My Father and your Father; My God and your God

When the resurrected Christ met Mary Magdalene outside the tomb, He said to her, “Go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’ ” (Jn. 20:17) This one brief announcement is loaded with precious and magnificent promises (2Pet. 1:4) that can impact our lives greatly. Nothing I write here is new. We would all have known of these things beforehand. Yet I ask you to be patient with me for I believe that familiarity deceitfully compels us to take things for granted. We cease to value the greatness of things that we have heard, and heard so often. May the Holy Spirit use this brief writing to give deeper insight and understanding into the person of God so that we may rejoice in its significance for us.

The book of Isaiah provides us with a glimpse of what the prophet saw in his vision. He writes, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him …and one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” (Isa. 6:1-3) The book of Revelation provides us with a similar glimpse where the four living creatures never cease to say the same thing (Rev. 4:8). I now lament at how the English language has not been successful in bringing out the glory of these few but profound words of worship. I am no scholar in Hebrew but bear with me as I share with you what God taught me of His glory. 

The text I am to focus on is: Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh YHWH tse'va'ot. 

God is Holy! Unspeakably holy! Inexpressibly holy! The meaning of this Hebrew word ‘Kadosh’ is: utterly unique, distinct, sacred and set apart as the only One of its kind. He alone is Creator. Everything else that exists is made and has a beginning. It is no wonder that He is also called the Most High. Do not pass this by with haste, my dear reader, for as we reflect on this word, God can give us insight to understand that He is not just Holy. He is Holy, Holy, Holy!

The next part of that worshipful phrase is literally YHWH tse'va'ot which can be translated in English as: The eternal God of hosts. The great I AM; the One who was, and who is, and who is to come (Rev. 1:8); the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Rev. 22:13); the everlasting One; is also the Commander of the myriads of angels. The Bible tells us that the number of them is myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands (Rev. 5:11). It is another thing that the God-fearing Jews trembled at uttering the awesome name of God and replaced the tetragrammaton, YHWH with Adonai, Elohim or what we read in our English versions as LORD GOD (in capitals). One Bible version has sadly translated YHWH tse'va'ot as “LORD Almighty”. David as a young lad understood these two words and could say with boldness to the giant, “I come to you in the name of YHWH tse'va'ot, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.” (1Sam. 17:45)

Over the past two weeks the Lord has been impressing upon my heart the glory of His majesty. The more I meditated on the words of this worship, the more I was in awe at the God I serve. My God is the set apart, High above all else Creator. There is none higher than Him. He is the eternal, sovereign, powerful King over the angel armies; over heaven; and over earth and everything in it. Through Jesus Christ, this Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh YHWH tse'va'ot is not just the God of my Saviour; He is now my God. He is with me. He is on my side—just like He was with Abraham and Moses and Joshua and David and Elijah and with Israel in their conquests.

Through Jesus Christ, this awesome God is also my Father. Every attribute of this majestic One is directed towards me as “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3). This self-existent God chose me in Christ before even the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). This eternal God who knew me, my follies and my rebellious ways before I was even born, never gave up on me but reconciled me to Himself (Eph. 2:12, 13) and restored me to life’s fullness and purpose (Jn. 10:10). Through Jesus this Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh YHWH tse'va'ot cares for me more than I can ever imagine (Psa. 139:17, 18; Jer. 29:11). He loves me with a love that is not only everlasting, but it is also unfailing and boundless. He assures my heart that there is nothing that can separate me from this love He has for me (Rom. 8:38, 39). His perfect, flawless wisdom is ever willing to hold my hand and guide my steps—sometimes beside quiet streams and green pastures; and sometimes through the valley of the shadow of death. His faithfulness causes me to rest in the fact that my God is true. He never changes. Everything around me may fail but what He has said can never fail. The Holy Spirit who dwells in me causes me to wait with longing for the hope of spending eternity with my God and Father. He convicts me to live righteous and God-fearing; set apart from the evil ways of the world and those that I once walked in. Thanks to Jesus, He is not only the Messiah’s Father, He is my Father too. 

Oh that God may open the eyes of our heart to know the hope of His calling; the riches of His magnificence and glory; and the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. I doubt we will ever be the same.

Power Perfected in Weakness

God said to the Apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” (2Cor. 12:9) It was God who used this same encouragement to strengthen my own heart as I sought His face for help. The more I reflected on this oft-quoted verse, the more I gained insight into its meaning for me and my situation.

God’s power is perfected in weakness. If one were to paraphrase this brief sentence, it could read like this: Power is complete and strongest when we are weakest. Now God Himself is perfect. There is nothing in Him that can improve. There has never been, nor will there ever be a time when God’s power drops a teeny bit lower than fullness; and that through our weakness, God Himself gains more power so that it can be perfected once again. 

I reflected further. “What is weakness? How do I know when I am weakest?” I was soon revealed the answer. Weakness is helplessness. In helplessness I am totally dependent. When I make God my source—my only source, then my dependence on Him becomes very acute. It would be so intense that I will constantly, through all my waking hours, cry heavenward. 

I am a firm believer in the fact that our words of faith must be backed up with actions. If we have said to God, “There is none like You Lord. There is no one who loves me the way You do. There is no one wiser than You. None more caring and overflowing with loving kindness. You alone are the faithful, never changing God. There is no better place to be than safe in Thy arms; for I have made Thee my refuge. Please take hold of my hand. Go before me. Let Thy presence go with me; for there is no better leader or shepherd I would entrust my life and its decisions to.”—then such words need to be backed up with obedient trusting. If we mean such a prayer, having made it in sincerity and truth, I can say with certainty that our God and Father, who is attentive to our cry, takes the prayer seriously. His working then drives us to constantly make choices that reveal God as our source of help. We lean less on people and their power or influence; on banks or institutions; and on things of this world; and more on God. 

Now such decisions of total dependence on God does not come without testing. Key aspects that come to the fore in these times of testing are patience, perseverance and faith. I say these three because God’s time is not always our time. We may have expectations of how and when things must happen; but His time is perfect. It will happen when the eternal One in His perfect wisdom has purposed it to happen. How often we have heard it said, “God is never early but neither is He late.” God’s ways are also far higher than our ways. We can neither understand much of what He is doing nor why He is doing it. In times of testing, we find that our trust without reservation in the unseen Maker of all things consists of two pillars on which rest the three aspects mentioned: My faithful God can never go wrong; and I am safe in His hands for He loves me with an inseparable love. In times of darkness and uncertainty, it is the peace of God that protectively covers our patience and perseverance and continuous clinging to God. 

It is in times like these where we find that we are helpless in ourselves. It is in times like these we find that though we are weak, the One in whom we depend on is strong. It is in our weakness that God, our Almighty God, shows His power. It was at a time like this when Peter was thrown into a secure, doubly-guarded prison by Herod. The Apostle was facing certain death. The Church recognizing her own helplessness sought God’s face fervently in prayer. The rest of the story is written for us in Acts 12:1-16. God showed His mighty power. It was perfected in weakness. Paul and Silas were in an inner jail in Philippi—more like a place reserved for dangerous criminals—beaten and chained. Their response at this time of helplessness was to pray and sing hymns of praise to God. It was in their weakness that God’s power was perfected and made visibly manifest—the earth shook, the foundations of the prison house trembled, all the prison doors opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened (Acts 16:22-26). 

Now such weakness or helplessness in ourselves must, by necessity, draw us to look God-ward. For we have already said at the start that we have made God our refuge and our strength; a very present help in trouble (Psa. 46:1). Therefore we do not fear but with bold confidence draw near to Him who is enthroned in majesty and power. We must draw near to Him with prayer that sees His glory and gives Him praise (Acts 16:25). We must draw near to Him with prayer that is made fervently (Acts 12: 5) and earnestly (Jas. 5:17); and we must draw near to Him with prayer that is persistent and never loses heart (Lk. 11:8; Lk. 18:7). However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? (Lk. 18:8)

Abide in Me

I was kneeling in the presence of God this afternoon, troubled and disturbed. It appeared to me that I was being assailed from different sides with a strong tempest, fierce winds and stormy seas. It was at this time when my Saviour, the Lord Jesus, impressed this word upon my heart—“Abide in Me.” I was immediately reminded of a foetus in a mother’s womb, a picture of living within. Dwelling within, the foetus draws all its needs from the mother; lacking nothing. Abiding within, the little one is secure and at rest. It is in the safest place it can be.

I am no scholar in Greek but when I looked up the passage in John 15 where our Lord spoke of Him being the vine and commanded us to abide in Him—though to me it sounded more like an appeal from the heart—I noticed that one of the meanings of the Greek word “men'-o” that our living Vine repeatedly uses for the English word abide is “to remain as one, not to become another or different”. It is just like the foetus in the mother’s womb, joined and connected and to whom flows all good things. The picture of the vine that Jesus uses is even more appropriate for the branch, unlike the foetus that has a term, needs to draw its life from the vine continuously for its entire life-span; for apart from the vine it can do nothing (Jn. 15:5). It would only wither away and dry up (Jn. 15:6).

My soul hearkens to the appeal of my Saviour for I am convinced that in Him is everything I need. In all my troubles there is no wiser one than the God of perfect wisdom to guide me—for is He not the eternal One who knows all things? Is He not the One who can never make a mistake? In the midst of disturbance, His mighty right hand directs my path, ordaining my steps with sure footedness into the way that He has known from the beginning. In the tempest, I can rest with indescribable peace for under the shadow of the Almighty I am safe.

The proof of true “abiding” is in the fruit. We know that we would be deceiving ourselves if we say that we abide in Him while what flows from us is different from the life of the true Vine. True abiding in Jesus must first and foremost desire passionately to honour God—where all that matters is God’s will alone (Jn. 4:34; Psa. 40:6-8). True abiding must of necessity bring forth the fruit of righteousness—for has not the blood of the Lamb that was slain for our sake cleansed us from all unrighteousness? True abiding must bring implicit trust in God—a trust that clings to the sovereign, all-powerful, all-wise, faithful, loving and caring God (if we reflect on each of these attributes, we will find every one of them loaded with meaning). Does not the word say that he who comes to God must believe that He is (Heb. 11: 6)? The outcome of such faith will show in the form of peace—a peace that rests in God who never fails.

One thing about abiding in the living Vine is that because He is living, everything about us will constantly change. There is never a place of ‘settling’ down. Before we make our surroundings our comfort zone, He ‘disturbs’ the soil and we appear shaken. Abiding also results in a living relationship with our Maker. True abiding will always result in a vibrant bond with God. It is for this reason that our witness of Jesus Christ is fresh and our testimony of His greatness new each time. 

Now we all know that anyone who cares for plants must include pruning as part of the process of care. All ‘pruning’ is painful, yet for those who submit, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:11). I am convinced that our Father, the vinedresser (Jn. 15:1) with overwhelming love and wisdom towards us uses the cares and troubles of this life to produce in us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison (2Cor. 4:17). The fruit that comes from His pruning (Jn. 15: 2) must and will remain (Jn. 15:16) as treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal (Mt. 6:20). The fruit that we bear glorifies the Father and proves without a shadow of doubt that we are truly disciples of Jesus Christ.

Let us therefore submit to our Maker with an attitude of total surrender. May such a surrendered heart cry: “There is nowhere else I would rather be than grafted securely in the true Vine from whom flows life and power and wisdom and grace. I remain ‘as one with Thee’ dear Lord because I desire that my source of all that I need is from no one else but Thee—for from Thee and through Thee are all things. I rest securely in Thee Oh God who sits enthroned in majesty over all things; for Thou eternal God art my dwelling place and underneath are Thine everlasting arms. May Thou in Thine abundant care and boundless love do what Thou sees fit for I believe that Thy ways are perfect and just; bearing for me a blessing on earth and a reward in heaven. And in me dear Father, be glorified.”

Beautiful One!

O God, our Maker, open our eyes to see You as the beautiful One. Thou who hast chosen to dwell in us, earthen vessels, reveal to us Thy beauty, Thy glory and Thy majesty. Even if we do not see Thy hand it is okay Lord; what we want is to 'see' Thy face. We want to delight in Thy manifest presence each moment of every day. We want to savor the constant fellowship of the Holy Spirit as He reveals to us the glory of Jesus. We echo the line in the song that says, "There is nothing on earth that is beautiful as You."

https://youtu.be/v9bC9CRv9oU

The Witness of a Father

This Father's Day, I was asked to write for the weekly 'Kerygma', a leaflet that carries a writing of exhortation or encouragement for the body of believers in Christ that comes together as a Church. I have made available the article with the hope that it may encourage some fathers who read this. My witness is that God is faithful to do exceeding abundantly more than we can ask of or imagine when we choose to submit to Him and His word.

By way of experience, I am not qualified to write to fathers for there are far more experienced ones already. If success was a measure, I would not qualify either for I am painfully conscious of my mistakes and foolish choices and recognize God’s mercy and preserving hand—for even when I stumbled, the Lord kept me from falling headlong; He upheld me with His hand (Psa. 37:24). I write therefore as a witness to God’s goodness—to testify of the steps He directed me to take; to witness of His grace that brought obedience to that leading; and to display for His glory the results.

Though I committed my life to Jesus Christ when I was 19 years old, it wasn’t until six years ago that God caused me to pursue Him with a sincerity of undistracted devotion; something that I regret I lacked in previous years. The first fruit this brought about was a change in my behaviour at home—for as Christians we all know that that is where one’s true life shows. Within a couple of years this consistent behaviour that sought God’s honour in everything I did became noticeable to my wife and my children. Did I slip? Of course I did. Numerous times and still do; but it is the Lord who sustained me to persevere. I also spent long hours with the children—talking, arguing, reasoning—making my work and money move down my priority list. The first thing I witnessed by this working of God in me was the effect it had on my children. As a father, I became an example, someone they could rely on and even confide in.

One thing about God is that He works with manifold wisdom in different individuals accomplishing the same goal—His kingdom, His purpose, His will, His honour. So while He was working with grace and mercy in me, He was doing the same in my wife, Ingrid. The result was that I began to see Ingrid as not just my wife, a mother and family member but as my friend and as my working partner in God’s business. Apart from me spending long hours with her—we’d go for walks together, have long chats over cups of tea—I found God impressing on our hearts what we could do together as co-workers in the family. 

We all know that there is power in united prayer; for did not our Lord Himself say, “If two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven?” (Mt. 18:19). In 2013 we first saw how God influenced our hearts to begin each year with a 40-day fast with one single agenda—the spiritual lives of our children. As parents we upheld before God their own walk with Him. We pleaded with our Helper to influence their hearts—that they would make their Maker their only love and that He would have first place in their choices and decisions. This progressed and became more regular. True to the faithful Saviour that we pray to, His ears were not only attentive to our cry (Psa. 34:15), He answered prayer. As a farmer sows with expectation that he will reap a rich harvest, both father and mother sowed with similar expectation. The result that year was evident even before it concluded. 

In the years that followed we persevered in prayer for them. Our agenda before God remained the same. We knew that if we sought first His kingdom and His righteousness (Mt. 6:33), everything else—their future, their education and all other aspects of their lives would not only be added but would be safe in His hands. We have never been disappointed. And though our journey continues and we are constantly upholding new challenges before our Helper, the agenda of our petition has not changed. So the second thing that I as a father can witness to is God’s faithfulness when we trust Him as our only source of help (Psa. 118:8, 9)—this more so when we come to Him as parents with one heart. God never disappoints us nor does He put us to shame (Psa. 22:5).

Personal interaction with family members puts to test on a daily basis all of our obedience to love and submit to what pleases God. Patience and kindness; gentleness and forbearance—key attributes of love are some of the qualities I find God flashing before me as my constant target (I am using work-place terminology). Maintaining a balance between guiding and correcting the now grown children while yet not exasperating them (Eph. 6:4 NIV) is always on my mind. Investing in the children’s lives by praying fervently for God to execute His perfect will—be it in their education, their jobs, their careers—is what I have found God guiding me make as my major investment portfolio. 

My witness as one who submits to the all-wise instruction of Him who never fails; who knows the end from the beginning; and who keeps safe those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6b) is that the results have been remarkable. Though a father for more than 21 years, I have found myself grateful for all the kindness and mercy and goodness and faithfulness God has shown us as a family especially in the last six years. What I have learnt and witnessed by submitting to the guidance of the Father from whom all families on earth derives its name (Eph. 3:15) has never ceased to make me fall on my face with gratitude. For had it not been for Him, I and my family would have been swallowed up alive in the deluge of misplaced priorities, deception and corruption that is in the world (Psa. 124:1-5).