How long have you been born again? Its a question to ask to self. Well, everyone on this earth has maximum of 24 hours a day. Whether we use it or not, whether we realise it or not, not less nor more..inspite of all our differences interms of individual and our ways of living or attitude towards God and livelihood, we have been gifted with this time period. Nomatter how rich u r or how good you earn or nomatter how poor and hopeless you feel, we are still blessed with something which is universal to all. No one can make it move faster or slower, or can snatch it unless we allow. Isnt it amazing to receive such a gift without any differentiation. Are we acknowledging it? How much time we give to God and can boldly say, I am available for you? Is it 5 mts. quite time or 1 hour time of bible study? Or the Sunday worship morning? Is it not a lie if we say we Love our God and spend no or very little time with Him? I feel God wants to speak to us and He is always speaking but either we are not listening or we are not making ourself available to hear Him speaking. The reason can only be our lack of true inclination towards the actual treasure. Bible says, where your treasure is there your heart will be. So whom or wat we are considering our Treasure? An introspection is needed soon before we are deceived and confirm ourself saying we are the children of God and we deserve the kindom of God. Hey, Christ is comming... and at the very next moment He might reach too. Are we prepared to receive Him? Stir up you heart and see.... are you confident to be His holy compatible bride? Hmm...
Let me share a verse from the living book, as it speaks to me, i believe it ll bless you too.
"Seek and you will find.." Mathew 7:7. We often hear that and we assume, we should seek for the kingdom of God..and we conclude our meditation here. Am I right? But today, as God spoke to me through this verse, He made me to understand the literal meaning of Seeking and finding. Seek as the word defines as putting an effort to find out something. When do we normally do this act of seeking? I believe when we need it so much and are desperate to find it. Lets take an example of a job less man. He runs here and there and put his best effort looking for the best job. Here we are seeking job because we know, of its importance, value and need. But are we seeking with that intensity for the Lord, letting Him to speak and listening to Him? Well, we ll find it if we seek for it. No other conditions have been put forward. God assures that if you ll seek, then you ll find. Not like the gambling or a market where things are not too sure whether it is in your favour or not. No uncertainties except for 100% guarantee. Now the question is wat should we seek for? Human wisdom can not govern but here it says in Bible," ...small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, only a few find it." Mathew 7:14, so why dont we seek for it so that we may find it? The gate and the narrow road! Again, as God leads and encourage us, for He has said, He has not left us as orphans, so He being our guide..Bible says," I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture." John 10:9. And act of comming in and going out is being convicted to me as the Holy spirit taught me saying, come in to Him, through him and go out as He leads me and I ll find the pasture which ll keep my growth and makes me alive. I am truely blessed by these verses and I really pray that as we thrist n hunger for Him, we must take an effort to come and sit in His presence, which can happen only by choice though it may appear to us sometimes as by chance. God is merciful and He loves us so much. He is at work and in control of everything within and around us. Lets get ourselves tuned to Him 24X7 a week. Amen!
God speaks..r u tuned to it?
Never ceasing utterances
The song of yours which swells my heart.
The love in it which stirs my heart.
You‘ve defined love
In us you made it rest
Not by words as you loved us first
Beyond our comprehension
Was your demonstration
How true and how sincere
Was your registration
You were rich yet accepted to become poor.
Were king of heaven, not merely the earth.
With splendor and majesty
Yet chose to be a slave
Made yourself a sinner without a speck of spot
And this is how you freed us
From this yoke of sin and this evil law
You bored the curse and could make it a blessing
For you are able and your love was so true
I hear no complaints when you suffered in flesh
For your heart was pure and your love was so true.
You remember no sin, for you account no mistakes
But out of love you forgive and forget
Again you go out in search for the lost
Love of yours who redeemed us
With open arm you reconciled us back to our father
In your grace today I stand firm
By your holiness we are holy
You said the secret as you loved us much
Given us the insight as you declared
I am the Truth, the Way and the Life.
The revelation which set us free
So generously you lavished wisdom
On us who lacks as we confess
Yet we dared to doubt as we are fool
So now as I kneel before you and bow down
As I humble myself and write down
I’m yours and only yours
It’s no longer I but its Christ who lives in me
It’s I in Him and it’s Christ in me.
Having nothing but possessing everything
I love the way I am for He made me the way I am
I argue no more for when I’m weak I ‘m strong
In me His glory shines
Brighter day after day taking me from strength to strength
My love grows for him as I know Him more and more
My pace as I walk closer with Him
He makes me rejoice
My joy is complete in Him
How amazing, it is to have someone like Him
Who in us can feel the same
Who lifts us up when we are hardest hit.
Who brings a smile when we sigh in our agony
Who remembers us even when our mother fails
Who is able when we can’t acknowledge a way
We can always assure for he will never let us slip for he never slumbers
In Him I rejoice and In Him I boast
No wonder, I love Him for He loved me first
He is loving and He still loves
I‘ll fear no evil as I count on Him
Who is my refuge and fortress
My shield and the solid rock
As I write this and speak up my need
He again fills my heart and makes me complete
I can say just three things
Thank you; thank you and thank you
For being there for me always when I call to you in my distress.
Feasting on God’s Word
The Holy Bible says, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. (John 6:63)”
When we see a huge ship struggling in the tempest, no matter what we try but releasing an anchor can only be a hope to stabilize the whole body. Taking another instance, the small part of ship i.e. a rudder can define the direction of the huge ship. It seems insignificant when we compare the size of the ship and the size of the rudder or that of the anchor and start judging its importance of functionality by the sight. This is how we can relate it to our Body which is visible and mortal to the Spirit which is invisible and immortal. Here the fact is, problems in the body can be treated by cheering our Spirit. By knowing the Spirit of truth, He can set us free from every bondage.
I firmly believe that no one can say I have finished up meditating the word of God though he might say I have finished up reading the Gospel several times. It’s a living Word and every time you read it and meditate, God will give a newer and a deeper revelation. As per the Bible, God expects us to live by what we have received or what God has revealed to us. It says “…if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. (Phil 3:15-16).” Therefore we cannot really say the grade of spiritual maturity but we can just pursue on for the deeper relationship with God. Bible says, “ …Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:13-14)”
Personally, I can just say, our body is a slave to our soul. As our soul sets the plan, body carry on the task. Body can’t perform anything without the consent of our soul. But one thing we can see here is, decision of our soul can always be influenced by three factors, i.e. Emotions, Intellect and Will. People who are very emotional and sensitive to environment often respond to the situation or Man in haste and with great sentiments. Whatever they do, even if it’s their own decision, they often regret and remorse when they look back and thus the feeling of guilt crops up which is not from God. Intellect is the ability to think and to act smart. Our Will is the Free Choice that differentiates us from the Machines or Robots. Lastly The Spirit, which is the supreme among Body and Soul. In Spirit we can meet with God and commune with God. Bible says, “God created Man in His own image. (Gen 1:27).” And then He talks about the Spirit. “ It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I ll send him to you. When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. ( John 16:7-8)” . It’s clear to us that we have been given everything which can give us the real joy, peace and satisfaction for our existence on earth but we never acknowledge the free gift that God has bestowed when we accept Christ. We often fall in Satan’s deception and are being deceived. We feel our body or our Soul is the supreme power and thus we try to feed them, fulfilling all their demands and desires. This is how we suppress the authority of our Spirit and we fall in temptations and get ourselves bonded with the sinful nature.
I praise to God, for out of love He again gave as a provision or shown us a way to be united back to our Father in Heaven. To bring our Body and soul under the subjection of Spirit. God has said, feast on the Word of God. He says,” Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Math 4:4)”. He again says, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. (Isaiah 55:2).”
“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. (Joh 6:27). For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, (Joh 6:33). For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. (John 6:56). I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. (Joh 6:35)” He again encourages us by saying “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they’ll be filled. (Math 5:6).” I thank God for He is so gracious and merciful.
He knows us and He feels exactly what we experience. In our sorrowful moments He has even wept with us.( John 11:35). No one can be as caring and as loving as He is. We need not have a qualification of graduation or a reference of a third party to reach Him. Only thing we require is to make a forward step with what we are and present our heart wholly to Him. “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1Sam 16:7)”
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, freed ourselves from the law and come under the Grace but still at times, we feel tempted, discouraged, depressed, angry, jealous, hatred, envy and whole lot of negative emotions. We question God, why God? Why still? I would say, it comes because God wants to make us as holy as He is and into His likeliness, thus when facing situations He makes His grace sufficient as well. “…My power is made perfect in weakness. (2Corin 12:9).” Breaking our self centeredness and building our Character, He wants us to manifest all the nine fruits of Spirit ( Gal 5:22), which we can gain through the period of furnace, the time when silver reflects n purity of gold comes.
In Isaiah, He says, “to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and break every yoke...( Isa 58:6)” A sincere and a true fasting, deliberate abstinence from food and feasting in the God’s word can do that. He even bless us with the wonderful promises of breaking forth our light like the dawn, bringing speedy healing, giving His glory, being available when we cry for help and guiding us always. It’s too wonderful as God says “..he will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You ll be like a well- watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you ll be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. ( Isa 58:11-12)”. I believe fasting is the real time when we ll find our joy in the Lord and He can make us ride on the heights of the land and feast on the inheritance as God promised. ( Isa 58:14). He says, “ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ( 2Cor 3:17)”.
Therefore I would really encourage you to show an effort to subject your flesh to your Spirit and be led by the Spirit knowing the mysteries of God. *Conditions apply; Make Fasting your decision today and Feasting God’s word, your regular chores. It’s amazing to be in the presence of God!
Beautiful you and beautiful me:-
Have you ever stopped yourself and stood amazed watching the nature around?
I know and I can truly understand the busy life- your preoccupied job, your troubled mind and your high aim. Being in a competitive world, you might fear of lacking behind if you don’t hold on to the fast pace of world. But let me say, stop here for a while and try to question yourself, “Am I beautiful?”.
What change would you like to make if you’ll get an opportunity to make it over with yourself?
And now imagine a beautiful painting or a wonderful building. Will you not praise the artist of the painting or the architect of the house? It is something we believe that without those highly skilled personnel, it wouldn’t have been possible to bring forth the beauty. There must be a creator when we see a creation! So as when we see the stars and the moon. Here the difference is our mind cannot comprehend and imagine the maker of those thus we assume that it already exists and nobody tries to find out of who made it? In bible it has clearly stated, “ In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth” ( Genesis 1:1) and it says “ For by him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” (Col 1:16). It clearly indicates that, nothing is by accident or by mistake. The creator knows what exactly he has made. And thus seeing the varieties and differences, we can feel the care and skills involved in making of it. How diligently and how beautifully he has depicted His art in and around us. What if we being human being can only find difference from being an animal? We have two eyes, two hands, two legs, a body and a head and so on. This is what every human being has. Now, one can say the ethnic factor, the complexion and statures are some of the distinguishing qualities to acknowledge the difference. Okay. Let’s take an example of two twins, coming closet to the possibility of similarities. But still we can see difference. Why?
The uniqueness in us is made for a purpose. When we accept this fact, we ll find no error in what we are and who we are, instead we could love and appreciate the Maker.
So now on our role is to get the revelation of the purpose which is hidden and which is a mystery. Once you get to the point, why God created you like this and what is the reason for your existence, then, I am sure, life would be different. You ll love yourself and you ll love your work as well when you get to know the true identity of yourself.
Bible the holy book, it says, “… No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1Corth 2:9).
Don’t get scared thinking of its uncertainty because he has also assured us saying, “ For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the lord, “ plan to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jerm 29:11).
Now the question comes how can we solve this mystery?
Simple to answer this as you meditate the word of God. It says, “ but God has revealed it to us by his spirit.” (1Corin 2:10). Praise to God for that. Thanks to Him who made you and me beautiful in his sight. Lastly I would say, “Life is beautiful to love and serve Him.”
A Tibetan gal's true love
My father, what a wonderful Abba you are!
I love you more than anything else in the world. I, with my external eyes I might not have seen you but true to my heart, deep within myself I have felt you. How glorious are you! Its not my mind and heart, who can comprehend, how gentle your presence is. I want to love you even more to the maximum I can saturate myself with. I wish, I can glide with you as the mother eagle enjoys with her kids, soaring on the wind. I wish, I could spend my whole life sitting at your feet, offering you everything which delights you, gazing and fixing my eyes on you and being patient and keen to hear from you. I would do whatever pleases you and hate watever hurts you. I confess, for I am nothing and I am so weak. Things are beyond my undestanding and out of the grip of my wisdom. But still I am happy for I have hope. My hope is in you. You have loved me and lavished upon me your Grace, made me free from the bondages and every yoke. You have accepted for what I am. You never put conditions. How amazing is your love! Your love I could experience, when I look at the cross. For me, who is mortal and unworthy, yet you have given me your only child to suffer for me. How much pain you must have borne seeing your son being totured and humiliated. Finally peircing the flesh and bone, shedded the blood. The blood which is Holy and innocent. How hard, it would have been when you hid yourself from your son. The eyes must have filled with tears of blood and heart must have stiffened and stopped beating. Oh father, how difficult it must have been to restore us. You looked at your son, Jesus and you looked at us, and then with the heart of sacrifice, you took the step to draw us closer even when we chose to go astray and deserve to suffer. My life is yours. It has begun in you and it will end in you. I offer myself to you wholly. Now the only desire I could hold and the only wish I could make is " I want Jesus, nothing else and nothing less." Amen!
The truth of my life
PRAISE TO GOD, OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST!
Testimonies, how to begin narrating and where to end?
Words cannot express. Each moment of my life is a living testimony, testifying the presence of our true and living god. I was an unblessed soul till the time I received JESUS as my personal savior. I was lost in my own small world, my routines, my ambitions, my logics and striving hard to please all. I looked and hoped for something and I achieved that but I never had inner peace. We are never satisfied, always setting new targets as we meet the former ones. We tend to go into depression in this fast paced life and sometimes even to the extent of taking our own life.
Let me introduce myself to you. I am Tenzin, and I am from a Buddhist background. Once upon a time I was worshipping idols but now no more. Since my childhood, I have been trained to follow some rituals. In Buddhism, we have different gods and goddesses for different aspects of life. For instance, I have experienced the following: for success one goddess, for wisdom-another, for problem free living and healing-another; the list is endless. I was never satisfied. I was always wondering whether I was following the truth. Is it just for our benefit one should pray and ask for forgiveness? Then as I grew older, I became more familiar with the key words of developing COMPASSION and being TRUTHFUL. I tried keeping OTHERS BEFORE MYSELF, which is the essence of Buddhism. But in the passage of time, I came across a lot of highly respectable people, who had high positions and degrees in Buddhism; who have attained their masters in literature and philosophy of Buddhist preaching yet they never had peace. They themselves were lost, consumed by temptations for the earthly things, with negative emotion, selfishness and short tempers. I again started questioning why I was having these doubts and uncertainty. Is it a blind faith or an inheritance? Is my worship merely with no sincerity and truth in it? After class 12, as I was exposed to various religions, I found that everybody loved their own religion with one or the other reasoning and nobody can actually tolerate somebody questioning their religion. People perceive it as criticism. They never try to venture out and investigate more. Hmm.. I was never convinced with the answers I received, “Why do you follow this god?” But finally I met with a godly woman Named “Jancy Johnson” who proclaimed the gospel not by words but by her deeds. I finally became interested in learning the Word of God, true Christianity. And as I went deeper into HIS words, I felt an inner joy and peace that cannot be explained. I felt as though this was what I was hunting for since my childhood, the eternal peace and true happiness offered freely by God’s grace. Each word of God gives revelation and a purpose for living. Although I have not finished reading the gospel yet, every verse depicts the truth and simply meditating gives a lot of reasoning and pleasure. We need not complete reading the Bible all at once, but the only thing that matters, is how you meditate on the Word as you read. It’s the beauty of the Holy book. It has given me a hope and sense of security that God is always there to take care of everything. Even in our afflictions, at times, when I become nervous, scared, lost and tempted, the word of the Lord has always saved and reassured me, soothing me with a kind gesture. It’s an amazing feeling! My life has totally changed. I feel, now I have everything and I am complete. I have become bolder and in the presence of God I have the faith that nothing is impossible for me to do. I am assigned with a specific role and purpose each new day. I can hear the call. In this day today life, I could hardly find people following ethics and true norms. Everywhere I see corruption and misleading, but by the grace of God, I can stand up with the promise of being truthful all the times, no matter what the circumstances are. All glory to God!
It is his mercy and faithfulness that I can stand firm and secure. I praise God and seek greater revelation from HIM. Thank God, thank you JESUS.
I wish and pray that all non believers, people from different religions could feel the same joy and fullness which I have experienced. May the Lord God, bless me with his continuous grace to be his instrument glorifying and honoring HIS name till my last breath. God bless you!!