Ingratitude Will Normalise ANY Miracle

Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. – 1Co 10:11

There’re only two instances in scripture where the Israelites queried Moses for water: Ex 17:6 and Num 20:11. But anyone who’s lived in a house that’s not connected to the public water system will readily agree that no size of tank is ever big enough to sustain a family; the water will eventually run out.

So, while the amount of water that gushed out of the rock that fateful day in Horeb may have been so plenteous as to satisfy 3 million odd persons and their cattle; it most definitely would not have been enough to sustain them for 37 years (the period of time between the two separate complaints for water).

So, either there were water bodies littered everywhere else they went during their journey in the wilderness (a highly improbable fact), or the water-from-the-rock thing continued for all those years – just like the daily manna that kept falling from the skies.

Logic, and a certain New Testament reference, seems to indicate that it was the latter.

1Co 10:4 (GW) says, “and all of them drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them, and that rock was Christ.”

“…the rock that WENT WITH THEM”.

There was always a rock – physically – everywhere they went, and that rock supplied them water continuously.

But at the first moment that it didn’t – which some Bible commentators deduce was deliberately done to test them (see Dt 33:8; Ps 81:7) – all hell breaks loose and they began their characteristic harping and murmuring.

Beloved, you can live a life so continuously miraculous, that you begin to take it for granted. There’re Christians who don’t know the price of paracetamol, because they’ve not bought it in years, yet they complain because God’s delaying their ‘breakthrough’. Some don’t experience satanic attacks whatsoever, and they assume it’s because the witches in the village have their hands full, or don’t know they exist. I could go on and on about our transport, our children, our sanity, etc. but I believe you’ve gotten the point already.

Meditate about a ‘regular’ thing in your life that would be miraculous to someone else – and make up your mind to live grateful about it from today.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Water-From-A-Rock Miracle

...and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, – Neh 9:15

Most, if not all, of us are familiar with the miracle of water coming out of the rock for the children of Israel during their wanderings in the wilderness.

The LORD had just previously rained down miracle food from heaven to feed the Israelites due to their complaint to Moses about hunger. The complaint now was about thirst, and they were threatening to stone Moses because of it.

In response, the LORD told Moses to strike the rock; and when Moses did, water came out for the people. Like I said, we all know the story.

But what did it mean that water “poured out from the rock?”

I’ve seen a few rocks in my lifetime; some of them quite iconic; and, yes, there’re spots that were always wet with water. You can tell them by the characteristic green mouldiness of the algae that always hang around there.

This is not that type of “water-from-the-rock”.

There’re also several places on Earth where water literally gushes out of rocks. Like “Twin Falls” in Rock Island State Park, Tennessee, an underground waterfall in Luxembourg, and another amazing waterfall in Sang Chan, Thailand.

But these aren’t Moses’ type of “water-from-the-rock”; because the “waters” aren’t coming from these rocks, they’re just gushing through them.

Moses’ rock was in the dry Sinai Peninsula desert; there weren’t water sources behind them. Furthermore, we often imagine the water from the rock as something like water from a gushing fountain. But considering that a rough estimate of the number of Israelites that left Egypt was about 3 million, (apart from the cattle’s that they mentioned needed water as well), any water that can satisfy them has to be of the order of a flood in the wilderness!

Think about that. That’ll be a miracle if it happened at the beach. Yet it happened in a dry wilderness. No wonder the Psalmists kept repeating it over and over again (Ps 78:15-16; 105:41; 107:35; 114:8).

Beloved, don’t place a limit on what God can do in your life. If He could overwhelm those grouchy, complaining and ungrateful Israelites in the wilderness, I believe He can do even much more for you, His Beloved.

           

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Whose Fruit is It Really?

But the fruit of the spirit/Spirit is love… – Gal 5:22 

The term “spirit” in scripture is a translation of the Greek word, “pneuma” which, like its Hebrew equivalent ruach,  essentially means “Wind”. And because these words are used to refer to upwards of 10 different terms, it is left to the Bible translator to determine, from context, whether the “pneuma” is referring to a “current of air”, “breath”, “breeze”, “angelic spirit”, “demonic spirit”, the human soul, the human spirit, the Holy Spirit, etc.

This is not hard to tell in most cases; but Gal 5:22 is somewhat of a grey area. Though the context seems to indicate that the “Spirit” there is the Holy Spirit, the fruit list contains things we would normally expect from a human spirit!

Virtually all the English translations I checked (54 in all) say that it’s the Holy Spirit, but two rendered it as human. Which is it, then?

Well, as it turns out, it’s going to be impossible to tell. Because the human spirit we’re talking about is not the dead, un-regenerated human spirit but the new, regenerated one we have in Christ. The spirit that dwells in us is “the Spirit of Christ” (Rom 8:11).

As branches of the True Vine, we’re expected to bear fruit (John 15:5); but the sap and nutrients that the branch uses to bear fruit doesn’t come from the branch, it comes from the Vine.

So we’re not expected to act constipated because we want to bear fruit; we’re supposed to yield ourselves to the workings of the Holy Spirit and the fruits will naturally appear.

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. – Php 2:13.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

God is the Husbandman

...that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified. – Isa 61:3

In the parable/allegory of the “True Vine”, God is the Husbandman.

It sounds somewhat condescending for me to state such a manifestly obvious fact, doesn’t it? Why, Jesus clearly spelt it out in the opening lines of the chapter,

Joh 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.”

“…My Father is the Vinedresser.” (AMP)

“…my Father is the gardener.” (CEV)

“…My Father is the vineyard keeper.” (HCSB-r) 

“…Father is the vinegrower.” (ISV)

“…Father is the Farmer.” (MSG)

Etc.

Even the various translations seem to consider this fact inviolable. The taking care of the vine is the sole prerogative of the Father. He didn’t outsource it to “Mentors”, He didn’t delegate it to “Disciplers”, He didn’t assign it to “Spiritual Fathers”…

He has never complained about the number of children He has to prune, He never claimed His hands are too full, He never said He even needs to keep track of his children.

It is His job to prune the vine, let’s not try to help Him. Like one fine minister once said, “If we (church leaders) try to cut the Believers ourselves, we’ll end up cutting them roughly… or probably cut the wrong thing”.

We cannot micro-manage our members’/protégée’s/mentee’s/etc.’s spiritual development. Our job as spiritual parents (just as with the physical) is to provide healthy nutrition for them, and place them in a safe, enabling environment. We cannot decide their pattern of growth. No two believers have the same destiny and thus the same path of ascendancy.

We’re called to make disciples, not spiritual clones of ourselves.

God is the Husbandman

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

The Vine

…the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. – Col 1:27 

John 15 is one of the pivotal chapters in the fourth Gospel. It’s the only chapter in the Gospels that’s composed entirely of Jesus’ words alone. And though it’s one of the chapters that introduces us to the Person of the Holy Spirit (“the Comforter”), and though it contains some of the most memorable verses in scripture (“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”); its core message is the introduction of Christ as the “True Vine”.

Several Old Testament passages already refer to the nation of Israel as a vine (Ps 80:8-16, Is 5:1-7, Jer 2:21, Ez 15:1-8; 17:5–10, 19:10–14, Hos 10:1, etc.) which may have necessitated Jesus referring to Himself as the “TRUE Vine”. The original Vines weren’t faithful, but this One was faithful to the Father in everything.

John chapter 15 is meant to be a chapter of Hope and Comfort. Jesus is saying “My Father has always and cultured vines; but none proved reliable. I, on the other hand, am faithful and True.

“And you don’t have to worry about being a “True” Vine like me, you are the Branches of this True Vine.”

What a beautiful and wonderful thought. To be inseparably intertwined into Christ. Ponder on the implications and application of this powerful reality today.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN