Acknowledge Him………
Like 12:8 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, the son of men will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.”
We had a celebration in the department where I worked earlier, as usual I paid it through my card as it was an official expense, so that I could claim it later. After a month my expense claim got bounced back with the remarks, ‘birthday party expenses not allowed.’ Till about a month back this was allowed but I had missed that important circular and hence had paid for that party out of my pocket. It was my mistake, now, what do I do? A senior said, ‘Bala, just put it plainly as official expense without mentioning the purpose and I would approve it.” I replied, “I made a mistake and now would not make another mistake of making a false claim.” He said, ’you are crazy’, I replied, “my Bible tells me to be honest and I am just obeying Him.” His jaw hit the table. May be you find this episode comical and ‘just-too-much’ but I love to take a stand for God and be a fool for His sake. I do it even now. When I walked into an Engineering College in Hyderabad for college admission for my daughter, I was told to pay huge sum as donation, for which I would get no receipt. I told them, ‘we are Christians and we are serving the Lord and I would not give any bribe.” There was a smirk on his face, like to say, ‘you guys are no better’, the officer said, ‘you can never, ever get a seat without bribe’, God did give us a seat without any bribe, though. Praise God! Friend, being a Christian is to spread the aroma of Christ wherever you may be and boldly live a life as drawn out by Jesus. Are you there?
Look how Jesus puts it: ‘Whoever acknowledges me’, this is powerful! ‘Acknowledge’ is not just saying, ‘my name is Mary, James and John’ or “I am a Christian’ or ‘ I am member of so and so church’, no…….it is much more than that. Acknowledging the Master means acknowledging His teachings, truth, ways, instructions and boldly telling the world that you are His follower. Amen. True revival takes place in your heart and life only when you can’t wait to tell the world what He has done for you. You would surpass the ‘acknowledge stage’ and be ready to do whatsoever and get to the “I will die for you Lord” stage. Amen. I’m anointed as I preach this Word!
I’m speaking to some Christians who have yet not come out of illicit relationships, wrong commitments with unbelievers despite knowledge of the truth, people walking in unrighteousness, sin and lust. People who are planning to divorce for frivolous reasons, and people who are unjustly ill-treating others. We got to change, forgive one another and live in peace. Here comes a warning to each one of you! Repent before you are cast into hell.
In today’s world, people love to flaunt their photographs, personal emotions, left, right and center on the Face Book for the world to see, while they consider ‘Religion’ as personal. It is not about religion, it is about your personal relationship with your Heavenly Father who gave His all for you. Are you walking in the light and shining for God in your work place or are you hiding your identity and living like the world? Tell me.
A young girl who worked in the hotel industry along with me refused to sing religious songs praising idols on an important day of celebration in the hotel and told the Chairman that she would sing only songs praising Jesus. I sat next to her in the auditorium and when she stood up to walk up to the platform to sing the opening prayer song, the entire hall reverberated with her lovely voice praising Jesus. I stood awed! I did not know this level of commitment then and I was a dead Christian during that time. God watched everything! She is Hema John. Everybody in the Tamil Christian circle would know her as she is very famous in south India.
It takes courage to acknowledge Him!
