This Week With Jesus

RC Sproul once related a possibly not so well known story: "After the Korean War ended, South Korea was left with a large number of children who had been orphaned by the war. We’ve seen the same thing in the Vietnam conflict, in Bosnia, and in other places. In the case of Korea, relief agencies came in to deal with all the problems that arose in connection with having so many orphan children. One of the people involved in this relief effort told me about a problem they encountered with the children who were in the orphanages. Even though the children had three meals a day provided for them, they were restless and anxious at night and had difficulty sleeping. As they talked to the children, they soon discovered that the children had great anxiety about whether they would have food the next day. To help resolve this problem, the relief workers in one particular orphanage decided that each night when the children were put to bed, the nurses there would place a single piece of bread i

                                                    As we relax on Saturdays, its time to not only think about ourselves but also all those people who need our prayers and support. We are sharing some prayer needs so that we all can support each other. We want to pray for peace and normalcy to prevail in Bangladesh and protection of minorities there.  We ask for divine intervention:- For a Pastor in Australia and a senior citizen - : We pray for healing and strength allowing him to continue his work for God.  For a senior in India suffering from Dementia .  We continue to  pray for her peace as well as strength for her caregiver. For a senior in India suffering from a debilitating back pain , we ask for prayer of strength and healing.  Tanu requests prayer saying : Heavenly Father I thank you for the wonderful organization where you have blessed me and other families with a job. I continue praying that you look at us with mercy and favor, protect the organization from individuals who d

  As we relax on Saturdays, its time to not only think about ourselves but also all those people who need our prayers and support. We are sharing some prayer needs so that we all can support each other. For Upper Room readers who have requested prayers- Kait   requests prayer saying: Please pray that God relieves the pain in my body after a hard days work. Please pray that God will allow me to fulfill his calling for me for a long time. Thank you God for the many blessings you bestow RN requests prayer saying: Please pray my doctor’s appointment goes well tomorrow. Thank you so much. Jlow requests prayer saying: Prayer for my freedom. God bless those who are not. For a senior in India suffering from Dementia . We pray for her peace as well as strength for her caregiver. Please pray for Jim . Pray that he can work thru an issue that happened today. Pray for it to go well. John requests prayer saying: Please pray that my dad's hearing will be corrected and that at least one of his

Jacob, famous as a con artist, found himself conned, a liar deceived, and a manipulator outmaneuvered. His life mirrored the meaning of his name, "heel-catcher," a term that implies following someone closely to overtake or deceive them. But, Jacob is also famous for wrestling with God for a blessing, which was anyway intended for him all along. While this episode is quite funny, does it not sound familiar? We too, are constantly wrestling with God to get His blessings - in the way we think we deserve. God wants to give it His way and we want ours. Sometimes, the wrestling looks a bit like negotiating with God, and at other times it looks like reminding God of his promises while asking him to act. But sometimes, our pride and arrogance, intelligence, come in the way. Let us learn to accept in humility rather than demand in arrogance. Like Jacob, let our encounters with God be to demand a blessing according to God, not demand our desires according to us. Like Melanie Campbell s

  The Boat with a Hole - A short story. Read it HERE Quid est veritas: what is truth? Pilate's key question, we are still trying to answer today. Read it HERE

  If you had a choice between winning or losing what would you choose? This is a story of Shay, shared by a well-wisher, friend and a social worker. In this story there is no hero, no punchline and yet brings tear to the eyes. This is how it goes: "At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?' The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature prese

Matthew 20: 21 21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” Man's natural instinct is to strive for Glory, small or big. The question is who's Glory? Self or God? 1 Corinthians 10:31 says "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God". Yet, some people credit all their successes to their own knowledge and hard work, (much like Nebuchadnezzar and his self-praise regarding Babylon, Daniel 4, 28-37) relegating God's grace to church circles at best, and some not even that. Some even preach the gospel, inspired by themselves and uninspired by God, for their own glory as speakers or knowledgeable people. We thus become idols to ourselves. Romans 12:3 ... According to Paul Tripp in TGC, Typical signs of self glorification (among others), are - Parade in public what should be kept in private. - Be way too self-referencing. -

                            The primary purpose of reading the Bible is not to know the Bible but to know God. — James Merritt The goal isn’t to have a Bible collection on your shelf, but a collection of the Bible stored up in yourself. — Wendy Speake, The 40-Day Feast The questions we ask of the Bible impact the wisdom we glean from it. — Tara-Leigh Cobble When asked, ‘What is more important: prayer or reading the Bible?’ I ask, ‘What is more important: breathing in or breathing out?’” — Charles Spurgeon "The Bible redirects my will, cleanses my emotions, enlightens my mind, and quickens my total being". — E Stanley Jones “There are two ways to read Scripture — the way a lawyer reads a will and the way an heir reads a will.” — Alexander Whyte [People] do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself but because it contradicts them. — E. Paul Hovey HAPPY SUNDAY!

Did u know that Satan also blesses. He is not deaf. He too hears when we ask God for some blessing which may or may not be His will for us. The devil works with counterfeit information and what we have asked for, he will send us as a counterfeit blessing. Terms and conditions attached.  The exact meaning of the word "counterfeit" is something  made in exact imitation of something valuable with the intention to deceive or defraud . And without knowledge and wisdom to discern, a fake, seems to be genuine.  This is why it is wise to pray for discernment so that nothing passed us by surprise, and we miss what God really wanted for us. 

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Reference: Matthew 25: Ver 35-40 If God comes knocking at your door today, what will you do? Seriously. What would someone do? Would we be excited? Would we be afraid? Would we run around like chickens not knowing what to do? Or would we turn Him away? The fact is, God does come knocking at your door, at your car window or in your office . And every so often we turn Him away. The fact is, there is God in everyone. The hungry beggar, the homeless man or woman, the lame and the sick. He comes to our door in many shapes and forms, but we do not recognize Him. So little is our faith in man that we judge: "oh why should I give? Can he not work?" Or "He will only go and drink it away". Or simply "this is another way of thievery". Friends, we justify our apathy with judgements. Yes, everything we think maybe true. They might drink

Have you noticed how angry so many people in the world seem to be? They are angry with themselves, with their jobs, with their governments, with other people, with stores, with products with life, with their surroundings, in short nearly everything. According to the Gallup Global Emotions Report, anger around the world has been rising since 2016, with 23% of respondents now feeling angry on any given day. That's about 2 billion people being angry every day. Wow! What makes people angry though? Harvard Health says one of the main reasons is a sense of powerlessness. But a kind of overarching reason maybe the difference between what we expect and what we get in life. This is not to say one can't have dreams to work towards, dreams are goals, not expectations. Problem is the outcome of anger only leads to more trouble and holding it in causes health problems. So what do we do? Let's see what the Bible says . The Bible showcases expectations not just as the anticipation of an o

Remember Job? A character of much importance in the Bible. Some people joke and say that he innocently became the subject of a bet between God and Satan. Except that God does not gamble.  God also does not need to give points, but He did point Job to His truths. Yet, even today,  we humans want proof points. Proof of His creation, proof of His presence, proof of His love for us. We sure know about Him, but do we really believe in Him until he shows His presence? Humanity needs case studies like that of Job to show others of things like faith, Gods love, Divine intervention etc. If you look at it, Job is a typical human and, in the story, God lists out all the proof points you and I need that He exists, and He is God the Creator. He also gives proof points that He is the nurturer and the provider; that he is the protector of His creation and finally that He is the power that keeps the balance in His creation. The Story of Job is an important one for us. Not because it teaches us how to

"For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” - Esther 4:14 What a profound ultimatum was given to Esther!  But in  Esther we find a powerful message of courage and divine providence. Esther found herself in a powerful position as a queen. She used her position to save her people from a terrible fate at the urging of her cousin Mordecai, who is quoted above as well. In fact, till this day the Israelites celebrate Purim , to commemorate the defeat of Haman's plot to massacre the Jews as recorded in the book of Esther.  Like Esther, have you ever felt you were in a certain situation for a reason? That perhaps, like Esther, God has orchestrated events in your life to fulfil a special purpose? It can be easy to feel insignificant and powerless, but God often places us exactly where we

Imagine you are being chased by violent robbers who not only want to rob you but do bodily harm. You run here and there, trying to find an escape route but they are relentless. There is a whole bunch of them, brandishing knives and pistols, shouting and screaming about what they will do to you when they catch you. You run and run, hard and fast but they are catching up. You know it's only a matter of a couple of minutes before they catch you. As you run you think of your family, friends. You also think of who or what can help you. You rue the fact that you did not put emergency on fast dial on your phone, because you know when they do catch you, they will take away the phone. Suddenly as you zig zag you see an alley... though it's dark but it does provide you with an escape route. You duck into it hoping to find escape. The robbers are right behind you. As your eyes focus in the dark you see that it's a dead end. A 20 feet fall blocks any thought of escape. You turn to face

The Good news is that Sundays will not be blank for us!  We will be repeating some meaningful posts on Sunday. So here are our suggestions for today:   1.  Transforming Sadness to Hope - Jesus transforms lives. Can we help?  You can read it here   2.  An Accidental Human - For management strategists & practitioners as well as Christian professionals .  You can read it here   Happy Weekend Reading! 

                                                                                                                                Image: Scout Life Magazine Prayer is a pillar or actually the cornerstone of Christian life.  A typical prayer may include giving thanks, intercession, blessings, praise etc.  And we may ask for help with the problems and challenges we face. Tom Clark from Life, Home and Truth has this to say -  ... "do we always pray for the right things?  Let me illustrate this with a paraphrase of a story by Peggy Porter on  usscouts.org  that I read many years ago. Eight-year-old Gilbert had only been in Cub Scouts a short while when the scoutmaster handed everyone a block of wood, four tires and a sheet of instructions, and told them to go home and “give it all to Dad.” Unfortunately, the dad part was not an option for Gilbert, so the block of wood sat untouched for days as a befuddled Gilbert struggled to figure out what to do. Finally, without a better option, Gilb

Growing up there was no television and going to the movies was a treat. The daily entertainment came from reading books. Two such book are ones I will never forget - All things bright and beautiful and All creatures Great and Small by James Heriot, a vet surgeon in rural England.  His books are about his daily experiences as a vet and  Gods creation, farm animals, birds and other creatures in our daily life, as well as the challenges they face as do their owners and farmers. One common picture which will keep popping up is that of fences on farms, pens and enclosures where the animals are kept safe. A gate left open accidentally can result in tragedy for the animal, so the farmer makes sure all gates are shut. In case it is not and animals stray, they are sitting targets for wolves, speeding cars and other dangers, so the farmer immediately goes after the strays and tries to bring them back to safety. This is much like our own shepherd who may leave 100 of us while we are in the safe

Rabindranath Tagore, an Indian poet, writer and composer of the Indian National Anthem said - "Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man" It is inevitable that at some point in our life we face being left alone. By parents, by a spouse, friends and family. The reasons could be one of many - most common being death. As an adult, the pain and sense of abandonment can be overwhelming as can be insecurity and hopelessness.  Yet two things come to mind in such a situation. Two verses which can rebuild hope and life. John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. King James Version And then you have Isiaah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. These two verses give me ho

                                       Sometimes, simple quotes from people can be more effective than the longest or best of sermons. A couple of lines can leave a lasting impact, simplifying some of the most complicated messages. Today we bring you some quotes around the theme - A God Lead Life 1 . Coincidence is Gods way of remaining Anonymous - Albert Einstein . (For all those who believe in coincidences), 2 . Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is whether I am on Gods side, for God is always right. - Abraham Lincoln. 3. Life is Gods novel. Let Him write it - Isaac Singer 4. We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls. - Mother Teresa 5. There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those

The phrase "A tick in the box" is used to refer to a way of doing things that involves following rules or instructions that are the same in every case, with no possibility of someone using their own sense, knowledge or ability to do something. Today the question is: Do we lead "tick in the box" lives?  David Jacobs says this:  "If you and/or your family is anything like mine, the act of prayer has become repetitive. We say a quick prayer before eating, sometimes go to church and say quick prayers that we read off the bulletin, and overall any time that we pray it is of very little meaning or consequence. There is not an ounce of focus spent on the words and meaning of the prayer. It is almost like we are not even there. What do we want from these prayers? What are we asking for? " You see it’s not the atheist who is a hypocrite, it’s the apathetic believer who is satisfied with the “whitewash” of the lifestyle and social standing of being part of a church