"Is This The Wrath of God?"

On Sunday 19th of  May, I ministered a message entitled "All Weather - The Storms of Life" at Victory Greenhills, Manila Philippines.

Watch video message on "Storms of Life" 

Little did I know that the next day a devastating tornado ripped through Moore Oklahoma that totally devastated anything and everything that was in its path.  Death toll is 24 and that includes 9 or 10 children.

My message on Storms of Life suddenly became a reality in a powerful way. The community of Moore suffered greatly.  Loss of life, loss of their homes plus the memory of sounds, screams, the tornado and the visual sights after this catastrophic event.  

What amazes and concerns me, when well-meaning people in their limited or finite understanding, try and interpret these natural disasters.  I met someone this week and after I mentioned what happened in Moore Oklahoma, the first words to pass his lips to impact my ears were the following, "This is the wrath of God".  

His words stunned me and took me a while to recover and get my facilities to function again. After that brief moment which seemed like eternity, I felt that no person can pass such judgment on a community in that way.  After gathering my thoughts, I felt I need to respond in an appropriate way that would not offend anyone.  

 

This is how I responded.  If this tornado was the wrath of God for Moore Oklahoma, then every city, town, suburb community had been on the lookout for something tragic to happen. Because in every nation of the world, sin abounds in great measures. Terrible things are happening across the world.  True judgment will come to us all when Jesus returns to fetch His bride.  But in the meantime, lets live our lives worth of His coming.

Natural disasters are not new to us around the world. If one looks at the history of the world we have had volcanoes erupting, hurricanes and tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, bush fires etc. and all these natural phenomena have had catastrophic results thousands have lost their lives and will continue to happen until Jesus returns. What about all the wars that have happened, past and current?  Can that be interpreted as the wrath of God?  Come on... lets be real and not interpret everything that happens as the wrath of God.

If anyone from Moore Oklahoma reads my blog, I want to say that we love you all so much. We don't understand why certain things happen to precious people like you.  My family has just been through 7 earthquakes and over 12000 aftershocks where 182 people lost their lives, homes and possessions. We feel your pain and sorrow at a time like this. Just know that only Jesus can see you through. Jesus is our only hope and the anchor of our soul. We know that it's not easy, but keep holding on despite your feelings, thoughts and pain.

When I ministered the message on "Storms", I concluded the message with this scripture. Let me encourage you with this. 

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

The word "all" means ... all. Good things, tragic things and bad things. Everything that comes our way.  Every moment of every day.  God is working that into your life for the good. You might not understand the good today BUT hold on, as you press into the future, you will have an amazing testimony because of the tests you have been through.

We will continue to pray for you at this time.  May you know the presence, the love and the power of God at this time.  Kia kaha.  Stay strong.

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Let Go Of Self

I praise God for the ministry opportunities He has entrusted to me, to share the love and the word of God with amazing people in Manila, Philippines.  The topic we have ministered on, is a series called Unpopular.  

Its about leadership.  Everyone wants to be a leader, but very few people are prepared to pay the price for leadership.  The main reason for this is that the natural and sinful bent of mankind is about self and the key words are 'me', 'myself' and 'I'.  BUT, servant leadership is so different, because the focus is on others and not on you.  It's about serving others in there calling, destiny and purpose.  It's about making our homes, communities, towns, cities and nations a better place.  

Jesus modeled servant leadership when He walked and lived here on earth. He made such a difference in people's lives.    He only lived for 33 years of which 3 years was devoted to ministry and that today,  there are over 3 billion people around the world that follow His teachings.   That is truly amazing.   In my opinion, Jesus is the most influential leader that ever lived.

As a leader, Jesus had so many powerful leadership qualities.  He modeled leadership qualities like no other leader in the world today.  Let me just share on one of them.

Humility

Humility means 'to lower oneself' or 'to think less of oneself'.  A wonderful picture to illustrate this is when you bow down in front of someone, you 'lower yourself' and you 'lift the other person up'. In other words, you take your eyes off yourself and make the focus on the other person. 

CS Lewis said the following about humility. 

“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”  

Jesus gave us a powerful picture of 'humility' when He washed His disciples feet.  Jesus, being King of the Jews.  Jesus being our Saviour and Lord, had every opportunity to lord it over His followers and place demands on them for His personal comfort and enjoyment. But, He displayed something to the contrary.  The Bible says that He removed His robe, girded Himself with the towel and took a basin and water and knelt down before the disciples and washed their dirty feet. 

What a powerful visual picture of humility.  Jesus lowered Himself  in order to elevate His disciples.  Jesus humbled Himself in a practical way.  It wasn't only in thought but also in action. 

Let's make our leadership count by being humble in all that we say and do.  Let's look for opportunity to lift someone up by our words and actions.  Forget the phrase "well whats in it for me?"  Make your life count by serving and assisting others to achieve their goals and dreams.  Let's humble ourselves and make this world a better place.  

Jesus modeled and demonstrated humility.   

Lets imitate and follow His example.

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