GOD SPEAKS

And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.Acts 8:2

A devout man may have the following qualities:

          (a)      They have courage to do his work. Saul was persecuting the             church. He was the reason for the death of Stephen. The people who carried Stephen’s body, in the above verse, is called in the word of god as the devout men. They were brave and did not care even for their life though there is threat to their lives as there is Saul observing all these things.

                   “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone : which is the second death. Revelation 21:8”

          (b)     Devout man cannot control his desire to do God’s work. They will be    guided by the spirit of God and therefore, they shall act in the work of God with their inner-directions of the God. They will not wait for the directions of the people to do His work. In the above context, they acted on their own. No other person was present to give them any direction.

          (c)      They shall have compassion on their fellow believers. People cry for their kith and kin. But, they cannot cry for his fellow being. But, here they lamented for a god’s servant. The same compassion can be observed in our Lord.

                   “Where have ye laid him ? They say unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. “ John 11:34-35.       Jesus wept for his loved one-Lazarus!

          (d)      A devotee shall have fellowship with his church. His desire shall be with the church. He will never try to be identified among the people. He does everything for the Lord with the church( with all the believers).

                   “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and

        fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2:42”

                   In the above verse, you may see all together carried the body of Stephen. A devotee shall have unity with the fellow believers.

Your obedient action and His thought (also includes His action) can do a miracle in your life.

Here under is the formula:

YOUR OBEDIENT ACTION + HIS THOUGHT(INCLUDING HIS ACTION)= SUCCESS (MIRACLE)

Let us see some instances from the Bible to understand this further:

Case1:

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. Matthew 14:28-30

In the above instance, Peter asked Our Lord Jesus to give him a command to walk on the water and reach Him and the Lord told him to come. Here, Peter’s thought to walk on water is accepted by the Lord and it has become our Lord’s THOUGHT too. After receiving the permission from the Lord, he started his action moving on water. But, soon after looking at the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink in the water. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught (HIS ACTION) him and saved Peter.

Peter action walking on the water is possible only with the help of the Lord. Peter’s desire to walk on the water could not have happened without (a) action of peter (b) the thought and help of the Lord. Only your thoughts can not yield anything.

Case 2:

And there were set there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.                                         John 2:6-7

When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine…            John 2:9

Consider the above verses, when there was shortage of wine in the marriage of Cana, the thought to fill the water into the six water pots of stone was given by the Lord. The servants were told to fill the water. The obedient action of the servants and the thought of the Lord worked a miracle there.

There are many other instances, where you may see this working. In view of the above simple examples, you may understand-

(a)      Lord’s thought (not your thought)

(b)     Your obedient action to follow his thought results a miracle

Therefore, take no thought for the cares of this world and always ask his thought and work accordingly to see an answer for your problems. Remember- “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. John 15:4”

Learn to control your tongue while-

          1. Talking with man:

                        And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath’s sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. Matthews 14:9-10

          King Herod gave a promise to the daughter of Herodias who danced before him,       and     pleased Herod. Due to his oath given before all the people watching her dance, he      could not withdraw his words. See, finally his tongue killed a god’s prophet! Never let    your tongue to slip and speak the words that may harm or trouble you(others).

          2. Talking with God:

And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt  without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. Judges 11:30-31

And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances : and she was his only child. Judges 11:34

Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord. His intention was good to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. But, slipping of tongue without proper thinking is dangerous. More particularly, learn how to control your tongue before the Lord. See finally, he had to offer her only daughter! In this regard, Bible also says –

Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God : for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth : therefore let thy words be few. Ecclesiastes 5:2

And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison : but Rebekah loved Jacob. Genesis 25 : 28.

What is this? You see this family. Both Esau and Jacob are their sons. But each love his/her own? Are they not their own children? Do not they have the responsibility to love both equal? This happens even today in our families. Why? It is because that the love between human beings is not of complete nature. Though we do not prefer to accept this fact (most of us do not agree), that our love towards all your family members is not complete in nature.

There will be reasons behind our love towards others. We may say that there are no such reasons why you love somebody. But, deep in your heart, you may find the reason for it.  For instance, in this verse, you may notice the reasons recorded in the Bible itself. The reasons for such love do exist.

Look at this verse: And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison. The word of God is true. You can believe and rely on it. As the word of God confirms Isaac loved Esau, the reason thereof is he eats his vision. What? See the food is the reason for his love towards Esau? You may laugh. But the same food has made Esau to lose his birthright. And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him : and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Genesis 25:33-34. If the reason for your love towards others is of this worldly nature like –food, riches, other’s help in certain matters etc., this will not last long time. This love is not of permanent nature as the base for your love is not of permanent nature.

Why cannot Rebekah love Esau?  Does she not like venison of Esau? No. It is not the venison. Is he not her son? Then, why does she love Jacob more than Esau? Are they not her two children?  In this world, people compare the love of mother to the love of the Creator God. You may observe in this verse- but Rebekah loved Jacob. Genesis 25 : 28. You may notice – but Rebekah loved Jacob. Why “BUT”? This “but” may confirm that she differed in loving Esau. If the parents’ love is biased, who can love you more than them? This is the reason the Bible says – Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Isaiah 49:15.

Let us see the probable reason why Rebekah loves Jacob? And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her,Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. Genesis 25:22-23. The Lord has revealed Rebekah that this younger Jacob will be a strong nation than the elder Esau. This could be one of the reasons why she likes Jacob. If your love towards others is for their high status, power, authority, or special talents etc., this also does not last long.

This partiality-love has made both of them to behave cunningly to transfer/give the blessing from Isaac to their respective loved-children. The blessing is with Isaac. Though this blessing has gone to Jacob as the Lord has told it before they are born, it may be identified that they walked with partiality. (1) Isaac wants to transfer the blessing to Esau after eating the venison. (2) Rebekah heard this secret and told a plan to steal this blessing by deceit. Read this verse from the Bible –

And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death : now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison ; and make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat ; that my soul may bless thee before I die.  And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison, and make me savory meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.  Genesis 27: 2-8

This does not mean that there is none who can love you with complete heart. Lord loves you so much. His love is of complete and of permanent nature. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. Jeremiah 31:3. The love of the lord is everlasting. This will not change according to time, your behavior, your region, your nationality, your race, your language. This is completely unbiased. This love has made the Lord to send the only begotten son to this world. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life John 3:16. This love made him to offer himself as sacrifice for all our sins.

Look at the differences between these two loves- love of a man and love of God.

Love of man (like Isaac or Rebekah) who loved their children. The reason for their love is not because they are born to them but because of their liking of certain features/qualities in their respective loved children. As discussed earlier, this will not last long. At the most level, they may try to give you something like the blessing from Isaac. You may notice when Esau asked his father for blessing, after Jacob had sealed the blessing from his father, but Isaac replied as that he had only one blessing. Look at this! What the love of this worldly nature can give you? Even the result of this love profits you nothing. In this context, Isaac was unable to give another blessing to his son Esau. Therefore -The Love of man- (1) has reason for this love which could be worldly in nature (2) This is not permanent in nature and therefore it changes according to the situation (3) This may/may not even bring you a blessing/profit.

But the Lord –(1) Loves you with everlasting love (2) The reason for His love is love itself (3) This love sacrificed his life on the cross for you. (4) His love can give you number of blessings, not like the only one blessing that Isaac had. This everlasting love gives you too everlasting life after your death.

A faithful man believes:

(a) The promises of God on Earth:

(1) You may see promise fulfillment:

Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Hebrews 11:11

Abraham and Sarah saw the fulfilled promise of the Lord during their life on earth. To see this, they waited a long time when there was no hope for them. The promises of the Lord are fulfilled in their own time for which faith is required. If there is evident hope for you what is reason there for you to believe and have faith?

(2) You may not see its’(promise) fulfillment:

By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel;

The Bible says-

 “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them ; and they shall afflict them four hundred years ; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge : and afterward shall they come out with great substance “.

Genesis 16:13-14

Joseph believed that Lord would deliver the people of Israel out of bondage of Egypt. This was the promise given to Abraham which neither Abraham nor Joseph saw with their eyes. But this promise was fulfilled as it is evident in the history. Some promises may be fulfilled after your life time but still you should believe that the Lord is just and faithful one.

(b) The promises of God in Heaven:

For example consider the following instance from the Bible:

And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. Genesis 50:25

The promise of the Lord is to give the salvation to mankind after death. The importance of bones at the time of resurrection was clearly understood by Joseph. The reason for his saying is his belief in resurrection of the dead. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. Exodus 14:19. You may also see-when Jesus told Thomas –“Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” Luke 24: 40. This surely tells us the importance of bones in the resurrection of the dead. People of this world may not believe and understand this. But this is what the Bible says. A faithful man should believe the things of heaven. Joseph believed the things of heaven and was reckoned as faithful man. Our faith is to have the everlasting life with the Lord!