The first part of the book of Psalms ends with this Psalm. Here, the Psalmist was clear in His conscience to declare that his life pleased God. This Psalm teaches us that everyone around us might be traitors and encourages us to live according to the standards of God, despite the snares placed by the…
Author: DRS
God Lifts Us Up – Psalm 40
This Psalm helps us reminisce about the days we lived without God to appreciate life after salvation.
How To Begin Our Faith Walk?
God’s ways of dealing are new every morning, and people cannot understand them. People need precedence in everything to trust and obey. God does explain to us before He accomplishes His will, yet He ignites our faith to do His will in our daily walk of life.
The Cross – A Highway To Heaven
When God made a covenant with Abraham, He told him that his descendants would be in captivity for four hundred years. Several centuries later, God told Moses to lead His people out of their bondage. The delivered people however did not know their destination and blamed Moses for leading them out of slavery. Whenever they feared death, they preferred to go back to their former life of slavery. When God parted the Red Sea, they ventured to walk between the walls of water to escape from the swords of Phoroh’s Army.
Wisdom To Understand The Life Expectancy – Psalm 39
Observing life expectancy emerged in the 19th century for the first time when human death rates attributed to the rise in diseases started increasing exponentially with time. The life expectancy data attributed various causes to the climbing death rate numbers, and people worked out scientific solutions to enhance the life span of people. Moses had a thought about this when people died in the wilderness, and he prayed to God to give him the wisdom to number his days, approximately during 1500 BC. He did not explore the cause of their death but asked God for awareness to understand the short span of life. In this Psalm, David expressed his understanding of the short span of life, while many think that their life never ends. As a result, they do not fear God, and even in their old age, they do not feel bad about doing evil.
I Never Knew You!
The Gospel of Matthew recorded the teaching of Jesus driving His servants away from Him, saying I never knew you. God loved us so much and gave His Son to us so that no one should perish but live eternally. God predestined us to call us His children and never forsakes us. Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brothers and Sisters. Then what makes Him say, “I never knew you”?
Experiencing The Wrath Of God – Psalm 38
While everyone wishes to enjoy the blessings of God, only a few are ready to experience His wrath too. Many believe that exposing the outcome of the wrath of God is a shame. Or knowing that God is not on our side, people will bounce on us from every angle. Especially our enemies will use this opportunity to destroy our image in our societies. Satan used Job’s wife on one such occasion to destroy the integrity of Job, but Job said You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble (Job 2:10)? During the time of Job and David, the wrath of God bore the death penalty on their head, yet, they faced it boldly. But God enables us to stand in His presence by cleansing us with the blood of His Son. With this privilege, do we ever experience His wrath?
Envy Leads To Evil – Psalm 37
This Psalm deals with three phases of our lives. The first one is comparing our lives with others. By doing this, if we find ourselves above others then we feel proud else we feel sad. The second approach is comforting ourselves by assuming wicked people’s fall or the rewards awaiting us for doing good. The third phase is looking at God and rejoicing in His amazing grace.
The Old And The New Covenant
Every three years latest models come on the market, and the old ones become obsolete. The company stops updating the software to its older models. People still go for those outdated smartphones at a lower price because they buy them to show their status to others. Who knows that they purchased it after the new one was released? As far as the buyers of the latest smartphones, they need the updates of the software daily to cope with their job requirements, etc. Though their old smartphones have become obsolete, every aspect of the old one is available in the new one.
In Remembrance of Him
Today we are participating in His Holy Communion, not in haste but at ease to remember and rejoice in the freedom God gave us from the clutches of sin through His Son, Jesus Christ. People celebrate the Passover once a year, but Jesus asks us to remember His New Covenant as often as we can. Jesus asks us to remember our Father and thank Him for His incredible love. To believers in Christ, it is a daily meal rather than a Last Supper.
The Keys Of The Kingdom
Seldom people are encouraged to help others constantly, but many discontinue doing good to others because of not getting a pleasant response. It can happen that the person whom we had helped might end up being our enemy today. Or the people who derived benefits from us to reach a higher level would have forgotten us.
Riches: Sign Of Salvation?
Despite the teachings through the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the idea of connecting worldly blessings to spiritual blessings continues. James criticized the shepherds for giving importance to the wealthy group in the synagogues and the churches. Some affluent Corinthian Christians abused the Lord’s Supper by marginalizing poor Christians.
God Protects All His Bones – Psalm 34:20
Believing in what Jesus did for us on the cross, we became God’s legitimate children and heirs to inherit His Kingdom. The devil does not tolerate our freedom in Christ Jesus and always tries to bind us again with the cords of sin. After luring us to sin, he gives us a feeling of guilt…
Do Not Be Provoked – Psalm 36
While Bible scholars consider Psalm 18 as the Psalm during the old age of the Psalmist, scholars attribute Psalm 36 to the young David. David was introduced as “the servant of God” in these Psalms. Because in both of these Psalms, David stopped listening to the provoking noises and started listening to the soothing voice…
Thanksgiving
We thank God at the end of every year and celebrate it as a well-known and well-accepted festival. The scripture tells us to thank God in all things and all the time. Thanking God only during specific occasions throws light on our ignorance of His protection that is with us every nanosecond. When we thank…
A Rest That Holidays Cannot Give
We understand the literal meaning of “Rest” as a break from our routine work. Everyone needs rest, and we look forward to the weekends. We think that the holidays would refresh our minds to work better as we need a break from time to time to rejuvenate ourselves. Practically speaking, we are not taking rest…
Vindication In His Righteousness – Psalm 35
This imprecatory Psalms of David motivates people to ask God to take revenge on their enemies. It persuades people to rejoice in the fall of their enemies more than they enjoy their salvation. While choosing an advocate, one should go by their experience because experience makes the advocate understand the client’s case and the opponent’s…
Humbling Ourselves
John the Baptist desired that God must increase, but he must decrease. How far do our desires comply with John the Baptist? Even if we want to reduce ourselves, the humiliation attached to it does not allow us to accept our decline. We thereby resist our willingness to decrease ourselves and fight against our decline….
An Encouragement To The Desperate – Psalm 34
The title of this Psalm suggests that David wrote this Psalm after he pretended to be insane and escaped from the kingdom of Achish (Abimelek). Whenever we face critical situations, we lie instead of facing the truth. God expresses His displeasure about our lies in the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 28:15, 18&19) and speaks about…
A Comeback Story Of Fear
Many children of God still live in fear despite being delivered from the clutches of fear. To come out of this fear, we should be aware of the tricks of the evil one. Looking at the Old Testament, we see people living in terror all the time. Knowing how God has delivered us from those…
Through the Lens of the Creator – Psalm 33
During the period of this Psalm, there was hardly any written script to tell of the wondrous creation of God. Yet the Psalmist tries to capture the creative power of God by seeing all that has been created. The Psalmist unveils the creative hands of God in every visible object and attributes the power of…
The Road Map
A roadmap is a strategic plan that defines a goal or desired outcome and includes the necessary steps or milestones to reach it. It is a high-level document that helps articulate strategic thinking—the why—behind the goal and the plan for getting there. Among various roadmaps, the visionary roadmap visually represents the changes happening within us…
The Chosen People
We feel happy and proud when we understand that we are God’s chosen people. Feeling optimistic about this privilege leads to pride. Pride secludes us from the rest of the world, and we restrict the grace of God within a narrow circle of our fellow believers. The scripture tells us that pride goes before the…
The Confession – Psalm 32
Confessing sin is the outcome of trust. If we confess our sins, it implies that we trust God. Trusting a person will give us the confidence to tell them everything. A genuine confession is the first step towards receiving forgiveness from God. Confession replaces our guilt with peace. But people hesitate to confess their sins…
Aleichem Shalom!
“Shalom” is a salutation by Jewish people at the time of the meeting or parting, that simply means “peace”. In response, people will say “Aleichem shalom”, meaning “to you, peace,” while the literal meaning of Shalom is tranquillity and the absence of agitation, spiritually it explains the divine peace that passes all understanding. As a…
Love The Lord – Psalm 31
It is unclear as to when David wrote this Psalm because of his amalgamated expressions. David was a fugitive most of his life and even amidst his trouble, he often found peace in the presence of God. Jesus said to Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory…
Extolling God – Psalm 30
Our church services begin with the Praise and Worship session wherein we enthusiastically praise God with meaningful songs and vibrant music. The worship team motivates others to worship actively. People also are inspired by the worship team and look for churches where worship is active and attractive. People believe that worshipping creates an atmosphere to…
A Lacuna We Never Realize
None of us can say that we have received answers to all our prayers and solutions for all our problems. When our difficulties persist, sicknesses linger and people come against us, our faith shatters. We often think as the Psalmist, that I have kept my heart pure in vain and washed my hands in innocence…
An Unceasing Prayer
People prefer to watch television for hours together and are reluctant to spend time on prayer. While watching the television, even the thoughts about the inevitable pending jobs do not disrupt us. At the same time, we allow our thoughts to disrupt our prayers. Thoughts like, did we close the windows of our car, switched…
The Voice Of The Lord – Psalm 29
Most of David’s Psalm has three parts. The first part describes his helpless situation, the second talks about his approach to God, and the third is all about praising God because of the answers he received. Praising God comes out of our hearts when we enjoy His presence and protection. Unlike other Psalms, this Psalm…
Rhetorical Prayers
A rhetorical question is asked merely for effect where no answer is expected. The statement contains our preconceived notions, posed in the form of a question. Likewise, most of our prayers are rhetorical. Once a preacher called the believers to pray for rain in their territory as the land was battling a severe famine. Many…
Quicksand
Quicksand is common and found most often where freshwater meets saltwater. It is a fluid made of sand mixed with water or air. It changes its viscosity in response to stress or vibration, making it easier to sink but harder to escape. The ground looks solid, but if we walk on it, the sand begins…
God is My Rock – Psalm 28
The Psalmist compared the sturdy character of God with a rock in some Psalms. The Old Testament writers also perceived God as Rock, as they enjoyed His protection all through their journey. People compare the sturdiness of God to a rock, but God compared the unshakable faith of Abraham to a rock (Isaiah 51:1-2). People…
Self Appraisal – Psalm 26
When looking at our appearance in the mirror, we ask ourselves if we look good. If not, we try to make ourselves more presentable by making a few adjustments to our hair or clothes. The scripture reminds us of our negligence in complying with the truth, compared to the promptness of correcting our untidy hair…
Land Of The Living – Psalm 27
The tone of this Psalm reveals that it was a prayer during a hostile condition. The authors of the Old Testament used the term deliverance to describe how God saved them from the hands of their enemies. After the enemies of Israelites drowned in the Red Sea, Moses and Israelites sang how God became their salvation….
A Fact Check
There is a common belief among the believers of Jesus that following Jesus’ teaching is a difficult task. Many people accept difficulties as part of a believer’s life and think that the more they suffer in this world, the greater will their reward be in heaven. Many elders teach others that following or serving Jesus…
God Who Cares For Us
We love one another and take care of them. We love our children, and we give them all they need. We love to take care of the sick and the poor and feel proud to stand with them during their helpless situation. Yet, our resources are limited and we cannot go beyond that to help…
Teach Me Lord – Psalm 25
Learning is a lifelong process. A famous and universally accepted quote says, “What one knows is only a handful, whereas the unknown is the size of the world.” How much you learn is like a handful of sand in the world, and you still have a whole world to study. We should not stop learning,…
The Powerful And Active Prayer
When scripture talks about the power in the prayer of a righteous person, we inadvertently misunderstand that the prayers of the sinners are powerless. When we receive answers to our prayers, we think that we are righteous and are overwhelmed with joy and embrace pride. We attribute our righteousness as the sole cause for the…
Blessed Are The Meek
The terminologies used in the Bible mostly appear to be the same as defined in the dictionary. But in the real sense, the scripture conveys an idea just opposite to the perceptions of this world. Despite Jesus telling us that “blessed are the meek,” we still believe that the people who have influence, wealth, muscle…
The King of Glory – Psalm 24
We are aware of the truth that the glory belongs to the Lord. Even after knowing this, do we attribute the glory to God or give it to something else that dominates our lives. In the days of David, Kings were the glorious people on the earth, and David was also one of them. Despite…
To the Ends of the Earth
“You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth,” Jesus told these words to a group of people who knew nothing about geography, as most of them were fishermen who depended for their livelihood on the nearby sea. They were uneducated and did not know how to articulate their thoughts clearly. Moreover, they…
A Teaser Of Crucifixion – Psalm 22
This Psalm portrays the crucifixion of Jesus that occurred centuries after its writing. It is bewildering how David, a Jew by birth, foresaw the Roman practice of killing the criminals by hanging them on a tree. The capital punishment of crucifixion had come to vogue in Rome long after the death of David. Yet this…
The Valley Of Death…
We are striving hard to survive among various challenges in this earthly life. While we face trouble in our jobs, diseases or arguments with our loved ones, we stop trusting God and trust every other resource of this world. In this pursuit, the thought of ending our lives frequently comes to mind. When we forget…
From Caterpillar To Butterfly
Seeing a bunch of caterpillars crawling on the ground, I often used to wonder how does this ugly creature transform into an eye-catching colourful butterfly. People love catching the beautiful winged insect and try to keep them in the palm of their hands but no one wants to touch a caterpillar. God cleanses us by…
Give In, Not Give Up
The world quotes Jesus word’s for turning the other cheek when facing an enemy or persecutor but no one wants to adopt it. Resistance and retaliation appear to be defensive weapons but did not help in defending but ended up avenging ourselves and others. Jesus teaches us not to resist the evil person, which means…
From The Author’s Desk – Psalm 21
The author captures the responses to the prayers that people had lifted up in the previous Psalm for their King. Are we aware of the changes that God made in the lives of the people for whom we prayed? Often, we do not even remember what we prayed and for whom we prayed. Even if…
Trusting God – Psalm 20
Do we trust God? When we say we trust God, inadvertently, our priorities override our trust in God. When we face catastrophes or unpredictable situations, we wonder why bad things happen to us. And when diagnosed with some terminal disease, we question God did this happen to us. Asking such questions seems natural but in…
The Law of the LORD – Psalm 19
While people are desperately searching for God, they do not realise that His every creation reflects His power. But with modern innovation, people do not find the time to admire the beauty of nature. Innovations are the outcome of one’s inspiration from nature. However, people do not give any regard to nature but are crazy…
Mission Accomplished
What are our accomplishments? Are we accomplishing someone else’s mission or our own? If someone else is selecting our mission, what are we achieving in our lives? Our education major is not selected by us anymore but is dictated by the market demand or maybe our college guidelines. Our jobs have no relevance to our…
Excited Not Exhausted – Psalm 18
Often, we are tired of our lives and are drained of all our energy to fight our battles. If metabolism is the chemical reaction in the body’s cells that change food into energy, worshipping God is the spiritual reaction in our soul that changes the word of God into energy. Glorifying God does not mean…
The Diagnosis of Sin
With the advancement of medical sciences, diagnosis and subsequent treatment have become quite easy. But in the olden days, people did not have these facilities to identify the specific reason, yet they received healing. It might be because of the pure air quality and organic yields. In this modern age, the air quality has become…
The Naming Ceremony
We consider the naming ceremony as a sacred event and believe that choosing the correct name, brings blessings and success in the lives of our children. As a result, choosing a name has now become even more complicated, as people think that the prosperity of their children depends on their name. Some people name their…
A Search Warrant – Psalm 17
Transparency at every step is imposed by many Government Departments especially, with the law-enforcing departments to curb corruption and injustice. Moreover, the adoption of automation in departments dealing with civil welfare has restricted Government officials from showing favour to someone out of turn because of political pressure or bribery. At the same time, people have…
The Incarnation
Christmas celebrations include singing carols, baking cakes, decorating our houses and of course lighting up the Christmas tree. The children enact the nativity play as we remember the sequence of events that occurred during the birth of Jesus. While we sing the famous carol song “Joy to the world,” can we see the present world…
Children Of God
According to the Gospel of John, by receiving the Son of God, whom the Father had sent, we have become the children of God. The Gospel explains this further, as children born not of natural descent, a human decision, or a husband’s will, but born of God (John 1:13). Even the children of natural descendants…
The Contentment – Psalm 16
This idiom, “a contented mind is a perpetual feast”, tells us the benefit of contentment. King Solomon recorded a similar theme in a different way saying that the cheerful heart has a continual feast (Proverbs 15:15). The cheerfulness of our heart depends on the fulfilment of our heart’s desires. If our cheerfulness is the outcome…
Who Holds our Future
We all know that our future lays in the hands of our Sovereign God. The psalmist even wrote that “My times are in your hands” (Psalms 31:15), and Paul brought out the fact that God has marked out His people’s appointed times in history along with the boundaries of their lands (Acts 17:26). Our God…
The Survival – Psalm 15
While reading this Psalm, we should go back to the Old Testament times where people were afraid of God, and they did not even pronounce the word Yahweh, but only wrote it down to express His name. When the chief priests entered into the inner room with the blood he offered for himself and for…
The Night is Coming….
In the beginning, God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light amidst the darkness. From where did this darkness come? Does it exist on its own or is there any other power than God has that has birthed it? The Gospel of John explains the role of our Sovereign God in creating all…
Surveillance – Psalm 14
This Psalm focuses on the unceasing surveillance of God on each one of us, whoever we may be or wherever we are. In public places, we often find stickers informing us that we are under surveillance. Surveillance cameras are used to deter people from anti-social elements such as shoplifting or attempting to escape from prison….
Holiday Cleaning
We deep clean our homes usually before the holiday season because we want to keep our dwelling place cosy and comfortable. This type of deep cleaning can only be done by us than any hired help, as we know the usual hangout spots of dust bunnies and clutter in our homes. We are keen on…
Give Light To My Eyes – Psalm 13
Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone (Deuteronomy 34:7). The Vision Council of America claims that about 75 percent of the adult population worldwide uses vision correction products, and 64 percent wear glasses. It means that 75 percent of the adult…
Flawless Word – Psalm 12
Can we say that our words are flawless? Flawless not with respect to our grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, or even correct usage but about what is in our hearts. Our mouth speaks what we have in our heart, and that is why Bible says that for a fool, it is better not to open his mouth,…
Restoration
In the Old Testament, we see many occasions of restorations such as restoration of hope, of families, and even of kingdoms. We need hope for restoring the things we have lost, especially hope in God. Once, David had lost his family and the families of his warriors, which resulted in hostility from his supporters. Even…
Our Lord’s Prayer
When we learn our multiplication tables by heart during our formative years, we would recite them from start to end in order to arrive at the product of two numbers. In due course, we understood the concept of multiplication, and without reciting the entire table, were capable of solving the multiplication problem instantly. We all…
How Then Can You Say To Me – Psalm 11
Usually, we ask this kind of question, “how then can you say to me?” to a person who has levied some wild accusation against us. It is not a question but an answer to a baseless argument. The aggressive form of this question is “How dare you say that to me”. It conveys the meaning that the other person knows nothing about us. When Jesus prayed to His Father to forgive His killers, He prayed that they do not know what they were doing because they neither know me nor my authority. In a situation like a betrayal, we ask God that how could they do it to us. The simple answer is they did not know that we are His child. Often, we torment ourselves because we fail to remember that we are His children.
Meeting Together
The past year has pushed everyone to experience a different lifestyle of working from home, leaving aside the hassles of getting ready on time and travelling a long way in traffic. Initially, people found it difficult because of their lifelong habit of coming to the office.
The Greatest Teacher
In 1994, UNESCO earmarked 5th October as World Teachers’ Day to garner attention on the profession and the welfare of those who have dedicated their lives to the teaching profession. The main motive of these celebrations is promoting the idea of “Education for All.” Similarly, every child of God is responsible for spreading the Good…
Grace Above Everything
God loves all of us unconditionally, and those who rely upon the conditional love as defined by laws and its regulations are sustained by His grace till they experience the unconditional love of God.
Prayer for the Oppressed – Psalm 10
While we pray for our protection and blessings, we often forget to pray for the oppressed in our society. While we are ignorant of other’s sufferings, our suffering appears as a big mountain. We might be thinking that people who do not have any problem can only address the issues found in another’s life. For…
Thank You Lord – Psalm 9
Thanking each other is the best etiquette in our society, and it encourages a person to give their best. It is an act of showing the person who helped us that we have identified or realized their kindness.
Follow Me
Peter and Andrew left their nets and followed Jesus to fulfil the desire of His Father. However, these followers depended on what they saw and failed to visualize the unseen God, who had sent Jesus to this world.
The Glory of God – Psalm 8
Nature reveals the wondrous work of God, but unfortunately, we do not have the time to admire His creations. The wise of the earth are known for their inventions and their masterpieces, while the creator of heaven and earth is an unsung hero.
Our Refuge – Psalm 7
Taking refuge in God is a unique experience. In a worldly context, taking refuge is about staying in the refugee camps or a rehabilitation centre. People staying at a rehabilitation centre do not need to carry a shield, but the people at the battlefield need to have a shield.
Ananias and Sapphira – ‘Til Death…
In our day-to-day activities with our local church, do we compete with someone? Without understanding their commitment and relationship with God, do we ever force ourselves and our family members to imitate their attitudes? If we continue to do such things, we may face dire consequences like Ananias and Sapphira.
Do Not Rebuke Me – Psalm 6
We instinctively look for the approval of others but do not like their disapproval or corrections. Criticisms, though intended to be constructive, often discourages us and even pushes us to the extreme of withdrawing from our missions. Till the time we do not realize our mistakes, we won’t be ready for corrections.
Shelter to Shadow – Psalm 91
People live in vanity, and they want to show off things that they do not have and do not want to disclose the things they have. A poor person tries to present himself as a rich person, whereas a rich one does not care for such a presentation. A coward speaks much of his imaginary brave acts, while the brave keep quiet. A self-righteous person behaves like a righteous one, while the righteous do not reveal their spiritual standard. People build up false images and hide behind these lies to make a convent with death.
Listen to my Words – Psalm 5
The opening words of this Psalm highlights the confidence that David has in his relationship with God. To attract the attention of a person who is listening to many, we say “Listen to me.” Children use the technique of crying to attract their parent’s attention. The opening words of this Psalm also resemble the action of an adamant grown-up child persistently irritating his parent by repeatedly asking them to grant permission.
Emmaus – Have You Been There?
On the first Easter morn, the disciples were all terrified as they were hearing mixed news about their leader whom the Roman officials had killed just a couple of days ago. A narrative unique to the gospel of Luke, lets us know about two followers of Christ who were traveling back to the nearby town…
Our Eternal Redemption Secured
Jesus entered the holy places carrying His blood to secure our eternal redemption. The blood of Jesus shed on the cross sanctifies our conscience from dead works so that we may serve the Living Lord forever and ever as our eternal redemption is secured.
Faith Or Fear
Fear always chases faith to weaken its strength. No one in this world can say that they do not understand what fear is. We are all driven by fear in some areas of our lives. Fear gives us restlessness and steals our confidence. With fear, we are not able to arrive at the right decision at the right time, but it leads us to the wrong decisions.
Parables and Paraphrases
The creations reveal the existence of the Creator and the way they function projects the knowledge of the sovereign God. Somehow, many do not reach out to this ultimate truth, but they restrict themselves from this understanding by focusing only on the creations.
Answer Me When I Call – Psalm 4
In today’s context, this Psalm reminds me of a telephonic conversation with our friends and relatives. After changing our phone numbers, many would not recognize us, as the number does not appear on their phone-book.
Don’t be Over-Righteous
“Don’t be over-righteous” is a familiar caution often given to those who seek God in truth. These are from ‘well-wishers’ who tell their fellow brothers and sisters to attend a Sunday Service and discourage them from involving in spiritual activities like meaningful Bible Studies, Outreach Ministries or Personal Devotion. They are satisfied with what they hear in the Sunday sermons and want others to be satisfied with that without ever reading the Word of God.
Judas Iscariot – The Betrayer
Through each character of the Bible, God wants to teach us some valuable lesson so that we may enter His kingdom without having to succumb to our life situations. The element of evil seen in Judas Iscariot’s life is a common sin called greed. None of us can boldly say that we are not greedy. Judas’s life may teach us how not to be entangled in sin through greed and how to come out of it.
Deliver me, my God! – Psalm 3
In the Bible we see people like Cain, Jacob and Martha getting diverted by their family members. People who are close to our heart can hurt us more than strangers. We won’t remember the abusive language used against us in yesterday’s traffic jam but we won’t be able to forget a simple statement given against us by our kith. Satan knows how to use the people around us to dishearten us.
Led By The Spirit
As soon as Jesus was baptized, the Spirit of God led him to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The primary temptations are that the devil wants us to prove to him that we are the children of God. This precious relationship is personal between us and our God. Repeatedly. the devil asked Jesus to prove his relationship with His Father, but Jesus firmly denied to prove it to the devil.
Kiss the Son – Psalm 2
The Psalmist asks the offenders to take refuge in God and says that if the rulers of the earth will turn faithful to the incredible love of God, then righteousness will come upon them from heaven.
The Wicked And The Righteous – Psalms 1
Our society has both wicked and righteous people. Both of them share the same arena to earn their livelihood. The wicked will always be with us in the form of our neighbours, colleagues, friends and relatives who distort us from fulfilling the purpose of God in our lives.
The True Empathizer
God teaches us to show sympathy towards others, and sometimes He allows us to go through pain to understand other’s pain so that we may sympathetically pray for their remedy. At the same time, we should expect God to show His compassion to us rather than expecting pity from others.
Christmas Celebrations
While there are different opinions about the time of the birth of Jesus, we should also know the origins of Christmas. When people gathered in great numbers to celebrate the birth of Jesus, this was named Christmas during the late twelfth century, with its literal meaning being Christ’s Mass. With the coining of the name Christmas, the noble theme of God’s love has been distorted with some fictional characters of fantasies.
Bless And Be Blessed
Amidst criticism, Prosperity Gospel still survives because there are people who need that kind of gospel. All of us love to be blessed, and we speculate and await our turn. Various schemes are devised to derive blessings, such as blessings through prayers, blessings through partnership or membership, blessings through donations or offerings, and blessings through anointed oil, handkerchiefs and servants of God.
Problems Beyond Our Abilities
Based on our positions, we rank ourselves highly and feel proud of ourselves. When a problem occurs, irrespective of its severity, we always look at it as a gigantic figure. Our pride locks us within a small world, and we do not understand that the problems are everywhere and with everyone.
Peter – The Fisher of Men
The Bible portrays Peter, James, and John as the close associates of Jesus. Out of these three disciples, Peter’s inconsistent spiritual growth is a source of encouragement for all of us, as we are also inconsistent in our spiritual walks but the spiritual journey of Peter started when he was only an illiterate fisherman.
The Cross Made Lighter
The purpose for our lives is to worship God with all our mind, soul and body at all times. Worship means submitting our freedom in God’s hand by using the freedom that Jesus gave us. In order to move forward in the tasks assigned to us by God, we should have a clear mind to discern the things that discourage us. We often fail to remove the beam from our own eyes but continue to peck at our neighbour’s eyes in search of specks and injure them in the process.
Perseverance
Perseverance Or Forbearance Many a time the meaning of the word “perseverance” is misunderstood for forbearance and tolerance. People also have a wrong notion of bearing with wickedness and treachery of our fellow believers as perseverance. Tolerating friends who continue to betray our trust and us being aware of it can hinder us from coming…
The Absolute & Incontestable Truth
People are in search of God in their own way, and many have lost their hope in this pursuit. Moreover, when the path is not known, it kindles anger and frustration creating chaos, like our trips we used to take back when GPS was not readily available on our phones.
Faith That Draws
Is your faith fetching people to Jesus or is it rather driving them away from Him? Are you discouraged by the spiritual trait of some people? Here is an encouraging truth from the Bible, come near to Jesus and don’t see the crowd around Him.
Lay Your Burdens Down
Holding On A shrewd person once withdrew a large sum of cash from his bank and carried it in a dirty old bag in a crowded train. While everyone else placed their luggage on the shelf above, this person was standing amidst the crowd, tightly holding his bag with one hand and holding the roof…
Grace Makes our Hurdles Lighter
The grace of our Lord makes all our hurdles lighter so that we can push them away and move forward with the task that God has assigned us.
God Creates New Things
The nature acquaints us with the creative power of God, and when we keenly observe those creations, we will understand the immeasurable power of God that pursues us to believe in His existence. In our present day scenario, because of the upcoming technologies, the current generation is unable to reach God even while utilizing all…
Love Made Complete
The saying, “Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are” is true and practical, because friendship builds on a common goal. When our thoughts are the same, our attitude will also be in line with each other.
The Grass is Never Greener
It is obvious that even evil doers are flourishing every day on this earth and that might sprout up hundreds of doubts in our mind.
Relentless
Sometimes in our lives, we face problems after problems, like waves of the sea, leaving us to stumble.
Our Freedom in Christ
Are we misusing our freedom, forgetting who gave us that freedom. Remember that our freedom is in Christ and not on the things of this world. Let us not continue to misuse our freedom and come to Him with anxious hearts to experience our Father’s love.
God’s Purpose Will Be Fulfilled
We do not get to choose our parents neither can we opt for any colour, race or religion, yet we were born of our Father’s will. The only thing that is guaranteed is that God will accomplish His Purpose in our lives.
God loves a Cheerful Giver – 2 Corinthians 9:7
Jesus is keen on keeping our relationship with Him as personal and He is eager to reward us personally. If we expose His intimate relation to earn riches and fame, then Jesus warns us that we have already been ‘rewarded’ with riches and fame. If we keep it personal between ourselves and Him, He is assuring us a reward from our heavenly Father.
Good And Evil
A common perception of people about evil is that it is a force against God’s will to do good. It may be a force against man’s will to perform good things but not for God. Because no power in heaven and earth is greater than that of God’s (1 John 4:4) as He is the creator of both good and evil.
Bridging the Social Gaps
In the entire history of civilization, the importance of removing the social disparities that have widened due to status, colour and race are strongly felt. Human rights are being valued highly and people have become conscious about equality. However, all these endeavours have failed in removing the social disparities and the differences have become wider, resulting in endless debates and social unrest.
The Secret of Healing
We see many miracles happening. But sometimes when it comes to our personal needs we are unable to experience the blessings that we have seen in the life of others. Most of the time we strive hard to experience it but in the process we lose our hope and often even leads to frustration.
Repentance and Forgiveness
We are constantly discouraged by satan, when he reminds us of our sins and makes us feel guilty. He will try to end our lives before we get rid of our guilt. He often deceives us by telling that we are not worthy of asking God forgiveness and motivates us to sin while at the same time, he appears before God and accuses us day and night.
Rise Again
One of the reason for our spiritual immaturity is that we are consider our body to be worth more than our soul. Often we do not realize that we do have a soul. We fear people who can only harm our body or hurt our emotions and do not fear God who has redeemed our soul from eternal death.
The Stage is Ours
While we are striving hard, not to conform to the pattern of this world, do we conform to the Word of God or do we struggle to not desire the things of this world?
An Undesired Journey Towards Idealism
No doubt that these liturgies contain meaningful statements while the hymns are someone’s inspiration and experience. The question here is not about the spiritual richness of the liturgies and hymns but how it is being sung by the believers.
Will we Recognize His Voice?
We may recall the Government officials hiring Judas Iscariot to identify the Messiah, as they were unable to recognize Jesus on their own, as they did not have the Spirit of God. Whereas the ten lepers who were staying away from their village, were able to recognize Jesus in a remote place.
Beware!… of God’s Amazing Grace
By sending His Son into this world, God has shown His unconditional love towards us. It is difficult for mankind to understand God’s love, as the world looks at love in an entirely different perspective.
Hope Giver
Hope is an optimistic attitude of expecting something good to happen in our future. When such expected things don’t happen, it sometimes causes agony and depression in some of our lives.
A Reason for the Pandemic
In the present Pandemic situation, people frequently ask “Why is God punishing this world?” Some people think that the wrath of God is upon the earth and some take this as a sign for the second coming of Jesus as a Judge.
The Power of the Gospel
In the prevailing pandemic, because of community transmission, it becomes hard to track the chain of transmission of the virus in a large number of cases. The virus has started circulating within the community and can also infect those individuals who have neither traveled to a country affected by the outbreak nor have come into contact with a person infected by the virus.
Use Wealth to Gain Friends – Luke 16:9
When we read the above verse without synchronising our minds with the mind of Jesus, we start encouraging believers to earn money by whatever means (even unrighteous ways) to cater to the needs of the Church and its projects.
The Lord is my Helper – Hebrews 13:6
No one can harm us because the God who loves us, loves the people who intend to harm us too and no one can stand against His love. We may fail in showing love to our enemies but God is able to love our enemies to the extent of transforming their darkest lives into a light shining for the Truth.
Whatever You Bind on Earth – Matthew 16:19
Storing our treasures in heaven does not mean that we have to store all the mortal things of this earth in heaven, rather it means that when we shift our focus to the things of heaven, our rewards will start to accumulate in heaven. And if our rewards continue to accrue in heaven, our hearts will cling to our Lord Jesus to inherit His belongings.
You Will Heap Burning Coals on his Head – Romans 12:20
Let our love be without hypocrisy. If we hate evil, our love will be complete but unfortunately we love evil.
Your Grief Will Turn to Joy – John 16:20
Who does not want joy in this world? Irrespective of their faith, people will take a chance to grab any joy offered in this manner.
Judge Not – Matthew 7:1-2
On the basis of the above verse, we are trained to walk on eggshells when confronting our fellow brethren of their mistakes. While we want to do the right thing and correct our brethren, we are plagued with guilt because of the above verse. If we do adhere to our inclination and confront the offender, he might quote the above verse and say ‘Are you not aware of Jesus’ teaching Do not judge others?’
Honor Your Father & Mother – Matthew 15:4
This commandment has not only been manipulated by parents but also by the pharisees in misleading young people.
In This World You Will Have Trouble – John 16:33
According to this world, victory and prosperity are dovetailed notions. Whereas, for the followers of Christ, victory and prosperity do not conform to each other. Not being able to discern the difference between victory and prosperity, leads many believers to become prey to the concept of suffering and end up losing their victorious life.
Where Two or Three Gather – Matthew 18:20
While reading this verse in isolation, some understand this verse as the presence of God is possibly drawn only if two or more people gather in a place. With this misconception, people use this verse to invite God’s presence while they come together. The whole endeavor for coming together in His presence may go in vain as it exposes the lack of knowledge of the word of God in them.
All Have Sinned & Fallen – Romans 3:23-24
The present freedom is a provision of grace that has to be received by faith. This freedom is available exclusively when people realise the gravity of their situation when they were slaves to sin, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead them in penitence and self examination. Self righteousness does not allow people to cherish this freedom in fullness.
I Can Do All Things – Philippians 4:13
The disciples were always with Jesus, yet they were unable to feed the crowd. They were traveling with Jesus, yet were unable to calm the storm. Above all, they were right next to Jesus listening to Him explaining what will happen to Him and the redemption plan of God, yet they were unable to grasp any of it.
Power of Instant Prayer
The seven words uttered by Jesus Christ hanging on the cross are the best instant prayers displayed to motivate us to pray to God in the right spirit, even during these tough times.
Lord’s Supper
Most of the main line churches are celebrating the Holy Communion by distributing bread and serving wine in one cup called chalice to all of its confirmed congregant members. Many churches instead of chalice have started using separate mini cups for each individual to serve the wine. Some catholic churches distribute wafers/bread to the congregation…
Pandemic in God’s Perspective
All the time, after His ministry, Jesus adhered this social distancing to get united with His Father. In the garden of Gethsemane too, Jesus maintained a distance from his disciples to strengthen Him in order to accomplish His Father’s will.
God of the Living
In the beginning God created mankind from the dust, a visible object, and breathed His life, which is invisible, into his nostrils. From that time onward, God became the God of living beings. Since then, visible man has become the carrier of the invisible image of God. Every visible creation reveals the power and existence of the Creator.
7 Things to Remember During Christmas
Even before the creation of the world, God had His plans to redeem His people from eternal death. Subsequently, He sent His only begotten son to this world. During Christmas, we think more about the infant Jesus than the father who sent Jesus into this world.
Waiting On God
To understand God’s word we should understand His mind first. The word “finish” may mean different things based on who is saying it. When a teacher says it, it may be an instruction for the students to complete a given assignment but when a mob boss utters the same word ‘finish’ , it is a task given to his men to kill someone. Though the word used is the same, it carries a command for either a constructive or destructive work depending upon the speaker’s character. We cannot understand God’s word in the way we understand the world’s language. God’s word carries the character of God, loaded with love and life.
Faith – A Gift from God
How do we start believing in Jesus Christ? Those who have had an encounter with Jesus can surely tell us about their start. But what about the born Christians and believers who do not have a special kind of encounter with Jesus Christ?
Who are we in the Kingdom of God?
The old adage ‘Ignorance is a bliss’, does not suit the present day situations that we have to face. An IT professional should be aware of the latest technology in order for his code to be relevant. A government official should know the bye-laws and his duties to do his job effectively. We should be aware of the weather outside or the prevailing traffic rules before we step out of our houses. However, in the spiritual realm, man fails to walk with God because of his ignorance regarding the presence of God, who is always with him. Ignorance of the promises, assurances and provisions of God misguides man to lead a miserable life.
Creations reveal the Creator
With the invention of modern technology, mankind forgets to look at God’s magnificence through his creation. God created ears and gave a sense of hearing to all the living creatures and man invented the cell phone. Of these two, which one is most popular among man, certainly, the latter. In the course of time, mankind was blinded enough not to reach out to the Creator through His creation but stooped to worship the creation itself because of ignorance and foolishness…..
Understanding God’s Will
When we stand at a crossroad, we always look for opportunities according to ground realities. It may be our career or a crucial life decision like marriage when we look at the present to visualize our future. Often we depend on our peace of mind to determine our decision.
Battle of the Mind
It is obvious that mankind has been struggling generation after generation to get rid of sin. People understand the concept of being conceived in sin (Psalms 51:5) without any effort while unable to digest the truth of being sanctified and saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, like Paul is genuinely admitting the battle of his mind, (Romans 7:19-20) no one else is genuine in accepting the real state of their own minds.
Acceptance of our condition and repentance are two essential factors for obtaining forgiveness. To get rid of sin we must understand our sovereign God in a wholesome manner…….
I Never Knew You
When we read Matthew 7:21 it is alarming to know that Jesus may forbid us from entering His Kingdom in spite of …
In The Garden
“Just imagine if you had been with Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane?” This question like a sales pitch for a travel agent’s call for a pilgrimage tour. While Peter, James and John, failed to cope with their master’s mission, Jesus is expecting a different response from us. On that fateful night, nothing was clear regarding His redemption plan but now everything has come to light. But now that we know better are we still finding it hard to stay awake?
Not Peace, But Sword
Modern age relies on various kinds of visual aids to promote technology, business, public awareness and social media updates. Visual aids attract human attention more than any other communication tool. Eye-catching visuals go deep into our mind and stay for a longer period. Moses was astonished by an eye-catching glimpse of a burning bush, he…
A Tale of Two Sisters
In this modern age, many gadgets exist that shorten the time phase in every sphere of our work life. Every day new innovations are coming up to make the older ones obsolete. This has changed our work culture tremendously. In spite of these boons, we are more busier than ever and are not able to find time to look after our own family matters.
Forgiveness
The Oxford dictionary defines forgiveness as “To Stop feeling angry or resentful towards (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake.” Stop feeling angry means keeping ourselves from stress and it centers around our interest rather than others.
A Fig Tree with Luscious Leaves
The incident with the fig tree which is recorded by Mark leaves the readers in total confusion as it subverts the magnificent power of Jesus Christ in three ways…
Pain – A Ladder to Perfection
God has knitted every organ of our body and made us a living being. These organs are sensitive to any foreign body. They do not easily get accustomed to a new environment but strongly raise an alarm against a foreign object, such as pain and nausea. In the same manner every sorrow and grief coming against our soul should raise alarming signal against disobedience to the word of God and should lead us to repentance.
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Often believers long for the gifts of the Holy Spirit without laying down the foundation of knowledge, wisdom and faith.
The Jordan Valley 