AOJ NEWS

The Mystery of the White Raiment

You must have wondered why we would not sin if we accept Lord Jesus as our Redeemer and Saviour? The answer to this lies in the colour ‘white’. Let’s unravel this mystery…….

If I ask you to get dressed in white clothing and then invite you to go for gardening, certainly you would say I’ve gone insane. And why wouldn’t you say so if I ask you to wear dark clothes for the same? There lies the answer!

If we take two garments ——one white and the other coloured (preferably very dark), and put the same amount of dirt on both, which will show up more? Obviously white!

Maintaining white clothes requires special washing so that the dirt is not ‘VISIBLE’ whereas dark clothes can be ‘declared’ clean even if they are not fully clean because their dirt is ‘NOT VISIBLE’.

But white shows up!

Similarly, when Lord Jesus washes us with His blood , He gives us ‘WHITE RAIMENT’——–‘pure souls’. Once we are washed i.e. have accepted the ‘Gift of Salvation’, we wouldn’t want to make our white raiments dirty ——-simply because it shows! In other words, we wouldn’t want to do anything Sinful(Dirty) because our regenerated beings would simply not accept it. We want to keep our white raiments clean!

A daily wash is required with the ‘detergent’ called the Word of God. And you would always be dressed in ‘sparkling white’!.

Also, the ones who have not accepted Christ are dressed in dark clothing. As a result, they are not much affected (‘dark clothes not revealing the dirt of sin’) or unaffected.

 In the Scriptures, the significance of white raiment and the colour white has been highlighted at many instances. Certainly, our Lord Jesus is dressed with the brightest white raiment, nothing compares with his brightness because He is the SOURCE of this ‘WHITE’. We all draw our ‘whiteness’ from Him!

And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Matthew 17:2   

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Revelation 3: 5  

• The Levites are considered to be the ‘chosen’ of the Lord for the work of His tabernacle. They are very special to Him and are clothed in white.
• Lord Jesus, by His sacrificial death has given us the status of a Levite! Clothed in white, we all are qualified for God’s work. We are his anointed, His chosen.  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for taking away our filthy garments and giving us white raiment of priesthood. Lord, impart us the grace to maintain the purity of these garments by living a righteous life and abiding in Your Word.

In Jesus’s name, we pray,

Amen.

Sol. Neelam Sharma

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”  Galatians 6:7

When God’s anointed King Saul feared that he might be slain by the uncircumcised people (1 Chronicles 10), he embraced death by falling on his own sword. All the men of Israel fled. No one came to give honour to the King chosen and anointed by God for them and they all left  for fear of their life

This incident tells us so vividly that whatever  one sows , he will reap. As King Saul didn’t keep the word of God and sought for a medium for guidance (1 Chronicles 10:13), he suffered and died a disgraceful death. He paid for what he did. So many scriptures confirm this truth. (2 Corinthians 9:6, Proverbs 1:31, 11:18, 22:8, Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:38)

In Jeremiah 17:10, God says, “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”  

We are under a new covenant of ‘Grace’ that we received through the sacrifice of  our Lord Jesus Christ. Irony is that this Grace that is given to us freely, Today we as Christians fail to acknowledge it and take it for granted. Often I have  heard  the believers saying that now we don’t need to worry as Salvation is ours? I become speechless when they justify themselves and say that we just need to call upon the Lord and ask forgiveness every time we commit a sin.  Apostle Paul also must have faced such a thought from the believers  of that time with similar thought process . That’s what he says in

Let us sow God’s Word in our hearts disengaging  from the works of the flesh as then only we will bear fruit  of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) which will manifest in us and we will reap the joy of His precious Grace to the fullest.

   Prayer

Heavenly Father, give us the grace to hide your Word  in our hearts, so that we might not  sin against  you. We pray in Jesus name.

Amen.

Sol.Neha

“Test all things; hold fast what is good”.

1Thessalonians 5:21

Apostle  Paul and John caution  their readers to test everything. 1John4:1says that  believers have to test prophesies and the spirits of prophecy  to see whether the  message and the messenger  are  indeed  from God. They both  had the desire   to guard and protect  believers  from false teachings as they knew of the existence of false teachers .Testing everything and holding fast to what is good  is an important discipline for every believer in all times like the people  of  Berea. (Acts 17:11)

             True prophets are led by  God ‘s spirit and proclaim messages that align with scripture. Believers are not to despise these prophecies  ( 2peter 1:20-21).True prophets faithfully  proclaim God’s word.We must not quench the Holy Spirit or despise true prophecies

If we quench the Holy Spirit we cannot distinguish true and false prophecies

1Thessalonians 5:19

We should cling to good and abstain from every form of evil, if we do so we will  grow in our faith.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

         We do not drink a glass of  Juice without testing.We drink it fully if it is good, otherwise   we throw it away.similarly in life,we  have to check  if a particular action is good for us  and  we have to  move from what is acceptable  to God, to  what is good and pleasing in His sight and to what is perfect.

           Jesus allowed  Thomas to place his fingers in His wounds  to prove the authenticity  of His ressurection .We are given   ten thousand promises  in scriptures. We need to test and experience  the truth of these promises  in the course of our life time.We test it by  trusting, and holding  on to the promises,claiming it in prayer and waiting for its fulfillment  with praise and  patience.

        To hold on to the faith,we have to pay a great cost, make sacrifices  and willing  to face hardships and hurdles.We should be willing to endure suffering  and pain to keep persevering. Faith  has two dimensions. One is to cling on to what is good and overcome the clutches of evil  and the second one is it requires the  forethought like the maiden who made sure she had enough oil in her lamp till the Master arrived. It requires the filling and the anointing  of the Holy Spirit.

We  require the belief also  that whatever happens to us we will get the victory at the end 

Prayer 

         Father God give us the grace to distinguish between good and evil.pour out your spirit upon us and anoint us

We ask in Jesus name

Amen

Sol.Gigi Jacob

Come to me, all of you who labor and heavy -laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew: 11:28,29

Lighten your Load:

God will give you the power and the strength you need to serve Him.

Matthew 11:28-30 teaches us that Jesus is not a hard Taskmaster.

In this passage, Jesus is saying that He is good and His system is good, not burdensome or difficult. Religious rules and regulations can be harsh and pressing, and you can easily get overburdened if you do not know how to do everything you feel is expected of you. But Jesus is saying here; “I am not that way. My ways are not like that. They are not hard, harsh, sharp and pressing, but they are comfortable, gracious, and pleasant.”

God not only tell us what to do, He gives us strength and wisdom to do it. If God did not give me the power to run my Immanuel Care Home, I would be   burdened and in way over my head. But it is not hard for me. I am comfortable doing what God has equipped me to do. I would not be equipped with my power to get it done if I tried to serve God from the standpoint of mere rules and regulations, and I would be miserable. But I serve Him because I deeply love Him; therefore, I have joy in what I do.

Jesus lead us to a place that is comfortable, gracious, and pleasant.

I believe that serving God is easy if we learn to hear from Him and simply obey rather than struggle to do things, He never asked us to do for Him.

Take time and seek God about whether your works are His works. Is He leading you to do for you to do them? If you discover that you are involved in works of flesh and that God has not given you the grace to do them, do not be afraid to lay them down and seek Him about His will of your life.

Remember, it will not always be easy, but there will be comfort, grace, and pleasure associated with doing His works. Jesus wants to lighten the load you have been carrying all by yourself and give you rest.

Prayer

Thank you, Jesus, that You will ease and refresh my soul when I am weary and that you will cause me to rest.

Thank you that Your yoke is not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious and pleasant and that Your yoke is light and easy for me to bear.

Amen

Sol.Kamal Kumari

  “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties and lawless idolatry. “

1Peter 4:3

In this world today people have a huge pressure to drink alcohol, smoke and tobacco etc. to relax their mind and show off in the society which is sinful to God but Satan loves it.  He loves people to get addicted and taking the good years off their life.  As Christians we are to separate ourselves from the world.

“ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”

Romans 8:5

Testimony:

I was transferred to another branch of my office. There was a person,  addicted with paan, tobacco and smoking. His mouth smelled very bad. I asked him to give up these bad habits, he said that he had started this at age of 17 and now it’s been 40 years. He was not able to leave it now even if he wanted to. I told him good news of our Lord Jesus Christ in the office and prayed for him many days at home as well. The Lord started working and changes started coming in him. Where he used to take gutka 8 times a day, was reduced to 0 miraculously. Many times he opened his mouth and showed that his mouth had started getting clean. The smell was going away. All the Staff and he himself were very surprised how the impossible turned into the possible by praying to Jesus Christ. He thanked our Lord Jesus Christ very much. Praise be to the Lord.

All this was possible through the Holy Spirit. God has his own timing and way of working.  We are to walk by the Spirit and follow Christ.

 It is our duty to take the gospel of the Lord among people so that they come out of the darkness. May they come to know the truth and repent and live life well.  

“ Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in quarreling and jealousy.”

Romans 13:13

It is written in the Bible that if anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, because the temple of God is holy and that is you. So, we should never associate with bad habits and foolish people.

So, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God and in the name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Prayer

Father God we seek your wisdom, understanding and guidance for our life to be prospered. We pray in Jesus name. 

Amen! Hallelujah!

Sol. Poonam Batra, AOJ

Why do you look so sad? “

Genesis 40:7

Joseph was in prison. Then there came the butler and the baker from the palace as a punishment. Joseph was able to say to them,”why do you look so sad?”. Joseph was the one who was falsely accused and imprisoned. Yet, he was cheering up somebody. Even though we may be in an adverse condition  we can still encourage  another person who may be in greater trouble  than we are.

         Many of God’s preparations for us are simply aimed to get our eyes off ourselves and to lead us out from self-pity. when he saw that the two men were troubled, and heard each had a dream, Joseph said  ” Do not interpretation belongs to God? Tell me them, I pray you”. Genesis 40:8   Joseph in a flash saw the meaning of the two dreams. The Spirit of God told him the meaning of three branches and the three days.

     Joseph was still under preparation by God. An important part of Joseph’s preparation was for him to be delivered from self- pity, self-righteousness and from any need to manipulate the future.  God gave the dreams to the butler and baker for that. He rightly interpreted the butler’s dream,” You are going to be restored ” But in an unguarded moment Joseph went a bit too far. He said,” but remember me when it is well with  you, and  please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house “.Having said remember me to pharaoh  in Genesis 40:14 Joseph continued “For indeed  I was stolen away from the land of Hebrews ,and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon  .”.Genesis 40:15

            The butler was restored to his job, but completely forgot about Joseph. He was to be in prison for two more years.

“yet the chief butler didn’t remember Joseph, but forgot him”.

Genesis 40:23

          Joseph insisted on defending himself “that he is innocent, and don’t deserve to be here”.

The way God was disciplining Joseph is what He is doing with all of us. God wants to bring us to the place described

“For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby Justified; but He that judgeth me is the Lord”. “Therefore, judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes”.

1 Corinthians 4:4-5

         The kind of work God had in mind for Joseph was that, he had to be devoid of any defensiveness or any kind of self- pity. Because of that he was sentenced to two more years in prison. At the end of two full years, the Pharaoh  had a dream. That was God’s provision for Joseph to get a break through in God’s own time.

Prayer

      Father God give us the grace to depend fully in you and not on our own abilities and intelligence. I pray in Jesus name.

Amen

Sol.Gerard

“And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”

Genesis 6:6

One of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is “Long Suffering”.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, LONGSUFFERING, gentleness, goodness, faith.. Galatians 5:22-23

I always wondered what does it mean and why is it at all the fruit of the Holy Spirit?

We see right from the garden of Eden where the first man and women sinned against God, it goes on and on till the time of Noah when finally, God said,” My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh”. (Genesis 6:3) God saw His people willfully sinning and rebelling, doing all that was sin and God’s Spirit grieved and He was longing for the love and reverence from His people. He got disappointed from the sin of Adam, till the time of Noah, thousands of years, God was waiting for His children to repent and to come in line with His purpose. When He created the World, it took Him only 6 days, but we see when the flood came upon earth, it took 40 days to cover the earth with water and only after further 150 days, the water started receding. God could have done it in a single day but he himself chose to suffer during all those days. His suffering hasn’t ended yet. Since the creation came into existence till the crucifixion of His son Lord Jesus Christ, God suffered and has been suffering.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16

In the ailing and tormented body of Christ on the cross, God punished our sins and

He Himself took part in those sufferings by sending His own son to die on the Cross.

“ He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.”

Romans 8:32

It’s the time to acknowledge that if we are being blamed, persecuted, put into hardship, trials (“count it all joy when you fall into various temptations” James 1:2) and don’t cry to the Lord, Oh Lord! How long? Remember God is also suffering with us and He will not let us suffer beyond our endurance. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. “

2 Peter 3:9

Needless to say, like every faithful Christian, I have been suffering since the time I came to the saving knowledge of Lord Jesus Christ. I was persecuted in my 1st church mentally, emotionally and physically but forgiving everyone, I am just holding on to God and patiently waiting on Him because He has said in John 16:20,” your mourning will turn into joy”

Prayer

Lord! give us your grace in our affliction and suffering, let patience has it perfect work in us and we don’t waiver in following the path that you have shown through your Son Lord Jesus Christ! In Jesus name, I pray.

Amen

Sol.Neha

If Your Eye Causes You To Stumble And Sin, Pluck It Out And Throw It Away From You [That Is, Remove Yourself From The Source Of Temptation]; It Is Better For You To Enter Life With Only One Eye, Than To Have Two Eyes And Be Thrown Into The Fiery Hell.

MATTHEW 18: 9

Eyes causing to stumble & sin means:- lose balance & going down in darkness in SIN. We need to understand this:- that something is observed which is dangerous sin, as this verse say’s to pluck it out & throw THE SOURCE OF TEMPTATION.

Everyone in life stumble, however there is a role to play after stumbling in life. Here is a question, How to pluck out & throw away the Sins of eyes?

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  Writing about times you’ve stumbled helps get you on back on course.
• Your choices.
• Let your yes be yes & no be no.
  

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Let’s not forget the reality that people stumble & fall into sin is because of lack of S E L F C O N T R O L.

This lack is all because:- when we fail to trust and delight in God and find our strength in Him, when our priorities get out of balance, or when we fail to see life from God’s perspective and end up making foolish choices.

These are some of the consequences of stumbling: fear, insecurity and withdrawal from following the Lord.

 Examples in the Bible who stumble:- David fell into tremendous sin, but once again walked with the Lord and penned warnings and encouragement for God’s people. Jacob lied repeatedly, but later God used him to raise up and teach truth to twelve sons who became the leaders of Israel’s tribes. Cowardly Peter stumbled badly when he denied his Lord, yet he rose up in the power of Christ and became a courageous leader in the New Testament church.

God’s hand is always stretched out to lift up sinners and get them walking with Him again. Those who delight in Him will be blessed as they refuse to walk in step with the wicked.

Everyone fails, and everyone reacts to failure differently. We need to make peace with the fact that we will fall many times throughout our journey. However, when we commit ourselves to get back up, dust ourselves off, be honest about how we feel and what happened, and not let it stop us from being who we are and going for what we want – we tap into what true power, boldness, and authenticity are all about.

As Mark Twain reminds us in one of his many famous quote’s

“Dance like nobody’s watching; love like you’ve never been hurt. Sing like nobody’s listening; live like it’s heaven on earth.”

Let’s Pray:- Dear Lord, I know that I am weak and I need your help to overcome my temptations. Please give me the strength to resist evil and to do your will. I pray for self-control and ask that you will give me the power to choose what is right and good in all situations. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

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SOL.PRITI JAIN

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But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.”

2 Chronicles 5:18

Here we see Naaman is requesting Elisa to intercede for him on this one thing which is against the commandment of God. I have heard this story many times in my church but when I read it once after I was saved by the Grace of God in the year 2020 The Holy Spirit helped me to relate what I should do like Naaman did.

Naaman when he immersed in the river Jordan he was healed. At that moment his eyes was opened and he knew the God of Israel is the true living God. During his return journey from Jordan to meet Elisa even if we count it as 2 hours approximately Naaman made a decision that he will only serve the God of Israel. He might have run through his mind the thing he has to leave being from a country Syria which is full of Idolatry and demon worships. He had to leave his festivals, traditions & habits but he was never hesitant to make a decision to leave them all after realizing the truth. We can understand that from the above verse 2 Ch 5:18 the only one thing he cannot not skip was being with the king at the Rimmon temple as he being the Army commander must be beside the king which is unavoidable. So he requests for pardon and grace to Elisa from The Lord.

When I was saved by The Lord, The Holy Spirit told me to do the same. Delete all my old life. I throwed all my idols being a catholic, erased all my email, google, YouTube and Facebook history, removed my Instagram account knowing I don’t need it. I exited certain WhatsApp group and even stopped speaking to a few friends basically left anything that could lead me back to my old sinful life.

The same happened with Elisa when Elijah called him, he killed the Oxe which he was ploughing and used the same yoke to cook the Oxe. He offered his work so that he cannot return to it from his calling. We see King David burning all Idols from the cities and places he captured because in future it may slip into Israel. He made sure every idol is burnt completely.

Today we see people in the church interested in their customs and traditions rather than to obey the Word of God. It is a question we have to ask ourselves is there anything Lord I have to leave still to become closer to you anything that leads me away from you to remove it completely from my life.

Prayer

Our Father in heaven Give us the grace O Lord to identify the things in out life that leads us away from you and to remove that from our lives completely so that we may live a life to please you. In Jesus name I Pray Amen.

Sol.Leo

“that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honour and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ “.

1 Peter 1:7

Faith is more valuable than gold or precious stones or valuable metals. By the latter we can attain certain values on this earth. But by faith only we can obtain eternal life. Our Faith needs is tested by the sufferings we under go. To remove all impurities gold is purified in fire. By the same process if we undergo sufferings and patiently endure it, we also come out as gold good for God’s kingdom. 

“Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience “.

James 1:3

The gold ornaments are usually made with outer covering which is pure gold and inside some cheap metals. We can’t deceive the Lord by our outer appearance. Lord will search our heart also. Faith gives us love of God. So we will get His power, grace, anointing, leading, counsel and wisdom.

           Lord will watch us in times of suffering whether we hold on to our faith or reject Him. God will search our hearts reactions to sufferings whether we please and honour Him or think, speak and things against Him. If our faith is stronger even after testing, it brings great joy, honour and pleasure to God.  Pure gold can be beaten into any shape. Similarly, if our faith is strong and pure, God can use our lives for His glory. So, don’t waste your time by pleasing worldly people but try to please God. Our faith is the treasure we can store in heaven, that neither moth nor rust nor fire can destroy. 

All our trials are testing of our faith. If we pass all quality tests Lord will approve us for the kingdom work. We are cleansed, perfected and equipped from within to shine for the Lord and to bring glory to His name. Each trial makes us better and better This is what pleases the Lord.

Mathew 6:19-20

Prayer

            Father God help us to persevere and endure the trials and come out victoriously to please you.

Amen

Sol.Gigi Jacob