The Good Shepherd – John 10

Jesus deemed the pharisees guilty of sin as they were not blind but refused to change their ways. Another argument between Jesus and the pharisees ensued ending up with Jesus revealing another aspect of His identity by comparing himself to a shepherd.

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.

The Man They Call Jesus – John 9

While the Pharisees were focused on their quest to crucify the Messiah, Jesus continued to walk on the path that God had set before Him, touching yet another life on His way to Calvary. As Jesus and His disciples were walking the streets of Jerusalem, they saw a man who had been blind from birth. The disciples could not help but pass judgement and wanted Jesus to weigh in on who is responsible for this man’s condition, his parents or he himself.

The Son of God! – Matthew 27-28

Just as the women were hurrying from the tomb filled with mixed emotions of fear and joy, they came face to face with the one they were looking for. Jesus Himself was standing in front of them and they fell at His feet and began to worship Him.

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.

Quiz – John 8

Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the eight Chapter of the Gospel of John

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.

A King is Crowned – 1 Samuel 11&12

In his farewell speech Samuel recounted all the good that God had done for His people and how they had always reciprocated His grace on them with betrayal at every corner. He warned them not to test the anger of the Lord and reminded them of all the destruction that came upon them when they walked away from God and held on to their precious idols.

The Great I Am – John 8

Jesus saved the adulterous woman from being stoned and did not condemn her. But now the crowds had picked up the stones once again, this time, to kill Jesus.

The King of The Jews – Matthew 27

The chief priest and the elders started making plans to have Jesus executed. They bound Him and handed him over to the Roman governor Pilate, as executions were under Roman jurisdiction.

The Hunt for a King – 1 Samuel 9-10

Israel’s desire to be like other nations led them to reject God and have a mortal human ascend the throne. Samuel was handed the task of finding Israel a new king, one that would lead them to battles. Among the twelve tribes of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin was one of the smallest with a history of seditious revolt against the other eleven tribes. However, God’s ways are unfathomable to us, as no one would have expected the first king of Israel to come from the tribe of Benjamin.

Quiz – John 7

Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the seventh Chapter of the Gospel of John

The Son of David – John 7

Jesus came alone to Jerusalem and stood out in the crowd, He did not wait for the consensus to be formed about Him before He spoke out against the leaders. By the power of God, He took a stand against the leaders who had diluted the Gospel and made it a religion. Are we waiting for a consensus in our lives or are willing to stand out for God?

The Faithless Faithfuls – Matthew 26

We are certainly all-in when we can see Jesus working miracles in our lives. But our faith gets shaken when we cannot see His works and start doubting even the existence of God. If our faith is based on the works of God in our lives then we will not go far with Him but like a drug addict keep coming back to Him only when we run out of money/blessings. Peter was still immature and did not understand what his response should be when Jesus foretold his denial.

Israel Rejects God – 1 Samuel 6-8

The Israelites put away all their gods and gave their loyalty to Yahweh, but a plot to overthrow their eternal king was soon to enter their minds.

The Bread of Life – John 6

Just like satan blinded the eyes of those disciples who abandoned Jesus that day, he is doing the same even today for the believers who are satisfied with eating the symbolic bread and wine and will never desire to taste the Bread of Life.

The Defector – Matthew 26

The chief priests and the elders were assembling in the palace of the high priest, Caiaphas, and were trying to figure out the best way to dispose of Jesus. They were looking for a way to secretly kill Jesus without riling up His followers. When they were perplexed and could not find a way to dispose of with the Jesus problem, satan presented them with an opportunity that they quickly grabbed on to.

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.

The Son of God – John 5

Once again Jesus had riled up the Jewish leaders simply by giving a man the ability to pick up his mat and walk as they started questioning His authority.

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.

Eli Rejected, Samuel Accepted – 1 Samuel 2-3

Eli was a Levite from the priestly clan of Israel and was used by God to lead Israel for forty years. But along the way something happened in his life that He had started taking the Lord for granted and not payed heed to His warnings.

The Healer – John 5

During one of Jesus’ trips to Jerusalem, He encounters a man sitting by the poolside at Bethesda waiting for healing when the Healer himself came to him.

The Summer is Near – Matthew 24

As the fig tree can let us know if summer is nigh, similarly the signs of the end of days would let us know that Christ’s coming is near.

The Savior of the World – John 4

Quite ironical that the Jews , through whom the salvation was to come rejected the Messiah but the ‘pagan’ Samaritans were the first to proclaim Jesus as the Savior of the world. Jesus revealed His true identity in this Samaritan town, something that He would not do in the Jewish towns.

Humble Beginnings – 1 Samuel 1

For all the accounts of great wars and conquests recorded in the book of Samuel, it still starts with the story of humble beginnings from a lowly town in the hill country of Ephraim.

The Living Water – John 4

The living water represents His Spirit in us who gives us the joy that comes from knowing that our sins are forgiven. The joy in our hearts that gives us a new life, a new beginning with the knowledge that the slate has been wiped clean. That is what Jesus has to offer.

Till We Meet Again – 1 Corinthians 16

Let us learn from the bitter experience of Paul and his fellowship with the Corinthians that we should not depend on human beings for love and compassion but on God for His grace and mercy.

The Light – John 3

Everyone knows John 3:16 by heart but the next verse is equally important, for Jesus did not come to condemn us but save us. If he wanted to condemn us for our wrongdoings, He would have brought the day of judgment upon us but rather He came with the sole intention to be an atonement for our sins.

God of the Living – Matthew 22

Jesus came with the purpose of introducing or reintroducing God to everyone, those who loved Him and even those who hated Him. The questioning session that the Pharisees and the Sadducees had been using to unmask Jesus before His followers, turned into Jesus revealing the identity as the Messiah.

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 Heavenly Man – 1 Corinthians 15

Depending on our fellow believers will only get us so far and might even lead us away from God. The only way to defeat death is to depend on the heavenly man and follow His path.

The New Temple – John 2

Jesus did not answer their demands by giving them a sign immediately but foretold about His own death and resurrection that will be the ultimate sign of His authority given to everyone.

Order in the Church – 1 Corinthians 14

The purpose of group worship is to gather together and praise God. If the purpose was for each one to talk to God personally, that could have been done from the comfort of their homes.

The New Wine – John 2

Two days after gathering His disciples, Jesus arrived at a wedding in a place called Cana in the region of Galilee. During the festivities, Jesus’s mother brought a matter of concern to Him saying that the wedding party had run out of wine. Of all the requests brought before Jesus, this would have been the most trivial of the lot.

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.

Christ is Love – 1 Corinthians 13

With the growing thirst for Spiritual Gifts among the church at Corinth, Paul points out the greatest gift that they all needed in their lives, something greater than any other gift and without which all other gifts are worthless.

The Lamb of God – John 1

The ministry of Jesus spread through people sharing their personal experiences of their encounter with the Messiah. Even today, in a world filled with countless religions and distractions, the work of God continues through the personal testimonies of people who have experienced Christ in their lives.

The Son has the Ultimate Authority – Matthew 21

The fallout from the temple clearing incident perhaps did not sit well with the chief priests and the elders as surely that would have opened the eyes of the people to the corruption that had infiltrated the walls of the temple.

One Spirit Many Gifts – 1 Corinthians 12

Being a relatively new church, the Corinthians had lot of queries regarding their order of worship. One of the main concerns was the mystery that surrounded the spiritual gifts given to the members by the Spirit. They saw these gifts as a means to create a hierarchical order between themselves rather than using it for the purpose that God intended.

The One After John – John 1

The conversation between the other John and the Jewish leaders where he denied comparisons to three of the most famous Old Testament figures.

The King comes Home – Matthew 21

Kings would usually come back from wars to triumphant welcome by their countrymen. These lavish parades would have the valuables plundered in their latest victory along with the procession of the prisoners of the war who were going to be humiliated and tortured by the locals. The kings would always choose a warhorse or a prized camel, to make their grand entrance back to their palace rather than riding on a colt and that too of a donkey.

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.

Our Shepherd – Psalm 23

This is probably one of the few chapters from the Bible that we know by heart. But do we actually know what it means or is it just part of our Sunday school memories? I am not sure that even King David understood it completely as he was simply writing about his life experiences. But unbeknownst to him, God was using David to give us the greatest assurance that we would ever need that He is our Shepherd.

The True Meaning of Christmas

Christ came to save us from our own sins but did not come to start a religion to help us save ourselves. The world around us has done its best to try and subvert the true meaning of Christmas from us.

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.

Quiz – Ezra

Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz from the book of Ezra.

In Remembrance – 1 Corinthians 11

Our Remembrance of Jesus’s sacrifice should not be only on Sundays when we are standing in the communion line but throughout the week and should be reflected in everything we do.

The Beginning – John 1

The Gospel of John does not share any similarities with the other Synoptic Gospels, but this unique account of the life of Christ has a completely different purpose. Written by most probably John, the disciple, during the latter half of the first century to a predominantly Gentile audience of the Greco-Roman city of Ephesus, its…

Read More

Share the Love – Matthew 20

In this chapter we see three separate instances of people’s selfishness as they tried to prevent others from receiving what they already had.

Complete Surrender – 1 Corinthians 11

As the church in Corinth continues to struggle with the rampant sexual immorality, Paul tries to rein in the congregation by taking them back to the very purpose of creation. After dealing with cases of unfaithfulness among the men and women in the church, Paul tries to take a step back and addresses the need for discipline in hopes of bringing back order to the worship in the church.

Daniel 10 to 12 – Our Allotted Inheritance

Like Daniel, we also do not need to know the times of these events describe in this book. What we must understand is that there is a spiritual warfare going on behind the scenes of our problems but realise that God has allowed for it and only He can put a stop to it at the appointed time. Till then we need to stay on the path that God has chosen for us, fully submitting to His will, and when the Day of the Lord arrives, we too will receive our allotted inheritance.

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.

Quiz – Daniel 6

Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the sixth chapter of the Book of Daniel

For the Sake of the Gospel – 1 Corinthians 9-10

In his letters to the believers in Corinth, Paul not only addresses the failures of the church but also addresses the allegations levelled against him. When immorality is allowed to take the driver seat in a church, it will try its best to bring down the workers of God. If Paul’s ego would have been…

Read More

Daniel 6 – Sleepless in Babylon

We all can see our state of mind during the trials in our lives and can evaluate how actually close we are to God. Are we like Darius? Sleepless, panicking and not sure what will happen next or are we like Daniel? Who in spite of not knowing the result of standing alone, left the worrying to God and slept peacefully that night.

Ruth – The Virtuous Woman

Some might question the purpose of the story of Ruth in the Bible, but her response to tragedy in her life is something we can learn a lot from. There were two women who were dealt the same hand in Naomi and Ruth. Both responded to it in different ways and Ruth left her comfort zone and moved to Bethlehem to be a comfort for her mother-in-law.

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.

Quiz – Daniel 9

Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the ninth chapter of the Book of Daniel

A Stumbling Block – 1 Corinthians 8-10

Corinth being a melting pot of cultural diversity, made it hard for the new believers to separate themselves from the pagan traditions that surrounded them. One such issue that Paul tries to address is eating of meat that was sacrificed to the pagan gods. Since only part of the animal was used for sacrificial purposes,…

Read More

Daniel 9 – His Everlasting Righteousness

Like Daniel, we too start questioning God and start listing down all the good we have supposedly done for Him. We want to prove to God that we are worthy of His Grace and Blessings on us and are is some sense ‘demanding to see the manger’ when things are not working out for us. We must realise that if we try to play that game with our Creator, we will never win, as what He has done for us is immeasurable, while our so-called good deeds, more often than not, are driven by self-preservation.

Divorcing our Wealth – Matthew 19

A rich man came to Jesus and asked “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life ?” Jesus tells the man to keep the commandments to which he promptly replies saying that he has been doing that for a long time and asks Jesus what he still lacked.,,,

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.

Quiz – Daniel 5

Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel

A Corrupted Institution – 1 Corinthians 7

From its very inception, the institution of Marriage was supposed to unite two individuals to serve God as one body. Over the years mankind, especially the forefathers and other leaders have had a hand in corrupting this sacred union. Marriage became a means to bear offspring and not a way for its members to unite in their sole purpose to connect with God. However, Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians on the subject of marriage may seem like a concession rather than the norm.

Daniel 5 – The Writing was Always on The Wall

Daniel was still unknown to the new king of the land Belshazzar, who was the joint ruler of Babylon from 553-539 BC. The events in this chapter are the accounts of his last day in office as he was assassinated seemingly out of the blue, but the writing was always on the wall.

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.

Quiz – Daniel 8

Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the Eight chapter of the Book of Daniel

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…

Read More

Daniel 8 – And the Evenings and the Mornings were a Nightmare

These days all our photos and documents are stored in the cloud. Imagine if that connection was disrupted what a nightmarish scenario that would be. Anytime we are not allowed to commune with God, it would be hell on earth for us. Our soul cannot find rest till the connection to our maker is restored. Imagine our evenings and mornings when we are not able to commune with God, that should be our nightmarish scenario. Let us rejoice that God sent His Son to restore that broken connection and put an end to our nightmare.

Forgiveness and Love – Matthew 18

Forgiveness is important but what is more important is to forgive from our hearts. We often miss out the second part and dwell on it. We also tend to forget the huge debt that God forgave us by sending His Son. We are forgiven an unimaginable amount by God, yet we do not show even a part of that to our fellow beings.

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.

Quiz – Daniel 7

Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the Seventh chapter of the Book of Daniel

The New Temple – 1 Corinthians 5-6

When we invite Jesus in our hearts, do we not realise that His Spirit starts residing in us? So let us forget about honouring man-made buildings and altars, and start honouring God in the new temple He has built within us.

Daniel 7 – The Son of Man

When our plans for the future are not aligned with that of God’s, we too will face disappointments, heartaches and even grief. If someone like Daniel can misinterpret God’s plan, what chance do we have? But remember that Daniel did not have the Spirit residing in him, guiding all his steps.

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…

Read More

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.

Quiz – Daniel 4

Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the Fourth chapter of the Book of Daniel

Daniel 4 – The Tree of Babel

It is strange to see a passage in the Bible not authored by one of the Jewish writers but Daniel’s inclusion of this letter that Nebuchadnezzar had seemingly written to the entire world, shows us how God can work in anyone’s life. We must understand that, while our pride and arrogance might give us confidence in our own abilities, our God can instantly humble our pride.

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…

Read More

Nehemiah – The Impulsive Man

Nehemiah led with his heart rather than listening to the voice of God and always expected God to reward him for the sacrifice he was making in trying to rebuild Jerusalem, both physically and spiritually.

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.

Quiz – Daniel 3

Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the Third chapter of the Book of Daniel

The Church Leaders – 1 Corinthians 3-4

For Christ to increase, we need to decrease, but leaders sometimes are worried about their followers and disciples perceiving them as imperfect people. They put on a show in front of their congregations, lest someone should think of them as sinners like the rest of us.

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.

Quiz – Daniel 2

Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the Second chapter of the Book of Daniel

Daniel 2 – The Rock is Mightier than the Statue

As Nebuchadnezzar found out God is the ultimate revealer of mysteries, but are we content in deriving blessings from Him rather than sit with Him and ask Him to reveal His plans. Let us not chase after the things of this world and realise that His Rock is mightier than any statue that this world has to offer.

A Church Divided – 1 Corinthians 1-2

We have been given the Spirit of God to judge for ourselves what is right and wrong. The Spirit of God within us will make known the plans that God has for us. Let us not get swayed by human leaders and apostles and forget what Jesus wants in our lives.

2 Corinthians 9:7 – God loves a Cheerful Giver

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.

A New Life

I remember the days of 8-bit games when having only three lives in a game was the norm. There were no cloud syncs and no chance for any do-overs. We had to play a game from start to finish in one sitting. Nowadays we can restart our campaign from the exact point where we left-off…

Read More

Fulfilment & Provisions – Matthew 17

Jesus left all His glory and came in a human form to save us from our sins. It is because of our sins that we were driven out from God’s presence and have created a distance between heaven and earth. Jesus came down to bridge that gap and connect us back to our 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.

Corinthians – Introduction

Paul wrote letters to the church in Corinth in response to various allegations and accusations he heard among the church members.

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.

Luke – Chapter 24

The events of that Famous Easter day and the confusion and disbelief that followed.

Jacob – The Deceiving One

The life of Jacob takes the twists and turns of a modern potboiler.
The cast changes over time but there is sibling rivalry between two brothers, two sisters and among a dozen brothers; parental favouritisms; deceit and betrayals; thirsts for revenge; love and romance; heartbreaks; deaths and family reunions.
The cheater becomes the cheated.

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.

Daniel 1 – The Return to Babel

We need to keep our trust on God and not succumb to the pressures of this world and its pagan ways. Otherwise, just like the Israelites, we too will keep returning to our Babel.

Quiz – Daniel 1

Test your Bible knowledge with this quiz on the first chapter of the Book of Daniel

The Intervention – Nehemiah 13

Real change can only be brought upon by the transformation of the heart and as we saw throughout the accounts of the post-exile writings, the Israelites only ever changed their words but never their ways. Like Nehemiah, let us not waste time in forcefully correcting the actions of our fellow beings but rather connect them to God who is the only one who can intervene and make real change in their lives.

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.

Proof of Concept – Matthew 16

Sometimes we ask God for signs as proof, but is that wrong? We see a lot of people in the bible asking for signs and God graciously provided them with signs. As long as our intentions are pure, God would be happy to help us if that leads us to understand His will.

Defiled by Unbelief – Matthew 15

Our words reflect the thoughts of our heart and if we do not have God guide our hearts, we will be giving way to the evil one to take over and defile us in the process.

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?

It is I – Matthew 14

Our walk with God is similar to that of Peter’s, the winds don’t stop raging on us but when our focus is on God, we are able to walk on all waters.

The Man from S.A.T.A.N. – Nehemiah 6-7

Like the fictional agency “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, satan also has his agents placed all over this world and in every part of our lives and he will activate them when he sees us coming closer to God.

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.

The Enemy Within Us – Nehemiah 5

The pattern repeats itself again later in the final chapters of the book, where Nehemiah thinks he has won over the enemy only to find the enemy had already infiltrated their camps.

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.

Genesis 50 – God our Guarantor

Our lives are not perfect and oftentimes we too mess up like these people, but if we allow God to work in our lives he will transform our mess into something beautiful. And that’s the story of Genesis!

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.

The Parables – Matthew 13

God gives equal chance to the good and the evil doers and allows the evil doers to be among the good. He just wants us to end up in the good bundle at the end.

Fear of the Unknown – Nehemiah 3-4

We have a habit of not leaving anything to chance. We feel the need to plan for our future and have a five year plan for our personal and work lives but seldom for our spiritual lives.

Bright as the Sun – Hillsong

In our busy lives, we have forgotten who God really is. If we even think a bit, our hearts would burn in awe of Him. This entire life will not be enough for us to praise Him when we understand His love and once we understand His love, we will not be able to stop singing His praises and will continue over and over again.

Genesis 48 & 49 – The Scepter Will Never Depart

The final chapters of the book of Genesis don’t really give us any insights into the lives of Jacob and his sons in Egypt but if we read carefully they do give us a glimmer of hope for a promise to come.

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 Reconnaissance – Nehemiah 1-2

Nehemiah got off to a rocky start and as he will learn the lesson the hard way, that his efforts of securing the city had no effect on the hearts of the people, as they had already fortified their hearts to keep God out.

I Will Praise You – Hillsong

We were put on this earth to Praise God but we are preoccupied by our own lives, in living them to the fullest, that we have forgotten our very purpose of existence.

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.

Ezra’s Plan for Redemption – Ezra 9-10

Ezra, who was sent to teach the scriptures to the exiles, spent his first stint in Jerusalem, separating families to purify the people rather than letting God deal with His people.

Genesis 47 – Rags to Riches

While Egyptians were selling of their lands to ward off starvation, Joseph’s family was making real estate investments in Egypt. For us it may be a flip of the page but for Jacob’s family it took many years for them to realise the dream that God had shown the patriarchs. Most of us give up on God when we are passing through our famines. We forget all his past blessings and promises for our future. .

Luke 16:9 – Use Wealth to Gain Friends

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.

Ezra’s Journey To Jerusalem – Ezra 7-8

When God guides our paths, all the arrangements are made for us. Ezra did not have to worry about the finances for his trip or the funds for the temple sacrifices and ornaments or even to gather his troops, everything was prepared by God.

Genesis 45 & 46 – The Big Reveal

The basic principle behind Machine learning is to use past mistakes to figure out the right path. That’s how our mind also works when it comes to the people who have hurt us. We pretend that we are over it, but deep down our minds are still storing their mistakes and our future actions will be based on this data, all this to avoid getting hurt by them in the future.

Hebrews 13:6 – The Lord is my Helper

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.

It’s Time To Restart – Ezra 5-6

Fifteen years after the work on the temple had been halted due to numerous oppositions that the exiles faced, God sent his word to the people of Israel. First through the prophet Haggai (Haggai 1) and then two months later through the prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 1), God spoke to the people commanding them to restart the work on the temple.

Matthew 16:19 – Whatever You Bind on Earth

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.

His Yoke – Matthew 11

Jesus humbly calls us to take up His yoke and learn directly from Him to help our souls find rest. He wants us to accept His yoke as a connector between Him and us, so that we don’t need to look to anyone or anything else.

The Hostiles – Ezra 4

While the returning exiles continued work on the temple, the natives took notice of their new neighbors’ plans and offered help to Zerubbabel and Co.

Something’s Missing – Ezra 3

…something was missing as in the midst of the shouts of joy, there was mixed, the sound of weeping also. No one could distinguish between who were shouting with joy or who were crying, overcome by their sorrow. God’s presence was missing which could only be felt by the older generation, the ones who had witnessed the glory of the previous temple before their land was conquered.

Mission Possible – Matthew 10

We are placed in this world with the purpose of spreading the Kingdom of God to others and God will help us in every way when we are on this mission. He will never leave us nor forsake us just as He taught His disciples while sending them out into the world. It is up to us if we are ready to depend on Him to carry out His mission.