When you leave His presence..Part 1
Jonah 1: 3”But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”
When you disobey God, you actually may feel free but you are fleeing from His presence, which is very dangerous. If you watch the bird’s nest , it is so secure, protected, sheltered, pretty sturdy, located in a hiding place far away from the reach of people , but if the baby bird ventures out and strays away from the nest, imagine what would happen! It would be open to predators, enemies , bird may fall down and get lost. Walking away from God’s nest and rest is like walking into a moving train. Caveat!
When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost the presence of God, when Cain sinned he became proud and left the presence of God, when Saul sinned he left the presence of God , hence evil spirits came to dwell inside him which eventually killed him. Being in the presence of God is like standing in the midst of a rose garden, the aroma of the flowers will surely rub off on you. Say Amen. Bilquis Sheikh, a prominent Muslim woman in South Asia, author of ‘I dare to call him Father’ had a wonderful encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. The chapter of her encounter with Jesus is breathtaking, one day, while she was alone in her garden, she could tangibly feel the presence of another person next to her, though she was not able to identify that it was Jesus, later she understood that Jesus visited her in the garden. This would give you goosebumps! This further leads to her pursuit of Jesus and finally she gets saved and also becomes His servant. The presence of God transforms your life!
Jonah was not ignorant of the ways of God, in fact, he was a servant of God, yet, disobedient and he very well knew the consequences of disobedience too. His disobedience in fact put the other people inside the ship in jeopardy too. One disobedient person in the family can hamper and impede the blessings of the entire family and put them into misery as well. Friend, do not be careless about obeying God’s commandments, there will be consequences that you may have to face, just like the way Jonah was thrown into the raging sea. This message comes as a caution to make you turn to God!
Part 2- Make the right choice!
Jonah 1:3”..he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”
Twice in the above scripture, it is mentioned that Jonah went away from the presence of God, he coolly went to Joppa, found a ship, purchased a ticket and went to Tarshish, just direct opposite to what God commanded him. Now, just because a ship was right there, it doesn’t mean that he had to board it, folks who would want to go their way would say, ‘ I take that as a sign from God’, ‘the ship would not be there if it was not the will of God’, listen friend, Jonah heard the word of God to go to Nineveh and no more debates on that, likewise when the Bible commands you to do something, then you don’t have to pray about it, just obey. If God said, ‘do not be unequally yoked’, then don’t pray over an affair that you have got entangled with a man of another faith, and now you are fasting and praying about it. Answer is already given in the Bible, take your Bible and read it every day if you want to be in the will of God.
I advised a young man who was on fire for God to stay away from evil friends, he replied nonchalantly, ‘no problem, I’ll take care!’ Sadly, the devil took care of him and also took him away from God. It’s been several years since I have heard from him. We live wilted, wasted and worn-out lives because we refuse to take the right path! I’m talking about broken homes, divorces, rebellious kids, demon possessed children, bankruptcy and much more. The myriad woes is because of your myriad errors! This message comes with a caveat not to ignore godly advice and to stick to good friends! The Bible says: Proverbs 13:15 "The way of the transgressor is hard." 16 In everything the prudent acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly.”
Jonah disobeyed God because he was scared to go to Nineveh and felt it was a tough job, at times, the present place where God sends you may not be comfortable, may not be cozy, may not be prosperous, may not be a place of all that you had dreamed about; yet, I advise you to stay where God sends you – the blessings would surely follow. After my miraculous healing, birth of my son, my encounter with God and my salvation experience, I was confident beyond doubt that God would bless me profusely. Before joining work after delivery, I would write scriptures of prosperity, blessings and happiness and would claim it every day. I was all decked up for a great start! I joined back work only to face heaps and heaps of problems! I did not get promotion or increment for the next nearly four years – I stayed like a piece of rag in my department. Let me tell you the flip side of the story: I had started a prayer cell at office which boomed awesomely, my ministry was growing, my outreach ministry was stretching, God opened doors for evangelism and much more! At times, there is a cross that we need to carry for the sake of Christ! God was working magnificently in my life!
Friends, your decisions can either kill or bless you! Make the right choice!
Great wind- part 3
Jonah 1:4”The LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.”
The storehouse of God has got not only blessings stored there for us but He has got the wind, storm and earthquakes stored up, so that He would release them according to the deeds of the people. Read Psalm 135:7 “He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. “ Since Jonah disobeyed, God hurled the great wind on the sea that caused great storm so that the ship was about to break up.
The pandemic situation right now in the world points squarely to disobedience to God, don’t you dare think you can disobey and get away with it, the ‘corona virus’ has been released on the world from the storehouse of God. We see the book of Jonah happening right before our eyes; yet, people refuse to believe, they are praying for the corona virus to vanish rather than pray for the salvation and repentance of this world. July 15, 2020, a 14 year old girl was raped right here in our capital city Delhi, in India’s largest Covid-19 facility by a 19 year old man who was also admitted there as a patient, the girl also alleged “the suspect’s friend went on to record the crime on his mobile phone.” Can anything be more atrocious than this? Tell me. Even during this live or die situation, people are busy uploading silly, sexy status updates and spending limitless time watching cinema gossip. Alcoholic husbands are beating up their wives and women are into reckless affairs right in front of their kids. Our situation right inside Christian homes has exceeded the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. Don’t blame God for Corona Virus!
Loss and pain draws people closer to God! Watch this! When the ship was about to break, the passengers of the ship were terrified, that each of them started calling their god. Yes, storm and dangers make people look up, further since the sea was roaring they had to take the extreme step of throwing away the cargo to lighten the ship, this must have broken their hearts because this was a merchandise ship and were laden with many goods by which they hoped to get gain; but now they are content to suffer loss by throwing them overboard. The captain of the ship was now shattered that he walked around the ship to find the reason for this disaster and found Jonah sleeping. He asked him to get up and pray, alas, Jonah had fallen so badly from his calling that a gentile man had to wake him up to pray. When they cast lots, the lot fell on Jonah! There was no escape, God chased Jonah and caught him, he was disgraced right there in front of everyone. When you dishonor God, He will dishonor you too! When a man of God with two children, also involved in church ministry, had an affair with a young unmarried girl half is age, God did warn him several times, but after a couple of years he committed suicide in a hotel room while he was with his girlfriend. It became a police case and everybody came to know of it, he was disgraced. Caveat!
Part 4
Jonah 1:16”Then the men feared the LORD greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.”
Even after the name of Jonah was revealed when they cast lots; yet, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. Yes, people first try their own strategies to bail out of the situation on their own muscle strength but listen , what comes from God only He can remove it. Say Amen.
"Now something amazing happens which God was looking for, read: “Then they called on the LORD and said, 14 "We earnestly pray, O LORD, do not let us perish on account of this man's life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O LORD, have done as You have pleased." Glory to Jesus! The people who were calling their own gods, now call out to the only True God and they also threw Jonah into the sea, after this, something amazing happens:
• the sea stopped its raging!!!!!
God would honor obedience, He would do the same thing in your life too! Did not Joshua command His people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you."(Joshua 3:5)
Ezekiel 36:33”Thus says the Lord GOD, "On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt.”
After God cleanses you from all sins, He promises the following blessings, read:
34 "The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by.
35 "They will say, 'This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.'
To put it in simple words, ‘God would repair marriages, there would be no more divorces and broken homes, your home will be like the garden of Eden with God in the midst.’ Hallelujah! Take a closer look at the above scripture that we have taken for meditation: ”when I cleanse you from ALL iniquities”, did you observe the word ‘ ALL’? Yes, God is looking for complete holiness, read : 2 Corinthians 7: 1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
There are some people who would say, “ I drink only on occasions, otherwise, I don’t touch alcohol”, “ I used to smoke 10 packets a day, now I have reduced to one packet”, these are wishy-washy Christians, people who do not touch the Bible because the Word clearly demands 100 percent holiness. Well, the endless wastage of time on social media and other worthless activities all do come under the radar of God’s view, so we got to rectify all areas.
The above scripture very categorically explains that ‘on the day’ I clean you from all iniquities then I would unfold blessings. After I preached in a particular city, a pretty young girl called to tell me that she walked out of a relationship with a married man. A young boy made a commitment to not make fake petty cash vouchers for transport, he started claiming the correct amount, if he traveled by bus he did not claim cab fare. All cheating, stealing, lying, lusting, borrowing, greedy eating and reckless shopping should stop. Be cleansed from all iniquities in the name of Jesus!
Today if we need deliverance from this COVID 19 crisis, then we got to throw away all our garbage, anger, bitterness, jealousy, stupidity, egos, vengeance, pride and unforgiveness into the sea. The moment Jonah was thrown into the sea, God had arranged for a fish to swallow him, the fish was kept ready for the final processing of Jonah! God bless you!
