The Warriors for Christ

On Prayer

2012-01-08T19:55:00.000-08:00

"Nothing seems to be too great, too hard, or too difficult for prayer to do. It has obtained things that seemed impossible and out of reach. It has won victories over fire, air, earth, and water.

Prayer opened the Red Sea. Prayer brought water from the rock and bread from heaven. Prayer made the sun stand still. Prayer brought fire from the sky on Elijah's sacrifice. Prayer turned the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. Prayer overthrew the army of Sennacherib.

Well said Mary Queen of Scots, "I fear John Knox's prayers more than an army of ten thousand men." Prayer has healed the sick. Prayer has raised the dead. Prayer has procured the conversion of souls. "The child of many prayers," said an old Christian to Augustine's mother, "will never perish." Prayer, pains, and faith can do anything." -J.C.Ryle

Man of Sorrows, What a Name....

2011-11-13T19:16:00.000-08:00

This is taken from 'Desiring God Blog' posted by Jonathan Parnell.

"Jesus is Our All-Sufficient Comforter"

Richard Sibbes:

The sighs of a bruised heart carry in them a report, both of our affection to Christ, and of His care to us. The eyes of our souls cannot be towards Him unless He has cast a gracious look upon us first. The least love we have to Him is but a reflection of his love first shining upon us.

As Christ did, in His example to us, whatever He charges us to do, so He suffered in His own person whatever He calls us to suffer, so that He might the better learn to relieve and pity us in our sufferings. . . .

But our comfort is that Christ drank the dregs of the cup for us, and will succour us, so that our spirits may not utterly fail under that little taste of his displeasure which we may feel. He became not only a man but a curse, a man of sorrows, for us. He was broken that we should not be broken; he was troubled, that we should not be desperately troubled; he became a curse, that we should not be accursed. Whatever may be wished for in an all-sufficient comforter is all to be found in Christ.

The Bruised Reed, 1630, (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2008), 66.

Patience is a Virtue

2011-10-29T05:19:00.000-07:00

If you are patient, you are rich indeed!! Why do I say that? What's so great about being patient? This is one question, I always ask myself again and again. Now, check this Wikepedia meaning of patience!

Patience is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on annoyance/anger in a negative way; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast.

Wow!! That's a lengthy definition. But, seriously, patience is not breaking under......any strain or any stress.....

I have realized something that patience and suffering go hand in hand. Coz, when you are patient (with a person, circumstance, injury.....) you actually suffer. No wonder, we cower from being patient!

One of my favorite verses in the Bible on patience is James 5:7-11. Here, God calls us to be patient and points to the farmer for us to emulate. The farmer patiently waits for the precious fruit of the earth. Then, we are called to look to the suffering prophets and finally to Job!!

I love the end of verse 11, "You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful."

Hence, I will conclude that it is good to be patient and wait expectantly under the Lord's hand.

Are you content?

2011-10-25T22:28:00.000-07:00

In the past few months I have been reading books on contentment. One from Jeremiah Burroughs-Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment and the other by Stephen Altrogge- The Greener Grass Conspiracy...You must be thinking aint this an overdose on learning the art of contentment?? Nope, our hearts are very deceitful and we need to be steered to the truth every single waking moment of our lives.

Its been a while now, almost over 6 months since i have been reading these books. I struggled with discontentment when i did not have a job and I struggle today when I do have one... So what is the main cause for discontentment.

The answer:The disposition of our heart.

Our heart is very wicked and is never satisfied with anything that we have. It will always seem less. It is a lie that we believe that If I have more I will be happy. One of the ways in which we can battle discontentment is by thanking the Lord for the immense blessings He has showered on us. The following Puritan prayer summarizes it in the following words:

O Lord I am astonished at the difference

between by receivings and my deservings,

between the state I am now and my past gracelessness

between the Heaven I am bound for and the hell I merit...

O that a crown should fit the head of such a sinner!

such high advancement be for an unfruitful person!

such joys for so vile a rebel! ( "The Mover")

May this prayer always remind us of our blessings!

A video to help you understand the true state of our heart:)

Seek God's Wisdom

2011-10-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

2011-10-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

"What a friend we have in Jesus" is one of my favorite hymns. It was written by Joseph Scriven who came to believe in Jesus Christ after losing his bride-to-be on the eye of their marriage. She was drowned a couple of hours before she became his bride. We can never imagine his pain and anguish. But isn't it amazing that he found true peace and rest in the arms of His Savior Jesus Christ. Please read the lyrics of this song keeping in mind Joseph who lost his beloved!!

 What a friend we have in Jesus, 
 all our sins and griefs to bear! 
 What a privilege to carry 
 everything to God in prayer! 
 O what peace we often forfeit,
 O what needless pain we bear, 
 all because we do not carry 
 everything to God in prayer. 

 Have we trials and temptations? 
 Is there trouble anywhere? 
 We should never be discouraged; 
 take it to the Lord in prayer. 
 Can we find a friend so faithful 
 who will all our sorrows share? 
 Jesus knows our every weakness; 
 take it to the Lord in prayer. 

 Are we weak and heavy laden, 
 cumbered with a load of care? 
 Precious Savior, still our refuge; 
 take it to the Lord in prayer. 
 Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? 
 Take it to the Lord in prayer! 
 In his arms he'll take and shield thee; 
 thou wilt find a solace there.

A Careless Word

2011-10-15T05:18:00.000-07:00

We need to be so careful with our words, a lesson I am still learning the hard way. Every word reveals the true intention of our heart. There is no such thing as 'I was just kidding' or 'I didn't really mean that'. Every word we speak tells something about the condition of our hearts. True!! Words can either heal or kill. How often we slay people with our words, not realizing we will eat its fruit.

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit." Proverbs 18:1 (NASB)
"When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent." Proverbs 10:19 (ESV)

Reason for Existence

2011-10-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

"What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we have in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? To know God. What is the best thing in life? To know God. What in humans gives God most pleasure? Knowledge of Himself." - J. I. Packer

In Pursuit of Happiness

2011-09-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

It was through John Piper's writings that I came across the word, "hedonism". What does hedonism mean? According to the Oxford dictionary it means-doctrine that pleasure is the only proper aim. Ok, I'm getting to it, but when John Piper talked about Christian Hedonism, I was a bit confused.....I have a small excerpt below adapted from Piper's article, "Christian Hedonism: Forgive the Label, but Don't Miss the Truth"...Read it.....

"What Is Christian Hedonism?

My shortest summary of Christian Hedonism is: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

We all make a god out of what we take the most pleasure in. Christian Hedonists want to make God their God by seeking after the greatest pleasure—pleasure in Him.

By Christian Hedonism, we do not mean that our happiness is the highest good. We mean that pursuing the highest good will always result in our greatest happiness in the end. We should pursue this happiness, and pursue it with all our might. The desire to be happy is a proper motive for every good deed, and if you abandon the pursuit of your own joy you cannot love man or please God.

The Difference Between Worldly and Christian Hedonism

Some people are inclined to believe that Christians are supposed to seek God’s will as opposed to pursuing their own pleasure. But what makes Biblical morality different than worldly hedonism is not that Biblical morality is disinterested and duty-driven, but that it is interested in vastly greater and purer things. Christian Hedonism is Biblical morality because it recognizes that obeying God is the only route to final and lasting happiness. Here are some examples of this from the Bible:

Luke 6:35 says, "Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great." It is clear when Jesus says “expect nothing in return” that we should not be motivated by worldly aggrandizement, but we are given strength to suffer loss by the promise of a future reward.

Again, in Luke 14:12-14: "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor . . . and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." That is, don't do good deeds for worldly advantage; rather, do them for spiritual, heavenly benefits."

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

For more click here

This has set me thinking alrite!

Come and Praise!

2011-09-12T04:33:00.000-07:00

Gracious and loving Heavenly Father, I bless Your Holy Name and rejoice in You. Your works are great, studied by those who delight in them. You do all things in accordance to Your will and it gives You perfect pleasure.

It was Your will to send Your Only Son to this world as the Messiah, the Savior of mankind. Through Him, You offered pardon, forgiveness, cleansing, redemption and reconciliation. What a great mystery You have unveiled before my eyes, things which angels long to look into.

Truly, no one, absolutely no one can know You except through Your Son. I thank You Jesus for revealing God the Father. I bless You and rejoice that my eyes has 'seen' wonderful and marvelous things.

I worship You, LORD Jesus, for You are the Anointed One, the Righteous Judge. All things belong to You and in all things, You are the Preeminent One.

Thank You, O God the Spirit for opening my eyes to behold wondrous things out of Your law. I rejoice and my heart is glad. I have tasted and seen that the LORD is good.

Truly, salvation belongs to Our God.

Worthy are You, O God to receive honor, glory and power. All things come from You and of Your own do we give unto You. Amen.

Song for Every Season

2011-09-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

There are times where I am hurting for several reasons-couldbe a severe trial or a genuine remorse for a repeated sin before my Holy God.And I am without words as the burden is too heavy to bear. At times like this,a song can be such a balm to your soul as it lifts up your spirits.

One such song that lifted me up during that timewas, “It is well with my soul”

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

I love the chorus!! “It is well, with my soul, It is well,it is well, with my soul.”

“...I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”Philippians 4:11b

Of Grace under Trials

2011-08-30T03:25:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning, while waiting for my church service to begin, I noticed a guy walk into church with the help of a walking crutch. For a minute, I couldn’t place the guy in my memory, but then I recalled he was the same person who had met with a severe accident couple of months ago.

Watching him walk across the room with the crutch, released a flood of memories in my mind. I immediately recalled the phase when I walked about with the help of an elbow crutch. Of course, mine was a minor accident compared to his, just torn ligaments in my ankle and badly bruised bones. It took me a couple of months to get back on my feet. Literally!!

Those days constantly reminded me of my frailty and how much grace I needed to go through it alone. The day I met with the accident was the day I got confirmed in my new job. Looking at the severity of my injury, I knew instantly, I had lost my job. I was job hunting those days so I knew what I had lost. And six months earlier, I had undergone two dental surgeries back to back within a span of two months. That put a considerable toll on my health.

Now, with the ankle injury, I was battling a lot of emotions. I was confused wondering what went wrong. But praise God for His word. Truly, it is a light unto your path. James clearly says that we will face trials of all kinds and this is to only to build up my faith. (James 1:2-4) He calls us to have an attitude of joy! Christ has promised that His grace is always sufficient in any trial we go through. (2 Corinthians 12:9a)

Paul experienced that promise when he suffered under a great trial of having the thorn in his flesh. He prayed thrice to God to have it removed, but Christ only said, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor.12:9)

I always marvel at Paul’s response to this promise of Christ, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Cor.12:9c). This is true grace manifested in our weak bodies!

I have known believers who have survived a car wreck and underwent several operations. I have seen their godly response to such deep suffering. I have seen Christ’s grace manifested not just in their attitude towards suffering but in the humble acceptance in what God in His immense wisdom has allowed to pass. I saw this same attitude in the person I mentioned in the beginning of this post.

I am humbled and at the same time marvel at God’s ways. This in my sight is truly a miracle!!

Christ the Giver of All Things.

2011-03-20T05:54:00.000-07:00

I have been going through 2 Samuel in my daily reading and as I came across one line, it made me stop and think. I was reading Chapter 8 that talk about David’s victories. Verse 6b says, “And the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went” It could have been framed any other way like, “David was victorious” or “David had victory wherever he went”. But scripture is specific and gives credit to God. So did David as we see in verse 11.

So do we give credit to when we have victories? It could be an exam done well, or an appraisal at work based on your hard work or even the ability to understand the Word and apply in your life. Let us not forget the giver of all things.

The Psalm that comes to my mind right now is Ps 127:1-2

“Unless the LORD builds the house,

Those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the LORD watches over the city ,

The watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early and

Go late to rest,

Eating the bread of anxious toil;

For He gives to His beloved sleep.

So have you thanked the Lord for all your victories?

Where do you stand today in your Christian Walk?

2011-03-16T05:08:00.000-07:00

I am always freaked out when I need to get an evaluation done. Whether it was for education, sports or health. An evaluation is the revelation of truth. I always know that the results will show me where I exactly stand. Sometimes it is good, other times not that great. But how ever disappointing an evaluation can be, I would know my weak areas and thus be able to work on it.

It’s the same with our Christian walk. We need to evaluate ourselves with the word of God and see where we stand. Are we still babies in the Christian faith, or have we grown? Do we daily delight in spending time studying His word and in prayer? Any specific sin areas in your life you have asked the Lord to help you conquer?

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise” Eph 5 : 15

Therefore let us be careful of how we live our life as we are living it unto the Lord. There will be a lot of hard questions we might have to ask ourselves to really figure out where we stand in our Christian walk. But that is the only way we can move forward in the faith.

A RIGHT RESPONSE TO TRIALS

2010-11-22T22:21:00.000-08:00

We had done this study in our women's meeting a while back. As I was going through the notes again I was encouraged by the following verses.

God brings trials in the Christian’s life for many different reasons. How we respond to it, reflects our view of God. The followings verses can help us think truth in our heart about God during our trials.

God uses trials in the believer’s life to:

Produce endurance in us.

James 1:3 “For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness”

2. To conform us to the image of His Son.

Romans 8:29-30 “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son in order that He might be the first born among many brothers. And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom he called, He also justified and those whom He justified, He also glorified.”

3. To make us mature and complete and lacking in nothing.

James 1:4 “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing.”

4. To produce greater fruitfulness in us as God prunes us. Remember how close the gardener is to us as He prunes us!

John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes that it may bear more fruit.”

5. To grow us in perseverance proven character and hope.

Romans 5:3-4 “ More than that we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produce endurance, and endurance produces character and character produces hope”

6. To teach us His comfort-so that we might comfort others with that comfort.

2 Cor 1:3-4 “ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Prayer!

2010-10-31T03:13:00.000-07:00

“Prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing it changes is us. As we engage in this communion with God more deeply and come to know the One with whom we are speaking more intimately, that growing knowledge of God reveals to us all the more brilliantly who we are and our need to change in conformity to Him. Prayer changes us profoundly.”- R.C.Sproul

A good prayer!

2010-09-12T22:58:00.000-07:00

Unmask to me sin's deformity, that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it... Let me never forget that heinousness of sin lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed, as in the greatness of the person sinned against.

A good prayer by the puritans which clearly brings out the seriousness of sin and how much it offends our Holy God! It torments me to think how lightly I view sin. It is my sin that put Christ on the cross. A violent bloody death.

Help me dear God to have your perspective on sin and abhor it greatly!

Grant me never to lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, the exceeding wonder of grace.

Weary soldier??

2010-09-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

As soldiers of Christ, we must constantly remember, we are up against a lot of things. We are waging a war against the assaults of the flesh on our souls. "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul." 1 Peter 2:11

Then, there are the onslaughts of the Enemy, the temptations, the various trials. As pilgrims, we get weary and tired. At times, discouraged! We need to remember that this is a good fight. The good fight of faith!

Jesus is the Captain of our salvation(Heb.2:10b) and the founder and perfecter of our faith (Heb.12:2a). We must look to JESUS, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame. We must run the race that is set before us with endurance. We must lay ASIDE every WEIGHT and the SIN which clings so CLOSELY. (Heb.12:1-2)

Let us with the apostle together say, "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13b-14

New Job...New trials...Renewed Hope

2010-09-05T06:20:00.000-07:00

Its been almost 3 weeks at my new job. I don't even know how the weeks have flown by. It was like just yesterday that i said good bye to my friends at MIT Design and here i am today in the IT industry. If you would ask me how the journey has been since then; I really don't know what to say.I have had mixed emotions. Times of joy and times of sorrow. I know that its the initial time and it will pass soon. But the journey seems so long.

The only thing that keeps me going is that my God is in complete control of every situation. He knows why He has placed me here. Sometimes everything seems so overwhelming that you you just want to run away. But to know that in any trial we are not alone,He is always with me and He never leaves me. At this new job I feel really lonely as its taking me a while to make friends and people here are more into their work. But at these times I have realized that its only my Lord Jesus who will be my faithful friend. I have sung the song “What a friend we have in Jesus” many a times. But the last few days the truths in those verses have been more dear to me.

I praise God for saving me and giving me a new life. To know that I have hope and as it says in 2 Peter 1:3-4 that He has given me all things pertaining to life godliness. All i need to do is completely depend on Him.

This new place, new people and new trials are gonna reveal more of my weak areas which will show me every single day as to how helpless I am on my own and thus will make me go to the cross every day.

Thank you Jesus for a being a compassionate friend, patient, loving and always faithful. Thank you for your perfect sacrifice and that in you I have eternal life.

Waiting for Christ's return

2010-09-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

“The true Scriptural source of consolation, in the face of all that troubles us, is to keep steadily before our eyes the second coming of Christ.

We must grasp and realize the blessed fact that the rightful King of the world is returning soon, and shall have His own again; that He shall put down that old usurper, the devil, and take away the curse from off the earth.

Let us cultivate the habit of daily looking forward to the resurrection of the dead, the gathering together of the saints, the restitution of all things, the banishment of sorrow and sin, and the re-establishment of a new kingdom, of which the rule shall be righteousness.”

J.C.Ryle-"Looking Unto Jesus"

Mighty possession!

2010-09-02T22:57:00.000-07:00

In my morning devotions, while reading through the prayer of Hannah, some verses were directly pointing to God's character. (1 Samuel 2: 1-10)
v2 There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides You; there is no rock like our God.

Think about it, our God ALONE is holy and there is no one in this universe or the entire galaxy who is like our God! And He is our God through Jesus Christ! What a great possession we have.

As His children, we are ..."heirs of God and fellow heirs, with Christ" Romans 8:17a. Hence, we can cry out with the prophet, "The LORD is my portion," says my soul "therefore I will hope in him." Lam.3:24

These Inward Trials- John Newton

2010-08-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

I asked the Lord, that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.

I hoped that in some favored hour
At once He’d answer my request,
and by His love’s constraining power
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel
the hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry powers of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

‘Lord, why is this?’ I trembling cried,
`Wilt thou pursue Thy worm to death?’
`This in this way,’ the Lord replied,
`I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ
From self and pride to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou mayst seek thy all in Me.’

By John Newton

Unsearchable Riches!!

2010-08-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

The following post is a devotion by Charles Spurgeon. Read and be blessed.

"The unsearchable riches of Christ." Ephesians 3:8

My Master has riches beyond the count of arithmetic, the measurement of reason, the dream of imagination, or the eloquence of words. They are unsearchable! You may look, and study, and weigh, but Jesus is a greater Saviour than you think him to be when your thoughts are at the
greatest.

My Lord is more ready to pardon than you to sin, more able to forgive than you to transgress. My Master is more willing to supply your wants than you are to confess them. Never tolerate low thoughts of my Lord Jesus. When you put the crown on his head, you will only crown
him with silver when he deserves gold.

My Master has riches of happiness to bestow upon you now. He can make you to lie down in green pastures, and lead you beside still waters. There is no music like the music of his pipe, when he is the Shepherd and you are the sheep, and you lie down at his feet. There is no love like his, neither earth nor heaven can match it.

To know Christ and to be found in him-oh! this is life, this is joy, this is marrow and fatness, wine on the lees well refined. My Master does not treat His servants churlishly; He gives to them as a king giveth to a king; He gives them two heavens-a heaven below in serving Him here, and a heaven above in delighting in Him for ever.

His unsearchable riches will be best known in eternity. He will give you on the way to heaven all you need; your place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks, your bread shall be given you, and your waters shall be sure; but it is there, THERE, where you shall hear the song of them that triumph, the shout of them that feast, and shall have a face-to-face view of the glorious and beloved One.

The unsearchable riches of Christ! This is the tune for the minstrels of earth, and the song for the harpers of heaven. Lord, teach us more and more of Jesus, and we will tell out the good news to others.

On the discipline of commitment

2010-08-24T23:40:00.000-07:00

While reading the book on 'The Discipline of Grace' by Jerry Bridges, there were certain things that deeply convicted me. It was on the discipline of commitment. The following sentences are taken from this book.

The Discipline of Commitment:
'I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws.' Psalm 119:106

"When we commit ourselves to the pursuit of holiness, we need to ensure that our commitment is actually to God, not simply to a holy lifestyle or a set of moral values."
'Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship'. Romans 12:1

"When we sin we are more vexed at the lowering of our self-esteem than we are grieved at God's dishonor. We are surprised and irritated at our own lack of self-control in subjecting ourselves to unworthy habits.....The first cause is self-love, which is unable to stand the disappointment of not seeing ourselves in time of trial come out beautiful, erect and admirable."

William Law in his classic, 'A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, said, "And if you will here stop, and ask yourself, why you are not as [holy] as the primitive Christians were, your own heart will tell you, that it is neither through ignorance, nor inability, but purely because you never thoroughly intended it.

This doctrine does not suppose, that we have no need of divine grace, or that it is in our power to make ourselves perfect. It only supposes, that through the [lack] of a sincere intention of pleasing God in all our actions, we fall into such irregularities of life, as by the ordinary means of grace, we should have power to avoid."

Being gracious!

2010-08-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

"Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends." Proverbs 17:9

This verse took me by surprise. So much wisdom hidden in God's word. Truly, "The unfolding of Your word gives light." As sinners, we are bound to hurt/get hurt and offend/get offended by our fellow believers on various occasions. It takes much grace and humility not to hold it against the one who has sinned against us.

When we deliberately 'choose' to conceal another person's sinful act committed against us, we seek love in the truest sense. We need to be wise in order to estimate whether the offense against us need to be considered.

I think, this offers a great opportunity for the believer(sinned against) to exercise forgiveness and emulate Christ Jesus our Lord! Whereas the sinning believer learns how to receive mercy and helps him/her to reconsider his/her sinful ways.

There is power, tremendous power in forgiveness. It gives a chance for the person to change. Grace is magnetic in its influence! But, if we repeat that particular matter and make it a point of discussion, it brings about separation. Maybe, one might get the desired justice, but a friend is lost in the process.

What a heavy price to pay!!
"A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city." Proverbs 18:19a

Where we Shrink to our True Size.

2010-06-29T23:35:00.000-07:00

“Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.”

—John Stott, The Message of Galatians (London: IVP, 1968), 179

Called to Worship

2010-06-29T03:09:00.000-07:00

Something that i personally don't like is the silence that lingers for a while after my pastor has called the congregation to worship God in song, prayer or Scripture. Just a minute back we are all singing as to how great our God is, but why do we fall silent and have no words to say to the same God that we were singing to.

Many people give lame excuses that they are shy or their command over the language is not that great. God looks at the heart and the motive of the worshiper.If we truly love God we will praise Him ALWAYS.If you do not spend much time in prayer, meditating on scripture and worshiping the Lord during the week; you wont be able to worship Him on Sunday morning either.

We can never fall short of reasons to worship God. To streamline your thoughts, meditate on scripture. Psalms are very helpful too, as it helps you to focus on His attributes(Eg:Ps 98,100,138,145 and many more).

So next time when you are hesitant to openly praise God, get the focus off yourself and put it on Christ. The words will flow out quite easily.

Sin

2010-06-01T23:43:00.001-07:00

It is always refreshing to read a book again. The one that I am reading is Finally Alive by John Piper where he describes in detail what exactly happens to us when we are regenerated by Christ. As I was reading a section this morning on “Why must we be born again?” he mentions a few points, which convicted and encouraged me at the same time. So thought I’d put it up on the blog today.

Here are the biblical explanations of our condition apart from the new birth and why it is so necessary.

Apart from the new birth, we are dead in trespasses and sins. (Eph 2:1-2)
Apart from the new birth, we are by nature children of wrath. (Eph 2:3)
Apart from the new birth, we love darkness and hate the light (John 3:19–20).
Apart from the new birth, our hearts are hard like stone.(Ezek. 36:26; Eph. 4:18).
Apart from the new birth, we are unable to submit to God or please God. (Rom. 8:7–8).
Apart from the new birth, we are unable to accept the gospel.(Eph. 4:18; 1 Cor. 2:14).
Apart from the new birth, we are unable to come to Christ or embrace him as Lord (John 6:44, 65; 1 Cor. 12:3).
Apart from the new birth, we are slaves to sin (Rom. 6:17).
Apart from the new birth, we are slaves of Satan (Eph. 2:1–2; 2 Tim. 2:24–26).
Apart from the new birth, no good thing dwells in us (Rom. 7:18).

So after reading the above verses, what is your response? Is it of thankfulness unto the lord for His perfect sacrifice or do you still not see the deceitfulness of your own heart…

Suffering with The Savior

2010-05-28T00:17:00.000-07:00

“It is clear from Scripture that suffering is a significant thread that runs through the story of God’s people. In Jesus and because of his resurrection, the saints long for the time when ‘there will be no more death or mourning or crying of pain’ and God ‘will wipe away every tear from their eyes’ (Rev. 21:4). But meanwhile, believers suffer as people united to the Savior, who endured suffering prior to his glory.”

- Michael R. Emlet, CrossTalk (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2009), 77.

Book Review

2010-05-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

I read the book "The Gospel for the Real Life" by Jerry Bridges a while back I immensely enjoyed reading it. When I first picked up the book to read I was not so sure about it, coz I had an attitude that, how can the gospel change my daily living. The Spirit convicted me otherwise and by the time I finished the book, I realized that I need the Gospel everyday. The moment I wake up I need to preach the gospel to myself, to keep reminding what Christ has done for me.

Each day is different, sometimes we are extremely joyful other days a little sober. So how do I practically live out the Gospel everyday? By focusing on Chirst and His character. Thus you will be transformed more into his likeness. By living a life that that is obedient to God's word, people will see the difference. As regenerated people we have to be a light to the dark world. That light has to be bright, to remove the darkness.(Matt 5:16) Therefore our lives also need to portray Godliness.

As I read the book it was good to dwell on the character of Christ. Jerry Bridges has done a good job at it and I would recommend you to read it and rejoice in the fact that we know Christ.

The Heart

2010-05-11T03:56:00.000-07:00

We are studying the book of Mark in church and last Sunday we went through Chapter 7 where Jesus talks about what makes us pure or impure. His main focus was about our heart attitudes. In verses 18-20 Jesus says,

"Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

Here context is where the Pharisees were accusing the disciples that they were not following the traditions that were laid down( the ceremonial washing of the hands). Where as Jesus is addressing the heart issues. He says what goes inside a person body( what he eats) does not make him unclean, as the body in its normal funtioning gets rid of it. But what comes out of the heart of man (from within)makes him impure.

(20-23)And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Sometimes we are so caught up in tradition that we forget to see what the Bible has to say about it. Therefore let us guard our heart and keep a close watch of sinful tendencies in our life. And the only way to do it is to go back to the Bible.

You are kept low for your own safety

2010-04-07T00:13:00.000-07:00

“God blesses us all up to the full measure and extremity of what it is safe for him to do. If you do not get a blessing, it is because it is not safe for you to have one. If our heavenly Father were to let your unhumbled spirit win a victory in his holy war, you would pilfer the crown for yourself, and meeting with a fresh enemy you would fall a victim; so that you are kept low for your own safety.

When a man is sincerely humble, and never ventures to touch so much as a grain of the praise, there is scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of all grace, and fits us to deal efficiently with our fellow men. True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden.”

- Charles Spurgeon, Morning & Evening, April 5

Jesus Draws Near!

2010-02-16T00:20:00.000-08:00

Of First Importance

“[Jesus Christ] is the God who, in his holy love, judges humanity but who draws near in so doing, for he will not hold himself aloof from men and women; but he is also the man who in our place draws near to God and so submits himself to the divine judgment, offering himself in sacrifice to God. Jesus Christ combines both acts in himself, within the unity of his own incarnate personal life, so that he is himself propitiation acutely personalized in both its Godward and manward aspects.”

- Thomas F. Torrance, Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ (Downers Grove, Ill.; IVP Academic, 2009), 68-69.

The heart of the matter!

2010-01-28T22:11:00.000-08:00

What is one of the toughest thing to do?? For me, it is biting my tongue....Ouch!!Yeah! I'm talking about the taming of our tongues!! My tongue is a dangerous piece of muscle lying in my mouth, capable of extensive activity. This activity brings more disaster than good!

My biggest activity is talking....words, words words!!!!!! And guess what?? My words are a clear and strong indicator of the condition of my heart!! :(

"For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Matthew 12:34b.

So, in order to control my tongue, I need to understand the workings of my heart! Ok...The root cause is my heart!! Gotcha...

What does God's word have to say about the human heart?
"The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9 (Emphasis mine)
Whoa! That's a terrible verdict, a fairly bad diagnosis. But, take a look what it says further.......
"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." verse 10

Only God knows and completely understands the workings of our sinful hearts!!

This was psalmist's genuine heart cry to God who sees it all!
"Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!"Psalm 139:23-24

One of the best ways to keep a diligent watch on our deceptive hearts is by obeying and continuously delighting in God's word alone!!
"Moreover, by them is your servant warned, in keeping them there is great reward." Psalm 19:11

Therefore, we can humbly ask Jesus Our LORD and Savior and seek His divine help in the taming of our vile tongues.
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. " Psalm 19:14

The goodness of God!

2010-01-14T19:51:00.000-08:00

I have realized that it is good to pray. It is good to draw near to God. To experience His faithfulness in all things and be reminded that it is He who answers prayers! He is good and all His ways are good. To enjoy the benefits of seeking Him as our all in all. He is the true joy giver!

Jesus truly says in John 10:10b:
"I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

" God is my helper and the upholder of my life." Psalm 54:4. He is my refuge and my strong deliverer.

"Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" Psalm 34:8

Yes!! "It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;" Psalm 92:1

Who are you, O man, to talk back to God?

2010-01-03T19:21:00.000-08:00

(Thomas Watson, "Body of Divinity")

"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." Romans 9:15-16

God has a sovereign right and authority over man. He can do with His creatures as He pleases. Who shall dispute with God? Who shall ask Him a reason of His doings? "Who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it—Why did you make me like this?" Romans 9:20

"Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases." Psalm 115:3

"The Lord does whatever He pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the depths." Psalm 135:6

God sits as judge in the highest court, and is not bound to give a reason for His proceedings. "He puts down one, and raises up another." He has salvation and damnation in His power. He has the key of justice in His hand, to lock up whomever He will, in the fiery prison of hell!

And He has the key of mercy in His hand, to open heaven's gate to whomever He pleases! The name engraved upon His vesture is, "King of kings, and Lord of lords!" He sits Lord paramount, and who can call Him to account? The world is God's house, and shall not He do what He desires in His own house?

"My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please!" Isaiah 46:10

"Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns!" Revelation 19:6

You are my beloved child, in whom I delight

2009-12-23T21:13:00.000-08:00

“Have you heard God’s blessing in your inmost being? Are the words “You are my beloved child, in whom I delight” an endless source of joy and strength?

Have you sensed, through the Holy Spirit, God speaking them to you? That blessing – the blessing through the Spirit that is ours through Christ – is what Jacob received, and it is the only remedy against idolatry. Only that blessing makes idols unnecessary.

As with Jacob, we usually discover this only after a life of ‘looking for blessing in all the wrong places.’ It often takes an experience of crippling weakness for us to finally discover it. That is why so many of the most God-blessed people limp as they dance for joy.”

- Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods (New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2009), 164.

I did it again!! :(

2009-12-09T20:17:00.000-08:00

Every time I sin, I make light of God's grace in my life! My actions clearly manifest, lack of trust in the All-Powerful God and reveals the presence of remaining sin in my flesh. What am I thinking when I disobey God?? Is it a sense of over confidence, that quietly seeps into me, when I give in to temptation?? What does God's word say?

"But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." James 1:14. The sparks are within me to start a fire!!!!

What more does God's word say? "But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Galatians 5:16. A simple command to follow and believe!

"Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness." Hebrews 3: 7, 8

Yes!! Listen to what God's word says in regard to temptation. Take a close look at this verse!!!!
"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. " 1 Corinthians 10:13 (emphasis mine!)

And don't forget what it says in Romans 15:4. "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope."

Faithfully promised!!

2009-11-18T03:17:00.000-08:00

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you" Isaiah 43:2

God has promised trials for His children. There is no escaping with this fact. Sometimes, it is through deep waters or rivers and sometimes you are called to walk through fire! If you read the verse carefully, it says 'pass' and 'walk'. There is no sense of hurry or impatience; slowly one step at a time!

But, look at what God has to say, "I will be with you". That is His promise. He has promised to be present in our deepest afflictions. And no matter, how hard our trials, God will not give more than we can bear. He is compassionate!!

Look at the verse, "When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." (emphasis mine!)

God is faithful in all His words and kind in all His works. (Psalms 145:13)

The Sluggard

2009-09-30T04:29:00.000-07:00

A poem by Isaac Watts based on Proverbs 24:30-34.

'Tis the voice of the sluggard;I heard him complain,
"You have waked me too soon,I must slumber again."
As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed,
Turns his sides and his shoulders and his heavy head.

"A little more sleep, and a little more slumber;"
Thus he wastes half his days, and his hours without number,
And when he gets up, he sits folding his hands,
Or walks about sauntering, or trifling he stands.

I pass'd by his garden, and saw the wild brier,
The thorn and the thistle grow broader and higher;
The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags;
And his money still wastes till he starves or he begs.

I made him a visit, still hoping to find
That he took better care for improving his mind:
He told me his dreams, talked of eating and drinking;
But scarce reads his Bible, and never loves thinking.

Said I then to my heart, "Here's a lesson for me,"
This man's but a picture of what I might be:
But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding,
Who taught me betimes to love working and reading.

by Isaac Watts

“Father” is the Christian name for God

2009-09-28T23:19:00.000-07:00

“If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.

For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. “Father” is the Christian name for God. Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption.”

—J.I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: 1993), 201-202

(HT: Between Two Worlds)

A Decade Old Letter that Encouraged Me

2009-09-25T02:15:00.000-07:00

My sister was rummaging through our cupboard the other day in pursuit of some diary or book. Instead she found a bunch of letters that I had written to her ten years ago. It was the time back when I was in High School and my sister was doing her college in another city. It was fun to read all the letters I had written to her. To read about the things that go on in a 15 year old's head:) But there was this particular letter that I had written to her after I had attended a Vacation Bible Camp. One of the speakers had shared the gospel in the camp. It was in May of 1999 that God worked in my heart and revealed to me my sinfulness. The realization that I cannot get to heaven based on my righteousness (which are like filthy rags). The truth that Christ died for my sins and that I can enter Heaven only though Him. God sees me Holy through Jesus Christ. What a joy!!!!

Just to read that letter was so encouraging to my soul. To see how the Spirit works and that there is nothing that I can boast in, because I was dead in my sins and Christ regenerated me. Even as i was reading that letter, to see how the Lord has worked in me patiently, faithfully teaching me through His word. The journey so far has been beautiful, those filled with sweet fellowship with God and fellow believers , various trials( given by God to make me more like Him) and wisdom from the Bible. I praise God for who He is and His faithfulness, through this journey. He has been with me every single day. He is my Father, Saviour, Redeemer and Friend.

Even as I end this post, the song that is playing on my computer is"The Glory of The Cross". How apt:) So here are the words:

What wisdom once devised the plan
Where all our sin and pride
Was placed upon the perfect Lamb
Who suffered, bled, and died?
The wisdom of a Sovereign God
Whose greatness will be shown
When those who crucified Your Son
Rejoice around Your throne

And, oh, the glory of the cross
That You would send Your Son for us
I gladly count my life as loss
That I might come to know
The glory of, the glory of the cross

What righteousness was there revealed
That sets the guilty free
That justifies ungodly men
And calls the filthy clean?
A righteousness that proved to all
Your justice has been
And holy wrath is satisfied
Through one atoning death

What mercy now has been proclaimed
For those who would believe
A love incomprehensible
Our minds could not conceive?
A mercy that forgives my sin
Then makes me like Your Son
And now I’m loved forevermore
Because of what You’ve done

Words and music by Bob Kauflin
As recorded on Songs for the Cross Centered Life
© 2000 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).

Wonderful Savior

2009-09-24T04:04:00.000-07:00

I have been singing this song and I love the words, so here are the lyrics:

Wonderful Savior

How can we not sing out to the One who saved us
And covered us with Your blood
Casting all our sin into Your sea of mercy
Crowning us with Your love?

Wonderful Savior, beautiful Jesus
Bending down to lift us up
Out of our darkness, into Your brightness
Calling us Your own
Wonderful Savior, beautiful Jesus
We will always love You
Wonderful Savior, beautiful Jesus

How can we not sing out to the One who changed us
And gave us eternal hope
Capturing our hearts, flooding us with gladness
That someday we’ll see Your face?

Words and music by Mark Altrogge
As recorded on Songs for the Cross Centered Life

You can also listen to the song here

© 2003 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).

Sparrows and my hair!

2009-09-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

" Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows" Matthew 10: 29-31

God's knowledge of us is personal and intimate. God values us and that should calm all my fears! God's word declares that an unnoticed happening like the falling of a sparrow to the ground, is under the Sovereign notice of God. What about important happenings in our life!

God is in perfect control of every situation in our life. He is the God of big things and small things. In fact, He is the God of everything!! Hence, chance and randomness as an explanation for what happens in our life is completely ruled out!

Do I contribute anything to my salvation?

2009-09-20T23:24:00.001-07:00

Before I answer to the title of this post let me just give you some scripture verses:

Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Ephesians 2:1-2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

Romans 8:6-8 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 3:10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;11 no one understands;no one seeks for God.

After reading these verses the three things that come out are, First-Man is sinful, Second: He does not seek God (in other words, he loves evil) Third: Man is dead in his sin.Therefore to revive a dead person and give him new life there has to be an external source. That external source is our great Lord Jesus Christ. It is because of His death on the cross and His victory over sin that today we are no more slaves to sin.

Ephesians 2:4-9 gives us a clear idea of Christ's work on the cross.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

He has revived us, redeemed us and made us alive. Praise Be His name!!!!

Hope in God!

2009-09-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

"Why are you cast down O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God." Psalm 42:11

Our God is powerful and with Him, all things are possible. (Mark 14:36). Remember, Our God will wait that He may be gracious unto you. (Isaiah 30:18)

Remember, how He answered your prayers in the past and how He wiped every tear shed by you in the dark. He knows you coz He made you. "Know that the LORD, He is God! It is He who made us and we are his;" Psalm 100:3

These times are to be treasured, painful as they may be. Yet, it is during these times He reveals Himself to you! You know Him in way like you have never experienced before.

"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42:6

Revealer of Secrets!

2009-09-15T23:27:00.000-07:00

"He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him" Daniel 2:22.

Our God is All-Knowing. There is nothing that is hidden or can be hidden from His sight. In fact, He discloses things that are hidden from the knowledge of man. Also, darkness is light to Him!! Think about this for a minute. How do feel when you are groping in darkness, when the electricity's out?? Helpless and lost? Not so, with Our Great God! What a warning to unrepentant sinners who think they can cover their evil deeds. What foolishness on display!

We hide so much, every living person is a mystery. But nothing limits God!! Absolutelsy nothing! He not only knows everything but makes known to us, profound and intense things.

He is the 'Revealer of Secrets'.

The blessing of trials!

2009-09-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comforts those who are in any trouble with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ." 2 Cor.1:3-5

How wonderful to know that no matter what pain we go through, or how agonising our circumstances may be, we can always run to God who is Our Dear Father! He comforts us in all our troubles. His mercies are new every morning.

God's desires in this, is that we be made Christ-like. To bear the nature of Christ in our mortal bodies. To shine forth His glory to an unbelieving world.

Trials are to break us, stretch us, refine us and mould us! It removes unwanted sin patterns, bad habits, sinful thought processes. In other words, God uses trials to purify us, make us holy, to be like Him!!

To be partakers of His holiness and His righteousness is what God desires for His dear children. Oh!! How much we should love Him and desire His Glory always!!

Give glory to God alone!

2009-09-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

"Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory." Psalm 115:1a

This should be our heart cry and prayer, coz what is the true estate of man without God? We are because God is. Everything we see, every blessing we experience in Christ, every sin we conquer should make us give God the glory.

Let us watch our hearts and its inclinations, when we praise God. We must be utterly honest before Him. Even the ability to worship and draw close to God is from Him alone!!

Oh!! What miserable creatures we are, that we cannot please God apart from His enabling grace!

Love not yourself, but Christ alone. Please Him alone and not yourself. For this, we were made-To glorify God through Christ for glory alone belongs to God!!

He leads us....

2009-09-09T03:44:00.000-07:00

Three years ago, I was reading Amy Carmichael's biography by Elisabeth Elliot, "A Chance to Die". (Btw, I could not finish the book, as it was borrowed :(.....) Anyways, I came across this poem written by Amy's mother which really inspired me......

He who hath led will lead
All throughthe wilderness,
He who hath fed will surely feed....
He who hath heard thy cry
Will never close His ear,
He who hath marked thy faintest sigh
Will not forget thy tear.
He loveth always, faileth never,
So rest on Him today-forever.

How wonderful to know that our God leads us in paths of righteousness.

My prayer!

2009-08-25T21:58:00.001-07:00

Heavenly Father, I thank You for You are good and You do good! Your loving kindness is better than life. I rejoice in You and surely, my soul delights in You alone! Your promises are true and an anchor to my soul. Your goodness, who can compare and who is as tender as You are?

Thank you LORD, for the trial that You put me in. What comfort to my heart to know that in much love and wisdom you placed me in the fire. Your promise, "I will never leave You or forsake You", keeps me from fainting! Your grace is sufficient for me. For in my weakness, You are strong.

Even though, I walk through fire, You promised that I will not be burned or consumed. Your word is sufficient and it is good that I am being afflicted coz I will learn much from Your Word!!

Thank you for Your dear Son, Jesus Christ.... He is my Sympathetic High Priest and He knows my every weakness!! Your grace is sufficient!

My prayer is that I will glorify Your Holy Name during this time of affliction and that my faith is made perfect. In Christ's Name. Amen.

Unconditional Love

2009-08-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about my salvation a lot lately. To remember what God saved me from, my eternal standing was changed the day He turned my heart of stone to a heart of flesh. There is not one day that I can go by without thanking Him for this beautiful gift of salvation. To be known as His heir. What a privilege. Praise God for adopting us as His children.(Ephesians 1:5: He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ,according to the purpose of His will.)

Have been going through the book of Hosea in my reading time. We know the story of Hosea, where God tells him to marry a women who would later be unfaithful and leave him for some other man (Hosea 1:2). Something that struck me hard was that I was like Gomer, before God saved me from my sin, running after the world and the pleasures of the world. Yet He was merciful and bought me back. Praise God our great shepherd who will bring His scattered sheep back into the fold. In the analogy Hosea depicts God and Gomer, us .

We see Hosea's unconditional love displayed to Gomer. This is the same love that our God has shown on us. What manner of love has God bestowed on us that He gave His own son to die on the cross for our sins.( John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His own Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life").

So let us not take our salvation for granted and remember the work of Christ and what He had to go through to give us this new life. To come down on earth in the form of man, humble Himself to the point of death, to save miserable creatures like us from damnation. Praise Him for His unconditional love.

I will cast my cares on you....

2009-06-24T00:54:00.000-07:00

Something that I have to be constantly reminding myself is that, when I am going through a difficult time all I need to do is to go to the Lord and cast my burden on Him.. Most of the time its a matter of pride that we don't go to Him, because we think we can deal with it on our own. We have to accept our weakness and go to Him in humility...This song portrays those same emotions...

I will cast my cares on you..

Jesus, I'm frail, I'm so very weak
My faithfulness fails, my courage will flee
But You are my rock, my shelter and shade
When I'm burdened down, You'll carry the weight

So I will cast my cares on You
Yes, I will cast my cares on You
I will rest within Your arms
Knowing I am safe from harm
I will cast my cares on You

When I'm overwhelmed and I cannot stand
You hear every cry and You lift my head
I'm desperate for grace and mercy anew
I must have Your strength, Oh I must have You

Words and music by Stephen Altrogge
As recorded on In a Little While
© 2007 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)
Listen to the song here:

True Humility

2009-06-03T04:55:00.000-07:00

This is a devotion by Charles Spurgeon on the humility of Christ. So much to understand what true humility is...an example set forth by Our Lord!!

"He humbled himself." -- Philippians 2:8

Jesus is the great teacher of lowliness of heart. We need daily to learn of him. See the Master taking a towel and washing his disciples' feet! Follower of Christ, wilt thou not humble thyself? See him as the Servant of servants, and surely thou canst not be proud! Is not this sentence the compendium of his biography, "He humbled himself"? Was he not on earth always stripping off first one robe of honor and the another, till, naked, he was fastened to the cross, and there did he not empty out his inmost self, pouring out his life-blood, giving up for all of us, till they laid him penniless in a borrowed grave?

How low was our dear Redeemer brought! How then can we be proud? Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed; see the thorn-crown; mark his scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills; see hands and feet given up to the rough iron, and his whole self to mockery and scorn; see the bitterness, and the pangs, and the throes of inward grief, showing themselves in his outward frame; hear the thrilling shriek, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

And if you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that cross, you have never seen it: if you are not humbled in the presence of Jesus, you do not know him. You were so lost that nothing could save you but the sacrifice of God's only begotten.Think of that, and as Jesus stooped for you, bow yourself in lowliness sat his feet. A sense of Christ's amazing love to us has a greater tendency to humble us than even a consciousness of our own guilt.

May the Lord bring us in contemplation to Calvary, then our position will no longer be that of the pompous man of pride, but we shall take the humble place of one who loves much because much has been forgiven him. Pride cannot live beneath the cross. Let us sit there and learn ourlesson, and then rise and carry it into practice.

I don't deserve to be treated that way...

2009-06-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

I think I have made the above statement a lot lately and I am not proud of it. I should be thankful for what the Lord has given me instead of being prideful and arrogant. The way things have been going at my workplace many a times I tend to think, this is not what I deserve, I am qualified to do more. God has been very patient and gracious with me. I was reading 12 Ordinary men by John MacArthur, and one of the incident that was mentioned in the book was about Jesus washing the disciples feet (John 13:1-20). Even as I was going through the context I realized that what Jesus did (by washing the disciples feet) was a very menial job. Yet He did it, without complaining & grumbling. Let us not forget who we are talking of; He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s, creator of the heavens and the earth.

It is such a privilege to worship a God who is perfect and Holy and the best example we can follow. Reading that passage made me think, that God being so great went down to the level of a servant and washed the disciples feet, and thus set an example of humility and genuine love. So every time you feel that you are being told to do something (which in your own eyes, seems low) look unto Christ “who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:6-8

David's Song of Thanks

2009-05-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday morning and instead of being at church I am at my office desk. I was quite sad in the morning even as I left for work, as I knew I would miss corporate worship and fellowship today. But then i realized that i can worship God anywhere. Why sulk and be a bad testimony amongst my unbelieving friends, when I can be thankful and give Him praise for everything that he has done for me. So i opened my bible and turned to 1 Chronicles 16:8-36 David's Song of Thanks. Will share a few verses from the passage:

8Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
9 Sing to him; sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
11 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
12 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles and the judgments he uttered,

Just reading the first few lines made me thank Him even more for everything that He has done in my life. His wondrous works! I love verse 10"let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!" I then realized that i should not be a sulky Christian. He has blessed me with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places")

After reading the passage i knew that I had to focus on Christ, and not myself. Never to forget that He is a great God: Sovereign,Wonderful, Just, Holy, Compassionate and Lovely. And these are just some of His attributes.

Will just end with a few verses from the passage:

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and he is to be held in awe above all gods.(vs 25)
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; (vs 29 b)
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!(vs 34)

My precious Saviour

2009-05-15T04:37:00.000-07:00

Like the morning dew on the petal
Your word captivates my heart
Just as the bud begins to unfold
My heart begins to grasp
The glories of my Master
For what He rendered for my soul.

You are precious to me my Saviour
Much more than diamonds or pearl,
Your glory shines far brighter
Than the glaze of the rays of sun
You are my real treasure
You are my only hope.

How Deep is Your Love

2009-05-14T23:59:00.000-07:00

I love this song and have been singing it a lot lately. Just to focus on His attributes and remember what Christ had to go through so that we have eternal life.

How Deep

You were broken that I might be healed
You were cast off that I might draw near
You were thirsty that I might come drink
Cried out in anguish that I might sing

How deep is Your love

How high and how wide is Your mercy

How deep is Your grace

Our hearts overflow with praise To You

You knew darkness that I might know light
Wept great tears that mine might be dried
Stripped of glory that I might be clothed
Crushed by Your Father to call me Your own

Words and music by Stephen Altrogge
As recorded on Valley of Vision

Jesus-My all in all

2009-05-12T03:54:00.000-07:00

A weak attempt in writing a few lines to express my Saviour's sufficiency.

Oh to live in the light of His Glory,
To breathe the air of His grace,
Eat of the bread of His life-giving word,
Health to my bones and strength to my heart,
Tis presence a shade from the scorching heat'
This is how my soul gets refreshed.

Are you burdened and in turmoil?
I give thee a sweet suggestion,
O go to Him weary spirit,
Carry no burden that is heavy
Leave it there at His feet,
For it is Jesus who will refresh thee.

Christian Life

2009-05-08T23:18:00.000-07:00

Something that i am always thankful unto the Lord for is my church, Kerusso Bible Church. I am grateful to the Lord for the elders who minister to us every Sunday and at the weekly Bible Studies. Many a times we get all charged to up on Sundays after being fed with God word, to live godly lives. But many a times the zeal fades off by the end of the day. We need to meditate on His word daily. It is the food to our spiritual growth. Just like we don't eat the whole week's meal on one day, for our spiritual growth we need to feed on God's word every single day. That's the only way we can live God honoring lives by meditating on His word and praying continuously. Let us not forget that we are living in a wicked world, and if we don't guard our hearts and minds with the truth, we can start believing the lies the world offers.

Ephesians 6:10-18 explains it well as it says

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

Therefore knowing what we are up against, we should be wise Christians, clinging on to His word. It is the only way we can stand firm in our faith and fight life's daily battles. Let us humbly come before God for wisdom, and not be wise in our own eyes.

What is our treasure?

2009-04-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

What does treasure actually mean? It means something that is very dear to you. In the dictionary meaning as a noun treasure means: anything or person greatly valued or highly prized. As a verb it means:to retain carefully or keep in store, as in the mind/to regard or treat as precious; cherish.

Keep the above meanings in mind, as a Christian what are the things we treasure? Our car, home, music collection our intellect.. the list can go on.. We need to evaluate our lives constantly and keep our mind in check and see what are the things we treasure. Is Christ our treasure? Do we cherish Him more than anything else? There are a lot of things in this world that distract us and change our focus from Christ to other perishable things. The main reason we cherish other things more than Christ is because we don't value Him enough over the other things and He is not of great importance in our lives.

So we know our problem so what is the solution. How do i make Christ my all in all in my daily living.

1. Spend time Meditating on Scripture.

Focus on His Attributes
His work on the Cross

2.Spend time in prayer.

Praising God
Giving Thanks

3. Memorize Scripture.

Scripture memorization should ultimately result in application in our daily living.
People around us should see that every decision we make, our lifestyle, is centered around Christ.

So let us evaluate our lives and see who or what is our real treasure. I will end with Psalm 145

Great Is the Lord

[1] A Song of Praise. Of David.

145:1 I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will bless you

and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.

4 One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.

5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.

10 All your works shall give thanks to you,
O Lord,and all your saints shall bless you!

11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
and tell of your power,
12 to make known to the children of man your [2] mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

[The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.]

[3]14 The Lord upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,

and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

To Know God

2009-04-24T04:29:00.000-07:00

“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You sent.” John 17:3

This is the Highly Priestly prayer breathed out by Our Saviour for all the believers who believed in Him and who would believe. Yes!! Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (1Tim.1:15) like you and me. From what? From the bondage of sin, death and from the clutches of the devil. For what? To have eternal life, in order to KNOW God- who is the one true God and Jesus Christ.

Most often when we think of eternal life, we are prone to think in terms of quantity than in terms of quality. Focus on the depth not just the breadth!! True life is knowing God! Stop at that. Think for a minute with me. God saved us to know Him. The one true God who is Great, powerful, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Sovereign, All-wise, abounding in love and so much more. We finite creatures, poor, fallen now washed, cleansed, forgiven to know an infinite God!! Doesn't that thought blow your mind??

We were not saved for ourselves and to just secure a safe place in heaven, but pulled out of hell's fire and brought into a close intimate relationship with God through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are called into a relationship. Notice carefully it is not knowing about God but knowing God. There is a vast difference in that. No wonder it was Paul's running theme often in the Epistle to the Philippians. And God wants us not just to know Him but also to understand Him. And He delights in that. Too much?? Read the verse below.

"Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands me and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD." Jeremiah 9:23-24.

So the next time you are thanking God for your salvation received through Christ, meditate on John 17:3. We are to know God and Jesus Christ by the power of His Holy Spirit. And this is accomplished with much dependence on His Holy Spirit, by reading and meditating on His precious life-giving word that transforms our life and renews our mind (Romans12:2), in constant prayer and practical application of His word in our lives, desiring His glory alone!! (1Cor.10:31)

Study of Doctrine

2009-04-17T02:06:00.000-07:00

Doctrine plays a very important role in the life of a Christian. I know of many churches who do not give importance to the study of doctrine. Therefore, we have Christians all around with a very shallow knowledge of the Word of God. Being part of a local church that stresses on going back to the Bible for everything, helps a Christian grow in faith. Some important doctrines like Justification, Election, Sovereignty of God and many more play a vital role in our lives. It helps us to think biblically and thus the foundation of our faith is strong. For eg: In times of trial we know that the Lord is sovereign in our lives, and therefore we don't doubt God in his doing knowing that He is perfect control.

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope"

Therefore we know that the Lord has "plans of welfare" for us, and it helps us focus our mind on the character of God. A person who does not know this truth will tend to believe that God is mean and loves to see His children struggle.

The study of Doctrine also helps us discern the truth from the lies. There are so many people who do not preach accurately, and because of the lack of knowledge from the Bible people believe them blindly. Doctrines are taken from God's word so ultimately we are studying the Bible, which will draw us closer to God and know Him better, which should be our ultimate goal.

One life to live!!

2009-04-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I completed reading the book, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper and I must confess that I am quite unsettled in my heart. How am I living the life gifted by God for His glory?? Am I making much of Christ ?? Is my lifestyle and pattern of living reflecting that Christ is my REAL TREASURE??? I ask you too?

It is so easy to get caught up in the flow of life forgetting that we are called to lose our lives for the sake of Christ that we may actually save it!!! Radical huh?? Paul knew when he said, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21. And "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Philippians 3:8....

Christ is our real Treasure! He is the Bread of life! He is the gentle Shepherd. He is our all in all!! I love this quote that I came across in this book:

Only one life,
’Twill soon be past;
Only what’s done
for Christ will last.

Let us resolve to live in the light of eternity and with gratefulness of heart that we were saved by the precious blood of Jesus and that we are not our own, we belong to Him!!
“You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19- 20).

Regenerated...

2009-03-19T00:35:00.000-07:00

Have been reading this book by John Piper called "Finally Alive" and it has been a blessing to my soul. It talks about what exactly happens to a person when he is regenerated or as it says in the bible "born again". It was such a good time for me to contemplate and think back and see how the Lord saved me, and what He saved me from. After many years of being a Christian we tend to forget about the Lord's saving grace.(Eph 2:4-5) It was humbling and it bought me down to my knees, thanking and praising our Lord for the new life that He has given me.

This book also talk about the qualities that a regenerated person has. In this day and age many call themselves as "born again" Christians but are truly not saved. In the initial chapters he speaks on John chapter 3 about how a person is born again.

The book also goes into various doctrines like, Justification, Sanctification & Glorification. I am truly being encouraged, edified and convicted reading this book and would recommend every Christian (those regenerated:) to read it too.

God Moves in a Mysterious Way

2009-03-12T04:52:00.000-07:00

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm,
Deep in infathomable mines of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs, and works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break in blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding ev'ry hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flow'r.
Blind unbelief is sure to err, and scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter, and he will make it plain.
-William Cowper, 1774

The deceitfulness of deceit

2009-03-04T23:10:00.000-08:00

We come across this word "deceit" so often in the Bible, so I thought "Wwhy not find out the dictionary meaning of this word?". It is interesting!

de⋅ceit
/dɪˈsit/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [di-seet] –noun

1. the act or practice of deceiving; concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud; cheating: Once she exposed their deceit, no one ever trusted them again.

2. an act or device intended to deceive; trick; stratagem.

3. the quality of being deceitful; duplicity; falseness: a man full of deceit.

Origin: 1225–75; ME deceite < style="FONT-VARIANT: small-caps" Synonyms:1. deception, dissimulation. 1, 3. Deceit, guile, hypocrisy, duplicity, fraud, trickery refer either to practices designed to mislead or to the qualities that produce those practices.

Deceit is the quality that prompts intentional concealment or perversion of truth for the purpose of misleading: honest and without deceit.

The quality of guile leads to craftiness in the use of deceit: using guile and trickery to attain one's ends.

Hypocrisy is the pretense of possessing qualities of sincerity, goodness, devotion, etc.: It was sheer hypocrisy for him to go to church.

Duplicity is the form of deceitfulness that leads one to give two impressions, either or both of which may be false: the duplicity of a spy working for two governments.

Fraud refers usually to the practice of subtle deceit or duplicity by which one may derive benefit at another's expense: an advertiser convicted of fraud.

Trickery is the quality that leads to the use of tricks and habitual deception: notorious for his trickery in business deals.

Antonyms:3. honesty, sincerity.
Dictionary.com UnabridgedBased on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009. Cite This Source

Trials? A blessing? -Part 2

2009-02-16T22:16:00.000-08:00

And how to endure in the midst of trials?

Accept that you are going through a trial and choose to trust God for the timing when the trial struck. Remember one thing, God will never give you more than you can handle, and that's a promise! “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1Cornthians 10:13. (emphasis mine)
Share your burden with a godly Christian. (Galatians 6:2)
Develop an attitude of thanksgiving and of rejoicing by meditating on the outcome of your trial. (1Peter 1:6-7)

Yes! Trials are hard and many a times painful to bear. Whether it is in the form of illness, loss of a loved one, heart break, dashed hopes, misunderstandings with family and friends or suffering for the sake of Christ, we have Jesus Christ who has experienced it all. He is our High Priest who intercedes for us and remember that, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

So, let us all we are knee-deep in trials run to the throne of grace in order to receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need!! (Hebrews 4:16)

to be continued..

Singleness

2009-02-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

On the eve of the much hyped 'Valentine's Day' I felt this would uplift all you single people out there who love the Lord!! This is one of John Piper's sermon on 'Singleness'. Read it and be blessed!!

Single in Christ: A Name Better Than Sons and Daughters
By John Piper April 29, 2007

Isaiah 56:1-7
Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. 2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.” 3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” 4 For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, 5 I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

I will start and end with my main point and, in the middle, cover a wide terrain of Scripture to support it. My main point is that God promises those of you who remain single in Christ blessings that are better than the blessings of marriage and children, and he calls you to display, by the Christ-exalting devotion of your singleness, the truths about Christ and his kingdom that shine more clearly through singleness than through marriage and childrearing. The truths, namely,

That the family of God grows not by propagation through sexual intercourse, but by regeneration through faith in Christ;1

That relationships in Christ are more permanent, and more precious, than relationships in families (and, of course, it is wonderful when relationships in families are also relationships in Christ; but we know that is often not the case);

That marriage is temporary, and finally gives way to the relationship to which it was pointing all along: Christ and the church—the way a picture is no longer needed when you see face to face;

That faithfulness to Christ defines the value of life; all other relationships get their final significance from this. No family relationship is ultimate; relationship to Christ is.

To say the main point more briefly: God promises spectacular blessings to those of you who remain single in Christ, and he gives you an extraordinary calling for your life. To be single in Christ is, therefore, not a falling short of God’s best, but a path of Christ-exalting, covenant-keeping obedience that many are called to walk.

Better Blessings Than Sons and Daughters
Now let’s step back and look at the Scriptures. And here let me give credit to Barry Danylak for his research on this issue and his very helpful paper “A Biblical-Theological Perspective on Singleness” (PDF). Let’s start in the middle of the Bible at Isaiah 56:4-5,
Thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs [those who cannot procreate but turn their lives into a unique service instead of marriage] who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument2 and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.”

God promises to bless obedient eunuchs with blessings that are better than sons and daughters. In other words, God promises those of you who remain single in Christ blessings that are better than the blessings of marriage and children.

The Bigger Picture in Redemptive History
But to see this more clearly we need to get the bigger picture. In the created order that God put in place before sin was in the world, and in the covenantal order that God put in place with the Jewish people from Abraham to the coming of Christ, “God is primarily building his covenant people through the mechanism of procreation.”3 God was focusing his covenant-keeping faithfulness mainly on an ethnic people. Therefore, being married and having offspring was of paramount importance for one’s name and one’s inheritance and for the preservation of God’s covenant people.

Creation
So in Genesis 1:28, the first thing God says to Adam and Eve is, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” And in the account of Genesis 2:18, when woman was not yet created, God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Abraham and Isaac
And when Abraham was chosen as the father of God’s people, God took him out and showed him the stars and said, “So shall your offspring be” (Genesis 15:5). And when Abraham could not have a son because of Sarah’s barrenness, Abraham said, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” But God answered, “No, . . . Sarah your wife shall bear you a son.” In other words, the physical offspring mattered. And it would come in God’s way.

God reaffirms the same to Isaac in Genesis 26:3: “I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.” Again physical “offspring” are crucial for the covenant.

David and Saul
These offspring are crucial not only for the preservation of the covenant but also because a person’s name would end without children. So Saul asks David to swear that he will not cut off his offspring for the sake of his name. First Samuel 24:21: “Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s house.”

Levirate Marriage and Ruth
Remember the whole elaborate system of Levirate marriage—that is, the marriage of a man to his deceased brother’s wife so that the name of the deceased brother would not be lost. The rule was that the first son born would bear the dead brother’s name. Deuteronomy 25:6: “The first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.” That’s an amazing provision for the perpetuation of the name through physical seed.
The most famous instance of this is when Boaz agreed to marry Ruth to preserve the name of Elimelech her father-in-law and Mahlon her husband. Boaz said, “Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day” (Ruth 4:10).

Jephthah’s Daughter
So you can see how crucial marriage and offspring and the preservation of a name and an inheritance were in Israel. No wonder that Jephthah’s daughter asked for two months not to bewail her impending death but that she was never married. Judges 11:37-38a: “She said to her father, ‘Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.’ So he said, ‘Go.’”

Isaiah’s Prophecy: “He Shall See His Offspring”
All of this is the background that makes Isaiah 56:5 shine like the sun to eunuchs and others without marriage and children: “Thus says the Lord: ‘To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” So without marriage and without children. these covenant-keeping eunuchs get a name and a memorial better than sons and daughters.

Where did this amazing promise come from? What’s the basis of it and what is it pointing toward? Turn back to Isaiah 53. This is the great prophecy of the sufferings of Christ who “was wounded for our transgressions [and] . . . crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). In this chapter, we sometimes overlook these words in verse 10: “It was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”

He shall see his offspring. Here is a great prophecy: When the Messiah dies as an “offering for guilt” and rises again to “prolong his days,” he will by that great saving act produce many children: He will “see his offspring.” In other words, the new people of God formed by the Messiah will not be formed by physical procreation but by the atoning death of Christ.

Which is why the next chapter (Isaiah 54) begins, “‘Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,’ says the Lord” (Isaiah 54:1). And this is also why our text (Isaiah 56:5) says that unmarried covenant-keeping people will have “a monument and a name better than sons and daughters . . . [and] an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” In the true people of God formed by Jesus Christ, monuments, names, offspring, and inheritances do not arise through marriage and procreation.

Jesus, Paul, and Peter
So when we come now to the New Testament, Jesus makes clear that his people—the true people of God—will be produced not by physical procreation but by spiritual regeneration. So he says to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

And Paul says in Galatians 3 to the Jews and Gentiles alike, “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. . . . In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:7, 26). In other words, it is not physical descent from Abraham that makes you part of the covenant people of God but faith in Christ.

And Peter says that our inheritance comes not through marriage and offspring but through the work of Christ and the new birth: “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4).

So Jesus and Paul and Peter all say: Children are born into God’s family and receive their inheritance not by marriage and procreation but by faith and regeneration. Which means that single people in Christ have zero disadvantage in bearing children for God, and may in some ways have a great advantage. The apostle Paul was single in Christ, and he said of his converts, “Though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15). Paul was a great father, and never married. And let him speak for single women in Christ in 1 Thessalonians 2:7: “We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.” So it will be said of many single women in Christ: She was a great mother and never married.

A Radical Relational Reordering
Take heed here lest you minimize what I am saying and do not hear how radical it really is. I am not sentimentalizing singleness to make the unmarried feel good. I am declaring the temporary and secondary nature of marriage and family over against the eternal and primary nature of the church. Marriage and family are temporary for this age; the church is forever. I am declaring the radical biblical truth that being in a human family is no sign of eternal blessing, but being in God’s family means being eternally blessed. Relationships based on family are temporary.

Relationships based on union with Christ are eternal. Marriage is a temporary institution, but what it stands for lasts forever. “In the resurrection,” Jesus said, “they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30).

And when his own mother and brothers asked to see him, Jesus said, “‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers!’” (Matthew 12:48-49). Jesus is turning everything around. Yes, he loved his mother and his brothers. But those are all natural and temporary relationships.

He did not come into the world to focus on that. He came into the world to call out a people for his name from all the families into a new family where single people in Christ are full-fledged family members on a par with all others, bearing fruit for God and becoming mothers and fathers of the eternal kind.
“Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” a woman cried out to Jesus. And he turned and said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27). The mother of God is the obedient Christian—married or single! Take a deep breath and reorder your world.

“Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel,” Jesus said, “who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30). Single person, married person, do you want children, mothers, brothers, sisters, lands? Renounce the primacy of your natural relationships and follow Jesus into the fellowship of the people of God.

Let Him Who Is Able to Receive This Receive It
What shall we say then in view this great biblical vision of the secondary and temporary nature of marriage and procreation? We will say what Jesus and Paul said. Jesus said in Matthew 19:12, “There are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.” We need not take this (“made themselves eunuchs”) to mean any kind of physical sterilization any more than we take Jesus’ words “tear out your right eye” to mean physically blinding ourselves. But it does mean that Jesus approves that some of his followers renounce marriage and sexual activity for the sake of serving Christ’s kingdom. “Let him who is able to receive this receive it.”

That is what Paul chose for himself and what he encouraged others to consider in 1 Corinthians 7. “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. . . . I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife . . . . I say this . . . to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:8, 32-33, 35). In other words, some are called to be “eunuchs” for the kingdom of God. Paul speaks about each having his own gift: “one of one kind, one of another” (1 Corinthians 7:7). In other words, “Let him who is able to receive this receive it.”

Better Blessings
So now we end where we began with all this Scripture in our mind. God promises those of you who remain single in Christ blessings that are better than the blessings of marriage and children.
If someone asks, wouldn’t it be better to have both? The blessings of marriage and the blessings of heaven? There are two answers to that question. One is that you will find out someday, and better to learn it now, that the blessings of being with Christ in heaven, are so far superior to the blessings of being married and raising children and that asking this question will be like asking: Wouldn’t it be better to have the ocean and the thimble full? And the second answer is that marriage and singleness both present us with unique trials and unique opportunities for our sanctification. There will be unique rewards for each, and which is greater will not depend on whether you were married or single, but on how you responded to each.

So I say it again to all singles in Christ: God promises you blessings in the age to come that are better than the blessings of marriage and children.

Uniquely Displaying the Glories of Christ
And with this promise there comes a unique calling and a unique responsibility. It is not a calling to extend irresponsible adolescence into your thirties. It is a calling to do what only single men and women in Christ can do in this world, namely, to display by the Christ-exalting devotion of your singleness the truths about Christ and his kingdom that shine more clearly through singleness than through marriage. As long as you are single, this is your calling: to so live for Christ as to make it clearer to the world and to the church

That the family of God grows not by propagation through sexual intercourse, but by regeneration through faith in Christ;

That relationships in Christ are more permanent, and more precious, than relationships in families;

That marriage is temporary, and finally gives way to the relationship to which it was pointing all along: Christ and the church—the way a picture is no longer needed when you see face to face;

And that faithfulness to Christ defines the value of life; all other relationships get their final significance from this. No family relationship is ultimate; relationship to Christ is.

To him be glory in the Christ-exalting drama of marriage and the Christ-exalting drama of the single life. Amen

1 I borrow here from the expression of Barry Danylak, “A Biblical-Theological Perspective on Singleness” (PDF), p. 15. “The propagation of the people of God in the New Testament occurs not through physical procreation as in the Old Testament, but rather through spiritual regeneration.” This is an unpublished paper and reflects Barry’s present doctoral studies at Cambridge University. This sermon has drawn heavily on Barry’s approach to the issue of singleness in the Bible.

2 The literal translation of the Hebrew is: “within my walls a hand and a name better than sons and daughters.” For the sense behind the word hand (translated as monument), compare 2 Samuel 18:18 where Absalom says, “‘I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.’ He called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom's hand to this day” (literal rendering, usually rendered “monument”). Absalom had built this memorial by himself and for himself (v. 18a). So he had extended his memory into the future by his own hand. Perhaps then the idea of hand is that the good that comes to us in the future or the memorial that keeps us in remembrance in the future is our ongoing effect as though our hand were still active.

3 Danylak, p. 9.

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Trials? A blessing?

2009-02-12T07:29:00.000-08:00

Trials are really blessings in disguise!. Not in itself, but what they can achieve.

Trials 'show'/reveal what's really in our heart and help/set our mind on Christ.
Tests our faith (James 1:2-3)
Makes us patient/longsuffering/steadfast
Makes us mature or a wholesome Christian
God offers wisdom on how to deal with a particular trial (James 1:5-9)
Hence, our response to all trials should be of extreme joy as God is doing a wonderful work in our hearts.

How can we prepare ourselves before trials come?

Fortify our hearts with appropriate scriptures!
Our minds should be saturated with God's word. This will definitely affect the way we respond or 'perceive' trials.

For example:

Make a list of all the questions that come to mind regarding trials. Find appropriate verses to tackle or answer these questions.
Study various characters from the Bible and notice how they responded to trials. But your best example should always be Our Lord Jesus. Others include Job, Paul, Daniel, my favourite Joseph, David, Mary and so many more.
Memorize specific portions of scriptures and constantly meditate on them.
Be in constant prayer. This is so often neglected in our Christian circles. Remember, Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed before He went to the cross. And that is what we should be doing. We don't know when trials may come, but come they will.

To be continued

Did you hear about....

2009-02-11T23:42:00.000-08:00

How many times when we are having our conversations with our friends, we talk about someone who is not present… Or talk about something that is supposed to be confidential…How many times we take the liberty to say things that might not be true…Or we might just know part of the story and assume the remaining and probably spread these stories that are not true.. One word to describe all this-GOSSIP

The bible warns us not to be indulged in gossip.
Ps 34:13 “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deciet"
Eph 4:29 “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear”

Let our speech or conversations be such that it should edify and encourage one another. When we gossip, not only do we sin but also get others involved in it. Gossip can also be slanderous and can ruin many people’s lives. We got to be so careful of what we speak and what we say. The reason why gossip prevails so much is that we don’t view it as great as Big sin (if I might put it that way) as murder or adultery. That’s why we don’t guard our heart and mind constantly when we are talking to someone. We if were to mediate on Scripture always and constantly think truth in our heart, I think we would be a lot more careful about what we say.

So why do we gossip? The reason is simple, we like to do it, or we like to hear news and things happening in people’s lives. Some times, it could also be that we like to be the news bearer of every single event that is going on around. Most of the times we entertain gossip because it tickles our ears. I like Proverbs 18:8 which says “ The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.” Its because we permit such conversations, and don’t take it as a serious sin, that it is such a wide spread disease.

People’s lives have been ruined because of slander and gossip. So as Christians how are we to live our lives. One of my favorite passages from the Bible is Col 3. Will end the post with some verses from it.

3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Benefits of trial

2009-02-09T05:13:00.000-08:00

Few days back, I was going through a study series on trials and how the saints can benefit from the trials that befall upon them. It was exciting to go through scripture verses and learn from Christ Himself on how He endured the cross(Hebrews 12:2). Many things were covered as how we as God's children are called to endure trials in the right attitude and trust God in the light on seemingly endless affliction.

Come Thursday, and I was down with a bad sore throat. Okay, I knew it was application time. It is one thing to nod ur head in affirmation over the truth of God's word when things are going well and another to trust in times of pain and agony. But God is gracious. He never gives more than what His child can handle. (1 Cor 10:13). Later on, the sickness got worse with an attack of flu and severe body ache. Just to lay in bed and say, "You are good and You do good"( Psalms 119:68) took tremendous amount of faith, to be honest!

But, I always feel especially for me......I am more tuned to God's word and receptive in times of illness. Otherwise, we are so busy and doing a million things...When was the last time you sat still before God and quietened ur soul?? Hence I can always say, "It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes" (Psalms 119:71)

Majesty

2009-02-08T22:31:00.000-08:00

Another one of my favourite songs...It talks about our God's Majesty.... An attribute we can always meditate on..

Majesty (Here I Am)
Here I am humbled by your Majesty
Covered by your grace so free
Here I am,
knowing I'm a sinful man
Covered by the blood of the Lamb
Now I've found
the greatest love of all is mine
Since you laid down your life
The greatest sacrifice

Chorus
Majesty, Majesty
Your grace has found me just as I am
Empty handed, but alive in your hands
Majesty, Majesty
Forever I am changed by your love
In the presence of your Majesty

Here I am humbled by the love
that you give
Forgiven so that I can forgive
Here I stand, knowing that I'm your desire
Sanctified by glory and fire
Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine
Since you laid down your life
The greatest sacrifice

By Delirious

Pray... Always...All the time...

2009-02-08T05:47:00.000-08:00

As Christians we are called to pray... It is a time where we are in conversation with our Lord and Master... We all set aside some time in the day to pray and read our Bibles... That would be an hour or so... But is that enough??? Knowing that we are in the world, 24*7 , with temptations lurking around us, ungodly advice and sin, is that hour enough... 1Thel 5:17 says" pray without ceasing" The dictionary word for ceasing means, to stop or come to an end. That means what it says in 1Thel 5:17 is to pray without stopping or pray without coming to an end. Basically it gives an idea of continuity... That means our mindset should be such that we should be praying always. Whether at work, or when we are travelling, or eating or when just relaxing...Now that does not mean that if you are at work with your colleagues talking, you suddenly close your eyes and start praying... they probably might think that you are freak... Its like even when you are talking to a friend who is not saved, at that moment you can pray in your mind for the salvation of that friend, and that he/she would repent of their sin.

Something that helps me out to be in a constant mode of prayer is by meditating on scripture... That will automatically make us pray....Whether it be thanking the Lord, or confessing our sins, or even interceding for others... Rom12:12 says "be constant in prayer".That should be our attitude.. I don't think we are short of things to pray for, be it thanking the Lord for His salvation, His faithfulnes and his mercy... or for the Fellowship with beleivers..or for the word of God,or be it interceding for our unbelieving friends.The list can go on...So let us be warriors of prayer...I'll end this post with 1Samuel 2:1-10

Hannah's Prayer

2:1 And Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart exults in the Lord;

my strength is exalted in the Lord.

My mouth derides my enemies,because I rejoice in your salvation.
2 “There is none holy like the Lord;there is none besides you;there is no rock like our God.

3 Talk no more so very proudly,let not arrogance come from your mouth;

for the Lord is a God of knowledge,and by him actions are weighed.

4 The bows of the mighty are broken,but the feeble bind on strength.

5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,

but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.

The barren has borne seven,but she who has many children is forlorn.

6 The Lord kills and brings to life;he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich;he brings low and he exalts.

8 He raises up the poor from the dust;he lifts the needy from the ash heap

to make them sit with princesand inherit a seat of honor.

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's,and on them he has set the world.
9 “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,

for not by might shall a man prevail.

10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces;

against them he will thunder in heaven.The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;

he will give strength to his king and exalt the power of his anointed.”

Legalism

2009-02-04T05:02:00.000-08:00

Have been ill for the past few days and that has been a blessing in many ways.Cud just rest and be at home and slow down a lil from my crazy daily schedule. Was listening to CJ Mahaney on Legalism (from Resolved 2005) this afternoon, on Galatians 3:1-5. The passage is where Paul is addressing the Galatians about the Sufficiency of Christ's work on the cross. Even before CJ started preaching i thought, hmmm well Legalism, i dont think i struggle with that as much. By the end of the message i was proved wrong. So many times we take pride in our works. I like the way Paul puts it in vs 2 "Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?" How true. We did not do anythin to be saved. It is only thru Christ that we have a new life, thru His work on the cross. There is nothing that we can do to contribute to our Justification. There were 3 practical ways that CJ suggested from the passage that would help us not to be legalistic:

1. Remember the Cross(vs 1b)

Lets us not forget the cross, and that thru the death of Christ and the victory over sin by His resurrection we are free in Him. (1Peter 1:3) If the Galations forgot so are we vulnerable to forget it too.

2. Recall your conversion.(vs 2)

Its always good to remember the time of our coversion. We all can say in one voice that there was nothing we could do to save ourselves. (Eph 2:4-5 But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He has loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved.)

3. Review your hope(vs3-4)

Let us always keep in mind that my righteousness is in Christ alone. If there is anything good that comes out of us is because the Spirit of God, that is within us.

So let us not boast in our works. Someone very wise said that,Legalism is Attempting Self Atonement for Self Glorification for the purpose of Self Worship.

The Glory of the cross!!!

2009-01-29T21:05:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favourite songs. It talks about the cross and its importance in our lives

The Glory of the Cross
What wisdom once devised the plan

Where all our sin and pride

Was placed upon the perfect Lamb

Who suffered, bled, and died?

The wisdom of a Sovereign God

Whose greatness will be shown

When those who crucified Your Son

Rejoice around Your throne

Chorus

And, oh, the glory of the cross

That You would send Your Son for us

I gladly count my life as loss

That I might come to know

The glory of, the glory of the cross

What righteousness was there revealed

That sets the guilty free

That justifies ungodly men

And calls the filthy clean?

A righteousness that proved to all

Your justice has been met

And holy wrath is satisfied

Through one atoning death

Chorus

What mercy now has been proclaimed

For those who would believe

A love incomprehensible

Our minds could not conceive?

A mercy that forgives my sin

Then makes me like Your Son

And now I’m loved forevermore

Because of what You’ve done

Give thanks unto the Lord

2009-01-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

There are so many things we can give thanks unto the Lord..For our salvation, His word, the church, our jobs(in this recession) fellowship with the Body of Christ and many more things...Yet so many times instead of thanking the Lord we are grumbling and complaining... something we always need to do is keep a constant check on our heart attitudes and our mind... Its always good to be meditating on Scripture so that our mind is filled with truth as it says in Col 3:16 " Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. with thankfulness in your heart". It is important to be thankful unto the Lord and that too in every situation, be it good or bad, as he is in control of our lives and he knows what is good for us.(Rom 8:28 "And we know that those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose")
Psalm 138 in the words of David portrays it well

Give Thanks to the LORD
Of David.

138:1 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;before the gods I sing your praise;

2 I bow down toward your holy templeand give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,for you have exalted above all thingsyour name and your word.

3 On the day I called, you answered me;my strength of soul you increased.
4 All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,for they have heard the words of your mouth,

5 and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,for great is the glory of the Lord.

6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,but the haughty he knows from afar.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,you preserve my life;you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,and your right hand delivers me.

8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.Do not forsake the work of your hands.

So Give Thanks!!!

To dear Carol

2009-01-28T20:40:00.000-08:00

This post is dedicated to my sister, Carol who has completed one whole year of working as a P.A. to the Dean of a reputed design college. She is not only my sister, but a dear sister in Christ too!!! She loves the Lord and desires to imitate Him in every way!!! And I praise God immensely for the wonderful work He is doing in her life.....Few scripture verses to encourage you in the Lord!!!

"What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil-this is God's gift to man." Ecclesiastes 3: 9-13.

May you have wonderful days ahead of you and may God bless and establish the work of your hands.

Joy in my God

2009-01-27T04:09:00.000-08:00

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and fields yield no food,
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
Habakkuk 3:17-18

My life is hidden in Christ!!

2009-01-22T01:10:00.000-08:00

I was listening to this song yesterday on my comp and I realised that I have been saved through Christ alone and I am kept by Him alone...

"For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." Colossians 3:3-4

"In Christ Alone"

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

In Christ alone my hope is found;

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This cornerstone, this solid ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My comforter, my all in all—

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save.

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied;

For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain;

Then bursting forth in glorious day,

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory,

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;

For I am His and He is mine—

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—

This is the pow'r of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home—

Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

Amen!!!

My first post...

2009-01-17T01:00:00.000-08:00

Well this is my first post in this blog. It was started by my sister and i thought why not put in some of my posts too.. so here it is..

A lesson that the Lord has been teaching me for quite some time is contentment.Very naturally as human beings we grumble about everythin, the weather, our job and the list goes on.. As children of God this atttitude does not glorify Him. As it says in Phillipians 2:14 "Do all this without grumbling or questioning". And it is a command. If we proclaim ourselves to be Christians we are supposed to obey his word, and give thanks to him always in everything(1Thel 5:18).

I remember Pastor Tom preaching in Kerusso Bible church some time back on this sin issue. It was very convicting as many a times we think it aint a sin to grumble.. We may say i am just sayin how I feel. But we actually are complaining to God and tellin him that,we dont like the way he is running my life...So let us learn to be content in every situation the Lord has put us in , as it says in 1Timothy6:6 "Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment"

Blessed Be Your Name!

2009-01-14T19:46:00.000-08:00

I love to sing this song as it reminds me again and again of the need to bless God's name no matter what situation I may be in...It is irrelevant! Just meditating on the words is soothing to my aching soul!!!! Lord Jesus, I choose to worship You and give thanks at all times, Blessed be Your NAME!!!

Blessed Be Your Name
By Matt Redman

Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in,
LordStill I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in,
Lord Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in,
Lord Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
But my heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be your name

Blessed be the name of the lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the lord
Blessed be your glorious name

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

2009-01-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

I just know the refrain of this beautiful song. And as I sing and truly focus my thoughts on my Saviour and Lord, I pray dear Lord that "the things of this world would grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace" Will you sing with me??

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

By Helen .H. Lemmel

Knowing God's will

2009-01-11T22:43:00.000-08:00

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5 :16-18

What is God's will for my life? How often has this qs. troubled my soul, I cannot recount. But God's Word is so clear and so wonderfully has His will spelled out that I fail to see sometimes. I have asked this to myself several times. Is it because I want something stupendous to undertake or am I just blind? I don't know.

Here we have Paul, who has clearly written what God requires of me in Christ Jesus:

To rejoice at all times

To pray without ceasing

To give thanks in all circumstances.

Is this really hard to follow or is my heart so stuck upon doing the things I desire? Oh!!! May it never be O Lord!!! I desire to do Your will. To be glad in You and ask of You and give thanks to You is what my heart wants to do!!! Only in Your strength can this be achieved.

Favorite verses

2009-01-09T03:10:00.000-08:00

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. " Romans 8: 28

"For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love; for He does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men." Lamentations 3:31-33