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I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life

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Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

John 14:6

Fishers

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Knowing Christ Jesus as one’s Lord and Saviour makes a radical difference to one’s life. Given what the New Testament teaches, this is what every Christian can expect, and should indeed look forward to.

In I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, the author paints an accurate portrait of the extraordinary Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who believes in Him is on the way to Heaven, he possesses the truth, and has eternal life. Based on Who Jesus is, life in Christ must surely take a very different turn.

I Have Enough illustrates this difference powerfully. The man of the world takes pride in his own accomplishments, and asserts, “I have enough, I have no need of anyone else, not even God.” The man who trusts in Jesus Christ says, “I have enough” in a very different tone, meaning, “I have Christ; nothing else in this world tempts or attracts me, for I find my sufficiency in Him.” A personal testimony, God Transformed My Life, brings out this truth from an actual, real- life situation.

Not that life as a Christian is a bed of roses – by no means. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is often weak. However, the grace of the Lord Jesus extends to even catching the believer when he falls. The

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/Carlos P

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Difference Between a Failure and a Quitter brings comfort to every weak believer. Indeed, as the Apostle Paul says, “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10).

One of the most important reasons why the Christian finds help in times of his need, is that he can always bring his needs and his weaknesses to God in prayer. Elijah’s Effective Prayer shows us how Elijah was a man of frail weaknesses like us, yet was able to accomplish stupendous tasks for God through prayer. Even in extreme weakness, when we do not even know how to pray, God helps us through His Spirit. God the Spirit – Our Divine Co-Intercessor explains this enablement of God’s grace in some detail.

Enjoy this issue, and be encouraged and challenged by the articles.

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Picture on the right, cover and on page 4: F

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/Carlos P

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‘Who is Jesus Christ?’ Many people in this world regard Jesus as a nice and kind person, who is everybody’s friend. He is ‘Gentle Jesus, meek and mild.’ However, there are also many people in this world who find that the Christian Gospel is something that offends them. They cannot accept what Christians believe, and the thing that offends them most of all is the Person of Jesus and His extraordinary claims. However, the crucial thing that each and every one of us must consider at one time or another is what Jesus says concerning Himself and in John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’”.

In this article we will examine what Jesus meant by the above statement, why He said it, and how it impacts each and everyone of us today.

Many of us go through life seeking something and searching for the answers to the great questions and issues of life, such as; Is there a God? Is there a life after death? Is there a way to heaven? How can I know?

True believers in Christ believe that the answers to these questions are to be found in the Bible and they are clearly stated in John 14. Verse 2 says, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it


Gospel

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were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” Our Lord Jesus is saying that there is a heaven and in Verse 4, He tells His disciples that they know the way to heaven. These disciples of Jesus have been with Him for years and they have listened to Him speak about the things concerning the Kingdom of Heaven. They know that the way to reach heaven is through faith in Him alone. Again and again in His teaching ministry Jesus spoke about heaven and the way to heaven. He told many parables concerning the Kingdom of Heaven. But it seems that as with a great many of us, these things did not register with these men at the time. They may have felt that they were young, fit and healthy, and that they had a long time still to live on this earth. Their minds would not be too quick to think about dying and going to heaven just yet. Or perhaps they were simply enjoying their lives here on earth to think too much about the hereafter.

The above description might apply to you. The issues of life and death, and life beyond death only hit many of us when things seem to be going wrong for us. Has something happened in your life recently to make you think seriously about God and eternity and spiritual things? If so, there is a ray of hope for you because it is such questions that our Lord is addressing here.

Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus, in all honesty asks a question that expresses his ignorance. In verse 5 he asks, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” And in answer to that question, our Lord answers the question of many hearts. He says in Verse 6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

You will notice first of all that there is a recognition by our Lord that these men did have a belief in God. In Verse 1, He says “You believe in God…” The vast majority of people in the world today have some sort of belief in God. It varies from place to place and from person to person. Some people believe in what they call “fate” or a “higher power” or some form of idol or so on. Most people have a belief in a god of some sort even if it is a god of their own making. It is important

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that we should have more than just a vague notion and that is why the Christian Gospel and the Christian message are so vital.

The stress that we find here is that there is a true and living God. The Lord Jesus Christ is showing us that He is the manifestation of God in human form and that He came down from heaven and took upon Himself the form of a man in order to reveal God to mankind. As a result of His coming into this world men and women have received the greatest and fullest revelation of God that has ever been given.

As Christians we believe that what is being said here is being said by God. This is His Word concerning these great and ultimate issues and questions and His Word is all-important. So, when you consider the whole matter of death and life-after-death, there is no uncertainty as far as God is concerned. And Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” Certainly there is life after death, a continuation of things, an eternity and an existence beyond the here and now. This world is not all that there is to life. There is a place of fellowship and communion with God. The Christian Gospel declares heaven to be a place of infinite fellowship with God, who is a Heavenly Father and who exists in a Heavenly home.

The Bible teaches us that that is how it was in the beginning when God created all things. He made Adam in such a way that there was unclouded fellowship and love and happiness between him and God. However because of the Fall, man became by nature a sinner and as a result, was cast forth from the Garden and from the presence and fellowship of God. Outside the Garden the Lord placed an angel with a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Adam found, as all his descendants did, that man, by nature as a sinner, has no way back to the Presence of the Father.

Into that situation therefore, the Lord Jesus came and He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life...” He was saying that quite clearly and categorically, and lest anyone should misunderstand Him, He also

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said, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” So, if these words are true, and Christians believe that they are, they ought not to be offensive, because these are the very truths that we all desperately need. They should be received with great thankfulness because they are the answers to the great problems of mankind.

The Bible teaches that before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve enjoyed three special privileges. First of all they were in a relation-ship of communion with God. Second, they knew God and they knew the truths that God conveyed to them. Third, they possessed spiritual life. However when they sinned they lost each of those blessings and privileges.

They were told not to eat of fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and if they did, on that day, they would surely die. However Adam and Eve disobeyed God and instead of enjoying communion with God, they were put out of the Garden and experienced alienation from Him.

Instead of knowing the truth, they listened to falsehood and error. Instead of possessing life, they began to know death. That condition has been passed on to all of their descendants which is the whole of mankind. Therefore, the most basic and ultimate human problem in this world is that we are alienated from God; we are ignorant of the truth; and we are condemned to spiritual and physical death.

But the glory of the claim of Jesus Christ is that it is the divine answer to those issues. When no man could find the way back to God, He came from the bosom of the Father and He opened up the way. How did He do it? He became a man and lived a life of spotless and perfect righteousness, holiness and purity. The problem that we all have is the matter of our sinful nature. God declares that we are sinners in God’s sight; and if we are honest, our conscience affirms God’s declaration.

But what can be done? How can our sin be removed? The only way is the one revealed to us by God in the Person of Jesus Christ. He went

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to Calvary’s cross and He, who knew no sin, became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He stood in the place of sinners and the sword of Divine Justice awoke and fell upon Him. As a result of His awful death, He is now able to say to men and women, “I am the Way.”

Those of you who know about the Old Testament and Jewish history will remember the Tabernacle and the Temple where God focused His Presence. Especially was that Presence focused upon the Holy of Holies or the Holiest Place. That inner Holy Place was separated from the outer court by a huge heavy curtain or veil. Through that veil no man was allowed to pass lest he should die. Only the High Priest was allowed, on one day in the year, which is the great Day of Atonement. He could only go there after the blood of an innocent animal had been shed. The way into the presence of God was veiled off so that no man could enter. But now, Jesus says, “I am the Way.”

On the Cross He cried: “It is finished” and at that very moment that huge Temple veil was torn in two. He tore the veil by giving Himself as an offering for sin and by the shedding of His own precious blood. It was divided from top to bottom by a deliberate act of God. Not a shred of that curtain remains to prevent us from coming to God. For those who are true believers, there is now nothing to separate them from the holy Presence of God. The vilest sinner who truly believes can have access into the Holy of Holies and enter in, and behold the beauty of the Lord.

That is what Jesus is saying when he says, “I am the Way.” He is the Way and there is no other way. It is impossible to come before God on the basis of our own good works, our record of achievements, sacrifices, tears, vows or any effort on our part. They have no influence at all. He alone is the Way.

You might ask, “How can I know that these things are true?” When Jesus says, “I am the Truth….” He is assuring us that He is speaking the truth concerning our condition before God, concerning God’s

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judgment upon sin, concerning salvation, and concerning Heaven and Hell. “If it were not so, I would have told you.” Not only does He speak the truth, He is Himself, the Truth. All truth comes from Him.

Pontius Pilate once asked the question that many people are asking: “What is truth?” In answer to that question our Lord Jesus says: “I am the Truth.” Listen to what He said to Pilate, “You say rightly that I am a King. For this cause was I born, and for this cause I have come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” That was the declaration of Christ concerning the whole purpose of His life. “For this cause was I born and for this cause have I come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.” He constantly brought people face to face with the ultimate issues of life and death, eternity and heaven, and hell and salvation. In doing so, He has gripped the hearts and minds of people the world over.

You may be seeking and searching for the answers to the great questions of life: Is there a God? Is there life after death? Is there a way of salvation? How can I know? Here is the word of Jesus Christ, saying that there is such a thing as positive truth. That is something that is constantly being questioned in this day and age.

We are being told that if we assert that Jesus is the Truth and that He alone reveals ultimate truth, then that is an extreme, bigoted and narrow position to take. If Jesus Himself and His teachings is the truth then everything that is contrary to that is false. We can agree with that as it is the only logical conclusion that can be made. If Jesus is the Truth, then that which is contrary to Jesus cannot be true. If God has spoken in a specific way then that which is opposed to what God has said cannot be from Him.

All true Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Truth and spoke the truth. We believe that the teaching of the Bible is the absolute and authoritative Word of God and that it not only contains truth but it is truth. It is when men and women accept Christ as the Truth and

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the Way that they enter into Life. They find in their experience that He is their Life. It is the truth which sets them free and brings them into a new life in Him.

Jesus said that He had come into this world that men and women might have life, and that that life is something that is spiritual and eternal. The whole Bible tells us that by nature we are spiritually dead in our trespasses and sin, as we walk according to the course of this world.

In order to have new life, we need to be born again and we must be united to the Lord Jesus Christ. When that happens, we receive His Spirit, His life, vitality, energy and power. When that happens it is like being raised from the dead and it is a miracle of God’s grace.

When we believe this Gospel and turn to Christ then we are “made alive” unto God, and brought into fellowship with Him. It is all His doing. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Life of His people. He is the only true and living way and He is the One who comes to us and bids us to come to Him and to know Him.

In order to stress and to emphasise what He is saying, you will see that He goes on to say, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The last three vital words have a profound significance.

First, they close the door on any other way such as the concept of the “Universal Fatherhood of God.” This view is held by millions of people in this world. They speak about “the great heart of God” and they preach a doctrine which says that we can all come to God on that basis. Because of His Fatherly tenderness and kindness He is willing to accept all people on that basis.

Men and women are told that they are all wayward children and they must simply return to God’s fatherly arms which are waiting to receive them. They can then live at peace with the rest of mankind. In other words there is no need for the Lord Jesus Christ and His teachings.

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Men may talk as much as they please about the Fatherhood of God but they need to listen carefully to the words of Jesus. On the authority of God’s Word we say that there is no love of God to any man who discards the teachings of Jesus Christ or who tramples under foot the blood of the Son of God.

God is a Father, and He is tender and loving but He is not a loving Father to me, unless I come to Him through His Son. If you are being lulled into a false security because of the so-called “universal Fatherhood of God” then the words of the Lord Jesus should awaken you to think differently, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” No one knows God as his Father apart from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Second, these words also close the door on salvation by works. I was brought up like millions of others in a system of worship which stressed outward ritual and ceremony. There were altars, priests, candles and incense, fast days, feast days, robes and banners. I am not saying that no-one who has a reverence for those sorts of things can be saved. Far from it, and I believe that there are many people in that situation who have a genuine trust in Christ.

My point is this: They are saved in spite of their altars, their priests and their ceremonies, and not because of them. Salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone, through grace alone. “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

People think that if they live a good life and do no harm to anyone, and if they help the poor and needy, then that is all that matters. However, if you are hoping to gain heaven by your own morality, your own merits and good living, then these words come down in front of you like a huge barrier. “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

None of your works and not even your tears can save you. Few people come to God without tears, but they are not saved because of their tears, but because of Christ. “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

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It is not by believing certain truths either. We can be utterly orthodox in belief and still be lost. There isn’t an unbeliever in hell – even the devils believe and tremble. “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

The message of the whole Bible points to Christ. All the prophecies, predictions and pictures throughout the Old Testament point to Him. John the Baptist pointed to Him as the Lamb of God who alone could save. Christ came that you might have life. You can have that life now, by coming to Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Without Christ you are still under the sway of the Devil who is the father of lies. Christ is not simply a Teacher who speaks truth about God, rather He Himself is the truth of God. Without Christ, men and women are dead in their trespasses and sins. Christ did not come to refine and repair our old lives, for He said, “I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly.” He is not one of a number of different ways to God; and He is not simply one aspect of truth or a different variety of life. He is the way and the truth and the life; and no man comes to the Father but by Him.

In heaven they all focus upon Him. “Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood...” “Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Amidst all the clamouring voices and noises within this world, listen to this one voice: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” You must come to Christ to get to heaven. You must pass the cross to receive the crown. May God make these things so clear to you, that you can do nothing other than come to Him!

Pastor William Hughes

William Hughes has served as a pastor in UK and USA for over 40 years. He is

now retired from full time ministry but continues to be a conference speaker in

different countries including Singapore.

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Christian Living

I Have EnoughBut Esau said, “I have enough my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” Jacob said, “No please, if I have found favour in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.” (Gen 33:9-11).

In this world, many people claim that because they lack certain things therefore life is not fulfilling for them. Some say that they have not enough money, therefore they cannot enjoy things that need money to buy. Others say that they have not enough time, therefore they have to curtail spending time with their family. In the Bible we find two brothers who both said, “I have enough”. One of them rejected the other’s gifts because he had enough of possessions of his own. The other urged him to accept his gifts because God had richly blessed him with great wealth. Let us examine the attitudes of these two brothers towards their possessions and wealth.

In order to understand their bases for saying “I have enough” we need to look at their philosophies of life. Esau and Jacob were twin brothers from Isaac and Rebekah. But they were predestined to be as different from each other as North is from South. Even in the womb of their mother, Rebekah, they began to struggle with each other. It is bad enough to have one foetus in a mother’s womb, what more when there are two struggling in the mother’s body! When she complained to the LORD, she was told that the severe jostling in her womb prefigured the future antagonism between two nations that will arise from her twin sons.

After they were born, these boys had more differences between them than similarities as twins. Esau, the firstborn, had a reddish complexion

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and hairy skin. His younger brother Jacob had a fair complexion and smooth skin. Their differences were not just in the physical appearances but also in their personalities and dispositions. As they grew up, these became more apparent. Esau was a rugged and headstrong hunter preferring the outdoors while Jacob was a plain and amiable man, preferring the quiet life of the home. As a result, Isaac loved Esau for the game he brought home for him to enjoy. Rebekah loved the younger boy for his gentle and obedient nature.

When their grandfather Abraham died at the age of 175, these two boys were about 15 years old. They must have heard many family stories from both their grandfather and father. They heard how God called Abraham to leave his home in Ur of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan when he was 75 years old and how God made a covenant with him to bless him and to make his name great. Most wonderful of all, the LORD said to Abraham, “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:3b). In other words, from this covenant family would come the Messiah of the world. What greater blessing can one ask for than to be one of the progenitors of the promised Messiah!

But Esau, being a profane person, was not interested in the religion of his father’s household. He despised his birthright as the firstborn and sold it with all its privileges, obligations and responsibilities. He did this many times in his heart when he threw himself into the ways of the Canaanite communities before he finally sold it openly to Jacob. He went hunting with the young Hittites so often that he fell in love with Judith and Bashemath, daughters of the Hittites Beeri and Elon, respectively (Gen 26:34), to the grief of Isaac and Rebekah. In order to spite his parents further, he married Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, his father’s half brother.

There was not a trace of the faith of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah in Esau. After marrying the daughters of the Canaanites, Esau began to sacrifice, swear and vow to their false gods. Though he despised his birthright, he coveted his father’s blessing. In spite of all the wickedness in Esau, Isaac loved him and showed favouritism

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towards him over his other son, Jacob, because of his appetite for venison. He lost all sound judgment for the sake of his fleshly desire. When the time came for him to give the important blessings to his sons, he longed for venison to inspire him instead of fasting and prayer. Upon Isaac’s request, Esau went to the hills to hunt for his father’s favourite venison only to come back home to discover that he had already been cheated of the patriarchal blessing by his brother!

In the midst of fraud, wickedness, treachery and injury in this family, God’s plan prevailed. To prevent Jacob from being killed by his cunning, cruel and revengeful brother, he was sent to Padan-Aram to his mother’s relatives on the pretext of getting a wife from among his mother’s people. Rebekah’s parting words to Jacob were, “My son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away – until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there” (Gen 27:43-45). Rebekah intended to send Jacob away for a short while, but that short while turned out to be twenty-one years before the two brothers finally met again.

Jacob left home alone but now, twenty-one years later, he came back with two wives, two concubines, eleven sons and one daughter (Benjamin was not yet born). When he supplanted Esau twenty-one years ago, it was as if he had built a house over an active volcano. Now he was on his way home to face the consequences of his crime committed long ago. His heart was trembling all the way home. He dared not expect forgiveness or reconciliation from his revengeful brother, all he wanted was a peaceful encounter. So he sent herd after herd from the great number of Laban’s whitest cattle, goats and camels which he possessed, to quench the embers of Esau’s wrath.

By now Esau had acquired great wealth himself among the Canaanites and he did not find Jacob’s gift of snow white herd attractive enough to quench his wrath against his brother. So he put on his armour and came with four hundred men to meet Jacob. Jacob, with all his

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encumbrances had only one weapon – prayer. “Then Jacob said, ‘O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. For You said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude’” (Gen 32:9-12).

When they finally met face to face, Esau ran to greet his brother without restraint of emotion. God had indeed answered Jacob’s prayer. After such a long time of troubling separation, all the hateful memories were wiped away and the murderous threats Esau had against Jacob were laid aside. The brotherly embrace from Esau had proved to Jacob that his fear was really unfounded.

Esau asked Jacob for the reason for sending 550 animals to him and Jacob said, “These are to find favour in the sight of my lord.’ But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself” (Gen 33:8-9). And Jacob said, “‘Please, take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.’ So he urged him, and he took it” (Gen 33:11).

By now both brothers had become men of great substance and wealth and both of them said, “I have enough”. But their words carried different meanings. Esau being a man of the world obviously attributed all his wealth to be the result of his own achievements. He worked hard and with his cleverness, he built up his own empire without the help of the God of Abraham and Isaac. His interests, occupations and pursuits were all of this world. He was skilful, strong and successful in the field. He chose his companions and wives from among the Canaanites and ignored all the spiritual lessons taught to him by his grandparents and parents. Therefore when he said, “I have enough” he was full of pride

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and self-confidence. In his heart he said, “I don’t need your gifts to enrich me. By my own abilities I have made my fortune.”

“Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the persons of his household, his cattle and all his animals, and all his goods which he had gained in the land of Canaan, and went to a country away from the presence of his brother Jacob” (Gen 36:6). Thus he was moving further and further away from his covenant family to dwell in Mount Seir and ultimately, he became the father of the Edomites.

Jacob, in spite of all his flaws and failures in life, properly and gratefully acknowledged that all that he had came from the merciful and gracious hand of God. His heart and mind did not dwell on the things of this world but on the unseen and the spiritual. Jacob lived a stormy life but at the end the sunset bathed it in radiant splendour. The author of Hebrews commented on his life saying, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff” (Heb 11:21). His life did not start very well, but as he went on, his faith grew each day. At the end, he knew that having God to be his protector, provider and sustainer was all that he ever needed and therefore he said, “I have enough.”

As we look around our own church, many young people, who were brought up by Christian parents and were even baptised, are no longer with us. Some sold their birthright to their handsome salaries, others to unbelieving wives and husbands. God is no longer enough for them, as they look for money, success and pleasures in the world. They are unaware that their worldly ambitions have crowded God out of their lives just like Esau. Jacob on the other hand, retained a precious thankful remembrance of God’s Divine providence in his life. He acknowledged that God rescued him out of many evils in his life and he testified to His faithfulness in having supplied all his needs. May we be as Jacob, giving thanks to God and trusting that in Him, ‘I have enough’.

Dixie Chua

Dixie Chua is an editor of Fishers.

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For over forty years, the way I lived was solely influenced by the decisions of my parents as well as the influence of society. Peer pressure played a huge role in the way I lived. As a teenager, I was deeply self-conscious about how my friends would look at me and what they would think of me. My life was therefore shaped to fit comfortably into their world in order to please them. I lived a sinful lifestyle in order to appear cool and be accepted by them.

As an adult, the desire to fit in continued to influence me and I became heavily involved in our competitive society, constantly running the long and tedious rat-race. The product of that life-style was that I became very self-centred and self-absorbed in my pursuit of success. Willing to do whatever it took to achieve worldly success, I grew proud of my accomplishments and constantly pursued glory for myself.

God was simply not in my mind and on several occasions, when a few close friends tried to share the Gospel message with me, I politely turned them away. Full of arrogance and ignorance in rejecting God’s salvation, I had no idea that the life I was living was displeasing to Him. And unknowingly, my two children were raised and influenced to be like me when I subconsciously planted the conformity mindset into them.

Then disaster struck. In September 2009, a medical crisis struck my son and that changed my life. Things started to fall apart as the ensuing two years became the most difficult period of my life. I had to leave my job in order to be with my son who was going through depression. The problem that I faced seemed to be insurmountable as no matter how hard I tried and no matter what I did, I could not restore peace and harmony back into my family’s life.

In May 2010, my sister invited my family and me to a Teen Youth Camp conducted by The ‘Fisherman of Christ’ Fellowship (FCF). I was

Testimony

God Transformed My Life

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reluctant to go, but eventually accepted her invitation. It was there that I heard a Christian sermon for the first time. By the end of the sermon, I was both surprised and confused. The speaker mentioned that coming to know God was not simply about behavioural modification or doing more of what was right and less of what was wrong. It was about how God loves us, how He wants us to have sweet communion with Him and have a personal relationship with Him. And at the same time, it is about changing our hearts from loving ourselves, our sins and the world, to loving Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of the world so that sinners may be saved and drawn close to God once again.

Honestly, I could not comprehend this truth at that time. It sounded so unreal, so impossible. Nevertheless, with self-centred intention, I continued to send my children to FCF for Sunday School Classes and Worship Services so long as it could help my son’s medical condition. Each Sunday, after sending our children to church, my wife and I would proceed to do our weekly shopping. I treated this as if I was sending them to one of their weekend recreation classes. My philosophy at the time was that my children were the ones who required extra lessons and not me. Once again, I had failed to hear what the Lord was saying to me and did not recognise that I was the one who was truly sick and needed healing.

By the end of that year, my family was invited to attend FCF’s Annual Bible Camp in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Attending the camp was a rewarding, inspiring and life-changing experience for me. Even though I was spiritually well fed with sermons, group sharing, discussions and praying sessions, being a non-believer, I initially felt very uncomfortable with some of the activities. Feeling very uneasy and awkward, I was not forthcoming in my sharing and praying.

To me all these activities seemed weird and unnatural as I was not used to sharing from my heart in public. As the days went by, sitting in the hall and listening to the sermons gave me a lot of peace and I began to understand why group sharing and praying are helpful. They

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reinforce our understanding of what the speaker was saying from the Word of God. At the end of the camp, we were gathered together in the hall for the final sharing before breaking camp. Hymns were sung and words of praises were given to the Lord.

It was at that moment, sitting in my chair, listening to brothers and sisters giving their thanks and praise to God that tears suddenly filled my eyes. I cannot describe the feeling. But it was very emotional and very “tear-jerking”. Being prideful, I quickly wiped the tears away and pretended to yawn.

After returning from camp, I started attending Worship Service regularly on Sunday at FCF. However, due to my stubbornness, pride and “so-called” busy lifestyle, it took another 2 years of wrestling with God’s Word before I began to attend Sunday School classes. Through those lessons, I began to learn how precious God’s Word is and started reading my Bible.

A passage from the Book of Romans encouraged me greatly, “And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom 12:2).

Slowly, by His grace, His Word began to change my heart. I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, and I am eternally grateful to God for showing me my sins and my need for a Saviour.

I remember laughing to myself the first time I heard of how the Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness. I thought to myself: how could anyone spend 40 years wandering in the wilderness? But then it struck me that I had been wandering away from God for 40 years as well.

But by God’s grace, He has given me new life. He has given me hope, encouragement, peace, wisdom and salvation. I am so thankful that God did not give up on me for the past 40 years, but kept drawing

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me to Him until I understood the truth and importance of the Gospel message. I no longer fix my eyes on this temporal life, but in the life to come. I desire to draw close to Him and to develop an intimate relationship with Him.

By faith, I believe that His grace is sufficient to provide me strength during trials and temptations for the rest of my earthly life, and that His grace is also sufficient to heal all the wounds and the traumas in my life.

My baptism took place on 24 May 2015. However, becoming a Christian and getting baptised does not make me perfect. I still have questions, still do wrong things and still sin. But I can see how God is working to transform me and realise that I do not have to do things on my own because God is with me. I am learning to constantly rely on God for His strength and guidance in dealing with day-to-day challenges and difficulties.

I would like to end my sharing with a verse from God’s Word, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13-14).

Mike Teo

Mike Teo is a member of The ‘Fisherman of Christ’ Fellowship.

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“Be diligent to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica — Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. And Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus” (2 Tim 4:9-12).

These are some of the very last written words of Paul to Timothy. Paul was writing from prison in Rome awaiting execution by Nero. In this passage he talks about some of his colleagues who co-laboured with him.

Christian Living

The Difference Between a Failure and a Quitter

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“Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world.” We learn from the epistle to the Colossians that Demas was a member of Paul’s missionary team; also from the epistle to Philemon where he was acknowledged as Paul’s fellow worker. Here we learn that he has deserted Paul. This is indeed a sad tale. Demas had been a keen Christian worker. He is now tired of it all and finished with it all and has walked out of it all. Why? It is because of a “love affair” with the present age.

Many people are happy with the present age. What capture their hearts are all in the present age. The present age offers you wealth. It offers popularity. If you cannot get either of these, it offers you pleasure which is whatever pleases you. We do not know whether Demas was tired of being poor and went after money. Perhaps he felt he was overlooked and went after some form of recognition. Perhaps he was simply tired of pleasing Christ and Christ’s representative, Paul, and wanted to please himself. But for whatever the reason, he walked out.

Paul has already warned Timothy that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim 6:10). Anybody who loves money and pursues wealth for the sake of money, without any further noble purpose, is already playing with a “Demas spirit”.

Popularity is ultimately saying “look at me, look at me.” The world was created by God for us to look exactly at the opposite direction — to look out of ourselves to God Himself and be fully satisfied. But Adam and Eve were not satisfied just to look at God, they wanted to be as God. And every generation ever since has followed them. So it is now “look at me, look at what I am doing, look at what I am saying”. Just look at me!

If you cannot get noticed and you cannot get money, the world is tempting you to do at least something that pleases yourself. One is pleased with this and another is pleased with that. Therefore, life’s objective is to please oneself irrespective of anything else. But the whole purpose of life and the only fulfilment of life is to recognise that

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my position as a creature is to please God. Jesus said, “I always do the things that please Him” (John 8:29).

Demas only loved the present age whereas Paul said, “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim 4:8). “That Day” and “His appearing” is what Paul loves. All that has faded from Demas’ mind. He lives only for today.

“…Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim 4:11). Why is Mark given a special mention? It is because Mark had been a terrible failure once and was useless to Paul. When Paul and Barnabas went on their first missionary journey, they took Mark along as their assistant. He stuck with them for a while. When they were in Cyprus, Mark was doing all that he could to make the preachers’ lives as easy as possible so that they could get on with their preaching. Then they crossed the sea to what is now modern Turkey. At that point Mark could not face it any more. It was too tough. It was too difficult. Without any permission he just got on a boat and went home to Jerusalem. When it was really important for him to be there, he turned away and walked out of it all. We wonder for how many years he was haunted by his failure.

However, there is a great difference between a Demas and a Mark. The problem with Mark is not that he loved the present world. The problem with Mark is that he found the going tough and that he failed. A failure is not an apostate. There is a vast difference between someone who has a blot in his Christian life and someone who is no longer interested in the Christian faith and walks out of it all. There is always a solution for a failure. Mark failed but he recovered from it.

So when it came to the second missionary journey, Barnabas wanted Mark to come again. Paul could not agree and they went their separate ways. But then even Paul changed his mind. We find Mark back in Paul’s missionary team. In his condemned cell, Paul called Timothy

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to bring Mark along for he was useful for ministry. The Greek word for “useful” means that Mark could turn his hand to anything. Mark could preach, he could write the Gospel of Mark, he could serve as a servant, he could administer and he could run errands. He could turn his hands to anything and be fruitful.

What makes the difference? Well, he heard Paul preached the Gospel many times. No matter how bad your failure has been or how often, there is a way back. The way back is not penance or giving yourself a hard task. The way back is to own up to it and believe that Christ is not shocked by sin. Christ came into the world to save sinners. If you have no strength, you are ideal, because His strength is made perfect in weakness. If you fail, you are the perfect candidate, because Jesus Christ came into the world to give strength to the ungodly. He came to save sinners and cleanse them from their sin by wiping their records clean. No wonder Mark wrote the Gospel for Peter because he loved the Gospel. He had recovered from the terrible failures; he was useful once more.

From time to time we meet Christians who express regrets over their past experiences. They had not walked in the will of God, but had gone their own ways despite warnings. They had done such and such, and are haunted by them. They regret that they are not what they should be. They see no hope and are resigned to be sub-standard and half-baked believers. This is not true but a lie from Satan.

The way back to usefulness in Christian service is to kneel down, at least in your heart, in repentance and come back to Christ with empty hands and tell Him that you have nothing else but Him. That is enough because Jesus Christ is the perfect Saviour who has the power to restore you to usefulness no matter how far you have fallen.

Chua Eu Jin

Chua Eu Jin is an elder of The ‘Fisherman of Christ’ Fellowship.

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Christian Living

Prayer (Part 2)

God the Spirit – Our Divine Co-IntercessorWhenever we think about Romans 8, we think of the climactic declaration that absolutely nothing in this whole wide world can separate us from the love of God (v. 39). We who readily recall the fact that God causes all things to work together for good to His people (v. 28). However, we often miss a very important point, which is the droning repetition of the verb groan. In this article, we will study the matter of the Holy Spirit’s intercession for us, described as “groanings too deep for words” (v. 26).

A Context for Groaning (Rom 8:18)A groan is an expression of distress and dismay, a cry for help, and a non-verbal sigh of pain. When we find ourselves in depths of despair, groaning is often all we can do. Why is there so much groaning in Romans 8? The reason is because we live in an age that is best described as “already-but-not-yet”. What does this mean?

In verse 18, “this present time” refers to the period between the Ascension of Christ and His Return. This is a time when many things are already certain, but not fully accomplished yet. We have already “received a spirit of adoption as sons” (v. 15), but we are still “waiting eagerly for our adoptions as sons, the redemption of our body” (v. 23). We are already saved, but we do not experience the fullness of God’s salvation yet.

Local churches on earth today are already an embryonic expression of the glories of God’s kingdom. However, there is still much more that yet awaits the final consummation of all things, when Christ returns to earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Hence, in an already-but-not-yet stage of the outworking of God’s redemption, there is much groaning.

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The Groaning of the Universe (Rom 8:19-22)Sin had cosmic consequences upon the universe, where the perfect world of creation was marred when man, God’s appointed ruler over creation, sinned. Before the fall, Adam and his wife had only one way to experience creation which is enjoyment. But today, living in the world involves exertion and exasperation. The earth once brought forth food in abundance, without any tilling and toiling, but now, it yields its produce only by the profuse sweat of man’s furrowed brow. When sin entered the world, it brought along a severe disruption to the perfection of the universe. Nothing was left untouched by sin, and all which once was right, became wrong.

The whole purpose of creation and everything in it is to glorify God who has unfolded the salvation story through the sacrifice of His Son. However creation is still subject to futility today. There is destruction, chaos and disorder, and it is enslaved to an unrelenting corruption.

With this corruption, creation groans to be made right and yearns to be free from such decay and disarray as earthquakes and tsunamis, torrential floods and severe droughts, and hurricanes and volcanic eruptions. There are also bacteria and viruses destroying plant and animal life, hordes of insects destroying vast tracts of cultivation, outbreaks of tumours in the body and epidemics of killer diseases in the world. Indeed, things are not what they should be today, or what they will gloriously be one day. Creation groans, eagerly awaiting the coming of that day.

The Groaning of Believers (Rom 8:23-25)Christians also groan, expressing an intense longing that parallels the groaning of creation. Why do we groan? Paul says, “And not only this, but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom 8:23). Having indwelt us, the Holy Spirit is at work within us, conforming us to the image of Christ. This verse tells us that it is because we bear the first fruits

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of the Spirit that we groan. The Spirit has begun His transformation work in our hearts; He has opened our spiritual eyes, and given us a consciousness of our fellowship with Christ. Thus we are able to see the wickedness in our hearts, the waywardness in our lives, the foolishness of our speech and the faithlessness of our thoughts. For all these “we ourselves groan within ourselves” a groaning which only the regenerate groan.

We groan differently from creation and from everyone else in this world. This is because believers are the only ones who can groan consciously with a confidence that there is a coming consummation of all our hopes. We understand that Christ is coming, that He has a glorious purpose in all our suffering, and that we are being changed from one degree of Christlikeness to another. By faith, we believe that which we cannot see with our physical eyes. We trust in God, we know that His promises never fail, and we await eagerly the day when all we wait for come to fruition. As we wait, we groan, in faith; for the faithless cannot groan the way believers groan.

The Groaning of the Spirit (Rom 8:26-27)Verses 26 and 27 explain that the Holy Spirit groans and He does that in intercession on our behalf! The words “In the same way” indicate that there is similarity and continuity in the matter. Creation groans, believers groan, and now the Spirit groans. But just as the believer groans in a fundamentally different way from creation, so the Holy Spirit groans in a fundamentally superior way to the Christian on whose behalf He groans.

What should astound us is that the groaning of God the Spirit is actually in intercession on behalf of us weak sinners! Why and how does the Spirit intercede for us?

The Need – Our Weakness (v. 26a)The Spirit “helps our weakness”, the word “weakness” refers to limitations arising from our humanness such as sickness or adversity.

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We are frail and feeble, and also faithless and foolish. However, the Third Person of the Trinity completely overturns our many weaknesses by His omnipotence.

It is good and wise for us to regularly admit that “we do not know how to pray as we should”. We are severely limited in factual knowledge and so we do not have all the information we need to pray aright. We neither understand our present circumstances nor do we know the future. We are also severely limited in spiritual insight and so we have no idea exactly what we need. Even when our hearts are right, we simply do not know God’s will. In sickness, should we pray for healing or for strength to endure? In persecution, should we pray for escape to safety, or the courage to stand firm and die? We simply don’t know!

Thus our weakness lies in some way in our ignorance about what God’s will is exactly. We must strive to discern God’s will wherever we can, but we should not expect to always know it. However, in our weakness, God through His Spirit overturns all our failings to do His will and the most important thing is, His will is still accomplished through prayer.

In any and every circumstance of life where we are weak, the Holy Spirit is more than able to overwhelm our limitations with His perfection. And the way the Spirit helps us in our weakness is by interceding for us. When we desire to glorify God, but do not know the best way, the Spirit intercedes on our behalf and brings God’s will to pass.

The Method – Our Prayers (v. 26b)Literally, “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings unutterable” or “with wordless groanings.” What does this mean? It doesn’t mean that the Spirit is groaning to God the Father. If the Third Person of the Triune Godhead is communicating with the First, He would not use wordless groans because the Spirit knows exactly what He wants to say, and the Father understands exactly what He is asking.

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Groaning in Scripture seems to be something characteristic of the fallen world – fallen creation and fallen, though redeemed, sinners like us. However, the Spirit is not fallen, in Him is neither weakness nor corruption nor pain nor futility, and so He does not need to groan. The groanings are ours, inspired and directed by the Holy Spirit as He stirs our souls and burdens our hearts. So, even though we actually do the groaning, these groanings are the intercession of the Holy Spirit. Rom 8:15 says that we have the Spirit in our hearts, who moves us, and stirs our inner man with the glorious truth of our adoption by God as sons. But note that it is we who cry, “Abba! Father!” The witness belongs to the Spirit, but the heartfelt cry emanates from our lips.

Usually this feels like an aching of the heart, a longing for God to be glorified in our lives, but this is undermined by our weakness and ignorance of how to do it. We are certain that we want Christ glorified, but we are also totally clueless as to how we ought to pray for this to happen. In such cases, the Spirit intercedes in and through us, praying for and not against us, and the heartfelt groanings find their way to the Father’s ear.

The Outcome – God’s Glory (v. 27)What happens when such a prayer reaches God the Father? Verse 27a explains that God searches our hearts, and at the same time, He knows the mind of the Spirit. The Father knows what the Spirit knows. There is no division of knowledge as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit share the same mind, the same purpose, the same will and the same intention.

God knows that our hearts’ desire is to glorify Him although we don’t know how. He also knows that the Spirit’s intercession is to bring about God’s greatest glory. Thus, the end result of the Spirit’s intercession, is that the prayer offered up to God is prayer “according to the will of God” and any such petitions offered will surely be answered in the affirmative, to the glory of God the Father.

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God is most glorified when we consciously and deliberately depend on Him for all we do. 1 Pet 4:11 explains, “whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God maybe glorified through Jesus Christ”. God insists that Christians should be a praying people, because prayer reminds us of our need of Him and manifests our dependence on Him. He gets the glory when we receive the help, as Ps 50:15 says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honour me.”

When the Holy Spirit intercedes for us by stirring up wordless groanings in our hearts, God is glorified because His will is done on Earth as it is in Heaven. He is also glorified because our hearts have become the location of the Spirit’s intercession. Our souls and wills are drawn into this so that we experience God’s gracious intercession and answer and we thank Him for it. God gets the ultimate glory in both the outcome and in the process.

Rom 8:28 must not be read out of this context. “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God” says that not that all things are good, but that God works all things out for good. The context of this verse is of creation groaning, believers groaning and also of the Spirit groaning in and through us, so that God’s will prevails in this fallen world. Thus it is only because of the Spirit’s intercession that God’s will comes to pass and He works all things out for our highest good. In the end, everything results in God’s glory.

Concluding ApplicationsThis passage lends a very powerful impetus for us to pray. In times of perplexity, we are not being observed and evaluated by God as much as we are being understood. What an encouragement! God searches our heart, and He finds our Spirit-enabled holy groanings, with meanings deeper than expressible by words but one which is clear to both the Father and the Spirit. In times of weakness, the Spirit intercedes for us and not against us and Paul subsequently raves in v. 31, “If God is for us, who is against us?”

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God’s work in our life is not limited by our ability to articulate clearly what we want Him to do for us. Instead, Eph 3:20 tells us that He is “able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us” and that’s the power of the Spirit.

God the Father always hears the prayers of God the Spirit, and always grants all His holy requests. But incredibly, the prayers of the Spirit are for us. They are for our highest good because in God’s inscrutable wisdom, the highest good of His adopted sons is also His greatest glory.

Knowing this, what should we do? When we feel very weak, perhaps due to affliction or persecution, in the face of failed plans and bewildering dilemmas, we do not despair. It is precisely when we are weak that the Spirit helps our weakness.

In that very situation, we experience the unutterable groaning and aching in our heart for God’s will to be done, His glory to be manifested, and His righteousness to be vindicated. We are to trust the Holy Spirit to intercede for us regarding the specifics. He knows God’s will, God knows His specific petitions, and in the end, God’s will will be accomplished and His glory will be greatly displayed by our human helplessness.

Tan Soon Yong

Tan Soon Yong is a pastor of The ‘Fisherman of Christ’ Fellowship and an editor

of Fishers.

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“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit” (James 5:17-18).

As he approaches the conclusion of his letter, James returns to the subject of prayer which he has mentioned a number of times throughout the letter. This whole section of James 5:13-18 is taken up with it, and James is now going to use a biblical illustration. He selects an incident from the life and ministry of Elijah. James could have used any one of a number of Old Testament examples of the effective prayer of a righteous man. He could have spoken about Moses who prayed before the Lord for forty days and forty nights. Or he could have spoken about Daniel who three times a day went down on his knees before God. He could have mentioned a number of other men, but for whatever reason, he chose this example of Elijah, and it is one that is full of encouragement for us.

But before he speaks of Elijah, he makes this glorious affirmation at the end of v. 16 “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” What is it that constitutes any person being regarded as righteous? He is reminding us of the integrity of the person who is praying. He is speaking about the person who is right with God, in the sense that everything that is wrong in his life has been brought before God. It is the person who has made restitution and received forgiveness from God. This is a necessary preliminary to effective

Elijah’s Effective PrayerChristian Living

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prayer as the psalmist points out, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Ps 66:18). It is when the lines of communication are clear that prayer can get through to God. This is what he means when he speaks about a “righteous man.”

And even when we have brought everything before the Lord in prayer, we may still feel unworthy to address Him and to make requests to Him. But we must realise that we still have a righteousness that has been imputed to us and that is there, irrespective of how we feel. Wesley speaks about being “clothed in righteousness divine, bold, I approach the eternal throne.” We must never allow anything to hold us back from the place of prayer.

In using the illustration, James is showing us that Elijah was a man who shared common ground with every one of us. He was a man of like passions as we are. Therefore there is no one who can excuse himself from the discipline of being a prayer warrior. Prayer is not a special calling for spiritual giants. James is saying that what Elijah did, we can do.

There is an association of ideas in those two phrases “a man of like passions” and “a righteous man.” How can a weak man, afflicted with the common frailties of all mortals, be righteous enough to move the hand of God in prayer? The whole of the Gospel is needed to answer that question. At the heart of the Gospel lies the Cross and when that Cross is imbedded as a principle of living in the hearts of even the weakest believers, it transforms them. It makes them rugged rock-like people who are able to move the world for God. The heroes and heroines of faith did what they did, not because they were strong people, but because they were weak. But their weakness was transformed by grace into an instrument in the hands of God for blessing. That is the principle that Paul speaks about when he refers to his weakness as a result of his “thorn in the flesh.” He said, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10b).

It was this weak man Elijah – the same Elijah who was seen under

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the juniper tree wishing himself dead – that is taken up into the hand of God and made the mighty man that he was. Now the Apostle is teaching us that this can happen to any man or woman if they are willing to place their weakness into the hand of this same God. When you examine the story of Elijah in 1 Kings, you will see that there were three instances of prayer. James only mentions two of them. There was the prayer that shut up the heavens from giving rain. Then there was the prayer which brought rain again after three years. Then there was also the prayer that brought down fire from heaven on Mount Carmel. The prayer on Carmel is not referred to, not because it was less important - how could it be? But it is because the other two examples illustrate James’ point more fully. He is showing us the need for patience in the midst of discouragement (James 5:7-8).

Now with regard to the first illustration, in 1 Kings 17:1 James says that Elijah “prayed earnestly that it might not rain.” But 1 Kings 17 does not mention intercession as such. Elijah simply says that there would not be rain except according to his word. Yet James interprets that statement as earnest prayer. The literal rendering of that phrase is: “he prayed in his prayer” . In other words, all that there was of Elijah was in that prayer.

This underlines the truth that we considered above, that it is not so much the prayer as the person praying that is important. Elijah’s life of total surrender and one-ness with the will of God was the real power behind the prayer that he made. It is what we are when we pray that counts with God. With regard to this reference of Elijah simply saying rather than praying, it is helpful to see what our Lord says in Mark 11:22-23, “So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.’” Our Lord speaks of prayer in terms of saying not of asking.

Remember the words of the Centurion who was a man under authority – and he was able to say to “this one, go, and he goes, and to another

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Come, and he comes” (Matt 8:9). That is the point of this illustration. It was because Elijah was under the authority of God that he could say that there would be no rain. Authority was vested in him, because he was willing to submit to the authority of God – and this is some-thing that most of us know too little about. But his point is that we can know it.

Elijah was a man like ourselves – in many ways he was no better than we are. In the second illustration which is taken from 1 Kings 18 there is a different lesson. Elijah was resting upon the faithful promise that God had given in 1 Kings 18:1 that He would send rain. Elijah counted on that promise, so much so that outward circumstances were irrelevant. As Thomas Manton says: “Elijah seemed to have the key to heaven, to open and shut it at pleasure!” To Elijah, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). In 1 Kings 18:43-45 we are told, “There is nothing... a little cloud... a great rain.”

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How often have we prayed and nothing happened, and we become discouraged. But James is saying to us, “Do you have an assurance concerning your prayers?” If so, then go on praying and do not doubt. Have patience and be willing to undergo the discipline involved in praying. Sometimes we have to wait long without any visible evidence, and it is then, that we must believe on, and wait for the fulfillment.

Here is a great encouragement for those of us who have been praying for years. When we do not see any apparent results like Elijah’s servant, we have to say: “There is nothing.” We pray for people and situations and we can so easily become disheartened. But this is where Elijah’s story is such an encouragement. James’ concern is not to show us the Elijah on Carmel bringing down fire from heaven. We would feel that he was a man in a totally different league from ourselves. James is showing us Elijah, as an ordinary man who knew the humiliation of defeat and who could put his head between his knees and wish himself dead. It was this man, who was on the verge of suicidal depression who had such power with God. The story is of an ordinary man who experienced extraordinary miracles, and the link is that he engaged in earnest prayer. Prayer accomplishes mighty things in the real world in which we live.

The answers to Elijah’s prayers affected the life of a whole nation as well as the course of nature. But it was all in the will of God. Calvin said that “The prayers of the saints are the decrees of God beginning to work.” We must also remember that Elijah’s prayers were largely out of the public eye, and he had to live with the answers to his own prayers. He was there in the nation when the answers to his prayers were being outworked. For three years he was a silent prophet whose life was in terrible danger. There is a costliness involved in the life of prayer, and we need to bear that in mind when we pray.

Pastor William Hughes

William Hughes has served as a pastor in UK and USA for over 40 years. He is

now retired from full time ministry but continues to be a conference speaker in

different countries including Singapore.

FreeIm

ages.com/Jesper N

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• the original writings of the Old and New Testaments, namely, the present 66 volumes of the Scriptures, are infallible and unique in their divine inspiration, authority and sufficiency.

• there is one God, yet with three distinct persons (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) who are co-equal and to whom equal honour is due.

• Jesus Christ is the only begotten and eternal Son of God. – He truly became man, being begotten of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. – His death was a sacrifice to God and a propitiation for the remission of sins. – He was raised from the dead in His physical body. – He ascended to the right hand of God, and is now the all-sufficient High Priest of His people. – He will come again to receive His people unto Himself, and to set up His Kingdom.

• in consequence of the Fall, sin came in, and man became ‘lost’, and at ‘enmity against God’ and ‘without strength’ to do the will of God.

• the Holy Spirit’s work is essential in regeneration and sanctification.

• the justification of the sinner before God is by faith alone. Every justified one is also born of God. Such new birth results in and is made evident by holiness of life and good works.

• at death the spirit of man does not cease to exist or become unconscious. The dead will be raised bodily either to life or to condemnation, and the blessedness of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked will be eternal.

• the Devil, also called Satan, who deceives the whole world, is a person.

Our Mission…The Fishers magazine is published by The ‘Fisherman of Christ’ Fellowship, Singapore. Our mission is to present the Gospel of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ and to promote Christian spiritual growth. It is sent to you at no charge, and its upkeep depends on God who supplies all our needs through faithful Christians who feel a burden in this work.

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IN THIS ISSUE 217A Line From Us 2

I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life 4

I Have Enough 13

God Transformed My Life 18

The Difference Between a Failure and a Quitter 22

Prayer (Part 2) 26

Elijah’s Effective Prayer 33

Circulation 15,000

Total Printed 1,476,400

Printed by Stamford Press (Pte) Ltd

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