Day: April 23, 2023

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

We remember these verses in our difficulties. Let us see the background of this verse when Jesus was saying it to the disciples. The disciples were with Jesus for three whole years and they were blessed abundantly. They had no worries in life as everything is taken care by Jesus. The disciples had big dreams and hopes but these words came to shatter all dreams the disciples had. The chapter starts Jesus explaining all the struggles the disciples going to face very shortly after the cross.

They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 

John 16:2

In our life are we expecting only blessings or accepting the struggles of the world?

Now lets see why there is struggles in the world. When Adam & Eve sinned , it separated them from God & gave satan the power over them . Yes sin separates us from God & gives way for Satan to enter our life. Satan has no control over the nature or anything on this world but he can control people when they fall in sin

This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child

1 John 3:10

There are only two categories of people in the world as per scripture , The Satan creates selfish people who by their selfishness, destroys the world . A few years back we never heard many diseases or people dying after eating a meal in hotels. But now we see all these because Satan controls people who does selfish things to get profit in their business . We see immoral relationship & people with no love committing all the crimes in this world. There are struggles in this world , health issues, deaths, murders, cheating, breakups or fights in families but it is not from God but by Satan controlling the people to do it .

But in the midst of all this struggles we can win since our Lord who won the world is with us.

But how do we win? Jesus said “Carry your cross“

A famous preacher who is known very well in South India once shared a testimony of his life . He was disabled when he was 5. He was very sad all through his school & college days when he saw his fellow students playing & enjoying life. But when he came to Jesus after college days he understood that this was the cross given to him to carry. He said God is powerful to heal me completely but I don’t expect God to cure me because it is my cross which I have to carry in this life. God has now blessed his life by saving lakhs of people & led them to Salvation & kept him blessing for others.

There is a parable of a guy carrying a heavy cross in his shoulder & walking . A Satan in the form of a man came to him & said why are you carrying such a burden you give it to me I will lesser it for you he said. He gave his cross to him. Satan shortened the length of the cross & gave it to him and now the guy was very happy to carry it, because now the length of the cross is less. He started his journey of life. When he came close to heaven he saw a big river to cross to reach heaven. He saw how people were crossing it . They put the cross as a bridge to cross the river. When he put his cross since the length was short the cross fell in the river & he lost his way to heaven.There are no shortcuts and ways which we think are easy but they make us lose our paths completely.

There are struggles in this world but lets carry our cross given to us & win the world holding on to Jesus. Amen

Sol.Leo

Faith without obedience is no faith.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6)

If we do not hold the unwavering belief that our Heavenly Father has plans and blessings of great goodness in store for us, we will be unable to obey Him. Although many of us have been promised much by the Lord, few of us have borne witness to the fulfillment of these promises. The root cause of our disappointment may lie in our own unbelief, which breeds disobedience. God tests us in the crucible of life, as He would refine gold, in order to purify us before we arrive at the promised land. And the crucial step in passing these tests is to submit ourselves in obedience to His will. Without complete trust in our Heavenly Father, we will lack the necessary faith to follow His commands.

Abraham, the faithful servant of the Lord, received a divine promise. To demonstrate his unwavering faith, he obeyed the Lord, left his homeland and settled in a foreign land. The Lord blessed him and Sarah with a son, Isaac, as promised. However, the Lord then asked him to make a tremendous sacrifice to test his heart – to offer his only son as a burnt offering.

He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:2 NIV)

Despite the great difficulty of this task, Abraham had unshakable faith in the Lord, believing that He could resurrect Isaac to fulfill the promise. Thus, he was ready to obey the Lord’s command, showing that his faith was unbreakable. His faith brought obedience and the fulfillment of the promise.

When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, the Lord promised to deliver them from bondage and lead them to a land of milk and honey. However, when they reached the Red Sea with the Egyptian army behind them, they found themselves trapped and without an escape. Despite the promise they had received from the Lord, they began to doubt His ability to save them.

They also complained to Moses, “Wasn’t there enough room in Egypt to bury us? Is that why you brought us out here to die in the desert? Why did you bring us out of Egypt anyway? 12 While we were there, didn’t we tell you to leave us alone? We’d rather be slaves in Egypt than die in this desert!” (Exodus 14:11-12)

They saw the impossible before them and lost faith, causing them to complain against the Lord. Many times the Israelites didn’t trust the Lord and disobeyed him. All of them didn’t see the promise but died in the wilderness except Joshua and Caleb. Israelites’ unbelief caused disobedience and brought death.
In the Garden of Gethsemene, Jesus fervently prayed to the Father, asking Him to remove the suffering that He knew lay before Him. Though Jesus wished for the suffering to be taken away, He ultimately surrendered to the Father’s will.

Abba,[a] Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36 NIV)

Initially, it appeared that the Father had not answered Jesus’ prayer, and He faced death on the cross. Nonetheless, Jesus trusted the Father even when His prayers seemed unanswered. He obeyed the Father’s will and faced His suffering with unwavering faith. On the third day, the Father raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand, giving Him dominion over everything. Jesus’ faith led him to obedience and fulfillment of the promise.
The path to the Lord’s promises is not always smooth or easy. Like Abraham and Jesus, we must obey the Lord’s commandments and trust Him wholeheartedly, even when the circumstances around us seem impossible. We must believe that the Lord who has made the promise will fulfill it, and this faith will cause us to obey and the fulfillment of the promise.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV)

Prayer
Father, give us a new heart and a renewed mind, that we may trust in you with all our heart and submit to your will, allowing you to make our paths to our promised land straight. Amen

Sol.Edvitta