Thought Of The Day  

Monday morning we woke up around 10 am after the late arrival from Islamabad. After our walk and breakfast we basically just rested today. We leave for the evening service about 7. It is here in Lahore at the church of Bro Rafaqat Masih, who I met earlier on the trip. We speak on “Harvest Time” using Matthew 4:4 as our text. When I was looking at this scripture earlier today something struck me. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God”. This was true in the garden, as God would walk with Adam in fellowship, and it was the Word of God that Adam lived by. If we are the Mouth of God, then these verses we used to apply to ourselves, especially in tutorship, have changed their perspective. The Bride is the Branch of the Tree of Life, and Life is the fruit she bears through the fellowship with those outside the City. The Word was well received. After our normal meal we headed home, but ice cream was calling and there happens to be an ice cream shop next to the entrance to Bro Akram’s road. I am surprised by how many shops and stores stay open 24 hours a day here. When we were coming in from Islamabad at 4:30 am, it almost seemed like a normal shopping time. People were in stores, sitting outside restaurants eating, and the roads were fairly busy. Tuesday morning we had planned to do some shopping but the day sort of slipped away. Bro Aisal tells me that a Bro Benjamin, who was planning to be baptized on Monday, is in the army and must report back to duty on Wednesday. He has been on leave because he just got married. We are to leave for the meeting tonight at 6 but instead we are going to baptize him, his wife and his uncle. We return to Bro Akram’s, change clothes and head to the meeting. We arrive about 8 at the church of Bro Shabaz Gill, who is a cousin of Bro Akram’s, but is not in the Message. His church is outdoors, on top of a building. It was a nice environment to share the Word. Since we arrive so late, we only have 30 minutes to speak because they are scheduled to lose power at 9. We spoke on “It is finished”. I wonder how many really believe it was finished when Christ died, not only to forgive our sins, but to pay the penalty of sin. If the penalty has been paid then why are we still getting sick, old and dying? It is because we don’t have a revelation of redemption. That is what the Message was sent to do. We are totally free from the bondage of the curse, but we sit in prison, with a prisoner mentality, refusing to walk out of the prison cell, although the door is wide open. Redemption has restored us back to the original condition we would have had if sin never happened. I believe the people enjoyed the Word, and afterwards we had our customary meal. This time they served us something called saag. It is spicy mustard greens and was surprisingly very good. We arrive back to Bro Akram’s at 11 and the ice cream was calling again. The whole group of us went together. Wednesday we have no plans. There are no meetings until Friday night when we will travel to Sargodha. A couple of off days will be really nice.