Lifted On High From Death To Life

Minutes by minutes, seconds by seconds closing the gap to conclude the present year. It’s been a long year at certain moments when even a minute feels like an hour, yet ironically i don’t feel prepared for the new decade. All along i’ve been wanting to allow my emotions to harbour on the momentous changes and events, but it never happened due to a incubating calamity that finally hatches and strikes. Even up till now, my heart is still not primed for a sentimental love song. On a simpler explanation, the second part of the year was a misery built on my impertinent living in the first half.

Many things can be effortlessly forgotten in the past but i chose to obdurately remain true to what i want now. Sometimes it’s just arduous to leave behind things that were so invaluable or rather, my fatiguing heart is not even willing attempt a try. It feels like going into a trance alone with a sense of foreboding and reality finally caught up with deception. The reality doesn’t seem too concrete when love is involved yet it’s strong enough to crush layers of belief and expectation. It had reduced me to roam desultorily for months.

This moment seems to be the best thus far. With the expectancy of the festive season approaching and considering myself haven’t reach the two decades mark officially. A time when i yearn for it to move slowly, or don’t even move. Very soon it will be a matter of ‘last year’ or ‘two years back’, time just cannot stop moving, yet things can be unpremeditatedly frozen in time.

At least it serendipitously cultivated and improvise a few areas in my life. My ferris of joy expanded incredibly and my heart seems like it went through a marathon daily for endurance training. Steadily i’m walking, pacing, opening my stride, closing them and still walking.

Haven’t been writing this way for a good while, heartfelt and bona fide. Goodnight.

“Once upon a time, there was a man named Shamgar that lived in a land that was invaded by men from a foreign land. During his days, the highways were deserted and the travelers walked along the byways because the city they grew up in was in war. It was an evil and lawless time.

Shamgar spent most of his days in the harvest field for he was a farmer. His favorite pastime when he’s in the farm was to swing his ox goad like a valor does with his sword around the ox to drive them on. Everyday he would wake up early in the morning to pray and hear the word from God, then he would carry his ox goad and set off exuberantly to the harvest field. He was just an ordinary man but with an extraordinary God.

As the days passed by, he saw his city being invaded by these giant foreign warriors which has already took over most parts of the city. Something stirred up within him, he knew as a citizen of the city he should do something to protect his city. But at the same time he was nothing more than a farmer, he had no sword or amour and he had not been militarily trained as well. All he knew was to swing his ox goad to hunt for deers or rabbits for dinner.

One day, he decided that he would go to the battlefield with what he had because he could not stand seeing his fellow countrymen living in fear and death. He bid farewell to his wife and picked up his ox goad to set off to fight.

He came to the valley where the enemies were but he knew that he could not just go and fight upfront. So he hid himself amongst the trees where he can see his enemies’ movement. The giants would often move about in groups of ten to twenty, and because of their disorganization they often were scattered. Shamgar would kill by swinging his ox goad swiftly through the giant without even alerting the other giants. He was in stealth, he went on killing and killing. He was so successful at it till he wiped out six hundred of them and delivered the city.

He went back to where he came from and it was never heard of him again.”

A story that illustrates my thoughts. Shamgar was just an ordinary farmer, but from the story i’ve learnt three things about him.

He started from where he was:

He was a farmer and he started with it, we do not need to wait till everything is perfect before we can start.

Many would have persecuted him and no one was with him but he believed that he and God will be the majority.

He used what he had:

He had no weapon nor amour but just an ox goad and he is able to use the ox goad well.

He used whatever talents he had because God strength is perfected in my weakness.

He did what he could:

Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the boldness and the willingness to stand against fear.

He may not have changed the whole world nor even his city, but he did what he could. He delivered his city at the time where he was in.

Shamgar (in Hebrews): the one who always hear and obey.

The story would have been very much of what might have happened but in the entire bible, Shamgar only appeared in two verses.

Judges 3:31

After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel.

Judges 5:6

In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, In the days of Jael, The highways were deserted, And the travelers walked along the byways.

He may not have the spectacular five books like Moses or a book named after him like Joshua or even a chapter of himself. But he did it with just two verses.

In the story, the city was Israel, the giants were the Philistines and the God is Jehovah God!

He delivered Israel single-handedly with the power of God. He started where he was, he used what he had and he did what he could.

That’s how powerful one can be because one multiply by God is still God.

Matthew 7:13-14

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go it by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

We christians are expected to enter a narrow gate that is supposed to lead us to life, and the Scriptures concluded by saying that only a handful will find it. In this way, entering by the narrow gate seems not too difficult because once we find it, we can just stick to it and we will not walk into the broad way in the future. Is that so?

Certainly not! Entering by the narrow gate is a decision that we have to make. After making the decision and walking through the narrow gate, now we have to walk the narrow way. In this narrow way as we walk on, we will be coming to many split ways everyday in our lives. In these spilt ways, there are again the broad way and the narrow way. We will have to decide and walk through countless narrow ways before we finally reach our destination.

We make many decisions everyday in life that will eventually shape our destiny, big decisions or small decisions. Some decisions we made them right, some wrong but however wrong a decision we made we still have to walk on and see what is next after the decision. Hence, choosing which way to walk every time we come to a split way is like making a decision.

In this living world, especially out there in the world filled with temptations, anyone would be able to tell you that it’s not as easy as differentiating between good and bad, and we decide on the good one. Many times the good one has conditions and sacrifices that have to be made, one will end up feeling that choosing this is not too beneficial after all. Or on the other hand, the bad one seems most ideal for a more comfortable and easier life.

Sometimes, we felt that we’ve already taken the broad way on a certain split road that we’ve just past. Does that mean that we’ve already taken the broad way that leads to destruction for our life? Certainly not! Because we will still come to a split road where we will be able to decide again on which way we want to walk. However, the fact is that the more we walk through the broad way, the narrow way will get narrower and the broad way will get broader at the next split road. In the same theory, the more we walk through the narrow way, the broad way will get narrower and the narrow way will get broader at the next split road.

It’s like a spiral up or spiral down. The more you make the right decisions and walk the narrow way, the more it’s easier to make it again. While the more you feed your flesh, the flesh will get stronger and harder to overcome.

So what are we supposed to do?

Luke 17:32

Remember Lot’s wife.

Here is the second shortest verse in the entire bible teaching us to remember Lot’s wife. What happened was that Lot was commanded to leave Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), but Lot lingered before he left. When they were leaving, Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar a salt, as a punishment for looking back because it shows that she cannot bear to leave the past. Whatever the circumstances or situations are, our walk with God is a forward step.

1. Don’t look back at the old sins

Isaiah 43:25

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.

If God forgets, we must forget as well. We must not keep to our old sins and unable to forget so that we can move on.

2. Don’t look back at the old defeats that brought you down.

The bible says that the just shall fall seven times, and will rise again. Failure are not fatal and failure are not final. Champions are not those who never fail, champions are those who never quit.

3. Don’t look back at the old conflicts that made you bitter.

We have to forgive and forget those old conflicts and start to love again. Don’t nurse it, don’t curse it, don’t rehearse it, release it and God will disperse it. It takes strength to forgive, the weak can’t forgive. The key to forgiveness is forgetfulness.

Proverbs 17:9

He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends.

Joseph forgives and forgets, God bless him with a son. (Genesis 41)

4. Don’t look back at the old victories and thought you have arrived.

We should never live on old victories and old anointing, the end is yet to come and there are still many more spilt roads ahead to win. Our success yesterday can be a hindrance tomorrow.

Philippians 3:13-14

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Concluding with the title of this post, no matter how deep we are into the wilderness of trials and tribulations, we can always start to make a right choice at the next split road to start walking back onto the narrow way. Never look back and never give up. The good thing is that God already knows which way we will eventually take at every split road and He has already planned the next one waiting for us. Keep walking and remember Lot’s wife.

Amen.

Been wanting to write since Thursday but I’m just so so tired. Unknowingly I descended into being too pre-occupied by everything that is happening around me. Now I just need to quickly get settle down and start walking again. I’m just so so exhausted. I’ll write what i intended to write tomorrow, sure a long one. Adieu.

God has created human is such a way that we’re able to take a lot of things and things that happened in our life cannot be deleted just like a file in the computer. I know it’s painful, i know it’s unbearable but God gave Joseph his Manasseh. I want my Manasseh, whatever that seems no victory my God can conquer.

Increase my capacity to endure, enlarge my heart to accept and open my mind to be free. Not any longer Lord, not anymore.