Author: news

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

When God, When?

For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

2 Corinthians 1:20

Do you sometimes wonder WHEN God’s promises will manifest in your life?

Yes, Delays are a strategic tactic of the devil. It’s during the delays that he seeks to fill our mind with doubt. He wants you to ever so slowly lose your trust in God’s willingness to answer your prayer.  He wants you to become hopeless, thinking that things will never happen for you. But if you seriously have it in you, you won’t give up. There will be tough times only to make you tougher, that’s what I have been through. Delayed but not denied, for I know ‘God never delays his promise’ and the setbacks have refined my strategies.

The devil wants us to believe that God’s promises are not true. He wants us distracted, stressed out, and anxious about our future rather than resting in knowing that God’s promises are true for each one of us.

 When we look up and see Jesus in the midst of our situation, we see more clearly that He is right there with us. He’s loves you and me and wants to give us the desires of our heart.

 In Daniel’s case, when he looked up and saw God’s messenger, the messenger acknowledged, “I have come in response to your words” (Daniel 10:12 NASB). He said he had been dispatched to bring the answer as soon as God heard Daniel’s request.

What had caused the delay?

 It wasn’t anything that Daniel had done. It wasn’t anything God had done. Evil spiritual forces had interrupted the dispatch and caused the delay. Have any of us considered that spiritual forces are causing the delay in the manifestation of God’s promise in our life? 

The delay is meant to make us give up, to become hopeless, and to no longer expect that God’s promises will come to pass in our life. And we know, that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). A delay is not denial, but a time of preparing you for the promise. It is very hard when we cannot “see” God in action. But that doesn’t mean He isn’t acting on our behalf.

Has God given you a promise that has yet to be fulfilled? Perhaps, while reading the Bible, a verse lit up. You blinked, having never really noticed before; the words jumped off the page and pierced your heart. Or maybe you received a specific answer to a request while you were praying.

But then nothing happened. In fact, your circumstances turned for the worse. Did you misinterpret God’s intentions? Was it all in your head? Where are the promised blessings?

God gave Joseph, the son of Jacob, (see Genesis 37-48) a promise that one day he would rule. But then, for the next thirteen years everything went exactly opposite to the promise. His brothers, who hated him, sold him to the Egyptians. As a slave in Potiphar’s house, he was falsely accused of raping his master’s wife. Then he was thrown into prison and forgotten.

Joseph refused to let his circumstances shape his outlook. He allowed no self-pity or bitterness to rob him of energy. Instead, he chose to use each circumstance ― whether at home, at Potiphar’s house, or in prison ― as God’s appointed place where he would serve him with all of his heart. God eventually blessed Joseph and made him a blessing to others.

Instead of using the delayed promise as a reason to grumble against God, Joseph kept it in the back of his mind to give him courage and strength. He let go of expectations of how and when God would carry out the promise. In the meantime, God was up to something much bigger than he could have imagined. In time – God’s time! – Joseph’s life changed. His wisdom and loyalty was recognized. Eventually he became Pharaoh’s right-hand man, the second in command over all of Egypt. In this role, Joseph ended up saving the lives of his whole family and became reunited with them. He also saved most of Egypt from starvation.

God has a good plan for our lives also. They may not be as grand as that of Joseph, but God has a purpose for each of 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” (Jeremiah 29:11). These are not just words written down for people thousands of years ago. They resonate with us today. God’s promise is real in any age and time. We might have to wait for that promise to come to fruition, though.

Trust Him even when life doesn’t make sense. There is a purpose in what you are going through. Perhaps God is trying to correct your course. It could be that He is using these trials to teach you to lean more on Him, trust His timing, and strengthen your faith. You may be going through this because how you respond may influence others in their decisions to follow Christ. It is possible that wading through all of this mess in your life will help you lead someone else through a similar circumstance later on. Like Joseph, we may not see the purpose for our struggles until much later. But also like him, we should remain faithful and trust that God knows what is happening.

God may seem silent but that doesn’t mean he has walked away. He is actually at work in the background. Like a building coming up behind a wall, we can’t always see the progress. But that doesn’t mean nothing is happening. God’s good plan is being carried out and this set of circumstances is needed to prepare you for those plans. As Joseph’s life points out, even tragedy and evil can be part of God’s plan for good.

 Prayer

Lord, thank You for sending this much-needed word to remind me that delay is not denial, and You will show up mightily in my circumstances. I praise You for confirming that You have heard my prayer and will manifest the answers I have been desperately waiting to receive. In the meantime, I will continue to trust You and hold fast to Your promises, for You are ever faithful and true. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Closing Thought God is never too early; He’s never too late; He’s always on time! His delays are not denials.

Sol. Fiona

I received 2 Chr 20:20-29 for our monthly worship prayer time on 31/3/23.

Here are a few thoughts I would like to share which we can learn from King Jehoshaphat’s life.

Jehoshaphat was one of the most righteous rulers of Israel. While this king had many strengths and obeyed God, there are still lessons we can learn from his leadership. These include the following:

1. We need to surround ourselves with the right people. King Jehoshaphat had good intentions, but he surrounded himself with King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel. Because of this, he opened himself up spiritually to a host of problems and bad counsel. Make sure those around us are committed to the Lord & His ways.

2. We need to maintain a constant humility before God. As armies converged on Israel, King Jehoshaphat called for a nation-wide fast. Everyone humbled themselves before God—even down to the children! They considered God their foremost priority. Are we willing to give up things that are standing in the way of our closeness with God?

3. We must always go back to the Word. King Jehoshaphat sought the Word of the Lord, and so must we. Every day, we must go back to the Word, and surround ourselves with people who do the same. If we do this, we’ll remember that It’s not about how strong we are, but how strong God is!

Israel’s victory against their enemies wasn’t because Jehoshaphat was a great king. It wasn’t because Israel was skilled in battle. Their victory came because th ohh b5ey fell on their faces and surrendered to their all-powerful God. Let us fight our battles in the same way, and see the victory like Jehoshaphat had in our own lives!

The enemy is an impostor. He “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour”(1 Pet 5:8). He is being exposed in this hour. The King of our hearts, our Lion of Judah is roaring over His Bride, the Church. His roar is calling us higher, awakening our spirits to hear & be in tune with all He wants to do. Fight smart this hour. Paul has given us divinely inspired words to walk by concerning our warfare(2Cor 10:3-5)

2 Corinthians 10:3 -5 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

We will do well not to fight our spiritual battles according to worldly wisdom or tactics & choose how we react in every situation that comes up. Our senses must detect the enemy’s evil schemes & send their camp to confusion by our godly responses.

Also a member of the body of Christ with whom  I am associated with received a vision on 1st April,23 that all of Heaven was rejoicing over the church awakening in India. So keep it up soldiers, God is moving in Splendour

Sol. Joan

Armor of God

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes

Ephesians 6:10

In tamil translation & KJV English version we can see the word wiles used in the place of schemes of the devil meaning cunning or tricks of the devil.

In our life some people would have conned us. We perceive them to be good at first but later we find them cunning and lying to us. If these people are cunning how much more satan will be whose is behind these people to deceive us and take us away from God.

How do we protect ourselves from these devil schemes?

The answer as per the above verse is to put on the armor of God

In the Navy warships when the soldiers to go to bed they keep their uniform, shoes and other things ready. When there is an emergency and when the siren rings they get ready within a minute and get ready for the emergency. This practice is followed all  365 days even when there is no war or threat near them.

Are we putting the armor of God when we get up from bed?

 We are in a war with satan and every morning when we wake up satan is planning schemes against our family, our travel, our job etc.

But when we get up and sit with The Lord we can put on the armor of God. The first part is to praise and thank God for all he has done and the second part is to examine our life about the previous day what we have missed and what we have done wrong against God  & confess our sins &get cleansed by the blood of Christ . Because everyday we may miss something and sin against God & may not know it . But on the next day when we examine ourselves in the light of The Holy Spirit we can find our short comings & when we confess it God is good & faithful to forgive & cleanse us.

We are all humans & we may sin knowingly & unknowingly & each sin gives enemy to advance or gain more power against us. When we confess then we can put on the 4 armors of God

1.Belt of truth

2.Breast plate of righteousness

3.Helmet of salvation

4.Feet with the readiness of The Gospel

When we pray & mediate on the world of god we will be prepared with the 5. the sword of the spirit & 6. shield of faith to attack the enemy when he comes to us with a spiritual attack

Everyday morning when we wake up we have to do this. Once I saw a prayer group having this beautiful quote “Part time Christians cannot fight full time devil” . Yes this is true because we cannot fight a devil who is planning evil schemes at us day & night without sitting with the lord in prayer.

Prayer

Our loving heavenly father we pray that we have wear your armour & stand against the devil schemes & gain victory over the enemy, In Jesus name I pray , Amen.

Sol.Leo

Do not limit God

Our wrong belief systems can limit God in our lives.

Proverbs 23:7 tells us that as the man things in his heart, so is he . The way we think decides the way we live our lives (Romans 12:2).

God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34) and He wants to do absolutely miraculous things in each of our lives

( Jer 29:11; psalms 139:14) !! God has called you for something beyond yourself and reach the people around you; The people in your sphere of influence like your family members, neighbours, friends and co-workers. ‘Yeah, they turned back and tempted God and limited the holy one of Israel’ Psalms 78 ;41. None of us have exhausted, Gods ability, resources, and power for our lives.

God is infinite and huge! And he calls us to do something that is beyond yourself ! ‘For you, see your calling Brother , how that not many wiseman after the flesh , not many mighty, not many noble are called’ 1 Cor 1:26 .

Healing is one area where we can limit God .

According to 3 John 2, God does not want a sick yet we often limit God in how he can heal us. ‘And Moses was 120 years old when he died and his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated’ Deut 34:7 . If God will do that for a person in the old covenant, imagine how much more he will do for those of us, who are under the new covenant !! We limit God by thinking that things have to be a certain way just because that is the way others are experiencing it. ‘If thou shall say in thin heart, these nations are more than I ; how can I dispose them?’ Deut 7:17 . When the Israelites doubted God’s promise , they limited God and He couldn’t drive out the enemy nations ( Heb 4:2) For the good news was preach to us as well as to them . But the word preached did not benefit them because it was not mixed with faith in those who hear it. ( 2 cor 10:12)

Some of you are praying for your life to be different, and you have no joy. You are depressed because you are not doing what God called you to do. God is pulling you one way, but you have decided to go another since that is what you have learnt so far from the world, from others!

God wants to flow through you …. ‘ now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that work in us.’ Eph 3:20

‘But you will love and build yourself up in your most holy faith ; pray in the Holy Spirit .’Jude 20 . Likewise, in the area of finances too, we are given the choice. We do not have to let the world dictate over our finances. Our finances are dictated by heavens economy, not the system of this world . If we are average, that means we aren’t good or bad, we are lukewarm (Rev 3:16).

Believer should be doing better than the average person since Jesus died to deliver us from the present evil world( Gal 1:14) . God said we Are the head and not the tail ( Deut 28:13)

We are supposed to be rejoicing in the midst of our problems. There is no excuses, but there are reasons we face certain problems.

Sol.Deepthi Jones

“He that goeth forth and weepeth ,bearing precious seed,shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him”. 

Psalms 126:6

           We need to go forth.We cannot sit in depression and bemoaning our fate. The Lord had set a time for weeping and a time for rejoicing like the time for sowing and time for reaping. That is why in Psalms  30:5 it is written “…..weeping may endure for a night , but joy cometh in the morning “.

The climatic factors favourable for the growth of the crop plants, like the period of sunshine, cloud cover,rain etc are not in our hands.Similarly in between weeping period and rejoicing what all things happen to us are not in our hands,it is in God’s  hand.We need to be patient holding on to the precious seed of the word of God.The seed is precious for it gives hope.The seed is precious  as it is the seed of goodness,greatness,glory,hope and salvation of all mankind.It is the seed of excellence,success and fulfilment.

                  When we cry out and pray to God with genuine faith and thanksgiving,the Lord will see our tears of faith,and He will wipe our tears.He values our tears of repentance and He will encourage, comfort and strengthen us.We need to carry the seed to our work place.We need to be messengers of the Lord wherever We go.

^{Our tears of repentance, gratitude and love moisten the precious seed  and cause it to germinate and grow. We need to spend hours and hours in prayer with tears and thanksgiving claiming His promises. The word of God is a bag of powerful precious seed. We need to dip into this bag as often as we can for the Lord is the giver of seed. Lord gave His Son,Jesus,who fell to the earth like a seed,died and rose  again and multiplied to populate the kingdom of God. We need to intercede for the human souls of this world with tears and pleading.}

               Lord assures us with the word “doubtless”,that we find the tearfully sowed seed developed into a flourishing crop( soul).As the farmer waits for the seed to grow,we need to be patient and wait with hope for the fulfilment of the promises. A man of faith rejoices even before he receives the fulfilment of the promise or the actual harvest.

Philippians 4:4 says “ Rejoice in the Lord always:and again I say, Rejoice.”

We should not keep the seed to ourselves but sow where it is needed in the life of others.

                _{In my life I have that awesome experience that whenever I was afflicted ,I claimed the promises for that particular affliction and got delivered.God is faithful, He will fulfill it in His own time. So wait patiently with faith and expectation.}

        Father God give us the grace to overcome all our problems depending upon the precious seed,Your Word.In the name of Jesus Christ ,I. Pray.Amen

Sol.Gigi Jacob