Judas

Judas heard the message that man must not steal, kill, lie, covet, etc, but he never saw himself as one that should repent from such acts. He was chosen, he was following the Lord everywhere He went, he was hearing the pure word directly from the master Himself, he was given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God (Mark4:10-11), yet he was not getting transformed.

He was among the 70 people that were given the power to go and preach the message of the kingdom and cast out demons. He preached, healed the sick, cast out demons and came back with good report, and was glad. Jesus told them they should rather rejoice because their names are written in heaven. Judas inclusive. Luke10:1-20. But Judas was never among the people that were baptized of the Holy Spirit to witness to Christ. Acts1:8.

To witness to Christ, there must be personal evidence of who Christ is to you. There must be the testimony of your salvation and your personal life transformation by the word. Rom12:1-2. No one is born a saint.

Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. NKJV

Judas didn't have such testimony of life transformation yet doing well as just a follower of Christ.

The problem that Judas had was not that he was not chosen, or that he was not hearing God's message, or that power was not given to him, but he had another master - money. Jn12:6. Matt26:15. Lk16:13. Money does not transform anyone rather it is the root of all evil for those who desire (covet) it and love it. It closes the person's mind from the message of righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. It wrecks the person's faith and the end is destruction and perdition. 1Tim6:9-11.

What happened to Judas is an example for the chosen people of God to learn from. We still have 'believers' like Judas today. A follower of Jesus who goes after money is a son of perdition (not the son of God). The person has chosen another master and the end of the person is definite. Repentance is not possible if he doesn't change his desire and the love for money. And regret (sorrow of the world) is not repentance (godly sorrow). Matt27:3, 2Cor7:9-11.

Jesus called Judas the devil. Jn6:70. Believer plus the love of money is equal to the devil or the worship of the devil. Jesus also faced this temptation when Satan asked Him to fall down and worship him for Him to receive the kingdoms of this world and their glory.

The response of Jesus to Satan was firm and definite.

Matthew 4:8-10 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” NKJV

We don't worship God for the purpose of getting things. We worship God for who He is, and serve Him with what He has given us, and He adds what we NEED to us. Matt6:32-33, 1Tim6:3-8.

Ministry of reconciliation

2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; KJV

The reason Jesus came is to reconcile us to God through love. We were once God's enemies. And it is easier for God to destroy His enemies but He chose the strait gate and narrow way (Matt7:13,14) to bring them to life at the risk of His Son's life. John3:16.

This ministry of reconciliation has been given to us. We therefore have to be equipped with spiritual armour and strategy to reconcile enemies to God. And surprisingly the worst of our enemies will be the members of our own family (Matt10:36GNT). The enemies as their name implies, will oppose this ministry beyond our imagination but then love does not fail. 1Cor13:8.

We will receive testimony of salvation (life and not destruction) if we count ourselves among the few and persevere on this strait gate and narrow way.

Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: KJV

Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. KJV

It is not news if enemies die because that is their portion, but it is great news when enemies repent and live. Angels also rejoice about it. Lk15:10.

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. KJV

Eze 18:32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. KJV

Let’s cross over

Luke 8:22-23 Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake." And they launched out. NKJV

The Lord has said to you, “let us cross over to the other side…” Now, at the other side are demons – a demon possessed man (who needs salvation), but in the path to follow is a windstorm waiting. Windstorm is trouble - an occurrence which seems not to be part of the plan in the journey. By assumption, the journey is meant to be smooth because the Lord approved it and went to sleep, but not so. Now, let’s see this windstorm in another light.

Mark 9:14-16 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. 16 "What are you arguing with them about?" he asked. NIV

At the other side of this argument (windstorm) is a demon possessed boy, but the disciples must first address this argument.

But if one cannot address confronting argument appropriately which is natural (we see), how will he address the demon possessed boy which is spiritual? If a believer cannot address the contradictions of man (water, Rev17:15) and the Holy Spirit (wind, John3:8), how can he address the confrontation of demons? One must be able to bring physical calmness in his surrounding environment, in his interactions with men, in his confrontation with men to be able to cross over to another phase.

When Jesus came to the crowd, argument seized. What was the difference? Christ’s presence overwhelmed them with wonder. Jesus quickly knew what the issue was; it was faithlessness on the part of the generation and he addressed it. Argument is a sign of no solution to the confronting challenge; it belittles faith.

Again, one cannot jump the boat; one should not jump out of the situation but must remain in the situation and cause the desired calmness – a calmness. In the case of Jonah, he was running away from his calling, the crossover was not approved and he needed to be thrown out of the boat and be swallowed by a fish that has been prepared to take him to the desired destination. But in the case of Christ, he was answering the call and must remain in the boat, arise and calm the windstorm.

John 14:27-28 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  28 You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I. NKJV

A windstorm came

Luke 8:23-25 But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. 24 And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 But He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!" NKJV

The disciples experienced windstorm as they were sailing with the Lord and their faith went away. Jesus was right there with them sleeping. This would have been a moment for them to display their faith in the Lord and calm the windstorm which would have been a testimony of their faith in the Lord. Well, they were learning and there will yet be many more windstorms to confront when Jesus is gone (let’s say when Jesus is sleeping again in moments of windstorm). The time of windstorm is not the time to be troubled neither to be afraid but to be at peace. It is the time to arise (step up) by faith and rebuke the windstorm. One must step up in prayer by faith to be able to rebuke the windstorm.

When the disciples could not cast the dumb spirit out from a boy, Jesus told the disciples that it is because of the littleness of their faith and recommended prayer and fasting for them to be able to cast out the demon. In this case of windstorm, it is not just about littleness of faith, but their faith was not found; they didn’t exercise their faith at all. Jesus said to them, “Where is your faith?” And, Jesus cannot recommend less to the disciples to address the windstorm.

Matt 17:20-21 He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of firmly relying trust]. For truly I say to you, if you have faith [that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. 21 But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. AMP

Jesus intervened in both cases, but Jesus will not always continue to intervene having thought the disciples what to do in such cases. In subsequent cases, Jesus may be silent no matter how they call on Him, because as the good Teacher, He had thought them the very thing to do and now sincerely expects them  to act by faith (by inspired words He had thought them) to be able to calm the situations.

Windstorm is a real life overwhelming condition which has the capacity to drive one’s faith away if the right steps are not taken to confront it. Without stepping up, one’s faith will be lost in that condition and all that one will say just like the disciples said is that “we are perishing”, “we” includes the Lord Himself. What a statement? How can the Lord, the creator of the universe perish with them?

We know the Lord is both with us and in us, but how many times have we faced windstorm (such real life hard challenges) and what we find ourselves saying in the heat of it is “Lord, I’m dying, where are you?”, “Lord, I can’t take this anymore, help me before something else happens”, “Lord, you’re here and I’m passing through all these, arise and act”, “Lord, is my case different, please do something?,” “I can’t take this anymore, help me”, “Lord, the pressure is too much, please take me out of here”. These utterances sound like prayer, but they are actually statements borne out of faithlessness. The disciples said to Jesus, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” but Jesus said to them, “Where is your faith?”

The disciples’ hearts were troubled in the windstorm, and there are indeed so many things that trouble us in this world. However, we have peace of the Lord. Our hearts must not be troubled regardless of the obvious troubles because the Lord has the capacity to calm the troubles – to make the wind and the water to calm for us.

Rom 12:12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. NLT

It is good to have the intervention of Jesus in troubles, it is good to have the intervention of a minister in our challenges, but the interventions is to enable us learn how to be able to solve the problems by ourselves in other occasions. A believer who only continues seeking for intervention will soon have his faith displaced. At a point, the person will not be able to define where his faith is inclined to. When he prays, he no longer prays out of faith in the Lord, but out of fear of the confronting challenges. It is when our faith is found in the Lord, who has the capacity to deliver us that we begin to grow in battle strategies and be encouraged by one another.

1 Thess 3:2 and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, NKJV

It is then that we will know that even water and the wind are subject to the Lord’s authority and that troubles will indeed listen to our command when we arise by faith in the Lord and rebuke them.