AOJ NEWS

“There is more joy in Heaven”

Lk 15:7

There is a parable in Luke 15:12-32 that speaks of repentance. The younger son got his share of property from his father. He lived lavishly and wasted all his wealth. He repented and returned to his father saying, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” His father not only forgave him but gave him lot of gifts. He was dead, but came back to life; He was lost but found again. They began to celebrate and there was much joy in the house.

 Repentance is the first step to salvation experience. Sinful men, created by God can repent for his sins and turn back to God any time while he is still alive on this earth. Forgiveness for sins can be obtained while we are living on this earth but we can neither repent nor receive salvation after our death.

      When I repented and accepted Jesus Christ, definitely the heaven would have rejoiced. This happened in Zimbabwe in the year 1998. Along with my wife, son and daughter I had gone there for some work. I was a staunch Hindu, and I had taken the idols along with me. I worshipped them in my room but God had predestined me and he had prepared a different plan for me.  

An old couple conducted ‘Troop Church’ every Saturday with my wife for four years. My wife accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as she knew the truth. She came to me and said, “seek, you will find.” She also read Isaiah 44:14-18 to me. The last verse says like this, “And no one considers in his heart, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” these words struck me like a spear. Who is true God then? I started asking this question daily.

A servant of God came to me the same day evening and said, “while I was praying this morning, the Lord asked me to visit you.” I thought you might have gone to India, how come you didn’t go, he asked me.  During this conversation my eyes were filled with tears. Then he prayed for me.  I neither knew the bible nor Jesus at that time.  I experienced a deep sense of joy and peace that I could not explain in words. At the same time, I am sure, heaven too might have rejoiced at my repentance. After the prayer my problem got solved and I returned to India happily.

  There are many things that can give us happiness on this earth. A few of them are,

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  (Matt 5:11,12).

When you find some of your children walking in truth – 2 John 1:4

When we are sincere and faithful and multiply the talents that are given to us then we enter into the joy of the Lord. Matt 25:21

Prayer:

Lord use each one of us in such a way that every minute heaven is filled with more joy and the hundreds and thousands of people around us repent and accept Jesus as their personal God and savior. Amen!

Sol. Mohana Sundaram AOJ

If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, (wordly wealth) who will commit to your trust the true riches (souls)?

Luke 16:11

The moral of this verse spoken to the disciples is that they were the stewards to whom Jesus was going to entrust His goods. They would be responsible to use them wisely. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, HE has entrusted us with His goods. Everything we have has come from Him. We are responsible for how we spend His money, talent, Power, wealth, land, job, position (post) which the Lord has given to us. One day the Lord will call on us to give an accounting of how we have utilised them.

          Basically Jesus is saying that the money is not the currency of heaven. Let us suppose you undergo a strange experience of being in a foreign country and starving even though you have a lot of Indian currency. In order to buy goods in a foreign country one must go to the bank and exchange your cash with the currency of the country which you are in. 

 But when we arrive in heaven, we will realize that there are no exchange banks. The only opportunity for us to exchange our currency with heavenly currency is now on earth. If we wait until we arrive at the gate of heaven we will be too late.

     Jesus seems to be drawing a contrast between true riches and false riches. The false riches are the riches of this world, that are measured in bank account and material possessions. The true riches are the eternal riches. We read in Matt 6:19 -21   Jesus telling us not to lay up for ourselves treasure on earth, where moths and rust can decay and thieves can break in and steal. But layup treasure in heaven. Material riches are not true riches. True riches are not measured by our account in the bank, but how much we have deposited in our heavenly bank account.

            In  Lk. 21:1- 4 Jesus reminds us about a widow dropping in a mite, which is less than a penny. Jesus says that she had given more than the rest of them, for they were casting in of their surplus, but she was giving of her livelihood, for that was all that she had. Lk  12:15 we read, ” Then He said to them, watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for life does not consist in possessions, even when someone has more than he need.”

           We all are accountable for we are called by the Lord to work in His vineyard, to teach others His Words,  to enlarge His border, to take His light to dark places, to work for the fulfilment of His vision. One day we will have to give an  account of all our stewardship to Him.

Sol. Dr. Mohan Parmar

This is what the Lord says to His anointed, to Cyrus ( king of Persia), whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him, and I will ungird the loins of kings ( disarming them); To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 

Isaiah 45:1

Those who are chosen by God are also anointed or equipped by Him.   We are enabled by His grace and power to fulfil His purpose in our lives.  He holds our right hand to empower us, to give us the authority, power and dominion over the nations.   By virtue of his anointing or His authorization, we can strip kings of darkness and their earthly representatives in all nations of their defensive armour.  We can disarm them of their weapons of destruction.    The Lord will open doors before us that no man can shut.   He will give us opportunities to demonstrate the power and authority of God on earth that no one can take away or block.  We have a royal and eternal destiny like King Cyrus. Like King Cyrus saw himself as a servant king, who serves the living God, we are servant Kings in the order of Jesus Christ, the Anointed One.  We are anointed or filled with the Holy Spirit to build God’s kingdom on earth like Cyrus was anointed to have the temple and Jerusalem re-built. The resources of heaven, the army of God is available to us for the fulfilment of our calling.

                The Lord also promises to go ahead of His people and to remove the obstacles even if these be as large and seemingly insurmountable as mountains.  Even the strongest of doors cannot withstand His power.   He can reach through bronze doors to deliver hidden treasures into our hands.   He calls us personally and by our first names like He called Cyrus even when the latter did not know anything about the God of Israel.   We have the advantage of knowing Him more fully thanks to the word of God which tells us in great detail who He is, what kind of person He is, the extent of His power and authority, His great love for those who trust Him.

             Any demonic force or power that rises against us, we can subdue in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.   Some of these forces try to kill us or destroy or weaken us with our inner strongholds of fear or doubt.  Some try to rob us, causing us hurt and inner injuries. Some try to steal from us subtly so that we are not even aware of it.  The satanic array of forces though they number 666 threats, dangers, viles against us are no match for the sovereign power of God and that of His people.  Since God’s presence surrounds us like a cloud, defends us like a fire, since He holds our right hand and guides us in all our important areas and decisions, we can be confident of victory over all the 666.  If we take a year as having 365 days, an average of one to two kings of darkness attack us on a daily basis.  We should know from this uni-verse that we can strip them of their armour, neutralize their power to harm us.  Once we exercise our kingly authority delegated to us by the Lord God, their strongholds will come crashing down and they cannot come near us to steal us of our mental or emotional peace, affect our holistic health of spirit, mind or body, impact our finances, our reputation, our emotions, our relationships, our present or future or eternity.

Bro. Prateep Philip IPS, DGP(Rtd) Chennai

I waited patiently for the LORD; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

Psalm 40:1,2

We have to   offer worship to the Lord with  deep faith, and wait  upon Him patiently;  Hoping for what He  wants to give to us. For this, every day meditation upon the word of God is necessary. We,  usually   keep asking God to give us things we need/want; but mostly do not have  patience to sit in His presence and  ask Him what He  wants to tell us.

To understand the concept of ‘waiting patiently’, let us see an example. Imagine we are travelling to a far off place. You   are preparing for a journey by train. The scheduled time is 9:30 A.M.  you  will try to reach the station at least  by 8:45 A.M. If  the train is  delayed by half an hour, We will reschedule our journey to 10.00 am. Still we will wait patiently at the station for our train to arrive.

Similarly, we must have patience to understand that God will do His work in His time and not as per our timings. . Don’t mumble, don’t grumble, don’t get angry, instead wait patiently and then it surely will happen.

Think about Abraham and Isaac.  When God said to Abraham, “Take now your son, your only one, Isaac, whom you love. And …..offer him there for a burnt offering….”. As they both were going, Isaac kept on  asking, “where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham replied patiently “God will provide”.  Yes, Jehovah Jirreh is my provider.

If and when we need something from the Lord, what we have to do? First, let it be made known to Him.  And then wait patiently. Confess and  declare that  He will do it for me.  He will open the gates of heaven and  supply it.

With all our strength, with bravery in our hearts and without complaints we must wait because scripture says if we wait patiently,  then He will be inclined to hear our cry.

What does the second verse say?

 “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the slimy pit, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. The third verse goes on to say, He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear; and put their trust in the Lord.

In scripture

1. Abraham would have told his wife  Sarah that after the  worship, Isaac and himself  would  come back.
2. He told  his helpers that he would  go with his son to the mountain and asked them  to wait till they came back.
3. Then to his son he said  that God would  bring the offering.

So my beloved brethren,  only those who are  happy will praise the Lord. With a heavy laden heart one cannot sing praises to the Lord. Wait patiently. Surely He will come and set our feet firm on the rock making sure that we are able to sing and rejoice. Amen!

Prayer: Abba Father, I pray that may all of your children learn to be patient enough to get everything from you without grumbling against you. .Amen

Sol. Jannet Biju Lawrence

“Overcome evil with good”

Rom 12: 21

A Christian needs to bless those who curse  him and endure persecution says, Saint Paul and adds, “When we are cursed,  we bless;  When we are persecuted,  we endure it. We have become the scum of the earth and the refuse of the world”. 1 Cor. 4: 12,-13.

As an ardent follower of Jesus Paul  practiced this principles in his life and advocated the same to all Church members. He viewed it as honest deed.  Romans 12 17

Jesus preached,

“Do not resist an evil person; If someone strikes you on the right cheek,  turn to him the other also. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven.” Matt 5 39, 43.

 Jesus is our role model. He  said on the cross, ”Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

 Lk 23:34

Peter reminds us to live such good life among pagans  that they may see our good deeds and glorify God in the day of visitation. “it is God’s will that by doing good we can silence the ignorant talk  of foolish men”. 1 Peter 2: 12,15

A related example  in Bible is Joseph. He was hated by his brothers because he was greatly loved by their father and also for his dreams. So he was sold as a slave. God  permitted long sufferings and acid tests  in Egypt before elevating him to the level of Prime Minister. At  this juncture he never took vengeance at his brothers,  instead he treated them kindly and could also explain to them God’s amazing ways of protecting his people.

Jesus said,

“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,  for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”. Matt 5:10

An Australian missionary Graham Stains who worked among lepers  was burnt alive along with his two sons in India. Later his wife Gladys declared that she had totally forgiven the ones who  persecuted them.

“Avenge not  yourself but rather give place  to wrath” says Paul.  God says “Vengeance is mine;  I will repay”. Rom 12:19

“So let us  strive to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.”  Matt 5:48

Sol. Victy Mythila

“ When they cast down, you shall say be lifted up.”

Job 22:29

Here in this verse,  the ruler of this world wants to put us down, but when we worship and submit ourselves  to our Lord, He is the only true God who will help us by lifting us up. 

I like to share my testimony. Due to this pandemic we were not paid in our school. Once the school got resumed on 25^th October 2021 I planned and worked very hard for my students because they had  already forgotten everything. So I trained the teachers also  for their classes.

On the day of salary they did not pay me  full salary but for all others they paid in full. My heart was burdened and   I was unhappy. It was not only for the salary but they were not able to recognize my work.  I was disturbed still.  But  I PRAYED AND THANKED GOD.  This happened on December 5^th 2021 .

My family had planned to relocate to Bangalore for my children’s higher education. On 18^th December  my friend called and said, “there is a walk in interview; you attend”.  Before starting I asked God, “if it is  your will you send me there”. God spoke to me from Isaiah 64:8 “I am the Potter and you are the Clay”.   I attended the interview. I had 6 rounds. It was only God who gave me wisdom to clear all the rounds and I was selected as Senior Academic Coordinator for one of the prestigious institution in Bangalore with good package because they had already started with offline classes. They asked me to join immediately. Because of shifting from KGF to Bangalore,  I planned to start with my new job from 3^rd Jan 2022. So I started on .

The HR came and welcomed me and asked to wait for some time. Meanwhile the Principal met me and asked to meet her once I complete with all the joining formalities. When  I entered her chamber,  she just asked me to ‘Thank God’.  The reason was that she got a mail early morning at 3:00 a.m.  stating that “Those who come on 3^rd you may  give appointment and to others,  ask them to come after 4 months’. The reason was again resuming to the online classes.

When I was down, only God’s  righteous hand held and lifted me up.  All Glory to Jesus Christ Alone. Amen 

Isaiah 12:2 “ Behold God is my Salvation I will trust and will not be afraid for the Lord God is my strength and my song.”

Sol. Preethi Bosco

“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever“

1 Cor 9:25

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Heb 12:1

Everyone in this world, are running towards their destiny. This world is filled with sins and temptations. Everyday go to the Lord’s presence and ask him to cleanse your heart with blood of Jesus.

Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city. Proverbs 16:32

It requires a lot of patience and endurance to take control over your thoughts, words and deeds.Take control over your desires on the things of the world.

Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. Luke 21: 34

Allow Holy Spirit to take control over your mind and thoughts so your mind will be renewed. Allow Him to correct your intentions and desires.

Yield yourself under the hands of God and trust him completely. He will correct you.

As you learn to humble yourself and allow God to correct you, God will consider you as His own son and He will lead you. It may be painful sometimes but later you will reap the peaceable fruit of righteousness as mentioned in Hebrews 12:11.

There was a time, I did not finish my task on time and I got condemned for it. I felt very bad and prayed about it. Then the Lord insisted me saying, “You should realize your mistake. You should not expect others to show mercy when you are not diligent in your work”. Then I realized my mistake and repented. Lord blessed me with a promotion in my work. Similarly, I got rebuked by a child of God for a mistake I committed. When I humbled myself and accepted corrections, Lord taught me leadership qualities. Thank you, Jesus!

Sol. Benjamin Philip

 “In majestic triumph you overthrow your foes; Your anger blazes out and burns them up like straw”.

Exodus 15:7

While meditating on Exodus 15:7 the Spirit of the Lord led me to Ephesians 6:11-13

Yes indeed we are not fighting against human beings but against cosmic powers of this dark agewhich stole my youthful 13 precious years.

I was born in a Mar Thoma Keralite Christian family and married to a Roman Catholic. Didn’t know the Savior for 45 years till the Lord called me 14 years back in 2007. I was one of the sheep lost in the woods of deep rooted unforgiving and bitterness, unknowingly getting involved in the cold war between my mother and sister-in-law (only brother’s wife) and wasted 13 long painful years in futility.

Then I got associated to AOJ almost three years back. FRP (Forgiveness and Reconciliation Program) Gift School enabled removal of stronghold of unforgiveness and bitterness.

How true it is said in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that the evil God of this world has blinded the spiritual eyes of peoples and stopped up their ears.

Further God pointed towards Deuteronomy 9:3 which says

“Therefore, understand today that the Lord your God is he who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so, you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly. As the Lord has said to you.”

 So God’s cleaning up has to become a forerunner before we start the work.

Exodus 14:14

“The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Numbers 33:52

“Then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places”.

So God helped me first of all in cleansing the inner temple of my heart 24×7 so that I keep myself worthy of His calling by driving out all the idols in my life like my pride, position, power, status, achievements, self-righteousness, envy, jealousy, one up man ship, unforgiving, bitterness, critical condemnatory judgemental spirit etc. Everything is only His Grace.

This leading firmly impressed upon my heart to remain firmly on God’s rest (Matthew 11:28-30,  James 4:7)

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

 in the temple of my heart as a speck of dust under Lord’s feet i.e. his foot stool. (Matthew 5:35)

PRAISE AND GLORY ONLY TO LORD JESUS

Sol. Jasmine James

” Put à knife to your throat, if you are given to gluttony”

Proverb  23: 2

Here the Ruler brings best of the food to a man, but be careful what is before you. The fine food given by the ruler can lead you into temptation  to do the will of the Ruler. Therefore ,  guard your heart and do not allow the lust of the flesh rule over you, instead resist it.

A good example we can see in Daniel (1-8) considering about food temptations King wanted to appoint persons with good looking smart and full of wisdom and knowledge to serve the King’s Palace , so he provided all kinds of delicacies and wine, which Daniel rejected and with the wisdom of God he preferred vegetables to eat and water to drink because he wanted to honour his God and not to defile himself.

Remembrance of my childhood days:  My father was a Marine instructor teaching for the Barge and trawler people i.e water transport. Those days the barge Crew  members were not educated so he used to make a model of the boat and practically teach them and use to take his  minimum tuition fees only from  those who could afford to pay. To those who could not afford, he  used to teach  freely. One day it so happened that  one of his students came with a bundle of currency notes  and tried  to give him, but my father refused and told him, “ I will only take my fees”. Even in the difficult times along with  wife and 5 children he guarded his heart from becoming  corrupt , because he feared  God.

As per Bible verses:

1 ) Rom 13: 14 – Godliness teaches you to avoid anything that leads to temptation.

2) 1Cor 9: 27 – Paul was committed to keeping his body’s appetites  under his rule.

3) Ps 101: 3 – David would not allow any evil thing before his eyes.

4) Pr 9:6 – A good man will not even have foolish friends.

So we must be aware of our appetites, know our sins so that we can  put a knife to those appetites and deny them by cutting off  opportunities  for them , even if the loss of those things  is as costly or painful as losing an eye or hand.

Luke 9 : 23 – Jesus called it taking up a cross daily and it was mandatory  in order to be  His disciple.

Sol  Geeta B. Muslekar AOJ 

“He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts”.

Luke 1:51

As one serves, it is  always the empty cup that captures the attention of filler to get filled up. Cups that are already filled to various levels with something else get neglected.  Among all, empty cup receive the honour finally.

For God, it doesn’t matter that one is man or woman, virgin or married, Pharisee or Publican, statused  high or statused  low. But it does matter for Him  that one is empty and not filled, i.e, one has the humble servant state heart and not the proud heart.

Mary received the honour of being called ‘blessed woman’ in all the generations to come. God rewarded her *humble hands maiden state *(Luke 1:48). ‘Being young’ or ‘being virgin’ or ‘being woman’ or ‘being betrothed to a man’, nothing hindered. She got her cup filled.

Jesus also received the honour from Father through ‘humble servant state’ of Him.(Philippians 2:7-11). Every man of God as well receive only so!

What would be the process to attain ‘humble servant state’ ? We learn it from Paul !

Paul suffered all losses (emptied) of his confidence in flesh, self righteousness to win saviour God Christ (Philippians 3:8).

Also, longing honour  from  God, he rejected getting secured and obtaining name in the community he belonged to. He got his cup filled.

(NB:  securities and names are nothing but Proud Towers of Babel, which Paul rejected).

How about us ?

Once I was attending troop church , a brother who once an addict,   was giving message. He spoke with almost tears, “Lord I know how much I’m unworthy to even touch this Bible, I’m a sinner. I used to stay out of Church. But you considered me as a man, gave me opportunity to hold Bible, to speak about you”. The humbleness he showed  before  God made me tremble. I felt I’m no way near. I learnt the urgency for ‘emptying my heart’ from that day on.

We might be so and so in this world that we gain confidence in flesh; brought up with good discipline that we boast in self righteousness; well connected to a spiritual community that gives us security and a name to be dependant about. How do we account them all ? As  Profit or loss ?

If we account them loss, we receive the honour !

If we account them profit, we stay proud!

The Lord scatters the proud!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to empty my heart, let me not accept any profit of my flesh or world around, help me to go through ‘humble servant state’  that my cup is filled. Amen.

Sol. Dr. Sujatha Aacha