"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
And whose trust is the Lord.
"For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit." (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

There are instances in our lives when changes happen and set a milestone. These are events made memorable because of their impact in our lives can be simply different. The change can be observable as well as its effect. One of the so called milestones in our lives includes tests we overcome in the Lord. Maybe you haven’t observed but your salvation in Christ is one, the removal of bondages and curses is another, as well as your high school graduation day. Events like these are called divine shifts because of their impacts in our lives. I count my salvation in the Lord to be the first of the major shifts in my life because of the way it has impacted my perspective in life and in my career. Bringing salvation to mankind is not an easy task for the Lord and neither an easy task for any evangelist to save souls. Apart from the need of prayer as well as new fellowships for the young believers, discipleship is necessary if they would ever grow in Christ.

Salvation is the very first step in the stairways to God’s intimacy. The Lord does not want us to remain in any steps apart from moving up and being found in His throne. This is described in Ephesians 1:20, where Christ was set up at the Father’s right hand far above any power or principality and the most surpassing revelation of all is to know and understand that as we composed His Body, so we are also set far above any power or principality in the heavenly places.

“…which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:20-23)

This is why we are inscribed in the palms of His hand (Isaiah 49:16), secure and free, well provided with love and care by the Father of Lights. This is why we are always admonished in the Bible to set our affections above and to set our eyes above because the Lord has made us to dwell in the heavenlies by virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection. This is like a virtual reality where we are both living in two worlds, only it is not virtual but in fact very real. This is why we have what we call us spiritual lives and at the same time we have our own earthly lives together.

Our connection in heaven is our spiritual life while our connection on earth is the fact that we are not dead yet and whatever blessing and revelation we receive from heaven, we bring here on earth by our deeds. So just how do we do this effectively? In the Old Testament, we are told of the story of Jacob’s ladder that reaches to the Heavens, “As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway. At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants" (Genesis 28:12-13). Jacob’s dream was not only significant for him but also for us. Every rung of the ladder could have been events in his life leading to his encounter with God; nevertheless he did not persist to ask God about it. But for us, every rung of the ladder represents the milestones of trials we learn in this life for every step of the way, we are learning God’s characters that bring us nearer to the knowledge of Him.

The apostle Peter had summarized these virtues that we need to learn while we are here on earth, "Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you" (2 Peter 1:5-11). The promise is, “ye shall never fall,” and “an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord.” God wants every one of His children to be able to open the door and enter through in His presence (Revelation 4:1). He wants all of us to experience Him deeply because that is where we are called to, deep calls unto deep.

“Deep calls to deep at the sound of Thy waterfalls; All Thy breakers and Thy waves have rolled over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.” (Psalm 42:7-8)

When King David described his experience of deep calls to deep, he meant something like his whole being is floating, flooded and swallowed up in the River of Life. When this experience comes to you, it would be like feeling your whole being has been flooded overwhelmingly by the Lord’s presence. Let us not waste our daily struggles but use them to move up by simply calling on the Lord as deep calls to deep. This is part of our quest.

Our preparation

There is a saying that goes, “those who failed to plan, planned to fail.” None of us can do time travel and move through the space time continuum or even have a precognition of impending events. Unless you have a prophetic gifting, there are simply too many physical laws you have to break in order to do that. At least this is our condition on earth, but the fact that we hear stories of angels, stories of how God delivered people from certain death through interconnected events are strong enough to warrant our attention and how we should order our day.

God is a good planner, there is no question to that; in fact the things that are happening to us have been planned long time ago by the Lord. I have found out that children who are helped by their parents at home do not only excel in their classes but also end up more secure and better prepared to face life outside the school. Consequently they also end up with better education and decision making later in life. Moreover, top achievers in schools are usually children who are not only intelligent or diligent at reading but also because they can make plans and have the will to actually implement them no matter how simplistic their goals or ambitions are. There is therefore much to be desired in being a good planner apart from the fruits of good planning. Although I have not heard God tell me audibly to become a good planner, my readings and lessons from the lives of great voices of Science and the Bible tell me it is so and a must for anyone who wanted to leave a legacy that will be told by generations to come.

God’s timings are always right; you may think it too slow or too fast, but it just comes right no matter what. We certainly think of time in terms of a chronological order. Just think about your daily routines and schedules and you know it that it must go by this order. Though this is good, when we are bound by the present things or by the past, we forget to receive new things or to allow flexibility in our schedules. It is this set of mentality that basically distrusts things that are unexpected because it simply forces our schedule to keep on changing. During the days when Jesus walked on earth, the group of Pharisees who were the most avowed conservatives of their day came face to face with God but could not even discern who He was. He became their target of assassination because His teachings and interpretation of the Scriptures were simply contrary to their basic precepts and ideology. The Lord therefore gave a statement that we are wise to consider for our own sake, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved” (Matthew 9:17 NLT). Old wineskins refer to people who through their daily routines have become hardened and paced up the way life goes around. They continue the way they are until one challenges them and “boom” there is a sudden sound of collision between what’s not and what’s on. To old wineskins, what they have is enough and okay. This kind of people cannot be entrusted with new revelations lest they cut it out or simply ridicule it. Old wineskins have become familiar with things around that they have forgotten the God they serve. They do things around because it is the right thing; they have lost their passion for their first love.

When things go berserk and we forget God, we endanger our relationship with the One who loved us most. The spiritual state of the Pharisees can be the ultimate state of delusion and hypocrisy that any Christian can fall into and this happens when we forget our first love. Revelations of the things of God have been likened to a wine because they are intoxicating apart from the new knowledge we receive, we are imparted with new strength and spiritual faith muscle that we can use for the things we need to do. When we stop communicating with God, we stop receiving His revelations. Revelations are products of our relationship; it comes naturally as we grow in His likeness. God’s revelations may come by seeking them but no Christian will leave empty handed who does not seek the face of the Lord. As Christians we therefore seek to balance the way we plan things and the way the things of God come or appear. It does not have to go disorderly or in confusion because God is not the author of confusion or disorder.

When the Lakeland Revival first occurred this year many Christians were confuse whether what was happening was real or under false pretence. Most of the old wineskins simply labeled the young revivalist as false. Since when did the Lord taught us that to figure out someone was false was because of his tattoos? Or because of the signs and wonders happening around Lakeland? Revivals like what has happened in Ontario as well as in Lakeland should always be acceptable to Christians who love the appearing and fellowship of the Lord. Genuine revivals are the mark of God’s last outpouring before He returns again and this will not be limited in few pockets of cities but it will happen in many places around the world just before the Lord will come again. Old wineskins will always be known by their vehement derision of things they do not understand or things that occur because they do.

In Science, new revelations and discoveries are always welcomed, scrutinized and judgment comes in later years. The fruits of the discovery as well as the repetitions and other concepts discovered related to it frames the discoverer to our mainstream consciousness. In Christianity today, we are always looking ways not just to hinder the new but to even crucify it. There has been no area in church advancement that has not come under the scrutiny of critics and false brethren. Nevertheless, every trials and victories we go through could either make us better or bitter. The choice is yours.

“I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.” (Isaiah 48:10 NLT)

“And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.” (Hebrews 12:5-8 NLT)

The victory

The ultimate preparation we have would bring us the ultimate victory we need. When I was in college, as far as I can remember, my goal was to graduate as a Cum Laude. Unfortunately every time I target a high grade at the beginning of the semester, I then begin to lower it by the end of the semester which only resulted to hope deferred. The results of our being with Christ should never result to defeats because He has always been an Overcomer; there are times however when defeat comes because we have lowered our guards and did not look towards the Master.

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” (2 Corinthians 2:14)

If God is leading us in His triumph why do we learn defeats in life then? Unfortunately we have forgotten that we are not yet perfect, so we have to learn this way. Our time of preparation is important just as any unprepared army will ultimately face defeat, the better our preparation, the better the outcome of our training. The best preparation in this life depends also on the desired results. While everything can depend on the amount of preparation, the grace of God can also succeed where man fails. I shall never forget an example from Bob Jones who recounted one from his dreams. It was the last inning in a baseball game and the Lord’s team was on bat while satan was the pitcher; all the bases were full and the score was still 0-0. The name of the batter was Grace, and when satan threw a swerve ball, he hit it and it was a home run!

We may have all the best preparation we can do but still we must remember that everything comes by the grace of God. It is indeed tragic to see unprepared students take their exams only to expect a failing mark by the end of a semester. But what could be a more tragic instance than to find a Christian who has not prepared himself for any task in the Lord and when their time of opportunity comes they fail to do anything of value for the Kingdom of God. Joseph’s great promotion came as a result of his ability to endure hardship in the heat of trials. He was sold as a slave to a master who was subservient to his wife. He was tempted by a seductress and imprisoned; he gave his service for free to Pharaoh’s cup bearer but was forgotten. What could be a more unfair treatment and situation that a man could endure? And yet, Joseph never complained or ridiculed God; in all of his sufferings, he acknowledged the hand of God so that He trusted him with the highest authority in the most powerful country of that time. And who can forget the richest man of the east in his time? Job who was accused by his thoughtful and concerned friends and a bitter wife never forgot that from God can come good times as well as trials. In all of his sufferings, he never surrendered to baseless accusations or allowed his wife’s bitterness to influence his perspective on God.

“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” (Hebrews 11:1, 6 NLT)

“For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:4-5 NLT)