May be knocked down
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. Psalm 139:13
Our God is the greatest sculptor ever, as He created us in His own image, and gave His life so we became real, not just a sculpture!
I read this story on the Internet.
A father gave his son some bits and pieces of a world map and asked him to reassemble them properly. He thought his son would take much time to accomplish it. But to his surprise, the boy reassembled it quickly and handed the world map to his father. The father could not stop wondering asked him, “How did you do it so quickly? It is quite challenging.” The boy responded to his dad, “Yes it is. But there is a picture on the other side of the world map. This picture helped me assemble the bits and pieces together.”
In the same way, you may see yourself as bits and pieces of flesh, but God sees you complete! If you worry that you’re like a jigsaw puzzle broken into pieces due to unexpected circumstances and their consequences in your life, and you feel there is no way out, then this message is for you.
You may find yourself rejected by everyone because of what you have done in the past or because they think you are wrong, and you no longer feel loved. If so, then remember that God still loves you as you are. Psalm 34 : 18 says, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Yes, you cannot reassemble all the pieces, but if you can surrender all those pieces to the One who has a master plan for your life, He can fix them all and achieve His purpose. And His purpose for your life is good, to prosper you and not to harm you. You are not an accident! You may be knocked down, but not out forever! Rise up from your fallen state!!! He is waiting to refurbish you!!!
God is for us
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31
You have so many people around you, but still you feel you are all alone? You feel no one cares about you anymore? Your own family dejected you? You feel like you are of no use to anybody? You had faith on God, but not now, because you are constantly chewing the problem you face now and the way you keep thinking about it actually makes it so bigger day by day? Facing dreadful situations? You may have no way or a few ways to escape. But God has infinite ways for your escape.
You may think only weapons and arrows are needed for wars, but for God, winning a big battle is possible even with empty clay pots and trumpets. (Gideon in Judges 7) You may wonder how you are going to break down the huge walls you see in front of you. God can just use shouts to bring it down to the ground. (Joshua in Joshua 7) When you are scared of the mighty warriors and don’t have enough courage to face them in the battlefield, God can bring down hails from Heaven and destroy the enemy altogether. (Israelites in Joshua 10) You are frightened at giants like Goliath, but God can kill them with just a sling shot. (David in 1 Samuel 17) Today you are scared to be in the den with a hungry lion, but God can shut its mouth. (Daniel in Daniel 6) Maybe you are thrown into fire for standing for God, but God Himself can step into the fire with you and keep even your hair and robe from burning. (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3) You may have nothing to survive. But God can use 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes to feed 5000+ men and still can take the 12 baskets of leftovers. (Crowd in Luke 9) There are many other miracles which are recorded in the Bible.
God chooses lowly things and does wonders. So be glad about your weaknesses, because those are the areas where you are going to see His enormous strength!
Well, but there is something which you need to do. “Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for us.” In Don Moen’s song “He never sleeps” he says, “This is more than a promise; it’s a command.” Yes, it is a command. Do you realize how big your God is? Even your mountain like problems are very small for Him, yet, He doesn’t leave you abandoned so you can handle it all alone, because, He knows it is too big for you to handle it your way. So He comes to your aid to handle it His way. If you don’t believe this, just think about those times you thought your heart was going to collapse, but God sustained you through all that and kept you safe until now.
If God is on our side, it doesn’t matter who is on the other side! You don’t have to fight the battle. Just stay on His side and watch Him fighting for you!!
Help my unbelief
Jesus said, “Everything is possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9:23, 24
My American friend gifted me his Kindle Fire. (Ahhh thank you so much, Michael!!!) “Good and Perfect Gift, A: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl Named Penny” written by Amy Julia Becker is the first book I completed reading in my Kindle Fire. This is a mother’s story of her own challenge in finding out that her daughter would be born with Down syndrome. She raises her child Penny with prayer in each activity. Down syndrome is the most common chromosome abnormality in humans, occurring in about 1 per 1000 babies born each year. It is typically associated with physical growth delays, characteristic facial features and mild to moderate intellectual disability and poor immune system. Whether you are a mother or not, this book takes you through both joyful and hurtful experiences and also in raising a child with Down syndrome and also through trusting Him in the weakest moments of your life. I was inspired after reading Amy’s journey with Penny and after some months I forgot about it, until someone reminded me about it.
I heard a young lady sharing her testimony in my office. During her prenatal screening and other diagnostic testing, the doctors found out that her baby might be a victim to Down syndrome. The first half of the book I read came true in the life of someone who I know. How painful it would have been for her and her husband! Doctors wanted her to abort the fetus, but they didn’t agree. They just prayed and prayed and prayed. They waited upon the Lord. They both didn’t share this with anyone. I can’t imagine how a pregnant woman can undergo such a pain in her heart and at the same time focus on her health so it doesn’t affect the baby inside. Both faith and unbelief would have tossed her back and forth until the delivery. What a terrific situation to be in! But after the baby is born, to their surprise and to God’s glory, they saw her to be normal. Praise God! What a miraculous answer is the baby to them!!!! My eyes were filled with tears as she shared this testimony. How blessed we are to see our babies healthy and active and how grateful we should be to Him!
The message is, we may find no way out. But God helps our unbelief. He loves us when we are honest with Him. In Mark 9, when the father of a demon possessed boy cried to Him, “Lord, I took my son to your disciples. They could not drive the evil spirit out. I do believe that everything is possible for the one who believes. Please help my unbelief,” God rebuked the evil spirit and healed the boy. He answered the father’s prayer. When disciples asked why they could not drive the spirit out, He answered, “This can be driven only by prayer.”
What are you waiting for? What kills your belief and leaves you unattended? No matter what it is, you know the key. You know the secret behind unbelief and how to overcome it. Start praying and keep praying. God will help you overcome unbelief and you will start seeing streams in the desert land.
Praise be to the Lord. May God bless you!
Sweeter than Honey!
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Psalm 119:103
Good morning.
Last Sunday I sat next to an elderly woman in the Church. After the sermon started she waved her hand at me and said she would like me to mark the verses the preacher preached, in her Bible. Her Bible looked a bit old with stitches on its velvet cover. I took her Bible and pen to mark a verse as she told me. As soon as I finished marking, I returned it to her. Whenever the preacher mentioned a verse, she handed it back to me for help. To be honest, this was the first time I paid much attention to each and every single reference for all the Bible verses that were mentioned in the sermon. The reason why she needed my help was obvious. She has problem with her vision due to her age. But her thirst toward God’s Word and joy in His presence in spite of all the difficulties she faced surprised me. As I went through the pages of her Bible I could understand that she approaches the one sitting next to her every week for help, as I saw several types of marks made by people. She offered whatever she had with her (hey wait! I didn’t spy on her. It was an accident that I saw her while she offered.) and I guessed that she might have to walk while returning to her house.
I am sure God smiles when He thinks of her! What an awesome moment it would be for someone to have God smiling when He thinks of them!!!
Her seriousness toward His Word is something that cannot be compared with ours, who work in MNC’s, having multiple versions of Bible, in all possible sizes and designs, not only in our hand, but also in all the electronic devices we own, Textual, Audio, Video, what not, yet having no time to turn the pages to actually know what He speaks to us, thereby wasting so much of sacrifices the translators had made and hurting the Omnipotent God. A dusty Bible leads to dirty lives!
The author of Psalm 119 tells us that God’s Word is sweeter than honey to his mouth. Even today there are so many countries who shut their doors to God’s Word, yet, their people long to read. You and I have the most treasurable gift in our hands. Only when we realize that it is not a mortal book written by several authors, but a love letter from our loving Father, which has solutions to all the problems one can face in this cruel world, we would love to spend time reading and meditating it.
Diane Moody in her book, “Confessions of a prayer slacker”, shares with us that she visualizes that the Lord waits in her living room with a coffee pot and 2 mugs (one for Him and one for her) every morning. So she cannot sleep as soon as this scene comes to her mind. My sister-in-law always had an empty chair next to her whenever she studied so the Lord could mentor her. I have seen people counting numbers so they can fall into sleep, but my mother-in-law surprises me when she says she always recite the Bible verses if she doesn’t feel sleepy during her bed time.
Yes, there are so many people who adore God’s Word! Their soul is well! Now it is your turn. I am sure you too can new find ways just like them!
God bless you!
Traffic Lights
Brothers and sisters take note of this: everyone should be QUICK TO LISTEN, SLOW TO SPEAK and SLOW TO BECOME ANGRY. James 1-19
Listen, Speak and Anger are like the colours of the Traffic signal in terms of exhibiting the human nature of us in this world. If you follow the Traffic signals, than they ensure safe and accident free journey. Likewise the above natures or qualities if followed or avoided according to the word of God will help us to lead a life pleasing unto God and a peaceful co existence in this world.
1) Quick to listen: If you are in marketing this word Listen (Listening skill) is very frequently used while interacting with customers. When you listen to them may be it is a complaint or compliment then you show them that you “value” their views. It will help to close your sale or complaint handling very successfully. Likewise Apostle James emphasis on the aspect “Listening and doing”. In the spiritual world just listening and doing nothing about what you hear is deceiving yourselves. In verse 22 gives the Punch word “Do what it says.” He gives the example of a man looking himself in the mirror and as he goes away he forgets what he looks like. Therefore dear ones let us follow the word we hear in letter and spirit then you will be blessed in what you do. If you read John 13-17 the Lord teaches his disciples humility through washing of their feet. In 17th verse “Now that you have heard and seen these things you will be blessed if you do them.” The second most important commandment of Jesus is “love your neighbour as yourself.” Now do you act like a listener or doer? If you practise both then you are doing right.
2) Slow to speak: In Proverb 10-19 exactly defines why we should be slow to speak, when word is many, sin is not absent but he who holds his tongue is wise. Read James 1:26 says if any one does not keep tight rein on his tongue he deceives himself. Further we read the tongue is also a fire, it corrupts the whole person and set his life span on fire. Let us introspect ourselves that with the tongue we praise the Lord and father or curse men who are made in god’s likeness. Our speech if it is controlled by Satan it will be full of bitter, envy and unspiritual. But if it is ruled by God that it will be full of righteousness, love and grace. Read 2 Timothy2-16, Avoid godless chatters because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Make a decision today that with the help of the Holy Spirit you will rein in your tongue and use it as an instrument of praise and speak word of grace.
3) Slow to anger: James gives a fine explanation about anger, James 1:20 for anger do not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Just I would like to bring in a picture of Paul and Barnabas. If you read Acts 15:36 to 41 you will understand what I want to say. Read verse 39, they had such a strong disagreement that they have parted company. Here this disagreement was fuelled by anger. Even great apostle like Paul and Barnabas when temporarily influenced by anger, they parted company. 2Timothy 2-23, don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. That is to do things which God does not like. Therefore do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. Throw away your anger and reconcile so that the peace of God will fill your mind and soul and devil cannot enter your life.
May God bless you with good nature so that you can Arise and Shine.