AOJ NEWS

Carry each other’s burdens and so you will fulfil the law of Christ.”

Galatians 6:2

We should reach out to those who are less fortunate and find ways to remind them that they are not alone. We can share Bible verses with them that how much Lord and we love them. We should offer a helping hand whenever they may need it. Tell them when they encounter troubles and hardships, Bible helps to overcome from them. After all, God has a deep desire for us to have peace, happiness and joy in difficulties

So let’s strive for the things that bring peace and the things that build each other up.

Romans 14:19

Not only God grants peace, if we help others, may bring more peace. Sharing Bible verses about helping others make us kind and generous regardless of any recognition. When we get caught up in everyday stresses, we should speak that God is good all the time. It can also be a means to understanding this aspect of Christianity

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness.”

Galatians 5:22

 We should be compassionate and caring towards orphans, widows in our area, neighbors, relatives or at workplace. Even small gestures can mean a great deal Rather it is not easy to be charitable, like, to spend money, time and energy but we can be a positive force in other’s lives, We can share our blessings whether it’s food, clothing money or something else, however we can, with others

 Luke 6:38-“Give, and it will be given to you. A good portion-packed down, firmly shaken, and overflowing will fall into your lap. The portion you give will determine the portion you receive in return.” It’s God’s way of rewarding his faithful followers that the more you give, the more will be given to you.

Testimony. By God’s grace, my daughter is working in a very good company. She has compassion in her heart for needy people specially for widows. She has always been giving testimony that God gives her double whatever she does for those needy people selflessly. Few days back, Lord has blessed her with a promotion. Her package has become just doubled. We all give glory to our Lord Jesus

So  continue encouraging each other and building each other up, just like you are doing already.“

1 Thessalonians 5:11

We all succeed when we help one another Jesus loves us in an extraordinary, incredible way.

Prayer:

Thank you God for your countless blessings. May we work together with your divine understanding, patience and compassion in our hearts as we light the way to your heavenly kingdom. There are so many hurting and needy people, help us to not be selfish but become a blessing for them.

In Jesus’ name

AMEN !Hallelujah!

Sol. Poonam Batra, AOJ

Growth ln Faith

God has given a measure of seed of faith to everyone of us. Faith comes by hearing the WORD of God. Our God can communicate his WORD to us.

How can we hear that word and get that seed to grow in the soil of our lives.

Romans 10:17-“So then faith comes by hearing the word of God”.

 Hearing is not  a passive act of hearing the sounds, it means to act upon what has been heard  .When God speaks it’s a command ; we either act on it or disobey it, we must know that disobedience hinders the growth of faith and then we wonder why it has not happened.  God says “ “He that has my word, and keeps it (acts on it) he it is that loves me. We have to grow from glory to glory and from faith to faith. You can not imitate someone else’s faith. lf you act upon the word of God when it comes to you, things happen .

Love-It is essential for the growth of faith. lf you have love then faith will work by love.        

 Galatians 5:6 “For in Jesus neither circumcision or uncircumcision availeth much, but Faith which worketh by LOVE.

      God speaks through ; 1)Written word .2) Spoken word.

We need to know the difference between them in order to know the ‘Hearing’ of the word of God.    God still speaks today through His written word through his anointed servants, through dreams ,visions and inward assurance or circumstances.

We live not by His written word alone but by the word that still “continues to proceed out of God’s mouth.  We should not reject the fact that God can speak to us through other ways than the written word (The Bible). Some say that the days of miracles are past. So they live by what God ‘SAID’ and refuse to hear what He ‘IS SAYING’. So the God   of   miracles  are  rejected there.    

So prayer and fasting are the key to greater faith. Believe what you speak.lt is called “Saying Faith” or “Speaking Faith”. It is a Higher than   Asking Faith”.   Jesus  said, 

“ Varily l say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be removed and  be cast into the sea and believe; then whatever he says, shall come to pass”. 

 lf you get God’s words and say them, they become life and health to you. If you repeat God’s word and walk in faith, not by sight, your faith will increase.                       

Rom 4:20,21-“Be strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he says he is able to perform”.

Let us stir up our faith, and make it grow by continuously practicing these principles.           

HEAR ! OBEY!  LOVE ! SAY !

Testimony–Whenever wherever l prayed for the people by saying the  Written, Healing scriptures in faith ,they received healing. All glory to God.

Prayer : l thank you Lord for your faithfulness, love and truth  because of which you heard  our prayers and healed the sick. Amen.                   

                            Sol: Noreen.

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1

In the above verse we see Apostle Paul asking people to follow him as example as he follows the example of Christ.

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:21

Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. 1 John 2:6

The above verse clearly tells that we should follow the example of Christ. But Apostle says to the people of the Corinth church to follow his example as he follows the example of Christ. He was so confident that he is following the example of Christ.

Are we following the example Jesus showed us? Are we  being a role model to the people around us so that people can follow us an example?

All of us want to live a holy life without any sin in the sight of the Lord. But is it really holy in the sight of The Lord. We need to examine ourselves daily in the Light of The Holy Spirit. When the room is dark we don’t see any dust but a small light enters from the window we see dust particles in the air. The Holy Spirit is the light which can penetrate through the dark room and show the dust. Only seeing ourselves in the light of The Holy Spirit we can examine ourselves.

The Bible says even little jealousy or anger or gossip is a sin. The little gossip we do in the office or the little complaining we do about our Boss or little diverting the law of the rules of the road while we are travelling is a sin and we are not showing an example to the people or society. Even these little things can scatter the souls near us rather than to make them come to us or learn from us.

In Corinthians apostle Pauls talks about eating in 1 Corinthians 8 & 10. Even though we have the right to eat what we like but if it is causing my friend or another person discomfort The Bible tells it is a sin.

 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 1 Corinthians 8,9

I’ve heard a missionary in Bihar saying that in their mission fields they never eat cow meat. There are strict rules that none of the missionary working there should eat cow meat. This is a tradition followed by the non-believers in that state but the missionaries do not eat because they don’t want be a stumbling block for the non-believers to come to them or a stumbling block for them to reach out to them. If the people disapprove their eating they would disapprove The Gospel. It is a sin as per 1 Corinthians 8:12. Apostle Paul carefully explains even a food can be stumbling block for us to be an example and lead people away from Christ.

Today people are watching us in our work place, in our gatherings, in congregations, let us be careful to present ourselves, let us be conscious that our example should present Christ in us and leading a sinless life for the souls to follow us as an example and to lead the lost souls to us to share The Gospel of Christ.

Prayer:

Our Gracious heavenly Father we thank you Lord for giving your Son our Master Jesus Christ to be the example that we should follow. Give us the grace O Lord to lead a similar life blameless and pleasing in your sight that we may not be a stumbling block to other but as example for them to follow to lead them to Christ. In Jesus name I Pray. Amen

Sol.Leo

“Jesus answered and said unto him ,what I do thou knowest not now; but thou shall know hereafter”.  

John 13:7

             We don’t know what is wrong with our life, and what is our purpose in life. But this verse reminds us to trust in  God. Now whatever we are going through, we may not understand it now, but one day we will.Our God knows everything. He is our everlasting God,our Saviour and our Father. The only thing we can control in our lives is our faith and our trust in the Lord. If we trust Him and His plan, for our lives, He will bring  us  everything we have dreamt of and more. It takes just patience, trust and faith. Worship Him in the waiting time and thank Him for the blessings that are coming.

                   Jesus performs the task of a lowly servant washing others feet. Jesus reassures everyone that this task will make more sense later. The disciples are more concerned with power(Luke 9:54”Lord do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them”),

Prestige (Mark9:34  “….They had argued about who was the greatest “.) and the thrill of Jesus coming to Jerusalem as King .(John 12:12,13).When they saw how much Jesus humbled Himself they understood the significance of foot washing.

                  In my life at the age of thirty to fifty years I often wondered why so much afflictions came one after the other like five surgeries for me and one heart surgery for my husband and it’s side effects like paralysis. But God gave me the patience to endure and remain faithful and expectant.Later in my sixties I  came to know that God is drawing me near to Him as a chosen one.(Jeremiah 30:21).

Yes, the presence of God makes everything meaningful and fruitful. The absence of God makes everything meaningless —our knowledge, pleasures,treasures,strength etc.

             So don’t doubt His perfect timing. We should hold on to His promise that all things work well for those who love Him. Whatever we are facing now, we should not give up, and instead ,we should just submit it all to God. Because one day we will then understand why we went through  this. God is not unfair. He will remember everything we did for His kingdom, and He is also a loving God. He loves and cares for us. So trust God with our unknown future.

                 When we spent time in the presence of the Lord, we might not understand the importance now, but in due time, we would realise the meaning and receive the blessings. He will turn all our  problems into a source of comfort, meaning, significance and blessing in our lives. Spending time daily in prayer and in meditating on His Word has a huge impact on our lives.  We should  treasure these times greatly because  it gives us great strength and comfort in our lives.

Prayer

             Our Heavenly Father thank you for allowing certain things to happen in our lives, help me to simply trust you in all things and enable me to pray” thy will, not mine, be done”.

In Jesus name I pray,

Amen

Sol.Gigi Jacob

He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

Matthew 28:6

This was the most, spectacular, jaw dropping event ever, the resurrection of Jesus. My focus is on the drama outside the tomb. The body of Jesus is laid, the stone rolled back in place and sealed with the Roman governor’s official seal. The high preist security guards arranged for the tomb to be heavily guarded 24/7, well -armed, well trained, Commando Cats of modern times, that not even a soul could come anywhere near. The media and journalists were around.

Very early in the morning while it was still dark Mary Magdalene found the tomb empty. Little did the army know that the Lord of Hosts was within. Death, the tomb or the soldiers could not hold Him, the maker of heaven and earth, for He said He will rise and He did, is seated on His throne at the right hand of the Father on High (Hebrews 7:25.)

I have visited the Tomb, thanks to God and my first-born, Prakash who gifted me the best gift of my life, visit to Israel, it was indeed empty. Let me take you to 1 Samuel 4, under Samuel’s leadership, the Israelites battled against the Philistines with disastrous results, thirty thousand were killed including Hophni and Phineas. Philistines captured the ark of God that was at the battlefield and took it back to Ashdod, they had heard of the God of the Israel who brought the Israelites out of Egypt’s bondage but now, they were convinced that there was no God like Dagon and took the ark as a trophy to the house of Dagon. Dagon, although a stone must have spent a terrifying night, for by two mornings it lay prostrating the ark and all that remained was a torso.

The Philistines were now terrified, the ark of God did not need human help, they were sorely afflicted in every place the ark was moved during those 7 months. They desperately wanted to return the ark of God to Israel. This was sent back on a brand-new cart, with the best milk cows that have never been yoked, hitched to the cart and was loaded with gold as compensation or trespass offering.  The cows headed with the ark of the Lord straight down the road to the Israelites, where it belonged.

Philistines could not hold the ark of the Lord back for the divine presence of the living God was in it. Acts 16:25-28 Paul and Silas were imprisoned for evicting an evil spirit out of a fortune teller. They were stripped, beaten up and put in the inner cell with their feet fastened. They had a praise- party because they knew who was resident in them, the very resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead. At midnight an earthquake broke open the prison doors setting them free.  

If the power of the Holy Spirit is in you, if you belong to the Lord Jesus, then no devil in hell can hold you back, no obstacle can stop you, no situation can affect you, we ought to know who our God is and worship Him.

Prayer

Lovingly heavenly Father, may we set You before us and at our right hand and be unshaken for we know that You alone does wonders,

Amen!

Sol.Lalitha Menon

You are the Light of the World

Matthew 5:14

Lord Jesus calls us the light of the world. How did we become the light? The ultimate source of light is Jesus Himself. When He came to the earth and brightened up on us we received and reflected His light.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it
John 1:4‭-‬5 NKJV

He was the light which was there even before He created the light by word of His mouth. Jesus is the true light which gives light to everyone coming into the world.

We have become the light of the world by reflecting the great light that is Jesus. Jesus tells: “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.

Mark 4:21‭-‬22 NKJV

What’s the meaning of these verses? It is our duty to show this light to those who are in darkness. For that we should place ourselves in a strategic way as to brighten up the lives of people.

Jesus tells the parable of the lamp to encourage and inspire the people, His disciples to be glaring examples and not to hide away.

This message to His disciples was so challenging for them as they were persecuted for being His followers. In the present world also it’s very risky to spread the Word publicly in a secular world. In countries where individual freedom is held high you cannot give your opinion with words of persuasion. Wherever possible we should spread this light, the Gospel of salvation, justification and redemption. You can be a light when you live according to the example and teachings given by our Lord. Keep your lamp burning with the oil of the Holy Spirit and the frequent feeding of the daily Manna, the food of the citizenry of heaven.

You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; I Peter 2:9 NKJV

Once we were in darkness and Our faith in the crucified and resurrected Christ Jesus brought us out into His Light. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.

Ephesians 5:8‭-‬12 NKJV
Apostle Paul further instructs that we should lead our lives in fear of the Lord’s judgment as we are redeemed not with corruptible things but with the precious blood of Christ Jesus.

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life.
Philippians 2:14‭-‬16 NKJV. We are the light of the world and let us keep our lamps burning for the Glory of God.

Amen.

Sol.Salomi Kurian

” And He went up on the mountain and called to him those whom He desired and they came to Him.” We see in this particular incidence, Jesus went to the top of a hill and sat down there and called all those whom He liked but we know that Jesus liked every body. He was impartial. He has called each one of us and He likes each one of us. Then the verse says, “people came  to Him.” Today Jesus is calling each one of us. It is up to us to follow Him or to ignore Him.

Mark 3:13

         We know from the Bible that a big crowd used to be with Jesus wherever He went. Jesus would often start climbing the mountain and sit there and preach the word of God. All those people who followed Jesus would also go along with Him and climb the mountain. Many would feel reluctant to go up with Jesus and return back but many people would still show their anxiety and keep following Jesus expecting to see some miracles done by Him but after some distance would either sit down there tired or go back. But some people would just keep walking with Jesus and sit with Him wherever He went to hear His sermons and would also get a chance to see some miracles. These were the ones chosen by Jesus to be His disciples.

       We all want to get a rhema word and revelations from God but for that, we really have to be with Jesus and follow Him without getting tired and should never lose hope. We need to sit with Jesus and let Him talk to us. We need to give priority to the word of God and spend time with Him without getting tired or feeling lazy. When Jesus see our regularity , sincerity and obedience towards Him and we start living with Him, He starts taking His works from us.We start preaching and people feel the presence of Holy Spirit with us and this is when miracles start taking place as promised by God Almighty in Mark 16:20- ” And they went out and preached everywhere, while the lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs “.

               We also get to know this in Mark 3:15 “He gave them authority to cast out demons. “We all want to perform miracles and cast out demons but for that we need to preach the word of God first and when we preach under the guidance of Holy Spirit, miracles follow automatically. Praise God.

     So if we want to be Jesus ‘ disciples and preach and perform miracles and wonders or cast out demons we need to spend time with God as it is mentioned in Mark 3:14-” And He appointed twelve so that they might be with Him and He might send them out to preach “.

Prayer

      Father, we thank You for helping us to die for the world and to live for Christ. Help us Lord in staying with Jesus spiritually no matter wherever we go or whatever we do to qualify for  discipleship .

Amen.

Sol.Richa Jain

Family prayer

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua 24:15

When I was married and when I signed the register in the church the Pastor forcefully said this to me to do family prayer everyday without fail. There is a lot of questions in minds of today Christians why I should do family prayer. God has guided us through the Bible the importance of coming together as a family for praying him and worshipping him.

For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

Gen 18:19

God gave a promise to Abraham but God was so sure that Abraham would teach his son how to walk in the sight of The Lord for God’s promise to fulfill for all of his generation. How would Abraham have done that. Spending time with his family and telling about God like in a family prayer.

When Isaac married Rebecca, Rebecca didn’t experience God before. But after the marriage in Genesis 25:22 we see Rebecca enquiring The Lord about her pregnancy. The time Isaac spent teaching about God and the time they spent in God’s presence daily made Rebecca to go God when she was fearing about her pregnancy instead of going to Isaac first.

 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6: 6-8

We see Mosses commanding the people to teach their children the commandments of God when they are in the house when you walk, lie down or get up. We have to teach our children the word of God and to always abide by it in their life from the young age and the best way to do is coming together as a family and praying.

In Leviticus 23 we see God giving the Israelites 7 festivals to follow as a whole group and as a family. The main reason for these festivals is to teach the children and the next generation the word of God. During celebrating the Passover festival, when the child in a family eats the unleavened bread he would ask the father why we are eating this unleavened bread it has no taste to the mouth, the father should explain we are glorifying God because when our ancestors was slaves in Egypt, God within a night made us to come out of our slave country and redeemed us to a new beginning and to celebrate it and to remember it we eat unleavened bread because our ancestors ate this unleavened bread at that day. In the feast of tabernacles when the child celebrates the child would ask the father why we have to live in these tents and not in our house and the father should explain him it is because once we are homeless and were in the desert but God gave us the land and the houses we never built. To celebrate that we stay in these tents. We have to teach our children in our family prayer.

In the new testament Acts: 18 we see two couples Aquila and Priscilla a family who were strong in The Lord and they were supporting Paul in his ministry with prayers all along. In 2 Timothy 2:5 Paul testifies the faith of grandmother and mother of Timothy and because they were strong in the faith and also taught their son Timothy to grow strong in the faith of The Lord through their family prayer.

When I was married I didn’t know much about my wife’s spiritual side. But when we started our family prayer and one day God showed her a vision and when she shared it to me I didn’t know what was it for at first, but after a while God made me realize it was about me and a thing I was fearing. Now I knew the God would reveal things to my wife as well. When we come together as a family and pray all our daily struggles is solved, the misunderstandings in the families is all settled when we come together and our children will learn the word of God and know how The Lord guides us and blesses our families.

Let us come together as families and serve the Lord. Let all our family members be united in our family prayer time.

Amen

Sol.Leo

Is your name written in the books of heaven ?

You have voter card in your name. Aadhar Card in your name PAN card in your name bank accounts in your  name. Good name in society name in panchayat ration card in your name

“And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Revelation 20:15

Dear brothers and sisters , it is so very important to have your name in the Books of Heaven because if our name is not found there in this book we will be deprived of the love of God and wouldn’t be allowed to enter into heaven and to share the glory of God and lose the chance to sit in His bossom forever. What a tragic thing that would be. If your loved ones don’t know Jesus Christ then this is the right time to tell them about Christ so that you may not have to see them in hell in deep agony and pain forever .Share the word of God with them.

Jesus said in John 14: 6 ” I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Even if you speak in tongues , do many miracles, get many visions and dreams by the grace of God and your loved ones lose heaven what would be the benefit of that?

Roman 10 :9 -10 says “because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” This is just so simple .Praise God .

Galatians 3 :26 says ,”for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.”

So we just need to pray  to God to build up the faith in the hearts of our family members for Christ Jesus. We have to keep claiming Joshua 24 :15 which says, “but as for me and my house we will serve the lord.”

Prayer

Father , we thank You for sending Your son Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins to save each one of us living on this earth from facing the consequences of their sins. We thank You for helping us to be with You in Heaven through Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen

        Sol.Babu Sebastian

“ For I have come down from heaven NOT TO DO MY WILL  but  to do the WILL OF HIM WHO SENT ME”

JN – 6: 38.

 All of us have the experience of ‘being sent’ to the market by our mother to get something- it may be an ordinary thing like pepper, chilli, pencil or paper.When I come back after  buying many things  and not the one which my mother told me to buy, won’t she ask me  ‘ what is the use of sending you to the market when you have not bought what I told you to buy – instead you have bought many things which I had not told you to buy?’

In the same way, Lord would get annoyed when we would have done many things ON OUR OWN “prophecy in His name, drive out demons and perform mighty miracles “ (Mt.7: 21-23), but not doing the “WILL OF GOD” for what we have been “ SENT “ to this world;

And He also says that only those who

“Do The Will Of God “

will enter into heaven.

His “ WILL” is different from person to person and we have to discern and do it with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus  was God- sent,  ( God, the Father) came down from heaven ‘to do HIS WILL on earth (Jn. 6: 38).Jesus  was repeatedly saying it .In Jn 4:34 He says, ‘‘My food is to do the WILL OF HIM who sent me and finish His work ‘’ and He did accordingly. In the same way, all of us are  “sent by God  to do His WILL” on earth.
               Paul says ‘He raised us ( when we were dead to sin) up and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus’. ( Eph. 2: 6)
        and again Phil. 3:20 says ‘ our citizenship is in heaven’ . Jesus also says ‘ you are not of this  world’ Jn 15:19.

Then  why are we here?

TO DO THE WILL OF HIM WHO SENT US.

 Jesus taught us to pray like this  “ Let your WILL be done on earth as it is in heaven “. He did not teach us to pray for  things  like working, earning,buying property etc. because these things are  done automatically but not HIS WILL.
           

Lord, we know ‘ you who began a good work in us will carry it onto completion until the day of  Christ  Jesus  ( Phil.1:6 )’ . Help us to co -operate  with you  in  doing  “YOUR WILL”  while  we are here on earth .

Sol. Amala Arunachalam, Aoj

---