See Things Above

In the Holy Bible, Old Testament, God is telling about how he loved Israel as His child. He tells it was He who taught them to walk taking them by the arms, but they are not realizing any of that, even the healing provided by Him. God is telling how he cannot leave them even if they don’t listen to him. These is written in the book of Hosea whom God told to marry a prostitute, search for her every night and bring her back to him and love her, to make us know - this is the way God loves us. God tells he will not destroy them and He is waiting for them to call upon His name when enemy comes against them, so that he can destroy the enemies and save His children (Hosea 11).

Yes, when the children of God is hungry and thirsty and when they call upon Him in their trouble, he will deliver them and settle them and so let us give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love (Psalms 107: 5-8).

People’s knowledge and hard work can help them make a tower of Babel, but the real meaning and wealth comes from the creator. Bad and evil days will definitely come to a child of God. But he will have the faith and hope in God that the Lord will deliver him from the evil days and from the wicked deceivers surrounding him (Psalms 49: 5).

Jesus Christ told a parable about a rich fool (Luke 12: 13-21). This rich man had plenty of corps and he was planning to build bigger place to store his corps. He was planning to take life easy, eat drink and be merry. He was not bothered about God who provides, but was proud about his hard work and knowledge. In Luke 12: 20, “But God said to him, you fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” Jesus Christ is telling about the one who is not eager towards God through this parable.

When you are in Christ, you will never think about the worldly riches and be proud of it. It does not mean that you live a life of poverty, but you will not live a life to enjoy the worldly riches, even God provide it to you, but your hearts will be set above to the sacrifice Christ has done for you and will be always thinking about the glory of heaves where Christ is seated (Colossians 3: 1-4).

God wants everyone to put to death the earthly nature where people go behind lust, sexual immorality, evil desires, greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language and lie. God wants you to leave that old self and put a new self which is to be same as that of the image of your creator (Colossians 3: 5-11).

A worldly person cannot change his life to a new self with his power or through some meditation. It is only through repenting your sins and accepting Christ Jesus that you will be able to change yourself.

“If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raise him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10: 9)

When you receive Christ Jesus, Spirit of God will help you to walk in truth and see the glory of God in your life. “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16: 13).

May The Lord be with you and guide you to see things above, put to death all evil within you and help you to walk in truth and be an example to others in Jesus name

St. James

James, the disciple of Jesus was the brother of John, another disciple of Jesus. They were both called the sons of thunder. He is called the James – the greater to distinguish him from other Apostle James (brother of Jesus). Their mother’s name is Salome. This mother asked Jesus to keep both her sons in his both sides and Jesus replied whether they are willing to take the cup Jesus is going to take (Mathew 20).

As Jesus commanded His disciples to go to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria (Acts 1: 8), St. James preached in Jerusalem, Samaria and all Judea. He even went to Spain to preach the gospel. He is the patron saint of that country.

Once when he was preaching the gospel to Jews, they caught him and King Herod sentenced him to death. He was smiling all the way when they took to behead him. It is said that the person who helped them to catch James, seeing this joy in James face, openly asked for forgiveness and accepted Christ as his savior. He too was sentenced to die.

He was the first apostle who shed his blood for Christ and got mentioned in the Bible. His body was taken to Galatia, Spain and honoured till date.

His feast is celebrated on July 25^th.

Even today, the most persecuted people in the world are the people who are following Christ Jesus. The followers of Christ are not forcefully converting anyone, but still they are persecuted. It all started with Jesus and it will continue until Jesus comes back with His power and glory.

May The Lord be with you and help you to understand the love and compassion of Christ Jesus, repent your sins, accept Him as your saviour, and live a Holy life pleasing to him.

Take Care

Some people drive cars that haven’t been washed in six months. They argue that it is an old model and they are planning to get a better one. Take care of what God has given you. Whether you have much or a little, whether it’s old or new, take pride in what God has given you.

Favour and being excellent go In hand in hand. Looking your best and taking care of your possessions are also part of your lifestyle. You should take care of what you have as best you can. Take care of your family, especially children.

You may be in a situation today in which everybody around you is being lazy. Everybody’s being sloppy. Everybody’s taking the easy way out. Don’t let that discourage you. You should be the one to have an excellent spirit. You should be the one to stand out in the crowd.

This applies also to your personal appearance – the way you dress and the way you present yourself. Present yourself in a way that you’re proud of. You are the temple of the most high God (1 Corinthians 3: 16-17).

When you are born again, or when you accept Christ as your saviour, the Spirit of God guides you to be excellent in all the things you do (Colossians 3: 23)

Do represent yourself as a precious child of God.

Run your Run

One man fell into a pit and while he was down there several people come by and offered their opinions.

A Pharisee said, “You deserve to be in the pit”

A Catholic said, “You need to suffer while you’re in the pit”

A Baptist said, “If you’d been saved, you wouldn’t have fallen into the pit”

A charismatic said, “Just confess I’m not in the pit”

A mathematician said, “Let me calculate how you fell into the pit”

An Tax agent said, “Have you paid taxes on the pit”

An optimist said, “Things could be worse”

A pessimist said, “Things will get worse”

Everyone has an option. If you try to keep every person happy, the one person that will not be happy is you. Sometimes those who try to run your life and tell you what to do can’t even your run their own lives, much less yours.

One of the tests we have to pass in our life is when someone that we respect and look up to, may be our boss, a friend, a colleague or a relative, wants us to go one direction, when we know in our hearts that we should take another path. We don’t want to hurt their feelings, don’t want to lose their friendship and we want their approval. But if we are to fulfil our destinies, we have to be strong. We need to have an attitude – I am having an assignment, I have a purpose in life and I will be the one who God created me to be.

You have to be aware especially of high-maintenance people. These people are almost impossible to keep happy. You’ve got to call them on their schedule, keep them cheered up, and meet their demands. If not, they’re upset and disappointed. And they’ll do their best to make sure you feel guilty. They are almost always controllers. If you’re not careful they’ll squeeze you into their mold. They’re not interested in you. They’re interested in what you can do for them. If you fall into the trap of always trying to please them, you will wear yourself out and constantly be frustrated.

You may lose a few friends early on. People may not understand why you don’t take their advice. They may think you’re making a big mistake, but later they’ll see you walking in the fullness of your destiny.

In the Holy Bible we read about the son of King Saul, Jonathan. He was the best friend of David. According to the worldly view Jonathan should become the next king after Saul. Even Saul wanted that to be done. But Jonathan knew God had chosen David as the next King and he supported and protected David from his father (1 Samuel 20).

Gods favour on your life will increase if you quit worrying about what everyone thinks and do what God has put in your heart. Everyone has an option. People will tell you how to run your life. They’ll have opinions on what you should wear, what you should drive, how you should spend your money, and how you should raise your children. If you try to please everyone, you will be confused, you’ll be frustrated. Life will be miserable.

Everyone has a right to an opinion, and you have every right to not listen to it. If what others say doesn’t match what God has put in your heart, let it go in one ear and out the other.

It’s fine to listen to opinions. It’s great to receive advice, but you have to secure enough in who God made you to be so that when something doesn’t bear witness with your spirit, you’ll have a boldness that says, “thanks, but no thanks. I appreciate your advice; I value your opinion, but that not for me”

When I started running ultras, people who haven’t even run a 5km came and told me not to do ultras as it will affect my body. They knew they can’t do it and discouraged me also. But since I have learned martial arts in my youth and for the past 22 years I do those tough workouts, I knew my body and was confident in it. So in front of all those people I agreed to what they told, but I practiced on my long runs and workouts and did ultra.

If you’re going to do anything great in life – if you’re to be a great teacher, a great business person, a great athlete, a great parent, and a great winner – not everyone will cheer you on. Some won’t be able to handle your success. If you were where you were 10 years ago, they would have no problem with you. But as you succeed, as God pours out His favour, some will be jealous, some will find faults.

Don’t be surprised if a family member or a relative tries to discredit you, belittle you, or won’t give you the time of day, or maybe a friend you’ve been good to for years won’t understand you. If you start changing, being defensive, and think that you’ve got to prove to them that you’re really okay.  What you’re doing is letting them squeeze you into their mold.

Your destiny is too great to get distracted trying to win over people who are never going to like you. Don’t take it personally. It’s not about you. It’s about the favour God put on your life. It stirs up the jealousy in them. Until they deal with it, nothing you can do will change it. You might as well shake it off and run your race, because no matter how good you are to them they will still find fault. No matter how much you try to show them kindness, they will still find some reason to be critical.

The point is that no matter what you do, you will never please everybody. You may as well accept the fact that even when you do the best you can, some will find fault with you, and that’s okay. They have a right to have their opinions and you have a right to ignore them.

Having said all these, understand that you need to go according to the wish of God. How you can know the will of God? If you live according to the world, you are not going to hear the will of God, but you will hear what the world says. Most people spoil their life thinking they got the word from God as they live according to the world. Live holy lives, read and meditate upon the pure word of God from the Holy Bible, confess your sins and accept Christ as your saviour, as see how the Spirit of God guides and leads you towards your destiny. May God bless you!

Change the Channel

When negative memories comes to the movie screen of your mind, people take up their chair, get some popcorn and watch it and get hurt. It’s like taking the remote control of a television, watch a channel where some program bring sad and hatred.

Even though if some other channel is playing humour or motivational videos, some people will sit and watch the sad serials in another channel. Instead of playing your past victories, accomplishments and things you did right, people play the channel of defeats, failures and disappointments. Just because a bad memory comes doesn’t mean that you need to dwell in it. Learn to change the channel

Mostly people play the channel of failures when they feel disappointed in life. When you feel cheated in life, when you are not getting married at correct time, when you are not blessed with a child, or when you’re not getting a perfect job, automatically your remote will switch to past failures and regrets in life.

If you’re always relieving your hurts and watching them on the movie screen of your mind, talking about it and telling your friends, you’re just reopening your wounds. You need to change the channel. You may have weakness, but remember your strengths.

In the Bible we see David’s sin against God (2 Samuel 11). He did adultery and to hide it he killed Uriah. Even though David was cursed because of his sin, whenever he was in trouble, he cried to God and kept hope in God (Psalms). When you follow Christ, whatever disappointments comes into your life, you will be able to survive it with hope, faith and the have joy and peace in heart because of the salvation Christ gave.

Jesus Christ came to the world and died for the sins which we have done (1 John 2:2). So whosoever believes in him have the hope and confidence that Christ can change any bad situation to a good one (Psalms 71: 5).

Don’t make the mistake of remembering the things you need to forget, whether it’s your hurts, your disappointments, or failures. Instead remember your victories, successes and the hard times you overcame.

Always remember the sacrifice of Christ and the joy he gives to the one who walks with him. Leave the negativity, negative people and stay close with Christ by reading His word and meditating upon it. Change your channel to Christ who is your only hope and salvation – He will make a way

Called and Chosen

Have you ever thought about being special? No other person was born with your finger print. No other person matches the iris of your eye. Each and every cell in your body, every spark of your mental activity and everything about your spirit speaks – You are more than special, you are Unique.

“For he (God) chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves” – Ephesians 1: 4-6.

God’s way of calling you is through his word. If you accept Jesus Christ and read and meditate on His word, you are called and chosen.

The Spirit of God sanctifies you and sets you apart, make you special to be close with God (2 Thessalonians 2: 13-14). We might think this as the earthly glory of being rich and famous. No, this is the glory of being with and like the son of God. You need to accept his death, burial and resurrection.

Just as earthly life came through your parents, spiritual birth comes from the Spirit of God. “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3: 5-6).

Babies are born to mothers who hold and feed them. Likewise, God gives us new life by His Spirit who He poured out on us richly – covering us and caring for us.

If you have never experienced this experience, there is no need to go anywhere and do anything or give any donation to anyone, but just where you are, accept Jesus Christ in your life. Pray to God in Jesus name, read The Bible and see how God is going to take control of your life, mould it and change it as a potter makes a beautiful vessel.

May God bless you!

Follow Wisdom

In the world we live, every philosophy teaches us to follow our parents and teachers. In south India there is a saying to follow and consider the hierarchy - Mother, Father, Teacher and God. Unfortunately in this same place we can hear Breaking News about how the little children are being trashed by their own mothers.

The creator of mankind knew all about these and so he is comforting everyone that even though your parents forsake you, God will never. [Psalms 27: 10]

In the book of 1 Kings we can find the kings of Israel and Judah after it became two nations. The Kings who came after Solomon were against God and they sinned and pushed the entire nation against God’s anger. In 1 Kings 15, we see Abijah becoming the King of Judah and following his father’s footsteps of committing sins. So Abijah just followed the world’s philosophy of following his parents.

But in 1 Kings 15: 9, we see Abijah’s son Asa becoming the next king and he was totally opposite to his father. 1 Kings 15: 11 tell us that Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That means he did not do anything good in the eyes of his parents. He followed the wisdom given by The Lord.

Proverbs 1 takes about wisdom. At the same time in Proverbs 1: 8, it tells to listen to your father’s instruction. But in the underlying verses we see the writer asks us to follow wisdom. So here we understand it is the responsibility of the parents to be wise in God for their children to listen. Otherwise you will have a life like in 1 Kings 15 - Abijah listened to his father and lived against God.

To live a life of wisdom, it is good to read Proverbs and meditate upon it. May the Lord help you, guide you and lead you to read the book of proverbs and follow wisdom to lead a life pleasing to The Lord and be a role model.