Trust: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflection

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

The dictionary meaning of trust is "believe in the reliability, truth, or ability of something or someone"

As far as God goes my definition of trust is "Implicit and all consuming faith in being led by God".

This means that trust in God, leads to non dependence on anything else. Dependence on friends, relatives, money, house and just about anything other than God is completely and totally annihilated from our minds and lives. Our mind totally and truly stay on God and God alone. With this background let us ask ourselves - do we really trust God?

For if we don't trust God but ourselves and our abilities or friends, then we don't believe. And if we don't believe, then reading His word, His promises and His prayer really have no meaning.

Now can we honestly apply the above verse to ourselves and say - 

"You will keep me in perfect peace, because my mind is stayed on you and because I trust in you"

Your work is important to God: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

There is a fine line between our  religion and our work life and many of us do not know the difference. We tend to either completely  separate the two or let one completely dominate the other, relegating it to the background. Two dimensions, independent of each other - the spiritual and the physical. 

To get a Biblical insight into this lets read 2 Samuel 5:12 - 

" And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake".

This verse caught my eye today, because of the word "perceived" which means to become aware or conscious of (something) or come to realize or understand something. David understood very well that his kingship was from God, not his own achievement. 

David also realized that God was merciful because of the Israelites, who were His people. So David was placed by God, as King, with the objective of leading, protecting and serving God's people. 

So  two things emerge very clearly: 

A. What ever we are, wherever we are, we are placed there by the Lord and 

B. To fulfil His objective or purpose for us in that placement. 

As we progress in life, do we realize that wherever we are placed, we are placed by the Lord. And therefore we are placed there to do some work for Him. We need to achieve the purpose He has placed on us as well, in both work and personal circumstances. 

And therefore our duty is to give our 100% to our work and also, live our personal and work life according to God's word, fulfilling His purpose for our life.  

Two verses come to mind when we think about this - 

Colossians 3:23 
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, and 

Proverbs 16:3
Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

David did not exclude God from his kingship and relegate Him to his personal life. He invited God to manage both. And he did both with zeal and excelled to become a great King as well as a man after God's own heart. 

How to Possess Possessions: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

 "...what do you have that you did not receive? ...." 1 Corinthians 4:7

How do you possess your possessions? By opening our hands. Sounds funny am sure, but think about this: when we are to receive we open our hands, but as soon as we have received, we close them.

This does not mean we are not grateful to God. We definitely are. But in my opinion, gratitude for blessings received for God is more than mere lip service. I like this four step approach. 

A. Thank God - praise him and glorify Him publicly and privately, which means we acknowledge that God is the provider of that blessing. In continuation of the opening verse, The apostle Paul asked the rhetorical question,

 "...Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" the implications being that we think we have achieved out of our own efforts and not from God.

And that is exactly what we have to stop.

B. Share - we need to keep that hand open and look forward opportunities to Glorify God by sharing. By this I don't mean just tithes. Peoples needs, peoples hunger, death, poverty, we have enough opportunities to demonstrate Gods love for man. To demonstrate this, I will point to the Sikh religion. As soon as they know that something is wrong somewhere, they are out looking for ways to serve people. During the pandemic they were feeding people. They landed up in Ukraine to help people suffering from the war. They did not wait to be asked. 

When we share we should not allow the receiver to thank us and think we have given from our own bounty, but let it be clear it is from the Bounty of God. It is not we who should be thanked but God.

C. His to Him- seek out ways in which we can use His blessings to glorify Him. Be proactive, not wait for opportunities to come to us. Above all be passionate. Because to be proactive, one has to be passionate. 

D. Do not misuse. Sadly this is one of the biggest problems with us all. We do not remember that as receivers of blessings we are only care takers. We need to use those blessings as responsible Christians, for His glory and our needs.

I will end with this Bible verse from 2 Corinthians 9:6-8

"Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work".

Passion over Pain: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

Passion over pain : A Mothers Legacy.

Have you ever thought what is passion? Although not the generally accepted context, I think Psalm 39:3 describes passions so vividly -

"I felt a fire burning inside,
and the more I thought,
the more it burned,
until at last I said:
4 “Please, Lord,
show me my future"

As we can see, the passion to do Gods will is of prime importance in whatever we have been chosen to do by God.

Today, think of the passion of a mother. She performs the role of a caretaker, chef, housekeeper, guard, adviser, saver, driver, nurse, governess, primary health care giver, discipline creator, relationship advisor, Bible teacher, moral guide, and on and on and on.

If we had to hire someone for all these roles, think of what it would cost; think if someone had to do all of this or even part of this, how tired that person will be. But more than that think of one single human being doing all these things- driven on by passion and fulfilment of a God given purpose.

We definitely need to thank God and our respective mums for all we have received - "honor her for all that her hands have done" (Proverbs 31:31) but of equal importance is to  continue the legacy that she has provided of doing the work God has given us with a passion equaling hers.

Like her, be passionate about what God has called us to do for our jobs, for His purpose and for our families, balancing our act so that not one of these becomes our idol but do justice to each of these.

Happy Mother's Day to all.