Month: May 2023

TOWARDS VICTORY

“He said to Joshua” As Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come” Josh 5:14 a.

After crossing Jordon, people of Israel had to wage a number of wars to conquer Canon. The first challenge awaited was Jericho. Before that, God asked Joshua to do two important things. The first thing was to make flint knives and circumcise the men of Israel  All people who came out of Egypt (men of military age) were circumcised, but died on the way due to disobedience to God. But the men born in the desert had not been circumcised. So Joshua did circumcision to the men of the whole nation. They remained in the camp until they were healed. Then God said to Joshua. “Today I have rolled away the reproach from you”. They named the place as Gilgal. By this way the covenant made by God with Abraham was renewed. God once said to Abraham. “This is my covenant with you and your seed after you, Every man child among you shall be circumcised”. (Gen: 17.10.)

Spiritually speaking, each believer is waging a war against Satan. Victory is sure when we wear the armour of Jesus and fight with Satan  We have to eliminate  all unwanted elements from our hearts, like envy, jealousy malice pride etc. When the holy spirit dwells in us, all evil will vanish away. Then Jesus lead us to victory.

Moses said “Circumcise therefore the skin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked” (Deu: 10.16)

True circumcision is circumcision of the heart and by the spirit and not by the written code (Romans 2.29)

Jesus said that each of our organ to be removed, if it tends to sin (Circumcised). (Mathew 5: 29, 30)

If your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away. It is much better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown in to hell.

If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is much better …….thrown in to hell.

So to be true conquerors, let us circumcise our hearts and each organ of our body by eliminating all evil.

The second thing god asked Joshua to do was to observe the Passover.

Witness:

^{Noah obeyed God and God rescued his family from flood. Abraham obeyed, and he was certified as a righteous man. Joseph obeyed, he was placed in high position. Moses obeyed God’s voice and he became a mighty leader.}

Prayer:

Oh, Holy Spirit, help us to circumcise our hearts and souls and give us victory in our endeavours. Amen.

                                                 SOL.VICTY MITHYLA

Praise the Lord Jesus Christ for the procession of His people going into the sanctuary in worship will draw Gentiles to the Light. The evil spirits which deceived people in the form of different gods with healing, protection & magical powers has lost its power and fading away without any followers.

Ps 68:24-26 & 32-35.  

This is what the Lord spoke in monthly worship 1st May 2023

The victorious procession of the Ark of the Covenant led Israel up into Jerusalem and the earthly representation of heaven on earth the Sanctuary or the Temple but Jesus leads us up and into heaven itself something Old Testament people like David only looked forward to but we look back to how it has been done by God through the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ God’s Son.  

• The procession that leads us to heaven (vs. 24)

• The procession that is full of singing and music (vs. 25)

• The procession that is characterized by praise to God (vs.26)

• The procession that contains all levels of human society.

“Praise God in the great congregation; praise the Lord in the assembly of Israel”.

As Christians gathering together to worship and serve each other we too are the great congregation of the Lord the church of Jesus Christ the assembly of God on earth. What should we do when we come together as this great congregation of God’s people on earth?

David’s answer is, “Praise God” and this is what Paul continually encouraged all the churches he wrote to do as we see from Colossians 3: 15 – 17,

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.    

David calls on all the kingdoms of the world to sing a great praise to the Lord.

“The psalmist sees the conversion of the world to God to be so certain he calls on all nations to join in the song”. 

Praise the Lord who leads us in a victory song. As we follow Jesus, he helps all day long. Jesus died to save us Gave his life for us. Join the great procession that leads to victory. He is with us always. As we walk his way Jesus is the answer for our world today.    

  Sol Joan

Resistance to Temptation

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation because when he stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

James1:12

Human beings are to face temptations daily. We are prone to sins also .The desire is in us to have or to do something wrong. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak..
Any thought or speech or deed against the commandments of God is sin. Man has a free choice of being faithful or unfaithful to God.

Temptation is not a sin but yielding to temptation is sin. we should be vigilant to stay away from tempting situations. Everyone will be dragged into temptation by the devil or by our own evil desire.

Adam and Eve were victims of the temptation. David was another victim of temptation. They failed to resist the temptations and so they were punished. Devil attempted to lure our Lord Jesus by offering worldly power and honour and authority.

But Jesus drove away the devil through the word of God.Devil was defeated by our lord Jesus. He taught us how to resist temptation and how to tackle the devil using the word of God. The temptations can be resisted by implementing the following strategies.

We should meditate on the word of God daily specially in morning hours.
Turning to God in early morning is a good way to fight against temptations.
We should ask guidance and seek strength from God to resist temptations.

In Luke 22:39-40 our Lord asks us to pray that we will not fall into temptation.
Luke11:4 our lord asks us to pray that we are not led into temptation
Hebrew4:15 tells us that relying on Jesus can help us resist temptation
1corinth10:13 proclaims that God wont let people be tempted beyond they can handle.
We should submit ourselves to God. Then the devil will flee away.james1:12 stresses the need of seeking forgiveness with genuine heart.

We should seek forgiveness when we fail in the temptation. We should flee away from tempting situations just like joseph who fled away from the wife of his master who compelled him to commit adultery

^{In my life I didn’t seek the guidance of God when I was tempted by the devil and fell deep into the pit of sin. And led a sinful life for many years and I lost the hope of salvation
Lost all the blessings in my life. lost my father who was so upset about my life. Relatives and friends became enemies. I lost all my properties and had to face so many difficulties . Once I thought of suicide also .However I sought forgiveness of God. By the grace of God I came out of my sinful life and our Lord forgave me and accepted me as His son .Now He leads me in all aspects.}

If we resist the temptation and stood the test God promises us the crown of life.Let us be blessed to receive this crown .Amen

Sol.Subramaniam

” For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

              Mathew 5 : 20

What does the Bible verse Mathew 5 : 20 mean ?

         Pharisees were religious  teachers at the time. They taught Moses’ laws to the  people of Israel. They were pretty much as nowadays rabbis

         The problem with them was that they were often hypocrites. I think that probably not everyone of them was such,  but most of them where. But the biggest problem was that they were teaching that you shall earn your righteousness by deeds, by fulfilling the law and by following rules, given by Moses. The problem was that nobody could fulfill the law unless he didn’t do any sins his entire life. Not a single sin.

          It says, ” For whoever keeps the whole  law and yet stumbles at just one  point is guilty of breaking all of it.”

James 2:10    

         And when Jesus came,  He brought the good news to the people. He has told them that there’s no need to strive in  fulfillment  of the law, because He has come to do that. He has come so our fate won’t be decided upon our deeds, but upon God’s grace.

     How to surpass their righteousness ?

It’s through Jesus.

           It’s through grace that Lord has given us in Jesus Christ, when He died for our sins.  And if wasn’t those in Jerusalem who killed Him. It was me, you and every other human that ever existed. We killed Him with our sins. But He said:

        ” Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” 

Luke 23:34

          We can gain righteousness only  through Jesus’ sacrifice. We must accept what He has given us in order to become righteous.

        ” Lord made Him who had no no sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness  only by lord’s grace through Jesus Christ.  How to do that ?  We have to understand that we were a sinner. Jesus came because of sinners, not because of the righteous ones.

          ” This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of Lord, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.”

Romans 3:22-24.

         Then we have to accept what Jesus has given us, His sacrifice. Give your life to Jesus, let Him be your Lord, your Guide, your teacher, and the most important, your Messiah.

Prayer

       " Jesus, we know we are sinner. We know we have done wrong in our lives. And we know that we can't be saved by our own works. Come into our lives and change it. We want to be a new person/creation. We give you our lives, do something with it. Amen."

Sol. Dr. Mohan Parmar

Get your conversation aright

Psalms  50:23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

God is not mocked for what a man sows he shall surely reap. Is your conversation aright dear friends? Check it. It’s because of our conversation not right there is no salvation manifesting. It is we should order our conversation aright and not blame others, it is so very easy to blame others. The blame game cannot last for long. There is no fear of God in their lives. What does Jude speak about these people.

Jude  1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. You see speak evil of dignities and despise dominion.

They are unable to stop judging inspite of repenting every night and day. Why?

Genuine repentance and reconciliation brings deliverance and freedom from sin. Jesus loved Judas inspite of knowing that he would betray Jesus. What a beauty to know Christ Jesus of the bible. Love covers multitude of sins. Can you and I say love covers multitude of sins. Love suffers long. It means and speak about patience. It is the Love of God that enables us to love the people all around us. What a change took place because of the Love of God poured in us by the Holy Spirit of God. Speaking evil of others specially dignities is because of the lack of Love of God in us.

^{Dear brethren let us ask God to pour out His love daily into our lives so that we release this love to others constantly without wavering, and putting our conversation aright so that the salvation of God is manifested around us. God’s Word is true, therefore We can trust His Word and depend on Him. Let’s make a decision to put always our conversation aright by Faith and surely God’s wonderful salvation will manifest in all places we minister to.}

Praise to the name of Jesus who makes us always triumphant as we trust Him alone.

Sol. Francis

Habakkuk 3:4 His brightness was like the light; He had rays flashing from His hand,
And there His power was hidden.

My eyes fell upon this verse recently, I was awed that, it is in the rays that flashes from God’s hand that His power is hidden, that Hand which has is mighty in operation, and which has quite often manifested the divine power to Israel, to the world, in my life and yours. Let us examine what His Hand can do.

Exo 13:3 And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand The Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. We know how God sent ten plagues and destroyed the Pharaoh and his army, the most powerful dynasty and delivered the Israelites, set them free, that was His right hand which can do the same for us. Psalm 110:1The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

Our God assures us that we need to do nothing at all, we just need to sit by His right Hand and He will take care of our enemies, challenges and issues, He will make footstool out of it and it will be under our feet, where it belongs. There are benefits if we are seated at His right Hand, Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence,   with eternal pleasures at Your right Hand. We will know the path of life, and not wander aimlessly, we will be filled with joy, for His continued presence will be with us and we will have eternal pleasures.

Proverbs 21:1The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes. It says even a king’s heart is in His hands, He can turn it in favor of us and that is no big deal for Him. Psalm98:1 O sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him. If you call upon Him, Jesus will do marvelous things in your life with His right Hand that, you will be victorious over the challenges that you face today and He will put a new song in your mouth. You can forget the old songs; you will have new testimonies.

Isaiah 62:3 You will also be a crown of beauty in the Hand of the Lord, And a royal diadem in the Hand of your God. In His Hand, God says we will be a crown of beauty, our life will be a crown of beauty, our family will be a crown of beauty, we just need to hand ourselves, our family, children, finances, job, ministry, home et al into the Hand of God and let Him take over.

^{His hand saves, protects, heals, restores, delivers, redeems, builds, provides and sustains and much more. So as the psalmist says let us look unto the Lord, His hand, until He shows mercy, which He will, since He is a merciful loving God.}

Psalm 123:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the LORD our God, Until He has mercy on us.

Sol.Lalitha Menon

Does murmuring complaining and disputing fighting do harm to a child of God?

Philippians  2:13-16

13.For It Is God Who Works In You To Will And To Act According To His Good Purpose.

 14.Do Everything Without Complaining Or Arguing,

 15.So That You May Become Blameless And Pure, Children Of God Without Fault In A Crooked And Depraved Generation, In Which You Shine Like Stars In The Universe

16.As You Hold Out The Word Of Life–in Order That I May Boast On The Day Of Christ That I Did Not Run Or Labor For Nothing.

…so that you will be blameless,  pure, without fault, and so that you shine like stars!

…when we complain and argue  , we have a blame against us, we are not pure and have fault that the devil can easily accuse us! Don’t give him place…

Submit to God!

It is God who gives you good intentions , to do good works and hence fulfill His good purpose!

Let us be thankful in all situations! Let us thank God for His amazing love, compassion, for Jesus, for providing us with all our basic provisions; food , water, air to breath, roof over our head , a family to love, people who care , that we are able to breath and walk, to work (…rather than complaining and cursing your work…)

Remember someone would love to be in your place and would be grateful to enjoy these!

Deuteronomy  28:45-48

 45.All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.

46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.

47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,

48 therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

Let us learn to have a grateful/ thankful heart!

Sol.Dr.Deepthi Jones

A Time for Everything

• There is a time for everything,and a season for every activity under the heavens:
• a time to be born and a time to die,
• a time to plant and a time to uproot,
• a time to kill and a time to heal,
• a time to tear down and a time to build,
• a time to weep and a time to laugh,
• a time to mourn and a time to dance,
• a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
• a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
• a time to search and a time to give up,
• a time to keep and a time to throw away,
• a time to tear and a time to mend,
• a time to be silent and a time to speak,
• a time to love and a time to hate,
• a time for war and a time for peace.

There is a time for everything under the sun.There’s a time to laugh and a time to cry. There’s a time to work and a time to rest. There’s is a time to live and the time to time die.

Now as a Christian, there’s a time for us to read the word and build our understanding and knowledge of the things of God and the ways of God.There’s a time to pray and a time to serve but what is most important is when it is time to fight because there will come season when we’ll have to fight and this fight could be for our family .It could be a fight for our health or a fight to be set free from sin.Whatever it is sooner Or later, we will find ourself in the middle of fight.

Now when problems arise, when battles are before us ,when we experience spiritual Warfare, the word of God has to be a source of constant reassurance to us. It must be that which ignites the fire in our faith. It must kick-start our hope and belief. So that regardless of what we are facing, despite the size of Enemy, despite whatever is taking place in our lives,We have a divine and heavenly insurance policy, which is the word of God.

When we are tossed to and fro through the Waves of adversity, This is when we should gear ourselves up to fight. This is the time that we have to pray fast and study God’s word in order to find peace in the midst of it.

So during those seasons, In those moments when we feel overwhelmingly discouraged and without any strength to keep going.

This is the time that we must call out to God this is the time that you must seek strength from the lord. This is a time that we must cling on to the power of the Holy Ghost .

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Heavenly Father, thank you that your grace is beyond measure. Throughout eternity, you have been working for my good and the good of all your people. May I know your power and grace to overcome the obstacles in my life. May the things that stand in my way become examples of your limitless power. Clothe me with power as I live my life in your righteous name. May I prosper and bring you glory on the earth. May I be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Sol.Neelima Singh

        THE SlN

We must understand why we are sinners and why we sin, if we are to understand the greatness of our Salvation. So the important questions are :-

A: Are we sinners because we sin

                   Or

B:Do we sin because we are sinners?

It is explained with an eg: lf anyone has AIDS, his immune system stops working and he dies, but the worst thing is, if your parents have it ,you’ ll be infected in your mother’s womb and will be born with AIDS and you’ll die soon.

SlN is like this, the first man ADAM sinned and infected his entire race, hence we too will die physically and spiritually if we are not saved. Because in Adam all sinned and all died; even if personally we haven’t sinned but born with his sin-nature.

So the Truth is :- We are all sinners .Romans 5: 18 ” By the offence of one- judgment came on all, how much more will those, who receive God’s abundant grace and gift of righteousness reign in life through one man JESUS.

THE ORIGIN OF SIN :-

ln Adam we all sinned and died.The ldea of being in Adam is an important truth for eg ; lf few seeds of grain are exposed to high Radiation their genes are altered and the harvest that comes up have very different characters in terms of quality of the parent seed which is exposed to high Radiation. We all are the seed of Adam. The SIN entered the world through one man Adam, then the entire human race was subjected to death and decay and it spread to all humans, they got infected and became sinful beings in Adam. But no one was judged guilty till Moses because the LAW  had yet not been given.” Where there’s no Low there is no transgression.” Rom 4 :15..Psalm 51:5:-David says” Surely l was sinful at birth from the time my mother conceived me.”. So in the bright light of Holy God, we all are sinful though created in His image .  But he still loves us and died to save us.                

       Rom 4:25   “But He was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification.” Rom 5:9 : -Since justified by His Blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him. Rom 6:14 :- “For sin shall not be your master because you are not under LAW but under GRACE.”

Testimony:

In Exodus 33: 19 b…..”l will have mercy on whom l will have mercy and l will have compassion on whom l will have compassion .” God still spoke to Moses face to face and hid him in the shadow of His hand so that he may not die.

Prayer :-.

Thank you master for your love and compassion towards sinful humanity that you became a man and died a painful death in our place on the cross, to redeem us with your precious BLOOD from the hands of the evilone.  Amen

          Sol Noreen

Look to the interest of others

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Phil 2:4.

Looking to the interests of others is one of the Christian Virtues. The Book of Ruth reveals this virtue through the human beings presented in it. Naomi has lost all the male members of her family and is left alone. she is a widow with her daughters in law who are also widows.  Naomi is old and needs the support of others. Even in that situation, she tells Orpha and Ruth to go back to their own people in the interest of them. Orpha kisses Good bye to Naomi and is heard no more.

      Ruth  who is unmindful of her own interests, clings to her mother in law , because she is mindful of Naomi. At times of losses, failures and disappointments, what one needs is human company. Ruth is willing to give it to Naomi and support her. So, she follows her decisively.  She never looks to her own interests.

      When the choice of marrying Ruth is given to Boaz, he consults another person who is a closer relative to Naomi . When he expresses his unwillingness to take responsibility for Naomi and Ruth, he marries her and begets Obed. Naomi, Ruth and Boaz were particular about the interests of others. No wonder Christ  came in this lineage, who looked to the interests of mankind and left Heaven and became human.

     Philip Sidney, while lying wounded, gave his water to another wounded soldier saying ” Thy necessity is greater than mine”

_{As Christians, do we look to the interests of others and care for them without being selfish?  If we lack in this, let us pray that He helps us to grow in His likeness.}

Prayer

   Dear God, help us to be sensitive to the needs of others and show you through our kindness and care. Amen.

Sol.Angelin