The Error of Balaam

 "Woe to them!For they have gone in the way of Cain and have run greedily after the error of Balaam for profit and perished in the rebellion of Korah"Jude 1:11
NKJV New King James Version.

In the fourth shortest letter of the New Testament, Apostle Jude in a no-nonsense approach admonished his readers to “fight for the faith” as he warned them to be aware of false teachers and men who were perverting  the grace of God and using it  as a license for sin, (Jude 1:3 CEB Common English Bible). In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, these men were promoting “cheap grace”.Jude gives three  characteristics of these men,( Jude 1:4) and then uses three  negative biblical examples as patterns they have followed; the way of Cain, the error of Balaam and the rebellion of Korah (Jude 1:11).

 I knew about Cain ,after all he won the award of first murderer in the Bible(Genesis 4:8)  and as for Korah,(Numbers 16:1-32) he dared to question the authority of Moses , the man of God that God spoke to face to face (Exodus 33:11)what nerve! But what about  Balaam? It was just an  error  or so I thought until I began to study closely  and realized that like us, Balaam made several errors along the way before  culminating in the one he  is most famously known for(Numbers 22-23,2 Peter 2:15,Numbers 31: 16, Revelations 2:14).To help us understand and avoid these errors ,a little background to the story is necessary.

The children of Israel had begun making their way to the Promised land and had defeated some of their enemies and were about to conquer the land of Jericho (Numbers 22:1). Stories of their past victories had made headline news and their success attracted both admirers- Rahab (Joshua 2:10-11) and enemies (Numbers 22:2-6).Two of these enemies (Balak, the king of the Moabites and the Midianites teamed up together to fight the children of Israel  as they feared their land would be conquered soon. Not surprisingly, these enemies were actually their relatives (Matthew 10:35).The Moabites were descendants of Moab, the first son of Lot, Abraham’s nephew born out of incest with his first daughter (Genesis 19:36-37) while  the Midianites were descendants of Abraham from his wife, Keturah after the death of Sarah(Genesis 25:1-4).To ensure victory, they decided to employ the supernatural and engage the services of  Balaam a prophet who lived hundreds of  miles away. They were ready to pay honorarium and foot the bill as they believed in testimonies of the success of his ministry and anointing to attack their enemy.

What an encouragement  for  us to  harness and continuously refine our God given gifts  as we  see scriptures fulfilled in Balaam’s life as his gift made a way for him(Proverbs 18:16). Without the benefit of a Facebook or Twitter account, or even a complimentary card, he had people sending for him across international borders. We must be careful though to use our gifts to serve God and his purposes rather than the enemy.

Enemies are a living reality of the fallen world and we all have them – both “real ones” and “phantom ones”. Some we have acquired foolishly and unnecessarily while others have been wrongfully blacklisted by us. It may be possible that like the children of Israel, sadly it is the success of these individuals, being painful reminders of our unaccomplished dreams that have made them enemies. As for the real enemies, different battles require different strategies( 2 Corinthians 10 4,1 Samuel 18: 14,Matthew 10 :16, 1 Peter 5:8).Thus we should act wisely with the assurance  that in the economical nature of God , he is able to fight our battles as well as   use our  enemies to accomplish his purpose(Psalms 23:6,Romans 8:28).

In our next post, we will consider Balaam.

In his Service,

Grace Tom-Lawyer.

Back to Study

Dear all,

I believe you are well and  pray that these remaining months of the year will usher new joy to you and your loved ones. The Summer break is definitely over and we will begin to study once again as we journey on this path(yes I was on a break although this got extended).

I do not take this opportunity for granted and always seek to write these notes with excellence.This sometimes delays some publications but hopefully as I continue to obey the promptings of the Spirit with diligence,there will be regular updates 

 I remember you in my prayers and  earnestly covet your prayers  that I would continue to bring the Word for the season  in  fresh  and practical ways and that the power in the Word will continue to break yokes and find fulfilment in our lives.



In his Service of Love,
Grace Tom-Lawyer

The Perfect Father:The Father of Glory

The Father of Glory 
Some weeks ago I attended another Church and listened to a lady share on how on how going through  her grandmother's things, she discovered that the space on her father's name had filled Not known. She thought that definitely a check on the wedding certificate would reveal otherwise but to her dismay, it was still recorded as "Not Known".There may be varying degrees at which different people will relate to that but almost everyone of us can appreciate that that must have brought a degree of shame to that lady's mother and I can imagine that days like this must have been particularly difficult for her. It is one thing for your father to be absent,unavailable each with its own peculiarity but not known denotes with it some degree of shame.
But one of the names the beloved Apostle Paul called God was he referred to him as the father of glory and God loves to add  glory to our lives. No matter how the matter of fatherhood has brought some form of shame to anyone, God delights in bringing  glory, he delights in restoring the place of fatherhood to one that can be referred to as and looked upon with Glory. And to say that God is the father of glory also means that God is the source of Glory , even when Jesus walked  

The Error of Balaam

Unending vacancies

.23 The time is coming when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, and that time is here already. You see, the Father too is actively seeking such people to worship him. John 4:23 New Century Version

One of my favourite past times when working at home is to just have the audio version of the Bible playing in the background.So as I listened to the first four chapters of the  book of Revelations lately,I got caught up as I imagined the worship that John described. From awe of the four living creatures and the twenty four elders enraptured in pure worship, I confess my feelings turned to jealously. I was just suddenly jealous of the beauty of such worship in the very presence of God until I heard a quiet whisper "there is no need to be jealous,there are still vacancies for more to join".I repented but began thinking about the word vacancies. Surely there must be a Scripture about vacancies.

 Going through another book written by John, we are reminded of a woman who stumbled upon one of the longest running   job vacancies at an unusual place at an unusual time.This woman came to get water from the well and  got engaged in a conversation with Jesus who met her at her level and in the course of the discussion made her aware of an existing vacancy. In his words ,"but a new time is coming.It is already here. True worshippers will worship the  Father in the Spirit and in the truth. They are the kind of worshippers the Father is looking for" .John 4;23 NIRV 

Advances in technology have made it possible for us to check for vacancies and have job search alerts without physically going to the Job Centre,which honestly could  sometimes be depressing.Going for an interview we usually put our best foot forward and prospective employers do not usually  have insight to the totality of our beings. But this vacancy is advertised by an "employer" who is all knowing,inspite of our frailties and imperfections, he still  extends  the invitation to us  today. 

True worship can only be done by those who have experienced the new birth but it is easy to substitute work for worship.All of our lives should be lived as a worship to God for that is our chief purpose, having been created  to bring God pleasure. Like the woman at the well, I was getting caught up in the place of worship instead of realizing that worship is not about the place but the individual. A.W.Tozer on worship said "True worship is to 
 so personally and hopelessly in love with God that the idea of a transfer of affection never ever remotely exists".It is my prayer that we get to that point as we fill in heaven's vacancy as the father is still seeking worshippers.

There are still vacancies in the vineyard and God is counting on us to  make ourselves available ..

Yours in Him,

Grace Tom-Lawyer.

The high cost of fake

I was going through a magazine where a recent Art event necessitated the featuring of several  unusual pieces of art, one of which  was the "Amanda Princess"  a property of the Metropolitan Police.This headless figure of an ancient Egyptian princess,half sister of the legendary Tutankhakhamun,was bought by Bolton Museum in 2008 for £400,000 ,after authentication by the British Museum and Christie's. But amazingly,she was made in a shed of a Lancashire council house using tools bought from B&Q (one of UK's favourite DIY&Home shop)  by a sometime antique dealer Shaun Greenhalghm..The aggrieved party employed the law and Shaun was imprisoned  for four years and eight months.No one likes to pay the price of the real for the fake and the issue with such deceit is that usually the fake looks like the original. 

Although the original is usually preferred to the fake, there are many times when we willingly pay the price for a fake depending on its usefulness.But  the problem arises when we are paying an exorbitant price for a fake and not know it.Sadly our lives can be fake in several places or a whole saddening fake. John puts it pointblank   when he says "he that has the Son has life, he that has not the Son has no life"(1 John 5:12).


 The price of living a fake life is always exorbitant and never goes on sale.The seven sons of Sceva had been in the church long enough to use the language but because they were inherently fake, the demons they tried to cast out of the man overpowered them and they all leaped out off the  room naked(Acts 19:11-29).

We might not be as extreme as that but may be faking it in one way or the other, perhaps under the illusion of "fake it until you make it".But if we really want to imitate Jesus,then we should be sincere like him and say "I am thirsty "(John 19:28)I do not have it all together,so that he can give us true water .

In a mission statement, Jesus declared that he came so we might have life and life more abundantly(John 10:10).In God's economy, abundance is the minimum.If we do not have the Son ,we do not have life.It means that we are only existing which negates the whole purpose of Christ dying on the cross. There is no need to have fake when God's desire is that we have life and life in all of its fullness. 
Live well,Live fully.
Grace Tom-Lawyer

A Note of Appreciation

Dear Readers,

This is to sincerely express my gratitude to you for all your comments, posts and prayers It is always good to hear from you ,espeially when you et me know how this blog is a blessing to your life and how I can improve and serve you better. There is always room for improvemenet and it is my aim to serve with excellence,so keep suggestions rolling in.

I had internet issues for over a week and was unable to put up the completion of Fit for the Master"s Use for about a week but the issues are resolved now and we are fully back.We have an exciting new series that will begin in the month of May and I earnestly covet your prayers

You can reach me as usual using the  contact form or via the email address justflourish@gmail,com  ,find me on Facebook by my name"Grace Tom-Lawyer" and you can choose to  follow me on Twitter @Grace_tomlawyer.

Do have a lovely week ahead and Thank you once again for your support..

Love,
Now&Always
Grace Tom-Lawyer