Category Archives: Just One Minute

Oct 13 2014
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Lydia and All of Us

Throughout the centuries, men have tended to regard women as inferior. This judgment upon women is a judgment upon God who made women and can only quench the Holy Spirit in men who make such judgments.

Lydia is a good example of God’s great work through a woman. Overnight, the history of Europe began to change because Lydia heard the voice of the Holy Spirit speak through Paul. She responded and became Europe’s first convert.

Because of her faithfulness to the message she heard, the gospel spread to those around her, like a stone whose ripples spread out over a pond.

Lydia serves as an example to both men and women of how the Holy Spirit can work in anyone to change the world in the name of Christ.

  1. God opened Lydia’s HEART to do a work of grace in her life. God alone ordained her time to come to Christ and to use her conversion as a means to ultimately change the direction of a whole continent and the rest of the world. Through her witness, her entire household believed and received baptism. Through her and her household, the church at Philippi was born. That church became a strong witness for the Lord and served as a model for future churches. All of this began with the conversion of one woman. There are no small people in the kingdom of God. We must open ourselves to all that God chooses to work through our lives.
  2. Lydia opened her HOME for God’s servants and fellow believers. Like Lydia, we all show our gratitude to God by the way we treat God’s servants and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
  3. Lydia offered her HANDS to minister to others. Lydia took Paul and Silas into her house to nurse their wounds from jail and beatings and help them recover. A helpful spirit is not just “woman’s work.” A helpful spirit is an effective witness for Christ in men and women alike. A helpful spirit is a spirit of salt and light that preserves and enlightens families, cultures and nations with the power of Christ.
  4. Lydia had a good HEAD for business and practical affairs. Lydia was a prosperous businesswoman. Lydia is a good example of a wealthy servant–one who regards all wealth and personal possessions as gifts from God to serve Him and others in need of His transformation.

Since Lydia’s generation, the Spirit of God has worked in the hearts of other women to do great and mighty things. Think of Amy Carmichael who ministered to girls caught in forced prostitution. She modeled ministries in India later founded by men.

Think of Monica, mother of a wayward youth named Augustine who became one of Christianity’s most influential theologians because of her prayers.

Think of Susannah Wesley, mother and faithful teacher to 19 children including John and Charles Wesley.

Think of Elizabeth Elliott, wife of martyred missionary, Jim Elliott, who took up her husband’s mantle and served as God’s instrument to change a savage culture for Christ.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we depend upon God’s Spirit. Let us all thank God for such boundless grace that works in so many ways. Let us especially make sure we accept all the grace He reveals through His chosen women.

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Dec 05 2012
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Just One Minute

A Reason to Celebrate

Indians are a festive people.

Each Indian-based religion has periodic festivals that involve millions of people, elaborate preparations and great expense.

Christians have more reason to rejoice and celebrate than any other religion on earth. As Christians, we have an assurance of salvation that no religion can offer. The Christmas season should be a time of festivity and joy, celebration and triumph that transcends the frantic secular holiday that it has become.

While Hindus go all out in celebrating mythical gods, we celebrate a God who came and lived in our midst, in real time. People spoke with Him, touched Him and experienced His healing word and power. Even a cynical Roman centurion at Jesus’ crucifixion recognized Jesus’ divine nature in human flesh when he proclaimed, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

Christian faith involves a personal relationship with the maker of the universe. We are members of a royal family. God is our mighty fortress, our loving Father who loved us even before He created the universe. Our privileged relationship with Him is based upon unfathomable grace. We have opportunities, right now, to experience eternal life even in our mortal and flawed bodies and imperfect circumstances.

We must recognize and celebrate all of these things. We need special occasions when the presence of the Holy Spirit is so strong that everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike, can experience a small taste of heaven and glorify God.

Such special times may involve food and fellowship and can become non-threatening and revealing evangelistic events for non-Christians. Indian culture is especially conducive for enjoyment of rich foods with many kinds of wonderful flavors and textures. These things can become symbols of the rich blessings that God has given. The presence of God will do even more—to fill that empty place in their spirits as they hear believers testify to the work of the Lord in their lives.

An increasing number of Indian Christians are learning to adapt traditional Indian musical and art forms for Christian worship and praise. These new musical and art forms are an opportunity for Christians to share what God has done in our lives. These things can become tangible expressions of God’s transforming power in the culture.

Some Christians are hesitant about getting too festive. After all, huge Hindu festivals often become excuses for outright carousing and crass merrymaking. Past large festivals have resulted in extreme mob actions and panic, such as stampedes that cause deaths of hundreds of men, women and children. But Christians should never avoid opportunities for communal expressions of thanksgiving and joy.

As Christians with so much to celebrate, we should consider having more festivals by which to celebrate our faith. We should celebrate, not as an end in itself but because we have a story to tell, a testimony to share, with the whole body of believers and the community at large.

May our faith never become merely a collection of abstract religious beliefs but a relationship with the living God that causes us to celebrate with thanksgiving and praise.

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Jun 01 2012
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The Kingdom of God is Already among Us

Our greatest hope for this world is the culmination of the Kingdom of God.

During World War II, when allied forces successfully landed on the coast of France on D-Day, 1944, the French people knew it was only a matter of time when they would one day be free of Hitler and the Nazis.  Hitler’s forces resisted strongly, and many brave allied soldiers paid with their lives, but the allied foothold held firm, and the territory under their control continued to grow.

Even before victory was complete, the French people were already thinking in terms of the coming victory.  They saw it as an inevitable reality and waited for it with patient (and sometimes impatient) expectancy.

The Kingdom of God has already come into our midst with the birth of Jesus Christ to the Virgin Mary.  Satan attempted to defeat Jesus at the cross, but Jesus rose again.  With his resurrection, there is nothing to keep Jesus’ foothold from growing.  Satan continues to fight on, costing the lives of many followers of Christ, but like Hitler, Satan’s ultimate defeat is sure.

As children of the Kingdom of God during this intermediate period, still engaged in spiritual conflict, we need to continually remind ourselves of the signs that the Kingdom of God is already among us.  Two thousand years ago, the apostles saw beginning signs of the Kingdom in their midst, and we see those same signs today, spread over a widening territory.  Among these signs are:

The presence of the Holy Spirit as God speaks to us, works in our lives and transforms us more into His likeness (John 14-17).

  • The gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12-14; Galatians 5:22-23).
  • The growth of the church in the spreading of the gospel and work of the Spirit among unreached peoples (Matthew 24:14).
  • Miracles and deliverance from the power of Satan (Acts 2).
  • Great awakenings, revivals and transformation of societies (larger outcome of Romans 8). Transformation of society may not be perfect, but it is genuine and      often dramatic.
  • The re-establishment of Israel (culmination of many prophecies).
  • Suffering of God’s people as Christ suffered, and God’s redemption of our suffering (Romans 8).

Each of these different signs are worthy of its own book.  But I briefly mention them to encourage you to go to your Bibles and see for yourselves.

Jesus said that these things happen quietly and are not noticed by the rest of the world.  Even in this day of the internet, there is great ignorance and blindness to the work of God among people who refuse to see it.  Unbelief and deliberate blindness still take place in those who do not have eyes to see nor ears to hear.

But a day is coming when the fullness of God’s Kingdom will be evident to all.  Even as the allies marched publicly and triumphantly into Paris and Berlin, every eye will see Jesus Christ as He returns with His church to set up His Kingdom.  We groan inside for its coming, even as Paul tells us in Romans 8.

Becoming aware of the present signs of the Kingdom of God should encourage each of us as we work for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.  Each of us has a part to play in God’s Kingdom as it moves toward its glorious culmination in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Let us encourage one another with these things.

May 21 2012
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Just One Minute

The Theologian in You

There is a general misconception that theology is only for religious specialists who spend years in college and seminary and church pastorates. Not true. In truth, we are all theologians. Theology is the study of God, and whether our beliefs are well-formed or half-baked, all of us have ideas about God and the world in which we live. Our decisions and our attitudes are influenced by those beliefs.

Therefore, the wise person sets out to determine just what his beliefs about God are and to correct those that are wrong.

Some of the sources of our beliefs about God come from the revealed Word of God. There are moments in which God may have indeed spoken to us to clarify truth about Him. At other times, our beliefs come from questionable sources, such as negative personal experiences or cultural influences that tell us lies about ourselves and about God. These unconscious but erroneous beliefs can have a devastating effect upon us and those who must live with us.

At times, we should each clarify what we actually believe about God and whether our beliefs agree with the revealed Word of God. It may be that what we say we believe is not what we actually believe in practice.

Theology is not just for theologians, seminary students and pastors, it is for all of us. We must make a conscious and constant effort to align our beliefs with scripture to help us make wise life decisions and decisions that affect us and those around us for eternity.

The main divisions of Christian theology include (1) exegetical theology (interpretation and study of scriptural texts), (2) historical theology (the history of doctrinal thought), (3) systematic theology (arranging the teachings in a logical order which includes apologetics and ethics, the doctrine of origins to the doctrine of last things) and (4) practical theology (salvation, preaching, education, administration, worship, the Great Commission). To effectively live our Christian lives, we must have strong foundations in each of these areas.

Of course, Christian theology is more than the sum of correct beliefs about God.
It involves our response to the work of the living God in our lives, moving us to act in love and obedience toward him. Our correct beliefs become a living faith as we listen to God and learn to do His will in our lives.

For example, if we say we believe in an omnipotent God, we will trust God to do great things in our lives and the lives of others. We will give ourselves to prayers of faith.
We will not become discouraged when things do not always go our way. We will trust God to be stronger than the circumstances that surround us.

We will also get our priorities straight when it comes to the Great Commission.
We will more readily see the lost world around us and ask God how He can work through us to accomplish His redemptive purpose among the spiritually lost at home and abroad.

In India, millions of people remain in spiritual confusion because of diabolically distorted and darkened perceptions of God. Join us with your prayers and resources to insure that the Bread of Life reaches all who hunger for it.

Blessings in Christ,
Valson Abraham

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