AOJ NEWS

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope”.

Jeremiah 29:11

This verse gives comfort to all Christian believers going through afflictions. Here God has given us a promise that He has  a plan  for our lives, and He can work through  any problem to prosper us and give us hope. It is not a promise of immediate rescue but God has a plan for our lives. Believe that He will fulfill it if we surrender to Him.

                These words were spoken by  Jeremiah to Jews who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. In Jeremiah 28:15 —27 we can see that Jeremiah pronounced judgement upon the false prophet  Hananiah . He told the people that God would break the yoke of Babylon, freeing the people to return home within two years. That sounded appealing to the  people.  But it was a lie and God  removed Hananiah  from the face of the earth. Instead Jeremiah got revelation from the Lord and told the people that they would live in Babylon for at least  seventy years. So it was clear that God’s response was not to provide immediate rescue but He has a plan to prosper them in the midst of their current situation.

            We all have experienced such a situation. I myself have felt like this many times. During lockdown period my son got his posting order for  Field  Area  where families were not permitted. He had to join duty in a hurry  and could not get leave either. So we have to find our own way. However God guided and helped us to  settle comfortably in my own flat which was lying vacant since past three years. All glory to God.

             God’s promises are  there for us in such situations. This is given in verses immediately following  Jeremiah  29:11, about what God proclaims through Jeremiah in

Jeremiah 29: 12”Then you will call upon me  and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you”

Jeremiah 29-13–“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart”.

       This is also explained in Proverbs3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and  lean not on your own understanding “.

Romans 8:28 says that,” ….all things work together for good to those who love God ……”

      So dear friends trust and submit to the Lord in every situation. He will keep us and prosper us as per His promise.

Prayer

           Heavenly Father we trust and submit ourselves to you . We are proclaiming all your promises. Give us the grace to believe that you are always there to give us victory over the  work of the enemy. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen

Sol. Dr. Gita

“I shall not die, but live, And declare the works of the Lord”.

Psalms 118:17

In  Isaiah43:21 God says that, “This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise”.

He created us to praise Him and to declare His promises and the miracles  He done in our lives. For that our hearts must be pure and we cannot praise God if there is enemity and hatred in our  hearts. Then Satan will harden our hearts and our body becomes weak.

Testimony

               A few years ago a brother whom I knew well, the  father of a student of mine, who used to speak calmly and kindly became angry when I told him about his son’s draw backs in his studies . He reported badly about me to others and the higher authorities.I was very sad to know about it. I told them that I didn’t mean anything wrong but for the benefit of the student. So the parents can give more attention to his studies.

               A few days later he was down with a serious illness and was hospitalised. The teachers went to see him as he was an active member of Parent Teacher Association. They told me to go and see as he was serious. But I have a fear to see him. Then a sister came to see me and I went to the hospital with her. That sister prayed for him and took the above verse psalms118:17 and told him to declare it. She made him to repeat it, and told him to continue reading the verses. We prayed and came back. Within a weak he was  discharged.All glory to God. Second week I got to see him and with great joy he said after our prayer in the hospital he recited the verse and prayed on that day. His blood circulation started and little by little he started walking. Now he has received peace and  continued  reading the Bible, thanking God and giving all praise and glory to God.

             The purpose of our lives are to proclaim the good things that God had done for us.Apostle Paul, Stephen and many saints spent their whole life proclaiming the miracles God done in their lives. They proclaimed it when they were accused, brought to trial, after judgement and even at the time of their death. Let us spend our days proclaiming the miracles God had done in our lives and glorify His name

Prayer

                Our Heavenly Father, I thank you for the life you have given to me.I beg your pardon for defiling me with enemity and hatred. Give me the grace to give up all those sins and proclaim your wonderful deeds everyday.

In the name of Jesus I pray.

Amen

Sr.Anitta

“The sheep that are My own hear My voice and listen to Me, I know them, and they follow Me”.

John10:27

Jesus is our caring Shepherd Who  guards and guides us, Who feeds and protect us and knows each one by name. There is a special relationship between the shepherds and their sheep. The sheep recognizes the voice of the shepherd. We are the sheep of His pasture, and we must be receptive to His call, His voice and His Word. He knows us thoroughly and the differences and need of each of us.

        But unlike the sheep we are deceived by other voices. We sometimes get distracted by  these other voices and get led away from the good shepherd, Jesus. The Shepherd protects us from spiritual predators, from things that are  harmful ,from thorns that could hurt us, from flood waters that could drowns us. He causes us to grow and stay healthy. Jesus is the Shepherd Who owns us and we do His will and not our own. Just as sheep completely trust the shepherd. ,we trust the Lord. Our Shepherd is competent to handle all  the problems we have to confront. When He  does not take us to the food and water, He brings food and water to us. Unlike the shepherd ,the Lord is all knowing, all powerful, all loving and omnipresent. He is able to restore our souls, our minds and our emotions of peace  and Joy. He is able to replace despair with hope. He replaces fear with faith, weaknesses with strength and grace, folly with wisdom. While we hear His voice, He hears the very beat of our hearts and bleated whisper of our souls.

                Unlike sheep we are to be wise sheep, shrewd as the serpent and gentle as the dove, able to discern the wolf who comes in sheep skin. We rejoice in the words as sheep  delight in green pastures we are not tempted  even if the grass on the other side of the fence seems greener. He shines a light on the paths we should take in the darkness. We avoid the snares and traps of the common enemy of  all human beings and walk in straight paths. Jesus has bound the strong one who is against us. He embraced death to make it a doorway to eternal life for us.

               The Lord lead us to still waters or things that refresh, renew and rejoice our hearts. So we do not have fear or anxiety about our future. The natural shepherd  can only lead us to the external streams to quench our thirst while the supernatural shepherd will cause the streams of living water of the Holy Spirit to flow in us. We are contend with all we have and ready to follow Jesus wherever He leads us. The Lord uses angels and mentors to guide us. As sheep multiply and yield wool to keep people warm ,we too bear fruit and increase our yield for the Lord. Unlike the natural shepherd our Shepherd guarantees  us life forever.

Psalms23:6”And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”.

Prayer

             Heavenly Father we thank you for being our good shepherd. Give us the grace to obey and trust you always. In Jesus name we pray .

Amen

Sol  . Gigi Jacob

“Therefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,slow to speak,slow to wrath”.

James 1:19

          Yes, it is the secret of effective communication. Our words are double edged and cause life and death, blessings or curses, benefits or harm. We need to listen not just with our ears but with our hearts and minds. If we listen like that our speech slows1 down. Then we will get the time and space to choose our words carefully. We  must use our lips and words to preserve and enhance life. Our speech should be salted with grace and truth, humility and authority. Speaking though and rashly are fools doing  according to scripture.

Colossians4:6 says that” Let your speech always be with grace ,seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

   Our speech should give others hope, confidence, understanding, wisdom and faith.

               Along with slowing down our speech we should restrain our emotions like anger. It is written that anger rest in the bossom of fools.Ecclesiastes7:9 says that,” Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rest in the  bossom of fools”.

We must control anger by the reins of self control and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Slowing down is needed for allowing time for processing inputs, and for filtering the thoughts and words. Our ears are always open. They are the mouths to feed our mind and heart. Primary way to increase our wisdom, knowledge and understanding is through hearing His Word.

              Words are powerful. God used words to create the Universe. We should listen to understand the words of others, to know their feelings,thoughts,and motives. We should listen not only with our ears but with our eyes, spirits and minds. Jesus listened with sensitivity and Compassion .He could know the afflicted woman’s need and touch  even in a great crowd. We have a tendency to speak swiftly and angrily without listening properly. It is due to our egos.

                Like reins control a horse we need to have an invisible rein on our tongues. We need to develop some filters so that the words comes out as pure and full of wisdom. Scripture says that we will be judged for every careless words we speak. We should display love, grace and goodness of the Lord. Ephesians 4:31 says that,”Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”

Prayer

Heavenly Father  give us the wisdom and grace to enable to control our tongues and temper .

In Jesus name I pray .

Amen

Sol.Gigi Jacob

BY HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED

ISAIAH 53:5

We have a loving and compassionate God , he knows everything we need even before we ask. All we need is to trust in him and commit everything to him as he says in Proverbs 3:5,6 .

BUT SOMETIMES WORLDLY CARES DILUTES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOD AND US , we start relying on ourselves and worldly things to take control of our lives . But God gently but surely brings us back to him and we should be willing to listen and follow his direction as he says in Proverbs 10:22 .

Something similar happened to me when I was suddenly afflicted with chronic allergies . All tests were done and yet no solution found , doctors informed me I needed lifelong allergy medication and suggested experimental drugs and tests . And I was resigned to a lifetime of medication.My mother and sister did not give up hope and prayed diligently for me . And I was miraculously healed from these chronic allergies and didn’t need to take medication every day . There would be bouts of relapse but taking a couple of days medication was enough to stop the symptoms .

But I still had not grasped the power of healing which Jesus performed in my life . Then at my sister’s behest I joined the early morning WB fellowship . It was a new experience and my faith was renewed .

I realized that God had healed me but he was waiting for me to realize and acknowledge it and ask him for complete healing .

He wanted my total faith and surrender and when I was able to do it , Jesus worked miraculously in my life again and gave me complete healing, no more random bouts of allergies . It was such a humbling yet uplifting experience . Humbling because it made me realize the limitations of modern science and my faith and uplifting because we have a wonderful Lord God Almighty who never lets go of us but upholds us with His righteous right hand , according to Isaiah 41:10 . The only thing He asks of us is our faith and complete surrender to him .

PRAYER

Lord , strengthen and help us so that we can completely surrender to your will , and give you the control in our lives . Instruct and teach us in the way we should go and guide us with your eyes . Let your divine will be done in our lives . In Jesus name we pray .
Amen 🙏🏻

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SOL.RUMNA GOMES, AOJ

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And again, He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

John 8: 8

We all have those moments when we were not good yet we always present ourselves as perfect, flawless. Have you ever read a bad resume`? No, I haven’t! Jesus went up the Mount of Olives. He came to the temple, all the people came and He sat down and taught them. Then, the scribes and Pharisees, who are always around, brought a woman caught in adultery. Not suspected, but caught, set her in the midst and, they said Teacher, what You got to say on this. Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His fingers, acted as if deaf. This is the only place where it is mentioned about Jesus, writing anything. He said, “OK, go ahead throw a stone if you are without sin.”

And one by one starting from the elders all left. Jesus was left alone. He lifted Himself and asked,” where are they, your accusers”? She said , ”there’s none”. He says, “Neither do I, Go and sin no more!!!  God’s character supersedes His commandment, He is merciful unto whom He wants to be merciful and gracious to whom He wants to be gracious. That’s why each one of us are here, because He overlooked our iniquity. His goodness!!!

Let me take you to, John 9:6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. Jesus passed by and He sees a man who was blind from birth. His disciples were analysing as to the reason for him being blind. Was it his sin probably in past birth they must have thought or a generation curse. Jesus just brushes it aside and says that, it’s to reveal God’s glory. He gets His hands dirty by mixing the dust on the ground with His spit and heals the blind man. Jesus is the only one who would stoop down to where we are in the mud, dust and pick us up. The Holy God, Most High, God of the universe doesn’t mind to get His hands dirty for our sake. And of course, remember? ( Gen 2:7 ) He formed  a man from the dust of the ground, rest of it He just said ..Let there be !!! Except man…..!!! So much love!!!

We tend to look at people with the judge’s clothes, the moment they are in trouble or sin. We analyse and make fancy reports. But, God called us to be extensions of Jesus, His heart, His eyes, His hands. If we would just look at the person of how he would be in the future, (“metanoia”) if he is in the hands of God.

And, if they could experience His love through us, feel accepted as they are, rest Jesus will do. Unless we are willing to dirty our hands with the dust on the ground, like the Master did, there’s no way that we could make an impact in a hurting, lost, dying world.

Prayer

Loving Heavenly Father, we pray that we have Your mind , Your heart, your hands Lord, to touch and impact lives around us ,

In Jesus mighty name!

Amen!!

–Sol. Lalitha Menon

“And The Inhabitant Will Not Say,”I Am Sick”,

The People Who Dwell In It Will Be Forgiven Their Iniquity”.

Isaiah 33:24

The word says," No inhabitant of Zion will say "I am sick". It means a believer should never say a negative word.

Instead we should claim and proclaim health and healing, deliverance and victory all the time.

The word of God and His presence in our lives is our dwelling place.His word is the Balm of Gilead (Jeremiah 8:22).If we apply it the moaning,sighing and signs of defeat flee away from us.

We will receive all blessings if we ask with humble and believing prayer.

Jesus had taken away all our sins by His death on the cross.

If Our Sins Are Forgiven We Have No Reason To Complain Of Our Bodily Affliction.

We are now the inhabitants of Zion,the Kingdom of God.So we are under His commandments which lead and guide us. Lord hear our prayers and inhabit our praises.God will then give us the precious gift of health.
It is the blessing of the Lord. We have to put on the armour of the Lord. The Lord says, “I will be a wall of fire round about ,and a glory in the midst” Zechariah 2:5
We must plant His word in the ground of our faith. Then the enemy can’t enter to kill,steal and destroy us. So believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that He is our healer and deliverer. Then He will heal and deliver us.
Romans 10:9 says ,

"That If You Confess With Your Mouth The Lord Jesus And Believe
In Your Heart That God Has Raised Him From The Dead,You Will Be Saved."

If we say negative things ,we are making the enemy of our souls rejoice and we are grieving the Holy Spirit. Negative things we say increase our doubt and weakens our faith.We are declaring our lack of faith in the power of God and we are inviting the enemy.We have to cover us with His promises of health,healing and victory.We have to seek the cleansing of our heart by confessing our sins and seeking His forgiveness.That is why David in Psalms 51:10 says,”Creat in me a clean heart, and renew right Spirit within me”. If we do not confess our sins it weakens our protective armour and the enemy can easily enter. When we confess our faith we will get the power of the Lord.

He is our Super Speciality Doctor who heals all our diseases and forgives all our sins.

Heavenly Father give us the grace to think,speak and do positive things in our lives.We pray in Jesus name.

AMEN

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Sol.Gigi Jacob

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Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last for ever. 1 Cor 9:25

Dear friends, to win ,a process is needed. Christians should put much more effort (than an  athlete) into his life towards gaining a prize that will last forever. We all need training to overcome sin. Some of us lie, over eat, spend money unnecessarily  and  gossip etc.

Growing up I was not allowed to go without finishing everything in the plate. Because of  this training I developed  bad eating habits  while  growing up.

It’s time to change & train for eternal crown. Let’s go into “strict training”.  It takes hard work. No matter what sport is played all athletes experience the following  training :Preparation, expertise and  the final game.

. We are spiritual athletes. Holy spirit prepares us and make us  confident.  For us it’s not the game, it’s the good fight of faith.

Let’s Focus:-We  have  to submit, train  and   to be disciplined  to reach the goal.

Maybe you’re thinking, “I’d like to be disciplined, but I try for a while & then fall back to my old ways. The key to become disciplined is motivation. I was thinking why did Paul used the example of an athlete? It is because sports people  are highly motivated & the job of a coach is to make them do what they don’t want to do in order to achieve what they’ve always wanted to be.

Let’s be motivated Christians

For me to overcome overeating  was not easy.  I am motivated by our Coach JESUS CHRIST.

Rom 8:13 says human nature kills & Holy spirit help us to live by putting to death our sinful actions.

We need to be strict with ourselves. We need to understand:- Discipline helps us achieve goals. It also helps to reduce stress. Many dreams are not fulfilled because of lack of discipline. Discipline results in new habits and thinking patterns that apply everywhere.

Let’s pray:- Dear Jesus, to win we need you as a Teacher & Coach. Lord, help us & train us to win, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Sol. Priti Jain

If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26

From reading the above verse we may have a thought does God tell me to hate my family. It is well understood from the same verse in Mathew 10:37 “

Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 

Here God says who ever loves his fellow human more than Him is not my disciple. Let’s see why God says so that we should love him more.

1. The first is because God loves us more than any person in the world. Everybody has experienced His love for us when we see others still living in the dark, tangled in sin, worshipping idols and in curse targeted by satan in their life. We were also among one of them but God’s love was revealed to us in the cross and made us his own children by His Grace. Now he showers his love daily in our lives in the form Grace fills us with all goodness of life.
2. The second is the love from others may be  lost when we show our anger or quarrel against them or fail to live to their expectations but our God even though we fail or sin against Him, murmur against Him or fall short His love for us never fades way. He loves us the same way and when we repent he showers His love and grace upon us.
3. The third is his unconditional love which expects nothing in return but only the love for Him in return. The worldly love may be due to possessions, wealth or something in return but His love for us is unconditional.

Now is it not fair for God to ask us to love him more than all of this world.

Also we may think do we not have to love our family or friends than a certain extent. The answer is a person who is loving God can only love others more than anybody in this world. I see a lot of successful old couples who are not saved but they love their families and each other for a very long time but I wont say it is equal to any one loving God because loving God is a two way thing. When we love Him his love fills our heart and we will start to love our families, friends and people around us more than any ordinary person who doesn’t know Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now what is it like to say I love God. It is like just saying I love you God, I worship you in our gatherings and worship? For example let’s say a wife is having her birthday and the husband who loves his wife just wishes her happy birthday in words or does he expresses it by surprising her with celebration and gifts etc. In the same way we do not love our Lord through words and praises but also by works by following and living according to His words in our Life.

 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me John 14:21

Do we feel burdened to express our love to our family members or friends. In the same way we express our love to our God by obeying and living according to His word which is not a burden to us.

this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome 1 John 5:3

Prayer:

 Our Father in heaven, we thank you Lord for the love you have showed us in our lives. Give us the grace to express our Love by living according to your word. Amen.

Sol.Leo

THE HEART OF THE FATHER

For You, Lord, Are Good, And Ready To Forgive, And Abundant In Mercy To All Those Who Call Upon You.

Psalm 86:5(NKJV)

The Lord is so good

• READY – TO FORGIVE

• PLENTEOUS – IN MERCY

Luke Chapter 15 We Come Across The Lost Son

“A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.  And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

Then he realises ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

Luke 15 : 18 & 19 
I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’

 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
Luke 15:20

Before the son could ask for forgiveness the abounding Love of the FATHER embraced him without any condemnation, where the son says Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

But in response to this we could see a father who merry in his son’s Arrival.

TRUE FORGIVENESS STORY

Few days ago I came across a video, where one of the daughter of Billy Graham shared her story about her father after 21 years her mariage ended in divorce, she was devastated , so the family thought it is good for her to have good start, she got to know a man where her children didn’t like him, where her mom and dad asking her to slow down to get to know the man, but being stubborn she married the man on new year’s eve, within 24 hrs she knew she made a terrible mistake after 5 weeks she fled being afraid of the man, what she gonna do. She decided to go talk to her dad & mom 2 days of drive questions rolled in her what she gonna say to her mom and dad and her children being a failure as she drove she could find her father standing and waiting for her as she got out the car he wrapping his hands around her and said welcome home there was no shame, no blame just unconditional love. She goes on to say My father was not GOD but he showed me what was GOD like that day.

Now it's time to arise and go back to the FATHER,  just taking a step to move to Father is alone enough though we have committed a blunder

We have Loving FATHER who is ready to FORGIVE, and welcomes us back home as SONS and DAUGHTERS. 

Now it’s our turn as well to Show the same love and readiness to forgive those who sinned against us we were forgiven

PRAYER

Loving heavenly Father who is abounding in mercy and ready to forgive, I acknowledge that I have sinned against you I come back to you forgive me and help me Enjoy that love and forgiveness of you.
And  to forgive others as you do. 
_Amen

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Sol. Pinta Eunice,AOJ

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