Dearly beloved in Christ,
I greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord has been leading us so wonderfully well through His word and grace till now. He has been doing this from the time we were formed in the womb of our mother in each of our lives. He who has borne us from the womb has promised to do that “even to old age” “and to gray hairs” (Isaiah 46:3-4). Some fall in the bathroom and get injured or bones get fractured. In some cases, head injuries cause even death. But the Lord promises us to bear and carry us through in all situations.
I was temporarily employed as a supervisor when the Ammunition Factory was established in Trichy. Its important main shed was built. But in a few days, it collapsed. Again, it was rebuilt. Now more pillars were erected so that it may not fall down again. In man’s life also, we come through situations when we fall. Some fall spiritually; but the Lord upholds them and leads them. In some person’s lives there is miscarriage after they get conceived. But the Lord promises to carry us through from the time we are conceived till old age in all situations. Today people fall due to several reasons.
Fall happens in the lives of several people. It happens in the lives of elderly people in the bathrooms and some escape with some injuries while some lose their lives even.
Judas Iscariot was one of the disciples of Jesus Christ. We read that Satan entered into him. Then he began to devise ways by which he could betray Jesus Christ. He had been with Jesus Christ all along, but now as Satan entered into him, he sought the company of those opposed to Him. He conspired with them and was prepared to accept money for his act of betrayal. His end was pitiable. He got 30 pieces of silver from them, which he threw into the synagogue, and committed suicide. “... and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.” (Acts 1:18). In Luke 9:42, how “the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.” It made him fall.
The fall may be due to their pride and trust in wrong things. They pride over their possessions. But they meet with failure. God resists the proud. Some take pride in their positions of authority or status; some have pride about their own beauty and complexion. Lucifer was one of the angels. He was beautiful and had special gifts of talents. But he fell because he prided himself over those aspects and he spoiled himself. He was pushed down as unworthy. But Jesus Christ, who was humble Himself, rewards those who are humble and extends His grace. He exalts the humble.
Once, a servant of the Lord was invited to minister in a foreign country. He went well-dressed and waited at the airport for the Pastor to come to the airport to receive him. But he had sent an old woman to take him from the airport to his residence by her car. She could drive well but was advanced in years. When this man saw her, he was a little upset why he had sent her. The old lady extended her hand for a handshake. When he extended his hand and touched her hand, he was thrown down as she was fully anointed. The pride of the man made him fall.
Even in games, those who can play well meet with failure. All their skills become useless. It was the last year of my service in a school. Our school took part in an inter-school match. The opposite school had students from sports hostel specialized in training talented children in games and sports. They were trained by special coaches. The Trichy Sports Hostel was set apart for football. Before the match began the trainer told the player not to score more than six goals. His loud voice was heard by everyone. But what happened was contrary to their expectation. Our school team won the match by scoring 2 goals to nil. Pride resulted in failure and sorrows.
Today we live at a time when the number of persons indulging in crimes and wicked deeds keeps on increasing. Some speak words of hatred and think that none could question them. They have no fear of God and keep on indulging in acts of atrocity. They have no respect for others. They take over the properties of others through deceit. They would park their vehicles at any forbidden place and would take it only after they complete their work there. They would not honour the rules and regulations of the land. Their pride dishonours officials and would insult them with demeaning abusive words. They have haughty looks.
The Bible says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear” (Psalm 66:18). As said in Genesis 6:5, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”, people thrive in wickedness today. But the Lord God abhors wickedness. There is no real love between persons. They continually plot against others. These wicked people are self-righteous. They are given to debauchery and cause trouble for others. They will have their fall. They do not realize their fault. Satan has blinded them. The Lord God is waiting for the fulfilment of their wickedness. Then He will punish them according to their crimes. They would lose their life, business and everything. Even those who help them would fall.
Many today want to progress in spiritual life and do things. In Christian life, there should be growth. But there would be hurdles and obstructions to this. To listen to the apostle Paul there was on the third floor a young man named Eutychus. He had chosen the wrong place and was seated on the window sill. He was sitting on the wall with thoughts drawn towards the message and to the world. Today there are such persons in great numbers in Christianity. When we turn to the world taking our eyes off the Lord, we fall. He will be led by the devil. He felt sleepy. In the church you can find several such people. They would sing enthusiastically and dance, but would go to sleep at the time of message. The message would be lullaby to them. Then they would be overtaken by the spirit of deep sleep. This prevents the Word of the Lord entering into them. In their lives, the time for meditating on the Word of the Lord gets reduced day by day. They have no time for prayer, but spend a lot of time in watching TV programmes and in chatting over phone. They begin to spend a lot of time in vain in worldly things. They lose all enthusiasm in spiritual things and land themselves in turmoil. Naturally, they begin to find fault with others and speak ill of others. They accuse others and indulge in mudslinging. This is the way of the fall in spiritual life.
At the time of supper in the house of a Pharisee, Mary came with a pound of pure spikenard and anointed the feet of Jesus Christ with it and wiped His feet with her hair. The whole house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Seeing this, Judas Iscariot was incensed to say that it could have been sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor. He was not happy with the act, but found fault with her. Then Satan entered into him. His heart was turned against Christ. He betrayed Jesus Christ and his guilt conscience drove him to commit suicide. The reason is his backsliding. This results in being fallen down.
No one can say that he has strong feet and therefore would never fall down. Falling is natural because the foot slips. In Tamil, there is a saying that even the feet of an elephant slip.
Once I had been to minister in a place covered with snow. I came out of the house to board a car. There was some sunlight. I thought that the snow would melt and there would be nothing left. But in that sun light it had become ice. As I walked on it, my feet slipped. I shouted in fear, but the Lord enabled me to clutch the nearby wall and I could stand.
Peter sought the permission of the Lord to walk on the ocean. His faith was great, He could walk on the turbulent ocean in a wonderful way being strengthened by the powerful Word of Jesus Christ. All the other disciples in the boat were astonished to see him walk on the ocean. Thus, he was walking looking to Jesus. But for a while he shifted his eyes to see the boisterous wind on the waters. Because he looked at the problem, all his faith dwindled and came to nothing. Now he doubted the power in the word of Christ, and began to sink in the water. At that time, he cried to the Lord for help. The Lord extended His hand and caught him. As he got into the boat, the wind subsided.
Dear Brother doing ministry in faith as a result of the call of the Lord, do not be dismayed. Think of the words of promise given by the Lord on the day you were called to ministry. Do not doubt them. Do not look at the problems in the ministry, in the family or in your body. Inform the Lord about all those things. He responds to all those who call upon Him and will uphold you by His grace. You will not fall down. We are not destroyed because His mercies never fail.
Through Jesus Christ, we have grace upon grace. It is progressing day by day. By this, He upholds us and it continues. That is why David says in Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Let us submit ourselves to be protected and supported by the mercies of the Lord.
We should remain awake in the Lord and in His might which protects us at all times, even when the enemy pursues you. This is the experience of David. He could sleep and wake up because He was in the protective arm of the Lord. As we are not aware of the protective arm of the Lord at all times, we become anxious and do the wrong things. The name of the Lord is blasphemed. Others do not respect Christians, as these mistakes are magnified and reported everywhere, even in the media. As there is no difference in the lives of Christians, we are called upon to preach to our own people. The gospel loses its value. Why? It is our fault. We are not alive to the power of the gospel or the word of the Lord.
Today the word of the Lord is interpreted in wrong ways causing confusion in the minds of the listeners.
As the weeds are sown, the Christendom is ripe with false teachings. The love of Jesus Christ is on the back burner of Christian agenda. There are infightings, struggles and competition in churches because of jealousy and greed. This disturbs peace in church. If we are not vigilant, weeds will be sown in our hearts.
If we are not strong in our spiritual life, the enemy will easily assail us. He would trap us and bring us under his control. We will lose our independence and will be subject to his evil designs and destruction of the enemy.
Once a young student came to me with a prayer request. There was trouble in his place of stay. His things like soap and toothpaste got stolen. Once black coloured ink was applied on his face when he was asleep. When he was careless, these things happened. The enemy does these things when we are not vigilant.
We live in the end times. There is false teaching rampant everywhere about the coming of Christ. The time of His coming is wrongly predicted by various agencies from time to time. A broadcasting agency in USA predicted a particular date for the coming of Christ. Some believing this gave up their jobs; some closed their business. But it did not happen.
In another church it was announced that the Lord Christ would come on the seashore on a particular date and they were taken to the seashore. But nothing happened. It was then reported that the Lord had come, but they were forsaken. Many committed suicide. This is the way people are deceived.
We are tempted by the devil to make us stumble and fall. To overcome temptations, we need to be vigilant. We are tempted to disobey the word of God through lust or greed. If we are not cautious, we will be derailed.
In each of our lives, temptations will definitely come in what we buy, in what we eat, in our deeds and speeches. But when we are vigilant in prayer, we would have victory over them through the help of the Holy Spirit. If we are fervent in prayer, we would have easy victory.
Christ makes us shine. Those who looked upto Him were filled with light (Psalm 34:5). All should rise from those who are dead. Let us wake up. Let us arise from our sinful life and let us detach ourselves from the fellowship of sinful people. The wages of sin is death. The Bible teaches that only the soul that sins shall die (Ezek. 18:4). If we do this, the Lord Christ will make you shine. We will inherit blessings.
The earth is filled with downtrodden people in need. They are held in disdain. They have lost their saltiness and blessings. Samson was strong with the power of the Holy Spirit. The Philistines could not overcome him. But this Samson loved a woman name Delilah. She was close to him and she enquired him to tell her the secret of his strength. She wanted to know how it would leave him. She pestered him daily to know these truths. One day he revealed it to her that it was in his hair. He was to remain a Nazirite all his life and that his hair should not be shaved. He shared all his secrets with her. As a result, he lost his strength and was insulted by the Philistines. The Bible cautions us, “Do not trust in a friend; do not put your confidence in a companion; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom.’ (Micah 7:5).
Affliction is also caused by the wrath of God. Lamentations 3:1 says, “I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.” The Lord makes us good through His chastisement. Our own iniquities create problems for us. Psalm 106:43 says, “Many times He delivered them; but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.” We also read how lack of good shepherds causes trouble: “For the idols speak delusion; the diviners envision lies, and tell false dreams; they comfort in vain. Therefore the people wend their way like sheep; they are in trouble because there is no shepherd.” (Zec 10:2). When we help these people with concern, the Lord helps and upholds us.
In this world, our parents, relatives, wife or grandchildren may be with us for a time. But the Lord Jesus Christ will be with us at all times and in all situations and places. He has promised us, “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” (Mat 28:20).
So let us invite Him into our lives, as He had been invited to the wedding at Cana. He wants us to be holy as He is holy. Only if we are cleansed by His blood, we become holy and He will reside with us. Let us devote ourselves to be cleansed with His blood.
May the Lord bless us!
In the service of Christ Jesus,
Bro. C. Ebenezer Paul.