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!!!!!

To be one’s shoes………

He loved us so much that  He came down to be in our shoes and........... he sacrificed himself for us. That is love!!!

Often enough while grieving over our problems and comparing ourselves to others we say, “They do not know our problems. They would only understand when they stand in our shoes.” Thus the moping continues. Little do we realise that we believers have a far greater proof and an example of one who has been in our shoes.

Our loving Lord Jesus Christ did that for us. Leaving all the heavenly and princely powers and glory, he came down to earth and for three and thirty years stood in our shoes and proved that there are things beyond the worldly displeasures and pain...... an eternal joyous life. By being homeless he stood in the shoes of the homeless. By being disgraced, mocked and scorned by relatives and neighbours alike He stood in the shoes of those who endure the same. By being poor he stood in the shoes of the poor and by being doubted and distrusted he stood in the shoes of the many who bear this daily.

Our saviour, Jesus Christ proved how it was to be in other’s shoes. In fact he proved it to such an extent that even though he was faultless, blameless and sinless he stood in the shoes of a sinner and for 3 difficult hours was even banished from the presence of the heavenly father. He stood in our (sinner’s) shoes and took the penalty on himself. To have a saviour who has experienced how to be like us is a wonderful gift for a believer. Think it over, who else has done so much for you? He went through everything that a believer would go through, be it pain, suffering, mocks, scorns or even the burden of sin. That is why he understands us the best and tells us to take all our burdens and grief and submit it at the cross of Calvary.

Because he understands he becomes the best mediator between us and God the Father. The word of God says that we must consistently try to transform ourselves to be like Jesus. One would say it is too difficult to be done but if we think again……. Not as hard when we have the help of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

In between the mocking and scorns our Jesus remained quiet. Why don’t we become quiet and submit every problem in the LORD’s hands instead of taking our decisions on our own. When would we begin trusting him?

Each day and every step of your life submit to the LORD and ask him for his guidance, that in everything He is glorified. 

Giving and Tithing

A few Sundays back I heard a message on tithing and the different emotions behind giving. I think it is very significant that we realise the importance of giving and practise in our daily lives and improve ourselves.

The origin of tithe we would all say starts in the New Testament days, but not so. The practise of giving and tithing starts way back in the days of Abraham.

There are different expressions to giving-

1.     .     Genesis 14 cites the example of Abraham giving a tenth of the loot after the war to Melchizedek. This can be categorized as an act of worship.
2.     .     Genesis 28 is the part where Jacob makes a promise to the LORD that if the LORD takes care of him he would give a tenth back. This expression can be categorised as an expression of thanks. Since Jacob would be expressing his thanks to the Lord in the form of tithe if the Lord would take care of him.
3.     .    The third type of tithe is mentioned in Malachi 3 which states to rebuke the devourer
4.     .     This type of tithing is mentioned in 1 Corinthians and is an expression of regular discipleship

Giving brings immense joy to the giver. It makes us realise that we are the epicentre of God’s plan. That also gives us an assurance that everything would be perfectly alright because God is in control and they have no dearth for anything at all because the LORD is the greatest giver.

Another thing that is important to know is that giving is not an option, it is a requirement. We cannot take pride in it (like we usually do) nor do we have the luxury to encourage a feeling of self righteousness. We give not with the expectation of a return, but because of a feeling of gratitude.

Besides, Malachi 1:6 says that choosing the right gift it is an attitude of worship to our LORD. It is giving the LORD the ‘honour due to him’, and the LORD loves a cheerful giver. As a giver you must pray and ask the LORD where all should you be giving. You also should know that whatever you are giving, .monetary funds or giving in kind should be used well. This also means that we shouldn’t publicise the giving. It is not how much we give, but what we give and the emotion involved while we are giving that makes all the difference.

Having said all of that, you must ask this to yourself, “When I give to the LORD, do I give the best to Him or the rest to Him?”