GOD'S MUSICAL INSTRUMENT!!

God’s Musical Instrument!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Genesis 4:21 – (Jabal”s) brother was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute.

The world looks for escapism from reality. When the world of Cain lived under the cloud of Adamic and Cainic curse, they looked for ways to escape from the reality of sin through entertainment. So it is no wonder that their minds were drawn towards a wide variety of musical instruments and musical variations and reveled in musical orgies. In the backdrop of abominable things in their lives, they lived as if nothing was wrong and tried to involve in various types of entertainment to pamper their fleshly minds. Instead of learning from the experience of Cain and draw closer to God, they imbibed into their fleshly appetites and consoled themselves that everything was alright with them. The culture of Jubal prevailed over many centuries and led people into a life of great abomination to the extent of inviting serious punishment from God. But God gave them opportunity to repent of their puffed up lifestyle and sinful ways. ‘Jubalism’ was intense throughout the time when Noah preached, but the people’ keenness to entertainment would have left them with deafening ears. Today’s world resembles the times of Noah when they spend trillions on developing and enjoying a wide variety of music through the electronic media under the influence of Satan to hinder people from listening to the voice of God. When God expects man to use music to make melodies unto Him, Satan uses it to satisfy the fleshly appetites of man and sink him deep into wickedness. But the Spirit of God who spoke through Noah is speaking to man today to turn from his wicked ways and go to the Creator who wants to re-create him through Jesus Christ. God wants us to sing about our blessings and the exciting future we enjoy through Jesus Christ rather than use music as escapism from the misery and the pain that sin has brought us into.

Dear friend, are you seeking to forget your sinfulness and depression through entertainment and hide behind its revelries to cover up your eternal curse? Such a life will end up in hell where there will be no singing or musical instruments, but only bitterness, curse, weeping and gnashing of teeth. But if you give your life over to God, He will make you a spiritual musical instrument to sing about the grace and love of God. Your life will produce spiritual songs if you allow the Holy Spirit to fill your heart. You will then make melodies in your heart to the Lord for all that He has done for you. In all your situations, God will give you sweet songs of salvation to sing. Your life will then become a melody of hope which will echo through the dark alleys of this world to minister to the sad lives of the people of this world who are wallowing in their life of sin. There are a lot of people who have sunk into the music of the world and have ended their lives in the dark caves of this world. Many are dwelling in the corridors of Sodom and Gomorrah as they have become slaves of entertainment. But God is willing to give them songs to sing and find comfort in Him as they face the rough and tough realities of life. The entertainment world spreads its wild nets to capture and enslave the children of God. But the songs of praise in the hearts and mouths of God’s people will help them to live with hope and faith for a brighter tomorrow that is awaiting them. Today God invites you to His presence to come with brokenness so that He would remold you to be an instrument of His love to sing sweet songs of salvation.

Psalms 40:3 – He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.

Thought for Today

Worldly entertainment degenerate our souls whereas spiritual songs regenerate and revive us. 

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MEANINGFUL PRIORITIES!!

Meaningful priorities!!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, July 16, 2013  

Genesis 4:20 – Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.

The current revolution in habitat and food has its origin with Jabal who was in the lineage of Cain during the Noahaic period when the world abounded in abomination. When man lived without God, he looked for ways to satisfy his self will and lust which led him to experiment with all kinds of appetites of the flesh. He had a craving for living in newer habitats that he experimented with. Man lived independently and dwelled in sin for which the habitat revolution was a boon. Habitat experiments helped him to become a world traveler whose revolutionary dwellings took the form of caravans, tents, parks, communes, collapsible and prefabricated abodes in unimaginable shapes and sizes evolved to make it easier for him to live in corruption and violate God’s commandments. Man also had great physical appetite which led him to revolutionize livestock business to satiate his culinary inclinations. Thus man proved to himself that he could live without God to satisfy his every selfish desire. But we see that such riotous and promiscuous living to satisfy all his earthly cravings led man to destruction. When Jabals lived to please themselves and all their human desires, God sent a preacher called Noah to admonish people to live to please their Creator. We have reached a time of similar magnitude in our materialistic world where man finds dwelling places and culinary variations to satisfy his fleshly desires. But God wants us to live by totally depending on Him for our every need according to divine standard. He has promised to meet our daily needs including a place to sleep where we can pray and find rest for our bodies as we toil for Him. He has promised to give us food to eat to strengthen our bodies and prepare ourselves to serving Him. He reminds us that we ought to live by faith in dependence on Him. He wants us to live to please Him and not our fleshly desires. He expects us to be satisfied with all that He gives us, and grow in faith and dependence on Him.

Dear friend, are you craving for amenities to please your ego, fleshly desires and craving for comforts? Is there an intense desire for you to find satisfaction in the temporal pleasures that this world offer? Are you seeking after attractions in stylish housing, tempting food and posh living, and amassing the same for generations by using the time and the talents that God has given you to serve Him? Remember, God offers you stability, rest, peace, satisfaction and sustainability and promises to help you to live by faith and in total dependence on Him. Your best is yet to come and it is far beyond what the world can and will offer. Heaven is far greater than anything the world has ever imagined and created. What the world offers you gives only temporary satisfaction. Once you have it, you will lose its thrill and will grope for something beyond. This is why we see revolution in habitat, food and every other fleshly appetite which leave people empty. Your deepest and ultimate craving ought to be for God. The happiest man on earth was not rich with a posh lifestyle, but one who had no place to lay his head and had nothing material to offer to His followers. He wants us to follow Him and look forward for His eternal best. Today God wants you to rearrange your priorities and give Him utmost place in your life. He doesn’t want you to crave for the materialistic things in life, but develop a deep thirst for the eternal things. Today He wants you to have a holy detachment from all that the world offers and holy craving for all that God offers to live to please Him and live for Him.    

Colossians 3:2 – Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Thought for Today

The happiest person is one who forsakes the temporal and thrusts forward for the eternal and the permanent.

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STEWARDS AND KEEPERS!!

Stewards and keepers!!

Verse for Today: Monday, July 15, 2013  

Genesis 4:9 – Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?’

The Lord’s question to Cain shows the great interdependence that He had intended for man. All through human history, God never intended man to be selfish and self-sufficient, but to depend on others and be mutually supportive. But man forgets this when he wants the best in life only for himself. But when in need, man has no hesitation to seek others’ help. Cain and Abel are seen worshiping together, although in different ways with different means. But Cain was unwilling to accept the fact that Abel was righteousness and he obeyed God’s commandment in worship. Rather than examining to see what was right about Abel’s worship, Cain was boiled in his jealousy and self righteousness which led him to annihilate his own brother. He forgot the fact that God gave him a brother and appointed him as his keeper, supporter, help and co-worshiper. Cain had the opportunity to learn from the worship of Abel, but instead he was full of jealousy and rage. He had a spirit of competition and he craved for filthy success instead of humility and willingness to learn from his mistakes. Today the world is full of hatred and jealousy because the sinfulness of man has made him seek success even by destroying others. So people tend to fight and cheat to become more successful than others rather than learning from each other. This is blatant even in Christendom and at times among God’s children. But God wants to remind us that we are keepers of our dear ones and we are accountable to God for them. If we don’t take this responsibility seriously and fulfill it on the basis of the grace that is given to us, we would be the biggest losers of spiritual blessings. Today God extends to us the opportunity to mend our relationships and build others up.

Dear friend, are you a steward of other children of God or their competitor? Are you building up on your stewardship or tearing others apart? If you are tempted to fall into jealousy, competition and rage, there is a place to go for true brokenness which is at the foot of the cross of Jesus. As God deals with us in grace, love and mercy, we also ought to deal with other human beings and especially the household of faith in the like manner. But it is true that the sinfulness that is in us will make it a great challenge to live at peace with others. Our selfish nature often makes us assassins of the character of others around us, thus puts us in the same category of Cain. We must fight a constant battle to subdue our negative emotions towards our fellow beings. We may not like them or their actions, but we must learn to agree to disagree agreeably. We are commanded to love even our enemies and if so how much more should we love the household of faith! Every ill-will, jealousy, hatred, misunderstanding, misinterpretation and misrepresentation must be taken to the foot of the cross and be crucified with Christ. Every urge for retaliation and revenge must be brutally dealt with on the cross. We must learn great lessons of forgiveness from Jesus on the cross and Stephen as he was stoned. We must look at each person we encounter with compassion because all those whom we meet are fighting their own battles. We must seek to help those in turmoil rather than pouring oil into their fire. Let us pour cold water on the fire, and cool water on their feet to make them find comfort and rest. Remember, we are appointed as keepers of our fellow human beings in order to show them the way to true love, grace and compassion of our God.

Matthew 25:40 – ‘Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Thought for Today

Our fellow human beings are the souls we are to watch over for God’s sake.

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VICTORY OVER CONFLICTS!!

Victory over conflicts! 

Verse for Today: Sunday, July 14, 2013

Genesis 3:12 – The man said, “The woman You put here with me – she gave me some fruit, and I ate it.”

Man is very good at giving evasive answers to straightforward questions. It is man’s communication style to shun responsibility for his actions. He tries to pass responsibility for his actions on to others and attempts to escape from the consequences of his own actions. Thus he earns the wrath of those on whom he puts responsibility for his actions. This was what the first man did when he violated God’s instructions which were for his good. When he tried to make God and the woman responsible for his action, he pointed an accusing finger at both of them. God’s question was simple, but man made the answer very complicated. God gave the woman to be a help meet for man for his welfare and not destruction. But man was directly responsible to God for his actions. So man’s answer confirmed his disobedience and displeasure with God who gave him the female companion, and with the woman who gave him the forbidden fruit to eat. But in his effort to find an excuse for his action, man forgot the goodness of God in giving him the commandment and the fact that he had broken a relationship that God established in his life with the woman. If only man confessed his willful act of disobedience without finding excuses and scapegoats, the picture would have been one of another confession by the woman about what she had done to motivate the man to violate God’s commandment. Our excuses for our disobedience thus break relationship with God and fellow human beings. The only way it can be mended is through the frank and bold acceptance of our own faults before God. If we mend our divine and human relationships through repentance, it would open the way for us to live in peace with God and man to enjoy these relationships. True confession of our sins of omissions and commissions will pave the way for a guilt-free and productive relationship both vertically and horizontally.

Hello reader, are you confronted with conflicts between you and other fellow human beings? Do you always think that all these conflicts are caused by others because of their faults? Are you also perhaps tempted to find fault with God for allowing these to happen in your life? But a closer analysis of your situations will reveal that finding fault with others will not help you to resolve your conflicting situations. You need to admit your faults before God and ask Him for forgiveness. In His infinite mercy, God might take away the consequences of your actions in the conflicts, and you may plead for His mercy. But the sure way to get victory in your conflicting situations is to confess your own faults before God and ask Him to take full control of your situations. Surely what has happened cannot be undone, but God can forgive you and grant you a new beginning. As a matter of fact, Christian life is a series of new beginnings each day of your life. If you submit your life to God, He will renew your heart and revive your life to become victorious over the unstable circumstances and the unpredictable people around you. It is best to put all your relationships at the foot of the cross and ask the Lord to rule and overrule your situations to give you victory. Your confession and God’s forgiveness will put us on a new track in your lives to help you march on to victory. Our God is the God of the second chance who gave such renewed opportunities to many of His servants to settle life problems as in the case of Jonah, David, Peter and others. He will give you the strength and courage to face your situation with a penitent heart of hope and victory over your past failures and rebuild your life to new vistas of faith.

1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Thought for Today

Willingness to accept our faults is the first step towards settling our conflicts with God and man.

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SPIRITUAL GARDEN!!

Spiritual Garden!

Verse for Today: Saturday, July 13, 2013

Genesis 2:8 – Now the Lord had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there He put the man He had formed.

It was God’s design that man should live in the perfection of a garden which He had planted. The Garden of Eden was perfect in all its dimensions including size, acoustics, food, water from the rivers which flew through it and was the most secure place. Man was made its custodian, worker and benefactor. But man committed the sin of disobedience and lost the blessings and enjoyment of the Garden of Eden. Even then God didn’t forsake him forever. God gave him the opportunity to enter into the spiritual garden in heaven through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, to dwell in His presence to enjoy all the spiritual blessings. In the new heavenly garden of God, man regained all that he lost in the Garden of Eden. Man finds the green pastures and the cool waters of God where he could dwell in perfect peace and rest in His presence. Man is not to eat the fruit of his labor anymore, but all the blessings kept for him by God because of His mercy, love and grace. But it is imperative that man appropriates all these heavenly blessings by faith and enjoy it. Man thus has the privilege to enjoy God’s best to the brim. Only those who enter through Jesus will ever reach the heavenly garden of perfect spiritual blessings. The blessings are available to them by faith only. It gives them confident living with full trust in God and His promises. Unfortunately a lot of people lose track of the extent of the richness of these blessings because their eyes become dim as they gaze at the seemingly attractive mirages of the Vanity Fair. Today we have the privilege to enter the dwelling place of our Lord to appropriate and enjoy all His resources to meet all our emotional, physical, social and spiritual needs.

Dear reader, are you experiencing dissatisfaction and bitterness in life as you search and seek after contentment? Are you deeply frustrated and distressed about the lack of satisfaction that you experience in life? Remember, there is no scope for true satisfaction in this world which is full of conflicts, competition, corruption, decay, pain, misery, cheating and failures. The world can only bewilder us and make our lives hopeless and worthless, with a false sense of achievement. The world gives us lukewarm water from its broken cisterns which will only increase our thirst and make us sick in our souls. But we do not need to wallow in the corridors of world’s false promises and live a bitter life of ever increasing discontent. Jesus has opened a way for us to enter into His presence and live in the richness of the glories of heaven. It is like a garden with all the goodness that we crave. God’s presence will take away our fears, anxieties, hopelessness, purposelessness and discontent and fill us with His perfect peace. Everything that our souls need to live a contended life here on earth will be given to us at the right measure if we seek after it. If we search for that which will meet our innermost needs, we will find it. If we ask, He will give us what we need to keep us at perfect peace in Him. When we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, His heavenly blessings become our right which we can appropriate by faith. Thus our defeated lives will become victorious. Our fearful lives will become joyful and peaceable. Our failures will be replaced with victory in Jesus. Our dimmed eyes will be filled with the vision of bright hope. Today let us go to the Throne of Grace where our Slain Lamb is seated, and appropriate His fullness by faith and use it to live victoriously.

Ephesians 1:3 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.   

Thought for Today

The spiritual blessings we enjoy are perfect, incorruptible and immeasurable.

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BRIGHT PATHWAYS!!

Bright Pathways!

Verse for Today: Friday, July 12, 2013

Genesis 1:03 – And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

The light that the Creator God brought into this world was intended to brighten the dark world that was around. In spite of God’s light, the world’s moral, intellectual and social darkness continue to prevail in every human walk today because man has willfully rejected God’s light. The darkness of sin led people away from God’s pathway and made them influence other lives to greater darkness. Thus individual lives and human heart have become desperately wicked with great social and spiritual cost to the world and to the earth. But the light that God created is still available for those who want to accept it and live in it to enjoy it. God’s light enters our lives only through the Light of the Word who is Jesus Christ, God’s Son. When Jesus enters a life, He brightens the heart, lightens the character and revolutionizes the outlook of people and makes them march in the sunshine of God’s love and grace. God’s light takes away all doubt, uncertainty and confusion about the present and the future of human life. Today there is no need for man to live in darkness and confusion, but can enter into the light that God has made available to him free of charge. God’s light removes all confusions about the destiny of man and instills hope for a brighter spiritual future. This light comes to man through the written Word and its illumination by the Spirit of God. Light is available to us today, with divine direction for every human activity. But we need to avail of this light and learn to make use of it to live on the pathways created for us by God. Those who follow the light will overcome confusions about their present and future life. But we must be willing to respond to this light through our obedience and submission to God. As we follow the light, our lives will be filled with confidence and faith to keep walking in it without doubt and confusion. God’s light will thus help us to take the right decisions in life which will please God and will be a blessing to others through our interactions with them.

Dear friend, are you groping in the darkness for direction in life? Do you encounter confusions and doubts about which way to turn to in the various areas of your life? Technology or human wisdom will not help you to break through the darkness that is around you. God wants you to know that He has created perfect light to help you out of your dark circumstances. It is available free of cost. But you have to willingly and wholeheartedly accept His light into your life and live in total dependence on this divine ray of hope. When you accept Jesus into your heart as your Savior and Lord, God’s light will enter your life to guide and lead you on God’s pathway. You will then enjoy release from the bondage of darkness and confusion. God will speak to you each day through His Word and His Spirit to brighten your pathways. He will counsel you and teach you to walk circumspectly. You will then know the will of God for every situation in your life. All your doubts and confusions will give way to right direction to travel on your pilgrimage. Each and every step in your life will be perfected by the Light of the Word. You will then be able to help fellow sojourners to learn to understand the pathway of God and walk in it. Thus your life becomes one of certainty, confidence and faith. Today God invites you to exercise your choice to accept His light and live in its warmth and brightness to challenge the prevailing darkness that is around you.  

Psalms 36:9 – For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.

Thought for Today

Walking in God’s light leads to abundant life whereas dwelling in darkness leads to the depths of destruction.

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Loving the Hateful!

 

Loving the Hateful! 

Verse for Today: Thursday, July 11, 2013

John 15:18 - If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it has hated you.

Our world is filled with hatred and hate crimes. People hate each other based on wrong perceptions, misunderstandings, cultural angularities, religious fanaticism, political undercurrents, geographical and ethnic partisanship, ideological intricacies, jealousy and competition. But all of these come from their sinful self. God’s children fall a prey to bitter hatred because the enemy implants hatred in the hearts of people because of the truth that they stand for. If we do not recognize the root cause of such hatred, we might plunge ourselves into distress. The Lord Jesus Christ wants us to understand why there is hatred in this world and to fight it spiritually. We are hated because of our faith and the spiritual stand we take for Him. But if hatred comes because of our own faults, we must confess it to God and ask Him in prayer to make us more and more like Jesus. We ought to be hated only because of our relentless stand for His teachings and life style which are contrary to that of the world. In a selfish world, God wants us to live unselfishly for others so that God’s righteousness and truth will be accomplished in their lives. Jesus wants us to give ourselves for others and always seek their good. He has given us all things for us to expend for the spiritual well-being of those who do not know God personally. He has given us time, talents, training and treasures which can be used for the world to know the love of God. In spite of giving ourselves to others, they might hate us and that is when we ought to rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Let our query be, “What can we give to this world for Jesus’ sake?” Let us seek others’ spiritual welfare rather than be self-seeking and self-promoting. Let us preach and practice a way of life that is quite contrary to the selfish philosophy promoted by Satan and the world system. When we follow such a revolutionary philosophy which is against the world's standards, either they will join us or find us an inconvenience and nuisance.

Dear friend, you must understand and accept the fact that you are in this world today to show God’s love to the people of this world who hate you because of your faith in Jesus. Let us recount all the blessings that are given to us to invest for this world to see and experience Jesus somehow. People hate us because of the enemy of our souls, but let us love them in return rather than retaliating or taking revenge. Let us joyfully suffer persecution, weather emotional, physical or social and use it all as opportunities to touch the lives of those who hate us for Jesus’ sake. He expects His disciples to live in this world and stand strong in His power to prove that we seek the salvation of their souls and not false victories in our battles with them. When the world hates, intimidates and rejects us, it is our opportunity to show Jesus’ love to them. When you and I experience the consequences of hateful atrocities committed against us, our response should be one of love in return. Remember, when we sustain hatred and rejection for the sake of the Lord and His Word, we are a fortunate and privileged people. We stand as a testimony for Jesus in this selfish world amidst its crooked ways. We might be suffering pain and misery because of hate crimes, but the grace of God demonstrated on the cross of Calvary will be showered upon us to endure such persecution with contentment. Let us go forward to suffer for the Lord in this world and thus respond to the persecution He endured for us on the cross.

Luke 6:27 – Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you.

Thought for Today

Love is the panacea to turn hatred into heavenly joy.

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