From: Bayo Afolaranmi Dearly Beloved, LET JUSTICE ROLL ON LIKE A RIVER (CAN YOU DO LIKE JOB DID? [Series 3])
"If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants when they had a grievance against me, what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account? Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?" (Job 31:13-15, NIV). One of the virtues of Job that made him righteous, which he used to defend himself, is justice. In fact the original Hebrew and Greek words for "justice" are the same as those rendered "righteousness." It must be constantly borne in mind that the two ideas are essentially the same. Job attested to the fact that he did justice to his menservants and maidservants when they had a grievance against him (Job 31:13-15). Ordinarily, Job could be unjust to them because they were HIS menservants and maidservants but he was just to them because he knew that the same Creator created him and these menservants and maidservants. Justice is a term referring both to disposition and to conduct. It is not only respect for the rights of one's fellowmen, as of life, property, and reputation; in the broadest sense it includes the proper recognition of man's duty toward God. In a larger sense justice is not only giving to others their rights, but involves the active duty of establishing their rights. However, our society nowadays is similar to the old Jewish society where "…justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey" (Isaiah 59:14-15, NIV). People are no longer ready to uphold justice to their fellow human beings. What concerns most people nowadays is what will benefit them even when it hurts other people around them. They do not care to protect the interest of other people. Nevertheless, God's rewards come to those who practice justice in all their dealings with others. That was why prophet Amos advised, "But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" (Amos 5:24, NIV). Job was just even to his menservants and maidservants. Be ready to do justice to people around you today. God will reward you greatly for doing so. In His service, Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor). +234 805 515 9591 http://www.afolabayo.org/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spiritualdigest2003/ "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. FOR TO ME, TO LIVE IS CHRIST AND TO DIE IS GAIN" (Philippians 1:20-21, NIV). ========================================== From: Suzianty Herawati "I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me." --Psalm 23:4 Behold, how independent of outward circumstances the Holy Ghost can make the Christian! What a bright light may shine within us when it is all dark without! How firm, how happy, how calm, how peaceful we may be, when the world shakes to and fro, and the pillars of the earth are removed! Even death itself, with all its terrible influences, has no power to suspend the music of a Christian's heart, but rather makes that music become more sweet, more clear, more heavenly, till the last kind act which death can do is to let the earthly strain melt into the heavenly chorus, the temporal joy into the eternal bliss! Let us have confidence, then, in the blessed Spirit's power to comfort us. Dear reader, are you looking forward to poverty? Fear not; the divine Spirit can give you, in your want, a greater plenty than the rich have in their abundance. You know not what joys may be stored up for you in the cottage around which grace will plant the roses of content. Are you conscious of a growing failure of your bodily powers? Do you expect to suffer long nights of languishing and days of pain? O be not sad! That bed may become a throne to you. You little know how every pang that shoots through your body may be a refining fire to consume your dross--a beam of glory to light up the secret parts of your soul. Are the eyes growing dim? Jesus will be your light. Do the ears fail you? Jesus' name will be your soul's best music, and His person your dear delight. Socrates used to say, "Philosophers can be happy without music;" and Christians can be happier than philosophers when all outward causes of rejoicing are withdrawn. In Thee, my God, my heart shall triumph, come what may of ills without! By thy power, O blessed Spirit, my heart shall be exceeding glad, though all things should fail me here below. CH Spurgeon ===================================== From: Suzianty Herawati "Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away." --Song of Solomon 2:10 Lo, I hear the voice of my Beloved! He speaks to me! Fair weather is smiling upon the face of the earth, and He would not have me spiritually asleep while nature is all around me awaking from her winter's rest. He bids me "Rise up," and well He may, for I have long enough been lying among the pots of worldliness. He is risen, I am risen in Him, why then should I cleave unto the dust? From lower loves, desires, pursuits, and aspirations, I would rise towards Him. He calls me by the sweet title of "My love," and counts me fair; this is a good argument for my rising. If He has thus exalted me, and thinks me t hus comely, how can I linger in the tents of Kedar and find congenial associates among the sons of men? He bids me "Come away." Further and further from everything selfish, grovelling, worldly, sinful, He calls me; yea, from the outwardly religious world which knows Him not, and has no sympathy with the mystery of the higher life, He calls me. "Come away" has no harsh sound in it to my ear, for what is there to hold me in this wilderness of vanity and sin? O my Lord, would that I could come away, but I am taken among the thorns, and cannot escape from them as I would. I would, if it were possible, have neither eyes, nor ears, nor heart for sin. Thou callest me to Thyself by saying "Come away," and this is a melodious call indeed. To come to Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes. But Lord, how can a stone rise, how can a lump of clay come away from the horrible pit? O raise me, draw me. Thy grace can do it. Send forth Thy Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames of love in my heart, and I will continue to rise until I leave life and time behind me, and indeed come away. CH Spurgeon ======================================= From: Bayo Afolaranmi Dearly Beloved, HOW GENEROUS ARE YOU? (CAN YOU DO LIKE JOB DID? [Series 4]) "If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary, if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless- but from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my birth I guided the widow- if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a garment, and his heart did not bless me for warming him with the fleece from my sheep… if the men of my household have never said, 'Who has not had his fill of Job's meat?'- but no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler…" (Job 31:16-32, NIV). In the continuation of his defense Job boasted about his generosity to the needy (verses 16-23). This generosity was extended to the members of his household as well as strangers (verses 31-32). His generosity, as we can see it from those verses, corrects the wrong notion of some people that only money can be given to show the act of generosity. Generous giving involves more than money. It involves all other resources, time and even the life that God has generously giving us. Earlier this year I wrote on giving generously. Let me reproduce part of that write-up here: the New Testament gives explicit instructions about generous giving (Acts 4:32-35; 2 Corinthians 9:6-12; Galatians 6:6; Philippians 4:14-19). The manner of this giving must be in (a) firstly giving of ONESELF (2 Corinthians. 8:5); (b) one that, as much as possible, no other person knows about (Matthew 6:1-4); (c) giving in love (1 Corinthians 13:3); (d) accordance with one's ability (Acts 11:29); and (e) without grudge (2 Corinthians. 9:5, 7). The measure of the New Testament giving is UNLIMITED – the more you give, the more you receive from God (Luke 6:38; 2 Corinthians 9:6). The tithe is a good place to begin in formulating a program for Christian stewardship. However, it should not stop there. God is ready to bless only those who are giving generously to the needy and the cause of the gospel. Many people have been robbing THEMSELVES of the blessings of God by not giving generously out of their possessions. Job was generous to those that were in needs around him. Are you? In His service, Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).
