Judas was God Chosen: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

Judas is a famous man. Famous for the greatest and most spectacular sin in the world. And yet he was part of Gods plan and chosen by God, followed Jesus, worked miracles and was an apostle.

This can be perplexing, for if he was chosen by God to betray Jesus, was he really guilty? If he was preordained was he at fault?

Here is a problem we all face. If things are preordained, why am I guilty or why am I blessed or why am I suffering? Can I be a follower of Jesus and yet not be?

Judas example shows us that we can be Gods followers yet not be. By choosing from the beginning an apostle who was destined for apostasy and destruction, and by including him in his closest relations, and by giving him power over unclean spirits and over diseases, Jesus shows us that religious associations and religious practices and miracle-working are no sure evidence of being born again. And born again we must be to become a true follower of Jesus.

Secondly Judas had a choice: that of begging God's forgiveness after his spectacular sin. He did not. He preferred death through suicide rather than face God.
What we learn from Judas is that
A. Gods word is never broken. The scriptures talked about Gods plan, and it had to be done.
B. Inspire of our worst sin we have the choice of repenting
C. Religious associations and religious practices and miracle-working are no sure evidence of being born again.
D. And lastly predestination and human responsibility go hand in hand. If sin and sinfulness is predestined, repentance is our choice. Judas had that choice, as do we all.

We all have a Judas in us. We all have betrayed Jesus in our lives. Yet we all have the right to His saving grace. That's the miracle of Christ.

Courage is not impossible: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

"He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD". Psalm 112 ver 7

We are no strangers to bad news. Not one of us. And we are no strangers to fear as well. Fear is the one thing that can undermine our belief and faith in our God. It is well written that fear is the sharpest tool of Satan and which he uses well. When we fear, it is because we see no hope for the future. We depend on man and human power to bail us out. But as a follower of Christ and God, and with the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, we do not need to fear.

The KJV Bible Study says - "Christian, you ought not to dread the arrival of evil tidings; because if you are distressed by them, what do you more than other men? Other men have not your God to fly to; they have never proved his faithfulness as you have done, and it is no wonder if they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with fear: but you profess to be of another spirit; you have been begotten again unto a lively hope, and your heart lives in heaven and not on earthly things; now, if you are seen to be distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace which you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new nature which you claim to possess?"

So, what do we need to do as followers? Trust in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Your wisest course is to do as Moses did at the Red Sea, “Stand still and see the salvation of God.” For if you give way to fear when you hear of bad news, you will be unable to meet the trouble with that calm composure which nerves for duty, and sustains under adversity. How can you glorify God if you play the coward?

This courage is not impossible and needs to be built up through experiences. When we are in fear, we need to look back on our life and remember all those times that God has pulled out of the deepest mire and set us up on a rock. We need to demonstrate to God that we believe in Him, have faith in Him and we do not have short memories. We need to depend on Him and not our friends and relatives. 

We need to remember our covenant with God, “let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”