Month: December 2022

“And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

MATHEW 16:19

During the daily intercessory prayer during morning worship in Joseph Zone, Delhi on 21st Nov, 2022 God put a load on my heart reminding me of the legal authority given in the Gospel of Matthew in above scripture i.e., to bind and loose.

As I started mediating on this scripture at God’s feet in the temple of my heart as a speck of dust under his footstool to learn more from Him as per His commandment in Mathew 11:28-30, God showed me a pillow all puffed up. Then God told to empty (खाली करना हैं ) ( which is not from God) all the unwanted baggage by binding and destroying in the fire of hell myself i.e., crucifying my name, ego, pride, my position, power, any achievements, qualifications etc.

In that vision God showed all the things in Galatians 5:19-21 being emptied from that pillow and every blessing every good thing ( James 1:17) being poured in as a channel of perennial flow of Heavenly blessings and filled up (भरते हुए) Galatians 5:22 emphasizing on the abundant Gods Grace of legal Heavenly authority in Mathew 16:19.
​It came as an assurance of relief from Heaven emphasizing on the authority and abundant Grace granted by God to every believer instilling a deep sense of duty and responsibility towards salvation/ deliverance of precious souls in captivity.

Dear God,
Thank you Lord for the legal authority given in Matthew 16:19 thus, driving home the urgency of saving souls by dutifully following the Great Commission given in Mathew 28:18-20. Lord let your calling not be put to shame even for a single moment and enable each believer ( Soldier) in AOJ become a worthy vessel for your use in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Hallelujah.!

Sol Jasmine James

True and Proper Worship

Romans 12:1 NIV
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Apostle Paul is edifying the church at Rome about leading a holy life. Epistle to the Romans is an evangelical exhortation to all believers in Rome. Righteousness through faith is the foundation on which the believer has to grow in sanctification to attain glorification. We become righteous by faith in the crucified Christ. He became sin for us bearing all our inequities on Himself and suffered the punishment of cross all by Himself and He has set us free. He sacrificed Himself as the blemish-less lamb of atonement for us, He was buried and He was raised from the dead. If we confess it by mouth and believe with our heart we would be saved and we are justified by faith. Our Christian life starts from this juncture and there starts an ongoing process of sanctification till the total transformation from the old self to the new man in Christ is achieved.

True worshippers worship the Lord in Spirit and Truth. In the Old Testament God instructed the Israelites to wash their clothes and sanctify themselves before coming to the presence of God at Sinai. He is Holy and so the people should be holy. People imputed their sins on the animals and killed them as sacrifices to set themselves free of the punishment of sins.
Jesus, the only begotten Son of God came to this earth as a human being to sacrifice Himself for our sins :

Hebrews 9:14 NKJV

how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

We the New Testament believers have to offer ourselves as living sacrifice before the Holy God

Apostle Paul exhorts: . I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:1‭-‬2 NKJV

In the letter to the Corinthians it’s said:
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

I Corinthians 6:19‭-‬20 NKJV
The living sacrifice we offer before God should be holy, and how is it possible. Believe in the redemption Christ Jesus has done for us, keep away from sin, renew your heart as you are purchased with a price, the blood of Jesus’.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;

I Thessalonians 4:3‭-‬5 NKJV

Prayer
Our loving heavenly Father, thank you for giving us your Son Jesus as the Sacrificial lamb to redeem us for eternal life. Thank you Holy Spirit for being with us, prompting us to lead a holy life. Help us O Lord, to renew our Spirit to make ourselves as an acceptable and pleasing sacrifice.
In the Name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

Sol.Salomi Kurian.

Mathew 3:2 says ,”Repent  for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand .”

Mark 1:15  says “The time is fulfilled , and the Kingdom of God is at hand ;. Repent and believe in the gospel.”

Mathew 22:37 “And He said to him, You shall love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul with all your mind”.

In all these  mentioned versus God tells about turning our hearts to God or loving God with all our heart . This is the good news given in His holy scriptures .

What is the Gospel ?.Let us know from the word .The word says in  Matthew 5:23 ,”so if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you  leave your gift there before the altar and go and make peace with your brother first and then come and offer your gift.” This verse clearly tells us that we have to forgive the person completely  and be completely cleansed. Mark 11:25 says ,”whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. “ God has asked us to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors and bless them and never curse them. This is the good news that the Lord Jesus came to give us and also that we are called to be the heirs of blessings. what happens when we forgive our trespassers and bless them,  we receive double blessings from heaven from our God the father. As we see in Luke 23 :34 how much Jesus was persecuted. He was persecuted to an extent that He was crucified on the cross but the first word that Jesus spoke while hanging on the cross were,”Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”Luke 23:34 . The blessings of this forgiveness was that Jesus was again ressurected on the third day of His death and received a new life from God and  this world also received double blessings from God.

Prayer

       ThankYou lord God for this good news that you have choosen us for your blessings .You have given us the power to cleanse ourselves from negative thoughts and to forgive others.  Give us Your Holy Spirit and make each one of us a blessing for others in Jesus name we ask. Amen.

Sol. Khushi

Mathew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.”

 We should keep our body and mind away from any dirty deeds and keep our body safe from any shadow of the world. It will definitely make it difficult for us to en- lightened by the power of the Holy Spirit .”The glory of the lord has risen upon thee.” Isaiah 60:1  Our temple (body) is holy and God stays in us. 1 Corinthians  3:17 “Do not destroy the temple of God because the abode of the Holy Spirit…..” The abode of the Holy Spirit is inside our body and it is in the heart, that is why our body or Temple should be considered as sacred and we get  all the power and strength from the Holy Spirit. To handle it sacredly, we give our body  as a living and holy sacrifice. God gave us this body to make His glory more visible in us.We have to offer sacrifice to God with  devotion and commitment. For that it  is necessary to renounce our sins. Secondly, are loved ones should practice patience. Thirdly, to be saved from the slavery of sin. Sin has power. Sin has to be counted as dead in our lives. Life has to be saved to shine. Stay holy and stay pure. Stay away from impurities. Let the Lord illuminate our lives.

        God the Father through Lord Jesus Christ saved us from our sins and redeemed us from the slavery of Satan for eternity .  “We also consider ourselves to be dead to sins and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6 :11.To think every moment of our life that I will die for and stay away from the world and do not fall in my life for the desires of this world or devil’s works. We keep our body away from any dirty deeds and stay away from any shadow of the world from falling on our body. It will definitely make it difficult for us to be enlightened  by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is why our body or Temple is sacred and keep giving us all the power and strength of the Holy Spirit to handle it sacredly. We give our body as a living sacrifice. Holy sacrifice has to be offered.

Prayer

   Father we thank thee for enlightening us through Your words. Help us in keeping ourselves holy and pure acceptable in before You. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.

                          Sol.Babu Sebastian.

Luke 19: 1 Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector of Jericho, it means he held a prominent position in the Revenue Service, a Roman government servant . People were overtaxed, they had to pay a large amount as tax and the tax collectors added their share too. There was no law protecting the taxpayers hence tax collectors were not appreciated or liked during Jesus’s times. Zacchaeus happen to know on social media, the news, flyers, posters if in modern times that Jesus was in Jericho and was passing by. He purposed in his heart to see this Jesus, but there was an enormous crowd.

His height was against him, he was short in stature. That did not stop him, he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up a tree to see Jesus. He had to violate social norms, he had to lift his long dress a bit to run, in Jewish culture male members don’t run. The crowd must have laughed at him also wanted him gone since they disliked him. But that didn’t stop him, Zacchaeus didn’t make any excuse to be in the presence of Jesus. Amidst all the possible hostility by the crowd, Jesus spotted him up in the tree and asked him to come down immediately. (Luke 19:5-6) That must have given the crowd a cultural shock. How could Jesus talk to a sinner? Jesus insists that He must stay at Zacchaeus’s house not at the councilor’s house or Mayor’s house or MLA’s house, the Sr. Pastor’s house but with Zacchaeus who was most disliked. The presence of Jesus convicted him and he repented, his life turned around.

(Mark 5:25-34) Let us meet the woman with the blood issue. She is highlighted in 3 of the gospels. As per law Levi 15:25-27, she was considered unclean. This meant that she lived an isolated, lonely life, everything she touched was unclean. She could not relate with people and was quarantined for long 12 years, she was cursed, scorned. Most of her wealth was spent in seeking a cure for the issue and paying doctor’s bills, but medical science could not resolve her issue. 

It only got worse, she was utterly lonely and probably found it difficult to keep herself sane. She heard about Jesus, she desperately wanted to be cured of this issue and she could not care what people thought. She also believed that this Jesus could heal her. Since the law did not let her meet Jesus, she strategized to squeeze in the crowd and touch the hem of His garment which she believed had power to heal her. Jesus turned around to see this woman with immense faith and reckoned that not only was she healed but saved too (made whole).

We have so many excuses to not meet Jesus and we are so concerned about what others would think. Imagine, if we would not hesitate to break every rule to meet up with Jesus how radically our lives would change. Jesus looked at people beyond their people given labels and sins.

Let’s pray that we too have Jesus eyes and heart when we look at people. Let’s pray that we will not hesitate to run up to Jesus at any time.

Sol.Lalitha Menon

     TWO THOUSAND YEARS

       LATER THE SAME STORY

Two thousand years later, the same story unfolds. Only there’s no last minute rescue of the One who submits His life for sacrifice

1.  JESUS—The Beloved Son.

We are speaking of God’s Son who gave Himself as the “Lamb Of God “. Abraham and lsaac are beautiful type of the Father- Son relationship within the heart of God.lt is note worthy to see that the first time the word ‘LOVE’ appeared in the Bible, it refers to the love of a father for a son where it refers to the love of Abraham for lsaac

Gen. 22:2. But in  the New Testament the word ‘Love’ comes in Math 3:15, Mark 1:11. lf Abraham loved his son, then how much more did God love His one and only Son! We are amazed to read in the Bk of John about the Love of God for the sinful world. John 3:16. “For God so loved…everlasting life”.

• They “walked together”. The Father loved His SON from eternity past but we too are included in that love.lt was from before the foundations of the world that the LAMB was slain .The Father and the Son planned our redemption before the world was created. They walked together in love and more than that They “worked it out together “on the Cross.We think that the Father was away from the Son during that Terrible hour.lts true ,a holy God cannot look upon sin but Jesus took our sins upon Himself .But that doesn’t mean that the Father felt any less pain than the Son. At that terrible moment the Father’s  fellowship, with the Son was broken.

C .Spiritual Death is– Separation  from God. Jesus paid the full penalty for our sins alone on the cross,But the Father felt the pain.Because the Father was personally present in Christ; RECONCILING the world unto Himself. He will never count men’s sins against them.

(2Cor5:19).

 D.l Will Die ln Their place:-

Abraham told lsaac” .My son,”God will provide Himself So God came down from heaven in Jesus as a sacrifice.

E. This way A Creator and Judge of all mankind became the Father- Redeemer of the world, to have mercy on them.Jesus did all that the justice demanded and reconciled the world to God in Him through HlS Blood.        Heb 9:22   “Without the shedding of Blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

C . Once sin ruled through death. Now grace nd mercy rule by making those, who believe in Jesus righteous.

• Therefore, we shall live forever .(Rom 5:18,19,21)
• All Glory to Jesus. Amen
• Behold today is the day of Salvation. Receive Jesus as your Savior
• Yes wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through JesusChrist our Lord.

Today if you hear His Voice harden not your hearts.The time is running out.

TESTIMONY

There were 200 unbelievers came to a spiritual meeting.They all accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior nd slept in that same tent becos it was late in the night and the tent caught fire and they all died  but not without Salvation.So now is the time.Today is the day of salvation.

Prayer:

Glorious holy God O! Master we thank you for what you have accomplished for us on the  Cross,and made us to be the object of your mercy and Salvation, to save us frm eternal fire of hell.   Amen

                  Sol. Noreen Francis

1 Samuel 30:6

David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.

In above incidence, we see that Amalekites attacked Ziklag and taken captive of David’s and his men’s wives and sons and daughters. Amalekites killed all Israelites who were lagging behind during their journey to Cannan (Deut 25:18) and they have no fear of God. So, God commanded King Saul to destroy everything of Amalekites, but Saul not obeyed God wholeheartedly. That is why, Amalekites got chance to attack Israelites again. 

Spiritually, Amalekites shows Satan and his Kingdome and we have been given all authority over his works. But sadly, Satan has taken captive many things of our lives, our spiritual blessings, our spiritual gifts, our zeal to serve Lord, our spiritual hunger and thirst for Lord, our joy of salvation, peace in Lord, our intimacy with Lord, our anointing, salvation of our family members, love in family, and many more. Just because of our negligence, not using our authority, and not obeying God wholeheartedly, Satan got chance to steal from our lives. John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” Let us take a moment and think what Satan has stolen away, what he has killed, and what he has destroyed in our lives. It is very necessary to meditate on our past life and calculate the loss.

David was in great distress because of his loss. Are we distressed? Are we thinking of our loss? or just allowing Enemy to take away all that is remaining? 

David found strength in the Lord his God. We have to do same thing. We also have to find strength in our Lord. With that strength, David chased his enemy and recovered everything the Amalekites had taken (1 Sam 30:18). We can also recover everything the enemy has taken away from us.

Testimony

For last many days, I was feeling spiritually dry and thinking of all my past spiritual experiences and was getting distressed.  In my distressed condition, I saw a vision.  In vision, I saw Lord has held my hands in his hands and pampered for a while.  With that vision and above verses, Lord encouraged me.  He encouraged me to take everything back which belongs to me. As Lord is with us, we can recover everything. We have only two options, either we can keep ourselves in miserable condition and be distressed or we strengthen ourselves in Lord and recover everything. Choice is with us. In Army of Jesus, Lord has trained us to be his soldier and fight against power of darkness.  Let us fight and recover everything.

Prayer

Dear Father, give us grace and strength to chase our enemy and take back everything which belongs to us. Thank you for your love and concern for us.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Sol.Grishma

Living sacrifice

 Romans 12:1 “therefore brothers, reminding you of God’s mercy, I request you to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable offering to God, which is your spiritual worship”. In the old Testament the people used to go fully prepared to worship God .That means the people would take different types of sacrificial animal or object for different types of sins. They would give it to the high priest.  The high priest would first offer the sacrifice for his sins then  sacrifice for the sins of the people. Sacrifice and the concern things here means that along with the sound of worship one could hear the sound of sacrificial animal.

At this time the sacrificial altar would get filled  with fragrance and prayers and it would please the Lord. But now we the people of the lord do not do this because for each and every sins of ours the Lord Jesus Christ Himself became  a sacrificial animal. Thank the lord and how loving, merciful He is. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

(1 John 3:1)  Here the word of the lord tells us that we are to offer our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. How would that be ?

  1) Offering our bodies as a living sacrifice .

2) Offering our bodies as a holy sacrifice.

3) Offering our bodies as a loving sacrifice to the supreme Lord .

 What is needed for this  to which the physical body is to be resolved .Colossians 2: 11 says, “In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of  Christ. 

If any item was smelly and bad in our home we would have thrown it away or taken it away from the house. In the same way we have to separate ourselves from lust and impurities of this world from our lives whatever may be the reason and offer worship in His Holy presence. 1  Corinthians 9:27 Paul tells us ,”But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” This means that we should practice   self control in our lives.

 3)”For if you live according to the flesh you will die ,but if by the Spirit ,you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”  Romans8:13 In the journey of our life ,we must learn to say no to our flesh and worldly desires.

4 ) “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions”. Romans 6:12

Britishers were ruling over India till August 14 ,1947  and people were under many forms of slavery and even today India and its people are under slavery of countless evil forces.

God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from the slavery of Satan for eternity. so may the lord help us to always walk carefully while our stay here on this earth.

      Dear God, please help your children in overcoming lust and worldly desires by always walking in spirit. May You be glorified through all our deeds .In Jesus name we ask. Amen.

                    Sol.Babu Sebastian

Painstaking efforts of God to carefully hand over His commandments ( which are not optional) to mankind

“You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20:3-7‬ NKJV

God tried to make sure by writing with His finger engraving His commandments on stone tablets ( so that no one could erase them) so that man follows and obeys His commandments in true letter and Spirit.

“Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””
‭‭Joshua‬ ‭1:7-9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
Still God could not make mankind follow 👆 this and they continued in their sinful ways.
God continued with His efforts to save man from eternal damnation.

Gods commandments had to be sown in peoples minds and written and stored in their hearts but still mankind chose to disobey and continued to sin .

God still in search of His lost sheep ultimately plans to send His only begotten son.
John 3:16 tells us ” for God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His son into the world to condem the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” ” if we just confess with our mouth that Jesus is lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead we will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved”.Romans10:9-10

So lets confess seek forgiveness and repent from the Saviour while there is time. God bless each living soul in this nation.

Sol.Jasmine James

“So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.”

Isaiah 41:10 

Shadrach , Meshach and Abednego were followers and worshippers of the One True God of Israel . (Daniel 3: 8-97 )

When they were asked to worship the false gods and the golden statue of King Nebuchadnezzar , they refused and were thrown into the fiery furnace . 

They chose to follow and obey the commandments of the Lord God Almighty -“ You shall have no other gods before me”; “ you shall not make idols” Exodus 20:2-17 ; Deuteronomy 5:6-21 

They chose correctly to only worship the Living God instead of man made idols of this world . Because they knew that it is more important to please the Lord God than humans. We should also always remember to choose God before all man made things /traditions / rituals /demands . Because the Lord has promised us that “No weapons forged against you will prosper “ Isaiah 54:17 and 

“ When God is with us who can be against us “ Romans 8:31 .

Also “Give us aid against the enemy , for the help of man is worthless. With God we will gain the victory and He will trample down our enemies .”- Psalm 60: 11-12 

When we trust in the Lord with all our heart and do not lean on our own understanding . And in all our ways acknowledge Him then He will make all our paths straight . Amen 

God sent his angel and rescued Shadrach , Meshach and Abednego and they were safe in the fiery furnace and not a hair of their head was singed . When king Nebuchadnezzar saw this he was humbled and glorified God and gave them higher honor and position in his kingdom .

When we trust in the Lord , He delivers us and keeps us safe and exalts and gives us honor in front of our enemies according to Psalm 23:4-5  , Psalm 91 :14-16 

Sol.Rumna Pramanik