Smallest Seed

Image from Play.Google.Com Here's Part 1 The patriarchs, apostles and prophets in the bible were authentic generals, of course. Not because of their accomplishments but God called them to be so. Gideon didn't think he was a general in God's army, but the angel convinced him so. "The Lord is with you mighty warrior!" the angel told him. Abraham, Moses, David, Jeremiah---they all didn't feel apt for the work. Yet undoubtedly, they were God's generals. On the other hand, those who were presumptuous were actually nobodies in the eyes of God. I remember Pharaoh, Korah, King Jeroboam, Haman (in the time of Esther and Mordecai), those who opposed the rebuilding of the temple and walls of Jerusalem, King Zedekiah and those who opposed Jeremiah and thought they heard from God---they all presumed they had God's favor on their side. Yup, even Miriam and Aaron who thought they should be equal with Moses. In the New Testament, the Herods thought t

Image from Saatchi Art. Often, when we say "great church leaders" today, we refer to people's visible leadership achievements---ministry size, money, building structure, titles and degrees, possessions---things the flesh appreciates. I very seldom see people refer to deep spiritual qualities. Thus we see "spiritual generals" today. They are leaders who produce what the physical eyes respect. Once upon a time I also saw things in that light. Physical size and quantity determined what I thought pleased God and merited his commendation, "Good and faithful servant." Because that was what we were taught in church. God had nothing to do whatsoever with anything small and simple. It had to be grand and glamorous. But then the Lord started showing me the truth. God's value system is the exact opposite of what the world commends. The least is the greatest. It's there in the Gospel but somehow we always fail to see it for what it really is.

Each time I go over the story of Balaam in Numbers 22 to 24, I can't help but be amazed. The guy really had a close personal relationship  with God although he was a false prophet. In fact, he was a sorcerer or warlock. God personally came to him, talked with him, guided him and gave him powers. How can a sorcerer have close relationship with God? And I mean really close. He talked with God in the real sense of the term. And God really talked back to him and gave him specific, direct and accurate instructions, something a lot of Christians cannot claim to enjoy today. Often, what we claim that God told us is nothing but wild guess. We pray and guess what God's answer is and often find ourselves wrong. We talk to God but usually face a blank wall. And often we don't see or hear anything in the spirit realms so we depend on what we see and hear in the flesh. But Balaam heard God, and not just figuratively. He was "one whose eyes clearly see" and &qu

Image from Pinterest. A better perspective for God to look from. It was a silly thing to do because from any angle, wrong is still wrong to God. You can't take him to a "better" place to get a "better" perspective of things and perhaps change his mind. It's even useless to take him somewhere "higher"---like the "top of Peor overlooking the waste land" and at another time on a "barren height"---and try to pretend to be spiritually high to get him to your side. Balak thought God was like that. And most of us often think God is like that. I know church folks who always like to sound spiritual. You see them post nothing on FB, for instance, but spiritual or inspiring posts. To them, spiritual is like that and they think God is pleased with it. But God is pleased solely by faith, and the kind that merely walks with God like Enoch did---not by appearances of spirituality. And "walking" with God means a daily

Image from Dreamstime. That they may be one as you and I are one. This was Jesus' ardent prayer to the Father, asking all believers to be brought into "complete unity," the same unity the Father and Son have. Only through this will the world really see that God sent Jesus and that he loves us in the exact way the Father loves him. I've been urging believers about this since 10 or 15 years ago or so---perfect unity of all believers. In Acts, all believers were in  a near-perfect degree of unity. There was one single church spread out in various localities in the world. Just one church. Though partially united (because Paul said small schisms and divisions were starting in Corinth), they turned the world upside down. In Thessalonica, the complaint against the church was that, "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here." See that impact? What more if the unity was really complete? But church never pursued this unity. The

Image from 123RF. Let's not see it with the eyes of the Pharisees and law teachers. It reeks of toleration. They thought Christ mingled with sinners to assure them of God's love even if they continued enjoying sin. And that's how a lot of people see it today. But then, on the other hand, there are church people who shun the company of sinners altogether and would have nothing to do with them. So we have two extremes---those who teach that God tolerates sin and those who are repulsed by sinners. Oh, there's a third extreme---those who don't give a damn. Jesus didn't just fellowship with sinners. He sought to "call" them [Mark 2.17]. We already know this, but often we still miss the point. We see it as the Pharisees and religious leaders did---that Jesus simply enjoyed sinners and he was a bad example because we aren't supposed to be seen with them. I've seen churches put in active ministry or position people wallowing in sin beca

It's one of Jesus' strange statements. He was glad the smart guys didn't get a hint of anything he said. And to think that the context was on repentance. He was glad that the scholarly failed to understand about repentance? Didn't he want everybody to repent of sins and be saved? Here's the passage: “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. [Matthew 11] It's something similar to what he told Judas (not Iscariot) about not revealing himself to the world. Judas was confused. Didn't God so loved the world that he gave Jesus to save it? Then why would he not reveal himself to the world? Jesus said he'd only reveal himself to those who really loved him, and these were people who really kept his words.  Jesus reveals himself only to "little children" and he even warne