May Devotions

29 May 2017

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

These days we come across some groups who claim themselves as christians but do not agree the deity of Jesus.They say that He is only the son of God and that we should only worship the Father God and few other things. But it is wrong because Jesus is God and He and the Father are one John 10:30. 

Also if we listen to some of the preachings we can see very clearly of how the truth is being twisted and presented in a way that it is so difficult to identify the falseness or deception. That's why we need to be very careful on what we watch on tv (even the christian channels). From the beginning and especially during these last days the enemy works in very subtle ways. He induces lies through a partial truth or a twisted truth. We really need wisdom of God and discernment to understand the lies of the enemy spread through false prophets and wrong doctrines.

Today's verse clearly mentions that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Please notice the words the way, the truth and the life not a way or a truth or a life. There are no multiple ways or multiple truths or multiple life givers. 

Jesus is the way

He is the only way and there is no other way to eternity. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12 And when we pray we need to pray in the name of Jesus not in any other name. For He is our eternal high priest who keeps interceding for us Hebrews 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. He is the one who sacrificed His life on the cross once for all for the propitiation of our sins and hence only His name has the power to heal and to save.

Jesus is the truth

His word is the truth John 17:17 and  therefore right and wrong, and every moral law should be based on His word not on what we feel. In the last days many will turn away from truth and turn aside to myths, they will not put up with sound doctrine, but will gather around them that teach what they want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 But we children of God should hold on to God's teaching i.e. His word and then we will know the truth and the truth will set us free John 8:31-32.

Jesus is the life

He is the only one who gives true life because in him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.John 1:4. When we were dead in our sins God in His mercy made us alive with Christ Ephesians 2:1,4-5. 

So if you are someone who is not saved and  keeps resisting the conviction of the Holy Spirit in your heart then please understand whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. John 3:36 and whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.1 John 5:12 But for those of us believers we have this blessed hope that when Christ, who is our life,appears, then we also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:4

Finally dear ones, this is my prayer that our love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that we may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11

27 May 2017

Our hiding place

Psalms 32:7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

God instructed the Israelites to build cities of refuge in the promised land for people to flee to if they have killed someone accidentally.Those cities were places of protection from a dead person's relatives who want to avenge the death. Numbers 35:10-12. Some scholars say that David's mention of hiding place in today's verse may be an allusion to the city of refuge. 

David was so joyful for being forgiven of his sin and so assured that he doesn't have to fear the wrath of judgement V1-6. He praised God and thanked Him for being his hiding place from trouble, for protecting him from harm and surrounding him with songs of deliverance. 

We believers as forgiven children of God may not have the fear of judgement but we can have other fears like fear of darkness, fear of failure, fear of loneliness, fear of death, fear of unknown future anything. But whatever might be our fears we can still trust God for He is our refuge and our fortress Psalm 91:2. He is our Omniscient (all knowing) God who knows everything about our fears and He understands. At the same time He is also our Omnipotent (all powerful) God and He is able to protect us from every evil and harm. 

So next time when fear knocks at our door we can boldly say The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.Psalms 18:2

25,26 May 2017

A life of Surrender

Romans 6:13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

I guess I mentioned before also that christian life doesn't end with salvation but rather it begins there. Yes there are some who live their lives as if it is sufficient to just get saved because they got the ticket to heaven. But the truth is when they reach heaven there's going to be so many regrets on wasted life. For what use it is if you reach heaven loosing everything except yourself as if escaped from flames 1 Corinthians 3:15. Also God's word clearly tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling Philippians 2:12. 

In order to walk a fruit filled christian life, obedience and surrender are very much essential. Obedience to God's word and His commands is necessary and at the same time surrender to God is very much necessary. In addition to our first surrender to God at the feet of the cross to receive salvation, we need to surrender everyday and every moment to God to live a life that is pleasing to Him. Surrender to God can be physical, emotional and spiritual surrender.

Physical surrender:

As mentioned in today's verse we need to surrender the members of our body as instruments of righteousness to God not to sin. It is not just those who struggle with different addictions but in fact all of us will have a very tough time doing this. Our flesh keeps pulling us to comfort and pleasure rather than surrender. We would love to sleep more rather than get up early and pray, we would like to stay in a comfortable place rather than go to those hard places and teach God's word, we like to stay at home and watch tv rather than go to church, we would like to play safe rather than risk everything for God. That's how human flesh behaves. But as believers we should do as Paul mentioned in (1 Corinthians 9:27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.), we need to discipline ourselves and make a deliberate choice to surrender the members of our body to God. 

Emotional surrender:

We should surrender all our emotions and feelings to God.This can be very tricky if you are an emotional person like me. If our emotions and feelings control us, then we feel joyful sometimes and we feel down sometimes. Sometimes we feel like praying or worshipping and sometimes we don't feel like praying or worshipping. And if we keep listening to our feelings we will always be on an emotional roller coaster which is very dangerous. Mr Oswald Chambers mentioned this in one of his messages, We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do.God is not going to help us with things for which He already made provision for us to have victory. We should not act by our emotions or feelings but based upon what the word of God says, For we walk by faith not by sight  2 Corinthians 5:7.

Spiritual surrender:

I do not know if it is correct to use the words spiritual surrender but what I meant by it is to surrender every aspect of our spiritual life to God. If not careful we can make our spiritual habits, our ministry and every work we do for God as idols in our life. We might start finding our identity in what we are doing for God rather than in Him. But when we surrender to God we acknowledge His supremecy in our lives and we will be ready to let go off any work we do for God when He tells us to do so. We will not be holding on to a particular type of work or to a particular place. We will obey to go where ever He sends us and whatever He asks us to do.

Finally we surrender to God not because we will gain some reward (even though we will be rewarded for our obedience, but it should not be our primary motive) or for fear that we might lose out on something but because we love Him and because He saved us from death and brought us to life.

A life of obedience and surrender to God is not very easy to live but when done it is guaranteed that we will enjoy freedom like never before. For true freedom is found only in Christ.

24 May 2017

Walking in Obedience

Romans 5:19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

Obedience or submission to someone else is a challenge to many. As a child if you have not learned to be obedient to your elders then as you grow older it is only going to become more difficult to submit to someone else. Also it is one thing to obey your boss or parent or someone whom you can see and it is totally a different thing to obey God whom you cannot physically see. But Gods word right from Genesis to Revelation keeps reminding us to obey God.

How do we obey and disobey God? We obey Him by obeying His word and His commandments and we disobey Him by disobeying His word and His commandments. We should obey God in everything for partial obedience is equal to disobedience. 

But some of us are selective in obeying God we obey those things written in the Bible that are easy for us to obey and neglect rest of the things which are difficult to obey or which we dislike to obey. We may even give some reasons like I am not perfect or I am just a human who cannot do everything etc. But whatever the excuse we make the truth is every disobedience either knowingly done or unknowingly done in ignorance, is disobedience and it is a sin against God.  And we know that for every sin there are consequences to be paid.

Similarly every obedience to God and His word is rewarded. And many times the blessings are not just limited to us but they overflow to those around us. Many including our families will be blessed through our act of obedience. I have seen this in my own life and in the lives of many others around. Even the Bible gives us many instances on how people were blessed when they obeyed God and how people had to reap the consequences when they disobeyed Him. Today's verse talks about one such instance, sin entering the world because of the disobedience of one man, Adam and salvation of many because of the obedience of one (God man) man, Lord Jesus Christ.

So if God is telling you something today, will you obey Him and be a blessing to many or will you choose to ignore Him?

23 May 2017

Doing God's work in God's way

Zechariah 4:6 So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ’Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.

Those who are serving the Lord will agree with me that serving God is not very easy. There will be many attacks from the enemy both through outsiders and sometimes even through our loved ones. We face lot of conflicts both within ourselves and in our relationships. And many a time we even feel drained out, exhausted and are ready to quit. It is all because we might be doing the work in our own strength. We may have all the right motives and right reasons but if we do not do the work as God intended it to be done we end up feeling frustrated and exhausted.

Today's verse talks about how to do God's work in God's way, not by our might and not by our power but as per the direction of His spirit by fully leaning on Him. If we see the context of the verse Zerubbabel and Nehemiah along with many other Jews started rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. There were so many hindrances and obstacles created for this work. But God gave a vision to prophet Zechariah and sent him to strengthen Zerubbabel with a message that God will help him in completing the work he has started V9 for it will not be done in his human strength but by God's Spirit V6. And these words are applicable to every individual who made a commitment to God to serve Him. Our area of service may be at our workplace, business, church,home anywhere but God is telling us that He will enable us to do the work through His Spirit. For what God calls He equips and enables.

We should always remember that it is not we working for God but it is Him working through us. And when we realise this fact then neither will we worry about others acceptance and applaud nor will we worry about obstacles and hindrances that we face.

But in order for God to work through us  we should surrender every area of our life to Him and there should not be any unconfessed sin in our lives. For where there is sin Gods spirit cannot abide. We need to be continuously asking God for His guidance and wisdom on how to go about everything concerning the work not just on major things but also on the minutest details. And when we serve the Lord faithfully by depending upon His strength and His wisdom then the work we do will eventually bring glory to God. Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

20 May 2017

Delighting in the Lord

Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

This verse is one of the most misquoted verses of the Bible. Some people just quote the second half of the verse and say God will give you the desires of your heart whereas the actual key words in this verse are in the first half, delight yourself in the LORD. You see some of the promises of God are with condition, like Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths; John 15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love;Psalm 91:9-10 if you make the Most High your dwelling – even the LORD, who is my refuge – then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. etc etc. The promise will come true only if the condition is fulfilled. Similarly our today's verse is also a conditional promise.

Now, what does it mean to delight yourself in the Lord? I will try to explain this with a scenario, I am sure for all of us when we were kids and for some people even now, it was/is a delight to go on a picnic, school picnic, college picnic, family picnic, team picnic anything. The way we anticipate for the day of picnic once we get know about it, the way we make all preparations before it and when we actually go for the picnic, it is an absolute delight. No words can express that joy in our hearts when we get into that car,bus, train to go to the place of picnic. And when we reach the place, no amount of time we spend there seems to be sufficient for when returning to our places we feel the time has gone by very fast. And if you are like me you will even wish that the journey back home may take more longer. So you got my point right, when we truly love someone or something we long to be there or to be with them, we prepare ourselves to be there or to be with them and when we meet them or be there our hearts will be so full of joy and no amount of time we spend there or spend with them seems to be enough. We will long for more and more time in that place or with that person. And that's exactly how we should delight ourselves in the Lord.

Also if we delight ourselves in the Lord, we need not be afraid if our hearts desires are right or wrong. Because if we long to spend time with Him, delight in His presence and yearn to seek His face more and more, our hearts are changed, our will and our desires are purified and our will becomes His will and our desires become His desires. 

So what ever desires you have in your heart surrender them at His feet and busy yourself in delighting in the Lord; immersing yourself in His word, spending time in prayer and He will fulfill the desires of your heart.

19 May 2017

You are precious to God

Isaiah 43:4a Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you

We humans have a difficult time accepting those who are different from us. And many of us even struggle to  accept ourselves the way we are. Some of us would have felt rejected and unwanted because of the way we look or because of the way we are. But here God is telling us through this verse that he loves us and that we are precious in His sight. God created us in His own image Genesis 1:27 and He loves each one of us individually as a person. The psalmist understood this truth and hence was able to say I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalms 139:14

There is this story about Amy Carmichael that I read in one of the sunday school curriculum books. Amy had brown eyes whereas the predominant eye color in the country of Ireland where she was born was blue. And as a little girl she was afraid that she might not fit in, so one night after hearing her father tell God answers our prayers, she knelt down in her room and prayed to God to change the colour of her eyes from brown to blue by next morning. Of course her prayer was not answered and when she was sobbing bitterly in her disappointment her mother consoled her and told that God made her, He cares for her and He has a plan for her life. Later when she grew up she came as a missionary to South India. There in spite of the restriction on foreigners to not enter the temples, she was able to rescue little girls sold into temple slavery because with her brown eyes and with a sari she could easily pass off without getting noticed. It was then that she realized the reason of why God gave her brown eyes. 

I also vaguely remember the story of another missionary who at one point in her life  prayed to God that He will make her small feet grow so that she doesn't have to feel odd or weird among her people. But later when she started serving God as a missionary in a hilly place she realized that her small feet enabled her to climb the hills easily and she praised God for His care. 

Sometimes what we think as an oddity, God uses it for achieving His purpose. Everything God does has a purpose, you and I, we may not see or understand it at that time but He weaves everything in us and when I say everything it includes our looks, our talents, our gifts, our strengths, our behaviors and even our weaknesses to fulfill His grand purpose in and through us. As apostle Paul wrote, each of us, we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works He planned long ago. Ephesians 2:10

So let us stop complaining about what we have or do not have and soak ourselves in this truth, God made us and He cares for us. He loves us and we are precious to Him.

13 May 2017

Peace of God

Judges 6:24 And Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it "The Lord Is Peace."

Gideon, who was threshing wheat inside a wine-press in order to hide it from the Midianites had an encounter with an angel of God there. After his conversation he realized that he spoke to the angel of God face to face and became very afraid. But God told him to be at peace, to not be afraid for he is not going to die. So Gideon built an altar there and called it Yahweh Shalom which means The Lord is Peace. ( _read full chapter for complete account_ ). How true it is peace not only comes from God but He himself is peace. All of us believers can experience this peace because Jesus Christ our Prince of Peace dwells in our hearts.
Then why is it that we don't always have peace in our hearts? There can be many reasons but I want to list out a few below

Fear and worry:
Fear and worry, they rob us of our peace. Have you seen anyone who is so fearful or worried about something and still very calm and peaceful? No, I don't think so, worry is just the opposite of peace. Worry and fear in our hearts mean we don't trust God enough to take care of us and our needs. God's word says You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you Isaiah 26:3. When we trust God and our mind is fixed on Him we can experience the peace that surpasses all  understanding.Philippians 4:7.

Disobedience:

Another reason for not having peace is disobedience towards God. You cannot be disobeying God and His word and at the same time have this perfect peace in your heart. God's word says Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.Psalms 119:165 So in order to enjoy great peace Submit to God and be at peace with him; Job 22:21

Unforgiveness:

One more reason for losing peace is unforgiveness in our hearts. You cannot have anger, bitterness and rage in your heart and be at peace. So make a decision to forgive as the Lord has forgiven you and you will have abundance of peace in your heart. God's word says Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9. So avoid strife and live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.2 Corinthians 13:11b

Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. 2 Thessalonians 3:16a because He has promised Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27

12 May 2017

Faithfulness of God

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

God is faithful and His faithfulness surrounds Him Psalm 89:8. If we look at some of the meanings of the word faithful, they are 'trustworthy, reliable, steady in allegiance or affection, loyal, thorough in performance, who does no wrong'. And all these meanings of faithfulness hold true in God, He is reliable, trustworthy, steady in affection towards us, thoroughly does what He promises and He never does anything wrong.  All through the pages of bible we see how God has been faithful to His children. In fact He is faithful to even those who are unfaithful because He cannot deny Himself 2 Timothy 2:13. He was faithful in His covenant to Noah, faithful in His covenant to Abraham, faithful in leading the Israelites to the promised land, faithful in fulfilling His dream to Joseph, faithful in fulfilling His prophecy of sending a Messiah to deliver people from sin and darkness... the list goes on and on.

So if God is faithful, what is it for us? A faithful person is reliable and trustworthy therefore we can trust and depend on everything that person says or does. Since God is faithful we can trust Him to fulfill His promise to us,we can trust His love for us, we can trust that He is the only way to heaven, we can be assured that He will fulfill His purposes in our lives. Yes, God is 

🔸faithful to keep a covenant of love Deuteronomy 7:9
🔸faithful to do no wrong Deuteronomy 32:4

🔸faithful in all He does Psalm 33:4, 145:17

🔸faithful to protect us from harm Psalm 40:11,91:4

🔸faithful to bring forth justice Isaiah 42:3

🔸faithful in showing compassion towards us Jeremiah 3:12, Lamentation 3:22,23

🔸faithful in sending us abundance of showers (of blessings ) Joel 2:23

🔸faithful in not allowing us to be tempted beyond what we can bear 1 Corinthians 10:13

🔸faithful to keep us blameless till the end 1 Corinthians 1:8,9, 1 Thessalonians 5:23

🔸faithful to establish and guard us from evil one 2 Thessalonians 3:3

🔸faithful in forgiving us 1 John 1:9

Now how about us, are we faithful to God and men in everything we do or say? Do people around us call us reliable, steady, thorough, trustworthy? Are we like Daniel, Joseph who remained faithful to God inspite of their situations and circumstances or are we like Israelites who were constantly being unfaithful to God. And are we faithfully following God, faithful in giving and in our finances, faithful in putting our God given talents and gifts to best use in serving Him,faithful in our work and responsibilities, faithful in managing what has been entrusted to us, faithful in our relationships with our parents, spouses, children, siblings, faithful in prayer and faithful even to the point of death? These are the questions one needs to ask oneself.

And if you are faithful, Praise God for He will reward your faithfulness saying, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Matthew 25:23

If not it is time to prayerfully look in and see what needs to be changed in our hearts in order for us to be more faithful.

11 May 2017

Holiness of God

1 Peter 1:15,16 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

God expects His children to be holy. It is not just to set a standard for us but also because He knows that sin destroys lives and it was proven again and again in the pages of the Bible. See the lives of Adam and Eve, before they sinned against God they were enjoying a carefree life with a wonderful relationship with God. But after the unwanted thing happened everything changed, their lives became upside down. See the life of David, after his sin against God his life never remained the same, trouble after trouble, struggle after struggle came into his life. Same thing is true even in our lives, that small disobedience, that small addiction, that small thought which we think as such a harmless thing if we do not repent and turn away from it, it is going to destroy our spiritual life. Actually sin has implications even on our physical and emotional life. When you know you are doing something that is not right with God and still continue to do it, you will feel restless and frustrated in your heart. There will be this continuous struggle in your thoughts and in your conscience which affects even your body. Please note I am talking about believers here.

Then how to lead a holy life? As believers our standard and comparison should always be with God, we should constantly remember the following things

🔹Our God is a holy God and that He absolutely hates sin. 

🔹We are not of our own we are bought with a price by God. 1 Corinthians 6:19,20
🔹We were redeemed not with perishable things but with the precious blood of Jesus 1 Peter 1:18,19

🔹At the same time we should understand that even though God hates sin He doesn't hate the sinner. Otherwise He would have never come down to earth to die for the sinners like us.

🔹He did not redeem us with His blood to afterwards leave us to struggle on our own. 

🔹He has given us everything we need to lead a Godly life 2 Peter 1:3

Usually every sin starts with a thought, we cannot stop thoughts coming to us but we can stop ourselves brooding on it. If we can stop that thought as soon as it starts  most of the times we can avoid falling into sin. So bring every thought and imagination under the captivity of obedience to Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians  10:5

Finally if you have already fallen into sin please acknowledge it to God and cry out to Him for forgiveness and mercy. He will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness 1 John 1:9. Accept His forgiveness and turn away from your sin.

Remember God loves you and His commandments for you including holiness are for your own profit.

10 May 2017

Goodness of God

Nahum 1:7 The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,

Nahum means comfort or consolation. The book of Nahum is a prophecy given to Judah concerning the fate and destruction of Nineveh. Nineveh is the capital city of the Assyrians who did much evil and cruelty against the people of Judah. This is the same city which even prophet Jonah prophesied against earlier and during which time the people of the city repented and then God stopped the judgment that was about to fall on them. As per the history they later became much more evil and were doing wicked things against God and His children, the people of Israel and Judah. So God pronounced this destruction against the city to bring comfort and consolation to His people.

We believers, can also learn few important things from this verse

1. Firstly, God cares for those who place their trust in Him. His goodness  towards His children never exhausts. 
2. Secondly, even though at times it feels like the righteous are suffering and evil is triumphing, the truth is there will come a day when justice will be done. God will repay evil, for vengeance belongs to Him.Nahum 1:2 The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies.
3. Finally, God is good and patient towards those who are living in sin and rebellion. In His goodness, He sends multiple warnings to turn from their ways, if they repent and turn to Him, He will protect them from death and destruction.But if they choose to continue in sin they will have to suffer the wrath and judgement of God. 

So dear believer, be careful with the way you live for there will come a day when God will judge every thought. Romans 2:6,16 God "will repay each person according to what they have done." This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2:12.

8 May 2017

God's plan for you

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Even after knowing that He is God and God loves us, we still tend to worry about our future, worry about those unsolved issues, worry about those unmet needs and worry about unclear plans in our lives. Especially the fear of unknown future is something that frightens us the most. Will I get a good job? Will I get promoted? Will I get a good partner? Will I be able to settle down in my life? etc etc. Such questions are natural for us to have and God understands this. He knows that we humans are frail and that we have a hard time trusting Him with everything in our life. That is why He keeps reminding us to not to be afraid and to trust Him. He also knows that we will disobey at times and turn from His ways. And He is willing to lead us back and give one more chance if we repent and get back to Him.

Coming to the context of today's verse, God sent many warnings to the people of Israel to turn from their wicked ways and if they do not turn back to Him, He will send Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and destroy the city of Jerusalem. They did not listen to Him but went about doing their own ways. And as He warned, God allowed the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and carry the Israelites to exile. After that God instructed the Israelites to stay in Babylon and serve the king there. He promised them that after 70 years He will bring them back to their homeland. (Read 2 Chronicles 36, book of Jeremiah for complete account). It is not easy to stay in exile, to be carried over to some place leaving your possessions and safety of your houses and lands, without knowing what lies ahead ,it is difficult and scary. And God understood their fears, so He sent them a letter through His prophet Jeremiah with a very specific assurance that He has plans to prosper them, not to harm them and that they are not without hope for He will give them a future. This promise so clearly addressed the fears and concerns of the people of Israel, for nobody feels exile as a plan of prosperity but as a place of harm and when in exile one feels that their future is lost, their hope is lost. 

This promise of the Lord was not just to the Israelites it is applicable even to us now. To those of us standing at the crossroads of life, to those of us who lost hope for the future and to those of us who lost hope itself, God says I have plans for you. His ways and His thoughts we may not understand at times but trust this, they are much higher than our own thoughts and ways Isaiah 55:8-11. And the best thing about God is that He not only has plans for the perfect saints but also for those who keep falling and failing but truly turn back to Him in repentance. Our God is a God of second chance and may I be bold to say a God of multiple chances. He will turn your mourning into dancing and your sorrow into joy Psalm 30:11.  He will give double portion of honor in the place where you are put to shame Isaiah 61:7. Just trust in Him.

And I do not want to end the message without mentioning the following, if you are someone who do not know the Lord and uncertain of your future, please cry out to Him today in repentance of your sins, ask Him to come into you heart. And He will lead you first into the blessed assurance of His salvation and then to your blessed future.

6 May 2017

The complete Great Commission

Matthew 28:20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Interestingly this verse is also a part of the great commission that Jesus gave His disciples in fact to all His children. We usually stop at v19 that says Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But the commission includes making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them on how to continue their walk of faith.

Apostle Paul kept in constant touch with the believers both those whom He led personally to Christ and those that others had led. His letters are a proof to it. Wherever he went he was encouraging unbelievers to turn to God and believers to walk faithfully before Him. Now I agree that all of us may not have the capability to preach sermons or write letters like Paul but what can do is we can prayerfully share those things which God is teaching us. We can direct them to that man or woman of God who can nurture them in Gods word and help them move forward in their faith. We can point them to the right resources that encourage their faith.

In my community and in the place where I live I have observed this, many people confess their faith in the Lord and stop right there, some may progress towards water baptism but after that sad to say, but almost 70% people (it seemed to me but I pray I am wrong and % is much less) stop there. There may be many reasons for that but one reason definitely is they don't know how to go forward, there is no one to help them, no one to tell them what to do after they got saved. 

That's why if you are someone who is passionate about winning people for Christ I urge you to not to leave them there but continue to pray for them and support them as much as you can. If you are someone who accepted the Lord recently or some one who stopped right there or if you feel you have gone away from the Lord please get back in touch with godly fellowship. And this is not a must but it is better to have someone in your family or a friend with whom you can openly talk about your spiritual walk, it helps us to be accountable.

May the good Lord surround us with godly friends and men & women of God who will help us and encourage us to draw close to Him.

5 May 2017

Love of God

Malachi 1:2 "I have loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask, ’How have you loved us?’

Yesterday I wrote about being still and knowing that He is God. It is the first step in our walk with God. Today I wanna write about the next step, knowing and believing His love for us, His love for you and me. 

God loves you, and this is the center of christian faith and everything else is woven around it. Our faith, our obedience, our service everything should be based on this, God loves me. The question is do you really believe that, do you believe John 3:16 with all your heart? Do you truly believe Romans 5:8? Do you believe that God loves you just as you are? Do you believe that His love for you is unconditional and boundless?

Recently I was struggling with questions like why my prayers are not being answered, why am I not blessed in so and so areas , why am I going through shame and humiliation in so and so areas. The problem is, dear ones, we tend to think that we deserve certain things in our life. Irrespective of all the true, false humility we have, in our heart of hearts we feel that we deserve some things. And when we don't get them we become angry and bitter. I made the same mistake I started thinking that whatever I am already blessed with I deserved them, that's no blessing at all, I still should have so and so things that I long for because I deserve them. You see how foolish and wicked human heart can be. In our ignorance we keep forgetting that every good and perfect gift comes from God James 1:17, we forget that the very air we breathe, the very life we have is a gift from God .

And God out of His goodness shone this light into my heart, He loves me. The best thing is God doesn't judge us when in doubt, yes it grieves His heart when His children does not trust Him still He lovingly leads us into His truth. When we see ourselves in the light of Gods love we understand that everything we have is because of His love for us. And let me also make a bold statement here, everything we don't have is also because of His love for us. He doesn't want us to wreck our lives by having some things in that particular time. May be those things might be good to have later and when the time is right He himself will give them to us. As psalm 121:5 says, "The Lord is your keeper". He keeps us from harm, keeps us from evil, keeps us from trouble, keeps us from sin, keeps us from destroying our lives, keeps us from ....you fill in the blank. That's the heart of the father. He knows better, He is God and He loves us. He loves us enough to stop us from destroying our lives. He loves us enough to bless us with things that build us up.

If we look at today's verse, the Israelites were questioning God's love and how many times even we do that, how many times we fail to understand His love and become angry with God ? 

When our faith and our obedience rests on the fact, God loves us, we avoid a lot of heartaches in our lives. It is not about performance, it is not about how you live or what you do, it is not about what you have or do not have, and it is not even about how much or what you do for God, it is about Him loving you. And it is His love that compels us to live holy, to love Him, to serve Him and to live for Him. And that's the right way to walk with God. When we allow this truth to sink into our hearts we will be changed inside out, we no longer struggle to keep His commandments, we no longer read Bible or pray out of duty, we no longer feel it a burden to serve Him for they will become a delight to us. We will be eager to have our time with God for all of us humans, we like to be around those who love us. Our hearts are made to be loved. 

So please stop striving and accept His love into your heart. Know it, Believe it and Let it sink deep into your heart, God loves you.

4 May 2017

The Lord is God

Psalms 46:10 He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

How difficult it is to be still, waiting is one thing but being still, ohh! how difficult it is. Yet here in this verse God is telling the psalmist and through the psalm even us to be still. It doesn't stop there, we need to be still and know that He is God. Here know means to understand and acknowledge, we should understand and acknowledge that He is God. He is the supreme one, the Almighty God, the all knowing God, the all powerful God, the all wise God, the creator of heaven and earth, the creator of you and me. And because He is God, because He is the supreme one, because He is the Sovereign Lord, because He is the all knowing God, because He is the all powerful God, because He is the all wise God, He is in control, He is in control of everything that happens in our life. We don't have to run around aimlessly or we don't have to toss and turn restlessly trying to figure out what needs to be done. He is God and He know perfectly what needs to be done. No matter what the problem, no matter what the issue, no matter what the trouble He has the solution for it.For He is GOD.

So dear ones let us be still and know that He is God.

Everything He created and everything He does it is for His glory. There will come a day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess He is Lord. First time He came as the lamb of God ready to be slain, next time He will come as the Lion of Judah ready to judge the world. First time He came as a prince of peace, next time He will come as the righteous judge.

Yes dear ones, He will be exalted among the nations, He will be exalted in the earth. Let us bow down and worship Him for He is GOD and He will be exalted on high.