“as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us.” Really this is what we need today. I am thankful for the miraculous event that just happened, but not exactly “just happened”, that has demonstrated the goodness of God, which has been working since the beginning!
I left for an important journey recently with a rather uncertain heart as to what the immediate future would be when I return. Three days before I traveled I prayed in the spirit and wrote down what my heart prompted and assured me in a note book. I received and wrote down in a second note book further specific prompts after praying again in the spirit on the day before the travel day (which happened to be the day of the major event). I placed the two note books on the PC table and left. I also called an old friend and told her the prompts about the coming event. She remarked that it would be a miracle if that happened.
As assured in my spirit, the journey was good and a great reunion time for family, filled with love, joy and peace. On the other side of the ocean, the event unfolded like a drama keeping all spectators in suspense. Finally, the conclusion came out, and the miracle came to pass.
When I returned I looked at the notes and marveled at the exact winning number and names of the crucial individuals, winning and/or losing.
On a personal level, this is very important to my relationship with my Father in heaven. My belief in Jesus, His birth, death, and resurrection. My encounter with the Holy Spirit and trusting him to guide my steps in life. An ability to hear Him and be led by Him is what matters to a believer and follower of Jesus. Without this compass for life, I would be quite lost in a hectic and increasingly unreal world on this earth.
On a macro level, I am happy to see hope has materialized and taking substance albeit rather slowly in an infancy. Whilst I have always remained as an observer-bystander, this recent journey has opened my eyes to see the younger generations and their hopes and dreams. I have been praying for them but this is the first time I really look at the future seriously, and the legacy we need to leave behind.
To sum up, I see hope. I see the goodness of God. I see the Joseph boom years starting afresh for a new generations (pleural as there are several together). This is not a new prophecy. This was what I received in my heart often in contrary to pundits/woe-sayers predicting market depressions.
The first group of apostles/disciples of the early church often encountered tumultuous and seemingly uncertain circumstances, overt impossible challenges and mean obstacles/opponents. Yet they managed to press on. They reached their goals. They miraculously overcame all odds and fulfilled the tremendous assignments and super-human callings the Lord had given them. Reading their letters I marvel at their optimism and positive words and exaltations to build up others. Not one was worried about the economy. Not one lacked. Not one sick.
What assures me is that they all saw hope and the manifestation of the substance of hope, through their faith in God’s goodness. They all have the Holy Spirit to give them this assurance and manifestation of exactly what Jesus has told them and assured of happening.
This is not an article on economic forecast. This is just my personal testimony of how good God is.
I have been led this morning to read Ephesians 2. This is a message of reconciliation, or rather, conciliation. The good news of conciliation is for all people groups. Now all of us can come to the Father through the Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. (Ephesians 2:18)
What does God want of us being fully joined together in Christ Jesus? Here is the answer:
Through Him you Gentiles are being made part of this dwelling where God lives by His Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)
How did a small business man go from bankruptcy to prosperity to zero again and then to boom? This is a real life small business success case.
When we first met, the man was really down and out. He is a good man but he has exhausted all means to carry on in life, with a wife, and three young daughters. On January 1, 2003 a newly converted Christian woman brought her middle-age bankrupt husband to my house for counseling. They have just closed down their food and beverage retail business. He was declared a bankrupt because his electrical contractor dad used his name to secure a business loan and defaulted. All his savings went toward repaying the many creditors of his dad. After closing down his own business he had been working odd jobs and could not even make ends meet. His family were living with his own parents under very bad condition. He had tried many jobs and failed.
After hearing his case, I asked him one question, “What are you good at?”…
These are just some simple examples. In my next post I will discuss in greater details on how small businesses can survive by thinking outside the box and doing what aligns with the recent year’s changes out there, that affect the whole mankind except a few elites.
Here is a preview of the key success clue: We are in the world but not of the world. Jesus has promised a unique positioning and protection this way.
I think of legacy today. A bank manager left her comfort zone in 1995 and went to the poorest of the poor in a strange land and gave her life to a people she never knew before: widows, single mothers, poor students because of God’s love. She is still there today. She tried to run away from there on her sixth year, but she kept bumping into God. On the third round of encounter with God, she submitted to His calling. She returned to the war ravaged land and served her second term as a missionary. After that she launched out on her own and became a business missionary. She built resorts, restaurants, factories, hostels, school etc. and train the locals to become entrepreneurs. Her choice to obey has made a difference in the lives of many. Her story never fades away. She is leaving a legacy of transformed lives.
Today I ponder on the legacy we shall each leave behind. There is always a point where each of us must make a crucial decision that will be etched into our history. I walked through the histories of many great men and women in the past. A few years back I was invited to write the life story of one special woman who gave her prime years (25 years) to strangers in a remote land. I met some who know her well in her past life as a successful banker and the people group in the remote backwater war-ravished land whom she has loved so dearly and relentlessly that she has given up her past life, left her comfort zone to become one of them. I asked her why? She said she loves them because she knows Jesus loves them. A childhood friend of hers said…
Why did Paul choose to leave a somewhat neutral intellectual Athens where he discoursed with civil Jews and Gentiles without being obstructed but instead proceed to a melting pot like Corinth? Because he saw a greater Gospel sharing evangelical opportunity at Corinth with its strategic crossroad location situated between Italy and Asia Minor on the Isthmus and is master of two harbors and a large population with various needs conglomerating for the economic boom and related activities. Corinth city was flourishing by the 1st century AD as an important international center of administration, trade, games and entertainment. Corinth had the largest population in Greece with Greeks, Jews, Romans, even the Phoenicians and Phrygians from the east. Corinth’s financial prosperity was the result of business activities, athletic games, the skills and quality of its statesmen and craftsmen, and immorality. Because of its close connection to the sea, with ports to the east and to the west, the cosmopolitan population of Corinth consisted largely of sailors, merchants, adventurers, and refugees, which included retired and discharged veterans.
Thus, Paul and his team had found a needy evangelistic target as well as a market niche from the Jewish refugees (from Rome), Roman soldiers, the many tradesmen and religious pilgrim travelers and the games competitors and spectators.
Corinthian became the second largest city in the Roman empire, boasting a population of 700,000 people. In eighteen months Paul built the largest church in the history of the world. The lowest estimates are 40,000 and most historians say the number was more like 80,000 people. Read on…
In recent years the world notes how effective economic leverage works in social-political re-engineering. Today we study another kind of successful leverages from a great master, Paul, a businessman-apostle. Economic (financial) interest is always the top priority in this world. It ties with the micro self-interest of an individual and the macro self-interest of a group, a nation or even the whole world.
In 2 Corinthians chapters 8-9 we continue to reflect on Paul’s motivations and strategies, supporting a broader understanding of mission – one that sees the purpose of the church as going beyond mere evangelism, and including all manner of personal and social reconciliation (including the use of financial and economic resources). Paul presented a sustainable economical and spiritual inter-linked blue-print to the Corinthians who were already well versed with the marketplace and its language. Now Paul teaches them the higher spiritual reality which is an integral part…
What is God speaking today? Can we hear through the prophets? Today we read some “last words” from God through six prophets as recorded in the Bible (735-430BC). Let the timeless words from God speak to our heart and give us the power and strength and hope we need. I have included the last few prophets here, who were confident to speak because they walked with God closely and listened to Him only.
Note that the book of Malachi closes the time for four hundred years before God speaks again through John the Baptist. The beginning key verse and the last verse reveal the heart of God toward us, His children. He starts by declaring, “I have loved you” and He ends by saying, “and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and hearts of the children to the fathers.” (1:2, 4:6) It is clear that when men do not reconcile their hearts with God, they fail and the earth continues to suffer the curse that the first fall of mankind brought upon it. The solution from God is, “turn around, turn back” to God. Why? Because mankind were created according to His image and our lives originated from Him, and His ultimate purpose for us is to have that close relationship with Him as father and son. How can this be? God sent His Son.
Micah 735 BC The Word of the LORD to Micah 1 – 7
Snapshot: Micah confronts the leaders of Israel and Judah regarding their injustice, and prophecies that one day the Lord himself will rule in perfect justice. Micah concludes with the prophet’s call on the Lord as his only source of salvation and mercy (7:7), pointing the people toward an everlasting hope in their everlasting God.
Key Verse: 4:5 For all people walk each in the name of his god, But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God Forever and ever.
LAST VERSES: Micah 7:19-20 (NKJV) 19 He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea. 20 You will give truth to Jacob And mercy to Abraham, Which You have sworn to our fathers From days of old.
Habakkuk 625 BC The Oracle to Habakkuk 1 – 3
Snapshot: Habakkuk pleads with God to stop the injustice and violence in Judah, but is surprised to find that God will use the Babylonians to do so.
Habakkuk was a frustrated prophet. The book contains an extended dialogue between Habakkuk and God (Habakkuk 1–2). The prophet initiated this conversation based on his distress about God’s “inaction” in the world. He wanted to see God do something more, particularly in the area of justice for evildoers. However, he finally turned to praising God regardless of the external circumstances. God actually answered his questioning God. 2:1-2
Key Verse: 2:4 but the just shall live by his faith. (Romans 1:17)
LAST VERSES: 3:17-19 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls—18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.19 The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.
Zephaniah 638 BC The Word of the LORD to Zephaniah 1 – 3
Snapshot: God warns that he will judge Israel and the surrounding nations, but also that he will restore them in peace and justice.
The prophet Zephaniah’s main message was concerning the “Day of the Lord” which he mentions continually throughout the book. On that day the Lord will personally deal with those who had forsaken him and become corrupt. The day of the Lord is a day of destruction, a terrible day, a day in which very few will escape. Zephaniah saw in the day of the Lord the destruction of his country Judah, his neighbors, and eventually the whole earth (Zephaniah 1:2,14,15,17; 2:10), and that ultimately it would result in the blessing of God’s presence among His people (3:17).
Key Verse: 3:9 (NKJV) “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, That they all may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him with one accord.”
LAST VERSES: Zephaniah 3:20 (NLT) On that day I will gather you together and bring you home again. I will give you a good name, a name of distinction, among all the nations of the earth, as I restore your fortunes before their very eyes. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Haggai 520 BC The Word of the LORD by Haggai 1, 2
Snapshot: The people have abandoned the work of restoring God’s temple in Jerusalem, and so Haggai takes them to task.
The prophet Haggai was the first of the three prophets during the Persian period who prophesied to the Jews who had returned from captivity, the other two prophets were Zechariah and Malachi. Haggai’s message was directed to the nobles and governor Zerubbabel. The time was 18 years after the king of Persia allowed them to return to rebuild the Temple. Samaritans from the north had caused all the work in the Temple to come to a halt. 16 years had gone by and people were more interested in beautifying their houses than rebuilding the Temple. The prophet Haggai encouraged God’s people to finish rebuilding the Temple that Zerubbabel had started. During the re-building, Haggai continued to preach to the Jews, encouraging them with the hope of future glory in the temple and a victory to come over the enemies of God’s people (2:7–9, 21–22). His message was effective, and the Spirit of the Lord stirred up the leaders and people to continue building and completed. 1:13-14. God speaks through him to the governor Zerubbabel, according to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!’ (2:5)
Key Verse: 2:7 (NLT) I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
LAST VERSES: Haggai 2:23 (NLT) 23 “But when this happens, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, I will honor you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant. I will make you like a signet ring on my finger, says the Lord, for I have chosen you. I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”
Zechariah 520 BC The Word of the LORD to Zechariah 1 – 14
Snapshot: The prophet Zechariah calls Israel to return to God, and records prophetic visions that show what’s happening behind the scenes. His name means, “Yahweh (God) remembers.”
He is both a priest and a prophet. Zechariah’s message is very messianic and future-looking, and reveals much about the end times in which we are living. Looking at the eight visions together, you can see it is God’s message to restore Israel and the nations to their right relationship to one another, and to Him as the God of the world.
The re-building of the Temple was halted for 16 years. Two months after Haggai delivered his first sermon, Zechariah began his prophetic ministry (Hag. 1:1 and Zech. 1:1). He encouraged the people to spiritual renewal and motivated them to rebuild the Temple by revealing to them God’s plans for Israel’s future. With this encouragement, the Temple reconstruction was completed in 515 BC, five years later.
Key Verse: 4:6 (NKJV) So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’Says the Lord of hosts.
LAST VERSE: Zechariah 14:21 (ERV) In fact, every dish in Jerusalem and Judah will have the label, holy to the lord all-powerful. All the people offering sacrifices will come, take those dishes, and cook their special meals in them. At that time there will not be any merchants buying and selling things in the Temple of the Lord All-Powerful.
Malachi 430 BC The Word of the LORD by Malachi 1 – 4
Snapshot: God has been faithful to Israel, but they continue to live disconnected from him—so God sends Malachi to call them out.
Malachi prophesied during the Persian Empire. The Temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt and many Jews had returned but they had neglected the things of God. They were skimping on their sacrifices and failing to give their tithes, and the priests of God did nothing to encourage them. There were mixed marriages and divorce had become a common practice. He told them not to neglect the things of God and repent right now if they ever expect to receive the blessings of God and prosper.
Malachi also speaks of the coming day of the Lord, and prophesied the coming of John the Baptist (who came as the fulfillment of his prophecy about Elijah preparing the way for the Messiah) (Matthew 3:1-12 and 11:14). The Book of Malachi closes the Old Testament and there was not another prophet for nearly 400 years until John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness.
Key verse: God reminds that Israel is the Beloved of God: 1:2 (NKJV) “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved;
LAST VERSE: Malachi 4:6 (AMPC) And he shall turn and reconcile the hearts of the [estranged] fathers to the [ungodly] children, and the hearts of the [rebellious] children to [the piety of] their fathers [a reconciliation produced by repentance of the ungodly], lest I come and smite the land with a curse and a ban of utter destruction.
AAA watchman 
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