Is God displeased by your life? Wednesday, Jan 28 2009

Many start well in the spiritual race and unforunately, end up becoming failure, ruining themselves and those around them. Last verse of eleventh chapter of 2 Samuel 11 is read as ” But the thing David had done displeased the Lord”. This talks about the adultery , David committed and the cruel murder followed the incident. David who controlled the kingdom well and ruled successfully, failed to control himself, when temptation knocked the door. The blessings blinded him and he dared to commit ungodly and unethical things.  David is one who is handpicked by God for a noble responsibility of guiding His own people. He was person after God’s heart and God executed mighty and wonderful things through him. But he failed miserably.

 

Is God displeased by

- the thoughts we entertain?

- the words we utter?

- the acts we commit?

- the attitudes we carry?

- the way we behave?

- the values we appreciate in this life?

 

May be, God is taking this opportunity to remind you to turn from your ways that displeases Him. There is no limit what God can do through one who responds positively to His expectations.

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Who is my Shepherd? Friday, May 18 2007

Who is my Shepherd?

One of the familiar passages in the Bible is Psalm 23, where God is described as Shepherd for His people. In John10:11, Jesus highlighted His role as Good Shepherd. When we have God as our Shepherd we will have blessings related to our Soul, Spirit and Body. Unlike sheep, we are gifted with free will to decide what we want to be or to do in this life. Even though God establishes His relationship with us as Shepherd, the question is “Am I a sheep in His flock?”. To remain in His flock and to have Jesus as our Shepherd, we ought to heed to Him and obey Him unconditionally. God will lead us step by step but our responsibility is to understand His leading and to obey Him in every step. Unfortunately we find it difficult to take time and to wait in His presence to Know Him, understand His leading in the midst of our busy (so named) schedules. If we are not in God‘s group, we might be in some other group. It is time again to ask ourselves “Who is my Shepherd?

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Spiritual Pride Wednesday, Sep 20 2006

Spiritual Pride

Christians attending Charismatic/famous church with lively worship thinks better about her/his position in worshipping God when compared to those who cannot attend a similar one. S(he) who have better knowledge of Bible and other spiritual related issues would have room to be proud of  their knowledge. S(he) who sacrifices their time, talent and other resources would at times convey their achievements and accomplishments in a way which in turn would promote pride. The one, who is good at singing, preaching/teaching, leading etc., would often think low of others. When we grow spiritually and get involved in Christian activities and accomplishments, we tend to display pride in Spiritual matters. It could be called as Spiritual Pride.

And also if we look into the matter, we will realize that we will have no reason to boast about our works and us because whatever the success we have earned would have come from the contributions from so many known and unknown means and persons. Could we have achieved, what we achieved if we would not have had the exposures to the writings of   others, experiences of others, the skills learnt from others and without the support of those who has inspired and helped us. We have not chosen God; He has chosen us (John 15:16). It is God Who wills in us to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). It is God Who gives to every man his measure of faith (Romans 12:3). It is God Who orders the thoughts of a righteous man (Proverbs 16:3). Anything and everything that a Christian might accomplish is by grace, and God’s Holy Spirit.

Spiritual pride is more like Cancer and it originates and grows secretly and it would kill our Spiritual nature unless we diagnose and treat it at the right time. Spiritual Pride can become mother of other sins like lust, lie, etc. Humble Christian would display lowliness, mildness, meekness, gentleness of spirit and behavior, and with a soft, sweet, condescending, winning air and deportment; these things are just like garments to him, he is clothed all over with them. So let us take time and conscious efforts to crucify the sin in spiritual dressing. May God give us sufficient grace to grow in true humility  

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Overcoming Sinful nature Monday, Sep 11 2006

Overcoming Sinful nature 

We regularly struggle with sin, the weakness that tempts us and causes us to fall almost every time. All of us struggle with sin in our lives. Living life in the spirit is not an easy task, but it is necessary if we have to live life up to His expectation. Living for Christ is very counter culture.  

The following 4 helpful steps can help every Christian to overcome Sin 

Deny yourself.  The problem most of us have to deal with is that we are not ready to deny ourselves. We cannot hold on to our old sinful nature and reach for a life of spiritual fulfillment at the same time. We must let go of one or the other. The ‘one more times’ never ended and never will end. There are countless ways to justify just one more sin but you must be determined to say “No“. 

Identify areas of compromises in your life. When it comes to sinful habits; we need to identify compromises. The silly common compromises and self justifications we make every day, feed our Sinful nature and make Carnal nature stronger and spiritual man weaker.  The temptation battle is won or lost by how we choose to live our everyday life. The key to resisting temptation is to identify the habits and compromises that leads from one step to another 

Set yourself disciplines. Job 31:1 says, I have made a covenant with my eyes, why then should I look upon a beautiful woman. That is discipline. Make a decision /commitment and stick to it. If we never compromise, we will never fall back into temptation.

 

Feed your spiritual nature. To live a victorious life the way God intended, we have to shift that balance of power away from our sinful nature. We spent most of our lives allowing our old nature to grow and it has become very strong. The discipline that is spoken above will starve that old nature, but alternatively we must feed the spiritual nature. Time of prayer, fellowship with believers in God, time with Bible, involvement in ministries etc will help to feed the spiritual nature. 

Wishing you a successful Christian living!

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Secrets of Successful Life – outlines Tuesday, Aug 1 2006

Secrets of Successful Life

Success: The achievement of something that you planned to do or attempted to do. There are different views and perspectives on Success…..Earning…..serving….reaching high positions and status. Success is progressive realization of goals.

6 Facets of our life 

1.Family :Loved ones, Parents, Siblings, etc

2.Financial:Career,things that money can buy, etc

3.Physical: Health and every thing related to it

4.Mental : Wisdom and knowledge

5.Social:Responsibility to society, Service to human kind

6.Spiritual: Relationship with God .Character building. Prayer life. Understanding his Will and execution.

1.Define Purpose of your life and set Goals

What is that you would like to achieve in your life? in Christian perspective.Fix goals based on your perspective…… Goals for your Family life…..Career…..Physical…..Mental…social…..Spiritual.

Goals…Short term…Medium…long term.

Goals should be SMART….S-Specific, M-Measurable, A-Achievable, R-Realistic, T-Time bound.

2.Be transformed in your thinking …..Rom12:1,2

As Christian, we are new creation 2 Cor 5:17…..New attitude! New Perspective! New nature. We are what we think. Paul urge us to think Phil4:8 Think Big. Think Right. Think Good!  We perceive before we achieve.  Have positive mental attitude. Look at the positive side in every person. Productive and effective thinking makes a person productive and effective. Holy thinking makes a person holy.

3.Do self analysis

SWOT analysis

S-Strength: What is your strength? What do you enjoy doing? Creative thinking. Convince talking etc

W-Weakness: What is the black spot? What is pulling you down? 

O – Opportunities: Seek on the area where you have interest and strength. Be a master in the field. Learn the trends, updates, develop skills accordingly. Combination of strength and opportunities = advantage

T – Threats: Unfavourable things or trends deterring your growth.

Wait on the God for the dimensions and directions of your life. Holy Spirit will guide you.

4. Obedience to God

Disobedience is Sin:Gen3:14-19

Obedience is the first thing a Christian has to do 1Sam15:22-23; Rom 12: 1.

Duetronomy8:1………Obedience to God with

Our Heart: By loving Him more than any relationship,activity,achievement or possession.

Our Will: By committing our selves completely to Him

Our Mind: By seeking to know Him and His word so His principles and values form the foundation of all we think and do

Our body: By recognizing that our strengths, talents and sexuality are given to us by God to be used for pleasure and fulfillment according to his rules and not ours.

Our finances: By deciding that all of the resources we have ultimately come from God and that we are to be managers of them and not owners.

Our Future: By deciding to make service to God and man the main purpose of our life’s work.

Note: All Biblical characters excelled because of the obedience to God.

5.Complete dependence on God: Prayer Life

We are to depend on Him…He is our Shepherd Ps 23:1; He is our Lord. He is our Guide. God hears every one Ps 4: 3. Prayer demonstrates our reliance on God. God responds at the right time Gal 4: 4.

This is how you should pray …..Jesus’ directions to pray. Mt 6: 9-13.

Hallowed be thy name: Gods’ name to be glorified, honored thro’ our lives.Thy Kingdom Come: Accepting His lordship in our spiritual and Physical lives. Thy will be done: Desire and do God’s will in your work spot, living place, relationships.Give us today our daily bread: Things needed for our life on earth. Protections, Provisions, Privileges. Forgive us and help us to forgive others: Confession, Self examinations, etc Help to overcome temptation: Temptations will happen at any time thro’ anyone at any place.

6. Study the scripture regularly

Ps 1:3; Joshua 1: 8…..Brings prosperity. Bible is the Guide and map for your life. It is the user manual……instruction book…… It provides Wisdom and understanding….makes you a morally sound person.

Bible study involves…..Observation….Interpretation….Application

Scripture can be listened to…..read..meditated…studied.. memorised…. taught…shared.

Regularly study…understand…change …share with others.

Buy some study books and other aids which would help you to understand Bible in the right way.

7.Effective usage of resources.

We are the managers of the resources handed over to us .

Resources – Time, Money, talents, Expertise, Knowledge, etc

1. Have a systematic reading habit
2. Identify your mistakes and weakness and work on it
3. Work on the areas of your strength
4. Improve your skills
5. Read books by management gurus and learn how you can better organize your self
6. Plan out your work in advance…Keep diary…..
7. Practice effective Time management

8.Build up your character

Character is what you are in the dark. Fear God and shun Evil……..If you bow before God You do not need to bow before others or other things. Integrity…Sincerity….Taking responsibility…..Patience…Simplicity…Humble ness

Simple Living! High Thinking!…..Follow Jesus….

9.Witnessing

You are the salt….Light

You are called to bear his likeness…representative for Jesus.

Share about Him…… By manner of life…By lips…..

Use creative and Innovative ways to share gospel…internet provides lot of opportunities

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Why do we fall in sin? Monday, Jul 31 2006

Why do we fall in sin?
Sin is a universal human problem. It’s something we all do.
Why do we sin? Can a believer stop sinning after being born again?Our flesh is not evil, but weak. God created us with desires (bodily mechanisms that stimulate desires within us) which are good and healthy purposes. Without desires, our lives would be boring and practically useless. Desires serve as motivating forces in our lives. Our challenge, then, is to manage our desires. God created us with five senses but also have provided limitations for the senses. When we cross the limit, we will become a victim of lust and end up falling in sin. God has also given us sixth sense to discern good from bad and free will to take our own decision. We are responsible for our individual decisions. Right decisions (even in little things) bring us closer to God and wrong decisions will lead us to disobedience to God. Bible condemns lust-out-of-control, unlawful desires.

Some helpful tips to overcome Sin
Every human is prone to fall in sin irrespective of their super sainthood or holiness. God-made,Adam fell; wisest human, Solomon fell; Person after God’s heart, David fell; at some point in their lives. No sin /addictions are too strong to overcome. Please see listed below some useful tips which would help any Christians to overcome sins in their life

- Accept mistakes: First thing that is to be done for any correction is to acknowledge the deviations we have with respect to the standard desired by God (not by a church or leader). Many times we justify and allow minor faults in our lives and it goes and grows unchecked. Accept sin as sin (not as weakness)
- Do not quench the guidance of the Spirit: When we have fellowship with Holy Spirit (fellowship of Holy Spirit is available to every believer in Christ), He would convict/correct us when we get involved in ungodly thoughts, looks, desires, actions etc. If we quench the promptings of the Spirit by our self justifications, we might not feel the similar convictions again. Confess honestly and take instant decision to correct even if it hurts.
- Face the facts: Imagine where you, your friends, your family will end up if your present sinful condition continues. Examine and take the corrective actions that need to be taken.
- Develop intimacy with God. It is possible only if we spend time in prayer and Bible meditation and obey Him regularly
- Maintain good godly fellowships which can point out your mistakes when something goes wrong. Start or join some quality bible study cum prayer groups
- Depend on God for the deliverance. Jesus Christ is to be accepted as Savior not only for the enalty of sins but also for the power of Sins. Jesus never fails! Jesus Saves! Jesus delivers!Overcoming the sin may not happen in single leap but in step by step. Keep fighting and you will have the hatred to do the particular sin instead of loving it Have a successful Christian living!

- Prithvi
prithvionnet@yahoo.com

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Are you Born Again really? Monday, Jul 31 2006

Are you Born Again really?
Jesus said that one has to be born again to enter heaven (John 3:3). Being born again would refer to receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord in our life. Accepting Jesus as Savior would mean our acknowledgment that Christ died as sacrifice for our sins and the benefit is the forgiveness we receive from Him. Accepting Jesus as Lord would imply that we fear and obey Him unconditionally. The salvation could be understood as Justification (Salvation from the penalty of Sins), Sanctification (Salvation from the power of sins) and Glorification (Salvation from the presence of Sins). New spiritual life in Christ is expected to grow and reach maturity as months and years pass by. When we are born again, God delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins (Col 1:13,14). We are new Creature (2Cor 5:17) and are expected to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ (Rom8:29). Born again ones have to pass Justification — Sanctification — Glorification process but most of them settled and satisfied with Justification — Stagnation process. Our growth in Christ should be visible to others by our growing godly characters. If we are still living in pride, lust, jealousy, bitterness, hypocrisy, lying, etc., our born again claim is questionable. Are you born again really?

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