “All men are liars.”
12 How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
Psalm 116:10-14 (NIV)

This is a continuation of my series in Psalm 116. In Verse 10 and 11, the writer expressed negative thoughts and confessions. This tells us that the writer is a human being. Sometimes we may face afflictions that are so oppressive that we start to think and talk negative. If you have done that, God does not want you to feel sorry or guilty about it. He wants you to repent. To repent is to turn around and in this case means stop thinking and talking negative. Replace those negative thoughts and confessions with positive thoughts and confession. This is what true repentance is all about.

In fact, this is what the writer did in Verse 12. He suddenly changed his focus on the goodness of God. The Lord has been so good to him that he wanted to find ways to repay the Lord. Do you notice that his mood has changed since this verse? He was no longer negative.

This is how we can change our moods, from bad to good moods. Just think of the good things the Lord has done for you. All of a sudden that great affliction does not seem that great anymore. You will begin to believe God is on your side and he is currently working behind the scenes to deliver you out of all your troubles.

He is going to turn your poverty into prosperity. Not only will all your debts be clear, you will have so much money that you can start to bless others with it. He is going to heal your supposedly “incurable” disease and make you even healthier than before you were infected. You will be fit enough to climb the highest mountain. This is how God delivers us from all our troubles and he is doing it while we are still in the land of the living.

In Verse 13, the writer wanted to lift his cup of salvation and called on the name of the Lord. What does that mean? We lift cups to drink what is inside it. The writer lifted his cup of salvation. This means he wanted to drink the stuff in it, which is salvation. Salvation will get inside him and be a part of him. Salvation is just another term for deliverance. The writer wanted to be deliverance-minded.

If you are deliverance-minded, you will think of the deliverance of God each time you face trouble. You will not be depressed, disappointed, get drunk, think negative, talk negative nor will you do any idiotic things no matter how big that trouble is. Why? You are convinced beyond doubt that your God is always on your side and he who is in you is always greater than he who is in the world. There is no problem that your God cannot solve. He is able and his greatest desire is to deliver you from all your troubles and prosper you beyond your wildest dreams. As I have mentioned before, he is going to do all these while you are still in the land of the living.

All we need to do is to trust in him. Verse 12 ends with the writer calling on the name of the Lord. What is the name of the Lord? I have written on this topic before. So, I will just paste the relevant part here.

JEHOVAH-JIREH: “The Lord will Provide.”
God is our provider. He is able and willing to provide everything we desire. Once we understand this, we will never be in lack. Through him we have all the prosperity that we can ever dream of. If you are facing a financial crisis right now, trust in JEHOVAH-JIREH to provide for you, with all the money you need to overcome your situation. As long as you believe and don’t give up, you will see the provision of God in your life.

JEHOVAH-ROPHE: “The Lord Who Heals”
He is our healer. You may be very sick right now. You can feel the sickness. Your doctors may have told you that your disease has reached the terminal stage where there is no cure. According to their professional opinion, you are going to die very soon. You have to understand that the reason why the doctors said what they have said is because they do not know who JEHOVAH-ROPHE is. At the Cross, Jesus took all our sickness and disease. He is more than willing to heal us if we allow him to. All we need to do is to believe in him. In the mind of God, no disease is incurable.

JEHOVAH-NISSI: “The Lord Our Banner.”
Banners were used in ancient warfare to rally and organize the troops for battles. If you are with your banner, you know for sure that you are not alone. You are fighting along with many others who are on your team. You will not feel discouraged but you will have the courage to charge forward and crush the enemy. Therefore, whenever you feel discouraged, turn to JEHOVAH-NISSI. He will give you the strength to fight on because he who is in you is greater than he who is in this world.

JEHOVAH-SHALOM: “The Lord Our Peace”
The situation around you can be very chaotic but you can still have peace inside you. Through JEHOVAH-SHALOM, we can have great peace that enables us to analyze the situation calmly and find the solution to our problems. We will not be agitated, stressed or panic. No matter how bad and impossible the negative situation appears to be, we have the peace and confidence that our God is greater than them.

So, as you can read, God did not choose his names at random. All the names have deep meanings and they are meant for our good.

In Verse 12, the writer was wondering how he should repay the Lord for his goodness. Verse 13 is his answer. We repay the God’s goodness by living lives of faith. Living a life of faith is the only way we can say “thank you” to the Lord. This is what the Lord expects from us.

That is not all. In Verse 14, the writer wanted to fulfill his vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people. What vows did he make to the Lord? The psalm does not say but we can expect those to be true believer’s vows and not theological ones. Based on what we have read of the psalm we can be sure that the writer is a believer and not a theologian because not once did he call God a pervert.

In fact, this is how we can separate a true Christian from a theologian. A true Christian will never accuse God to be a pervert. We will never ask idiotic questions like “Why does God allow this disaster to take place?” because we know our God is not a pervert.

Since we know that the writer is not a theologian, we can then be sure that all his vows must be the vows of prosperity. This means the writer was determined to live in prosperity in every area of his life. He wanted to live in great peace, joy, good health, has a lot of money, a lot of life stocks like goats, sheep and cattle, has a big house and everything that he desires. Not only that, he wanted to enjoy his prosperity publicly. Why? He wanted to show everyone around him the goodness of his God.

This tells us that the best way to get people to be Christians is for us, the existing Christians to live in the prosperity God wants us to have. Christians who live in perfect prosperity is the greatest proof that the God of the Bible is the real God who produces real results. Do you want to the God’s living proof? I do. Count me in Lord. Let me be the living proof to show that you are the real God who produces real results.

The Lord Works In The Land Of The Living

8 For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,
9 that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
Psalm 116:8-9 (NIV)

Welcome to this installment of my series is Psalm 116. In this article, we shall look into the Lord’s policy of deliverance. How does God deliver us? The verses above tell us the full story.

In Verse 8, the writer shared on what the Lord had delivered him from. There are 3 things that he was delivered from. They are:
1. Soul from death
2. Eyes from tears
3. Feet from stumbling.

Let us examine them one by one. Our souls are our minds. There are situations where our bodies can outlast our souls. In such situations, the bodies will eventually die within a short time. Our bodies cannot live without our souls. How can souls die? It always happens when a person faces something bad and lost the will to live. This is how the soul dies. When the soul dies the body will not last long no matter how healthy it was at the moment. In short, we do not want our souls to die.

It is clear that the Lord is both able and willing to save our souls from death. How is he going to do it? He saves our souls by giving us hope no matter how impossible the situation appears to be. This tells us that the Lord is always on our side to deliver us and gives us hope. God will never allow us to live in hopelessness. As believers, it is our duty to consistently remind ourselves that there is always hope no matter how bad the situation appears to be.

Next, the Lord also delivers our eyes from tears. There are various reasons for tears to form in our eyes but in this context, it refers to our sorrows. There are times where bad things happen and they make us sad. We may face with a huge financial problem, infected with a deadly disease, death of our loved ones or any other events that make us want to cry. God does not want those things to happen either. He wants us to be happy, not sad. He will do everything he can to make us happy. The question is, are we willing to trust in him.

This is another way of saying that God is not a sadist. He will not do things with the intention to make us sad. Such is the nature of perverts. God is not one of them. So, if you are to hear messages saying that sometimes God can make us poor, sick, kill our loved ones or any other perversions, you can be sure that that preacher was preaching theology, which is a lie from the pit of hell.

The third point raised by the writer tells us that God can keep our feet from stumbling. It refers to physical, mental and spiritual stumbling. As human beings, we are still imperfect but God wants us to know that he can still bless us despite our imperfections by keeping our feet from stumbling. So, do not waste time in focusing on how imperfect you are. Focus instead on God’s goodness and his willingness in blessing and delivering you despite your imperfection.

In the next verse, we find out the reason for God’s blessings in our lives, “that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” I like the part on “the land of the living”. This means we do not have to die and go to heaven before we can see our deliverance and blessings. The deliverance and the blessings of God are meant to happen while we are still alive on earth.

In other words, God dares to stick his neck out by promising things that can be proven on earth. Whatever troubles you may be facing right now, you do not have to wait to die and go to heaven for your deliverance to take place. Suicide is not the solution. God has put his integrity at stake when he promised to deliver us from all our troubles while we still walk with him in the land of the living.