SEARCHING FOR LISTENERS!

Searching for Listeners!

                A battle has been going on for ages for the ears and hearts of man. The first voice man heard was that of God, but later his ears were manipulated by Satan to listen to and believe on his lies. Since that time, the battle for the ears and hearts of man has been continuously fought between God and Satan. Satan uses world and flesh, his faithful associates, also to engage in the battle for human minds. He speaks to people whether they want to listen or not and tries to attract them through crooked and crafty ways and means. He keeps speaking and comes back each time he experiences a rebuff from the listener as he is a shameless creature. On the other hand, God searches after those who are voluntarily willing to listen and obey. He doesn’t write on a screen which has messages that are unacceptable to Him. When the slate is wiped clean and prepared for divine writing, He will write on it and speak through it (Luke 14:35). Such was the life of Samuel, the prophet and priest raised up by God.

The Setting

                Samuel was a person who was willing to listen carefully and obey incessantly. He lived in a generation which failed God (Judges 21:25). The leadership lost spiritual vision (1 Samuel 3:2). Leaders’ children were rebellious, disobedient and abominable. It was a time when repentance and confession were unheard off in the nation of Israel. People competed among themselves to reject God’s commandments. As people’s hearts were not ready and prepared, God stopped speaking to them (1 Samuel 3:1). It was a generation which did what seemed fit in each one’s selfish mind. So God searched for fresh ears and hearts which were willing to listen so that He could speak. He wanted to find an interested, committed, willing and obedient listener. That’s what God found in Samuel whom He made a prophet, priest and kingmaker. He listened attentively and acted upon what he was told without fear or favor.

Why God speaks?

                God is interested in people and in their spiritual well-being. He knows that they do not deserve His mercy. But God was pleased to speak if there was someone willing to take Him seriously. He knows the failures, weaknesses and hopeless condition of man and wants to show grace by giving man another chance. As the potter of life, He wants to make a new vessel out of each and every life ruined by sin. He is the God of the second chance and wants to rebuild people’s broken lives as He did to Jonah and Peter. He is kind, patient and long-suffering and wants to reach out to the hopeless and the useless and make good use of them. He is willing to forgive and forget the confessed and repented past and renew hopeless lives. He doesn’t give up on man on this side of eternity, but searches after those who are willing to forsake their past failures and come to Him with a desire to be rebuilt. 

Who is He that speaks? 

                Man’s primary challenge today is to distinguish between the voice of God and that of God’s enemy and his agents. 

                Satan and his associates do not speak the truth. Their goal is to lure man away from God’s pathway. They want to lead man astray and push him to eternal damnation. Satan’s pathways are broad, attractive and comfortable to start with. But as man moves forward, the journey will become cumbersome, the road crooked, atmosphere tiresome, promises deceptive, and the way forward is without peace and hope. It is a pathway of discouragement and disillusionment. As man goes forward, he will find hopelessness and discontentment. 

                But God’s pathway is through the wilderness of this world with its toil. But the true friend of man, the Lord Jesus Christ, will be with each pilgrim. The weary traveler will be able to lean on to Jesus and find comfort, strength and hope in Him and His presence. It is a sojourn with hope in the horizon of each pilgrim. It is a walk of faith with songs even in the night. The traveler is under the shadow of the Almighty. He enjoys the cool and still waters and green pastures of the Great Shepherd.  

How does God speak?

                God speaks loudly just as He called out Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. His voice is heard often more powerfully than the sounds in nature (Psalms 29:3-9) which gives no excuse for anyone who has physical ears to hear. But still there are people who refuse to recognize His voice as a reality. At other times, He speaks like a friend, as He spoke to Abraham (Genesis 18:17-19). There are times when He speaks in very soft voice (1 Kings 19:12). He also speaks through the elements, circumstances, events, prophets and the written Word depending on the situation and context. The ultimate objective in all these is that man should listen and obey. 

Hindrance to listening

                If only hindrances to listening can be identified and removed will one be able to hear the voice of God. What then are some realistic hindrances in the life of a Youth? 

·         An unrepentant heart will not be in tune with God to listen to His voice. It closes one’s spiritual ears and prevents the voice of God from entering into hearts.

·         Man’s pre-fixed priorities, personal likes and dislikes work to close his mind and make it non-responsive to God’s voice and His demands from human life. God wants man to give up all these and give God a free hand to use his life to like all that God likes and dislike all that God hates. 

·         Man must keep in abeyance all other voices which try to capture human mind, like:

Voice of the world – Vanity Fair / Materialism / Technology

i. Voice of the flesh – Desire for prestige / popularity / prominence / position / possession / pride / competition / superiority complex / jealousy / dominance / appreciation

ii. Satan – Deception / Falsification / Strife / Hatred / Accusation / Confusion / Jealousy

·         Man’s stubborn will which prevents him from listening to and obeying God (Matthew 21:30-31)

·         Man’s fear and apprehension about what God might ask of him blocks the voice of God from entering his heart (Luke 18:20-23)

·         Man’s hypocrisy – Pseudo or false devotion, pseudo-discipleship and pretension in listening blocks God’s voice from entering his heart (Matthew 6:1-33)

·         Life which quenches and grieves the Spirit of God, portrayed by an unrepentant heart prevents him from hearing God’s message (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19)

·         Lack of a servant-attitude which is exhibited through self-serving, serving the flesh, word and Satan  work to block God’s message from entering his heart (John 13:1-5) 

·         Loss of spiritual vision takes away any desire to listen to God (Eli: 1 Samuel 3:2) 

Contrast in listening

                One can see a sleeping Eli on the one side and a serving and listening Samuel on the other. So Eli didn’t hear the voice of God, but a willing, committed and obedient Samuel was able to hear God. Once Samuel obeyed, God kept speaking to him (1 Samuel 3:21). Each time he heard a fresh message. Samuel spoke the whole counsel of God at a time when the high priest had no message to speak. When Samuel gave his ears and hearts to God and used it for His glory, God kept using Samuel. Samuel’s ears became God’s and his heart became God’s, like:

·         Moses’ staff became God’s staff when Moses surrendered himself totally to God.

·         The five loaves and two fish of the boy became Jesus’ object of blessing when the boy surrendered it to Jesus.

·         When Saul surrendered himself to Jesus, his life as a murderously fierce lion was transformed into that of a lamb full of passion for Jesus.

·         Elijah, Elisha and John the Baptizer became the voice of God when they surrendered to God to speak fearlessly. 

                God is interested in identifying and using obedient and committed people to speak His mind to their generation even today. Their heart has to be clean of any per-conceived ideas so that God can write His message on it. Their ears are to be free of any hindrance so that God’s message can enter, create an impact and produce a response. It demands a submissive, surrendered and sensitive heart with the whole purpose of pleasing God and glorifying His name in the lives of people. Today He waits patiently for a response from each Youth so that He can tell him the message. He will call again and again until you are ready and prepared. Then the whole world will hear and experience God’s voice through His choice servants. 

UNIQUE CALLS AT CRITICAL TIMES!

Unique Calls @ Critical Times

                Youth characteristically challenge others with their vigor, vitality, enthusiasm, intellectualism and creativity. They think, assimilate, move and act at unprecedentedly fast pace and beat every imagination. They are innovators with ingenious spirit and adventurers with courage and charisma. So the world is after them through technology and mind manipulations. Flesh is after them through temptations. Satan is after them through popularity, prominence and possessions. Opportunities knock at the doors of their lives with promise of achievement and recognition. Knowledge is after them with elation. So they run the race for all these mirages and become disillusioned about life itself. It is then that they are offered ways to feel ‘high’ with substance that work in their bodies and minds to drain them of purposefulness in life. In the process, they challenge many others to travel their ways, but little do they realize that their followers reach the same destination that they are bound to arrive at – feeling of emptiness in life.

                Youthful years are full of energy and ideas. They have an answer to every puzzle and a way out of every mountain trail. They have a whole life time to work on it all with best prospects. They have plenty of free time, with less responsibilities and very little accountability. They are invariably their own bosses. They don’t like anyone telling them what to do, eat, dress, study or accomplish goals in life. They think they are right and others must learn to become wise like them. They often forget that youthful years are the ripe time to consider the Creator and see what His ultimate plans for their lives might be.

God’s focus on the Youth 

                If one examines the account of creation in the Bible, one would easily see that man was created as a resourceful youth and his wife a beautiful young lady. Considering the present life expectancy, most of those whom the Creator called thereafter to work for him were young. Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Nehemiah and the prophets were all called when they were quite young. When one looks into the gospels, it would be easy to see that the disciples of Jesus were all young men, in their late teens or early twenties. Then we are presented with an array of young people like Timothy, Titus, Silas, Epaphroditus and others in the early church who were young men. 

                Why God especially calls young people for His mission? It is because they have the energy required for special missions. They have the life span to establish and accomplish great things to touch the lives of people through the hands of God. They have the will to make a life-time of commitment. They have the capacity to develop a long term vision and the strength to see that it is implemented. They learn the ways of God in His school of faith as they work for Him. They have the drive to go after their vision relentlessly. 

Look into the history of the church 

                History of the church tells us that God has called scores of young men and women to accomplish His purpose in building up His kingdom here on earth. So God called a young lawyer named Charles Finny to lay the foundation for revivalism. He called a young shoe salesman named Dwight Moody to train young people for world evangelization. He called William Carey, Adoniram Judson and Hudson Taylor as founders of modern missionary movement. He made Martin Luther the founder of Reformation. His call to John Calvin and Zwingli was to interpret the Bible and to establish doctrinal foundation for the church. He called Billy Graham who founded Youth for Christ and to start mass evangelism using multimedia to preach to the entire world. God picked Jim Eliot and four of his friends to reach out to the savage mountain tribes. When they were martyred, God used their lives to call over 5,000 youth to obey His call for world missions. He called George Verwer to establish literature evangelism through Operation Mobilization in unreached shores of the nations. They were all young men who were totally committed to Jesus Christ. 

  

                During the last five centuries, God called scores of His men and women to write hymns, translate the Bible, develop music, write books and tracts, launch magazines, start training centers, establish mission hospitals and orphanages and innumerable other evangelistic and church planting ministries. For evangelizing India, God raised up missionaries like William Carey, Amy Carmichael and Silas Fox, native young men like Sadhu Sunder Sing, Bhakth Singh, K.V. Simon and others. These were all called at their prime youth. 

Critical Times

                If we examine the times at which God called His choice instruments for His mission, it was always during critical times.

·         When human race was utterly perverse, God called a young man named Noah to preach and warn against it and to build an illustrative ark to show God’s salvation.

·         When idolatry was rampant and faith utterly unheard of, God called Abraham to prove his simple and unquestionable faith in God and in His mighty power and faithfulness.

·         When morality and truth were unheard of, God called Joseph to stand for, holiness, faithfulness and hope in Him and to protect His people Israel.

·         When God’s people were experiencing hopelessness, oppression and suppression, God raised up Moses to fearlessly face the Egyptian Emperor and his nation to release God’s people and lead them to worship the only true God.

·         When the enemy destroyed God’s people and their livelihood, God raised up Gideon to fight and demolish the enemy as the leader of the army of God.

·         When monster-like Goliath became a threat to God’s people, He called David to kill him and defeat all His enemies to establish a kingdom with Jerusalem as its capital.

·         When the power of God disappeared from His people, He called Isaiah to preach and to warn people and to give them the good news that Jehovah lives to save them.

·         In the midst of hopelessness, God raised up Jeremiah to cry for His people as the great intercessor.

·         When the enemy tried to wipe the Jews from the face of the earth, God called Esther to intercede for them and to reestablish hope.

·         God called Peter and John with their brethren to follow the way of the cross against the pseudo-religious forces.

·         God called Paul to take gospel to new territories and to complete the writing of the New Testament.

·         God called Timothy to build up the church when commitment was unknown among people. 

These men and women were willing to take risks for God and for faith. They gave up everything they had and sacrificed their lives to stand for God. 

Need of the hour

Our times are critical in many respects. The world and its agents flesh and Satan, are after the minds of young people. We live at a time when many young people faint under the scorching heat of the world and its evil system. We see young people captured by Satan, flesh and world. Their minds are being manipulated to perpetuate the evil that is around them. We see youngsters shattered emotionally and confused spiritually and drifting away from God. Who will deliver them from the clutches of sin and the world? Who will train up young men and women to help them fight spiritual battles to salvage the lost youth around them?

God is still looking and calling

·         God wants somebody to stand in the gap for the youth around us (Ezekiel 22:30). If not, people will perish.

·         The prophet is crying and asking as to whether there is anyone to intercede for the lost (Isaiah 59:16)

·         God is looking for the Nehemiah’s around us to rebuild broken lives, character and families (Nehemiah 1:11)

·         God is looking for youngsters who are willing to listen to Him and obey unconditionally (Haggai 1:1 & 3; Luke 14:35)

·         God wants people to respond willingly and voluntarily to go for Him and capture lives for Him (Isaiah 6:8)

What does it cost?   

                                        

Obeying God’s call involves your time, holidays, weekends and evenings, your money and most of all yourself. God wants you to work hard for Him to reach out to the lost youth. He wants your abilities, talents, intelligence, enthusiasm, energy, education, profession and passion that you might be using for temporal gains and fame of this world. He wants you to pray, talk, cook, serve, walk, climb hills, encourage and counsel the youth around you. He wants you to be available and avail the opportunities around you. Open your eyes and see that there are youth all around you who are drifting away into a Christ-less eternity. Many youth are captured day by day by the world, flesh and Satan. Will you be concerned about them? Will you give God the freedom to call you right now to go after the Youth who are escaping His fold? 

If you don't respond today, it will perhaps be too late because the opportunity may cease to exist. Perhaps you will be lured into some other permanent bonds in life from which you may not be able to detach yourself. It is likely that the people whom God wants to touch may never be available for you. 

Remember: Today is the day of opportunity and dire need. 

CHOOSING BETWEEN THE MASTER AND THE WORLD!

Between the Master and the World! 

             

 

                The ‘world’ that is around us is Satan’s arm to influence the hearts and lives of people. He is the lord of the ‘world’ (Luke 4:7; 2 Corinthians 4:4) and works to portray his enmity to God and all God’s people. He wants to control the lives of God’s children and influence them to live in a worldly manner. He uses his entire arsenal to enslave us so that we would no longer create any spiritual impact in his world for God. He uses the same techniques against us which he once used against our Master (Luke 4:1-13). So let’s beware, lest he defeats us, neutralizes our testimonies and tarnishes our Christ-like image. 

The ‘world’ is a systemic entity that exists in the hearts, minds, paradigms, patterns, priorities, likes, dislikes, philosophies, goals, aspirations, strategies and programs of the natural man who lives on the face of the earth. It spreads over all the political, economic, psycho-social, biological, educational, technological, commercial and religious arenas of human life and activity in covert and overt manner. It penetrates into all human thinking and decision making. Its outward expression is reflected in materialism. Its focus is on the temporal. Its ultimate objective is destruction of the soul. It sells ‘free’ tickets for the vanity fair, but hides the fact that there is no exit once you enter.  

In the world, but not of the world!

               

                It is interesting to note that God has placed His children in the world controlled by Satan. God wants them to here to testify to His power and victory He grants His children over Satan and his world. Our place in the world is portrayed in the Bible in three distinct ways. They are:

1.       The Christian is from the world, but he is not of the world (John 17: 6, 14 & 16)

2.       The Christian is taken out of the world, but is kept in the world to represent God (John 17: 18)

3.       The Christian is in the world, but is separated from the world (2 Timothy 4:10, James 1:27, James 4:4, 1 John 2:15-17, 1 John 4:5 & 17)

This world with its systems is a comprehensive way of thinking, attitude and action promoted and controlled by Satan. Its corrupt system of iniquity is portrayed by Satan’s very character. It is reflected through rebellion, corrupt values, sinful cravings, filthy culture, ungodly traditions, destructive reforms, hypocritical religiosities, secular humanism, ambitious business ideologies, self-righteous social actions and moral degradation.

The world system uses all its tactics to tempt Christian disciples to its parlors. It makes its temporal reward systems so attractive as to manipulate the disciple to drift away from the narrow way which is the way of the cross (Matthew 16:24). It tries to attract the disciple to enjoy life of both worlds, just as it tempted Gehazi, Achen, Demas, Judas Iscariot, Cain and Balaam and eventually destroyed their lives. Today the world and Satan strive to capture God’s children of all age groups, and most especially the young disciples.

Claims: Christ’s or the world’s!

       

The claims of Christ on the life of a disciple are an indicator of his love for the Master (John 21:15). The cross of Christ demands from the disciple all that he is and has. He is challenged to forsake all to follow the Lord Jesus who forsook all in Heaven to come down to this earth to die for him (Luke 14:25-35). A true disciple’s loyalty is primarily and ultimately to Jesus Christ, His cross and His kingdom. Naturally then the disciple can no longer be loyal to this ‘world’ which is inimical to Christ. The disciple is challenged to show his love to Jesus Christ by making Him the highest priority in life. So he rejects bluntly and boldly all the approaches and styles of the world which come from Satan, its lord.

It is the affinity a person has for the world and its materialistic realm that is called the ‘love of the world’. The disciple is mandated to prove with his life how he rejects the love for the world (James 4:4). The ‘world’ will always try to lure him to itself by offering to make him rich, popular, prominent and prestigious. But it would be utterly impossible for the true disciple to live in love with the world and what if offers. He would be ever careful to keep away from all subtle ways of the world to make him love the world. He would refuse to drink from its mirages and broken cisterns or eat at its gourmets which would make him spiritually sick. The true disciple would have no desire for the entertainment and intellectualism that the world offers. The world’s rewards are what it gives us after draining us of all our energies to promote its own cause through employment or business. But the cross of Christ demands that these energies ought to be used for the Lord and His cause so that we can receive our rewards in Heaven.   

The true disciple recognizes the tactics used by the world to lure him into its pathways. He will have to develop the spiritual capacity to keep away from the world’s strategies to take him away from the narrow path of discipleship. He resents world’s attractions which try to work through his five senses to slowly, but steadily make him its slave. The powerful persuasions of the world mesmerize the disciple to control his thoughts, aspirations and priorities after the temporal glories the world offers. He resists these influences of the world in the power of the Spirit of God.  He prays to God to reveal to his heart the deceptions of worldliness that try to creep into his life. God will then give him the grace to distinguish between the spiritual and the carnal, the temporal and the eternal, the earthly and heavenly and the worldly and supernatural.  

Tough Choices

 The disciple makes cardinal choices which will portray him as the true follower of Jesus Christ. It takes several challenging forms.

a.       He blatantly disregards the fear and apprehension that the world will call him a ‘religious fanatic’ and a person of ‘strange character’ because he rejects the intelligent and profitable avenues the world offers to get riches, recognition, popularity, prominence and prestige.

b.      He resists the temptation to live for the world’s opinions, traditions, public recognition and appreciation at any cost.

c.       He willingly suffers rejection, loss, reproach and ridicule from the world for resenting opportunities to get the world’s acceptance.

d.      He bluntly refuses to be controlled with materialistic and filthy lucre, but deliberately chooses to live by faith, believing that his Master will meet all his needs.

e.      He will not give the world opportunity to claim that it made him rich, but live contended with what God gives him daily.

f.        He is unwilling to follow the philosophies and strategies of the successful people of this world, but instead live as a fool of Jesus Christ, never wanting worldly success and prosperity.

g.       He refuses to go after the attractions of the vanity fair to quench his inner cravings, but solely lean on the Spirit of God to satisfy his every craving.

h.      He has no desire for public praise from the world, but craves to live in humility and brokenness.

i.         He uses all his treasures, talents and time for the cause of Christ.

j.        He does nothing to promote his self-esteem or be a smart person.

k.       He has no craving for the comforts and luxuries of the world, and willingly chooses to live in austerity.

l.         It suffices him to have sufficient to eat and drink and purposely keeps away from amassing wealth for a bright future.

m.    He rejects the world’s avenues to pamper the self through rest, leisure and pleasure.

n.      He deliberately chooses a lifestyle to deny himself of all that the self can rightfully enjoy in this world.  

A Revolutionary Life

                A disciple values everything in this world on the basis of the claims of Christ on him. He will boldly follow his spiritual vision about his Master and live to follow His example. His allegiance is to the Master for whom he is ready to forsake all that he has including his life. He is no fool to hold on to what he is sure to lose in this world. He is keen to hold on to what he will never lose in the other world. He considers the world as his foe even when it appears in friendly attire with luring smiles. He takes a public stand against the world with spiritual boldness. He is an example to other believers as a true disciple of the Master (1 Timothy 4:12). The claims of Christ demand a revolutionary life and lifestyle from him to please the Master and none else.