Humbled New Year

 

Wishing everyone a blessed New Year

One more year got past and the last 2 years, will be remembered by this generation in a negative way. Corona virus did much destruction to the world in these years. It affected people, economy and all paths of life. Entire world is trying to stop the virus, but not able to do so.

At this point of time it is necessary to remember the Creator of this world. The Almighty, who created the heavens and earth from nothing, is still there in His majesty. In Psalm 8, the Psalmist details about Him further – “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you have set in their courses, what is man that you should be mindful of him? The son of man that you should seek him out?”

God created man to be His friend. But man came down under the trick of evil. Satan made man to sin and because of this sin, his relationship with God was affected. When a person does something against us, it will be difficult for us to forget and forgive. But The Lord, who is Holy, gave man an opportunity to come out of his sins.

For everything to work perfectly there need a law or a set of instructions. If you are an IT programmer, there is a pattern for coding which should be kept to write a clean code. Same way a soccer player should play according to the rules to have a great match. If you are a citizen of a country, you should live and abide the constitution of that country. If you are not obeying the law, you are be punished.

Same way when man sin, God’s punishment for man was death. Since God loved man, He told man to give sacrifice of blood offering to temporarily clean the sin. At the same time He gave a hope for mankind that one day a sacrifice will be offered to permanently redeem man from sin.

For that reason God came to the world as a human and lived a holy life. Jesus went through all the temptations and trials everyone is facing, but he kept himself holy in the sight of God’s law. Finally He was put to death and thus became a once-for-all perfect sacrifice for sin. His blood cleanses all the sins of the world.

The Almighty God came to this evil world, lived a humble life and died for the sins which He did not do (Hebrews 10). Even his birth was so humble that he was born in a manger in Bethlehem. He studied the word, fasted according to the law and mingled with others. He was friend to sinners. He showed himself to the sinners so that they can see his life and change, a pure example of personal evangelism.

After Jesus ascended to heaven, His disciples were anointed with the Spirit of God to take His word to the world. They preached about Jesus and as today, they were persecuted. They never fought back. They humbled themselves ran away and went to other places and still preached about Jesus. Now the world knows Jesus, but it doesn’t know who this Jesus is?

While the world runs after many gods for salvation and peace, it doesn’t know the true God came to this world in search of man to give him salvation and peace. While the world fights among them to keep their gods safe, it doesn’t know the true God came to the world as Jesus Christ and died for mankind to save man from sin. While the world does lots of physical activities to please their god, it don’t know only way to please God is to accept the salvation Jesus gave. While the world persecutes the followers of Jesus, it doesn’t know the followers of Christ are preaching for the world to get saved.

Our sacrifice Jesus Christ humbled Himself to die for our sins (Philippians 2: 6-8), so that we can have our relationship with Almighty God in holiness. As a believer of Jesus God expects us to live in love and walk humbly with God (Micah 6: 8). God wants our mind to be like that of Jesus (Philippians 2: 5).

To be humbled, you need to become a child of God. To be into God’s family, your sins need to be washed away. Nothing but the blood of Jesus can wash your sins away. For that you need to repent your sins before God and accept the salvation Christ gives you (1 John 1: 9). There is nowhere you need to go for doing this. Just be wherever you are, and do it with your mind and heart. You are saved.

Once you are in Jesus, it is your duty to be like Jesus. You have repented your sins, so flee from sins now onwards. You are here to love and have peace. Be humble as Jesus.

Will you face problems after you are into God’s family? Of course yes. Sometimes it will be doubled. But the way you react to the problems will be different from how you used to. You will have to face persecution also. Just remember this; never ever lose faith and hope. Everything that will be happening to your life will be according to God’s plan (Proverbs 19: 21).

What good can come from trouble? First Christians were preaching Jesus in Jerusalem. There they were persecuted. Stephen became the first martyr for Christ. After that a great persecution occurred there. Believers of Jesus got scattered around. Because they got scattered around the world, Jesus was preached wherever they went. So when ever persecution happens to church, it sets on the course to take
gospel to every man and woman in the world. Good came from trouble (Acts 6, 7).

In this New Year we might have to face lots of challenges. Corona virus is not eliminated and world economy is down. But the greatest gift a person can have this year will be salvation. “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered” – Psalm 32: 1.  You can use this year to be a blessed year in your life by accepting Jesus and living with God. In your struggles, you will see peace in your heart and you will know God is beside you and He is taking you to something blessed.

May you have a humble heart that of Jesus and let the Spirit of God guides you to be strong this year as you read and meditate His word. Have a Blessed Year.

Never Lose Hope

 

It is a challenge to live a Christ cantered life in this world. People around you will throw stones at you for not leading worldly life. Worldly lives mean the one who knows Christ and live according to his carnal satisfaction. They will insult you and try to put you down in all ways. In Mathew 5: 11, Jesus teaches “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Christ is encouraging you not to be depressed because of the evil people do against you. In verse 12 he says, “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you”. Yes, your reward will be great in heaven.

The people who are against the saints or the ones who live Christ centred life, are the ones who have never experienced Christ in life. They may know Jesus, but have never given their heart to Christ. So when you walk in Christ, others might not like your ways, but be confident that you are a child of God. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him” 1 John 3: 1

Worldly people look at you to find out a loss or failure in your life. They will embarrass you and insult you taking the name of Jesus. But be confident and have hope and faith. In the book of Revelation, John saw people wearing white robe and were holding palm branches in their hands and were crying out loud – “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb”. They were the one who had to go through all the tribulations in the earth. Revelation 7: 9-17. Just imagine yourself among them. Build faith accordingly and stand firm in the midst of loss and failures, when the evil point fingers at you. Never leave the faith and hope in Christ Jesus

In the life of David we see when he had to face the toughest time, he wrote in Psalm 34, “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice”

Let the Spirit of God encourage you, motivate you and provide you the faith and hope to have the same heart as that of king David and see yourself being with the Angels and Elders praising God in eternity.

Inheritance

When everyone talks about the birth of Jesus, they give importance to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Yes, she was blessed and because of her walk with God, He chosed her to be the mother of Jesus. When you look into the word of God, people who follow God and live accordingly get visions and prophetic blessings from God. You can see in the New Testament the number of times Joseph, the man who was about to marry Mary, got vision and had communication with Angel of God. So how blessed it was when God chosed a family where both the Man and woman was having close walk with Him. No wonder he chosed Jesus to be born in that family. Be a man or woman of faith and walk with God, and you will see your children being blessed and walk along with you towards the Holy God (Mathew 2)

It is not easy to walk with God. The first opposition you may encounter will be from your own family members. Ask any great man of God and they will tell you how they had to overcome their family to do God’s ministry. Same way when you look into the life of Jesus, He was questioned by his mother when she saw Him having a discussion with the leaders of Jerusalem temple (Luke 2)

The one thing every believer in Christ forgets is about their spiritual blessings. The people in Christ either live a poor life or they go behind the riches. When you accept Christ as your personal Saviour, it is not you who are stepping inside the Kingdom of God, but it is God who guided you to fulfill his calling in you, even when you were in the womb. Through Jesus you are being adopted into the Kingdom and are a child of God. (Ephesians 1)

You cannot know or understand more about God without the wisdom he gives. Once you start walking with God and lead a Holy life, God has promised in Ephesians 1 that you are going to inherit a great power, the same power that was exerted when God raised Christ from dead

A blessed person who is in God will leave worldly things for just being a part of God’s presence. God will protect them and does not allow evil to come upon them (Psalms 84)

When you are called and chosen, you are being treated as his own children as He treated Israel. God prophesied about Israel that He will bring them back to their land, even though He scattered them around because of their sin. God promised that He will bless them and increase them. As the New Israel, the one who are in Christ, when you leave your sinful life and call upon the Lord and walk Holy with Him, God will protect you, provide you with wisdom and power to do signs and wonders to bring Heaven on Earth (Jeremiah 31).

May the Lord guide you and help you to be Holy and know His heart’s desires to inherit all promised blessings and be a model to the world as a testimony.

A Book for All – Psalms

The book of Psalms is the book for all who are in need, the sick and suffering, the poor and needy, the prisoner and exile, the person in danger, the persecuted. It is a book for the sinner, telling him or her of God’s great mercy and forgiveness. It is a book for the child of God, leading him or her into new experiences with the Lord. It tells of God’s law in its perfection and pronounces blessings upon the one who will keep it. It is the best loved book in the Old Testament.

Every Psalm is a direct expression of the soul’s consciousness of God. The Psalms are full of Christ. They describe the whole program of His suffering and death. Many quotations from this book are found in the New Testament. At least twenty of these directly refer to Christ and His life and death.

Psalms 1 to 41 tells about man, how man is blessed and his road to success (Psalm 1), Mans fall from high position and at enmity with God (Psalm 2) and Mans restoration by his blessed Redeemer, the Man Christ Jesus (Psalms 16 – 41).

Psalms 42 to 72 talks about Israel, Her ruin (Psalms 42 – 49), Her Redeemer (Psalms 50 – 60) and Her Redemption (Psalms 61 – 72).  Several Psalms speak of penitence, but the chief is Psalm 51. It is a Psalm of David. It you turn to 2 Samuel 11 and 12, you will find about David’s sin. When Nathan the prophet was telling David “You are the man!” David did not try to dodge the issue but said, “I have sinned against the Lord”. Notice in Psalm 51:4 these words, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” This psalm is a prayer of contrition and confession. David cries for mercy from a God whom he knows is merciful and full of loving kindness.

We can learn from this Psalm that we must confess our sin to God (1 John 1:9) and that God is just to forgive. Whenever we are sincere in our confession to God, He will cleanse our sin.

Psalms 73 to 89, sanctuary is mentioned or referred in almost every chapter. We see God’s counsels in relation to the sanctuary. The sanctuary is seen from its ruin to its restoration in the fullness of blessing.

Psalms 90 to 106 talks about The Earth. Psalms 90 to 94 tells about the blessings needed, Psalms 95 to 100 tells about the blessings anticipated and psalms 101 to 106 tell about the blessings enjoyed. If you wish to praise the Lord for His goodness, read Psalm 103. It is full of worship, adoration, praise and thanksgiving. This is great exercise for the soul.

The word of God is given importance in Psalm 107 to 150, which tells: “He sent forth his word and healed them” (Psalm 107:20). Psalm 119 is the great psalm of the whole book. It extols the Word of God, which is the great revelation of the heart and mind of the Lord. Almost every verse speaks of God’s word or law or precepts or statutes.

Hold your Bible in your hand and turn to the middle of the book. Most often you will open to the Psalms. Not merely is this true physically. There is a deeper truth. The Psalms are central also in human experience. Psalms 118 is the center chapter in the Bible There are 594 chapters before and after Psalms 118. Psalms 117 is the shortest chapter and Psalms 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible.

The center verse in the Bible is Psalms 118:8. “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans”. Does this verse say something significant about God’s perfect will for our lives? The next time you want to find God’s perfect will for your lives, just take the center of God’s word. When things get tougher, always remember – Faith doesn’t get you around trouble. It gets you through it. May God’s Spirit help you to stay close with His word and be blessed in life.