Month: September 2022

GENDER EQUALITY AND MISCONCEPTIONS

Generally the first misconception in a family is that a woman is inferior to man .

The creation of a woman in bible was an after thought of God to help Adam.
A woman must not take part in public worship.

Paul gave the impression that the woman is subservient to man because man (husband) is the boss and head of a family.

Gene. :2-18. says “ It is not good that man should be alone. l will make a helper suitable for him.” Verse 23. Adam said, “ This is now my bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh,. She shall be called ‘woman’. for she was taken out of man. 

Woman was made to fulfill man’s needs. A woman is in no way inferior to man and man is in no way superior to woman.

They both are complimentary to one another. In a Christian marriage, there are three persons involved. MAN , WOMAN and GOD.

The marriage can not last if there is no love between man and woman or if there is no place for God.

They are no longer two but one flesh - “What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder “. 

Paul says_ Out of respect for Christ be courteous to one another. Wives_ ‘Support and understand your husbands. Husbands ’Provide leadership to wives; not dominating but cherishing. Submit to one another like Church is to Jesus.

The first woman came from man but ever since then, every man comes from a woman. So quit thinking who came first or is superior because everything virtually comes from God.

Jesus loved his church to the extent that he died for her. Jesus is God but voluntarily emptied himself of all his glory and became a man.

Husband and wife fulfill their conjugal duties to one another. Their bodies belong to each other. Destroying it, is not acceptable to God.

Samaritan woman was not righteous but Lord waited to talk to her and delivered a sermon of “Water of life “

A woman in Bethany was allowed to wipe His feet with her hair.

Women stayed with Jesus till the end – near the cross and they were the first to visit the empty tomb of the risen God. God gave different gifts to men and women and they share their responsibilities as per their needs. They must use their gifts for the glory of God.

A husband must love his wife

AS JESUS LOVED HIS CHURCH.

Mine was an arranged marriage. My husband always praised me behind me and he never shouted at me. we always had a profound understanding between us. We always shared and supported each other. With whatever we both have earned, God blessed us to buy three flats and a saloon. Its really God’s blessings upon us for our good understanding, oneness and the support we gave to each other.

Prayer. : Father we thank you for all the blessings you showered upon us. Because you are in our midst, we are happy and contented. We always put our trust in you. A threefold chord is not easily broken.
 Amen.

Sol. Noreen, AOJ

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Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

What do you understand by this verse?…

Here as I read this verse the only thing that want to you to focus on is

F A I T H

Here it’s all about the faith. Are you holding onto some dreams and goals which are not yet come into existence? Now here look at this beautiful verse it says Faith is the substance of things hoped for. What are you hoping for? Are you waiting to see a breakthrough in your life or healing or deliverance etc. Here is the biggest answer for all your questions. It’s your Faith.

Turn your Bible to Matthew 17:20-21,

Here it says Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Believe and Receive. Put your trust in the Lord and He will establish all your works.

Your Faith is the evidence of the things unseen. Wait upon the Lord and have Faith that your dreams will come true. Everything that you desire according to the will of God will become true. You see it becoming alive in your life. Your Faith can move the mountains, your Faith can work miracles, through Faith you can see your dreams are coming true just as we see in the life of  Joseph. Remember everything is possible with God.

Is there anything too hard for the Lord?

No. So never turn to the right or to the left but fix your eyes on JESUS. Let us live by Faith not by sight. Know that if you have Faith then you will get the things that you are hoping for.

Let’s Pray

 Precious loving heavenly Father! From today I just want to live by Faith and not by sight. Help me to know that all the dreams and all the things that i desire will come true only by having Faith. Increase my faith in you.

In Jesus name

Amen

Sol.Mercy

“And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in  his hand”.

Genesis 39:3

           Joseph’s life is an  example for us to know how we can have a victorious life on this earth. God saw the heart of Joseph and loved what he saw. It is God’s will that we should  reveal Jesus in our life to others. So they can follow Jesus, seeing our good works and life. We have to practice what we teach and preach.

                 Mathew 5:16 says”  Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Farther who is in heaven”.

Jesus is  our  role model . We must  follow his footsteps. He humbled Himself and came as  a human being to show us  how we can be victorious in our human nature. The enemy will tell our soul that God is against our success because he wants to steal our peace, joy and potential.

             The multicolored coat of Joseph which was a gift to him by his father, made his brothers jealous of him . Multicolored coat is a metaphor of different  talents and  ability God has given us and smearing it with the blood of a young goat is a foreshadow of the blood of Jesus needed for our  success, fulfilment and Salvation (Genesis 37:31).Jacob his father blessed him with a final prophetic blessing  saying “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall”. Genesis 49:22.

       This means Joseph’s line would multiply and thrive. God decided that wherever Joseph went He would go with him. So success in life is not due to our brilliance or hardwork our talents, but that the Lord in us. He blesses our dreams and desires and bring it to fruition in due time .

            Joseph was faithful to God and to earthly masters whom God placed over him. He was forgiving ,patient and willing to wait for God’s will to be fulfilled. He suffered so much in early life in order to be pruned or prepared to bear much fruit. But the Lord made it all ended well.Joseph became the instrument in the hands of God for the survival of the twelve tribes of Israel  in a time of great famine. Our own experiences of salvation or success becomes a source of blessing to others.

Zechariah 8:23 says”………We  will go with you : for we have heard that God is with you “.

            Our life on this earth has many phases like that of Joseph’s :seeds of desires and dreams planted in our hearts and minds

           A phase of oppression and persecution

         A desert phase,  

A phase of captivity.

        A phase of growth and prosperity

     A phase of fruition and fulfilment

   A phase of legacy

Joseph’s life and success were beneficial for him, for the inner circle of his family, for the nation and for the Lord.

        I have the experiences of all the above phases in my life but by the grace of God I endure all those without any complaints. So God gave me victory over the enemy .All glory to God.

          Our faithfulness will be tested in  many seasons. If the God is with us we will surely succeed regardless of the circumstances.

Prayer

       Father God thank you for helping us to be successful on this earth and a blessing to others. Be with us always. In Jesus name I ask.

Amen

Sol.Gigi Jacob

“Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

john 8:11

Early morning Jesus was found in temple teaching the people where all people came to him. The scribes and Pharisees brought a women who was caught in adultery and they bought her to Jesus set her in the midst. They said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.So when they continued asking Him, He raised face towards them said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

Now anyone who have not sinned has the right to stone her and put her to death

Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.

Now finally she was left alone with ONLY ONE who is standing there still who is without any sin, who can stone her to death

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
1 Peter 2:22 

And he asked her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus, who alone stood there ,who had not sinned and worthy to stone her to death said :

“Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

JOHN 8.11

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John :3:17

Bible says He came to fulfill the law and not to abolish the Law or prophets prophecies

The wonderful thing happened to this women on that sad morning was that she landed in Jesus hands who will bear all the sins of the World, including her sin and condemnation , the same moment the exchange happened where her condemnation of death was taken by Jesus and gave her life, which turned her mourning into a happy morning.

Today any sinner and those who are suffering in condemnation can bow down to the cross of Calvary can be saved. Because as soon as a sinner comes to Jesus HE exchanges their sins with His righteousness which he earned by his blood.

• LAW brought her Condemnation

• But the GRACE OF GOD gave her Life

We have to forgive others who sin against us , because The Lord says, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”( Rom 12:19) God already forgave our sins so we have to forgive others.

I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”_ John 8.12

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PRAYER

Dear God forgive my sins, I don't want to live in condemnation , nor bear the shame, nor suffer anymore. I believe That you died for my sin, and my sins are forgiven through your blood. Even help me Lord  not to sin no more by your grace, and to forgive others when they sin against.

A M E N

Sol. PINTA EUNICE, AOJ.

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 PRAISE AND WORSHIP

It has three elements in it.

•  BLESS
• PRAISE
• WORSHIP

A  .BLESS. 

“BLESS THE LORD O! MY SOUL AND ALL THAT IS WITHIN ME  BLESS HIS HOLY NAME

Psalm 103:1

It is awesome to think that the Creator of the Universe is allowing us to BLESS HIM. We bless Him. through our praise and  worship

B .PRAISE :

Praise is an expression of admiration and telling others how wonderful we think they are. They are Gods masterpieces

  Because your love is better than life, my lips  shall glorify you. I will praise you as long as l live and lift up my  hands unto thee.

Psalm 63:3

2 .Why do we Praise? We praise because of who He is and what He does. He became a curse for us and redeemed us from the pit, washed us with water through his WORD.

” To present her to Himself as a radient church without stain, wrinkle or any other blemish but holy and blameless.”

Ephesians 5: 27

3 .Who should Praise God?

A. Those who seek God.             

B .Everything that has breath.

 4 . When to Praise God?

 A:  All the time.  Psalm 34:1                      

B :  In every circumstance         

1Thes 5: 16 “Be joyful always and give thanks in all         

5 .Where should we praise? 

Among the nations and in the midst of congregation l’ll sing your praises.

C .WORSHIP :

Worship is an expression of love and giving of our whole heart and life.

“To love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength.”

Mark 12:33

It is written “God is a spirit and His worshippers must worship Him in SPIRIT and TRUTH.

1, IN TRUTH .      To worship in truth is to worship in holiness and anointing. We are washed from our sins in His own BLOOD before we are called to do priestly duties.

2 IN SPIRIT.    True worship is when our inner being (man) respond to the prompting of Holy Spirit. Only   ‘Born Again’ of the Spirit, can truly worship God

   “ Who among the Gods is like you O! Lord- Majestic in holiness awesome in glory, working wonders.

Exodus 15: 11

Testimony:

When l go deep in worship, sing praises to God, l experience holy spirit touching me and my head becomes warm. Satan can’t put any thought or worry in my mind at that time.

Prayer

Lord l pray Thee to help us to worship in truth and spirit always.

ln Jesus name

Amen.

                                 Sol. Noreen

1 Peter 2:24, “…………. By his wounds you are healed.”

7 places Our Lord & Saviour shed His blood

These are 7 places where the blood of Jesus was shed & can be applied in our lives. To apply the blood means to have truth & nothing but the truth of God. (1 John 3:8) The truth in the blood gives us the mind of Christ. When the blood flows, truth flows. We must resist the devil with the blood. When the blood is used God becomes your Judge & Jury.

1. At Gethsemane where He sweated drops of blood. Luke 22:44– our relationship broken in the garden & fixed in the garden. He destroyed the evil altar of toiling & sweating.

2. Struck on His face: Matthew 26:67

Your face is your glory. He destroyed the evil altar of slander & lies which is keeping us from prospering. He took away anything that would disfigure who you are in His Kingdom.

3. His beard was torn from His face. Isaiah.50:6

He broke the altar of Shame & low self esteem.

Beard is a symbol of honor in the Hebrew culture. He did not want us to experience shame ever. For our shame He will give us double honour Isaiah 61:7.

4. He was scourged on His back Psalm 103:3, Isaiah 53:5. 39 stripes for every disease known to man, past, present & future, so that you & I could be healed.

5. Crown of Thorns were placed forcefully into His skull Mathew 27:29, Mark 15:17, John 19:2 so that the curse of poverty (Gen 3:18) be broken over us, & prosperity & financial abundance be our portion.

6. Crucified, 3 nails – 2 in His Hands & feet represent the work of your hands & our walk. He paid the price for you & me & destroyed the evil altars of unproductiveness & fruitlessness i.e., nothing will be aborted that belongs to us. We can live a productive life.

7. They pierced His side John 19:34. In this He did 2 things a) He gave birth to the church, His bride. (Just as God put first Adam to sleep & Eve was brought forth, so God put last Adam to sleep on the cross & we His bride came forth) and b) He died of a broken heart, so that everyone who feels broken, through traumatic experiences etc, can be mended.

Prayer

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for shedding Your blood. We apply your blood over all these areas in our lives, our families & all those we come in contact with and The Holy Spirit is ever present in us to remind us that the blood of Jesus has made us totally forgiven & eternally righteous. The Holy Spirit applies the blood & seals our souls with the blood. The devil cannot break that seal. We seal these decrees in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen!

                                                                                                                                                                Sol. Joan

You Did Not Choose Me, But I Chose You And Appointed You That You Should Go And Bear Fruit….”

John 15:16

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 from there for fear of their life fell upon them.
The Philistines ridiculed and scoffed at the body of King Saul and glorified their idols by spreading this as good tidings.

At this time of disgrace, God stirred the hearts of the valiant men of Jabesh Gilead and they fearlessly rescued body of king Saul, respectfully buried it and also fasted for 7 days. What they did was an act of gratitude, honour and respect for what king Saul did when they were in trouble (1 Samuel 11).
Earlier also we see how in Judges 21, 400 virgins of Jabesh-Gilead were used to save the tribe of Benjamin from extinction.

In this generation, God has chosen us i.e. Army of Jesus and given us that anointing to wage a war against the enemy and break the bondage in which all the people of God have fallen into and rescue them like those valiant blessed men of the tribe of Jabesh Gilead.

We need to bring back the honour that God deserves.

God is not looking for a physical building but He wants to live in our hearts.

He doesn’t want customary worship but spiritful and truthful worship.

Lord Jesus Christ is our saviour and we need to preach Him not to earn a living out of this preaching.

We need to bury the self (desires, longings, aspirations, worldly honour and praise) and present ourselves to God i.e surrender the self-will and pray to the Holy Spirit to reign in us so that we will bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)

God is earnestly waiting for us. We need to mediate for God’s chosen people, to have that passion and courage to declare His true being.

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13)
Let us submit ourselves to Him and do what He is showing us to do. Resist the devil and he will flee from us. (James 4:7) Let us not be slack in doing the assigned work, negating our very self to the cross where Jesus bled for us and gave us this new life.

P R A Y E R :
“Father God! We thank you for choosing us and calling us out of that gloom where we were in. Thank you for entrusting us this true ministry of Lord Jesus Christ whereby we can spread your word of love, forgiveness, authority, healing, harmony and true worship. Help us in doing what is right and fearlessly take this ministry to every human living on this earth.”

Sol. Neha

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FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF THE WISDOM.

Psalm 111-10

Praying daily for the wisdom is a wise things to do. The value of praying for wisdom cannot be stressed more for child of God and some key prayers can help believers in their daily walk with God but first ,it is helpful to form a good mindset for these prayers.

Why and How Should You Pray for Wisdom.
Because God’s thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways (Isaiah 55:8-9),The godless wisdom of this world is considered foolishness in God’s sight.

Only in God will we find perfect wisdom. Almighty God is the source of all wisdom itself. The Bible says Jesus grew in wisdom as a human and as a Son of God, Jesus became wisdom for us from the Father.

The Holy Spirit is our wisdom teacher.

in the Old Testament King Solomon requested a gift he value above all a wise discerning heart.God answer his prayer, and that gift brought the king great insight,wealth and fame . Many of Proverbs in Scripture were written by King Soloman such as

proverbs 4;5-7.Get wisdom ,get understaing ..do not forsake wisdom .

James 1;5 instructs believers to ask for wisdom- to pray for it God is generous to provide,

and He wants His children to know and enjoy the wisdom that comes from Him.when praying for wisdom, seek it as great treasure.

Turn your ears towards it and be attentive to it .Determined to develop a close relationship with God’s wisdom and always base requests for wisdom in Scripture, looking into the word of God as you pray

THE FOLLOWING ARE A FEW REPRESENTATIVE PRAYER FOR WISDOM

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• Prayer for wisdom to honour God

• Prayer for wisdom to make Wise Choices

• Prayer for Wisdom in Difficulties or Uncertainties

• Prayer for Wise Use of Time and Resources

• Prayer for Wisdom at Work

• Prayer for Wisdom in Relationships

• Prayer for Wisdom in Overcoming Temptation .

That is not all we need God Wisdom every area of our life.
Prayer for God wisdom will potentially bless us and bring honour throughout our lives, but how wonderful to know that- because God is Wisdom-His Wisdom will dwell with us throughout eternity.
Amen.

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Sol.kamal, AOJ

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The seed is rotten under their clods; the storage bins are laid waste; the barns are broken down, for the grain has dried up. 

Joe 1:17

A farmer while cultivating the land has two expectations.

1.Producing food

2.Producing seed

Food is for immediate consumption while seed is for future cultivation. A farmer should appropriate both these blessings of God through cultivating the land.

Our Lord Jesus Christ used the parable of food and seed many times in His teaching.

In 2 Cor 9:8 Apostle Paul said,

Now He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for eating, may He supply and multiply your seed, and increase the fruits of your righteousness.

2 Co 9:10 

  For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring out and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 

Isa 55:10

In the verse Joel 1:17, the prophet laments over one thing.  The grain for both food and seed are wasted.

The Lord shows this as a symbol for believers.

When the Word of God is sown into the hearts of people, if they accept it by allowing  their heart to be a good ground for its growing, it will certainly lead them to salvation.

After accepting the Word what usually happens is, they are led into  a Church  where they grow by eating the Word of God regularly. And by worshipping the Lord  they get the infilling of the Holy Spirit also. They get the satisfaction of fellowship. Enriched by all this, they love to remain there lifelong.

But this can happen only at the detriment of neglecting the  most important duty of Great Commission.

Unfortunately the Church neglected this duty and made the seeds stagnate in the Church which became an institution.

  The seed is rotten under their clods; the storage bins are laid waste; the barns are broken down, for the grain has dried up. 

Joe 1:17

The seeds are rotten under its clods. Clods here are the institutional bondages . We all know that seeds are to be collected and procured at the right time or they will get rotten. Indian Church which is 2000 years old should have produced millions of  tones of seeds by now and should have supplied it across the world. But we failed to do it.

Hence they are all rotten since they went under clods. Now what we can do is to dig and dig and bring out the fresh seeds . What all are gone deeper are lost forever. At least we can save the seeds of recent years.

Even the food grains which are produced in all the Churches should be collected and allowed to mature. The new believers should be given training in warfare. They should not be treated like milk fed babies, but allowed to use their gifts of deliverance and healing! (Mat 10:1, Lk 9:1)

 Their spiritual eyes and ears should be opened. Their hearts should long for the prophecy gift through which they can communicate with their Heavenly Father and can be used by Him as His spokesmen on earth.

Prayer

Lord let the promise  given for India in the year  2006  IN “ ENHF India Vision 2020”  be fulfilled.   

  And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. 

Joe 2:24

Sr. Angelica AOJ

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!

Psalms 119:1-2

God has created us in his image and when we walk on his path and follows his instructions we get really blessed. When the person walks the way God walks, he gets blessed. It is not easy to walk on the path of God but when we have God and the guidance of Holy spirit with us ,things become much easier.

God is a wonder -working ,truthful and living God. His words are unshakable , genuine and through our walk also we have to prove that we are unshakable and genuine in our walk with Him.

Testimony

I belong to a Hindu family and I had never heard of Jesus Christ before in my life. I came to know about him through one of my friends and soldier Jasmine who was already an active member of AOJ. I thank my lord for these two friends of mine and I really believe that today if I am alive it is all God’s grace . As I received the word of God in my life and meditated upon them God started working beautifully in my life. I had completely forgotten myself but God really helped me in my life as he had already chosen me. God started miraculously changing my life situations.

Psalm 119:28 also tells us ” my soul melts away for sorrow ; strengthen me according to your word” This verse is very important . The only important thing is to surrender ourselves completely in God’s hands. When we surrender ourselves in God’s hand, Jesus deals with our problems in his own ways.

I learnt what is to surrender from AOJ and also if our sister Angelica and mother Leema Rose had not surrendered themselves to Christ where we would have been today? We have learned a lot from the sisters about surrendering ourselves completely to Christ.

Mathew 28: 19-20 says, ” Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always ,to the end of the age.

” God’s wonderful promise that he will always be with us till the end of this age. It is so heart touching that he will never leave us nor forsake us. Even if the world forsake us but he never and stays within us in the form of his Holy spirit. He sends his angels around us to protect us whenever we are in need of his protection.

I have endless testimonies to tell about his Holy presence and his divine protection that I felt in my life. I really fall short of words to glorify my God who always protects me and guides me.

Prayer

Lord Jesus I humble myself in your Holy presence and I surrender myself completely in Your holy hands. You only protect me and my family as there is none like You .

In Jesus name I ask.

Amen.

Sol.Renu Solanki