#175 Mein Kampf (5mar08)

'Whether it be good,or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God…..'
Jeremiah 42:6

The remnants of the Jews claimed that they were prepared to obey the command of God, whatever it may be. But when the prophet Jeremiah told them that God wanted them to stay in Babylon controlled Judah, they were afraid of what their dreaded conqueror the Babylonians will do to them. They rather flee to the perceived safety of Egypt.

'…all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely; the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there..'
Jeremiah 43:2

By nature, we tend to lean very much on our own understanding rather than let God lead. Yet, there are many believers who want to let God lead, but either find it difficult to let go and let Him or they are not sure if they are following Him right.

How can we let go and also, how can we 'hear' God right??

Jesus Christ has shown by example the virtues and importance of prayers. Prayers bring us into a communion with God. It ensures that we will truly be still, so that we can discern the will of God. It reminds us of who we are and who God is. An ability to move in tandem comes from a willingness and commitment to know every nuances of our counterpart. God is more than a fellow journeyman. He is God. But He is willing to let us enter into a wonderful relationship with Him.

Praise. A joyful and thankful heart helps us to look at all situations from the perspective of our Lord. When we learn to put aside our selfish needs and start to look at the needs of others, we will see the grace and ways of God better in His own inimitable ways for us.
Singing is a release from the logical and finite mind, and instead, it moves us from the heart, to let our very soul move in heartbeat with the Lord our God. Praises bring us to a different plane of communion with our Lord. It allows the Holy Spirit to minister to us, for the Lord to speak to our very burdened heart.

A life of joyful obedience will often lead us to work for the Lord, out of a deep-felt gratitude for His grace that has truly blessed our lives, even in this difficult and sinful world. In giving, we receive. In doing, with love, with a certainty that our labour is recognized in Heaven, will move us past the usual parameters that justify our efforts, be it financial incentives, pride and recognition or even personal comfort zone.
God is love, and in showing love to our fellow beings, God will be truly manifested in our lives, for us to know Him and for others to see Jesus Christ in us.

Word. God is the Word and the Word is God. What has not just kept me going, but has truly brought me forth strength to strength in my faith and relationship with God is the desire and commitment on my part to partake in His Words, always. God speaks to me in so many wonderful ways, and coincidences of words, events, people and often, the deep sense of being awashed by His Spirit are the norm in our relationship with Him.

As we move with the Lord our God, the only thing we are sure of is that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. If we seek to honour Him by obeying His commands, which is as clear as daylight, then even in the darkness of our world and the opaqueness of the future, we are certain that He will make what seems like a 'wrong' decision on our part, right in the wonderful tapestry that He has for us all.

'And all flesh shall see the salvation of God'
Luke 3:6

Is not Christianity wonderful?? No guilt, no personal burden, no dependency upon ourselves or others, but simply the need to let go and let God and do our part by clinging on to Him always.

'Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able'
Luke 13:24

The Nazi dictator, Adolf Hilter wrote his autobiography/political manifesto during the ebb of his career, when he was in prison for a failed putsch. The book, "Mein Kampf" became a must-read amongst fervent Nazis and a compulsion for the rest of the German population, when the then Corporal Adolf Hitler became the Fuhrer of Germany,whose military might and ambitions were rising.

Mao Tse Tung had his "Mao's little red book" espousing his more weird than worldly thoughts. The early Russian communists had their Communist Manifesto, first published in Feb 21, 1848. One of the world's most influential political manuscripts, written by communist theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, it laid out the Communist League's purposes and program, which included a course of action for a proletarian(ie working class) revolution to overthrow the bourgeois social order and to eventually bring about a classless and stateless society.

And a recent survey of the Muslim world found that the present terrorism is driven more by political rather than reasons of piousness. The clash of civilization is more like the jostling for pre-eminence. A desire on the part of Osama and the likes of him, to recapture the glorious days of the Caliph just as much as the Western world would much prefer to extend the repackaged colonialism of their forefathers. If men is driven by their selfish needs, then who are we to judge the morality of the opposing camps,

'Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men'
Isaiah 29:13

If the imperfect men is all ready to listen to what their sinful heart desires, then it is understandable that any manifesto that resonates their desires, that fulfill their utopic dreams, would be wholeheartedly swallowed without questioning, especially if it was hawked by an eloquent messenger. For who is more deceitful than the prideful devil.


'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel ot the poor, He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of the sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord'
Luke 4:18

Many of the Jews did not believe that Jesus Christ was the long hoped for deliverer of their many miseries. They were looking for a persona that suit their sense of an ideal hero, rather than be willing to trust in the way of the Lord our God. Today, many of us, will not pay heed to that longing in our hearts that the Lord our God placed in each and everyone of us. For to heed the prompting of the Holy Spirit would mean the need to surrender our lusts and desires, the need to literally subjugate but more like to exchange our sinful free will to a life of obedience to God.
But in clinging on to what we are, are you truly happy and free, now or in eternity??

'So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it'
Isaiah 55:11

Like many who have been blessed by the Lord our God. I can only write as the Lord leads. How one's heart response only the Lord knows. The only requirement that the Lord our God requires from all is
a humble and contrite heart. A wholehearted willingness to trust and obey.

'And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us…'
Romans 5:5

To come out of our spiritual darkness is not by our efforts, but via the grace of God. However, by living an example of a Christlike life, our very actions and our very life would be use by God to touch and chip away at a hardened and often burdened hearts of unbelievers.

'For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ'
2 Corinthians 4:6

Like the final break in a long and dark tunnel, it will have to come from the Lord our God. But in the so called journey of darkness, there is a heart that has increasingly been enlightened from inside, so that when the crust that kept out the life is finally broken, the light outside will shine on to a heart that is made ready to receive and response to the light of God's grace.

Unlike the propagandists that is endemic in all of us, who we share the Word of God with, who we speak to and what we intend to convey in our sharing, is not a function of who we are nor our audience, but we speak and we share as God leads. It is not a question of choice or preplanned manifesto, but of faithful obedience.

'…Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town'
Mark 8:26


God Blesses

Eng Hieang