Month: February 2024

In loving memory of Sr. Roger

How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? John 5-44

1. James, the son of Alpheus; Bartholomew; Judas Thaddeus; and Simon Zelotes

The above are the names of the apostle of Jesus whose names are mentioned in the gospels but none of their activity or what they spoke is not recorded in the bible. They could have did many marvelous things for our Lord Jesus and proclaimed the gospel but none of it is recorded in the scriptures. What do we think of them when we read their names.

Their works where never detailed or recorded and I believe they never wanted it either. They didn’t do anything for the honor of men but only for the glory of God alone. Do we seek glory from any man for what we do, may be not outwardly but inward deep down in our hearts, maybe when some does not acknowledge our work do we get offended, is there a little sadness inside our hearts when we are not treated with gratitude for our work, then we need to acknowledge that our self is not crucified  in The Cross with Christ. God today is in search of such apostles too and one of them is Sr. Roger

Romans 12-6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us

V 12-7 says if it is serving, then serve

V 12-8 to do it cheerfully.

Sr. Roger had this gift of serving in the background. Those when joined new to AOJ might not quickly get or remember Sr.Roger’s name cause she always stands behind supporting the AOJ activities and soldiers and above all I believe from what I know she never expected any honor from man and not a small sense of gratitude from any one. I praise God for making her such an example and it is important we learn from it.

2. Inspite of all the hardwork physically at this age one might be amazed especially during BFF sessions how Sr.Roger manage to pull all this work? What is the secret of her strength? The answer is in the below verse

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Theselonians 5.18

The word “ALWAYS” emphasizes 24×7 whatever be the situation. When I am in Palavakkam attending troop church, during the testimonies sharing time, every time I see Sr.Roger says I thank God for the air we breathe, the water we get to drink and the food God gives us to eat. The things I take for granted she praises and give thanks to God for that. Giving thanks to God every time for his Grace and blessings gave her the strength till this age to run the race set before her this far. Before IBJ when there was so much of work pending to be done I saw her always telling God has done such mighty things in the past, is this one too hard for The Lord. She expresses such great faith and give thanks to The Lord. Let us give thanks to The Lord at all situations and move the mountains in our Life with great strength from The Lord.

Philipians 4.4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Any one who has met Sr.Roger never forgets her sense of humor. When I speak to her for a few minutes she makes me laugh. It is because she rejoices in The Lord always. Let us praise God for letting his child/soldier run a successful race by His Grace and keeping her an example before us to run the race set before us without expecting any honour from men for what we do and do the work with rejoicing in The Lord and giving thanks to Him always.

Sol.Leo

DON’T WASTE YOUR PAIN

No one likes pain—of any kind, whether it’s physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual. But since pain in this world is inevitable.

Have you all ever gone through any pain? Are you suffering from pain due to physical illness? Has someone hurt you in the past ? You have not forgotten that pain and remember it again and again? still living in the same pain it seems so hard to forget ? Do you feel like you’re running from the pain or the memories of the past ? Let’s think about it.

Let me ask you one more thing, what does it mean, don’t waste the pain? How do we waste pain?

When we remember and reflect on our pain again and again, our mind becomes distressed, we become victims of depression, we move away from God. And in our lives there is despair, loneliness, restlessness, failure and desire to commit suicide, lack of interest in prayer. And that’s how Satan takes over us and that’s how we waste pain.

What do we have to do to not waste the pain??

Let see what Jesus told–

Jesus told us pain and suffering would be a part of our lives
(Jn 16:33)
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Lord Jesus Christ is consoling us that there will be many troubles in this world but I have overcome the world, take courage and do not worry. So Bring your pain to God don’t run from him.

1. Bring your pain to God don’t run from him

When you run from God in seasons of challenge, all you’re left with is your own limited ability to cope with what you’re walking through. On the other hand, God invites us to draw near to him that we might experience his peace, healing, and closeness and this is what Scripture points us towards.

Psalm: 34:18
 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” 

Psalm: 147:3 “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” 

Like our need for a surgeon to address physical wounds to our body, God desires to conduct divine surgery on our soul which results in supernatural healing despite how difficult our challenge.
When we bring our pain to God we recognize that there is a purpose and in time the One who loves us unconditionally will reveal his divine purpose through it.

2. Believe that God will turn your sorrow into great joy.

One of the paradoxes of Christianity is that our good God uses pain for our good. Meaning that our biggest sorrows can result in our greatest joy. When you think about Jesus’ greatest sorrow – suffering the shame, punishment, and death for our sin, the result was great joy – the redemption of humanity and the opportunity for a relationship with the living God.

Margaret Testimony

These days I am reading a book Don’t Waste Your Pain, in this book there is a story of a sister, her name is Margaret, the pain she had to endure at the hands of her brother.

Her own brother sexually abused her and this pain lasted till the age of 14 and due to this pain Margaret became very bitter, sarcastic and started fighting with others with harsh words.

But when she came to know Lord Jesus Christ, she gave heart to the Lord and soon there after had encounter with the Holy Spirit where she felt His healing and Cleansing. after that her brother never abused her again.

By the grace of God and the help of the Holy Spirit, she forgave her brother and after that she received a marriage proposal, she told the man( Bill) everything about herself and the man happily accepted Margaret ; he loved her unconditionally. Now she is very happy with her husband and children.

When did all this become possible ? when Margaret surrendered herself and her pain to God, only then did she get rid of that pain, only then was she able to forgive her brother. God will turned her sorrow into Great Joy.

John:16:22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

3) Pain will not last forever God puts an end to pain in our lives

Like you, I have faced difficult times in life, and I have learned to tell myself, “This can’t last forever. This, too, shall pass.” When you are going through hardship, deep disappointment, or some struggle that seems impossible, it’s easy to be tempted to think, I cannot stand this for one more day.

The devil takes advantage of our hurts and wounds and tempts us to think several times a day that our trials are going to last forever, that we will hurt for the rest of our lives, or that the negative effect of our problems will be permanent. We think, and sometimes fear, our pain will follow us everywhere we go for as long as we live. The truth is nothing on earth lasts forever. The only thing we have that is eternal is our life in Christ. In the context of eternity, the struggles that seem unending in this life are actually quite brief. God always wants to heal us, restore us, and deliver us.

Paul’s point in 2 Corinthians 4:17–18 is that seasons of difficulty always pass. They do not last forever. Going through trials is tough, but God is always with us—helping us, encouraging us, and fighting our battles for us. He never wants us to stay in pain. He always wants to heal us.

And if we want to get rid of that pain forever, we just have to hand over our pain to God and always remember that…
THERE IS HOPE IN JESUS AND YOU ARE NOT ALONE

LET’S PRAY
Lord, I lift up to you all of those who today are walking through pain. Some of them may be walking through unbearable valleys of suffering that I couldn’t begin to comprehend. I ask for your comfort for them. I ask that you reveal your love to them in ways they might have never known before. I pray for your encouragement and grace to sustain them during this season of sorrow. I ask that you would bring people alongside them to comfort and help sustain them. I ask that you strengthen their faith to trust that you have plans to prosper them, plans to give them hope and a future. I ask that you help them to trust that the outcome might not be what they planned, but it will be so much better because you planned it. Thank you Jesus I ask these things in Jesus’ name, Amen and Amen.

Sol. Laxmi K

Complete Your Incompletions

Luke 2:26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.

In today’s Scripture, you can imagine how far out the revelation given by the Holy Spirit to a man named Simeon seemed. As time went by, and Simeon didn’t see any sign of the Messiah, I’m sure the negative thoughts came:

“You heard God wrong.

It’s been too long.

It’s never going to happen.”

Nevertheless, Simeon awakened every morning believing, expecting, and knowing that it would happen, and one day he met the newborn Jesus in the temple. The promise came to a dramatic fulfillment and Simeon declared, “My eyes have seen Your salvation!”

Life will try to push you down, steal your dreams, and talk you into settling for less than what God promises. Will you stay in faith, even though every voice tells you that it’s not happening? God is saying to you what He said to Simeon: “You need to get ready. I am going to finish what I started. No one and nothing can stop Me from fulfilling My promises to you. I will complete your incompletions, even the secret petitions of your heart.”

Prayer

Father, thank You that You will bring to completion the good work You began in me. Thank You that the fulfillment of my dreams is on the way, even the secret petitions of my heart. I believe that You will complete my incompletions and equip me to do what You put me here to do. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. Heavenly blessings for this year .god will do miracles in our life.

Sol.Mariamma Alex

TRUE LOVE

Galatians 5:22, 23 gives us a list of sins of flesh and a list of the fruit of the spirit, “The work which his presence accomplishes”.The fruit of the holy Spirit are qualities we see in Jesus Himself:

Love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control.

This is the goal of the Holy One living within us, to produce or accomplish this fruit in our lives—-big, luscious fruit for everyone to see and admire. Love is the everlasting fruit that will not fade away. To bear fruit we must abide in God’s love— by loving others, and to endure in his love by loving others, and to endure testing by responding to trials with love. We can move into the blessed, exceptional type of life we truly desire through developing the character qualities of the fruit of the spirit. When we as Christians know that God is available for us and are open to receiving from him, his spirit give us the power we need to develop the fruit to live the type of life God wants for us.

God gives us various gifts to use, but he gives us the fruit of the Spirit to develop. When the Holy Spirit lives inside us, we have everything he has,. His fruit is in us. The seed is planted. In order to use the gifts in the most powerful way that God desires, we must allow the seed of the fruit to grow up and mature in us by cultivating it. The gifts of the Spirit must be accompanied by the fruit of the Spirit to get the best results.

We can cultivate all the fruitby focusing on love, the first in the list of the nine fruit, and self control, the last is the list. Love and self-control are like bookends that hold the others in the place. All the fruit issue from love and actually are a form of love. But they are kept in place of self-control. We have to concentrate on developing the fruit of love, we don’t have to become impatient with people as you walk through your day.

We have not to be anything but kind. We have to be good to people, supportive, and faithful instead of being naughty or trying to appear better than others. If we are not motivated by love, we have to find that operating in the fruit is very difficult. But even when you are motivated to express God’s love as a lifestyle, there will be times when we wil not feel like being patient, kind, joyful, peaceful, or even nice at all! Those are the times that we need self-control in order to continue to respond with the fruit of the spirit even though we don’t feel like it. We need to develop this fruit of self-control, begin by simply making little choices throughout the day to respond with the fruit to situations we encounter.

Also we need to remember, love self-control, and all the other fruit of the spirit grow when we allow the Holy Spirit’s presence within we accomplish his work. INVEST IN A PURE HEART

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Matt 5:8

Purity of heart is not a natural trait—it is something that must be worked in us. We believe purging and purity go together. Purging is a tedious process in which worthless things are removed while the things of value are retained. Removing the worthless without harming the valuable requires an expert—-and God is an expert! He is like a refiner who sits over the fire where gold and silver are being refined,. He never leaves us for one second, but watches over us and impurities are being extracted he makes sure the valuable things in our are not harmed. God was willing to pay the price to redeem us. We have to be willing to pay the price to have purity in our life—purity of motives, thoughts, attitudes, words, and actions.

SPIRIT, MIND, AND BODY 1 Thessalonians 5 :23

Many people do not understand that we are think part beings:spirit, soul and body. We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body,. Our new birth begins in our spirit, is carried out through our soul, and is finally visible to other people through a demonstration to God’s glory in physical lives. Many Christians make mistake of thinking that God cares only about the spirit. But he wants us to be whole in soul and body, too. Be blessed in the knowledge that God is faithful and will sanctify us in body, soul and spirit. God promises to take care of all three parts that make us who we are. We have to work with the Holy Spirit to carry out that plan that began to operate in us when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

Our new birth begins in our spirit, is carried out through our soul, and is finally visible to other people through a demonstration of his glory in our physical life. God is working in us as long as we believe. He has begun a good work and he will also finish it. So we have to believe in God and be waiting for his answer to our prayers we just need to believe in him heartfully. And have to understand his words and work that he is doing in our life. Also not leaving us behind , he is walking before us. Because of one reason that he loves us so much. That’s why he never forget his promise that he gave us. So we have to “Keep Looking to Jesus”.

Let us pray -Heavenly Father you made us with your hand in your image ,let our life shows to others we are belong to you, amen.

Sol pia.

GROWING IN CHRIST

How can we come closer,and grow in our relationship with JESUS?

2Tim3: 16-17. “All scripture is God- breathed and is useful for teaching,rebuking, correcting , training in righteousness and holiness.,so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

LISTEN TO HIM:

As we read the BIBLE, God speaks to us through His own Word.God say those who have ears listen carefully.

RESPOND TO HIM:

As we receive understanding from Him, we respond to Him with the affections and needs of our he hearts. He says,” lf ln John 15:7 : lf you remain in me and my WORD remains in you, ask whatever you wish,and i done for you.”

FELLOWSHIP WITH ONE ANOTHER :

If we connect with others who share our FAITH in Christ, we experience mutual encouragement to love others as we ourselves have been loved.

Hebrew10:24-25 : “And let us consider how we may pur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

SHARE YOUR FAITH :

CHRIST desires for us to be His representatives to those who haven’t yet believed. One of the best ways to do this is to show honest concern for them. If they see our changed life and that we are genuinely interested in them, they are more likely to be curious about the difference they see in us.

A genuine believer will have a desire to listen to Him, to respond to Him ,to fellowship with other believers, and to share their Faith with those who don’t yet know CHRIST.Ask God to guide your path to a growing relationship with Him. This way we will grow in our relationship with the soon coming Lord.

PRAYER :

LORD guide me to trust you even when I can't see or hear from you but still can to rest in your goodness and faithfulness today. Jesus may your love and grace be evident in my words and deeds always. Amen

Sol Noreen Francis

Psalm 27:3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear;

Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident.

The psalmist is King David who was chosen and anointed by God and yet he had severe troubles from enemies, false witnesses. He probably was in a situation where in, he looked around and finds that he is surrounded by the enemy without a way out. Yet he says his heart shall not fear, he is confident in one thing “Yahweh”. In verse 1 he says, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? “The Message bible says, in verse 2: When besieged, I’m calm as a baby. When all hell breaks loose, I’m collected and cool. Confident means certain, a strong belief. David had his assurance not on his position, wealth or strength , he is totally relying on God, his trust is on Yahweh who is his light, one who saves and protects him from harm and is his strength so, he is “calm as a baby’ that he is going to be fine.

John 2:2-3 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” This is the famous wedding at Cana. It was customary for the Jews to serve wine at the weddings, it plays an important role in Jewish tradition during weddings, symbolic of joy and happiness. At the wedding at Cana, the wine had run out and instead of joy the family would be put to shame and great embarrassment with which they would have to live all their lives, Jesus was in the house, He was “invited” and his mother was quite confident that Jesus can resolve this issue. The disciples were committed in obeying Jesus, their faith was tremendous that water was turned to wine, Jesus’ first miracle in public. Jesus resolved the issue by turning water into the “best wine saved for the last” according to the guests!!

John 1:11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. This verse indicates that we must receive Jesus and verse 12: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: says that just receiving is not enough “we must believe” in Him.
Are you surrounded by challenges? Debt, with your job, sickness, your children, family what not! Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” David knew his God very well, he knew if there is one person he can rely on, then that was Yahweh, who has never failed him and will never fail him, his mercy is renewed each morning.

Jesus has already disarmed the enemy on the cross of Calvary, we are in safe and the best hands ever.

Col 2:15 having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Jesus said,”do not afraid, only BELIEVE”!!!! Don’t look at your circumstances, your issues, your challenges but let your focus be on Jesus the way maker, miracle worker, your redeemer, Saviour and the faithful God!

Sol.Lalitha Menon

TEMPTATION BY THE WORLD

I John 2:15 – Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

The term world does not always refer to the universe as created by God. It often is used to describe the community of sinful humanity that possesses a spirit of rebellion against God. “We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19).

Because of its opposition to God, the world values those things that are contrary to God’s will: “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Its temptations to the believer are thus twofold: lust for the sensual and pride in the mastery of one’s own life.

The attraction of the world is amplified by Satan who is head of its system. He is called the “ruler of this world” “Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” (John 12:31).

“I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.

(John 14:30) “Of judgement, because the ruler of this world is judged,” (John 16:11).

“And the whole world is said to be under his power. (I John 5:19), where “wickedness” can also be translated as “wicked one”).

Some of the tragic effects that love of the world will produce in the believer’s life are:

a) A turning away from the Lord’s work and other believers.

“For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and had departed from Thessalonica – Crescens from Galatia, Titus from Dalmatia.” (2 Timothy 4:10);

b) Alienation from God.

“Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4).

c) Corrupting sins.

“by which we have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:4);

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (I John 2:15-17);

d) Deception by false teachers.

Beloved do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (I John 4:1)

For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and an antichrist. (2 John 1:7)
The solution to the love of the world is to have greater love for the Father (I John 2:15).

The Christian who seeks daily to please God in everything and who strives for spiritual growth through prayer, study of God’s Word and witnessing need not fall prey to the temptations of the world.


Sol.Gerardo J. Fernandes

How We Fight Our Battles – the Kingdom way are you fighting a battle right now?

The interesting word “fight” is that it is not the word used when the Bible talks about the ‘Lord fighting for us’. Yet this is so often how we approach our battles. We exert a lot of energy, we attempt to gain power over the attacks, and we argue with the enemy. In this way, we are tricked into a power struggle that actually doesn’t even exist.

Luke 10:19 reminds us of this: “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.”

All power means all! In our battles, the enemy has already been defeated. Our circumstances are nothing more than external pressures through which the enemy attempts to bait us into battles that we were never meant to fight in this way.

Psalm 23:5 promises that the Lord will set a table for us in the presence of our enemies. This beautiful picture illustrates what it is to be the dinner guest of the Lord while the external circumstances rage on. While we are seated as guests at the table of The Lord, the enemy’s tactics pose no threat. *Eating at the Lord’s Table* It takes both peace and stillness to eat. In other words, we can’t eat and be battling in the effort-exerting and mentally exhausting way the world fights.

Because of this, peace and stillness are the two areas the enemy wants to attack, and both are mental postures. Peace doesn’t profess that battles aren’t happening, but peace draws quiet confidence from the fact that they are already won. Like watching a movie we’ve already seen the end of, we can know, even in times of “conflict,” that the outcome is assured. God is pursuing us in every area where we’ve “lost our appetite” for pursuing what He has made us for. Be it because of fear, worry, a sick heart, chaos, a busy lifestyle, or a performance mentality, God wants to break off what made us lose our appetite so that He can prepare our plate.

If you had me over to your house as a dinner guest, and I came in and immediately raided your fridge as you were cooking, it would probably be off-putting. As a guest, you expect me to come, enjoy and receive what you have prepared without feeling the need to serve myself, fix the meal or plan the evening.God struck my heart with this modern-day parable, saying, “You so often want to fix it yourself, when I am already preparing something. You need only to listen and receive.” Just like a dinner guest, He will invite us to help in areas that bless His efforts. If He hasn’t given us an action directive, our well-intentioned efforts may actually be “getting in the way in the kitchen.” *Trust Him with Your Battles* So what does it look like to battle in the Kingdom of Heaven? Eat at the table the Lord sets. And what does it look like to eat? “‘My food,’ said Jesus,

‘is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work'” (Luke 4:34).

Jesus prayed for our daily bread – a beautiful echoing of the daily manna received in the wilderness.How we posture ourselves in seasons of battle is this: We receive each day what the Lord would put on our plate. We have the delight and joy of partnering in continuing the work of Jesus and in bringing God’s love, Gospel and Kingdom to this earth. Each day there is a “portion” we can delightfully consume that involves doing God’s will by partnering with Him on His adventures and missions. When we are delightfully digesting what the Lord is doing in and through us, we are warring in a way that is a thousand times more effective than any “battling” we could do in our own strength.There is a “table” the Lord wants to seat you at in this season, but in order to do so, you must lay down your “battling” in the hands of the Lord. As we trust Him with our battles and receive from Him our daily feast, we will find that in seeking His Kingdom first (before the solutions to our battles), He will take care of all the rest encounter.

Questions Here are some questions to ask the Lord in your prayer time, and then wait for His answers:

1. What battle do I need to stop fighting and realize that You have already won?

2. What does it look like to eat instead of fight in my season?

3. What delightful things are You putting on my “plate” today that the enemy wants to distract me from?

Sol. Joan

Can Our Good Works Save Us?

If our good works can save us from eternal damnation Christ is crucified for nothing. God has made a provision for our salvation and restoration through faith in His crucifixion, just by faith alone by His grace. You cannot please God by any means other than faith in Him and His grace.

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
John 6:29

He was sent to give His life a ransom for all who believe in His crucifixion. All religions seek God through traditional practices, and try to please god through rituals, rites, ceremonies, charity works, doing good and so on. In christianity you cannot please God through any of these. You can please God only through believing in Christ and His crucifixion. Jesus Christ came seeking man and accomplished His own sacrifice for the redemption of man.

“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? “
Hebrews 9:14

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),Ephesians 2:4‭-‬5

What is born of flesh is carnal and what is born of the spirit is spiritual.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
II Corinthians 5:17

The new creation happened when the Word of God is heard ànd was believed and it was considered righteousness.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.Romans 10:17

Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—Galatians 3:5

God supplies the spirit when we hear the Word of God. When the spirit starts controlling our lives we do good works. Our good works cannot give us salvation. Salvation happens by faith in the crucified Christ.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.Ephesians 2:8‭-‬10


We have no role to perform except believing in the redemption through crucified Christ. So your good works have no role in your salvation. When you believe you are saved and the Holy Spirit takes charge of you. You know that you belong to Christ and start living imitating Christ. Still there are chances that we err and sin which in turn will grieve the Holy Spirit who is with us. He reminds us of sin and we repent and return to God again. This is an ongoing process of sanctification. We truly repent and try to lead a holy life. Still we know that our righteous actions are like the dirty rag. We will be rewarded in the end for our good actions, but this cannot give us salvation. Righteousness is the product of salvation through faith in Christ alone by grace alone.

“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. “
II Corinthians 5:9‭-‬10

Prayer

^{Thank you Lord for your abundant mercy towards us. Thank you Lord for saving us through faith in you by your grace. Thank you Jesus for sealing us with the Holy Spirit, giving Him as our constant companion. Thank you for the salvation through your great sacrifice. Help us to live worthy of you. We are unable to do anything to please you except through faith in You. Help us to stand firm in faith and in Your grace. Forgive our weaknesses. Help us to lead a holy life. Thank you Lord. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen}

Sol. Salomi Kurian

LESSON FROM THE STORY OF KING HEZEKIAH

King Hezekiah was the king of Judah. There is no other king as good as Hezekiah among all the kings of Judah, because he did what was right in the sight of the Lord. Just as his ancestor David had done. His father Ahaz is very unfaithful king in Judah.

Lesson to be learned from Hezekiah:

1. II chronicles 29:2 says, “he did what was right in the sight of the Lord” Just as his ancestor David had done.
   By the time Hezekiah became king, the whole kingdom was in darkness and the kingdom was filled with idol worship and sin. He wanted to cleanse his kingdom, his people and he land. Are we trying to see the filthy we are inside and trying to cleanse?
   The temple cleansed
2. II chronicles 29:3-4
   His father closed the door of the temple King Hezekiah opened the doors of and repaired. God temple was filled with filthy things from holy place (your heart). After becoming king first his attention turned towards the Gods temple. And he asked people to sanctify themselves the temple too.
   I cor 3:16 do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple. And that God’s spirit dwells in you.
   Rev 3:20
   I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
   HEZEKIAH OPENED THE DOORS OF HIS/PEOPLES HEART TO LET GOD TO COME IN
3. II CHRONICLES 29:7 They…put out the lamps means (closed Bibles) not reading word of God because the word of God says: your word is lamp to my “way” Man lives by every word that comes from mouth of God. HEZEKIAH realised this that the lamps were put our
4. II chronicles 29:7 have not offered incense or made burnt offerings means incense refers to praying they stopped praying because word of God says. Ps 141:2 says, “ let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense”.
   or made burnt offerings means stopped worshiping God because job offered burnt offerings every morning (Job1:5) But King Hezekiah restored all that Ahaz stopped doing, that is why there was peace in the kingdom. No battles, happiness in the hearts so they were singing songs and blessing.
   Let us strives to
5. Open our doors of our heart to Jesus
6. Let us allow him to light our lamps – read word of God everyday
7. Pray at all times
8. Worship him alone
   Hezekiah gave first importance to God. That is why God answered his prayer immediately.
   II kings 20:1-6 says in those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah came to him and said to him “thus says, the Lord: set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. “ remember now, o Lord, I implore you, how I have walked before you in faithfulness with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight”.
   Hezekiah wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord O came to him. Turn back, and say to Hezekiah prince of my people. Thus says the Lord the God of your ancestor David. I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears indeed, will heal you, on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king Assyria.
   Our prayer can be answered immediately if we are faithful to God and do what is good in God’s sight.
   PRAYER:
   Oh Lord, remember me, I implore you, help me to walk faithfully with whole heart and to do what is right in your sight.
   AMEN

Sol.Annapureddy Balareddy