What can I offer the Lord for all the Goodness to me? I will take a cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord (psalm 116:12, 13).
The best method of expressing gratitude is depicted through the life of Mary Magdalene of Galilee. Jesus had cast seven demons from her (Mark 16.9). There after, she followed him like a shadow till she had seen the resurrected God. We believers have received many blessings from God and we are expected to do the same. Now Let us trace her noble deeds.
Jesus travelled through towns and villages and spread the gospel. His 12 disciples were with him and so did some women. Among them, Mary Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household and Susanna are mentioned. These women were helping to support Jesus out of their own means (Luke 8:1-3)
• Some women were following from Galilee to care Him. They were Mary Magdalene. Mary the mother of James and Jose’s and Wife of Zebedee (Math 27.55, Mark 15:41)
• Mary Magdalene was among many women, who were watching the Crucification of Jesus from distance. (Math 27:55 a)
• Mary was among the one, who stood near the cross, besides, Jesus’ mother, his mother’s,sister, and Mary the wife of Cleophas, (19:25,26) His only disciple observed near the cross was John.
. On the first day of the week, at dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb, to place spices on his body. (Math 28:1)
• They heard the angles say “Do not be afraid, He had risen, just as he had said” (Mat 28.6) The Angel said “Go quickly and tell his disciples that He had risen from the dead and was going to Galilee” (Math 28.7).
• In John 20:11 -16, we see Mary was crying. She turned around and saw Jesus. Thinking Him as a gardener, she said to him “If you took him away Sir, tell where you have put him” Jesus said to her “Mary “and she said “Rabbani”. He said “Go to my brothers and tell them “I am returning to my father.”
They were the ones to run in joy to tell his disciples about the risen god. (Math 28.8)
Testimony
God has done great things and many miracles in my life. Yet, what I do for him is like mustard only.
Prayer
Merciful father, help us to follow you like Mary Magdalene, bearing our crosses and tell others that you are our savior and the living God.
Behold Children are an heritage from the Lord, fruit of the womb is a reward.
Psalm 127:3
Whenever we think of heritage (an Inheritance) in a worldly point of view we think of Land, some wealth producing asset, Jewelry or Money. Usually whatever you receive as Inheritance is not earned or not toiled for. You receive Inheritance only because you are the heir. To be more clear, our fathers or grandfathers toiled and sweated to procure some wealth and when the time comes it is passed on to us as we are the rightful heirs. It’s at best a gift, a possession that can accelerate our standing or a value addition to what we have or what we toil for. Moreover our Inheritance puts us in advantageous position and has the potential to reduce our burden.
Now when we use this context of Inheritance to Psalm 127: 3 it changes our perspective on our children.
God gave a wonderful realization to me while I was meditating this verse. Did you realize your children are the only gift that directly comes from heaven, that you can feel and touch. You don’t receive any Gold or silver directly from heaven of course God provides it through his creations but Children are known by God even before they are put in their mothers womb. This proves they directly come from God.
Now that we have clearly seen that children are an Inheritance which clearly means we are blessed to receive them. With this is in mind I would like present the 3 attitudes or mindset we have to cultivate or about our children
1) Children are an Inheritance and hence a blessing:
A Inheritance is always a blessing when we receive some form of wealth from our ancestors, it’s always a blessing and everyone in his right mind will gladly receive a Inheritance as it is a blessing, we would not despise it or throw it away.
Similarly Proverbs 10:22 says when God gives a blessing he does not add sorrow to it. So our attitude towards our children should always be that they are a blessing and God will not add sorrow. Do not despise a child because of your current financial or social condition or because of gender. They are a precious blessing not to be discarded.
2) Our Inheritance needs to be protected:
Imagine your ancestor gave you a piece of land in a prime area. If someone else tries to encroach would you not take any action even if the encroachment was a few centimeters.
The people of Israel were asked to posses the promised land and also to protect it from any form pollution or encroachment and the method God asked them to employ is to completely destroy the enemies swatting on their land.
This is the attitude you must have towards your children protect them at all costs. Destroy and annihilate the enemy completely. You may ask but how can I do this. God says put on the armor of God and use the sword of the spirit the word of God.
3) Inheritance needs to become an investment
An Inheritance is useless if it does not grow. Imagine again you were given 1 million us dollars by your father, it would be useless if you simply lock it in your cupboard, the value of the money will decrease over time ( if you consider the current rate of inflation) the least you could do is put it in the bank and it will earn interest. Similarly your children needs to become an investment for the kingdom of God. With God’s guidance invest them, which means give all the necessary platforms, tools and empowerment for them to become productive and fruitful in whatever sphere or influence that God has ordained for them.
At this point of meditation, God reminded me of the parable of talents. We ( as parents) are only stewards just like those in the parable of talents ( Mathew 25: 14-30). God expects that we increase the productivity of our children by 10 fold or 5 fold, make them excellent in their fields by inculcating values and make them valuable assets that can do exploits for the Kingdom of God and give them completely back to him because they are his given to us as Inheritance. But if you cannot do that at least put them in the bank (Mathew 25:27). God revealed to me that just as banks are typically an authorized entity to mange and grow our assets and also has the infrastructure capability to keep our assets in safe, church ( body of God) and spiritual leaders are the banks, the least you could do is put them under a spiritual authority protected by the church they will surely bear interest.
With this attitude in mind let’s view our children as an Inheritance from God.
Finally in psalm 127: 4 & 5 the verse compares children to arrows. Why arrows ? God opened my eyes to this as well.
In Ephesians 6: 10 -18 we see the description of the armor of God but you must note all that is for personal defense and offense for your spiritual warfare. God is a God of multiplication he wants to always expand our territories and boundaries but we cannot be manning all gates or posts at the same time.
We can attack our enemy only to a small radius with a sword. But if we have an arrow we can use it to attack an enemy that stands at a distance. Arrows are the right weapon of choice when you need to secure your boundaries that are at a distance. The arrows will transform into an outpost and further expand the kingdom of God into the direction the God ordains
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. “
Roman 8:36.
As the above scripture says, true believers’ lives cannot be without challenges. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ faces various turmoil and challenges in his or her life. To live a Christians life means to carry your cross and walk behind Jesus .
As the verse Luke 9:23 says it means sacrificing yourself .we have two ways in front of us. Mathew 7:13-14 says,” Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Narrow is the path that leads to life.Narrow path is the difficult path to walk on. It demands forgiving people. We need to tolerate many things while dealing with people.
We require patience. We need to love people. We need to bless people and help them selflessly. It is the path of believers in which we need to walk in faith in every circumstances . To forgive people and to love them with the love of God we really need God’s grace. Broad path is very easy to walk on as we don’t need any grace and strength from God .It is a very comfortable path.
What path we choose it is completely our decision. Very few people opt for this path. Those who take the narrow path have to remain meek and gentle and carry their cross to follow Jesus .They obey Jesus without any maliciousness. They try to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness. They remain in the love of God no matter how much they suffer or persecuted.
Prayer
Loving father help us in walking on to Your path and obey You .let thy wish and will be done in our lives. Help us to show love to everyone with patience and to remain in faith always.
“Wait on the Lord:be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord “.
Psalms27:14
The above verse is David’s testimony and after his experiences he assures us that” wait , I say on the Lord”. Yes , David got his strength from the Lord after patiently enduring the problems. Wait on the Lord means, we have to wait at Lord’s door with prayers ,and at His feet with humility. As we wait on the Lord He will fill us with Hope and Joy by the power of the Holy Spirit.The Lord requires our faith,patience,humility,meekness, long suffering, keeping His Commandments and enduring to the end. He will never fail His promises .
The verse again exhort us by saying. “Be of good courage”. We are soldiers of King Jesus. So He will strengthen our heart .If we wait upon the Lord we will receive many favours and blessings which the eye has not seen what God has prepared for us, who wait for Him.(1 Corinthians 2:9)”But as it is written,Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man , the things which God has prepared for them that love Him”.
The Holy Spirit who is in us is greater than he who is in the world., and we are provided with the whole armour of God.
God commanded Joshua,to be strong and courageous in the face of the enemy.Joshua1:6”Be strong and of a good courage “.To be strong and courageous means trusting in the Lord as our true source of strength. Our faith and personal relationship with the Lord brings confidence, a sense of absolute. Security and endurance in us, knowing that regardless of how long the struggle lasts, in the end we have victory.We look upon ourselves as winners, And we do not grumble about the hardships because the scripture says “Guard your heart with all diligence: for out of it are the issues of life”.Proverbs4:23. Our natural heart is deceitful and easily deceived. So it has to be circumcised by the spirit of God. The world and its sinful activities need to be separated from our hearts. This is possible only by filling us with the Word and mediating the Word. Then the evil fruit of our old nature will be replaced by our new nature, that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord will prepare the heart of the believer. The Lord strengthen our heart and give us courage. When the world expects us to crash, He causes us to rise on wings like an eagle which has regrown its feathers after having lost it for a time. Our most fears evaporate. We sense a growing joy in our hearts “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary: and they shall walk, and not faint.
Prayer
Heavenly Father give us the patience to wait for your time in the face of our afflictions like David. Increase our trust and faith in you and help u s to follow your commandments.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said Let there be light and there was light. (Genesis 1: 1-4).
When you read this verse how do you feel? Is there anything which goes deep into your heart? Yes, as for me when I read this verse, I got many answers from this.
God Created it is God who creates everything. I know you believe right! But here you need to focus on how God created HE created it by using HIS Word. here you can see the power of HIS Word.
Now turn your Bible to John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Here we see that the Word was God.
When we read the scriptures carefully, we see that the people of God had a different encounter of God. When we see Abraham our father through Faith. Abraham heard God, Moses encounter God in the form of burning bush, Jacob had a dream angels were ascending and descending, Samuel Heard God calling out his name, and many more we will see.
But here is the question for you, how you had an encounter with God?
When we see old Testament people heard God during the days of Moses people heard shofar and were terrified. In the New Testament we see the Living Word and His Name is JESUS. The Name of JESUS is above every other Name.
How many of us believe that reading the Word of God is as important as praying and worshiping?
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Here in this verse we see All Scripture is God-breathed, when God created the Man God breath see in (Genesis 2:7).And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Reading the Word of God is the most important thing for all the believers. The more you read the Word the more you are feed your spirit. Fill your mind with Word and let it settle deep down in your Heart and you will see how your lives will be transformed and how your minds will be renewed. Without the the sword in your hands how can you attack the enemy in the battle ground? Today you decide to take up the battle and start attacking the enemy with the Word of God. Do not grow weary in reading and meditating the Word of God. You can be a conqueror. we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. See (Rom 8:37)
Now use the scriptures and receive your miracles, healings, Deliverance etc. the Word will grow and multiply. The more you speak the Word the more you see your manifestation of your faith.
God owns us. He paid a huge price for each one of us. Jesus was thinking of us when He was carrying the cross. He willingly paid the price to redeem us.
1 Peter 2:9 says” but you are a chosen people, a royal preisthood , a holy nation, God’s special possession that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light”.
He created you and me to be a unique personality . He came to you when sin separated you from Him. He loves you unconditionally .He is never ashamed to own you.
What a privilege that you are His special possession. Don’t worry when people disown you. Your God is still there for you.
But what did you do for Him. Being with Jesus changes every aspect of our life. Spend more and more time with God and you will never be the same again.
Boldness never comes from what you have. Boldness never comes from what you know .Boldness never comes from your talents and gifts. Boldness never comes from knowing your enemies’ weakness. Boldness comes when you spend time with Him. Talk to Him first when you go out. Your enemies will be baffled. People around you will be astonished. People would know that you had been with Him.
Acts 4:13 -“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. “
Prayer
Father, we thank You for coming down and redeeming us from all our sins and taking the cross for the entire mankind. Give us the boldness that comes by staying in Your presence in Jesus name we ask. Amen.
Let’s see some families which were chosen by God and their traits.
Examples of Good Families: And besides all that, the Word of God also supplies us with many fine examples of Godly families.
1. The Family of Noah is the first example of a Godly family:
In Genesis 6:18 God told Noah “But with thee will I establish My covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.” In a world so wicked that God brought destructive judgment upon it, the family of Noah was the only family living in obedience to the Lord. How wonderful it must have been to see Noah and his three sons with their respective wives working and building the ark together, and also experiencing God’s deliverance from the Flood together as a family. Perhaps one of the reasons why Noah was able to stand firm against the evil of his day was because he enjoyed the peace and sanctity of a godly home. That is one of the benefits of belonging to a godly family. Dearly beloved, like Noah we are living today in the midst of an ungodly world. How great therefore is our need to have godly homes, good Christian families that will enable each family member to stand against the strong evil influences around us.
2. The family of Moses is another example:
The 11th chapter of Hebrews tells us of the faith of Amram and Jochebed, the parents of Moses who defied pharaoh’s command by faith and hid Moses for three months. When they could no longer hide him, they floated him down the Nile River in a basket and God caused Moses to be found by the Egyptian princess. Amram and Jochebed had three children: Aaron and Miriam, the siblings of Moses, served God as high priest and prophetess respectively, and Moses of course became the great deliverer and Lawgiver of Israel.
3. In the book of Jeremiah (chapter 35)
the obedience of the family of Jonadab the son of Rehab is used by God as an example for the disobedient nation of Israel. The Rechabites strictly observed their father’s command to dwell in tents and to abstain from drinking wine. Even when Jeremiah offered to them pots of good wine, they refused to yield.
4. In the New Testament one family that is mentioned very favourably was the family of Philip the evangelist.
Acts 21:8,9 – “And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” The remarkable thing about Philip’s family that Luke observed was that his four unmarried daughters were serving the Lord, like Philip, their father. Verse 8 tells us that they prophesied. This could have two meanings. It could mean that they were all endowed with a special gift of receiving supernatural predictions from God, in an age when the written Word was not available to believers yet. Or alternatively it could mean that they like their father were engaged in proclaiming the Gospel, and teaching God’s Word. Whatever v.8 means, one thing is definite: Philip’s daughters loved the Lord as much as their father. And the fact that warms our hearts is that they were serving God together as a family. According to Eusebius the church historian, Philip and his four daughters later moved to Hierapolis in Asia Minor because of persecution, and there they provided the famous church father Papias with valuable information for his writings on the early days of the Jerusalem church.
III. The Principles for Christian Family Life
Having seen how prominent the family is in the Bible, we now go on to learn some principles that must serve as the foundation or basis of the Christian family. Now these principles need to be practiced and applied, and there is not enough time now to discuss the very many practical issues in family life that are involved in applying them. Right now we are going to look at the two principles that form the basis for building a godly Christian home: The first is commitment to each other and then commitment to God.
“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!”
Psalms 90:17
Anything we do without the Lord’s help and blessing amounts to nothing.
We should leave our work on God quietly in his hands. We should let God look after them. We have to be ensured that the motives are right, and if they are right, the work will be eternal.
“Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”
Psalms 5:12
The grace of the Lord flows and overflows; it surrounds us on all sides, and covers us all over. It is as a shield unto us from all our enemies. He is the shield of salvation which shelters from divine justice, and secures from wrath to come.
Testimony
In my office, one of my junior colleagues is very aggressive and violent by nature. Last days, he had some issue with my boss and left one of the major and important work deliberately. My boss asked me to do that work because time was very short and that was to be completed anyhow. That colleague was neither ready to do himself nor telling me anything. I prayed to my heavenly father Lord Jesus and sought his favor. You wont believe that person came himself to my seat and offered his help. He didn’t do his work himself but taught me well. This way Lord helped me to learn new things and made him humble also. Lord blessed me with double benefit. All glory to the Lord.
“Remember me, LORD, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them”.
Psalms 106:4
Esther 2:8-9- In Holy Bible, we read when the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem.
She pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food and best place in the harem.
Acts 7:9-10 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him.
Lord rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Phar…
The above people are those who have gone through trials and have overcome. Consoling each other, encouraging one another and inspiring hope are all parts of our ministry to the body of Christ.
God is the God of comfort. His pleasure is to see us living a peaceful life physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
Prayer
O Lord God almighty, I pray that you will look upon us favorably and shower us with your blessings. I thank you because you are the provider of good things, compassionate and considerate. We will put our faith in you O Lord for the rest of our life.
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel ( human race) after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Jeremiah 31:33-34 NKJV
Gods commandments had to be sown in peoples minds and written and stored in their hearts but still mankind chose to disobey and continued to sin.
God still graciously commanded man to eat His commandments ( His Law) and digest it till the intestines
“Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll. And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.”
Ezekiel 3:1-3 NKJV
God still in search of His lost sheep
“Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He spoke this parable to them, saying: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”
Luke 15:1-7 NKJV
So lets confess seek forgiveness and repent from the Saviour while there is time. God bless each living soul in this nation.
Prayer
Father we thank thee for sending Your son to save the lost souls. Give each one of us grace to meditate upon the word of God day and night
” I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Mt. 16:19)
It is the teaching of Jesus about the keys of the kingdom, when He says, ” I will give you the keys of the kingdom.” Which means any faithful Christ’s follower speaks the words with the bedrock of Jesus’s identity at the centre – speaks these words faithfully he/she is using the keys of the kingdom to open the kingdom in people’s lives. We understand the same authority is granted not only to Peter but also to us the A.O.J. We are special in the eyesight of our Lord. We are chosen one to work for His kingdom. We believe in Jesus and His teachings. Jesus speaks to ordinary people in Mt. 18: 18 saying, ” Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. ” Today Jesus is coming to us and speaking to us with same words. When we get big post or job means the employee gives authority to one who is employed. In the same way our Lord has granted each one of us the authority to make use of the keys. Somehow the other we have missed the track, or have not understood this truth, or may be not realized the worth of these words. Now the Lord is making us very clear about it. So, let us wait not, awake. Let us in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ” Bind and destroy the works of the devil.” (1 Jn. 3 : 8) Once my eldest brother who lives in Vadodara told me that a bootlegger has come to stay next to his house. Owing to it various type of people use to come there to buy liquor, so there was some kind of disturbance. Also the other side of my brother’s house a lady was making liquor and selling it. Various people use to come there to buy liquor at any time. That also was a kind of disturbance. One day I had gone to my brother’s house. I prayed and prophesied over bootlegger and the lady. After some days on inquiring about bootlegger and the lady, to my surprise I was told that the bootlegger has left the place and gone away and the lady has also stopped making liquor. According to Ep. 1:3 ” Release into men, places, circumstances, situation, structures, departments or any other may be all the heavenly blessings. Lord has blessed our tongues, power is given to our tongues. Whatever we say with our tongues will happen. Even dead will come to lives, mountains will move, dry trees will become green, command the devil and it will go, command any sickness to go away in the name of Jesus with your tongue and it will go. What a powerful authority is given to us. Let us make use of it. Wherever we are, if we see things are not moving properly, it may be corruption, adultery, work is not moving in government offices, idolatry, case in the court not moving or may be prolonging, judgement is not coming etc. bind and loose it. Release all the blessings of heaven by opening the floodgates of heaven.
Prayer I pray that Almighty Lord infuse in each one of us the power and authority to work for His kingdom and enable us to make use of authority in order to bring peace, justice to those who are suffering and in pain, those who are far and near, to the constituencies, to the nation, to the land, to individuals, to the whole creation which remains in curse. I pray in the mighty and miraculous name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
