To enter into the kingdom, we need to be like little children

Is there still relevance for Christians to consider this, since we have already entered the kingdom?

Without going into what constitutes the kingdom, it suffices, for the purpose of this article, to consider whether or not, having entered into salvation or having been born again, constitutes having entered into the kingdom. What do you think; entering into salvation means entry into the kingdom?

Jesus said we need to be like little children to enter
Concerning the need to be like little children to enter into the kingdom, 3 out of the 4 gospel books have almost the same wordings; they are Mark 10:15, Matt 18:3 and Luke 18:17.

I {Jesus} tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it (Mark 10:15)

And he {Jesus} said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:3).

I {Jesus} tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:17)

Has the kingdom already come?
According to my reading and understanding of Jesus’ teaching, the kingdom of God can be considered to have come to Man from the time of His death and resurrection. Some might want to consider it having come with Jesus being born or when he started His earthly ministry, but I believed it should be upon His resurrection (3 days after His death) that the kingdom under Christ Jesus was formed, for upon resurrection, Jesus was restored to the throne, at the side of the Father God. Furthermore, Jesus when He was preaching on earth, He said that the kingdom of God was near or at hand, meaning that it was near but still not yet in place, then. Also, we read in Matthews 16:21-28, when Jesus spoke to His disciples concerning His impending death and resurrection, in verses 27 and 28, He said that He would enter into His Father’s glory and His going into His kingdom:

27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. 28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (Matt 16:27-28)

To me, Jesus' coming to His disciples, after His resurrection (3 days after death), can be construed as His coming (to His disciples) in His Kingdom.

What about the Lord’s Prayer?
Of course, there are those who challenged such a conclusion, citing that Jesus taught the believers to pray for the kingdom to come, in the Lord’s Prayer.

The argument is: if the kingdom has come, how come Jesus still taught believers to pray for the kingdom to come? It is commonly accepted that the Lord’s Prayer was NOT intended for the believers then only, or to be said by believers only once (like some “overly grace” teachers are erroneously teaching it, because of the issue of asking for God’s forgiveness was found in it). It, the Lord's Prayer, is to be embraced by every believer across time. Then, how do we explain the presence of asking for the kingdom to come?

My understanding is: in the Lord’s Prayer, we are to pray for more and more of the realities of the kingdom of Heaven to be manifest in our present earthly living, not literally as calling for the coming of the kingdom, like it is not yet already formed. The kingdom of Jesus Christ was already formed upon His resurrection by the Father God; He was and is sitting on His throne at the right hand of the Father God as the king and ruler of His kingdom. Yet the fullness of kingdom of Jesus Christ has not fully invaded our earthly living; and we, as believers or Christians, are to help enforce the realities of Christ’s kingdom, on earth; that is what the Lord’s Prayer was exhorting us to do.

Yes, we enter the kingdom upon entering salvation
With this understanding, what we therefore believe, is that after Jesus’ resurrection, when we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior or enter into salvation, we enter into Jesus’ kingdom and is one of His subjects. In this sense, it is every believer is already in the kingdom of God, only that we are still living in a “phase” whereby we are in the world (earthly world) where Heaven’s realities are not fully manifest on earth as yet.

Kingdom of God in phases
Comprehending the kingdom of God in “phases”, I believe, is the correct approach to take. A believer living in his earthly life is in one phase of the kingdom of God; life after this life is another phase; Judgment Day is another phase; thereafter, is another phase; ultimately what is most important is the phase after Judgment Day, which is the phase of living with God in Heaven.

There is even another dimension of this “phases” make-up of the kingdom, and there was the “before Jesus’ 1st coming” phase (Old Testament phase); the “post 1st coming” phase (the current phase), Millennium Rule phase (where Jesus would come back again and rule a 1,000 years on earth), the Judgment Day phase, and finally the post-Judgment Day phase which coincides with the phase of the living in Heaven with God.

As a believer, all of us need discernment of which phase we are in, and carry ourselves according to the requirements of that phase. The people of God in the Old Testament phase had needed to obey the Law; that was their requirements. For us, we need to know what God requires of us, in our phase.

John touched on the fundamental requirement of being born again
Before we go back to the issue posed by the title of this article, by way of mention, I will like to say that in the gospel of John, although the Apostle John did not talk about entering into kingdom of God the same way the other 3 authors of the gospel recorded Jesus’ words, he did cover the fundamental requirement for coming into the kingdom, and it, being that, one must be born (again) of both, the water and the Spirit.

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5).

This, I will not cover here, as I have previously dealt with this, and readers who are interested, can read my separate article, “No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit”

Having entered, is there still relevance of being like little children?
Indeed, if we can accept that having accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior means that we have entered into the kingdom of God, then, is there still any relevance to consider whether we are to be like little children or not, as believers?

I tend to look at the entrance requirement, NOT so much like, you have a good university degree and so, you will get into a good company to work, and when you have gained entry, you have no need of the university cert. You will be surprised that many have this “cert” mentality. Actually, what is more important is what the cert. pointed to; that is the real requirement! Suppose, one lazy and unscrupulous Mr A managed to get a forged top university degree showing top honors, and with that, managed to get into a top MNC to work as a manager; do you think he will last long in the top MNC? Do you think he can just rely on “I got the cert, what!” and can cruise along, without doing his part as a manager of the MNC? Even if he managed to get through the probation phase, he might not get through the annual assessment phase!

Well, one maybe already in the Kingdom of God, we, Christians, are in the Earthly Phase, but there is still the final Heavenly Phase.  You and I are NOT there yet.  Perhaps, the "enter the Kingdom", is best undestood to mean to enter all the way to the final gate of the Heavenly Phase of the Kingdom, to where the ultimate Promised Land is.

Bro. Anthony, the kingdom of God is not like that-lah!
The Kingdom is not like that? Is it so? Maybe, not exactly like that, but still, it is not just basking in grace. I am not saying, we are saved through good works, but at the same time, Eph 2:10 does say, we are saved to do good works. Also, the Book of James is very clear about faith without works is dead. It is obvious, such dead faith is not pleasing to God. Ok, I am also not driving believers to do good works solely by their own effort, for Scripture, in Philippians 2:13, does say, it is God who works in you to will and act according to His good pleasure. But at the same time, we cannot hide behind this Philippians verse, and claim no responsibility, purportedly, saying, it is not our fault if God did not work hard enough in us, to will and act according to His good pleasure. We are to partner God, and yield ourselves to obey His Word and be willing to be led by His Holy Spirit; and this calls for a certain mindset and attitude.

Gleaning from little children
Is it possible that such a mindset and attitudes can be gleaned from little children? That is the pertinent issue.

I believe there are relevant mindset or attitudes of the little ones that we are expected to still possess and follow through, even after we have come into the earthly phase of the kingdom of God. They are as follows:

1. Do not give up our fascination with God. When a child steps into a “frontier”, he pictures that there is a lot more, many more, awesome things lie beyond the initial steps, some more new things and fresh things to see and experience if he pursues further. We must continue to hold in our mind and heart, that giganticness, of God and His kingdom, in all dimensions of hugeness, as we once thought it to be; and for many of us, that would be before (or in the process) or at our entry into the kingdom. It is wrong to brush away those initial sense of God’s awesomeness as illusions, as some overly grace believers are encouraging others to do, saying, we should just get on with our lives as before. How can we take that attitude, for we are a new creation; we are now born of the Spirit, having the Holy Spirit to lead us?

2. God love us, we must love God. Children know their parents love them after experiencing what their parents freely gave unto them. They learn to love them back, and would continue to love their parents. When we teach little ones how to love their parents, for example, by making nice little crafts for their parents, they would readily do them. How about us, believers? Have we not recognized that what the Lord had showered upon us were not things that we have merited? Scripture said, because God first loved us, we ought to love Him back. Do we love Him back? Scripture taught us how to love our God, do you readily embrace that?

3. To love God is to obey Him. After knowing their parents love them, children quickly learn that their parents are to be obeyed, too. Do we also, like the children, realize that God is to be obeyed? Parents expect obedience from children, for the children’s own good. It is the same; God expects obedience from us, believers, for our own good. God has our interest at heart. Children learn also that, they obey their parents because they did not want to upset their parents; it is their way of loving their parents back. It is the same; obeying God is loving God. Scripture said, those who obey God’s commands are the ones who love Him (John 14:21). Obedience is not necessarily out of fear; it can be out of love!

4. Do not forget or rationalize away the peace and joy. These, we once had, in the process of/at the entry into salvation. When a child had experienced joy, he wants more of the same. He wants to go the same place, if it was a place; he wants to go back to the state, if it was a state; he refuses to let go. What do we, adults, tend to do? We think, that was in the past, it was over, it was best we just forget about it, and be like “normal” people, conditioned by the world to think, we are to be “just surviving”. Instead of wanting more of the peace and joy, and guarding it, adults succumb to rationalizing it away as being impractical; adults tend to resign to “there are more important things” to pursue. The over-emphasis of self-independence has also caused us not to embrace reliance on God for peace and joy. According to Scripture (Rom 14:17), the peace and joy that we should be wanting is the peace and the joy in the Holy Spirit.

5. Do not stop learning. Children do not stop wanting to know about their fathers (or parents) and to know their fathers (or parents). How peace and joy can come? Children learn, and we, too, should learn how we can have peace and joy and prevent them from slipping away. Knowledge of truths is one way peace and joy can come. Doing that which pleases God is the other. Learning is both acquiring knowledge of truths, and applying the knowledge.

The opposite of peace is anxiety, and the main ingredient of anxiety is uncertainty. We are uncertain because we have insufficient knowledge, for with insufficient knowledge it is difficult for us to understand and to trust. Children secure their peace through learning and interaction with the fathers or parents. It is the same for us, believers; we are to learn about God, and get to know Him, and we are to interact with Him, in order to secure peace. If we do the things God disapproves of, we are not going to be able to interact positively with Him.

6. God knows best and is capable. For the little ones, their papa (or parents) knows best; their papa (or parents) knows what he is doing. They would insist that their papa would come through for them. They would have such “faith” in their daddies, who are heroes to them. (Of course, because of the fallen state of the world, some papas disappointed their little ones, and at times, such failures brought very negative developments in children). When you malign their dads, they will fight you! They will even refuse to listen to anything bad that you want to say about their fathers; they just want to continue to trust that their papa is good all the time. As believers, we all trusted God before; the question is, “Are you still like the little children, continuing to put your faith in the God who is good all the time?” Do you believe He knows best, and that you can trust Him to know how best, to see you through if you would obey Him?

6a. [Inserted 17/12/2012] Be lowly or humble. Another way of looking at children's keenness to learn and to be acknowledging fathers or parents know best and are capable, and therefore, deferring to their fathers/parents and even to others, is view it from the dimension of lowliness or humility. We, adults, on the other hand, tend NOT to defer to another, instead, would rather claim that we could do it or have the answers to problems.  Children are humble to ask for help, and more readily acknowledge that fact, voluntarily; adults, on the other hand, want to be face-saving, want to boast, and if possible omit, saying help was sought or received, i.e. we are prideful.

7. God is never too far away. Children know and rest in knowing that their fathers or parents are never too far away. When they need their parents, they will be there. It is also so, for us; God is never too far away. In fact, in God’s faithfulness, through the Holy Spirit indwelling us, God knows what is going on in our lives, despite, we not sensing it or seeing it. In God’s eyes, we are all, despite our age, still his children. Those interested, can read my separate article, “The Lord as the Papa eagle – a vision of faithfulness, comfort and assurance”.

8. Stay in fellowship with believers. Children just mix, play, and even work together; be it, in their made-believed roles or actual endeavors. We, adults, conditioned by the world to emphasize personal achievements and looking after self-interest, have learned not to share, and give. We are also, too worried about being hurt and disappointed. And we have bought into the deception, that the only way to be happy is to receive, and never the other way round, to give.

9. Learn to love your neighbors. Children know love and they will learn to love, not just their parents, but also others. Children recognize the love coming from their fathers (or parents), and they learn to love them back. Not only that, they learn to love other kids. A child who freely received from his parents, freely shares and gives to others; it is the adults who teach them differently (or they learn it differently by observing the adults)! Can you be a child again, and believe that God freely gives you all good things, and you can share and give some away to others, and in the process you will be happy? A sister, on her blog has humbly written about what her little girl taught her about this; you can read her article, “Lessons from a child”

10.I want to be with my God. Children want to be with their father or parents, there is no denying about this. They know their father or parents love them, and they in turn love them back, and they know they will miss their father or parents, and that their father or parents’ hearts would be broken if they are lost. As a believer, do you feel the same for your Abba Father? We should not doubt our Father’s love for us, and if we love our Father, we should want to be able to go to Him when we pass on. I do not appreciate a believer being nonchalant about going to Heaven. We break our Father’s heart when we are not serious about going to Heaven, to be with Him. Jesus died so that we can make that journey; do not profane that.

We want to be with our God, but do we know the most fundamental nature-hood of our God? No, it is not love; it is holiness. Scripture exhorts us to be holy as God is holy; we, be righteous as God is righteous. If we say we want to live with God eventually, are we currently submissive to His refining fire to refine us in that direction (Heb 12:10)? Do you know that without holiness, no one sees God (Heb 12:14b)?

So, even though we have entered the kingdom of God, for our current phase of the kingdom living, we still need to be like little children; continue to be fascinated by the things of God, always remember God loves us, and so, we ought to love Him back, and to love Him is to obey Him; we are to pursue peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, never stop learning concerning God and our faith heritage, and to continue to believe that God knows best, and that He is capable, and we are to be humble; we are to know that God is never too far away, for His Spirit is indwelling us; meanwhile, we ought to stay in fellowship with other brothers and sisters, and love our neighbors even as we love God; finally, we must want to be with God, eventually; and towards that end, we must be willing to align ourselves to His righteousness and holiness.


Anthony Chia – Father, I still lack the faith to trust you to provide for me fully, even though as a child previously, I trusted my parents to provide for me, unconditionally. God, forgive me for my lack of faith in you. Help me in my unbelief, Lord. I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Comments are welcome here. Alternatively, email them to me @: ... {click on it to reveal complete address}
Or just email me your email address so that I can put you on my blog (new entry) notification list. To go back to blog main page, click here.

Jesus’ teachings on prayers (Luke 11:1-13) [Part I]

In Luke 11:1, the disciples of Jesus asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. In the next 12 verses, Jesus taught about:

1. Praying for oneself (Luke 11:2-4) - Lord's Prayer
2. Praying for another (Luke 11:5-10)  [covered in Part II]
3. Praying for the Holy Spirit to be given (Luke 11:11-13) [covered in Part III]


For this first part of a 3-part article on this portion of the Scripture, I going to write on the first item covered by Jesus – praying for oneself (Luke 11:2-4).

Praying for oneself (Luke 11:2-4)

He[Jesus] said to them, "When you pray, say:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us each day [today] our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.' "

What we should understand:

1. First we address God.
For Jesus, naturally He addressed God as the Father. Jesus is the Son, and God is His Father. I believe we can pray to the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit, or collectively, God. You can even use your own endearing terms like Abba and Father God. Some people use Lord Jesus or Almighty God.

2. Second, we honour God with our greetings.
Jesus said, “hallowed be your name”. I use “blessed be your name or blessed be the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”. You may also want to thank Him for his work in the previous day/your life.

3. Third, we acknowledge God’s desires, before ours.
So I would follow Jesus’ words on this, “your kingdom comes, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.

4. Now we petition for our needs.
If we look carefully at the Lord’s prayer (this is called the Lord’s prayer), we find that Jesus is trying to teach us to look at a day at a time, asking for what we need for the day. Jesus is saying, “Do not worry about tomorrow”, we just need to address this day. We are to address each day as it comes. I am quite sure many of us do not follow this. Almost all of us, and that include me, failed in this, it is not whether or not we failed but how badly we failed. God tells us not to worry (Mathew 6:34), yet almost all of us still do it. To worry is not trusting God. Another reason why we are “covering more than we should”, I believe is that we do not pray daily. And the reason for not praying daily can be one or more of these:

a. plain laziness
b. thinking you can/should handle “your life”
c. “too busy”
d. “too tired”
e. “why so troublesome”
f. so “cartoon”
g. thinking it is hypocritical

We should stop finding excuses for our failure to come before God each day.

There are different views about what “daily bread” mean in the Lord’s Prayer. Whatever the view, the daily bread is a need (not a want, and I know there are those who would like to say, “come on, our God is more generous than that, surely He grant not only our needs! That generosity is spelt out elsewhere, not here. I am also not saying you cannot tell God what you would like to have [a want]).

I also do not see anything wrong with the straightforward interpretation of daily bread as our basic needs – food, clothing and shelter. I know in Mathew 6, God asks that we do not worry about what we will eat and what we will wear, but do you know that our asking for just the daily portion is an acknowledgement on our part that God is provider. Even as we are gathering, we must always remember it is God who gives us the capacity to gather (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). If you want to interpret daily bread to mean more, like it should include His word, wisdom, “presence”, etc, I think it is fine, so long as the list represent your “needs” and not “wishes”.

5. Ask for forgiveness.
I view God’s forgiveness as a need just as I need food. We need food for physical life, forgiveness for eternal life.

I want to say that Jesus is telling us that we need to ask God for forgiveness daily (in fact every time we have sinned). Brethrens, be careful not to believe the preaching or teachings about God loving us so much that He will forgive us (Christians) whether or not we ask for forgiveness, or such things as there is not even the need for repentance since God loves us (Christians), or that we belittle the Blood of Christ when we repeatedly ask Him to forgive us.

Bible is very clear about the consequence of sin – the wage of sin is death. If I may be very blunt, it may be if we do not repent and have our sin forgiven of us, Hell we go, regardless we are a Christian. If the outcome is any different, it is because of God’s grace.

God’s Word says that there is a narrow door (Luke 13:24) for us to enter, yet, what many Christians are trying to do, instead of taking the already narrow door, is to take the chance and hope that they will squeeze through a tiny crack in the wall, greased by the grace of God.

I do not believe in auto-cleaning by the Blood of Christ. If you believe in that, you are implying that the Blood of Jesus is the license to sin. Or do you think that sin committed by you after acceptance of Jesus is any different from the same sin committed before you become a believer? Already many people are not accepting Jesus because they said Christians are so hypocritical – using the Blood of Jesus as the license to sin. So, don’t you go round propagating that Christians can sin and get away with it without even seeking forgiveness from the Lord. Please, if Jesus himself taught it, that we have to ask for forgiveness, it must be necessary; and He was not talking to non-believers, He was teaching the disciples.

I am saddened that “spiritual leaders” do not emphasize holiness and righteous living enough to the flock, and instead drop “contradicting” words/phrases here and there without proper explanations leading people to misunderstand the importance of holiness, repentance and seeking of forgiveness.

For example, a sharing about Christians loving the sinners but not the sin, if not done properly, can mislead people to think that repentance is not required.

Recently I had a first-hand encounter of this. A highly regarded preacher/pastor shared about how he continued to love a person who had sinned greatly against his son and had brought shame to his (the preacher) family. While the preacher’s love was commendable and perhaps when the sharing was done in a different context or done with more sensitivity as to avoid misinterpretation, it would have been excellent, but in this case, it was not. Subsequent to the sharing/preaching, a brethren spoke with me and reiterated that he was right about repentance being not required; he said the sharing confirmed he was correct about his interpretation of a certain parable in the Gospel, in which he said that no repentance was required.

I can agree God can work with very little, that a small step on our part can trigger a big move from God but we really have to be careful to say that God does not require repentance. I did not feel good that this brother's view had been reinforced, although I have to agree, preachers always run some risks that their messages may get misinterpreted.

If you are still not convinced that repentance is required, consider what was the mission of John the Baptist (Mathew 3:2), what were Jesus’ very first sermons about (Mathews 4:17), what Jesus said to the adulterous woman who was spared the stoning (John 8:11), and how Jesus taught about forgiveness (Luke 17:3b-4).

6. Forgive others when we want God’s forgiveness.
There are "requirements" for God’s forgiveness? I think the word “grace” has been overused, so much so that people subconsciously think that they have to do nothing! Christianity is not about doing nothing. Do not say, “It is grace-what, I do not need to do anything”.

I can name a few things you have to do for God’s forgiveness. First you have to ask, that is what Jesus said, the other is repentance, which has been touched on, above. Another is the forgiveness of others. In Mathew 6:15 it is clearly stated you need to forgive in order to receive forgiveness from God (The Lord’s Prayer is also found here – Mathew 6:9-13).

From the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Mathew 18:23-35), it is clear that if you do not forgive others, God will not forgive you. It is that serious, this is what verse 35 says, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”(Mathew 18:35 KJV). [The lord of the unmerciful servant delivered the servant to the tormentors]. You can read the whole story at: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2018:23-35;&version=9; [I am giving here the King James Version reference because it still retains the use of the word “tormentors”. Newer translations of the Bible tended to use “torturers” instead. We will look at this word, “tormentors” or its root word, “torment”, in a while].

I propose below the explanation for the seriousness of unforgiveness in the eyes of God:

From verse 32 of Mathew 18, we can see God equate the unwillingness to forgive with wickedness – “O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee…”. Wickedness is direct contrast with holiness. God is holiness. Holiness is the most fundamental attribute of God. Wickedness is unholiness and it violates holiness, God cannot have that. Wicked people cannot enter the Kingdom of God [God cannot have Himself violated] – 1 Corinthians 6:9a (I recommend you read my writings on holiness at: ). But you might say, “What is so wicked about not forgiving someone?”. Let me explain:

When you sinned against another, say, you slandered another. What will happen to you? If the person whom you sinned against, in this case, the person you slandered, does not forgive you, that unforgiven sin of yours hinders you from entering the Kingdom of Heaven, unless you yourself ask God to forgive you directly and He forgives you (Because we do NOT know if someone we have wronged, forgives or NOT, us, the posture is always that we have to ask God for forgiveness for the wrongs or sins we have committed, in accordance to 1 John 1:9). Yah, slanderers will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven – 1 Corinthians 6:10.

If the person whom you sinned against, forgive you, the sin you committed will be forgiven by God. Not enough preachers preach about it or explain this. It ended up so many people do not clearly understand this. I did not say you have the power to forgive, Jesus said it. Jesus told the disciples when He appeared to them after his resurrection. It is recorded in John 20:23 - If you forgive anyone his sins [against you], they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. Understanding this, now can you agree that you are wicked if you will not forgive another - you "are sending" him/her to hell, when in fact, you yourself are asking God to forgive you of your sin so that you are spared from having to go to hell.

[added 17/01/2011: I am aware that there is an alternative rendering to the verse, John 20:23 in which interpretation within the context of the preceding verses could mean that Jesus was speaking of the sending of the disciples, complete with the empowering (indwelling) of the Holy Spirit, to preach the good news, which is essentially is about God’s forgiveness of one’s sins through the faith in the works of the Son of God, Jesus, on the Cross. When we preach the gospel, we preach forgiveness of God (not our forgiveness) for those who believe, meaning we are agreeing with those who would believe, their sins are forgiven them. And when they are not believing, we are in effect, witnesses, to their sins are not forgiven them (their sins stay, and they stay condemned).

But I assert that the alternative rendering of John 20:23 above, is without contradicting the authority to forgive, as coming from God. When a believer forgives, the authority to forgive does come from God, for the Holy Spirit indwells the believer. In any case, it applies only to sins against us.

Furthermore, if God would ask us to forgive one another as He forgave, which is by grace, why He NOT forgive the offender if we have forgiven in the same way that He would like us to forgive - by grace.  Imagine if you have forgiven the person, God would NOT?!]

So if you do not forgive, you are wicked and what will happen to you who will not forgive. God does not forgive you either.  People without forgiveness from God, go to hell, eventually. In the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant above, what happened to the wicked servant? He was given over to the tormentors, i.e. he ended up being tormented (afflicted with acute and more or less protracted suffering). Think for a moment, what happens to people who end up in hell. Yes, they get tormented. See the parallel?!

Specific to unforgiveness, is it possible that tormenting may happen in this life? Some of what I am going to say in this para. and the next, is little subjective, not (yet) fully referenced to the Word of God but I believe they are valid.

I believe in some cases, people with combinations of unforgiveness, resentment and bitterness may actually be tormented in their present lives. I believe that wicked people, including wicked Christians may not have the full covering of God (by this I mean, as Christians, by default, God always “watches over” us – using angels, the Lord’s army, Holy Spirit, even men; yes, God uses men).

When “God withdraws” (partial/complete) his covering, from say, wicked Christians, the principalities of darkness (Satan, evil spirits, etc.) know and they will attack. It is as if now they have a right to torment you.

It is like when you received God’s forgiveness, you crossed over to God’s side of the battlefield and when you refused to do the very thing that God did for you (to forgive another by grace), you have done a mutiny and the enemy knows it and comes for you. We need to understand that God’s covering for us is a grace from God.

When it is grace, it means we do not deserve it, yet He extends it to us anyway. So, He is completely justified to withdraw his covering at any time. This idea is illustrated in the Book of Jonah, God caused a vine to grow to provide Jonah with a shelter from the heat, even after he (Jonah) was unreasonably angry with God, but only to take the vine away the next day. The specific verses are Jonah 4:5-8, but you really should read the whole Book of Jonah, it is a short book.

Here, I use the words, “God withdraws” but I believe, often we are the ones who “force” the hand of God. I believe that when we read in the Bible that people were “given over” to or “delivered” to (yes, sometimes, this word is used; in fact it is used in the Parable of Unmerciful Servant above), say, the enemies or tormentors (or more modern translations, torturers), it really means God lets go, letting thing takes its course, which often in this fallen world, can be pretty awful.

A man reaps what he sows (Galations 6:7c). Romans 2:9a says, “There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil”. God does not cause you to be tormented. You suffer the consequence of your sin (refusal to forgive).

Always remember God is good, yes, He does chasten but He cannot think and plan evil against you. [By way of mention, it is possible also that wicked people may still enjoy God’s covering as a result of imputed covering (that of righteous husband over wife, for e.g.) - covering accorded to them by God because of intercessions of protection by kind souls (eg. A mother’s persistent prayers of protection for her wicked son). But if they (the wicked) die unrepentant and unforgiven, hell may well be still their destination.].

So, in real life, we do find people, including Christians tormented for years but not able to receive breakthroughs, until the issues of unforgiveness, resentment and bitterness are addressed properly in their lives. Because of failure in this area, some get demonized, saddled with sicknesses that do not seem to have any cures (sickness does not go away or keep recurring), aches and pains all over, emotional instabilities, and loss of effectiveness in living normal lives.

7. The 3rd part of the 4-part verse 4, “And lead us not into temptation” is one of those difficult verses to understand.
Up until now, I really do not know how to interpret this. Even what I am saying now, may not be what you would agree, but I believe enough to think it is an acceptable interpretation.

It is difficult to interpret it on face-value because there is another verse in the Bible that put it very clearly that God does not tempt people.

James 1: 13-14:
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

Then why did Jesus ask us to ask God not to lead us into temptation. Yes, God does chasten us and test us, and the Bible explains why God does the chastening and testing. In short, it is to help us to grow and to be refined. So, it cannot be that Jesus is asking us to ask God not to chasten or test us. Also, 1 Corinthians 10:13 says that we will not be tested beyond what we could bear and God will provide a way out. There is no need to pray for avoidance.

I want to submit to you that this part of the verse may simply mean “Help us not to sin”. If you look at 1st 2 parts and the 4th part of verse 4, it would look like it makes sense – in 1st 2 parts we ask God for forgiveness as we forgive others (people sinned against us, we forgive so as to NOT sin [to NOT forgive, is sin], and we ask God for forgiveness for our own sins), then we ask God to help us not to sin and deliver us from the evil one. Jesus knows human weaknesses, and when He said this, He was walking the earth with the disciples; and the Bible said this of Jesus:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy {including forgiveness for our sins} and find grace to help us in our time of need {including the time that we are tempted}. (Hebrew 4:15-16)

8. Lastly, we ask God to deliver us from the evil one.
The evil one here can be simply evil men or principalities of darkness (Satan and evil spirits). The latter often perpetuates their evil schemes or plans through evil men. I often plead with God to hold onto me, not to let go of my hand even if I slip and fall, even as I want to “hold the hand that holds the world”.


God, may you help me to put into practice what you have shown me,

Anthony Chia, high.expressions - to practise what God has shown is high expression unto Him

Comments are welcome here. Alternatively, email them to me @: high.expressions@gmail.com.
Or just email me your email address so that I can put you on my blog (new entry) notification list. To go back to blog main page, click here.