The Word of God (part 2)

Why did Jesus speak in parables?

Mark 4 :12 NLT

"so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: 'When they see what I do, they will learn nothing. When they hear what I say, they will not understand. Otherwise, they will turn to me and be forgiven.'"

Dear brethren, God has a plan for the entire existence, which has been put into motion from the very beginning. A  big part of that plan is the reconciliation of mankind to Himself through His "Son". I say "Son" because this very term has confused many.

The entire mystery boils down to the identity of the person being referred to as the "Son" of God.

From the earliest recorded portions of scripture, there have always been attempts by men to rewrite history.

Adam denied responsibility for the disobedience in Eden. Cain denied knowledge of his brother's whereabouts. Without an alternative witness, they could have distorted the facts of what happened in more favorable light to themselves.

In the old testament, many details seem to be absent. Many other nuggets of information have been obfuscated.

By who?

When the prophets spoke, it was often in confusing prose. Why? Was it more diabolical obfuscation, or like Christ said above, an attempt to shield the truth from unwanted eyes?

We know the Scriptures have been severally manipulated, with books being added and omitted to serve unclear purposes, and which have purported to render its validity suspect.

However, for some reason, a key theme has not been removed. That there is a Creator of all things, and that He is Love. Also still present in the scriptures is the enduring desire to reconcile mankind to Himself.

Hebrews 1:1-2 New Living Translation (NLT)

"Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe."

The most confusing portions of the modern Bible are those books which the prophets wrote, or the Words of Christ Himself. This is deliberate. You cannot distort what you do not understand.

All sorts of messages abound in the Bible. Several paths to death are there, as well as the path to Life .

However the pathway to Life can only be illuminated by the Spirit of Life himself. Christ's representative who has been mandated to guide us into all truth. Merely reading the scripture without illumination by the Holy Spirit can never lead to Truth. Part of the reason is because so much revision has taken place!

However, because Christ who was crucified has risen, because He is alive, He is able to lead us away from lies to the truth.

Christ the Son of God, is also the Word of God. The Scriptures are nothing but a static text.  But the Word of God is alive. Only He can guide us to truth!

Overcoming the world

1 John 5:1, 4-5, 11-12 New International Version (NIV)

1."Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father LOVES his child as well.

4-5 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

11-12 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."

Dear brethren,  the reality of Christ is fixed. We can't change it. Our own position in  relation to that reality is what crucially relies on what we believe.

Belief in Christ (through God-given faith), must morph into the reality of overcoming the world, through physical manifestation in 3 crucial steps.

Christ Himself overcame the world. And His victory was made manifest through those same 3 crucial witnesses. (1 John 5:7)

1. Water (indicating Baptism)  - a public declaration for Christ

2. Blood (indicating sacrifice) - by dedicating our lives to God's will and purpose, often directly in conflict with our personal dreams, hopes and desires. Submitting to God. This is actual because it is this process that brings about the true change in us.   Therefore our belief and declaration are confirmed in our sacrifice of ourselves for Christ's purpose.

1 John 3:16 New International Version
"This is how we know what LOVE is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."

3. The Spirit -  He is the one who brings everything to pass. He reveals Christ to us, He convinces us to declare openly for Christ, and He transforms our sacrifice into a fulfilment of God's purpose and plan.

John 15:13 New International Version

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.

Brethren, sacrifice is bloody. If it doesn't hurt, sometimes to death, its probably not a sacrifice.

Selah

The nature of God

Hebrews 1:3 Aramaic Bible in Plain English

"For he is The Brilliance of his glory, The Image of his Being, and upholds all things by the power of his word; and he in his Essential Being has accomplished the purification of our sins, and he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."

Brethren, the key to your victory is the understanding of who God is. When God reveals Himself to us in His complete form,  then our victory is complete.

*The puzzle of the ages, the Son. Also known as God's Word. There from the beginning. The vehicle through which God has taken all action. The manifest expression of God. God is a spirit. You cannot identify Him, . . . except He speaks. That Word that God speaks, is what purified us from sin. That Word is Christ. This isn't about physical procreation. You cannot separate God from His Word. They have always been.

*An even bigger puzzle, the Holy Spirit. The Power of God's Word. When God speaks, His Word comes with executive Power. This Power is the Holy Spirit.

So you see God, His Word, and the Power that accomplishes God's Word are inseparable. They are one.

Selah

True Worship

Romans 12:1 New American Standard Bible

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

John 4:23 King James Bible

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Romans 8:19 New International Version

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

Dear brethren, what is worship? Is it the 30 minutes of singing and adulation we participate in once or twice weekly? Is it lifting up "holy hands" with eyes shut and singing along while the choir renders soul stirring music accompanied by virtuoso instruments? We may consider it worship, but is it acceptable to God?

Worship is a way of life. It is how we wake up and how we sleep. It is how we eat and how we work. How we react to situations and where our focus is directed during every action we take. Worship is inseparably associated with sacrifice. A conscious effort to deprive ourselves of gratification, in order to please our creator. Worship is costly.

Worship stems from revelation. An understanding of who God is (what He reveals about Himself), will enable us offer a more perfect worship acceptable to Him.

If we truly worshipped our God in spirit and truth, this country would not be in the state it is today.

Let us remember that true worship is an offering (in fact it is the only offering) that God desires. In other words He can choose to accept our worship or reject it. Remember God is the King above all kings. He cannot accept what is given from an imperfect heart.

If we consciously offer our best to human kings; the best of our products, the best of our service, the best of our time, the best of our behaviour; how much more the everlasting King of glory who never slumbers nor sleeps! He sees our motives, our desires, our hearts! At all times he is surrounded by multitudes of authorities offering the best of worship.

What kind of worship are we offering today? Remember God reserves the right to accept or reject our worship like He accepted Abel, but rejected Cain.

Two kinds of faith

Faith is 2-fold.

1. There is the faith that springs from obedience to God's Word. In spite of what reality appears to be, we declare and work according to what God has said.

For example, I have a million deadlines to meet financially, with not a dime to fulfill them. But I trust God to make a way for all my needs to be met. As the deadlines draw close, fear and apprehension threatens to burst my atmosphere of peace and serenity. I start to consider taking remedial action out of panic. From experience, I know this will lead me nowhere, so I resist the urge to panic and instead lay my concerns out to God for the umpteenth time.

Then I look at the issue from a different perspective. What is the worst that can happen? Does any of this mean I offend God? Is any of this expressly in disobedience to His commands? Is it hindering His plan and purpose in my life? If not why am I afraid of things going wrong? Is it my responsibility, or is it God's responsibility?

Then I resign myself to whatever consequence that will happen and live everyday as it comes in thanksgiving to the almighty.

And all of a sudden I just feel sure everything will be alright 

2. There is also the faith that is a gift. It is a quiet assurance that God WILL do what He says. It is faith that comes from above. Unexplainable. With no facts to support it, but there nonetheless.

I recognize this faith because I've felt it before. Yes. I FEEL this faith (Hebrews 11:1) whereas I ACTED OUT the previous faith (James 2:18). Previously I acted based on my trust of God's word. But now I'm strangely SURE that everything will be sorted out.

Exhilaration fills me and i relax. God is truly in control.

God's Word

God's Word (part 1)

A key pointer to who God is, is what He says about Himself (The masculine description "He" doesn't mean God is masculine, because God transcends gender).

What is God's word? Firstly, the Bible strictly cannot be described as God's word. The Bible itself says God's word is alive (Hebrews 4:12). In other words, God's word is a person. The Bible can more accurately be called a detailed description of God's word.

Many still misunderstand the essence of what the Bible stands for today. I have heard accusations of alterations, misrepresentation and plain blatant lies written within its pages. What we need to do is zoom out of the micro details and look at a vast effort, over thousands of years, in millions of words, within thousands of chapters, and hundreds of various writers in different circumstances and backgrounds, and vastly varying states of mind, all writing about different events and for different audiences in several languages. Look at this effort, and if we can identify a theme, just the tiniest theme, then we may begin to see that this work is actually being curated by more than an individual ( or a group of individuals).

Some say the Bible isn't complete. My answer is that the word of God, being alive, can never be incomplete. Certainly a description of a person will always be incomplete until we meet that person. So accusations of an incomplete compilation (or deliberate omissions from the compilation) miss the point entirely. If a group of books is describing a dead person, an omission of a detail will, at best, serve to withhold some piece of vital information. An alteration will do likewise by misleading unsuspecting readers. But if the subject of the description were alive, then such false descriptions would easily be revealed for what they are, once we meet the subject of description.

Continued in part 2

The Good news in 21st century language

Let me explain this in 21st century language. The lingo of the computer age. The explanation is not an actual fit because the Christ that I speak of, the Son of God, has no beginning and no end. Anyway, Here goes . . .

Our physical body is the HARDWARE, our soul (also called or containing the "heart"  or mind) is the OPERATING SYSTEM, while our Spirit is the electricity that powers the device. In other words, we, in totality are complete devices modelled after a prototype.

The first model (Adam) was designed to manufacture subsequent models through its in-built facility in conjunction with the second model. The second model (Eve) was developed from the first in such a way as to be a failsafe to any possible flaws in the system. It wasn't that the manufacturer felt His product was faulty, it was just a precaution against external breach.

Unfortunately, the failsafe itself was the focus of the first breach, and thus a virus was introduced into the system. Having corrupted the OS, the power source was changed and the devices lost majority of their functions due to their ultra-low power source. This is like powering a 220v device with 110v current. It simply won't function optimally. So the device is virtually dead.

However on this low power, and with a virus corrupting the OS, the internal  manufacturing process designed by the manufacturer kicked into action and more devices were created in geometric progression.

The manufacturer looked at this situation in distress. There were now millions, if not billions, of devices each with the replicated virus corrupting their operating systems. If He chose to reformat the hard drives, he would need to do this for each and every system (millions of them ). And this would not guarantee that another attack couldn't take place.

Therefore the manufacturer decided to bring in the actual prototype. The initial device that all the other devices were modelled after.
He brought in the system and ran it's OS. This prototype, which ran on the actual electricity for which it was designed, was so robust that it was able to repel all attacks from the various programmers who wrote all types of viruses in attempts to compromise and corrupt it.

This Prototype is Christ.

All the software the manufacturer ran on the prototype were able to perform as designed, and it really caused a revolution in the way things were done by it. Therefore the other devices, acting through the virus, conspired to shut it down.

But they weren't aware that this was actually the manufacturer's plan. So the Prototype was shut down within the closed system that they all operated. 3 days later, the manufacturer hooked the shut down system into the Internet (a network which had always existed, but which the devices knew nothing about).

Therefore the Prototype became extremely powerful and could reach the corrupted devices one by one. This network was powered by the approved electric source and necessary routers (angels) which allowed it to evade any virus attacks. Besides the manufacturer and Prototype were able to see all the new tactics the programmers were devising and could communicate with the devices through the Internet.

So, each device, hooked up to the Internet and knowing the prototype was robust enough to perform every required function, reformatted itself and downloaded the Prototype OS. It also tapped the appropriate electricity from the source and therefore became as robust as the prototype. Each "reborn" device was now expected to communicate the "good news"  to other devices and in turn they also would hookup and get reformatted.

The programmers and virus creators seeing this, decided to "create"  their own "internet"  and begin confusing other devices to hook up to them. But devices that came from this "fake"  Internet couldn't perform the functions of the ones hooked up to the "real" Internet. So other unconnected  devices became very confused. This is because in the assemblies where the "good news"  was being communicated, both devices from the fake and real "internets" were members. And it seems one couldn't tell the real from the fake. This is the dilemma we are in today.

On depression

Matthew 26:38 NLT

"He told them, "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.""

There is no better description for a state of DEPRESSION in the Bible than the one Jesus Christ gave to His disciples above.
What are the lessons we can learn from the verse above?

1. Even the Son of God faced depression. My dear brother or sister, our Saviour has gone through your condition. Trust him to understand how it feels.

2. His first action was to ask three of his disciples to "stay and keep watch". When you feel the devastation of depression, talk to your close associates about it, but more importantly, ask them to keep watch over you.

3. He prayed about it. Even when you reveal your situation to humans, ask for God's help. Christ knows precisely how you feel because he has experienced it. Luke's version (Lk 22:43) stated that an angel was sent to strengthen Christ during the experience.

4. Man is not reliable, only God is. When Christ returned to them 3 times, his disciples were sleeping. He woke them and used His condition to point them inwards on the need to pray against what he was going through. This means it is possible to overcome temptation (including the temptation to succumb to depression) through prayer. He said, "for the spirit is willing, but the body is weak". Therefore whatever our physical condition, it is always possible for our Spirit to overcome our flesh!

Say to yourself today, Depression will not overcome me for I am crucified with Christ.

Selah

A sacrifice of greatness

Abraham's journey to eternal significance began with his obedience to the call of God to leave his father's house and people, and proceed to a land he would be shown.

His position became established when Abraham did a strange thing a few months later. His nephew had been kidnapped in a war between separate alliances of great kings. Abraham went on a rampage with a few (318) men from his household in addition to a couple of friendly allies.
Abram (as was his name at the time) overpowered the belligerents, rescued his nephew, and came back with plenty of plunder.

Instead of dividing the spoils among all participants, he first gave a tithe of THE TOTAL goods (to the high priest) and then RETURNED the remaining plunder to its original owners (he deducted his men's upkeep during the campaign and an appropriate payment to his allies).

Abraham did not benefit materially from the expedition. He refused to partake of the plunder and instead chose to trust God's ability to make him wealthy WITHOUT THE INFLUENCE OF HIS RICH ACQUAINTANCES. Genesis 14:8,13,17
Abraham as the CEO gave a tithe (to Melchizedek) on behalf of his entire organization even though he himself took home nothing!

25 years later, God changed his name from "father of a nation" (genesis 12:2-3)to "father of MANY nations" (Genesis 17:5) . Was this a coincidence? (remember he had paid the tithe on behalf of 5 kings)
Today all mankind is blessed through "Father" Abraham and his descendant, Jesus the Christ.

Lesson : it takes sowing a seed of greatness, or making a sacrifice of greatness, to unleash us into our destinies even if it may seem we are not better for it in the short term. It took Abraham 25 years. It may take you longer, but it will never pass you by in Jesus name.

Jesus. . .

**I wept profusely.

I cannot determine the language in which he spoke to me. But if it were pidgin english, it would sound like :

"No be your fault " (accompanied by a customary hiss)

Or if it were Yoruba, perhaps it would be :

" Ki i se ejo e rara"

I bawled uncontrollably. **

Hundreds of years earlier, in the ancient Oyo Kingdom, the location of the seat of authority of the Scion of the Oduduwa dynasty was located deep in the territorial plains somewhere in what is known today as the Middle Belt of North Central Nigeria.

For several years due to tyranny, rivalry and strife, the royalty and warrior class of the Empire had fragmented serially, and was scattered around several nascent settlements and towns.

The rise of great cities such as ilorin, Ibadan, iseyin, ijaye, etc, were a result of such a fracture. Inevitably, the royal seat of power at a point had no loyal arm for the enforcement of its authority and mandate.

It got so bad, that the renegades, at a point colluded with other enemies and sacked the ancient town of Oyo. At the time, the only loyal body of warriors to the royal throne was located in Ibadan. Therefore, the new town of Oyo was relocated to  within a closer proximity of its 'army',  and at a suitable vantage point ( a hilly summit) to forestall future enemy skirmishes.

Ibadan was initially established by Egba warriors who were later displaced and reoccupied by Oyo refugees. But being a town founded by the restless and bloodthirsty, it never really settled into a life of peaceful existence. It was either engaged in battle with its southern neighbours (the Egbas and Ijebus), or testing it's might against the Fulani-acquired Ilorin, or other similar wars of vengeance against the ijesas, ekitis, and several other adversaries far and near.

This culture of warfare led to the birth of the greatest, most bloodthirsty army the Yoruba race had ever known. In their domains, they were undefeatable. Feared by the Fulani-led calvary domiciled in Ilorin, Ibadan was virtually an unstoppable force in the region, until the advent of  British colonialism.

But what stood Ibadan out really was it's stubborn loyalty to the royal authority in Oyo. Succession upon succession of its leadership had maintained their subservience, honour and respect towards the Alafin of Oyo. Thus, all ibadan's possessions, subjected kingdoms, slaves, and dominion was brought directly under the authority of the (otherwise militarily powerless) Alafin. This made the Alafin, by proxy, the most powerful monarch in Yoruba land (quite a different claim from being the direct sovereign over all other monarchs in Yoruba land)

**The significance of this last paragraph, was what the Holy Spirit was at that moment drumming into my brain**

The Alafin could have been understandably mistaken for an ordinary powerless king, we're it not for the dreaded army of merciless pillagers to his South who would gladly, at the drop of a hat, declare war on any of his perceived enemies (nay, anyone whose face the Alafin did not like) and back up that declaration with the full force of military engagement. These wars were usually undertaken at the majority cost of Ibadan without a thought of financial reimbursement from Oyo. In fact, it was the enemy that ended up paying for the wars in slaves, forced tribute, and political subjection to ibadan and it's leadership!

Therefore it can be said that the Authority of the Alafin (recognized even by the British, upon their nascent engagement with Southern and indeed all Nigeria) over the entire Yoruba Kingdom was enforced, and made recognizable by the reputation, loyalty and fealty of the indefatigable Ibadan army.

Noone, as at the time of the late nineteenth century, would ordinarily accord much respect or reverence to the monarch of Oyo, were it not for the zealous honour accorded him by his greatest cheerleaders, the Ibadan principality.

**This brings us painfully to another King. One whose reign commenced much earlier, and continues to this day. One who lends His name to modern Time itself. For Which other King has history been calibrated after but Christ?

This recollection is painful because, as the Holy Spirit reminded me, Jesus Christ is the King of kings, the bodily representative of the Highest Authority in all existence. One who several millions of angels obey, bow to, and honor day and night.

In the presence of several Yoruba kings today, anyone would be required to lay prostrate in reverence before being allowed to stand to state the reason for visiting.

Yet when entering the presence of the King of kings, do we accord Him the respect and honor He deserves? Do we even acknowledge His sovereign Royalty?

Jesus Christ has several armies. Armies of angels who enforce His authority in the spiritual realm. Yet he has another army. One set aside to enforce His divine authority in the physical realm. It is painful because at times it feels as though this army isn't even aware of its own existence. As though it's reason d'etre was lost to it. Unlike the Ibadan army of old, we (His army) are not required to subject our greatness to Christ in order to validate His Kingship. No! Rather, we derive our greatness solely FROM Him! His Kingship is received from the Highest Authority in Heaven and is everlasting. And we, His army, represent His divine Kingdom even though, for now, we are located in this present corrupted world. As Christ Himself said, "without me you can do nothing".

Therefore do we wonder why we, Christ's Body, His end-time army, have seemed so ineffective in propagating His eternal Kingdom of late?

Remember Christ himself said "All Authority in heaven and earth has been given to me". He told His disciples, "I have given you authority to trample upon snakes and scorpions",and He additionally told them, "You shall receive Power, after the Holy Spirit has come upon you" (this happened at Pentecost).

However, it is one thing to have Power and Authority, it is quite another to to enforce this authority with that available power. What is the purpose of our authority and power in Christ? Christ said, " For the Son of Man came (to this world) to seek and to save the lost".

Our primary purpose is to help bring salvation to people who are lost. The unsaved. How can one be saved when one is unaware of being unsaved? This is our purpose as the earthly army of Christ. To shine the light of His Word into the hearts of people in order to reveal to them the problem and it's solution. This work requires dedication, loyalty and divine manifestation. It requires power that we ordinarily do not have. This power is embedded in Christ.

Christ said, " And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me". This statement has been confused in many of the Bible's modern translations as referring to Christ's ascension to heaven. However, over 17 (older)  translations have the conditional word "if" as the sentence's opener. Christ was alluding to a possibility of His NOT being "lifted up". This could not have been referring to His heavenly ascension because He had already declared that He would die and be raised from the dead.

Today, the negative possibility in that conditional statement rings true in Christ's body. Our King is not being "lifted up", He isn't being glorified, and He isn't "drawing all men"  unto him. And whose fault is this? His own body...

Hence this is why we have been rendered powerless and ineffective. Our humble, gentle King has been relegated, and we feel we can do without Him. We have lost our identity 

For just as Ibadan, a fearsome power, represented a largely unseen Alafin in Oyo, Christ (the gentle and humble King of kings) represents an unseen God in heaven. Christ's power is even more fearsome and overwhelming than any other power ever witnessed, but we do not even acknowledge it!

We cannot claim any sort of relationship and loyalty to the invisible God of heaven if we do not treat Christ Jesus (His Son and physical representative) with the same reverence, honour and adoration we claim to give His Father. This is the message the Holy Spirit was giving me that Sunday morning in church. It is why I was weeping. For I was the most guilty of the travesty being laid in my heart.

I had just received the answer to the rhetorical question asked in an earlier post. Where is the power? The answer is, In Christ! If only we would glorify Him, if only we would "lift Him up"!

On Faith

Faith goes beyond feelings. It is the actions we take based on our convictions on those feelings that define faith.

For instance,

*if I believe Psalm 23:1 - 

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need",

then my faith would cancel any worries about my daily sustenance.

*if I believe  "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. . ."

Then, in spite of whatever I've done, my faith would lead me boldly to God's throne of grace to obtain mercy whenever I need it most.

*if I truly believe I've been forgiven by God for all my transgressions, then I would have no difficulty in forgiving anyone who has wronged me, regardless of how badly they hurt me. And my faith will lead me to physically show unconditional love to such a person.

If there is no sin that God can't forgive, then what is difficult for me to let go in a wrong done to me by my fellow man?

On sacrifice

Hmmmm sacrifice!

I've been reading a lot lately about the value and purpose of sacrifice.

A Sacrifice is a metaphorical and physical reality. It signifies something both real and surreal at the same time. For a child of God who walks not solely in the flesh, the importance of sacrifice cannot be underestimated.

It is true that an altar is a meeting place between man (representing the physical)  and God (representing the spiritual). Alters are also (rightly)  operated via sacrifice.

But who are these sacrifices for? God?

Psalm 40:6 NIV,  says unequivocally that -

" Sacrifice and offering you did not desire-- but my ears you have opened -- burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require"

The sacrifices are certainly not requested by God for his delight.

Psalm 51:17 NLT says,

"The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God"

1 Samuel 15:22 NLT

" But Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams"

So what is the function of a sacrifice? It is an indelible spiritual statement of faith which takes on an eternal life of its own.

Sacrifices are very powerful because they are living spiritual statements that can only be made by men. Spirits cannot make sacrifices.

Even children of evil make sacrifices also, lending witness to the spiritual potency of sacrifice, regardless of what side of the divide you belong.

The greatest sacrifice ever made happened when the son of God became a man on purpose and offered himself as a whole living sacrifice on behalf of all mankind. This was an act based on conviction. A spiritual statement of faith that is everlasting.

Sacrifices don't die. They live forever. Man,  made in the image of God has the power to create such living spiritual entities to achieve profound and tremendous consequences. But our lack of knowledge of our ability makes us (in several instances) mere slaves to our own creation!

On borrowing

Food for thought :

What is God's view of borrowing?

Deuteronomy 15 :6 NIV
"For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you"

The above verse has been interpreted to mean that God's purpose for the life of his beloved is one free from debt. Is this true though?

The chapter of Deuteronomy 15 was actually dealing with the procedures for handling credit and debt among the Israelites (God's chosen people). It stipulated a period of debt forgiveness (specifically every seven years)  and forbade withholding debt from a borrower even when the "Lord's release was close by". This was because, since all creditors were obliged to forgive all debt owed them on the year of the "LORD's release", they would be reluctant to lend whenever such a time was close.

If we study verse 6 above closely though, we will find out that what God was actually promising was a freedom from indebtedness to OTHER nations. At least 3 translations include the words "from any"  when the famous phrase "you shall lend to many nations but not borrow"  is written.

Clearly God's people were allowed to engage in borrowing and lending AMONG EACH OTHER, but were preferably not to be compelled to borrow from OTHER PEOPLES because this could jeopardize their sovereignty.

Today, this principle holds true amongst God's children. Always be ready to lend a helping hand (in whatever way possible)  to whoever is in need, but especially to your compatriots. Those who are identified in the Bible as "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation"!

Israel as a contemporary nation state today is very formidable internationally PRECISELY because it's people all over the world follow this principle passionately.