Faith accomplishes in Trouble

Golden yellow pears @ Kodai garden

17 April 2012  

 “Therefore, having been justified by faith,

we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace ….. but we also glory in tribulations

 knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts… ….

A common question which troubles our mind is’ What is the real meaning of Faith? 

It has multifarious answers.
 

When  we say "We have our faith". It means that" We have our religious ideas , doctrines, our traditions, our customary dealings  - passed down through the generations to follow. Faith is not religion.  Nor it is the Biblical idea of faith.

Faith is not a way to manipulate God. It is not a power by which we make God do what WE want- when otherwise He would be unwilling to give that to us. 

Faith is not hope, nor positive desire. Faith, however, takes the promise as done at the moment. Many people have greater hope and wait anxiously for results, but they lack confidence and present assurance which faith has. 

faith is to believe in something or someone, to fully trust, to be so confident that we can put our actions on what we believe. 

Faith in God, is having the kind of trust and confidence in God that leads you to commit your whole soul to Him as Saviour’ 

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1 

Faith is a spiritual substance. it communicates to you a certain inner knowing that the thing you are hoping for is certainly established, even before you see any material evidence that it has happened.

Faith in God must be from the heart. "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:10)

“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”John7:38

God wants to share the faith in us with others. Sharing increases  and improves our faith.

….And he who waters will also be watered himself”.Proverbs11:25

Faith causes you to know in your heart before you see with your eyes. "For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2Cor 5.7)

Through faith we can know we have the answer to our prayer .Jesus said, "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." (Mk 11:24). 

God expects us, even commands us, to believe that our requests are answered by God AT THE MOMENT WE MAKE THEM.

AMEN
God bless

Right kind of fear

Plum flower @ Kodaikanal

 16 April 2012  Fear the LORD

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.Proverbs 8:13

Fear is defined as a godly emotion, feeling of reverence, awe, and respect toward the Almighty.

It is an unpleasant emotion caused by natural circumstance of supernatural attack. 

Fear may be either healthy or harmful-may lead to unpleasant consequences.

Fear is a must ,if it is healthy and leads to our growth in life.

A healthy fear is reverence or respect can be observed from the following verses:

• ‘Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God. Leviticus. 19:3

•  ‘However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Ephesians 5:33

• ‘Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Ephesians 6:5.

The scriptures declare that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge"
(Proverbs 1:7) as well as the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 16:16) thereby indicating the decorum and good sense of fear before God and His Word.

It says "the fear of the Lord is to hate evil".

 This tells me that  if I  want to respect God, then I will hate everything He hates, (all things evil, pride, and arrogance as well as a perverse mouth.)

We tend to think of "evil" as being sins such as murder, burglary witchcraft, Satanism and so on. 

The OPPOSITE of good is evil. 

Therefore if something is not good, then it has to be evil. 

Sin is sin. 

God doesn't say well this sin is worse than that one.

So beware of you words, actions and foremost your inner thoughts.  

 Have a clean slate,so that no one can raise their hands against you.

Praise the Lord.

Covetousness

Ripened Pears @ Kodaikanal Garden

9 April 2012  

 Covetousness like jealousy, when taken its root, never leaves a person, grows steadily and become a big one, spreading its roots and branches everywhere.

 None of the area in life has left out of its hold.

Covetous: “Inordinately desirous; excessively eager to obtain and possess; avaricious” - Webster

'And He said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” Luke 12:15.

 

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." I Timothy 6:10.

Bible warns : "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." Exodus 20:17

Materialism is a barrier to contentment. 

"People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction." I Timothy 6:9

Greed (or insatiability) often accompanies prosperity and may lead to crime.

"What is causing the quarrels and fights among you?

 Isn't it because there is a whole army of evil desires within you?

 You want what you don't have, so you kill to get it. 

You long for what others have, and can't afford it, 

so you start a fight to take it away from them. 

And yet the reason you don't have what you want is that you don't ask God for it." James 4:1-2

Wealth may give us wrong attitudes ( may incorporate anti-social elements) about material things. 

"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:15

Beware of resorting to materialism.

 

The Wealth (blessing) God showers on you will not tag along with pain.

‘The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it..Proverbs 10:22

Think twice before doing anything out of line- inclusive of all our daily routines.

Read   Philippians  chapter 4--- the biblical antidote for covetousness.

Have a good day

God Bless

HAPPY EASTER

Unspeakable gift

7 April 2012   

Dark cloudy day @ Kodaikanal

‘Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift.’2 Corinthians 9:15.

God’s indescribable gift is salvation through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

God gave the gift of His Son because He wants to have a personal relationship with you (and me) through Jesus. God is the supreme giver and His ability is immeasurable.  Hence God gave more than world can give us.  HE GAVE US HIS SON.

 God's Son is called an "unspeakable" gift.( 2 Corinthians 9:15) God's gift justifies us from sin by bring complete forgiveness and restores peace with God and all men.

•  “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

A gift should be given much thought and care (should reflect the uniqueness) –it should be personal too. God’s gift to us was very personal. 

We can call God our “Daddy” (Romans 8:15) He knows us fully well (in and out of us- nothing is hidden from Him)

• “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar……....... “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139: 1-2,23-24

Open your heart, so that God  can show you the way of salvation through His Son.

God’s gift of forgiveness and salvation is permanent.

•  “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance…” Ephesians 1:13-14

God gives us His Spirit to “seal the deal” and our guarantee for securing our inheritance in heaven.

 

•  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you…” 1 Peter 1: 3-4

God’s own indescribable gift to us cost us nothing, but it cost Him His life

• “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

• “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:15

When we understand how costly the gift is that God gave to us, we should want to express our gratitude back to Him.

 

 “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as  a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5: 1,2

Be an imitator of God( not the word and the content of the world)

 

Give yourselves back to God as a living sacrifices. 

Do not  step into the shoes of others.

Be yourself and do good to others.

God bless

Good Friday---

6 April 2012  

  

Good Friday is a day to remember the crucifixion and death of son of God at Calvary, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed his life for the cause of humanity.

This day is known as Good Friday, Holy Friday, Great Friday or Black Friday

 As such, Good Friday is a day of mourning (all the rituals of the day are centred on the feeling of sorrow, pain and humiliation etc-) that Jesus went through for the goodness and humanity.

The entire message of Good Friday is not "an eye for an eye"( not the very thought of vengeance  and vindictive actions ) but to conquer evil is through good (to overcome evil with good deeds.)

Many things we have learned each year on this concept. Follow the example of Jesus, who stressed the ‘role of prayer’ in the struggle to conquer evil. Turn to God in prayer when we are stressed’ or totally wayward.

• “I called on the LORD in distress; the LORD answered me and set me in a broad place”  Psalm 118:5.

• When situations in life frighten you, look up to the Lord and cry to Him. Pour out your burdens to Him when in distress. Psalm 142:1-2

The tremendous love He has on you is beyond our thinking.

• ‘He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.1Peter 2:24

The Almighty God left all His glory and came into this world as a human being to die on the cross in order to save us.

Pray and turn to God.

‘Lord, hear my prayer; in your faithfulness listen to my pleading; answer me in your justice.

The enemy has pursued me; they have crushed my life to the ground.

They have left me in darkness …..My spirit is faint within me; my heart is dismayed…. Hasten to answer me, Lord; for my spirit fails me.

Do not hide your face from me, …..At dawn let me hear of your kindness, for in you I trust. Show me the path I should walk, for to you I entrust my life. ........Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your kind spirit guide me on ground that is level. …..Psalm 143

Let this  teach us the role of prayer in our life.

Read the following.

Jesus taught peace in an age of violence. 

Jesus taught forgiveness in an age of victimization.

Jesus taught humility in an age of spiritual arrogance. 

Jesus taught equality in an age of division. 

Jesus taught love in a world of hatred. 

God Bless