Walking in the Light this New Year

Today we celebrate the dawn of a new year. As the light of morning shines upon the Nation it is important to take stock of the past year and look forward with hope towards the new one. Light and darkness are ancient themes used by the sages through the centuries to describe the good and the bad of life.


On a date as significant as the first day of the year it is imperative to shine a light on our lives and the events that are happening around us. If we cast our minds back to a time 50 years hence, we see a Nation and a people who knew how to identify good things and persons as light and bad things and evil persons as bad. A phase often used by people of that time was to ‘call a spade a spade’ or in today’s language deal directly with the truth.

Today we see great subterfuge being practiced by all and sundry, from the highest echelons to the lowest beggar on the street. People stirred, tormented and demented by greed, lust and the desire for riches and honour going to any lengths and falling to any level to achieve their aims.

The real danger of this situation is that this demented pursuit and greed is cleverly hidden in hyperbole as an angel of light! Many who practice these dark arts of lying, cheating, stealing , bribery and corruption also speak loudly of religion, values, right living, human rights and loving your neighbour.

We are sending a terrible message to our younger generation. We are telling them that living an immoral and sinful life is all right, as long as you can cover it up with a lot of balderdash spoken and shown to the rest of the world! Light has been overcome by darkness and darkness now masquerades as light!

What is the cost of continuing in this unbridled way? Not only will the next generation accept it as the normal way of life, it will have far greater consequences deep within the psyche of the people. When we break the natural principles of Right Living enshrined in every major religion, it brings disastrous consequences with it. As a person once said "we don't break the commandments but rather we break ourselves against them." Breakdown of Law and Order is the obvious consequence. But unseen within the hearts of people lurk discontentment, loss of self respect and absence of peace.

What is the answer? Let us begin the new year by heeding the call to return to the core values of the major religions of our nation such as the 'Panchasila' and the 'Ten Commandments' that helped to form civilization as we know it.

These proven and unchanging principles will not only restore society but also give us the authentic happiness and fulfillment deep within, which our hearts thirst for. When we truly experience that doing the right thing and doing it the right way and looking out for the welfare of others is a better way to happiness, peace and contentment, it will become a way of life and the model for our next generation. Let us make a new year resolution today to see light as light and darkness as darkness and to walk in the light of right living.

Christmas 2010

During this time, the whole world celebrates Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. Who is this man and what is His continued influence over a large population of our world? This is the same enigmatic question that was raised by Napoleon Bonaparte at his deathbed, exiled on an island off South America. He said “I raised an army, marched into Russia and dominated most of Europe, but I saw my empire crumble before my eyes, yet He raised no army and did not walk more than 80 kilometres from His home but continues to inspire millions to live and even die for Him, who is this man?”


Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate today is considered the Son of God and God himself become man by all Christians. He is called the word that God spoke to the world to reveal his true nature and attitude towards humanity. Therefore his birth can be considered a message sent by God to the world.


Interestingly only Jesus Christ had the opportunity of choosing his own parents. By opting to be born to a poor family instead of to a most powerful and influential one, He reveals a secret of God’s heart. For God the purity and motive of the family to which he was born into was more important than their power and affluence. The Bible says that the one intention of His mother was to be obedient to the wishes and desires of God.



This stands in stark contrast to the general attitude popularised by a heavily commercialised Christmas. Many believe it is only uncontrolled spending and wild celebrations that can adequately express our joy at the birth of Jesus Christ our Saviour.

In fact Jesus was born to save us from sin. Sin can be defined as a lie that promises pleasure, security, happiness and a trouble free life, while it actually does the very opposite. It enslaves and makes its victims desperately unhappy.

Jesus the Son of the most powerful God exposes the lie of sin and casts a light on the path that everyone needs to follow to happiness. By consenting to be born a refugee, amongst animals in a manger, he reveals that he was born to bring God’s love and concern for the poorest of the poor. That he came to live for and die for others. In doing so he rose from the dead and continues to live forever.

Similarly he invites us to realise that we were born not just to live for ourselves and to seek our own happiness. He calls us to realise that when we too look beyond our own needs and desires towards those of others, we too join him in his mission on earth. Therefore let us reach out to those who have no voice or power in society, and to those who have no way of ever repaying us for our acts of love and kindness. When we do this we open ourselves to God’s great peace and love that would flood our hearts and minds. Who is this man then? He is truly the Prince of Peace. He invites us to His love however poor and sinful we are and invite us to care for the needs of others as our own path to peace and happiness.

Dare to enter the inner journey of our master

In Mark 2:17 Jesus says I have come to call the sinner. Actually the sinner needs no qualification to receive grace and healing. It is a free gift. But it is so different with the one who brings that grace and healing to the sinner. Jesus goes through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the 40 day fast and temptation in the dessert and only then brings healing and forgiveness of sin to others.

No wonder there is so much powerlessness in the Christian world today. We all want to see miracles without entering the inner journey of our Master that would automatically release this power through our lives.

How does one create a miracle opportunity for God to act?



It seems to be that when we follow the leading of the Gospel concerning life, then we create an opportunity for God to act. The leading of the Gospel is summed up in the verse from the book of Isaiah.

"and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.

The LORD will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land

and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail.

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins

and will raise up the age-old foundations;

you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings".

(Isaiah 58:10 -12)

But the question is how can we care about the poor when we are lost in the struggles and desires of our own needs? We have to meet the one who gave His life for us; The one who became poor to make us rich.

This encounter with Jesus Christ makes us loved and cared for enough to be inspired to abandon ourselves into His hands and His mission of loving, seeking and saving the lost.

Open the eyes of my heart Lord!

As I was praying this morning the Lord was teaching me of the darkness that surrounds us in the world we live in. We so easily fit into it and begin to think and feel like others do and even worse go back to our sinful past nature. How can we escape it? The Lord speaks to people as He came out of the desert at the beginning of the ministry and says, "repent, for the kingdom of God is near you".


That means heaven and the Kingdom of God is a parallel world that is right now amongst us! All we have to do is to repent of our sin, and offer the truth of what is happening in our hearts to the Lord in the second step. Suddenly, the inner eyes of the spirit are opened by the Spirit of God, and we see and feel the presence of Jesus in us and all around us! How do we know when this happens? The fruits of the flesh as mentioned in Galatians 5 such as anger, lust, resentment, revenge, fear and insecurity is replaced by the fruits of the Spirit as mentioned in Galatians 5:22, the peace, love and joy of God moves in us, and are hearts sing and dance to the now visible tunes of joy come from the kingdom of God!

May this become real in your life too.

Private time with the Lord

During my recent visit to the Divine Retreat Centre in India I had a rare opportunity to spend a lot of time in prayer. One thing I discovered about myself is that when I don't have enough private time with the Lord I tend to build up a defense even against God! I feel the need to take care of myself and carry my own life on my own shoulders. This drains my energy and stresses me out. Even when I read the promises of God that I have so often preached to others, they seem so unreal to me. I tell myself of God's personal love for me but it does not ease the worry of taking responsibility for myself.


The one way to change this situation is to take time to soak in the word and presence of God. Though nothing seems to happen at first, the depths of our unconscious dryness and unbelief is touched and suddenly the miracle of presence and the fruits of the spirit such as peace love and joy are restored. Let us all find a time to be personally and internally renewed in the spirit.

As we begin a new year...

After a long layoff I thought of writing something for all who have been following my blog in the recent past. It is the beginning of the year and I waited before the Lord for a word concerning His leading and guidance for me and for everyone else involved in the Community of the Risen Lord.

The word given to us at the beginning of this year is;

2Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

2Peter 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

God holds out a powerful promise to every one of us at the beginning of the year 2010. God promises to give us everything we need for life and godliness. But He goes even further to say that our needs will be met not by our own efforts but by His Divine Power. It is a statement that is worth pondering upon. Can this really be true? How can God provide ALL we need by His power?


The second part of verse 3 opens us to a great answer not understood by many people. St. Peter says that the Divine power that is necessary to meet all our needs comes from the knowledge of Him who called us. Him who called us is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself!

First of all Jesus is risen from the dead and is alive. Second we can have, and grow in a relationship with the Living Christ in such a way that the divine life necessary for life and godliness will flow into us. How does this happen in practical terms?

I remember as a small child the impact that adults and other senior boys had on our lives. We saw them as larger than life and studied every move they made in reverent awe! We began to dress like them, walk like them and even talk like them. Seeing them and associating with them changed the way we live, sometimes even to be bad. But there is no question of the impact they had on us.

Even in the spiritual life we look at other people for inspiration. We are encouraged by great preaching and miracle working. We are also encouraged by great acts of sacrifice for the sake of our Lord and the Kingdom. We try to become like them and our inspired to inner responses by them. Yet often as we walk in the journey of the Kingdom with others, their limitations and their humanness begins to have an effect on us. We tend to measure the ceiling and limits of God by what is happening in their lives and what they believe. Their limitations become our excuse to slacken our own commitment to God. Quietly we become just like the ones we gaze upon! When we realize that it has affected our own journey we judge them for it and they become now not an inspiration but a hindrance to our journey with God!

But Peter invites us to go beyond others in the reading given to us this year. He invites us to fix our gaze on Jesus first and foremost. But how do we fix our eyes on Him. In verse 4 Peter reveals the way. Focus upon the great promises given by the Lord to us. As we gaze upon, claim and hold on to the great promises of Jesus, in our prayer and worship, the Holy Spirit makes them alive and real in our heart. It is then that we will go beyond our own limitation and the limitations of others. As one author put it so beautifully, it is like “marching to the tune of a different drum”. Yes we are all in the same parade through History, but the drum we march to, is the drum beat of the heart of Jesus, made audible to us through His promises while so many others march to the beat of the world around them.

Isaiah captures it beautifully in His heart cry;

Isaiah 60:1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

Isaiah 60:2 See, darkness covers the earth

and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the LORD rises upon you

and his glory appears over you.

Isaiah says that as darkness covers the earth and the people, the Lord will rise upon them who belong to Him. Those who belong to Him are those who have a relationship by living by the light of the promises of Jesus and gazing upon Him in worship. As the light shines into our hearts and radiates within us it will reflect God’s glory which will attract others who walk in darkness. That gives meaning to the beautiful insight of Isaiah when he says

Isaiah 60:3 Nations will come to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your dawn

This is truly our call in the year 2010. This is my prayer for each one of you as well.

“Lord lead us beyond our selves and beyond others to yourself alone. Give us the grace to gaze upon you and hear your voice in and through your promises brought alive in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Lord empower us to inner responses in spite of our own weaknesses and limitations. Lord let not the darkness in others dim the light in my life, but rather let the light of your life in me be light to the world”.