“I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed” (Malachi 3:6)

Time flies!!! Here comes another new Ethiopian year- 2006! (I know those on the other calendar are way ahead of us). I like this upcoming short month of PAGUME as it gives me a chance not only to look back but also to look ahead before the actual beginning of the year (Sorry for my Ferenji friends whose calendar does not have such a window ha!)

I know that PAGUME can also become a time of anxiety for many of us. As time changes it feels that everything around us is moving. If you grew up like me, then you remember the first day you got the chance to ride in a car, remember? As the car cruises forward, everything around (including buildings, animals, people, even mountains…) seem to fly back to the opposite direction. It was a scary experience for me that I had to hold the edge of the truck as tight as possible.

Well, it feels almost the same as times and circumstances around us change as fast. We observe politics, markets, job opportunities, even people more and more become unreliable as they could go up or down or none! In the words of Ps 46 “the earth (could) give way”; “the mountains (could) fall into the heart of the sea”; “kingdoms (could) fall”; and “the earth (could) melt” (vv. 2, 6). Of course the singers are telling us here that even things that seem to be “unshakable” could be “shaken” any time.  We are aware that those things and circumstances can change any time but if we are honest, sometimes we feel-even God apparently changing in his characters and dealings with us (Thank God it is not real but feels like the “apparent movement of the sun” that scientists tell, is the effect of a moving earth)

During such a situation, for us who know The Lord, Mal 3:6 is a magnificent truth to hold on to as we look forward to a new year. It is an assurance given to God’s people whom God was denouncing their sins and calling them to repentance for a spiritual restoration. Here is the promise:

GOD IS UNCHANGING (“I the Lord do not change”). What an assurance to hold on to! He is “…the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). God’s love, power, faithfulness… are unchanging, unfailing. We can rest assured with the fact that He will be the same next morning: we will wake up while He is still loving us and keeping His promises to us. The implication of His IMMUTABILITY (the fact that God is unchanging) is that God’s faithful people will not perish (“… you…are not destroyed” Mal 3:6).

This is the way that I plan to spend the 13th month: reflecting on God’s goodness during this passing year and meditating on God’s unfailing love for the upcoming new one.  By God’s grace, we “will not fear” (Ps 46:2) in the midst of these changing times and remain STILL knowing that Our God is unchanging. 

My friend, circumstances around you may change but the Almighty one who holds your hands will not!  Faith is standing faithful even in the midst of hard circumstances, knowing that God is there.

“The name of the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Prov. 18:10)

May you have a blessed year!

How does the enemy divert people from God’s purposes? Reflections from Gen 3: 1-6

War strategies and weaponry have significantly changed through the ages. But strategies of the Devil remain to be the same. As one of my friends pointed out, “why does he need to change? They are working perfectly!”

First of all, understand that you have an enemy who wants to divert you from God’s divine purpose for your life. Sin is more than “just a bad action”. It is the way the enemy uses to block us from growing to our divine destiny. This is what happened when Adam and Eve sinned. They were created with a divine purpose of enjoying a relationship with God and become His vice-regents on earth  (Gen 1:26-31). But the enemy came in the form of a serpent; diverted them to a life of misery, curse and death. This is still the purpose of the old enemy. It is my prayer that we identify his tricks and come victorious as Jesus did in Mat 4! I came up with three of his strategies…Here is one for today

He makes you focus on what you lack: Look at what God gave to Adam and Eve: Gen 1;29 “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food”. This will take ages to count! But the enemy came and made the whole conversation revolve around one fruit from a tree that they are not allowed to eat. “Did God really say that ‘you must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” (Gen 3:1). Isn’t it the same way that he fights today: ”Is there anything that God did not give you?”. You just wish that Adam and Eve (and us) would stand and start counting our blessings. Why not change the focus to: “look at what God has given me!!!” and refer to Gen 1:29. Count on your blessings around you today and above all your blessings in Christ (Eph 1)/ ባርኮቴን ስቆጥረው ዘምር ዘምር ይለኛል.../

Old Tricks But Still Working! How does the enemy divert people from God’s purposes? Reflections from Gen 3: 1-6

2nd Strategy

Makes you doubt the things of God: In the case of Adam and Eve, he made them doubt God’s Word: “did God really say, ‘you must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ (3:1)….”you will not surely die” (v.4). You see, he made her doubt God’s standards, warnings and promises to them. Does that sound familiar? The enemy also brought doubt on God’s character (this is probably his #1 tool). He argued that the reason that God did not allow them to eat from that fruit is not for their good. It is not because you will die but because God doesn’t want you to be like Him. He further argued, the real reason is that: “God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…” (v.4). What a lie! But he was successful in shading doubt on them. This tool especially works during times when things  in our lives are not making sense. The best way to fight is to bring the “shield of faith” that says “though I don’t understand it all, I know God is good to me!/ባይገባኝም እንኳን ቅሉ… አንተ መልካም ነህ”

Makes you focus on temporary pleasure: Did you observe how he made the woman “(see) that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom…”? (Gen 3:6). “For everything in the world-the lust of the flesh (the food in Gen3;6), the lust of the eyes(pleasing to the eyes in Gen3;6), and the pride of life (wisdom in Gen 3:6)-comes not from the Father but from the world.” (1John 2:16). By the way, you might have observed that these three “self gratifying” things (food, lust of the eyes, and pride of the heart) were the ones offered to Jesus during his temptation. He did not buy them, but Adam and Eve did! You see, part of the enemy’s strategy is to make you focus on things now than things of eternal value.

Why not wake up today count our blessings (from the air we breath to eternal life in Christ); celebrate God’s goodness and focus our eyes on Jesus and His gift of eternal life!

እግዚአብሔር “የአሠራር ማሻሻያ” የሚለባል ነገር እንደማያደርግ ታውቃላችሁ? በጥንቱ መሠረት ነዉ አዳዲስ ነገሮችን የሚያደርገዉ እንጅ መሥሪያ መርሁ እንዳይሻሻል አድርጎ ጨክኗል!

የአዲስ ኪዳን ገጾች በደንብ እንደሚያስረዱን እግዚአብሔር ሊሠራ የመረጠዉ መንገድ እንደሰዉ ጥበብ “ሞኝነት” በሚመስለዉ በመስቀሉ መንገድ ብቻ ነዉ። ለምሳሌ እግዚአብሔር የሚያድነዉ፣ ሐጢያተኞች የመስቀሉን ቃል አምነዉና ተቀብለዉ በእርሱ መንገድ ሲመጡ ብቻ ነዉ (“የመስቀሉ ቃል ለሚጠፉት ሞኝነት ለእኛ ለምንድን ግን የእግዚአብሔር ኃይል ነዉ” 1ቆሮ 1፡18፣ “ዓለም እግዚአብሔርነ በጥበቧ ስላላወቀች በስብከት ሞኝነት የሚያምኑትን ሊያድን የእግዚአብሔር በጎ ፈቃድ ሆኖአልና” ቁ.21) ። ይህ ብቻ ሳይሆን እግዚአብሔር የመንፈሱን ጉልበትና ቅባት የሚገልጠዉና የሚሠራዉ በመስቀሉ መርህ ብቻ ነዉ (“በመካከላችሁ ሳለሁ ከኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ በቀር እርሱም እንደተሰቀለ ሌላ ነገር እንዳላዉቅ ይህን ቆርጨ ነበርና።…ቃሌም ስብከቴም መንፈስንና ኃይልን በመግለጥ ነበር… 2ቆሮ 2፡1-5)

ይህ የመስቀሉ መንገድም  በአድማጭ  ፍለጎት አይለወጥም (“አይሁድ ምልክትን ይለምናሉ፤ የግሪክ ሰወችም ጥበብን ይሻሉ እኛ ግን የተሰቀለዉን ክርስቶስን እንሰብካለን…”) መስቀሉ  በሌላ የሰዉ  ጥበብ ሲተካም እግዚአብሔር ኃይሉን በመግለጥ አይተባበርም።

ስለሆነም  አሠራርን መመርመር ያስፈልጋል! በጌታ ስም የሚመጣ ሁሉ ሁልጊዜ የተባረከ አይደለም! የተሰቀለዉ ኢየሱስ መዐዛና መርህ የሌለበት አሠራር (የሠራ ቢመስልም እንኯ) እግዚአብሐር የለበትም። በሰዉ ጥበብ ላይ ተመስርቶ፣ ትርፍ አግብስባሽ ሆኖ፣ እኛን አገልጋዮች ከዋክብትና ትንንሽ አማልክት የሚያደርግ መንፈስ “የመጨረሻዉ” ምልክት እንጅ የወንጌል ምልክት ሊሆን አይችልም። ስለዚህ ጠቢብ የጌታችንንና የሐዋርያቱን ትምህርት በልቡ ያኖራል- “ተጠንቀቁ” (ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ማቴ 24፡4)

“ሁሉን ፈትኑ፣ መልካሙንም ያዙ” (ቅዱስ ጳዉሎስ 1ተሰ 5፡ 20)

“እረሱ (ክርስቶስ) የማይታየዉ አምላክ አምሳል ነዉ፤ ከፍጥረትም ሁሉ በፊት በኩር ነዉ፤ ሁሉ ነገር በእርሱ ተፈጥሮአል፤ በሰማይና በምድር ያሉ፣ የሚታዩና የማይታዩ፣ ዙፋናት ቢሆኑ ወይም ኀይላት፣ ገዦች ቢሆኑ ወይም ባለሥልጣናት፣ ሁሉም ነገር በእርሱና ለእርሱ ተፈጥሮአል። እርሱ ከሁሉ በፊት ነዉ፤ ሁሉ ነገር በአንድ ላይ ተያይዞ የጸናዉ በእርሱ ነዉ። እርሱ አካሉ የሆነችዉ የቤተክርስቲያን ራስ ነዉ፤ በሁሉ ነገር የበላይነት ይኖረዉ ዘንድ እርሱ የመጀመሪያ፣ ከሙታን መካከልም በኩር ነዉ።” (ቆላስያስ 1፡15-18)

እግዚአብሔር “ሕዝቤን ልቀቅ” ባለ ጊዜ ፈርኦን የተናገረዉ ሁልጊዜ ተገዳዳሪዎቻችን በህሊናችን የሚያቃጭሉት ጥያቄ ነዉ። ፈርኦን “ቃሉን እሰማ ዘንድ እስራኤልንስ እለቅቅ ዘንድ እግዚአብሔር ማን ነዉ?” ነበር ያለዉ (ዘጸ 5፡2)። ዛሬም “አምላክህ/ሽ  ማን ነዉ?” ለሚለን ቆላ 1 አስደናቂ እዉነታ ነዉ። አምላካችን ክርስቶስ ፍጥረተ ዓለሙን ካለመኖር ወደ መኖር ያመጣ ብቻ ሳይሆን አሁንም ፍጥረት ሥርዐት ይዞ እንዲቀጥል ሁሉን በአንድ ላይ አያይዞ ያስቀጥለዋል፣ ያጸናዋል። ፍጥረት ምን እንደሚያክል፣ በቢሊዮኖች የሚቆጠሩ ግዙፍ ከዋክብትና ክምችቶቻቸውም ምን እንደሚመስሉ ለማሰብ ያስቸግራል። እነኝህን ሁሉ በእጆቹ ይዞ የሚያጸናቸዉ… አምላካችን ነው (ኢሳ 40፡27-31)። ክርስቶስ የሁሉ ፈጣሪና የበላይ ነዉ። የኛ ችግርና ተግዳሮትማ ለእርሱ እንዴት ቀላል ነዉ? ስለሆነም  አማኝ ነፍሱን 

“እረፊ፣ አትጨነቂ፣ አትታወኪ፣ ዝም ብለሽ በኃያሉ አምላክሽ ታመኚ” ይበል፡፡