My Purpose

For those of us who wonder their importance and purpose in life and come up with questions like “why am I here?”And “what is my purpose in life?” the Bible has a simple answer to all this. You might take this as the conclusion or the final word to it all when it comes to what the Holy Scripture has to say about this. It is not a big huge monologue or a bunch or pages or a page or half a page even. You’d be surprised to see how small a conclusion like this could be. To top it all it was written by none other than King Solomon the Wise. He says in the book of Ecclesiastes 12:13-“ Fear God and Keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man”.

Notice the two things mentioned here, firstly, fear the Lord and secondly to obey the commands. Most times in life, we fail to observe either of them. Before doing something or falling into the traps of temptation we don’t realize how much more precious is the love of God and fearing him and the delight that we have in obeying his commands. Rather we decide to go in for the temporary joys of temptation and bear a lifetime of regret!

This Sunday, today, I realised this. How much more I should value His love and how much more I should value Him. We sometimes take the cross and the sacrifice made on it way too lightly. But I know today that like I please my own father by respecting him and obeying him, I would be bringing joy and fulfilling my purpose by fearing the Lord, the Master Creator, and by obeying his commandments. This was a reminder to me...... was it for you too??

The All Encompassing....

Well, we have been through various topics these past few blogs, but as Good Friday comes by, the mind lingers onto the cross more than usual. Why? Cos you will hear the elders of the church constantly talking about it, the bible study groups also would concentrate and link everything to it and then your Christian friends who observe the lent. The cross should always be on your mind but during these days we tend to link it to a lot more than our sins.

One particular thought was brought in today and I couldn’t help but write about it. So the portion is John 19:23-26. We have 4 soldiers trying to divide the garment, the 4 women and Apostle John himself. These 3 groups of people are standing around the cross where the Lord Jesus is still hanging, taking his last few painful breaths. What proceeds form there is an entirely different topic to talk on but the 3 groups of people is what catches your attention. 

The 3 groups.... around the cross.....

This in a way signifies 3 sets of people

1.       The soldiers – The group of people who need the cross and are unaware of the saving grace. But the Lord Jesus Christ died for them too. They need to keep aside their ignorance and know this.

2.       The women – The weaker section of the society. The cross is for all those who are weak and heavy laden. It calls to all of them who are burdened, for they will find rest and peace. It calls out to those who cannot fight for themselves for the Lord fights battles, nay, battles and war for them. These are the people who are always on the victory stand because their hope is the cross.

3.       The apostle - The ones who spread the ‘Good news’. They are taught by the Holy Spirit into bringing everyone in the knowledge of what the Lord has done and has promised for them. They stand for the elders and the teachers of at our churches.

This right about summarizes everybody. I fall in the second group, not because I am a woman but because I know I am weak and I lean on to the Lord to fight for me, cos I submit everything to Him to take care of, cos I want to be free of worries. You too I am sure come in one of these categories. Which one is it? Feel free to share.

Worshiping from Psalm 103

Psalm 103 written is by King David. The first 5 verses speak of the personal mercies which he experienced. These verses are....

"1 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's."

When I stand for worship, thanking the Lord for his sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary, I realise that these 5 verses hold the reason why I must worship him.

I must worship the Lord because he--
1. Forgives - How many times I sin,  and I come back to him, I know I am forgiven, he does not remember my sins and has forgotten it. The Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins.... MY SINS!!! He constantly changes me for the better. I stop sinning because i am a better person than I was when I first knew him. When I first came to know of the saving grace.

2. Heals - He heals me of my past. I do not talk of the physical healing but woulds made by my sins are all healed by his blood,

and finally

3. Restores - He restores me with new life and assurance because he rose again and he has promised me eternal life with him.

After all this, can I stay back from not worshiping him? How much more can one give????

Privileges of the Spirit of the Lord within me

You would have to forgive me for an irregular blogging pattern, all this owing to the tough schedule I go through and so much packed for the weekends and the weekdays that there is not time left to just sit, think and relax and then write.

Nevertheless I can’t wait to share what I heard this Sunday at church!!! This Sunday was more on the Spirit of the Lord in us. For those of you who haven’t accepted the lord Jesus Christ as your personal saviour and called him into your heart, I suggest you do soon!!!!!. The privileges of having the Spirit of the Lord in us are immense. And it right about encompasses everything that is there to trouble in this life.

The many privileges of having a the Spirit of the Lord in us are-

1.       When we look at Daniel, he seems like one of those brave men of the Bible who feared nothing even when the whole world was against them, literally. In Daniel 4:8, 9 we see that,”... and no secret troubleth thee”. Now for the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar to have said that would require substantial proof and experience. Thus by this small yet very significant example, we learn that when the Spirit of the Lord resides in us then nothing in this world troubles us. For if anything, even in the minutest level is bothering us, all we have to do is, like Daniel... PRAY!!!!!. As mentioned again in Daniel 6:10, “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” He gave thanks.. T-H-A-N-K-S.. Thanks... we don’t do that do we? We rather spend the time, grumbling or  figuring out a way to get over the problems knowing for fact that the one who made the universe can take care of it all.

2.       We are able to anything, even if it is impossible. In Phillipians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Why does Paul say so? It is because it is not the strength in me that does the miracles but the Spirit of God in me.

3.       Having insight, intelligence, wisdom and understanding. Daniel 5:11 “There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him;..”  When we have the wisdom and intelligence then our way of thinking and approach to situations changes.

4.       We learn to live like Christ. We slowly shed away old and bad behaviour and imbibe a Christ like approach to life. The change just happens, and before you realise, you already start detesting your old life. Why? You are changed now.

5.       We live a mortal life of which is devoid of worries (as we submit everything to Him to takes care of it all) and we shall be living an immortal life of everlasting joy.

So then cast your cares upon him and know that with the Spirit of the Lord within you is doing marvelous thing in you and through you.

Have a blessed week ahead!!!!!!

A Witness

To a simple question on why am I in this place instead of any other, the answer was never simpler than this- to be a witness for Christ!!! That is what the Lord Jesus Christ wanted us to be. More than any other statement or word spoken by someone in his entire life, you would value the last statement or even just a phrase that his lips utter. Those handful words mean the world to you and you would do everything to live right by it. As he was ascending up into heaven Jesus spoke thus “... and you will be my witness...” – Acts 1:8. This answers our question. That is why being a witness and standing by our testimony and keeping our testimony safe is why we are where we are. Our testimonies inspire people and set us apart from the others. It is the testimonies that draw others to know the Lord because they are constantly wondering, why as believers, we have so many principles and take so many things seriously and abstain from so many worldly pleasures. By this we continue in the path of righteousness and as Solomon says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.”-Proverbs 11:30. Not just what Solomon said is true, even Daniel and his friends proved to be witnesses in the worst of circumstances!!!

You might also wonder, “What if I don’t care about being a witness and winning souls??” The Bible comes up with answers to this as well. In 1 Corinthians 9:16 it is said “Woe unto me if I do not preach the gospel.” The Book of Ezekiel 3:18 goes on to say thus, “When I say to the wicked, ' You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his inequity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Therefore, it is clear that I am accountable for the blood of those around me. 

Think it over. Why are you here? Shouldn't you be a striking example to those around you? 

Are you a witness for Christ?

The Disease and the Cure

For those of us who are believers we can second this true fact, that despite the latest invention and discoveries in science and technology no human, so far has been able to cure one disease. What is this kind of disease you might ask? The disease is headlined... SIN. This is like a huge set and therefore has various subsets, the subsets being the different kinds of sin. As humans we sin as it is in our nature.

So, do all of us suffer from this disease? Yes, of-course.

Cure???

Well that is the best part. The cure for sin was prophesied by God the Father centuries ago and was proclaimed through the prophets and it finally came to pass when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on the Cross of Calvary for our sins. Since death couldn’t hold him, he rose again the third day. He became the perfect sacrifice or medicine for our Sin, thus making us sinless and righteous. We are made righteous and have come to receive the free gift of salvation when we acknowledge this fact!

For those who haven’t received the Lord Jesus as their personal saviour and do realise that they too suffer from sin, know that a remedy was developed and no one has been able to come up with any better way to take the burden of sin off our shoulders. Accept the LORD before it is too late and know the saving grace. My experience after accepting the LORD as my personal Saviour was an intense feeling of relief and an assured hope that I am in safe hands with a future of eternal life in heaven. Have you accepted the LORD???? What was your experience??? 

Student of Faith

I’m currently pursuing integrated PhD from University of Hyderabad, which is one of the premier institutions in the country specifically with respect to research in diverse fields. Do I want to do research? Duh!! Obviously. Am I Having fun? Well, I guess...

Last Sunday, this is what I understood!!!.. A student commonly faces 3 emotions while in the student period of his life. What are these????

1.      Loneliness

2.      Hopelessness

3.      Worthlessness or valuelessness

After listening to the speaker, I had a lot to process. Do I feel all these sometimes (either just one or all three together)??? I have to admit, when I was listening to the speaker at church, I was like, wow! I do feel these sometimes. As a student with so many pressures in life and ambitions and goals, we tend to feel these because we are constantly in dire need to satisfy the society and yourself at the same time. Also, we would want to be part of the crowd at all times and achieve all that we hoped for. As believers can we have it all????? Think it over????

Let me answer it this way... can a slave be better than the master? Can we be  better than our own teachers? No! If the Lord of all creation was thrown around and despised, we needn’t expect everything to go all rosy for us. We might just face more than our unbeliever friends. And it is worth it all. Because we have the saving grace. We have been set apart.

Anyway, getting back to the 3 strong student emotions, the speaker specially mentioned about Elijah (1 Kings 19). He faced all these three emotions at the same time. He expected to take his last breath the very next day, but what did the angel say to him?? The angel encouraged him by saying thus (verse 7) “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you”. He continued his journey right up till he was taken up to heaven. He never saw death!!! Amazing right! That’s what faith does...

I was wondering of a few others who would have felt the same.(please go ahead and read about how David was constantly feeling lonely and how he continued to reassure himself (psalm23:1”The LORD is my shepherd” and he goes on to say in Psalm121:2 “My help comes from the LORD”), how Job kept aside all the comments he kept hearing from his friends and even his wife and yet he goes on to say (Job 42:2-“ I know that you can do all things..”), how Jeremiah, Nehemiah, Abraham and countless other walked alone in all loneliness.) These brave men of the Bible were always at the cliff, just a few inches away from the pit of hopelessness and the feeling of valuelessness. But did they ever fall? NO!!!

Why be called a believer if you don’t have faith and can’t believe? It’s the hard truth, but know, that in all your struggles, whatever they might be, the LORD has a plan greater and far far better for you than you can imagine (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”) What more do you want than this?????

Tomorrow, if you feel even a hint of loneliness, hopelessness or worthlessness, kick it off and say “LORD, if you are there with me and for me, how can I be alone and who can be against me????

Think it over and do it. Be a student of faith!

Promises...

You know how it is,  right? When you promise somebody and you know you  have to keep your word. Not always can you stick to that promise, neither can you always fulfill it completely. The Bible is full of amazing promises. But unlike us, the LORD keeps each and every one of them.

At our church, we have a watch night prayer service, where we end the year (31^st of December) with prayer and thanksgiving and begin the new year(1^st Jan) with worship and thanksgiving. Towards the end of the prayer meeting we have this small tradition of picking up promises. The various promises of the bible are individually printed out and we pick one of them. We prayerfully pick up one of these and we believe that the LORD has promised that particular verse to us. You might say, if the bible has all those promises and I claim that each of those promises apply to us then why select one? Well, to answer that, we believe that by doing so, we get to claim this chosen promise in our prayers to the LORD. This encourages us through different stages of that year and you know what........ The LORD fulfills those promises. Moreover, we are to remember that these promises tend less to the materialistic needs and caters to our spiritual requirements. It constantly reminds us of our heavenly Father who would never forget the promise he made to us.

What is so special about these promises of the Bible? If you are an unbeliever you would think that the Bible is just a book of stories or if you are a believer then you would wonder why would we pick promises at all? I’ll answer both. The Bible is a book inspired by the Holy Spirit which encompasses all that has happened and all that is to come. It revolves around Jesus Christ and how and why one needs to accept him as their personal Saviour. We pick promises because we believe that we can claim this one special promise in our prayers to the Heavenly Father.

The promise that I picked up this year is “ ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people- Exodus 19:5”. Awesome and amazing , isn’t it????

I know the Lord would fulfill this promise in my life because of the following reasons:-

1.      His promises are good. 1 Kings 8:56 “.... Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave..”

2.      His promises are Holy. Psalm 105:42 “For he remembered his holy promises...”

3.      His promises are great. 2 Peter 1:4 “ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises so that .....”

4.      His promises are precious. (same verse as above)

5.      His promises are better. Hebrew 8:6 “ But the ministry of Jesus  has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediated is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.”

6.      His promises are unchangeable. Hebrews 6:17 “Because God wanted to make the unchangeable nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.”

If these promises are unchangeable, good and precious, why would the Lord not keep it? He keeps his word. Did you pick up your promise? If so, what is it? If not, go ahead and select one and let me know........

Have a blessed week!!!!!