The Inside Job: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

-Ephesians 5:15-17

Social media has "glitched" our lives. The days of dinner without cell phones or family meetings where people talked and not stared into thier watches and phones are Kong over. There is an incessant demand on our time - from the time we get up to the time we sleep.

In all this it is difficult to spend time with God. Please note I am not saying it is difficult to find time for God. Spending time with God is a little beyond that. It goes beyond daily devotions and adds meditation and prayer. It also involves thinking about our life with God, our failings and our successes. And most importantly it involves speaking to God. Speaking to Him in praise, thanksgiving, sharing problems, asking for solutions... in utmost concentration within  the silence of our bodies and minds. Than and then alone can we hear Him when He speaks through His word or through His Holy spirit.

In this socially networked world, where someone is awake somewhere, our phones never cease to be alive. So how do we spend time with God.

First, know that time is not owned by us. It is owned by God and lent to us. If we use up all the time we have been given in frivolous activities, we have failed miserably in that famous parable of the Talents. Fortunately there is a way we can overcome and that is through one single word: Discipline!

Discipline means to train or develop by instruction and exercise especially in self-control. It's a code of behavior, that has to be followed no matter how inconvenient. And that's how you make time to spend with God. Unburden yourself, rise up early and seek Him. He is always there, represented by His Holy Spirit. Or one could do it at any time of the day by shutting out the world around us and opening the door to Gods word and world. 

It's all within us. Inside of us. And if we are determined, it has to be an inside job. 

Looking up to Power: Lying down in obedience: Pastor Rajiv's mid week message

 How to pray

Isn't Age a number? Reflections by Pastor Rajiv

"Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come".

Do you remember this Psalm? This for all old people of my age... 

Age is just a number as they say. As we grow old and older, our years, spent in experiencing God, are like the chapters of a book for younger people to get motivated and inspired. It is very important to remember Gods work in our lives not just to thank Him and be grateful, but for others to see Him at work in our lives, believers and non believers alike.

Every Storm that comes, every great wave that nearly drowns us, every mountain we have climbed, every weakness we have experienced is a story of Gods strength.

Shall we then say we have lived by a daily abundance of Gods grace?

If we have to be able to say that, we must search and find Gods hand in each day, in each challenge we have faced and in each outcome of those challenges. In each happy time whose memory brings a smile to our face, as also in each sad or hard time when we lay awake and pray for it to pass, no matter the tears. 

And as we search and find, we have to construct that moment in time when we lived and experienced Gods hand in our life, not only for us to remember and be grateful, but for others to see God's work. 

Yes, our life will be in vain if we have not thus reflected. Kind David and others wrote the Psalms as their personal experience of God after a lifetime that  included being a fugitive, living in caves, being exposed to the elements, and fighting hard-fought battles, King David knew every moment when God was at work with him. And he passed on that experience and wisdom for us to follow.

The natural instinct of man is to crib and cry as we age and feel our strength ebbing away, but it is actually a golden time to recall, reflect and reveal God and His work in our life.

How does an old and decrepit man like me show power? Simply by living God's Powers in our life, and showing younger folks how Gods works, not in theory but in practice.

 

God Bless all elders (and me) so that they can show the way forward using their life as an example.