Month: April 2023

How to act when we are disappointed. What does bible say  about Disappointment?

“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.

Psalm 34:17-19

 All of us  are disappointed over many matters. Everyday  we face troubles. But the  Lord is close to the brokenhearted and  brings peace during  the times of pain and suffering. God Cares about Our Disappointment and Worry

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. “

1 Peter 5:6-7

In spite of  hard work, sometimes our  efforts are not successful .During that period  We should lookup on God for his intervention to guide us.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 29:11-13

God never forgets us and  is  listening to us always. Through disappointment our lord restores us  and makes strong, firm and steadfast. 

1 Peter 5:10-11 .

Disappointment is temporal. God will restore us.  He will make us strong, firm, and steadfast for our growth and His glory.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

_{God has a plan even in our disappointment.} 

Let us thank our Lord for His  promise of a glorious future. During disappointment we should surrender ourselves to God. He will strengthen us.we will become wise to deal any challenge under  any circumstance .so let us not murmur against God when we are disappointed. God allows us to work through these painful moments and guides us to lead a victorious life on earth and also to enter  his kingdom . Let us thank God for being with us through  day and night and  carrying  us in his hands throughout our life.

Sol.Subramaniam

How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?

Psalm 13:1

This is a psalm penned by King David, a psalm of transition, in discouragement and despair, when he was in trouble. Have you ever asked this question to God at any time, have you felt whether He still loved you or has forgotten you or how long do I wait, am fed up. Oh, I have, many times, even recently, often I just heard silence. The question is repeated four times, so David must have been desperate for a deliverance, great anxiety, while he waited wondering will God turn up? He thought God must have been so busy that He forgot David.

    2 Peter 3:8 says with the Lord one day is as 1000 years and 1000 years as one day. 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is not slack concerning his promises towards us but our timing is not His timing, He is working His redemptive purpose in us. This is why in Proverbs 3:5 (TPT version). Note here we are asked to TRUST God like we would when we never check a chair’s legs before sitting, we just take for granted that we are safe, like when a baby jumps fearlessly into a father’s arms, with full confidence, not on our opinions. And, we are asked not to make our own decisions but be INTIMATE with God in all our matters. He will lead us.

    Let us visit Abram’s tent, he was 75 years old when God called Him promising (Gen 12:1-3) to make Him a great nation and his wife Sarai was well known as “barren” Gen 11:30. Abram had his own plans and he thought his servant Eliezer could be his heir, but God sabotaged that plan (Gen 15:4) and made him count the stars, so numerous would be his offspring. He must have gone around telling people what God told them and now years passed by as each year dawned, they thought, this year we would have an offspring. Sarai finally said, it’s pointless waiting so let Hagar be the surrogate mom and Abram at age 86 thought that’s a perfect idea and without consulting God, he resolved his childlessness, which messed up matters. Abram was 99 and Sarai 89 when God changed their names to Abraham (Father of nation) and Sarah (princess) and a year later Isaac was born. That was an impossible wait, God was teaching them that He is God and He can do the impossible, if He has spoken something He is well able to do it. God expects us His children to live by faith, the “just shall live by faith.”

 In my own personal experience I have realized, sometimes God is putting us through a process like he trained Joseph to take up a position as second to Pharaoh, sometimes it is because God wants us to be “Still and know that HE IS GOD!” He waits sometimes until our prayers get desperate which shows our helplessness and we turn to God to take care of our matters. He has always answered for my ” How long?” questions,  transforming me, spiritually building me, enlightening me , and always arriving faithfully to help me out of the situation. So, if you are in this state of mind, don’t hesitate to pour out your heart to our Father, He is patient, loving and caring.

Sol Lalitha Menon

But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him “

– Jeremiah 17: 7-10

We are so blessed that we have a Living and Loving God, who is always present to help and protect us. But sometimes we can forget that we need to “trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding”, according to Proverbs 3:5-6.

         We sometimes try to do everything in our lives according to our own will, desires, and intelligence. Because we think we are self-sufficient, or we live in a culture which expects us to give rather than to receive. The worry of getting proper children’s education, their well-being, marriage, worries about finances, health, the future -slowly erodes upon our peace and happiness. We are living a worldly life of social media which is fraught with stress, anxiety, hardships, health problems and lack of peace. When we try to navigate all these meandering ways on our own, we are unsuccessful and often even depressed, because obviously we are trying to do it all by our own human strength and are tired and exhausted. 

         But the solution is simple as Jesus says, “Come to me all who weary and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” When we give Jesus the first place in our lives and commit all our works to him with thanksgiving and prayer according to Philippians 4:6-7 “the peace of the Lord which surpasses all understanding comes upon us.”

        So let us trust in the Lord, for he will take care of all our needs when we give him the first place in our lives, not just through our words but also in our hearts – “For the Lord searches the heart and mind and rewards a man according to his conduct according to what his deed deserves.”  

^{We must remember that Our Lord God Almighty is the One who divided the Red sea, made ‘manna’ fall from heaven, answered Elijah with fire from heaven, raised Lazarus from the dead but He is also the same God, Jesus Christ who cooked breakfast for his disciples in John21:1-17. So, there is nothing too great or small for our Lord, we just need to have faith and ask him for his help.} 

        Let us try to lead a practical Christian life by following the word of the Lord, let us not just be the hearers of the word but also the doers.

Sol.Rumna Gomes

Expect to Hear HIS Voice

The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice, and I know them and they follow Me.

John 10:27

So many believers are unsure of their ability to hear GOD or know HIS voice. They’re always afraid that they won’t be able to tell when the Spirit of GOD is talking to them.

What they don’t realize  is this: Hearing the voice of the SPIRIT is a privilege that the Bible says belongs to every believer (Rom. 8:14). All we have to do to exercise that privilege is to receive it by faith and put ourselves in a position to hear.

Next time the devil tries to tell you that you can’t hear GOD’s voice, remember that.

JESUS said HIS sheep will know HIS voice and a stranger’s voice they will not follow. That is a promise of GOD to you today. You see, the SPIRIT of GOD will never guide you in opposition to the written WORD of GOD (John 16:13). So, if you’re not familiar with what the WORD says, you’ll find it more difficult to discern HID leading.

Get familiar with GOD’s voice by meditating and studying the WORD of GOD. Follow GOD’s instruction to Joshua and meditate on it day and night. Act on what you find in the WORD, not just when it’s easy but every time. Be obedient even in the slightest things.

^{That continual obedience to the written WORD will bring you into maturity and tune your inward ear to the voice of the SPIRIT. You’ll soon be able to recognize it as easily as you recognize the voice of your dearest friend.}

So, instead of wondering about it, start expecting to hear from HIM. Then start sharpening your spiritual ears by spending time in the WORD.

Sol. Blessy

I may know Him

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Philippians  3:9-10

We become new creatures, old things pass away and all things become new. We must be found in Christ alone to receive every benefit the Kingdom of God provides for us. Having your own righteousness is like our kitchen filthy rags as it is said in Isaiah  64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. So to please God Man’s righteousness is not enough. Let’s look in Luke gospel what it says Luke  18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:  18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican…. And we know the story.

Dear brothers and sisters God’s righteousness comes through Christ. The Israelites were trusting in their own righteousnessness which is by law. See what apostle Paul says in Romans  10:1-2 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.   For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 1 corth1:30 Abraham believed in the LORD and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Romans  3:22-26

Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;  To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

 Romans  9:30-32

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.   But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.  Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone;

Therefore Apostle Paul writes to us that,

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Yes, festivals after festivals come and goes year after year still we are reluctant to study His Word. Apostle Paul did  not miss out anything but that he says I MAY KNOW HIM(CHRIST)

Do We really know Christ?

What we know is very little about Him.

The desire within Apostle Paul was growing day by day, he was engrossed in Him, that’s why he was saying that I MAY KNOW HIM.

YES, it’s a great joy when we desire to know Christ and Christ alone. He is our JOY. The King of kings and the Lord of Lords. We must study to be approved, every bit of our life should reflect of Christ and manifest His glory in us and through us then only this world will know Him.

Dear friends let's desire to Know only Christ Jesus. For we will not regret. Yes we want to know all about others but Christ we set Him aside.The more we know Christ the more we will be delivered from unrighteousness. Christ Jesus is Lord. He deserves to be known by us and through us. Let's begin to know Him and share His experience.

Sol. Francis

But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

1 Corinthians 11:3

In this verse, God gives us a divine order, an order in which every family should be.

God wants us all families to be in this order. Husband is the head of the family & Christ is the head of the husband & whole family. The children since they are coming from both the husband and wife they are also part of this family. This is the structure God endorses. The same system we can see in our Government. An individual cannot apply a ration card if he is with his father & mother but the moment he is married , he is a part of his own family.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Genesis 2:24

In this verse, God clearly says a man shall leave his father & mother which means now when they are married they are part of a new family which is recognized as a separate family by God.

From the above we can clearly see that Groom/ Bride’s father/ Mother/relatives are not part of the inner circle but outside . We have to clearly understand this structure because a lot of families are now influenced by others who are not the part of the inner family God recognizes and a today we see some families in various conflicts and some separated due to the influence of the extended family, relatives and friends.

From the above we may have a question do we not required to love our father/mother or others & take care of them? Yes, we need to love and take care of them but I have to love my wife more than all others.

_{Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.}

Ephesians 5:25,28

These verses clearly states that I have to love God more than anything in this world , but after God I have to love my wife & my children more than all others . This understanding allows us to make all things clearly in the family. Whether we live as a joint family or separately , this understanding clearly directs us how to solve any relationship issues which arise between our family and in laws or other relatives. A husband and wife should love and care for his father and mother but at the same time should understand the involvement of them in the family matters should be as an advice and not a command. Any conflicts in the extended family and in laws we should resolve with this understanding with prayer and guidance from the holy spirit.

^{The second is decision making.}

^{The decision is to be made as a family by husband & wife by the guidance of God’s word. We can get the views of others but the decision is made by the two in the family}

In one of the interviews with the CEO of google the audience asked how do you take crucial decisions related in the company . He replied being a CEO no small things come to me , but when it comes to me it is a crucial one ,I have all the views &outcomes from my subordinates and they leave it to me for taking the final decision.

Yes we have the views & guidance of our lovable families , well wishers , friends but the decisions should be made by the husband & wife only through prayer in God’s presence

Today a lot of families are facing many issues because the husband or wife loves their father/mother/friends or even pets nowadays & are influenced by them which disrupts the God’s divine order and makes us lose our peace & happiness in the families

Prayer

Father God I thank you for creating & making us to live in families . I bless each & every family that they are guided by your words and fulfill your purpose you have united them together, In Jesús name I pray, Amen

Sol.Leo

Distinguishing Between the Voice of God and the Voice of Satan

It was with a good heart that Peter told Jesus not to go to the cross. But Jesus immediately recognized that suggestion as being the voice of Satan and told Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan. Your mind is set on man’s interests and not on God’s interests” (Matt.16:23).

We see there that we can distinguish between the voice of God and the voice of Satan in our hearts only if our minds are set on God’s interests. If our minds are set on our own interests primarily, then we can mistake the voice of Satan for the voice of God. So, it is good in all that we do – even in your study, work, and play – to have a heavenly perspective. Do all for the glory of God (1Cor.10:31).

Study well at college and play well on the field, and glorify God always – like Eric Liddell, who never compromised his convictions even when it meant the loss of an Olympic gold medal!! Never be ashamed to let others know that you have certain standards as a Christian. May the Lord help you to do so.

Cultivate an earnest desire to honour God, in the midst of the battles you face whether in school or college, at work, or at home. The Lord will give you grace and strength to face and overcome every attack of the enemy by which he would try to make you compromise. The Lord is always on your side against Satan, and He will enable you to overcome the evil one.

_{God has allowed many things on this earth to be attractive, so that we can prove when we are tempted by them, that we love God more than everything else on earth. Thus, we put Satan to shame. The Creator is far greater, far more wonderful, and far more satisfying than all of His creation. This is true and that is why we believe it. This faith of ours is what makes us overcome the attractions of the world. When we live by this faith blindly, our feelings will follow along, in due course. We must not look for feelings first.}

Battling against Satan is good for our spirits. Only thus can we become strong. Be a good soldier of Christ. The Lord is depending on you. We too, are depending on you to keep the flag of the Lord flying high and triumphant – so that the Lord’s name is never put to shame!

If soldiers can sacrifice so much for the sake of their country to keep their country independent and free, how much more we should be willing to sacrifice everything (even our lives), so that the Lord is honoured through our lives in every way, and Satan put to shame.

SOL.ARUN