Month: January 2022

“But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”

Luke 16:31

While speaking of the Law, the Prophets and the Kingdom through the Lazarus and the Rich man parable, Jesus says these words of Abraham to some Pharisees and His disciples present there. Through the verses of this parable, we might have heard more of being helpful to the poor, the needy and so on. But another main frame that Jesus has shown here is, the marvellous miracles, signs and the testimonies go in vain, if one does not hear and believe in the word of God in the Law and through the Prophets.

Yes, people believed in Jesus’ name when they saw the signs which He did (John 2:23). But among the disciples who followed Jesus seeing the signs, many went back in disbelief when He told them about the things written in the prophets (John 6: 60,66). We may have experienced people eagerly seeking for the signs of healing, deliverance, prophetic words for their future, family, nation and so on, but go back in disbelief when they see no external signs or when the opposite happens. Also, there are some people who still won’t be convinced with more signs and wonders even if they saw them as they had hardly heard and believed in the Word of God. In Romans 10:17, we read that hearing the Word of God creates the faith in the truth unto salvation, and a sign may or may not have a role in it.

One of my aunts felt so lonely after the demise of my uncle, her son and daughter-in-law lived separately and adding to her burden and pain, the news of her second grandchild diagnosed with blood cancer made her completely helpless. She sought her help through the Word of God shared in the “Paul School of Deliverance” conducted by the Army of Jesus, her son and daughter-in-law got together and glory to God, her grandchild also got cured from cancer. The signs did encourage her belief, but the Word of God convinced her. Now, even in her illness, though the recovery is not as expected, instead of seeking for more signs, she is happily living by faith in the truth that made her free.

Having the Word of God, we should live by faith in God’s Word and not as a result of an experience, an angelic appearance, or even someone returning from the dead. Even heaven and earth may fail, but not one dot of the Law to become void (Luke 16:17). As soldiers in the Army, let us put our focus on the Word of God, and also be concerned about the people whom we preach, to make them walk in faith and not by sight.

Sol. Aphirancy

“Listen, my dear brothers: has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him?”

James 2:5

“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” Matt 5:3

For you know the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich yet for your sake became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich. 2 Cor 8:9

With these verses we get to know that the Lord Jesus Christ loves everyone equally and He shows no favouritism whether the person is rich or poor. He does not like His children showing favouritism and disparity between the poor and the rich. Christ Jesus himself, being the King of kings left the heavenly throne and came on the earth and also became poor for our sake that out of His poverty we will become rich.

He also told us in the Beatitudes that blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Lord wants us to be humble and He wants to lift those who humble themselves before Him.

It is our hearts that He is interested in. He sees through our hearts and He knows what’s inside our hearts. Whenever the Pharisees, Sadducees and the teachers of the law came to trap Him by their cunning ways, the Lord could see through their hearts and what they intended.

The Lord did not trust them.

But always answered them in a way that astonished them.

Even today the Lord knows the heart of all men and blesses them accordingly.

He does not want us to show favouritism of any type towards anyone. He wants us to treat all our brothers and sisters equally.

But those who do not acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Saviour even after knowing Him, will always remain poor and no one can help them in this spiritual poverty

It is our faith that the Lord is interested in.

He wants to see us rich in faith and in His Word. Those who are rich in faith will never live in poverty, for they have found the greatest treasure in their lives and that is Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

But those who are rich in the Word of God, even though they are poor will have the greatest riches of all times.

There was a member in our Konkani Troop church meeting. He was genuine in faith, in hearing the Word of God.   He believed and accepted the Word of God. He had no money to cultivate his land.  God gave another member of the same Troop Church wisdom to purchase the stock he had of the previous year at a high price. Thus the paddy he had as stock, was sold at almost double the price. It was enough to meet all his needs. Glory be to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Sol. Luiza Kudchadkar AOJ

Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.

Isaiah 9:7 

Jesus Christ came to this world to establish a government. Except Lucifer nobody, who lived in his time seems to be bothered about it.  Because human beings in their fallen nature, had not understood its value or meaning. But Lucifer who was with the Lord, who knew the greatness and character of God, in his tremendous wisdom tested Jesus and found out that “Jesus is the King who came to establish his Kingdom here on earth by ‘by bruising his head’. Jesus accomplished it. He restored the dominion of Adam and his descendants on earth and enabled them exercise their power of subduing everything on earth.

Any king who wants to establish a kingdom will first start making himself strong on this earth by accumulating wealth, properties, gold, palaces, Military forces etc. Then he will start expanding his earthly territory.

Jesus’ Govt is entirely different.

It is established in human hearts. He delivers people from the lies and deceptions of satan, breaks the strongholds, which satan has built in their minds and release them from darkness. Their eyes are opened to see the truth. Their fear, inhibitions, anxieties, disappointments, rejections everything vanish, and they see themselves rulers of the earth. They start ruling the earth, sky and ocean. (Gen 1:28)

The capital of Jesus’ Government is human heart. When a person accepts Jesus Christ and commits himself to regularize his life by obeying His commandments, one gets deliverance. All the yokes of manmade traditions (even that of denominational Churches) religion, caste, creed, everything is broken. They enter into a new order, a new world, and become new creation with new nature and characteristics. This is contagious; Spreads from heart to heart, life to life.  Those who tasted it cannot resist the compulsion of sharing it with another.  

This process of establishing Jesus Government in human hearts commenced on the day of Pentecost, when Holy Spirit was poured from heaven around 2020 years ago.  It spread from Jerusalem to Antioch, to Rome, to Greece and to other countries, and is continuing, all over the world, till today.  Lucifer tried to stop it in many ways. But wherever he tried, it burst out all the more powerfully.  It spreads from person to person, house to house, family to family, city to city, country to country etc. It is ever on the increase and never on decrease. It crosses over all the financial, cultural, religious, social and political barriers.

Among those who wanted to put an end to the Government of Jesus, the first one was the Roman Empire the land of which covered the whole earth at that time. The Roman Empire fell miserably in the 3^rd century A.D. and gave way to the Government of Jesus. Rome accepted Jesus as the head of their Government.

What is the secret of this increase?

When a person becomes the citizen in Jesus Government, peace starts ruling his heart. A boy called Jeyan’s  (name changed)  life was in a miserable condition. He was all alone living with his mother and the mother died of heart disease. He went into depression and after 6 months one morning he also had a severe heart attack and doctor gave only 2 hours for him. He himself had to sign the papers before starting treatment. When we met him, he could not sleep, could not speak loudly, was on strict diet, could not even drink water more than 1 litre a day. We felt pity for this boy and allowed him to stay with us. Started praying for him. After 8 days he spoke, “I’m feeling much better now. More than physical health I am at peace now. I can sleep very well. The anxieties are gone’.

This is because Jesus started ruling his heart. There is no end for the growth of Jesus’ Government and the peace that brings along with it.  When it covers the whole earth, and when all the people (the chosen ones) are brought under this Government, the heaven itself comes down and the New Heaven and New Earth will be established on earth. Yes, His Government will have no end. It will be ever on the increase.

This is our calling. To bring Jesus Government into the hearts of all citizens in each Constituency. Each one of them should be delivered from all the lies and deceptions of satan and enjoy the peace Jesus gives.

Sr. Angelica AOJ

Jesus said to his disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.”

Luke 16:1

God is not just a powerful figure in the world, He is an intelligent designer who brought the world into existence with all of its interconnected processes, animate and inanimate which means that even the smallest pebble is the work of His design. In Genesis 1, God commands man to exercise dominion over the earth and to subdue it.  (Genesis1:26,28, Col 1:15-1, John1:3).

We are given the privilege to enjoy the resources but the ownership is vested in him. In Leviticus 25:23-24, God forbids selling of the land permanently because it belongs to Him and we are only stewards of the environment. Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesy about the dire consequences that occur when man disobeys God and fails to take care of the earth. (Isaiah 24:4-6, Jer2:7). What we understand from the key scripture Luke 16:1 is that the rich man is displeased with the manager for wasting his possessions. With this verse in mind, let us examine whether we used the treasures of the earth wisely.

 The term natural resource means resources that exist without the help of humans.

The first figure shows the various kinds of natural resources and the second shows a cycle of extraction to waste. A recent study reveals that 62 million tonnes of resources such as minerals, wood, metals, fossil and bio-mass fuel are extracted from the earth and ⅕ of the world’s natural resources that are extracted end up as waste, on average 10 tonnes for every individual.  The figures are staggering. Resources use and waste generation have distinct environmental impacts. Industry, technology and consumers have a major role to play by making more informed choices.

John’s Gospel 6:1-15 (Miracle of feeding thousands) reveals Jesus’ attentiveness to human needs as well as his judicious use, equitable distribution and conservation of resources. These principles constitute models for the contemporary world in its management and use of available resources. The proper use and management of its resources guarantee the sustainability of the resources. However, with the increasing rate of depletion due to over-exploitation, over-consumption, environmental pollution and entrenched culture of waste, the need to sustainably use and manage these resources has become expedient. Throughout the Bible, we see God’s intervention in human history, we are caretakers of God’s provision for mankind and mismanagement brings down judgement. Billy Graham once noted that “of all people, Christians should be the most concerned for the environment” explaining that God created the world and entrusted humanity to protect it. We are accountable to God for the way we handle the resources which He has given to satisfy our needs and not greed. With this in mind let us exercise our paramount duty to make people realise the importance of not wasting our natural resources.

 Let us bow our heads and seek forgiveness for how we treated the earth and it’s fullness by approaching the heavenly throne and also invoke his blessings. Amen.

Sol. Nirmala Lazar

“Between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”

Luke 16:26

On meditating on the above verse there are two things. One is “that those who want to go from here to you” and the second is “nor can anyone cross over from there to us”. The latter we understand that people in hell with a view of heaven will want to get to heaven but the first part says those who want to go from heaven to hell. This word can be put to explain no one can cross over but let us think if any one would want to do that if so why would any one who after all trials and tribulations in this world now in the presence of our Almighty Lord and glorious riches in heaven will want to go back to hell. If yes, the only answer would be to save their loved ones who lost their eternity. But it is not possible.

“Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” Heb 9:27

I use to look at my old family albums and I could see the family members who have left this world and think whether did they get their salvation and wonder how they would have faced the Lord.

Today we have a lot of family and friends who have not experienced our Lord’s salvation and still among us eating, drinking and travelling with us and the only person who knows what happens to them is us who are saved through the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ through his Grace.

The Bible says, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart”. Eccl 7:2

I saw a few deaths in my extended family, my friends recently and I see most of the persons were not ready to face our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bible clearly states, “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water”. Heb 10:22.

 Without salvation and covenant with our Lord Jesus Christ they will lose their eternity.  Let us have this burden which our Lord Jesus Christ has about every soul who are yet to return when we meet them, eat and travel with them so that God through you can save them.

Prayer: Heavenly Father we pray for the burden you have, to be poured on us and always to be mindful about the souls who are not yet saved and always act on it by the guidance through the Holy spirit that they will receive the salvation we share through your Grace. Amen.

Sol.Leo

My heart is overflowing with a good matter; I speak of my works to the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. 

Psalm 45:1  

I will speak of the one who created the heaven and the Earth and everything under it.

Ever wondered how apostle John wrote in his book –John 1:1 about Lord Jesus Christ –

 “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

Who revealed this mystery to him?

When God’s Word is filled in your heart and mind, it’s the Holy Spirit which gives utterance. (Acts 2:4) It’s the heart only which desires evil thoughts (Mark 7:21-23) and it’s the heart only which when is cleansed by God’s Word, made an abode for God by the Holy Spirit.  God makes His abode in it and sanctifies the tongue which speaks the truth of God.

Our prayer should always be as per Psalms 119:171-172, “May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees. May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous.”

Whether its old testament prophets like Moses, King David, Jeremiah or the apostles of Lord Jesus Christ, they all were ordinary human being but were chosen by God and with their complete surrender, God spoke through them to His people.

2 Peter 1:21, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Whenever I desire to glorify God with new words of praise, the Holy Spirit guides me and makes me write them. Once when I was asked to share my testimony with inmates of Tihar prison in just 2-3 minutes, I was baffled as I wanted to share my whole journey in Christ with everyone. Immediately Holy Spirit prompted me to write my testimony in poetic form which I could not, otherwise, have written and that poem was praised by everyone. I still wonder did I write it?

Prayer: Heavenly Father! Help us to guard our heart and speak of your goodness only.

Sol. Neha

“There is more joy in Heaven”

Lk 15:7

There is a parable in Luke 15:12-32 that speaks of repentance. The younger son got his share of property from his father. He lived lavishly and wasted all his wealth. He repented and returned to his father saying, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” His father not only forgave him but gave him lot of gifts. He was dead, but came back to life; He was lost but found again. They began to celebrate and there was much joy in the house.

 Repentance is the first step to salvation experience. Sinful men, created by God can repent for his sins and turn back to God any time while he is still alive on this earth. Forgiveness for sins can be obtained while we are living on this earth but we can neither repent nor receive salvation after our death.

      When I repented and accepted Jesus Christ, definitely the heaven would have rejoiced. This happened in Zimbabwe in the year 1998. Along with my wife, son and daughter I had gone there for some work. I was a staunch Hindu, and I had taken the idols along with me. I worshipped them in my room but God had predestined me and he had prepared a different plan for me.  

An old couple conducted ‘Troop Church’ every Saturday with my wife for four years. My wife accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as she knew the truth. She came to me and said, “seek, you will find.” She also read Isaiah 44:14-18 to me. The last verse says like this, “And no one considers in his heart, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” these words struck me like a spear. Who is true God then? I started asking this question daily.

A servant of God came to me the same day evening and said, “while I was praying this morning, the Lord asked me to visit you.” I thought you might have gone to India, how come you didn’t go, he asked me.  During this conversation my eyes were filled with tears. Then he prayed for me.  I neither knew the bible nor Jesus at that time.  I experienced a deep sense of joy and peace that I could not explain in words. At the same time, I am sure, heaven too might have rejoiced at my repentance. After the prayer my problem got solved and I returned to India happily.

  There are many things that can give us happiness on this earth. A few of them are,

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  (Matt 5:11,12).

When you find some of your children walking in truth – 2 John 1:4

When we are sincere and faithful and multiply the talents that are given to us then we enter into the joy of the Lord. Matt 25:21

Prayer:

Lord use each one of us in such a way that every minute heaven is filled with more joy and the hundreds and thousands of people around us repent and accept Jesus as their personal God and savior. Amen!

Sol. Mohana Sundaram AOJ

If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, (wordly wealth) who will commit to your trust the true riches (souls)?

Luke 16:11

The moral of this verse spoken to the disciples is that they were the stewards to whom Jesus was going to entrust His goods. They would be responsible to use them wisely. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, HE has entrusted us with His goods. Everything we have has come from Him. We are responsible for how we spend His money, talent, Power, wealth, land, job, position (post) which the Lord has given to us. One day the Lord will call on us to give an accounting of how we have utilised them.

          Basically Jesus is saying that the money is not the currency of heaven. Let us suppose you undergo a strange experience of being in a foreign country and starving even though you have a lot of Indian currency. In order to buy goods in a foreign country one must go to the bank and exchange your cash with the currency of the country which you are in. 

 But when we arrive in heaven, we will realize that there are no exchange banks. The only opportunity for us to exchange our currency with heavenly currency is now on earth. If we wait until we arrive at the gate of heaven we will be too late.

     Jesus seems to be drawing a contrast between true riches and false riches. The false riches are the riches of this world, that are measured in bank account and material possessions. The true riches are the eternal riches. We read in Matt 6:19 -21   Jesus telling us not to lay up for ourselves treasure on earth, where moths and rust can decay and thieves can break in and steal. But layup treasure in heaven. Material riches are not true riches. True riches are not measured by our account in the bank, but how much we have deposited in our heavenly bank account.

            In  Lk. 21:1- 4 Jesus reminds us about a widow dropping in a mite, which is less than a penny. Jesus says that she had given more than the rest of them, for they were casting in of their surplus, but she was giving of her livelihood, for that was all that she had. Lk  12:15 we read, ” Then He said to them, watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for life does not consist in possessions, even when someone has more than he need.”

           We all are accountable for we are called by the Lord to work in His vineyard, to teach others His Words,  to enlarge His border, to take His light to dark places, to work for the fulfilment of His vision. One day we will have to give an  account of all our stewardship to Him.

Sol. Dr. Mohan Parmar

This is what the Lord says to His anointed, to Cyrus ( king of Persia), whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him, and I will ungird the loins of kings ( disarming them); To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 

Isaiah 45:1

Those who are chosen by God are also anointed or equipped by Him.   We are enabled by His grace and power to fulfil His purpose in our lives.  He holds our right hand to empower us, to give us the authority, power and dominion over the nations.   By virtue of his anointing or His authorization, we can strip kings of darkness and their earthly representatives in all nations of their defensive armour.  We can disarm them of their weapons of destruction.    The Lord will open doors before us that no man can shut.   He will give us opportunities to demonstrate the power and authority of God on earth that no one can take away or block.  We have a royal and eternal destiny like King Cyrus. Like King Cyrus saw himself as a servant king, who serves the living God, we are servant Kings in the order of Jesus Christ, the Anointed One.  We are anointed or filled with the Holy Spirit to build God’s kingdom on earth like Cyrus was anointed to have the temple and Jerusalem re-built. The resources of heaven, the army of God is available to us for the fulfilment of our calling.

                The Lord also promises to go ahead of His people and to remove the obstacles even if these be as large and seemingly insurmountable as mountains.  Even the strongest of doors cannot withstand His power.   He can reach through bronze doors to deliver hidden treasures into our hands.   He calls us personally and by our first names like He called Cyrus even when the latter did not know anything about the God of Israel.   We have the advantage of knowing Him more fully thanks to the word of God which tells us in great detail who He is, what kind of person He is, the extent of His power and authority, His great love for those who trust Him.

             Any demonic force or power that rises against us, we can subdue in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.   Some of these forces try to kill us or destroy or weaken us with our inner strongholds of fear or doubt.  Some try to rob us, causing us hurt and inner injuries. Some try to steal from us subtly so that we are not even aware of it.  The satanic array of forces though they number 666 threats, dangers, viles against us are no match for the sovereign power of God and that of His people.  Since God’s presence surrounds us like a cloud, defends us like a fire, since He holds our right hand and guides us in all our important areas and decisions, we can be confident of victory over all the 666.  If we take a year as having 365 days, an average of one to two kings of darkness attack us on a daily basis.  We should know from this uni-verse that we can strip them of their armour, neutralize their power to harm us.  Once we exercise our kingly authority delegated to us by the Lord God, their strongholds will come crashing down and they cannot come near us to steal us of our mental or emotional peace, affect our holistic health of spirit, mind or body, impact our finances, our reputation, our emotions, our relationships, our present or future or eternity.

Bro. Prateep Philip IPS, DGP(Rtd) Chennai

I waited patiently for the LORD; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

Psalm 40:1,2

We have to   offer worship to the Lord with  deep faith, and wait  upon Him patiently;  Hoping for what He  wants to give to us. For this, every day meditation upon the word of God is necessary. We,  usually   keep asking God to give us things we need/want; but mostly do not have  patience to sit in His presence and  ask Him what He  wants to tell us.

To understand the concept of ‘waiting patiently’, let us see an example. Imagine we are travelling to a far off place. You   are preparing for a journey by train. The scheduled time is 9:30 A.M.  you  will try to reach the station at least  by 8:45 A.M. If  the train is  delayed by half an hour, We will reschedule our journey to 10.00 am. Still we will wait patiently at the station for our train to arrive.

Similarly, we must have patience to understand that God will do His work in His time and not as per our timings. . Don’t mumble, don’t grumble, don’t get angry, instead wait patiently and then it surely will happen.

Think about Abraham and Isaac.  When God said to Abraham, “Take now your son, your only one, Isaac, whom you love. And …..offer him there for a burnt offering….”. As they both were going, Isaac kept on  asking, “where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham replied patiently “God will provide”.  Yes, Jehovah Jirreh is my provider.

If and when we need something from the Lord, what we have to do? First, let it be made known to Him.  And then wait patiently. Confess and  declare that  He will do it for me.  He will open the gates of heaven and  supply it.

With all our strength, with bravery in our hearts and without complaints we must wait because scripture says if we wait patiently,  then He will be inclined to hear our cry.

What does the second verse say?

 “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the slimy pit, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. The third verse goes on to say, He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear; and put their trust in the Lord.

In scripture

1. Abraham would have told his wife  Sarah that after the  worship, Isaac and himself  would  come back.
2. He told  his helpers that he would  go with his son to the mountain and asked them  to wait till they came back.
3. Then to his son he said  that God would  bring the offering.

So my beloved brethren,  only those who are  happy will praise the Lord. With a heavy laden heart one cannot sing praises to the Lord. Wait patiently. Surely He will come and set our feet firm on the rock making sure that we are able to sing and rejoice. Amen!

Prayer: Abba Father, I pray that may all of your children learn to be patient enough to get everything from you without grumbling against you. .Amen

Sol. Jannet Biju Lawrence