Compassionate as Jesus

The breaking news in the southernmost part of India - a complaint came against 5 priests on physically abusing a woman who came for confession. Of course, there are certain denominations in Christianity where priests won’t marry, and sadly complaints like this come against them around the world. I was hearing the head of that church questioning the victim’s character and giving a list of people who had physical relationship with her. Soon a visual scene came into my mind on John 8:1-11, where the teachers of law and some Pharisees bringing a woman caught in adultery in front of Jesus.

A servant of God should be compassionate to these victims and motivate them to go ahead in life. But here is a man of God openly complaining against a victim who got abused by his colleagues. The primary character you should have when you are planning to serve God, is to have compassion. Since the Holy God had compassion on the sinful people, he sent his only son to die for the sins of the world (John 3:16).

With the money power the church is going to win the case by influencing even the victim.  In Mark 5: 21-43, we see Jesus showing his compassion on a synagogue leader’s daughter and a poor lady who had a sickness of bleeding. There is no difference between a rich and poor in the ministry or Church. A true man of God will have the same love and compassion to the needy rich and poor. 

In 2 Corinthians 8, we see how the Macedonian churches showed generosity. They compared themselves with Jesus, who even being rich became poor for our sake (2 Corinthians 8: 9).

For a man or woman who is in deep trouble, Lord shows compassion and his love (Lamentation 3:32). Same attitude should be there for a servant of God towards the people in need. It is the duty of the men of God to comfort and encourage the needy or a victim.

Let the men analyse themselves whether they came to do ministry or whether they were called by God to do the ministry. When we are called by God to do ministry, we will have the character of Jesus and fruits of the Spirit and will be careful in all our deeds. As King David sinned and confessed (Psalm 51), we will be bold enough to confess the mistake, because we know we are answerable to the God who created the Heavens and Earth and we are not sent to destroy the world, but to get the world for Jesus.

Praying God will cast out all the men who take the word for their selfish needs. Let the Spirit guide and lead the servants of God to be compassionate as Jesus and win the world for Christ.

Repairing the Wall – Nehemiah

Nehemiah was a cupbearer at the court of King Artaxerxes, a position of high honour. The news about Jerusalem made him very sad. This sadness could not be wholly hidden and the king detected it. The Jews were back home for almost a 100 years, but had made no attempt to build Jerusalem beyond the restoration of the Temple, because their enemies made it almost impossible. He was loyal enough to his people to leave the luxury of a king’s court and go back to rebuild Jerusalem, the capital of his homeland. The king gave consent. Of course, we find even today Jews everywhere long to see Jerusalem flourish, and they turn their faces there as their homeland.

When Nehemiah reached Jerusalem in 445 B C, Ezra had been there for 13 years. Ezra was a priest and had been teaching the people the word of God. But Nehemiah was a civil governor. He had come with the authority of the king of Persia to build the walls of Jerusalem. After he had been there only 3 days, he went up and viewed the walls at night. When he saw their dilapidated condition, he encouraged the people to begin building immediately. The work was accomplished in 52 days by assigning a portion of the wall to each family. Their attitude was expressed in the sentence. “The people worked with all their heart” (Nehemiah 4:6).

First the Samaritans, the enemies of the Jews, derided them. They hindered their work so that the Jews had to keep watch night and day. Their decision turned to anger and Nehemiah divided the men into 2 groups, one keeping watch while the other worked. Then opposition rose within the ranks. Some of the Jews became tired and complained that there was so much rubbish that the walls could not be built. All this rubble had to be removed in a thick canvas pad on the carrier’s back; there were of course, no wheelbarrows or, cars to convey the material. Then, the complaint arose that the rich were demanding usury that the poor were unable to pay. Again the enemies tried to craft to bring Nehemiah away from his building, but Nehemiah only prayed and again he foiled his enemy.

From Nehemiah 8 to 13, all the people gathered in the street before the water gate in the city of Jerusalem and requested Ezra the scribe to bring out the book of Law of Moses. He stood upon a pulpit of wood and read and explained the Law to the people (Nehemiah 8:1-13). This public reading brought true repentance to the people and a great revival broke out. Same way when you check the history of reformation, when Martin Luther read the Bible, the Protestant Reformation began. We need to have the Word read every day. 

Remember, Nehemiah left a life of ease and luxury and security for a life of toil and danger and heartbreaks. He was a reformer. He was also a man of prayer. We do not find a blot on his character. He was fearless and courageous. In Nehemiah 9, we find a prayer of him. Prayer is the most important privilege of a Christian. Let this servant of God inspire you to pray and have a real character like him and be courageous to take God’s love to the world.

Rebuilding the Temple – Ezra

As the book opens (Ezra 1:1-6), we find Cyrus, king of Persia, making a proclamation throughout his kingdom permitting the Jews who were captives in his kingdom to return to Jerusalem. 200 years before, God had prophesied that he would do this.

At Cyrus’s first call in 537 B C (Ezra 1:1-4), no more than 50000 Jews availed themselves of the opportunity of returning to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel. Cyrus gave back to Zerubbabel the golden vessels Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 1:5-11). They started back over 700 miles of barren desert from Babylon to Jerusalem. Everything was taken care by God who is in charge. Not only money for rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem, but also travelling expenses and all other needs were provided by God at Cyrus’s direction (Ezra 1:4,6).

The names of those who returned are given in chapter 2. They laid the foundation of the Temple. It is interesting to notice that before they built homes for themselves they first thought of a house for The Lord. They did not build the Temple first, but the alter (Ezra 3:2). Read about the hindrances to all the work (Ezra 4:1-22). The opposition disheartened them. Haggai and Zechariah, the prophets, encouraged the people from within the ranks (Ezra 4:23 – 5:17), and within 4 years the Temple was completed and dedicated (Ezra 6).

Ezra appears in the 7th chapter. 60 years after the Jews had first returned to Jerusalem, he led a second expedition from Babylon to reinforce the struggling colonists in Judah. We can find in Ezra 7:25, how impressed the king was with Ezra’s love of God’s word. Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel (Ezra 7:10). Under Ezra we see a great revival.

Ezra and Nehemiah tell the history of the return of God’s chosen people after the exile. They give the record of one of the most important events in Jewish history – the return from exile in Babylon. The purpose of God may sometimes seem delayed, but they are never abandoned. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell us how God remembered and how He brought back his people from exile. If you trust in God and live accordingly, the blessings and promises God provides to you may delayed. It may be because of your disobedience or even God’s plan. But when you call upon Him and plead your submission, He will hear and answer all your desires according to His riches and glory in Jesus Christ.

In Ezra, we see the first thing what they did was to build an alter to offer sacrifices for their sins. The place where sin must be dealt with must come first in every life. The heart must be right if God is to bless. The alter was the center of the Jewish people, the Cross the center of the Christian faith. If you are urging for a miracle in life, first thing is to repent your sins before God and accept the salvation.

May the Spirit of Lord guide you in repentance and salvation, to grow in Christ and live a holy life.

Comfort in Resurrection

There are fairy tale messages about faith in God and salvation. Those messages tell us that when we are saved in Jesus Christ, all our problems will be gone and rest of our life will be like heaven. The word of God tells us, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mathew 16:24).

When we are in this world, we have to face troubles, temptations and tribulations. Certain problems come to our lives which are pre-planned by God Himself. In the word we see the life of Job, the suffering he went through, which was allowed by God. When we face these situations, God will sent His Spirit to comfort us and guide us to take the next step in life.

In the book of Ezekiel, we can see Israel’s sin in the first 16 chapters. It explains how the children of God will be taken to captivity. But Ezekiel 17 motivates the people that God is promising them that they will grow. Here it speaks about a plant which God himself plants. The book tells that the plant will produce branches and bear fruits. No matter how bad things are, God is always at work. Ezekiel is motivating the people, no need of having partnership with Egypt to go against Babylon. He tells them to be faithful to God and God is going to defeat the enemies by himself. You can’t fight your battle with the materialism, but by obeying God, God will fight your battle.

To have God with you and to fight your battles, you need to be righteous before God. It is easy to show before the world that you are faithful, but it should be shown before God, who knows your heart. Mathew 7:21 says, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven”. Jesus, the Messiah is the leader of the way to eternal life. Salvation is for the repentant, not for the arrogant. To walk along with God, we need to read the word, delight in it, mediate upon it and live according to it (Psalm 1).

There are certain mysteries which happen when you truly accept Christ as your saviour. The good seed of the gospel sown in the world and sown in the heart produce wonderful effects. The mystery is that we do not know how the spirit of God, by the word makes a change in the heart. The word of God, when received in faith is in the heart a work of grace. The prophets do not live forever, but the word which they preached, is doing its work. God carries on his work insensibly and without noise, but without fail.

The amazing example is the mission and evangelism which is happening around the world. Recently I saw a video where some group of people stopping a man of God and taking the pamphlets from him and tearing it down. What amazes in these incidents are, the men of God are not having a sword, or a gun or any knife. They go with the word of God and these groups are afraid of this word. This itself is the proof that the word of God is so strong. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). These are the incidents which God show us to increase our faith in Him.

The parable of the growing seed in Mark 4: 26-34, shows us how the Spirit works in us and also how the Spirit work to bring people to salvation. A man scatters seeds on the ground. Whether he sleeps or not, he don’t know how the seed sprouts and grows. Spiritual growth is slow as a plant. Don’t expect a new convert to have fruits of the Spirit altogether. Sower is the one who knows about the love of Christ. But behind the scene God is working to bring the people to him, which we don’t know.

Here in the world, sowing spiritual seeds leads to troubles and persecutions. Apostle Paul finds his comfort in the fact of the resurrection that Christ promised. In 2 Corinthians 5: 1-17, he tells our suffering bodies will soon be exchanged for painless glorified bodies. The difference between a grain of mustard seed and a great tree, is nothing to that between a young convert on earth and a glorified saint in heaven (John 12:24).

If you are a person who has no idea about salvation and Jesus Christ, you cannot please The Holy God who created Heaven and Earth because of your sin. Only remission from sin is shedding of innocent sinless blood. So for helping and saving the world, God came down in human form, took all our sins and died, shed the blood and gave salvation. Now, the salvation is free, but free to all who accepts this Jesus as their personal saviour. You need to have the faith in Jesus to accept him. When you accept Christ, leave worrying about the future, because as I mentioned above, you will experience a mystery which the Spirit of God does in your life. I pray that you who are reading this will experience the presence of the Spirit of God and will be guided towards the love of Christ, to live a faithful, holy life.

Glory to Deportation – 2 Chronicles

The second book of Chronicles includes Solomon’s 40 year reign, building the Temple and his glory, and then Judah’s history of the exile, focusing on the second kingdom, and division of the kingdom, the 20 kings of Judah and their deportation to Babylon.

In this book the first 9 chapters shows us about Solomon and the Temple. From chapter 10 to 36 we see the kings of Judah and in Chapter 36, the last days of Judah.

Some revivals are seen under the kings and they are

·         Asa (2 Chronicles 15)

·         Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20)

·         Joash (2 Chronicles 23, 24)

·         Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29 – 31)

·         Josiah (2 Chronicles 35).

There is a constant theme that appears throughout this book. When individuals made seeking and pleasing God a top priority in their lives, they received blessings in this life, as well as promises of a glorious future. The opposite is also true. Those who rejected God and his commandments brought adversity, hardship and suffering on themselves in the long run and earned the penalty of death.

If you are new to the word of God and if you think God is a gracious God who forgives every one, you need to read this book more times. The chosen ones, Israel were punished because of their disobedience. We can learn from this book some good qualities some kings of Judah were praised for.

·         Put God first

·         Do God’s will in your life

·         Give God’s will the precedence above your own

·         Avoid pride and arrogance

God forgives everyone who comes to him and asks for it. He is not a God who forgives everyone who in living in sin. Only the ones who confess the sin is forgiven and saved.

May you continue to seek God and his will by reading His word and be blessed in life.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)

Perplexed but Not in Despair

When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them two options – obey or disobey God. They fell into the temptations of Satan and failed the test. Through them sin entered the world. Satan still influences people to disobey God. Because of sin, even though they were separated from God, in mercy, God promised One who would redeem everyone from sin (Genesis 3:15). The offspring of the woman (the virgin born Jesus) would come to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).

If the Lord keeps record of the sins of any one, nobody will be able to stand before him (Psalm 130). So God gave another option to escape from sin - Accept Christ and get saved. When we accept Christ, there is forgiveness for our sins as he carried all our sins on the cross and took punishment for our sake (1 Peter 2:24).

Christ redeems all our sins when we accept him as our personal saviour. The moment you receive him as your saviour, the Spirit of God will guide you in living a life pleasing to God. In Bible there is only one sin which is mentioned, will not be forgiven – it is against this Holy Spirit. We see in Mark 3:20 -35, Jesus telling the lawyers who ever blasphemes against Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. Same is written about the Holy Spirit in all the four Gospels.

Christ nowhere promises that a Christian will be free from suffering or sorrow. Rather do we hear “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). Christ allows us to get into trouble that he may deliver us. He allowed Daniel to be put into the den of lions that he might pull him out. He allowed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to go into the fiery furnace that he might deliver them. He allowed Paul to be shipwrecked that he might save him. Our God is able to deliver.

We see Apostle Paul telling about his tribulations in 2 Corinthians 4. When he was converted, the Lord said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” – Acts 9:16. Paul was optimistic because he knew that affliction’s here would increase glory beyond (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). He could sing as he suffered for he knew the wonderful grace of God. He was always conscious of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew that greater the suffering in this present world, the greater the glory of eternity (2 Corinthians 4: 8-18). He lived with his eye on the future.

Apostle Paul finds his comfort through all his troubles in the fact of the resurrection that Christ promised. He lived under the inspiration of the fact that one day he was to have a changed, glorified body. Our suffering bodies will soon be exchanged for painless glorified bodies. Whether we live or die, we must keep this reward in view (2 Corinthians 5:10). As persecution is increasing in this world against the believers, life of Apostle Paul should motivate everyone to carry the cross and live a faithful life.

May God strengthen you to go ahead in life and live for Jesus and glorify him in the midst of trials and tribulations, so that one day when you leave this world, you will be welcomed gloriously in Heaven.

Genealogy – 1 Chronicles

God used history of Israel to reveal truths about himself and his relationship to men. If Kings, composed after the final collapse of the kingdom, concentrates on how sin leads to defeat (2 Kings 17: 15, 18), then Chronicles recounts how “faith is the victory” (2 Chronicles 20:20, 22).

In the book of Chronicles, the Lord takes center stage and leaves no doubt as to who is in charge. The prominence of God may be seen in several incidents. We read how God put Saul to death and gave the kingdom to David (1 Chronicles 10:14).

The first 9 chapters in 1 Chronicles are a genealogy from Adam to Jacob, Jacob to David, and David to Zedekiah. The writer of the Chronicles, who is concerned with the nation and the monarchy, starts with Adam. The Spirit of God is pointing out, in effect, that all mankind benefits, not just the Jews. The last 20 chapters of chronicle is David’s reign in Jerusalem.

One motivational verse of this book is found in 1 Chronicles 4: 9, 10. “Jabez was more honourable then his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez saying, I gave birth to him in pain. Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory; let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain. And God granted his request”. There are people who are being forsaken by their parents or dear ones. This verse proves us that when you depend on God and ask him to be your blessing, he will grant your request. “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me” – Psalm 27:10.

Through 1 Chronicles we get the history of the Jewish nation. Through this nation our Lord came to the earth. God chose this people for the fulfilment of his great promises and purposes. He is still their God (Romans 11:1) and he has his purposes yet to be fulfilled in them. This nation is still important to God and Christ’s second coming is based on the prophecies fulfilled through Israel.

This is the best time for the believers to build their faith in Christ by referring the word and analyse things happening around the world (Ezekiel). May the Spirit of God guide you in his word to know more about him and the end times to live a faithful, holy life.