Dear Friends,

We had Christmas play practice after Sunday worship, there were many characters in the play including, Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, Sheep, Star, Angels, Shepherds, King Herod, Magi, Simeon, Anna Prophetess etc. Out of all these, Joseph character caught my attention during this Christmas Advent season. I request everyone to take few minutes to meditate on this righteous man Joseph. Mathew 1:20 ,"An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph son of David, do not afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit, verse 24, "when Joseph woke up he did what angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary home as his wife." As I started to meditate more on this Joseph, I have learnt following characters from him.

Complete Obedience:When angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, he never doubted or questioned the authority of God's power. When an angel of the lord appeared to Zachariah, father of John the Baptist, he doubted God's power in the beginning. Even Abraham's wife, Sarah doubted God's authority in her life. But to my surprise, I found Joseph as a depending and yielding servant to Gods commands, Joseph did exactly what the angel of the lord commanded. How many times, we doubted Gods mighty power in midst of our proud confident situations???

Constant walk with God:Mathew 2:13, "an angel of the lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, Get up, he said, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you". This confirms that Joseph has a constant walk and faith in our Lord. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph first time, he was a bachelor, obeyed to take Mary as his wife, now he is a earthly human father to baby Jesus, yet he maintained his obedience to His Lord still. In the beginning of our salvation period, we depend our Lord for everything and obey to His each and every command and go to His presence more often, but when days pass by, years pass by, we slowly revert or put some speed breaks in our spiritual life. Our pride pops up sometimes, which leads to doubt His faithful calling. But Joseph, may be after 2-3 years of Jesus birth, he still maintained his obedience to our Lord. We see angels command to be little straight forward and there is no room for Joseph to think or give his opinion. Are you ready to walk constantly with HIM? If so, ask God's power to empower your walk in the year 2009.

Discerning God's Voice: Mathew 2:19, "an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel." This is the third time, angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, Joseph was in Egypt this time, but still able to discern God's voice in his life. My imaginations traveled like this. In the beginning, it was easy for Joseph to follow God's command to take Mary as his wife, because he was in prime youth, looking forward to settle in a life. Second time, Joseph followed God's command to make sure, he and his family is out of danger, but this time in Egypt, when God's angel commanded, Joseph had nothing to say except to obey with whole heart.If Lot was in that place, he should have given his option to escape to the nearby places instead to the land of Israel. I think, Joseph was just right to his righteousness. He never allowed his flesh to dominate in any of these times. He maintained his service constantly to our Lord through out his life.

May the God of almighty rule everyone's heart with HIS Devine peace and prosperity during this Christmas season?
Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a joyful blessed New Year 2009.
Love and Prayers

Jabez Prayer

Dear Friends,

Greetings to all in the sweet name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For past few days, I was meditating on prayers in the bible. The following prayer caught my attention. I Chronicles 4:10, “Now Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, Oh that Thou wouldst bless me indeed and enlarge my border and that Thy hand might be with me and that Thou wouldst keep me from harm that it may not pain me. And God granted him what he requested.”

The most remarkable person in this chapter is Jabez. Much account had not been given about Jabez but he was more honorable than his brethren and I found that he was a praying man. Jabez called on the God of Israel to bless him. We could see this praying attitude in Jacob’s life too. Though Jacob was blessed with wives, children, flocks, servants etc, He was crying to God in a Jabbok river to bless him again. Genesis 32: 26, “ Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me”. Spiritual blessings are the best blessings: Gods blessings are real things and produce real effects in our life. Lord answered Jabez prayer, now the question is, how many of us are willing to come to HIS throne once again for this type of prayer attitude in our life?

Second part of Jabez prayer talks about enlarging territory. He was asking God of Israel to enlarge his tents or territory, it represents once again, we need to enlarge our spiritual walk, lets ask God to enlarge our bible reading, prayer time, sharing time etc in our earnest prayers. In Psalm 147: 13, 14 say that, “For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your sons within you. He makes peace in your borders; He satisfies you with finest of the wheat.” Our God is sufficient to enlarge our borders and also He is more than sufficient to keep our borders in peace and prosperity. A re you not blessed to ask Him to enlarge our hearts to inherit His portions and goodness in our life?

Third part of his prayer is asking God’s hand to be with him. What a wonderful idea? Psalm 46:1 says that God is our refuge and strength. Jabez was asking God to keep him from evil, the evil of sin, the evil of trouble, all the evil design of his enemies that they might not hurt him. His mother named him Jabez because she delivered him in sorrow and pain; so basically, Jabez was a man of sorrow. Jabez aimed to live in Gods shelter where evil cannot enter in to it. Psalm 91 1: says that “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty”. Jabez wanted to dwell in a HIS Shelter. Are you ready to choose God’s protection and shelter in our daily life in the midst of all evil things?

I would like to encourage everyone to read this prayer and focus on the last line, “And God granted him what he requested. Wow, what a great assurance to every child of God. Our God is a prayer hearing and prayer answering God; He is God for all impossibilities. Psalm 20: 4 says that, “May He grant you your hearts desire, and fulfill all your counsel”. He is God for all mankind. Let’s pray earnestly in our Christian life to lead a victorious life because, our God is ever ready to hear prayer and his ear is not now heavy. May the risen Lord Jesus Christ help us to pray like Jabez in our life? Amen.

Thanksgiving Supper

Dear Friends,
Greetings to all in the sweet name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In John 12: 1-3 we see a wonderful loving family at Bethany. John the gospel says that, Jesus loved this family, Martha and her sister Mary and Lazarus. When Lazarus was sick, his sisters sent a message to Jesus, saying Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is sick. The lord Jesus in His great love raised Lazarus from the dead; therefore they made him a supper.

For our meditation, lets focus on verses 2 & 3, so they made Him a supper there. This is a kind of thanks giving service to our Lord Jesus Christ. Has the Lord done same thing for you? Has He answered your long time prayer requests? Has he saved someone in your family? Has He raised someone in your family from physical illness& sickbed? If so, do you wish to make Him a supper? Preparing supper for someone is not easy thing. It needs time and focus, need to think a lot about guest’s liking and disliking and need lot of guts to entertain a guest. Have you decided to invite our Lord Jesus for a thanksgiving service? Be assured that He will not turn down your invitation. He loves to dwell in the midst of His people.

Secondly, lets see what each member of that family was doing?
Martha served. This shows her humble service to our Lord, I used to marvel at this woman many times when I read this. Martha was the one who opened her house door for Lord Jesus, she was the one who prepared the supper for the entire crowd and even she was the one who has said to Lord, ‘Yes Lord; I believed that you the Christ, the son of God even He who comes into the world”. She had a great knowledge on our Savior. Do you?
Lazarus layed at table with Christ. What a great privilege for this Lazarus who was dead for a while and now alive with Christ . We see same experience in Psalm 23, David said, Thou preparest a table before me. Lets learn from Him what it is really like to sit with Him at table. Am I privileged to sit with Him at table???
Mary: Mary worshipped Him, she poured all at His feet, her heart and her soul, her wealth and her pride, her desires and her longings etc. Will you do so??

I personally feel that these 3 were orphans, may be in upper teens, not married, may be kept outside the society because of their service mind to Christ. Whatever it is, this family loved Lord Jesus and in turn, Jesus loved them. May be that is the reason, Jesus came to Bethany before Passover and it was from Bethany that He ascended to heaven.

May the risen Lord Jesus who ascended to heaven from Bethany make everyone’s heart and home to be His dwelling place? Amen.Love and Prayers

Impossible things by Faith

Mathew 14: 22-33 describes a closer look at Peter’s walk on water, which reveals several key elements in our Christian life. Disciples had a long tiring day and Jesus sent them out in the boat to go over to another town. It was a dark stormy night and the wind was tossing the waves around in the middle of the night, they thought they were seeing a ghost when Jesus came to them walking on the sea. Peter says to Lord that, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he(Jesus) said.

We notice here that Peter asked Gods will first before getting out of the boat. After Peter sought His will in asking the Lord for permission he didn’t immediately jump out of the boat. Peter did not presume upon the Lord’s answers, but waited for it. Many of us jump out of the boat without sufficiently waiting on the Lord and end up in troubled waters. But Peter did not make a move until Jesus Said, Come. When Christ said “come”, Peter put his trust in God and came out of the boat. He simply obeyed Christ’s call and into the water he went. Faith is always expressed by obedience to Christ. Peter's confidence was based solely on Christ’s word not on his own strength.

When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the desert towards the Promised Land, they had no visible means of support other than God. In the desert there was no water, no food, no prospects for gainful employment, yet everyday God miraculously gave them water to drink and bread to eat. When Peter was still in the boat, there was no visible way for him to walk on the water. Christ didn’t show Peter a concrete or hardened path in the water first or gave him a detailed explanation of how it was going to work out. Only after Peter stepped out and walked towards Jesus, he saw how God would make the way as He firmed up the water under his feet. The laws of gravitation were suspended for his support. There were two walking on the sea, the one by his own infinite power, the other by the power imparted to Peter- the power of faith.

As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus Christ, he was fine walking on water, when he took of his eyes off on Christ and began to see the effects of the boisterous wind, he began to sink. The soles of his feet began to go below the surface of water. As soon as he began to sink, he cried, "Lord, save me!" . Immediately our Lord stretched forth his hands and caught him. It also confirms that our Lord was not far away to Peter and Our God didn't refuse Peter to drown i nthe water. The prompt help was ready for pressing emergency with our Lord. When we feel that we are starting to sink in our faith walk, we should not wait until we have sunk to the depths of despair. Cry out to God then Lord will rescue us in the storms of life. This is Peter who always prays in his life. This shows what a living thing his faith was. It might not walk the water always but it could always pray. The next time Peter went fishing, he still had to use a boat. Peter didn’t retain the power to walk on water within himself nor did he go on tour with a miracle show.

Do we keep our focus, our eyes, our thoughts, our actions on Jesus? Do we wait enough for His response before getting out of our life boat? Does God really pass by during the storms of our life? The lord is Sovereign and He decides when and how to answer our prayers. Our job is to humble ourselves under HIS mighty hands and seek to do just His will just like Peter.

Waiting on God

Have you ever waited on God in your life? Waiting on God is the special process through which our Lord causes our eyes to turn to Him for help in time of need. According to my understanding, waiting upon the Lord are times in which we do not have resources, answers or direction. Instead we are often confused, poor, broken and limited. Ultimately, waiting upon God protects us, deepens our trust in Him, forces us to seek His ways and brings Him the most glory.

Now lets focus our attention to the following verse.
Isaiah, 40:31, “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and yet tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

The scripture promises that those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. What does it mean gain new strength? As we wait upon Him, we bind ourselves together with Him, we braid ourselves to Him and receive HIS strength, it means that we will exchange our human strength to HIS Devine strength. What a wonderful exchange it is!!! Philippines 4:13 says that “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me”. Yes, when we get HIS strength, we are no longer ordinary people we are special people in HIS sight and we are called to be conquerors through Christ. Amen.

Second promise is that, they will mount up with wings like eagles. As we exchange our limited strength for HIS inexhaustible strength, we shall sprout spiritual wings and gain the ability to soar above our problems. How many of us are still drowned in our problems and failures today? Eagles are soaring birds, they fly in higher distances and still able to spot out the target in the ground very clearly. This again pictures that when we wait upon the Lord, He will bless us and set us on high places still He will help us to view and understand HIS plans in our life. The choice is our. Do we want to soar with eagles or walk with turkeys? In Jesus we can soar. Amen.

Third promise is that, “ they will run and get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” As we exchange His strength and mount our wings like eagles, we receive HIS grace to be in HIS army. II Cor 12:9 says that, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” There are times when He calls upon to run. And in those times, we will run and not get tired. But there are other times when we must simply walk (March). There is no thrill in walking but it is the test of all stable qualities. To walk and not faint is the highest reach possible for strength. Some times, we get weary and tired in body and in spirit. This is dangerous in Christian life because, when we become weary, we are defenseless against enemy and we loose proper perspective. In Gen 25, we see Esau selling his birthright to his brother Jacob. It was because Esau was physically exhausted, weary and hungry. Weariness makes you more attentive and to your physical and emotional needs than your spiritual needs. The weary man looks through physical eyes, but we need is spiritual vision. Amen.

Are you waiting on the Lord? There is both strength and peace in this approach. Amen.

Why did Jesus Spit and heal the Blind man?

According to the scripture, John 9: 1-38, this man was born blind, to never see a sunset, the face of a child, the face of a loved one would be a terrible thing. Yet this man had lived his entire life in this state of darkness. In the scriptures, we noticed that this man was born not only blind but also in poverty. And he was unable to find employment and as a result he was reduced to begging for what food and money he received. This is a pitiful state. Many would say that he would have been better off if he had never been born. This is the same situation every lost sinner finds himself/ herself in today. Spiritually speaking apart from Jesus, you are hopelessly bankrupt and have no way of providing things you need on a spiritual level. However Jesus told the disciples that this man’s handicap was allowed by God so that God could get glory from this man’s life.

Lets see how he was exposed to the light of Jesus, word. When Jesus passed by, this mans life was forever changed. Jesus spat on the ground, made mud with his saliva, anointed the blind mans eyes with the mud. Why did Jesus spit and heal this blind man in this way? Spit and dirt (clay) mixed and put on the eyes, does not sound very nice. Am I correct? You would not think someone was intending anything good for you in this way. When the soldiers mocked at Jesus, they spit on him to humiliate Jesus. Then why did Jesus spit on the ground to make clay and anoint this blind man’s eyes with that?

I assume that, in the days of Jesus, the Jewish people believed spittle from the first born of every family had a great healing power. As per Jewish tradition, Jesus used His spittle to testify to everybody that He was the first born of God the father and the only begotten Son of God. Since the blind man was born blind, probably he had no eyeballs at all, just empty sockets. So Jesus spat on the ground and made clay with His own saliva and then formed and created 2 eye balls out of the clay, the same way God formed and created Adam(Gen 2:7). As per Jesus instruction, this man went to Siloam and washed his eyes, he was healed of his blindness. Archeologists say that this Siloam is very big with wide steps on 3 sides, where you need more courage and braveness to go into it. I feel that this blind man might have got faith, belief, extra courageous and braveness when Jesus touched his eyes in the first place.

When people asked him what had happened, he never mentioned the spittle. Why not?
The reason is, the blind man had not seen it take place. He was blind. There is a lesson here for every one of us. There are times when God is working in our lives to try and bring us to Him. Often we cannot see the Lords work and even after we are saved, we may never realize all the little things God did to us.

After Jesus exposed the man to the physical light, many Pharisees heard of this miracle and questioned him. This blind man was not theologian but he knew what had happened to him personally. He could not explain what had happened but he knew that he had met someone who had power to make an eternal life.Let’s see this mans testimony very briefly.

1. A man who is called Jesus did this: this is his very limited knowledge about Jesus but it is a first step to the road of salvation.
   
2. He is a Prophet: in other words he is man to be listened to. The blind man listened once to Jesus and that obedience has resulted in his healing.
   
3. Man of God: he came with the conclusion that He is a man of God that means he is a man to be followed.
   
   
   May the shining light of God, seeking light of Christ and saving light of Spirit fill every one of us to realize little things He did in our lives. Amen.

Your background does not hinder your future with God

Dear Friends,

The book of Esther shows the choice we make between seeing His hand in our circumstances in life and seeing things a merely co-incidence. Although the name of God is never mentioned in this book, it is apparent that Jews of Susa sought HIS intervention when they fasted and prayed for 3 days (Esther 4:16). Esther first appears in chapter 2, she is an orphaned Jew brought up by her uncle Mordecai. If we see chapter 1, we see a new queen is sought because Queen Vashti refused to display her beauty to the people when King Xerxes calls for her. This is the beginning of God opening doors for Esther. It is also interesting to note that, our faithful God does have hands in the affairs of the world. Lets see briefly the important events took place in this book.

Preparation time: Esther is chosen to be queen and she goes through the normal 12 months of beauty treatment before meeting the king. The beauty treatment in Esther days was a physical treatment carried out with oils. Oil represents the Holy Spirit which enables us to have inner beauty in our Christian life. Are you allowing God to give you beauty treatment in your spiritual life? Lets subject us to the Lordship of Holy Spirit to gain inner beauty in our Christian life. Gods preparation time can sometimes be longer. Moses spent 40 years in the desert looking after sheep before coming to deliver the Israelites. The refining of our character is very essential to Gods plan for our life. God cannot use a proud woman or man.

Favor of God: In this book, we notice that Esther found favor of those around her. We can be granted such favor as we accept our situation in life by utilizing her example of maintaining positive attitude, coupled with humility and determination of leaning on God and seeking his will and favor in our circumstances. Fasting is a Godly exercise which brings us closer to God. Esther agrees and asks Mordecai to organize a time of fasting for her. She is well aware that she needs Gods favor if she is to succeed. Could you fix fasting prayer to acheive Gods favor in your christian life?

God works in His own time and season: In chapter 5, Esther approaches the king and invites him and Haman to a banquet; this is an attempt to get the timing right before she informs the king about Haman’s plot to kill the Jews of which she is one. Esther got her timing right and in Chapter 7, Esther reveals to the king that she is a Jew and Haman has plotted to kill them all. God’s timing is always best. We need to wait for Gods timing in doing things. It is dangerous to jump out before Gods time. Joseph was in jail until it was Gods time for him to be released. God will move in HIS own time when we remain faithful and alert to HIS leading.

Your background does not hinder your future with God: Esther was an orphan, God still used her and she saved Jews of Susa. Some of the disciples were fishermen, tax collectors etc, but still God used them. Moses was not good in speaking but God used him. Your background does not determine what God can do with you, only your faith does. Esther proved to have Godly and teachable character that also showed great strength and obedience. She shows us that remaining respectful and humble even in difficult if not humanly impossible circumstances often sets us up to be the vessel of untold blessings for both ourselves and others.

May the God of Esther favor everyone of us to succedd in our christian life? Amen and Amen.