Does your shopping trolley reflect Biblical principles of justice and equality?

As Christians should we care about who, what or where our purchases come from?  The answer is a resounding ... yes, we should!

Do you buy jeans, handbags or appliances without a thought of the women and children who made them and/or the conditions they  have to labour in? 

Here are a few facts to ponder on about the conditions your purchases (jeans, handbags, appliances etc) may be made in:

• workers are often paid such low wages that they can barely exist off them let alone escape the poverty they live in.
• workers, which include child labour, can be forced to work as long as 72 hours without sleep.
• workers, if they complain about conditions, are known to be beaten or sexually abused.
• conditions in the workplace can be unsafe, no air conditioning in stifiling hot conditions or no cooling during colder, winter months and are often unsanitary.

Why do these conditions exist? The exploitation of labour in developing countries reduces the cost of items WE as consumers pay ... isn't this reason enough to ensure your voice supports the change of such conditions? 

The Bible advocates for justice and equality in the world - as Christians we are called to live by the principles of justice, mercy and humility.

"He (God) has told you, O man what is good; and what does the LORD require 

of you but to DO justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?" 

Michah 6:8

" ... learn to DO good, SEEK justice, CORRECT oppression; BRING justice

to the fatherless, PLEAD the widow's cause."

Isaiah 1:17

Do you notice all the verbs (doing words) in the above two passages ... as capable women of God we can and should change our shopping habits and think about our 'neighbours' who endure appalling conditions so we can look cute in our new pair of designer jeans. 

If we believe in equality and justice, our lifestyles should reflect such. If we respect people, we should advocate that workers in developing countries be dignified by being paid fairly and that their work conditions are safe and comfortable.

Here are a few practical ways to put you on the road to changing your spending habits:

1. buy products that empower women (according to one report, work forces are made up of between 85% and 90% women).
2. make it a goal to learn about and understand the implications and impact of your purchases.
3. live by the principles of justice and try, where possible, to buy ethical products.

Above all else, as Godly Mothers, let us teach and equip our children, the next generation, with the Godly principles of justice and equality. Consumerism is a learnt behaviour - check your spending habits and attitudes ... little eyes and ears are always watching and learning.

Live your best Godly life and be blessed.

Set the rightful King on the throne of your heart ...

The Royal line of David hangs precariously in the balance! His descendants are down to one boy hidden away to preserve his life as well as, the Royal line of David from which Jesus would be born!

Jehoida who saved the life of the young prince Joash from the wicked queen Athalia, strengthens his numbers and makes a covenant with the captains of the armies. A carefully constructed plan is devised and followed to rid the land of the wicked queen who was a powerful enemy and had many followers ... secrecy and precision were vital if the plan were to succeed.

On the Sabbath the plan is enacted to the letter:

• the King is revealed
• he is crowned
• he comes with scrolls of God's Word in his hands
• the king is received
• he is anointed
• he is praised and recognised as King 

The wicked queen meets her gory demise ...

With the rightful king on the throne ... we read in 2 Chronicles 23 that "the city was quiet" .. a sign of God's blessing. 

When we set the rightful King on the throne of our heart, we too will experience peace in our lives, homes and hearts - rid yourselves of all idols, recommit and rededicate you life to the one true Lord and Saviour!

Be blessed.

Never underestimate a mothers teachings ...

More life lessons can be gleaned from 2 Chronicles 22 ... in particular the crucial importance a mothers influence plays in her children's lives.

We read that King Ahaziah, the only son that was not kidnapped by the Arabs in the previous chapter, becomes king. Unfortunately, his mother Athaliah was his counsellor (influencer) and advised him in wicked ways ... it is not surprising King Ahaziah rules wickedly and did "what was evil in the sight of the Lord".

King Ahaziah, mostly due to his mother's evil influence, becomes more like King Ahab (also wicked) and Jezebel (we all know what she was like!) than David, a Godly descendant. We are reminded once again the importance of surrounding ourselves and our children with wise brothers and sisters in Christ ... influencers in the ways of Christ.

King Ahaziah later is killed and his mother Athaliah takes over and rules the land - she destroys all but one of the royal family ... the line of Judah hangs on a thread! BUT,  a very brave daughter of the decease King hides Joash (one of the Kings sons and his nanny) in a room for 6 years, away from the wicked Athaliah's reign over the land.

We learn from this chapter (and the whole book of 2 Chronicles) that as mothers, we have an enormous God-given responsibility to instruct and influence our children in Godly ways. We are MANDATED to mentor and teach our children God's ways, equipping them to navigate the challenging ways of the world.

Never underestimate a mothers teachings!

Be blessed

Are God's Word and promises still true for us today?

Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20) was a good king … although messing up on occasion, he chose life.

Jehoram, (2 Chronicles 21) Jehoshaphat’s son was an evil king … he chose death (and died a painful death for his wicked deeds).

When you read the above 2 chapters one after the other, note the contrasting words and language – in one, words of life in the other death and decay.

Why would God allow evil kings to keep inheriting the throne? Reminder, both Jehoshaphat and Jehoram were of King David's line - read 2 Chronicles 21:7 which explains.:

“Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever.”

God’s word and promises, like himself, are eternal. We can stand on them, count them as true ... they will never fail us, He will never fail us.

“You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.'” Psalm 89:3-4

Application:

• God’s faithfulness is evident in 2 Chronicles 20 and 21 and still applies to us this day – praise God.
• God’s mercies are inexhaustible and his truth is firm, unchangeable and still apply to us this day – praise God.
• God’s covenant with the house of David, represents the covenant of grace made with Christ and will all of us believers – praise God.
• We can praise and thank God for his faithfulness, his mercy and grace every day in every situation – God is in control of our lives, all we need do is submit to his will for us.

Be blessed.

One mans journey to change a generation ...

Whilst browsing a Christian website a few months ago, an ad popped up advertising a free book  ... of course I was sceptical, GIVING away a book for free? Yes, - that's right, no charge, not even postage. I was intrigued and downloaded it to my Kindle - to put it simply I was blown away by this book and the message it contained ....

Every so often you come across a book that literally changes the way you think, rearranges and challenges your preconceived ideas about how a certain aspect of your Church's functionality should work ...on these rare occasions, you emerge the other side with a fresher, clearer view of how what has necessarily worked in the past can be improved on in the future! 

'Revolution in World Missions' is one such read. Despite the title, this is a powerful 'story' and reads as such - riveting, engaging, thoroughly enjoyable and it literally revolutionised the way I now look at the concept and practice of 'missions'.

This powerful testimony of one man's journey to and with Christ, starts with a faithful mothers pray for her boys "Oh God, let just one of my boys preach".... like Hannah in the Bible, this mother dedicated her children to the Lord, and in return the Lord was faithful to her prayer. Every Friday this mother fasted for the next three and a half years ... her prayer always the same.

Finally, one day, her youngest son dramatically gives his life to the Lord ... never to be the same. 'Revolution in World Missions' is his story - KP Yahannan, KP for short. Born the poorest of poor in South India, KP goes on to become a missionary statesman who has impacted the world of missions and whose unbending message has touched hearts on every continent.

KP has traipsed around India villages mile upon mile, learning, teaching and preaching the Gospel. After a few years, he had the opportunity to travel to the USA where he ASTOUNDED at the surplus, luxury and abundant way of living ... in particular the way they (we!) eat:

"And I was amazed to learn that European and North American families routinely eat enough meat at ONE meal 

to feed an Asian family for a WEEK".

He cites an example,  whilst he was preaching over in the USA of how the food that was served after each Church service could have fed families for weeks back in India.

Another example he cites, is the overwhelming advertising of services and products in Christian magazines describing it as "spiritual luxury while millions were dying without hearing the Gospel even once".

I was convicted of how we love luxury in the west - we rely on it, gloat in it, dare I say 'depend on it' and revel in it whilst thousands of children die every day around the world from lack of mosquito nets or food or the Gospel being heard. 

One guest on a podcast I recently listened to told the host that he buys a new Bible every year for himself! KP quotes the following his his book:

"Eighty Five percent of all Bibles printed today are in English for the

nine percent of the world who read English. 

Eighty percent of the world's people have never owned a Bible while the Americans

have an average of four in every household."

This statement really rang true for me:

"The saddest observation I can make about the religious communication activity of the Western world is this: 

Little, if any, of this media is designed to reach unbelievers.

Almost all is entertainment for the saints."

How many of our Churches have prostituted themselves to embrace the worldly culture and are more 'entertainment' centres for the masses rather than sound Gospel based services.

Of course, one of the biggest differences between east and west is religious freedom - KP and others like him experienced and still do to this day, persecution for being a Christian - starvation, stoning, excommunication from families, beatings, imprisonment, homelessness ... the list goes on ... not too unlike what Paul and the others in the Bible experienced. You can read about all of these horrific persecutions in 'Revolution in World Missions'.

KP's framework and model for Missions is a lot different to what modern Western Churches implement. He believes in raising up missionaries within a community and planting them back in that community - not planting foreigners into a community totally foreign to them. Locals, know the language, the culture, the people the 'lay of the land' so to speak ... they are best equipped to preach the gospel to those in his midst.

This is a book of adventure, heart ache, eye opening and heart revealing truth .... I highly recommend it. You can get hold of a copy here for free.

My favourite quotes from the book:

• 'God's Plan A for the redemption of the world is the Church, and He has no Plan B.'
• 'The secret of following God's will, I discovered, usually is wrapped up in rejecting the good for God's best.'
• 'Humility is the place where all Christian service begins.'

Further resources:

• Get Gospel For Asia's weekly email digest and emails: www.gfa.org/email 
• Free e-books and messages: gfa.org/FreeDownloads
• GFA's School of Discipleship - encounter God and know him more: www.gfa.org
• Maximise the impact of national missions: gfa.org/involved
• Support missionaries eager to be planted in villages in Asia needing to know God's love: gfa.org/missionaries.

Be blessed.

Every day we have the choice: Life or Death?

We read in 2 Chronicles 20 that Jehoshaphat was mostly a good king. I say “mostly’ because he slipped up now and again (don’t we all), he associated with the wrong people a couple of times with dire consequences, and did not remove ALL the high places from the land. BUT, despite these transgressions, we see Gods faithfulness toward him remains.

Reading on in chapter 21, Jehoshaphat passes away and he leaves the kingdom to his eldest son Jehoram, who did NOT do good in the eyes of the LORD. I wondered how Jehoram could be such a wicked son when he had Jehoshaphat as his Dad?

 

We are not left with any clues how he became this way, but we do know that he marries Ahab’s daughter – Ahab was another wicked king (again we see how the company we keep can either lift us up or bring us down). Elijah’s letter to Jehoram lists and admonishes him for the abhorrent deeds has thus far committed, he states that Jehoram has not followed the example of good kings, but that of the bad ones. Jehoram had a choice and he chose unwisely!

Because he walked the wrong path, he is punished harshly by the LORD for committing detestable deeds along the way. The LORD ‘arouses’ the hostility of the Philistines and Arabs who attack Judah, carry off  his treasures, sons (except for one of them) and wives.

Note, that as long as the King of Judah remained true to God, the surrounding nations were kept in subjugation – BUT, when they revolted against the God, the nations around would attack.

Jehoram dies a painful death at the age of 40, he is not mourned by the people and is not buried in the tomb of kings.

Application:

1.  Every day, through our words, deeds, thoughts and actions, we have the opportunity and gift to choose life (up) or death (down) – which do you choose this day? 
2. When we come out of submission to God, our ‘passions’ flare up. We need to submit to God on a daily basis, sometimes on a minute by minute basis – only we can do this.
3. Thank God for his faithfulness, that His way is always the right way which brings us a life that is at peace with our LORD.
4. Once again, be careful who you associate with – sometimes we need to walk away from bad influencers, have you got the courage to do this today? Pray and ask for the LORD's help.

Be blessed.

Going through tough times ... read on ...

When your are faced with an unexpected challenge in life, what's the first thing you do? Grab your electronic device and post on Facebook? Phone your best friend and have a pity party? Mope around, feeling sorry for yourself?

2 Chronicles 20 lays out a good model to follow when we hear bad news. We are encouraged as we see evidence throughout this chapter of how the Lord:

... hears our prayers

... fights our battles on our behalf

... instructs us how we should respond 

...  is for us

Here's how the story goes ...

• Jehoshaphat is warned that a vast army is forming to attack Judah.
• The King immediately inquires of the Lord and proclaims a fast for the land of Judah.
• The people come together and pray.
• In response, God's Spirit falls on Jahziel and encourages Judah telling them to not be afraid that He is with them.
• They all fall down and worship the Lord.
• The King appoints men to sing and praise the Lord going into battle!
• The Lord sets ambushes for the invaders and by the time Judah arrive at the battlefields they have all killed each other - what a mighty God we serve!
• The King and all the men of Judah return to Jerusalem joyfully and went to the temple.
• The fear of God came on all the surrounding kingdoms when they heard how the Lord had defeated the enemies of Israel.
• The kingdom of Jehoshaphat live peacefully for God had given him rest on every side.
• Jehoshaphat reigns over Judah for 25 years.
• HOWEVER
• Not all high places are removed.
• The king again makes an alliance with wicked kings
• Consequently the Lord destroys the fleet of ships and they were not able to set sail to trade.

How can we apply what we have read to our situation?

1. When bad times strike, infidelity, death, loss of a job, financial loss, recalcitrant children  - turn FIRST to the Lord and seek His counsel.
2. FIX your eyes and your heart on the Lord when you are going through tough times.
3. We can do NOTHING in our own strength - close ranks, lean into the Lord through strong prayer, praise, worship, fasting and thanks.
4. Trust in the Lord to FIGHT on your behalf, have courage and faith in God's all knowing plan.
5. THANK the Lord for his mercy, grace and loving kindness when you come out the other side.
6. Learn from PAST mistakes - remove the 'high places' whatever they may be.
7. CHOOSE your circle of friends and allies well.

Think on this truth during tough times ...

" ...Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army.

For the battle is not yours, but God's." (vs15b)