Month: June 2022

And again, He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

John 8: 8

We all have those moments when we were not good yet we always present ourselves as perfect, flawless. Have you ever read a bad resume`? No, I haven’t! Jesus went up the Mount of Olives. He came to the temple, all the people came and He sat down and taught them. Then, the scribes and Pharisees, who are always around, brought a woman caught in adultery. Not suspected, but caught, set her in the midst and, they said Teacher, what You got to say on this. Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His fingers, acted as if deaf. This is the only place where it is mentioned about Jesus, writing anything. He said, “OK, go ahead throw a stone if you are without sin.”

And one by one starting from the elders all left. Jesus was left alone. He lifted Himself and asked,” where are they, your accusers”? She said , ”there’s none”. He says, “Neither do I, Go and sin no more!!!  God’s character supersedes His commandment, He is merciful unto whom He wants to be merciful and gracious to whom He wants to be gracious. That’s why each one of us are here, because He overlooked our iniquity. His goodness!!!

Let me take you to, John 9:6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. Jesus passed by and He sees a man who was blind from birth. His disciples were analysing as to the reason for him being blind. Was it his sin probably in past birth they must have thought or a generation curse. Jesus just brushes it aside and says that, it’s to reveal God’s glory. He gets His hands dirty by mixing the dust on the ground with His spit and heals the blind man. Jesus is the only one who would stoop down to where we are in the mud, dust and pick us up. The Holy God, Most High, God of the universe doesn’t mind to get His hands dirty for our sake. And of course, remember? ( Gen 2:7 ) He formed  a man from the dust of the ground, rest of it He just said ..Let there be !!! Except man…..!!! So much love!!!

We tend to look at people with the judge’s clothes, the moment they are in trouble or sin. We analyse and make fancy reports. But, God called us to be extensions of Jesus, His heart, His eyes, His hands. If we would just look at the person of how he would be in the future, (“metanoia”) if he is in the hands of God.

And, if they could experience His love through us, feel accepted as they are, rest Jesus will do. Unless we are willing to dirty our hands with the dust on the ground, like the Master did, there’s no way that we could make an impact in a hurting, lost, dying world.

Prayer

Loving Heavenly Father, we pray that we have Your mind , Your heart, your hands Lord, to touch and impact lives around us ,

In Jesus mighty name!

Amen!!

–Sol. Lalitha Menon

“And The Inhabitant Will Not Say,”I Am Sick”,

The People Who Dwell In It Will Be Forgiven Their Iniquity”.

Isaiah 33:24

The word says," No inhabitant of Zion will say "I am sick". It means a believer should never say a negative word.

Instead we should claim and proclaim health and healing, deliverance and victory all the time.

The word of God and His presence in our lives is our dwelling place.His word is the Balm of Gilead (Jeremiah 8:22).If we apply it the moaning,sighing and signs of defeat flee away from us.

We will receive all blessings if we ask with humble and believing prayer.

Jesus had taken away all our sins by His death on the cross.

If Our Sins Are Forgiven We Have No Reason To Complain Of Our Bodily Affliction.

We are now the inhabitants of Zion,the Kingdom of God.So we are under His commandments which lead and guide us. Lord hear our prayers and inhabit our praises.God will then give us the precious gift of health.
It is the blessing of the Lord. We have to put on the armour of the Lord. The Lord says, “I will be a wall of fire round about ,and a glory in the midst” Zechariah 2:5
We must plant His word in the ground of our faith. Then the enemy can’t enter to kill,steal and destroy us. So believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that He is our healer and deliverer. Then He will heal and deliver us.
Romans 10:9 says ,

"That If You Confess With Your Mouth The Lord Jesus And Believe
In Your Heart That God Has Raised Him From The Dead,You Will Be Saved."

If we say negative things ,we are making the enemy of our souls rejoice and we are grieving the Holy Spirit. Negative things we say increase our doubt and weakens our faith.We are declaring our lack of faith in the power of God and we are inviting the enemy.We have to cover us with His promises of health,healing and victory.We have to seek the cleansing of our heart by confessing our sins and seeking His forgiveness.That is why David in Psalms 51:10 says,”Creat in me a clean heart, and renew right Spirit within me”. If we do not confess our sins it weakens our protective armour and the enemy can easily enter. When we confess our faith we will get the power of the Lord.

He is our Super Speciality Doctor who heals all our diseases and forgives all our sins.

Heavenly Father give us the grace to think,speak and do positive things in our lives.We pray in Jesus name.

AMEN

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Sol.Gigi Jacob

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Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last for ever. 1 Cor 9:25

Dear friends, to win ,a process is needed. Christians should put much more effort (than an  athlete) into his life towards gaining a prize that will last forever. We all need training to overcome sin. Some of us lie, over eat, spend money unnecessarily  and  gossip etc.

Growing up I was not allowed to go without finishing everything in the plate. Because of  this training I developed  bad eating habits  while  growing up.

It’s time to change & train for eternal crown. Let’s go into “strict training”.  It takes hard work. No matter what sport is played all athletes experience the following  training :Preparation, expertise and  the final game.

. We are spiritual athletes. Holy spirit prepares us and make us  confident.  For us it’s not the game, it’s the good fight of faith.

Let’s Focus:-We  have  to submit, train  and   to be disciplined  to reach the goal.

Maybe you’re thinking, “I’d like to be disciplined, but I try for a while & then fall back to my old ways. The key to become disciplined is motivation. I was thinking why did Paul used the example of an athlete? It is because sports people  are highly motivated & the job of a coach is to make them do what they don’t want to do in order to achieve what they’ve always wanted to be.

Let’s be motivated Christians

For me to overcome overeating  was not easy.  I am motivated by our Coach JESUS CHRIST.

Rom 8:13 says human nature kills & Holy spirit help us to live by putting to death our sinful actions.

We need to be strict with ourselves. We need to understand:- Discipline helps us achieve goals. It also helps to reduce stress. Many dreams are not fulfilled because of lack of discipline. Discipline results in new habits and thinking patterns that apply everywhere.

Let’s pray:- Dear Jesus, to win we need you as a Teacher & Coach. Lord, help us & train us to win, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Sol. Priti Jain

If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26

From reading the above verse we may have a thought does God tell me to hate my family. It is well understood from the same verse in Mathew 10:37 “

Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 

Here God says who ever loves his fellow human more than Him is not my disciple. Let’s see why God says so that we should love him more.

1. The first is because God loves us more than any person in the world. Everybody has experienced His love for us when we see others still living in the dark, tangled in sin, worshipping idols and in curse targeted by satan in their life. We were also among one of them but God’s love was revealed to us in the cross and made us his own children by His Grace. Now he showers his love daily in our lives in the form Grace fills us with all goodness of life.
2. The second is the love from others may be  lost when we show our anger or quarrel against them or fail to live to their expectations but our God even though we fail or sin against Him, murmur against Him or fall short His love for us never fades way. He loves us the same way and when we repent he showers His love and grace upon us.
3. The third is his unconditional love which expects nothing in return but only the love for Him in return. The worldly love may be due to possessions, wealth or something in return but His love for us is unconditional.

Now is it not fair for God to ask us to love him more than all of this world.

Also we may think do we not have to love our family or friends than a certain extent. The answer is a person who is loving God can only love others more than anybody in this world. I see a lot of successful old couples who are not saved but they love their families and each other for a very long time but I wont say it is equal to any one loving God because loving God is a two way thing. When we love Him his love fills our heart and we will start to love our families, friends and people around us more than any ordinary person who doesn’t know Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now what is it like to say I love God. It is like just saying I love you God, I worship you in our gatherings and worship? For example let’s say a wife is having her birthday and the husband who loves his wife just wishes her happy birthday in words or does he expresses it by surprising her with celebration and gifts etc. In the same way we do not love our Lord through words and praises but also by works by following and living according to His words in our Life.

 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me John 14:21

Do we feel burdened to express our love to our family members or friends. In the same way we express our love to our God by obeying and living according to His word which is not a burden to us.

this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome 1 John 5:3

Prayer:

 Our Father in heaven, we thank you Lord for the love you have showed us in our lives. Give us the grace to express our Love by living according to your word. Amen.

Sol.Leo

THE HEART OF THE FATHER

For You, Lord, Are Good, And Ready To Forgive, And Abundant In Mercy To All Those Who Call Upon You.

Psalm 86:5(NKJV)

The Lord is so good

• READY – TO FORGIVE

• PLENTEOUS – IN MERCY

Luke Chapter 15 We Come Across The Lost Son

“A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.  And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

Then he realises ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

Luke 15 : 18 & 19 
I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’

 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
Luke 15:20

Before the son could ask for forgiveness the abounding Love of the FATHER embraced him without any condemnation, where the son says Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

But in response to this we could see a father who merry in his son’s Arrival.

TRUE FORGIVENESS STORY

Few days ago I came across a video, where one of the daughter of Billy Graham shared her story about her father after 21 years her mariage ended in divorce, she was devastated , so the family thought it is good for her to have good start, she got to know a man where her children didn’t like him, where her mom and dad asking her to slow down to get to know the man, but being stubborn she married the man on new year’s eve, within 24 hrs she knew she made a terrible mistake after 5 weeks she fled being afraid of the man, what she gonna do. She decided to go talk to her dad & mom 2 days of drive questions rolled in her what she gonna say to her mom and dad and her children being a failure as she drove she could find her father standing and waiting for her as she got out the car he wrapping his hands around her and said welcome home there was no shame, no blame just unconditional love. She goes on to say My father was not GOD but he showed me what was GOD like that day.

Now it's time to arise and go back to the FATHER,  just taking a step to move to Father is alone enough though we have committed a blunder

We have Loving FATHER who is ready to FORGIVE, and welcomes us back home as SONS and DAUGHTERS. 

Now it’s our turn as well to Show the same love and readiness to forgive those who sinned against us we were forgiven

PRAYER

Loving heavenly Father who is abounding in mercy and ready to forgive, I acknowledge that I have sinned against you I come back to you forgive me and help me Enjoy that love and forgiveness of you.
And  to forgive others as you do. 
_Amen

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Sol. Pinta Eunice,AOJ

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The Mystery of the White Raiment

You must have wondered why we would not sin if we accept Lord Jesus as our Redeemer and Saviour? The answer to this lies in the colour ‘white’. Let’s unravel this mystery…….

If I ask you to get dressed in white clothing and then invite you to go for gardening, certainly you would say I’ve gone insane. And why wouldn’t you say so if I ask you to wear dark clothes for the same? There lies the answer!

If we take two garments ——one white and the other coloured (preferably very dark), and put the same amount of dirt on both, which will show up more? Obviously white!

Maintaining white clothes requires special washing so that the dirt is not ‘VISIBLE’ whereas dark clothes can be ‘declared’ clean even if they are not fully clean because their dirt is ‘NOT VISIBLE’.

But white shows up!

Similarly, when Lord Jesus washes us with His blood , He gives us ‘WHITE RAIMENT’——–‘pure souls’. Once we are washed i.e. have accepted the ‘Gift of Salvation’, we wouldn’t want to make our white raiments dirty ——-simply because it shows! In other words, we wouldn’t want to do anything Sinful(Dirty) because our regenerated beings would simply not accept it. We want to keep our white raiments clean!

A daily wash is required with the ‘detergent’ called the Word of God. And you would always be dressed in ‘sparkling white’!.

Also, the ones who have not accepted Christ are dressed in dark clothing. As a result, they are not much affected (‘dark clothes not revealing the dirt of sin’) or unaffected.

 In the Scriptures, the significance of white raiment and the colour white has been highlighted at many instances. Certainly, our Lord Jesus is dressed with the brightest white raiment, nothing compares with his brightness because He is the SOURCE of this ‘WHITE’. We all draw our ‘whiteness’ from Him!

And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Matthew 17:2   

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Revelation 3: 5  

• The Levites are considered to be the ‘chosen’ of the Lord for the work of His tabernacle. They are very special to Him and are clothed in white.
• Lord Jesus, by His sacrificial death has given us the status of a Levite! Clothed in white, we all are qualified for God’s work. We are his anointed, His chosen.  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for taking away our filthy garments and giving us white raiment of priesthood. Lord, impart us the grace to maintain the purity of these garments by living a righteous life and abiding in Your Word.

In Jesus’s name, we pray,

Amen.

Sol. Neelam Sharma

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”  Galatians 6:7

When God’s anointed King Saul feared that he might be slain by the uncircumcised people (1 Chronicles 10), he embraced death by falling on his own sword. All the men of Israel fled. No one came to give honour to the King chosen and anointed by God for them and they all left  for fear of their life

This incident tells us so vividly that whatever  one sows , he will reap. As King Saul didn’t keep the word of God and sought for a medium for guidance (1 Chronicles 10:13), he suffered and died a disgraceful death. He paid for what he did. So many scriptures confirm this truth. (2 Corinthians 9:6, Proverbs 1:31, 11:18, 22:8, Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:38)

In Jeremiah 17:10, God says, “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”  

We are under a new covenant of ‘Grace’ that we received through the sacrifice of  our Lord Jesus Christ. Irony is that this Grace that is given to us freely, Today we as Christians fail to acknowledge it and take it for granted. Often I have  heard  the believers saying that now we don’t need to worry as Salvation is ours? I become speechless when they justify themselves and say that we just need to call upon the Lord and ask forgiveness every time we commit a sin.  Apostle Paul also must have faced such a thought from the believers  of that time with similar thought process . That’s what he says in

Let us sow God’s Word in our hearts disengaging  from the works of the flesh as then only we will bear fruit  of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) which will manifest in us and we will reap the joy of His precious Grace to the fullest.

   Prayer

Heavenly Father, give us the grace to hide your Word  in our hearts, so that we might not  sin against  you. We pray in Jesus name.

Amen.

Sol.Neha

“Test all things; hold fast what is good”.

1Thessalonians 5:21

Apostle  Paul and John caution  their readers to test everything. 1John4:1says that  believers have to test prophesies and the spirits of prophecy  to see whether the  message and the messenger  are  indeed  from God. They both  had the desire   to guard and protect  believers  from false teachings as they knew of the existence of false teachers .Testing everything and holding fast to what is good  is an important discipline for every believer in all times like the people  of  Berea. (Acts 17:11)

             True prophets are led by  God ‘s spirit and proclaim messages that align with scripture. Believers are not to despise these prophecies  ( 2peter 1:20-21).True prophets faithfully  proclaim God’s word.We must not quench the Holy Spirit or despise true prophecies

If we quench the Holy Spirit we cannot distinguish true and false prophecies

1Thessalonians 5:19

We should cling to good and abstain from every form of evil, if we do so we will  grow in our faith.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

         We do not drink a glass of  Juice without testing.We drink it fully if it is good, otherwise   we throw it away.similarly in life,we  have to check  if a particular action is good for us  and  we have to  move from what is acceptable  to God, to  what is good and pleasing in His sight and to what is perfect.

           Jesus allowed  Thomas to place his fingers in His wounds  to prove the authenticity  of His ressurection .We are given   ten thousand promises  in scriptures. We need to test and experience  the truth of these promises  in the course of our life time.We test it by  trusting, and holding  on to the promises,claiming it in prayer and waiting for its fulfillment  with praise and  patience.

        To hold on to the faith,we have to pay a great cost, make sacrifices  and willing  to face hardships and hurdles.We should be willing to endure suffering  and pain to keep persevering. Faith  has two dimensions. One is to cling on to what is good and overcome the clutches of evil  and the second one is it requires the  forethought like the maiden who made sure she had enough oil in her lamp till the Master arrived. It requires the filling and the anointing  of the Holy Spirit.

We  require the belief also  that whatever happens to us we will get the victory at the end 

Prayer 

         Father God give us the grace to distinguish between good and evil.pour out your spirit upon us and anoint us

We ask in Jesus name

Amen

Sol.Gigi Jacob

Come to me, all of you who labor and heavy -laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew: 11:28,29

Lighten your Load:

God will give you the power and the strength you need to serve Him.

Matthew 11:28-30 teaches us that Jesus is not a hard Taskmaster.

In this passage, Jesus is saying that He is good and His system is good, not burdensome or difficult. Religious rules and regulations can be harsh and pressing, and you can easily get overburdened if you do not know how to do everything you feel is expected of you. But Jesus is saying here; “I am not that way. My ways are not like that. They are not hard, harsh, sharp and pressing, but they are comfortable, gracious, and pleasant.”

God not only tell us what to do, He gives us strength and wisdom to do it. If God did not give me the power to run my Immanuel Care Home, I would be   burdened and in way over my head. But it is not hard for me. I am comfortable doing what God has equipped me to do. I would not be equipped with my power to get it done if I tried to serve God from the standpoint of mere rules and regulations, and I would be miserable. But I serve Him because I deeply love Him; therefore, I have joy in what I do.

Jesus lead us to a place that is comfortable, gracious, and pleasant.

I believe that serving God is easy if we learn to hear from Him and simply obey rather than struggle to do things, He never asked us to do for Him.

Take time and seek God about whether your works are His works. Is He leading you to do for you to do them? If you discover that you are involved in works of flesh and that God has not given you the grace to do them, do not be afraid to lay them down and seek Him about His will of your life.

Remember, it will not always be easy, but there will be comfort, grace, and pleasure associated with doing His works. Jesus wants to lighten the load you have been carrying all by yourself and give you rest.

Prayer

Thank you, Jesus, that You will ease and refresh my soul when I am weary and that you will cause me to rest.

Thank you that Your yoke is not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious and pleasant and that Your yoke is light and easy for me to bear.

Amen

Sol.Kamal Kumari

  “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties and lawless idolatry. “

1Peter 4:3

In this world today people have a huge pressure to drink alcohol, smoke and tobacco etc. to relax their mind and show off in the society which is sinful to God but Satan loves it.  He loves people to get addicted and taking the good years off their life.  As Christians we are to separate ourselves from the world.

“ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”

Romans 8:5

Testimony:

I was transferred to another branch of my office. There was a person,  addicted with paan, tobacco and smoking. His mouth smelled very bad. I asked him to give up these bad habits, he said that he had started this at age of 17 and now it’s been 40 years. He was not able to leave it now even if he wanted to. I told him good news of our Lord Jesus Christ in the office and prayed for him many days at home as well. The Lord started working and changes started coming in him. Where he used to take gutka 8 times a day, was reduced to 0 miraculously. Many times he opened his mouth and showed that his mouth had started getting clean. The smell was going away. All the Staff and he himself were very surprised how the impossible turned into the possible by praying to Jesus Christ. He thanked our Lord Jesus Christ very much. Praise be to the Lord.

All this was possible through the Holy Spirit. God has his own timing and way of working.  We are to walk by the Spirit and follow Christ.

 It is our duty to take the gospel of the Lord among people so that they come out of the darkness. May they come to know the truth and repent and live life well.  

“ Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in quarreling and jealousy.”

Romans 13:13

It is written in the Bible that if anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, because the temple of God is holy and that is you. So, we should never associate with bad habits and foolish people.

So, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God and in the name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Prayer

Father God we seek your wisdom, understanding and guidance for our life to be prospered. We pray in Jesus name. 

Amen! Hallelujah!

Sol. Poonam Batra, AOJ