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.
Category: Reflections
“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” – 1 Corinthians 13:12
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”?
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 People still go for those outdated smartphones at a lower price because they buy them to show their status to others.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.
Take Heart (He Has Overcome)
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV) Jesus uttered these words during his final hours on this earth. The disciples had gathered with him to celebrate the Jewish festival of…
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.
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
The Institution of Marriage
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…
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…
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.
Never Settle
The modern world runs on the philosophy which states that we should never settle for anything less than what we deserve. That’s the motto of every tech company as well as what they higlight when launching their ‘new and improved’ version of the same device, hoping to make an impression on their potential consumers. In the corporate world, attaining a level of satisfaction is labelled as complacency.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
Prince of Peace?
When we reconcile with our brethren, we receive a temporary peace, our peace of mind. But what Jesus offers us is much more. It is the ultimate peace in our hearts, knowing that our broken relationship with The Father has been fixed by His death on the cross.
The Children Are Exempt – Matthew 17
Jesus uses the temple tax as an example, just like he used the fig tree and little children, to teach his disciples important lessons.
Just as the kings of the earth do not tax their own children but only their subjects, Jesus’ followers should not have to pay a religious tax to their heavenly King and Father.
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…
The Art of Giving
Whenever we are in a difficult situation financially, the first place we look to cut back is our offerings. And when we are in a difficult situation emotionally, the first place we look to cut back is our fellowship with God.
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.
Christ and Traditions
The revival in Ephesus did not sit well with the silversmiths in the region. Demetrius gathered his fellow craftsmen started a riot in Ephesus. The ‘Way’ had created a huge crater in their business. Playing with the people’s sentiments towards traditions and rituals, the idol makers of Ephesus created an uproar among the people.
An Attitude of Servitude
The Pharisees and the Jewish leaders knew the scriptures by heart but could not fathom that the Messiah could come from a humble lineage and that Jesus came to serve rather than rule. Their worlds were turned upside down and they just could not accept that a man who spent his time with sinners was the one sent by God to save the world.
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.
True Fellowship
True fellowship is a friendship based on a mutual bond between two believers and that mutual bond must always be God.
Lord, Help Our Unbelief
Thomas was with Jesus for more than three years, he had seen all the miracles that Jesus had performed, how He raised the dead and would have been present for his countless teachings but still Thomas was unable to grasp the supernatural aspect of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
Redemption Foretold
According to the above prophecy in psalms what Judas did was perhaps inevitable. However, when we read about Judas, we often jump to the conclusion that he was predestined to betray Jesus.
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…….
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?
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…
Upgrade
We desire to get the latest phones for the minor upgrades that they offer, upgrades that we may never even need in our lives. How often do we upgrade our walk with Christ?
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.
Guard Your Steps
Most of us feel lost when we miss even a single Sunday Service. Is it due to a change in our routine or did we truly miss the word? Many people do not even know the very purpose for which they attend church.
Rise Above Temptation
About forty days after God opened up the skies proclaiming that Jesus is His Son, Satan placed Jesus in the same platform and challenged Him to prove his sonship to God.
Resolutions with God
We are a couple of months into the new year and by now, for some of us, the resolutions we made are a distant memory. Often times, upon hearing a powerful message or perhaps receiving the answers to our longtime prayers, we make a resolution with God but soon forget about it. At the beginning of the book of Samuel, we find the story of humble beginnings for a small family, living in the hill country of Ephraim and their resolutions with God that changed Israel’s political landscape.
Alive in Christ
Jesus tells us not to fear people who can only destroy us physically and cannot do anything to our soul. While on the one hand we realize the sovereign power of the Almighty who has authority over our physical body and soul, but on the other hand it ignites frequent doubts about martyrs among many of us and we respond exactly opposite to what Jesus calls us to do.
God Sent His Son
Christmas is a well-known festival all over the world, having different perceptions be it commercial, traditional, spiritual and so on. In the Gospel of Luke we see that Joseph and Mary did not get a room for an overnight stay….
Christian Ideologies and God’s Grace
In continuation to the post ‘Christian ideologies and God’s Promises’, we are going to see how ignorant we are regarding the grace of God.
What do we Believe
Our christian lives are sometimes influenced by the people around us. There are so many theological schools of thought that we sometimes find it hard to know what we believe.
Christian Ideologies and God’s Promises
There are some misinterpretations of Christian ideologies which paves way for disbelief and even many followers of Christ have become victim to these misinterpretations and fail to claim the promises of God.
Deliverance is from God
Scripture says that Jesus did not allow the evil spirits to speak and the reason behind it is an eye opener to all of us. Jesus does not want people to identify him through someone else but he wants each one of us to experience him personally.
Fear of God is the Hatred of Sin
Why does a man fear the commandments and not God? He looks at God as a stringent high school principal with rules stating do and dont’s and fails to understand God’s love.
Love Thy Neighbour
During one of the gatherings where Jesus was teaching, a Lawyer asks Him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”. Jesus asks the Lawyer that in his opinion what does the law say in regards to obtaining eternal life. To which he promptly answers Love the Lord your God with all your heart and…
Christ died for Everyone
About two millennia ago Jesus died on the cross not just for the Jews but for every sinner in the world. At the cross, when enduring such excruciating pain, Jesus prays for forgiveness for the ones who put him there.
Whom do we Fear?
The phrase `Do not be afraid’ is recorded in the Bible more than 80 times. No doubt, even today Jesus is convincing each believer with this phrase. The author of the book of Hebrews reassures us of the promises of God saying that He will not forsake us but encourages us to say the following verse,
The Leap of Faith
In the land of Aram (Syria in Greek) there lived a valiant soldier highly regarded by the king and was the commander of his forces. The lord had brought victory to Aram through this man. His name was Naaman. He had a perfect life, respected in his community and feared amongst his enemies. However with his great wealth he also had an incurable disease – Leprosy, the disease which caused one to be shunned from society and live as an outcast.
God is Longing for our Love
We fairly understand the love of God but at the same time are unable to understand the eradication of condemnation. Because of this lack of understanding many are still under the clutches of guilt and keep asking for pardon for their sins without knowing the truth, that God has already pardoned all our sins through His son’s sacrificial death on the Cross.
The Living Water
On his way to Galilee Jesus passed through the small town of Sychar inhabited by Samaritans. It was mid-day and the journey and the heat took a toll on Him and Jesus sat by the well. Along came this Samaritan woman to draw water from that well.
Is God Unjust?
Jesus says that Judas betraying him is “To fulfill the scripture”, (John 18:1) as foretold by the Psalmist. It is written that as soon as Judas took the bread Satan entered into him. So was Judas chosen beforehand to betray Jesus?
God Fulfils Our Heart’s Desires
God has promised us to fulfil our desires according to his gracious plan. In spite of this great promise, we wonder why our desires are not fulfilled. Some of us are waiting years together for God to work in our lives. We think that Satan is hindering in our lives in fulfilling our desires according to God’s plan. But the fact is that it is not Satan, it is we ourselves who are hindering God’s plan for our lives.
The Rich Young Ruler
Jesus was in the district of Judea answering the ensnaring questions of the Pharisees when a young man came to see HIm. In the Gospel of Luke this man is described as a rich young ruler (Luke – 18:18). He had great wealth and power yet when he came before Jesus he fell on his knees. (Mark – 10:17). He presented himself with great humbleness and asked Jesus, “Good teacher what must I do to receive eternal life?”
The Sacrifice of Christ
Almost 2000 years have passed since Jesus Christ had shed His precious Holy blood on the Cross for cleansing the sins of mankind. Although the existence of God is even before the creation of the universe but still mankind is not able to recognise the presence of God. Why is it so?
Vengeance
It is a common phenomenon to expect bad things to happen to our enemies. We expect evil people to pass away from the world, we want good citizen; good governance. We are unable to tolerate people who …
The Family of Christ
Jesus was amongst the crowd preaching when someone told him that his mother and brothers (and possibly sisters) were standing outside and wanted to speak to Him. I have always wondered why did they not come in? Or why did Jesus not go out to meet them but used them to talk about who all constitute as the family of Christ. But when we read the same incident in Mark we get to know the context of the situation.
The Word Became Flesh
At the outset, John in his book introduces the ‘word’ as God Himself. John 1:14 says that God became flesh and dwelt among us. As we are celebrating Christmas, we need to understand why God became flesh. The author of Hebrews explains the reason in Hebrews 2:14-15
Glorifying God
We are called to bear witness for Christ Jesus but many believers misunderstand this in their lives and struggle to bear witness. Most of the time we expect miracles to happen in our lives to bear testimony. It is easy to do so when miracles happen but if nothing works out then bearing testimony to Christ Jesus seems difficult.
Ask And You Shall Recieve
Jesus was going to Jerusalem via Jericho and huge crowds had gathered all around Him wanting to hear what He had to say. As they entered Jericho, a blind man named Bartimaeus was sitting by the roadside. On hearing the commotion, he asked the people around him as to what was going on, to which he was told that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. We do not know to what extent he knew Jesus…
There is Only One God
All believe in one God, but the environment refers to so many Gods and Goddesses where people believe that each of them has some specific task to perform. Likewise, idols are made by men as an object to concentrate on, as they are unable to concentrate on the `unseen’ or `unknown God’. Hence, people believed on all these as various means or ways to reach the `One God’.
More Than Our Portion of Food
Luke narrates this incident by introducing Martha who welcomed Jesus into her house. Even John in his book tells that Martha was the one who first met Jesus when she had lost her brother Lazarus. This shows evidently that she is a dominating person among her family members and seems to be a laudable …
Fulfillment of The Law in Christ
…the people who lived during the time of Jesus had the law as their deterrent without understanding its importance of implying it in their life. The law acted as a parameter to levy punishment rather than people adhering to it. By the same law Jesus was convicted for blasphemy.
The Fruitless Fig Tree
Why did Jesus curse the Fig tree? Mark, in his account of the incident clearly states that it wasn’t the season for figs. This makes this incident even more puzzling and therefore it is often misinterpreted by many. Did Jesus curse the fig tree because he was famished ?
Assurance of God’s Presence
The Psalmist in Ps 121 took his eyes unto Lord for help and explained the reason that why he did so. We do seek God but cannot explain why we do so, because we do not even understand why we should look to Lord. We always look to God for our needs to be fulfilled and when it is fulfilled we some time take it as a coincidence.
The Christmas Message
Joseph and Mary were the first people to receive the message of Christmas. When it was told both of them were not in a state of understanding neither the depth of its truth nor about the fulfillment of Isaiah’s Prophecy. But both decided to be quite till the time they understood the truth behind the message.
A Traditional Christmas
Christmas is celebrated in numerous ways all over the world. Every culture has added its own flavour to the holiday. Whether it be the Puritina of Guatemala, Las Posadas of Mexico, Holy supper in Ukraine, Parols of the Philippines or the more common traditions such as Carols, Christmas tree, Nativity plays, Christmas Cakes, attending the…
‘The God of this Age’ and his Schemes
In the book of Genesis, the serpent played the role of tantalizing Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.I Chronicles 21:1 ” ….Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.” Isaiah (14:12) gives a glimpse of Satan’s origin. In I Samuel (28:7), Saul, a King anointed by God, felt helpless while seeing his enemies…
Have Miracles and Healings Ceased ?
Due of lack of prayer, we are unable to conduit the miraculous power of Jesus to people across the world. People dogmatically argue that miraculous deeds of Jesus had ceased after the death of His disciples. Dr. Grant R. Jeffrey in his book “Unveiling Mysteries of the Bible” dealt with the topic “The Mysteries of When Miracles and Healing Ceased” and he has brought out the fact….
Oceans – A Test of Our Faith
The song ‘Oceans’, is a reminiscence of Peter walking on water. After feeding the 5000 Jesus sent his disciples ahead of him to reach Gennesaret by boat while he dispersed the crowds and went up into the mountain to pray. When evening fell the boat the disciples had sailed about three and half miles into the Sea of Galilee. Jesus saw the disciples in the boat distressed by the waves; for the wind was contrary
God’s Ways are Always Higher Than Ours
Often we are unable to realise the ways of God, as we expect God to do things in a human way. Even after God had divided the Red Sea and provided the Israelites the food of the angels it was still hard for Moses to believe that God was going to provide meat for Israelites. Was Moses aware of God’s sketch to divide the Red Sea? …
Faith And Deed
Faith comes from Jesus, the author of it. It helps the mankind to obtain salvation. Whatever was foretold about Jesus Christ has been fulfilled by Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection on the third day. If one believes this, as a child the faith increases. This pleases God. Paul reminds this in his…
If There Was No Easter…
“We live and die; Christ died and lived!” ~ John Stott Every year we are reminded to look at Easter not as an occasion for chocolate eggs or to buy new clothes but remember what Easter is all about. But let us try to picture what it would be like not to have an Easter at all….
Life Eternal
People need precedents for everything, without seeing they do not believe and without being done so by someone else earlier, they won’t do.
Jesus brought back three dead people to life and through that, people got the notion that a dead person can get back to life….
On The Road To Emmaus
In the cool of the day, two men from Emmaus were returning from Jerusalem. They had a seven-mile journey ahead of them and plenty to talk about. Unrest was at an all-time high amongst the believers. Rumors were being spread, seeds of doubt and confusion were sprouting and fear of the unknown was overwhelming the disciples.
True Forgiveness
The power of resurrection paves way for us to receive forgiveness from God and in turn molds us to forgive each other. On the cross, Jesus Christ announced forgiveness in an exceptional way. But most of us attribute this forgiveness only to those soldiers who crucified Him, forgetting that our sins nailed….
Jesus make me whole
Main Reading – (Mark 8:22-26) Some people brought a blind man to Jesus believing that He can give him sight. The first thing Jesus did was, ‘He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village’ – a place where he had spent his life. This doesn’t mean that He could not perform…
Trust God
Quite often we are unable to understand God’s plans. Chronic diseases, fatal accidents, sudden demise of our dear ones and financial crisis keep us in dark from understanding His ways. When we do not understand His ways. Fear hovers over our lives, sorrow fills our hearts and peace eludes us. This shows that our strength is small.
Seek the Lord and You will be Blessed
This verse directs us to seek God for obtaining good things adequately. We seek God for various reasons. Among the many who seek God there are two sect of people who seek God. One sect comprises of those who have received blessings in some form be it good education, a lucrative job offer, family, house or…
The Vineyard and it’s Master
Isaiah (5:1-7) Depicts a picture of a vineyard in a fertile hillside, without stones, with choicest vines, watch tower and a winepress, to reflect God’s provision and care for nation. Failure of the nation to live up to His expectations was brought out in this portion. In spite of all the provisions, the people of…
Darius Prays For Daniel
Darius the Mede emerged as the king of Babylon after slaying Belshazzar at the age of sixty-two. He appointed three officials to govern Babylon one of whom was Daniel. Daniel distinguished himself from the rest as “an excellent spirit was in him” and Darius planned for Daniel to govern his entire kingdom. Seeing this, the…
The Ultimate Commandment
On a cold morning along the shores of Tiberius, Peter and the other disciples enjoyed one last fellowship with Jesus. After they had finished eating their supper, Jesus reinstated Peter and gives the final commandment to peter and the other disciples ‘Feed My Sheep’. What did Jesus meant when he said these words? If we…
The Gift Goes on
The most admirable and simple definition By Paul about Christmas is as below:- “II Cor 8:9 – For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, Yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. “
Give It Time
Readings: Luke 5: 33-39 How often do we find ourselves much like the Pharisees, criticizing others regarding their spiritual activities rather than focusing on our own? The Pharisees [1] questioned Christ as to why his disciples don’t fast while they fasted. The disciples were all common men with common occupations whom Christ chose to carry out…
Patience
One of the most confusing passage and yet it has been cited as the beginning of the end of Saul’s reign, due to his ‘Impatience’. The Philistines had all their soldiers and chariots, “numerous as the sands of the seashore”, and the Israelites were running scared ….
Be a Lamp on a Stand
Main Reading Acts: 3: 1-11 Peter and John were on their way to the temple. And a certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was carried and laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;. At this stage the deed…
Let Go
How many times have we been in the situation described in the above mentioned reading? God calls us and we find it hard to part with the earthly things and ask God to wait for us.
……….If only we believe!!
….. there is nothing too hard for the Lord (Jer 32:17) Main reading Genesis 18: 9-15 The three mysterious visitors came to Abraham on a hot summer’s day to convey to Abraham the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (verse 16 onwards) and that Sarah would bear Abraham a son. The reaction of Sarah was quite contrasting from…
Seizing The Opportunity
It was a typical day in the life of Peter and John as they went up to the temple to offer prayers. At the gates of the temple a crippled beggar asked for alms from them. “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” As soon Peter spoke these words the beggar jumped to his feet and walked. Now the onlookers were amazed at what they saw as they had seen the crippled beggar every day. Seeing their amazement Peter wasted no time in telling them about The Good News.
The Jordan Valley 