Dare to be different…
The book of Daniel starts with an unfortunate episode where it says, ‘the Lord delivered the king of Judah to Babylon’. If you look at the history behind, God always wanted the Israelites to be faithful to Him. But they very often failed and disappointed God by their transgressions. It was during the time of Jehoiakim that the Lord finally gave up and delivered them to a heathen king. It is obvious that during the conquest of Babylon, the Israelites were in the pinnacle of sins. II Kings 24:8 says that “He (Jehoiakim) did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his fathers had done”.
A kingdom under an evil king who had followed the evil of his fore-fathers- this was the prevailing scenario. People forgot God and His commandments and were deep down in sin. The later part of this chapter talks about a young handsome man named Daniel. I was so surprised when I read about Daniel because it was during such a state of ungodliness that Daniel still kept his faith in God. Though the Bible doesn’t tell about Daniel’s ancestry, it is surprising to know that He held on to God even when the people around him and the king sinned against God.
I’ve got a message for you! “It doesn’t mean where you are but it is what you are that costs” I could imagine how the youth during Jehoiakim’s rule would have transgressed. They would’ve invited Daniel to be a part of their fun. But Daniel watched his ways and trusted in God. That is why even when he was taken as an exile and was asked to serve a heathen king, he kept his stand to serve the King of Kings.
Today’s world is so alluring. Swanky gadgets, plush malls, fancy lifestyle, exuberant salaries and luxuries. There is nothing that could remind us of God. People who were faithful to God in their little have started fading away from God as their luxuries increased. My question to you today is “What are you today?” An entangled slave of what the world is or a person who makes a difference however the world is?
Look at Daniel! He kept his cool, walked in His ways ignoring how the others were. In further chapters down there comes a situation when the King decreed that no one should worship any other god (6:7). I like the verse which says “When Daniel learnt about this he prayed three times a day as usual”. Remember, Daniel had grown in his status and was in a high position in the kingdom. I am still amazed that his progress in status, money or fame, nothing shook his foundation in his God.
Shouldn’t we be making a difference in today’s world? We can’t blame the world for our callousness. It high time we get back on the highway with God!
Lord, forgive me for my carelessness. Please help me to have the first love and make a difference to everyone around me. Amen
The Attitude of Faith
Hebrews 11 is supposed to be the absolute tutorial for faith. The author begins with the definition of faith and goes on to explain it. This chapter details how faith has taken its place right from the creation of the world and how impossible it is to please God without faith (v6). I love this chapter because the author keeps emphasizing the fact that it was through faith that all the men of God were able to attain what they wanted from God.
Today, I am going to brush up a little on the levels of faith so that we could evaluate ourselves where we stand in our level of faith. Faith needs to grow and reach levels. We could categorize the levels of faith as
Little Faith – Mathew 8:26 A basic level of faith prevalent in spiritually immature Christians. Everything is perfect when everything else is perfect but their faith tosses as the boat tosses. The disciples in their early stages were of little faith. They were able to enjoy the company of God and second His miracles but when it came to facing troubles they wavered. Today, are you of little faith?
Faith with visible proofs – John 20:25 Here we see Thomas, a disciple of Jesus, who had been with Him and witnessed all His miracles, heard His teachings and the things that are going to happen, now doubting Jesus’ resurrection. He says “Unless I see the nail marks on His hands & put my hand and test myself, I will not believe it”. Did you notice the phrase “I will not believe it”? Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as being sure of what we do not see. Today, are you ready to be sure of what you do not see?
Faith in action – Every miracle that Jesus did turned a whole bunch of crowds to Him ? People questioned His authority, but were ready to believe Him if they witnessed a miracle. This attitude is more of a “He did it so I believe Him” -typically a faith that depends on actions. These people may easily waver when later a miracle is delayed or not done because they have faith in actions and not in the Miracle Worker. Today, is your faith based on what God did?
Real faith or Faith of Faiths – Daniel 3:13. This chapter talks about 4 young men refusing to bow before an idol. The king ordered them to be thrown into a furnace of fire. When the king questioned them they replied “O king, the God that we serve is able to rescue us”. I love the verse (v.18) which says “But even if He doesn’t we will still not bow before the idol”. Did you notice the level of faith where they stand? They decided that whatever God does is for their good; if He saves them or doesn’t. Their faith was not on the miracle but on God. So whether God saves them or not wasn’t important.
This is called the real faith or Faith of Faiths where we do not believe God for what He does or can do, but for what He really is! God is far beyond miracles and wonders. He is God Himself, superfluous, humungous, omnipresent and omnipotent. We worship Him for what He is. Our faith needs to stand on Him. We may expect many things which God may or may not grant, but our faith should not be based on what He could offer. God is God, period!!
God, give me an attitude of faith where I trust in you and you alone. I know you have the best plans for me and help me accept whatever you have in store for me. Let me to look up to you and not on what you can offer. Amen
Giving to God
First let us address the question – “Should we give to God?”. The answer to this question is found in Mat 25:40 , And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ So, the answer is “Yes”, we should give to God. When we give to the least of our brethren, we give to God.
Now, let us understand, How are we to give to God?
1) We should give God with a loyal heart
1Ch 29:9 , Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly. Whatever we are giving must be a whole hearted gesture to the Lord and not out of any worldly compulsion. Many give to please their pastor, church leader, etc, but the Bible says God loves a cheerful giver who gives without compulsion because of his/her love for God out of a loyal heart.
2) We should give according to the blessing of our Lord
Deut 16:17 , Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you. For some of us money is the easiest thing to give. Is that what God wants from you? Right now money is easy to give – Well God does not want 1/10th of your money now- He wants 1/10th of your time- He has given you the money you asked for, Now give him your time.
3) We should give the first fruits to God
Pro 3:9 &10 , Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your
produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting
with wine. We keep the best of the produce for ourselves and give the worst of our
produce to God. We do a Electronic Clearance (ECS) from bank to bank for our car loan but
give crumpled and crushed notes to God. Give God the first fruit & the best fruit and he will
bless you to be first in all that you attempt.
4) We should give tithes to God
Mal 3:10 , Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. Abraham gave tithes, Jesus thought us to give God what is due to God. Let us do so too.
To conclude, everything God has created, including money is for us to have dominion upon. When you give to God, it means that you are exercising your dominion over money and diverting it from other purposes to the purposes of God. When you have set your dominion over something that is likely to divert you from God, then God sets his blessings upon you.
As Jesus thought us frequently, giving God is a matter of the heart more than it is a matter of means. “God looks at the heart of the giver”. Let us not have any doubt in giving to God through our tithes, First fruits , in accordance to our blessing and with a loyal heart.
God Bless You.
V Chacko Jacob
6 years of waiting and blessing of a child from the LORD
Children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is His reward – Psalms 127:3
My background:
Born and raised in an orthodox Brahmin family, accepting Christ and being baptized in Him came as a shock to my family. In addition, I faced many difficulties in my job and health. As time progressed, they gradually accepted my faith and in 2006 I got married to a God-fearing woman born and raised in Christian faith.
By God’s grace, everything went fine in our marital life. We both had good jobs, traveled many places and enjoyed our lives. But there was one thing missing: the blessing of a child. Though we did not face any embarrassing situation, every wedding anniversary reminded us of our state.
Hardships faced:
Many people told us about their dreams of us being blessed with a child. I did not take it lightly, since I knew this blessing was going to take some time, and these dreams were an encouragement from the Lord. As time passed, people started questioning us and I started avoiding certain people. We too wanted to rule out the cause, and sought medical help from our doctor friend who performed many tests for my wife and me, and confirmed that a medical condition in my body reduced the chances of my wife conceiving. Hearing this news, we were shocked and we decided to trust God for the impossible.
One day I was reading Luke 1, which narrates two supernatural incidents: the birth of John the Baptist and our Lord Jesus. Both incidents speak of God‘s omnipotence in conception. We therefore based our faith on God’s power and also took medical help for conception of a child. After a couple of years, we decided to stop pursing medical treatments since nothing worked out, and depended totally on God for the miracle. During this time of grief, when my wife was much troubled, God spoke the following verses to us.
“A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” – John 16:21-22
For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery. – Ecclesiastes 8:6
For with God nothing will be impossible. – Luke 1:37
Isaac prayed for his wife to be pregnant. – Genesis 25:21
Loss:
In 2011, I was transferred to the US. Within 3 months, my wife conceived and our joy knew no bounds. However, it was short lived for the baby did not grow properly and my wife had a miscarriage. The Lord prepared us for the loss ahead of time and my wife came out of it peacefully.
In the mid of 2012, our US visa extensions were denied and we had to return to India. God revealed to me one day that a curse of barrenness was upon my life. I prayed God to relieve me from that curse (for the Lord Jesus took all my curses at the cross), so the blessings of Abraham would be on me. God delivered me and later in September of that year, God opened door for us to return to the US. In December, God gave me a word of knowledge that the blessing of child was coming into our lives and asked me to receive it.
Promise to come:
In the last week of December, I told my wife I had a dream of her bearing a child. Once again, God had already revealed to her ahead of time that the wait was over. On January 16, 2013, the promise came true and we joyfully and hopeful prayed each day for God to sustain the baby throughout the time of pregnancy.
Complications during pregnancy:
During the 12th week, my wife had some internal infection which caused extreme pain and I rushed her to the emergency. She couldn’t take any strong medication due to pregnancy and the doctors were finding it hard to perform an operation. Miraculously, the baby was very active and the heart beat was good. The next day, a doctor from another hospital asked us to visit her. With that pain I took my wife and without an incesion, the infection was treated and the pain vanished instantly. In the midst of this, God gave us the hope nothing will prevent the birth of this child.
During the 21st week scan, the nurse observed irregular heartbeat in the baby. We committed this into the Lord’s hands. Our church prayed for the baby and the following detailed heart scan of the baby’s heart revealed no such symptoms.
The promise fulfilled:
The Lord led us all through the 9 months and on Sep 6th, 2014 my wife gave birth to a beautiful girl baby through a safe & normal labor. Our baby brought bountiful joy and laughter not only to us, but also to our family, friends and our entire church.
God answered our prayers after 6 years of marriage and made us to wait for His perfect timing. For all things work together for good to those who love God and are called of him.
We thank and praise God for remembering his promises in our lives and fulfilling them at his appointed time.
Ramana.
Ramana is an IT Professional who is working in US.
Got to know about my Employer and CEO
I was one among the experienced IT professionals (11 year) who have been laid off from the top IT Company during Dec 2015. I was not on the D band in appraisal rating (or) under performer (or) in bench (non billable), but with continuous C grade appraisal rating. Even though I deserved for B grade, manager didn’t rate it correctly due to internal problems.
I worked in that IT company for 4 years and I thought that I were in a safer place in IT industry to lead my life peacefully. But the day before Christmas, I got an email from my employer that I was moved out of the project without any prior intimation. I felt that I was going to be laid off in a day or two because the company started the process of laying off. I had huge pressure in my mind and lot of questions in my heart, why things were happening against me . Also, my bigger worry was about getting a new job with 11+ years of experience with the previous employer history who laid off huge professionals. Till i attended the Christmas morning church service, desperate sadness engulfed around me. But during the Church service, HE began to comfort me through HIS Grace.
I began to feel that I was not an ordinary man, if Jesus was with me, amidst of this situation. I have experienced so many, also this is the time that i should be strong enough to show the difference between being a man of knowing and trusting God and being not knowing and trusting God .
“He that believeth shall not make haste” – Isaiah 28:16.
Also,I believed that without HIS permission, no one will touch me. While coming out from church , i felt GOD is holding my right hand to cross over this tough situation (as every time he does) On 26 Dec, my HR called me and gave the termination letter. With the complete hope and confidence according to the Biblical verse “nevertheless I am not ashamed:
For I know whom I have believed, – 2 Timothy 1:12”,
Neither I spoke anything against nor showed any discomfort to them. But I said within myself that I would get minimum of 2 offer letters from other companies before I submit my ID card to HR which was scheduled on Jan 2015 last week. In the 2015 New Year church service, pastor preached the new year promises with the word from Joshua.
“Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. – Joshua 1:9”
I realized that Christ did not want me not to settle down in a comfort zone. He is expecting me to do more things. I started updating my technical skills for the interview preparedness and posted my resumes in the job portal. No positive sign from the first 3 interviews. Got motivated by the verse, “though our outward man perish, yet the inwardman is renewed day by day. – 2 Corinthians 4:16″
I was looking to God to provide me job. During Jan 2015 second week, I got a call from 2 companies and I got offer with 20% hike. Next interesting part was, one of the new company gave me the opportunity to shortlist few profiles and to interview the people for my new team (even before I join the company) This made to ponder upon this verse : “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worked in us – Ephesians 3:20”
In Jan 2015, last week I surrendered my id card with by holding new company offer. During this laid off period, I have under stood very clearly that that Jesus Christ is the only person who cares for me and HE is the one who can guide me correctly. When I shared my situation to my friends, they all tried to help me out from the situation. But JESUS is the one who helped me and delivered me from this dangerous situations.
Now I have set that JESUS is my employer and I started thinking that i am working on a contract basis for a client. So I no need to worry about the client’s action here after. I have Jesus, as my CEO who knows both my strength and weakness and my career skills . I can trust Him till the end in all situations. Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. Psalm 94 : 17 -19
An IT Professional working in an Indian MNC