This Week With Jesus

The name of this post in truth, should have been Science and God. But we view science and religion as being diametrically opposite, though they go hand in hand.  Science explains the "how" of God and His creation while religion explains the "why" . For example, it can tell us how it rains but cannot tell you why it does or does not rain and why should it rain. Why do we die? Science can tell us how we die but cannot explain why we die. The fact is the world and all that is in it, is part of God's creation. And God uses His creation to bless us or deprive us, according to His will and judgement. For example, we have completely disrespected nature, Gods creation, throughout the ages and today we are paying the price of that disrespect and destruction. The "how" is what science helps us to understand, so that we truly appreciate what God has done, and praise Him in awe and wonder. This understanding of the "how" of creation inspired King David

Psalm 23 is quite strange. After all, after having walked through the "valley of the shadow of death" God prepares a feast for David in the presence of his enemies! Can we/ you ever feast or banquet during adverse times? The KJV devotional has this to say - "David faced so many challenges but remained confident in the power and provision of God. He knew how God could prepare a feast; not just in a secure place but even in the presence of enemies. This illustration shows us the richness of God’s care for His people and the confidence we can have in Him. We see here that God prepares the table and does not bother to remove the presence of enemies (or adversity). This means that there are times when God allows hardships to linger, but He still provides care, sustenance, provision, and strength while we are going through these adversities. We cannot always expect God to get rid of all of our obstacles for us, but we can be confident that even when surrounded by threats or ha

How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, His precepts! - Benjamin Franklin This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practise ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people. - C.S. Lewis I believe there are too many practitioners in the church who are not believers .- C.S. Lewis Every man should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to bury the faults of his friends. - Henry Ward Beecher Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us. - Charles Spurgeon Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite. - Charles Spurgeon Experience tells us that each man most keenly and unerringly detects in others the vice with which he is most familiar himself .- Frederick W. Robertson Steal the hog, and give the feet for alms. - George Herbert The Pharisees broke Moses' tables into pieces, and, gathering up the fragments, took to themselves what part of duty they pleas

Reference: 2 Timothy 2 14-26 Our world revolves around two things - assets and liabilities. We define and classify people around us with these two scales. That is of course in the material world. In the Christian world, a similar question arises: are we an asset to Christ? Firstly, let us understand that we are NOT a liability. We, each one of us are valuable to God. Not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of what we have cost . Second, just because we are not a liability does not mean we are an asset. An asset is something or someone who is useful to the world, people around us and to society at large. As assets we become agents of change for the better. Last, and following from the above, as assets we become agents of change for God. His word tells us what we need to do, how we must behave and act. How we need to build a relationship with Him as well as the people around us. That we, become a lighthouse for Him, guiding others to Him. If our light starts to dim, w

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” -  Matthew 19:2 6 God works. And He does not do things with a wave of a magic wand, but through people like you and me. We all can be used for good, in some way, big or small. Let me relate a short story of a simple act of kindness and love, which I happened to have witnessed. "Every place in the world has two common things: street food and the hunger. One day, a person, call him X (since I do not know his name), saw some enticing street food being cooked. It was a rainy day and the smell of the food, hot on the stove, was more than he could resist. He walked over to get some packed for himself. As he was waiting with the rest of the customers, he noticed a small girl, maybe 6 or 8 years old, dirty, filthy and obviously hungry. She went from person to person begging for some food. Most people ignored her; the shop worker scolded her half heartedly; he had seen enough hungry folks to

Author Unknown A wise woman who was travelling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. when she asked him why he returned the stone, he said, "I've been thinking: I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone." In today's circumstances, sometimes it may make more sense and wisdom to give someone in need a skill, a tool or a job, rather than just money. It may have more impact.  Remember: A little boy gave up h

  Comforting God, you promise to be with all who suffer in mind, body, and spirit. We pray for those whose bodies and minds are captive to disease or injury and for those whose minds and spirits are captive to grief or fear We pray today especially for those affected by the school shooting in Sanski Most, Bosnia, for those harmed by the spread of mpox in the Congo, and for all the people of Israel, Palestine, the Ukraine and elsewhere whose souls and bodies are captive to war and injustice. Give us your compassion, so that we might proclaim with our words and our actions the hope that comes from your loving presence. We Pray for a revival among Christian families across the world.  We prayer for the Pastor in Australia who needs sustenance and strength to recoup from his illness to be able to continue God's work. We pray for a lady in India who is undergoing medical tests and needs prayers for all to be fine. We continue to prayer for a senior in India who is a patient of Parkinson

Man giving his own slippers to a child. (The Kindness Blog) It’s a paradigm shift… Let’s look at this from 30,000 feet… At the end of the day… Let’s get our heads around this… The world us full of buzz words and jargon. I guess they make the speaker feel a little wiser and knowledgeable and "in". Dis you know that Christianity too has a lot of buzzwords ? One of the many is "The Living Word" . Yes we all know what it means but do we really live it? Jesus said many will say Lord Lord... Matthew 7:22. Yes, Jesus is the living word from God to us. His ressurection proved that. The problem is unless we don't live the word it's a dead word as far as we are concerned. He also made it so simple: love and honor God above all else and love people. Do we love people apart from Sundays in church? Do we help our neighbors even if it's inconvenient? If someone Need's medical support, though we may not be doctors, we could arrange for them to meet a doc. Or if som

How many people across the world live in windowless homes or rooms? I don't think anyone has calculated that simply because we have not yet acknowledged the health risk of living in a windowless room. One a cold winter day, one of my to do list is to open the window and let the sun and warm breeze warm up the room. The warm breeze and bright sun cheers one up no end. And then I think of all those people who live in windowless rooms. In those cheerless, unhealthy conditions, how would they feel or survive? Just like living without a window in the home is unhealthy, living without a spiritual window is also fraught with the danger of becoming spirituality empty and open to becoming a victim in the spiritual war around us, unseen, unheard, but very much there. Jesus Christ is that window we need. Through Christ we can build a relationship with God the Father. Through Christ we can get the Holy Spirit to help us, protect us and guide us. Thrpugh Christ we can beat the threat of a secon

  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

                                            "Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts" . Malachi 1  When we have esteemed visitors over for a visit, we try and offer the best we can. Best crockery and cutlery, the best of foods, the best seat in the house and the best comforts. When God knocks, in the form of a hungry person, what do we offer? Stale food? When asked by beggars -do we give s oiled or unusable currency and keep the crisp notes for ourselves? It's not what we give. It's how we give. Let's not put terms and conditions to our giving. Recognize the need and give honorably, thereby honoring God for there is God in each human.  Give more or give l

  Today we have chosen the theme of Faith and Hope and bring you a post and a song. We hope you enjoy these.  Leap Of Faith can be read here  King of Heaven a Paul Baloche song rendered by Voices for Glory, the Bethel Methodist Chruch Choir can be heard here 

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

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

                                  Addiction is so prevalent in the world today that it encompasses nearly a quarter of the world. And if we add food addiction that figure would probably be three fourths. Food addiction will probably include you and me. Addicts of all kinds are looked down on, sometimes with sympathy and sometimes with disgust. Seldom with empathy. Addicts need to be treated not with sympathy or disgust but with kindness and support. Pastor David Jacobs says - "No matter where you are from, if you are old enough, you have been exposed to some form of addiction. Whether you have battled addiction yourself as I have or you have seen it grip somebody that you know, the depths of addiction and the hold that it can have on people is terrifying. Knowing all that we do about addiction and the harms that it brings, how are we not more wary of it? How do we not do more to resist its temptations? The enemy is stronger than we imagine, prowling like a lion on helpless prey.

Who has the power to reject you? Isn't rejection a judgement? And who in this human world can judge?  Unfortunately, we all do, belying what Jesus taught or tried to teach. Judging others seems to be second nature to us. The question is why we do it. Firstly, we build our own castles by bringing others down . For example, some public speakers comment adversely on their audience to make a point, thereby positioning themselves higher than the audience, so that the audience accepts their views without question. Secondly, it sometimes helps to fit in the crowd . If 5 people we know don't like someone, we too pretend so that we may fit in and build a bond. And sometimes it may just be a self defense mechanism , not to get close enough to someone so you don't get hurt, therefore we build a justification for that by a negative judgement. Lastly, and this is a universal fact, we all have a perception that we are entitled . No. We are not. That's an illusion we have created abo

                                             Man lives his or her life in moments, not in years, though we do celebrate birthdays. In actuality, life is lived in moments. We often  miss fully living in the present moment because we are so busy rehashing the past or rehearsing the future.  Our days are numbered as is our breadth. We could be happily alive one moment, and moved on the next, leaving our near and dear ones, our riches and all our material glory behind. The material outcome of each one of us is the same: ashes and dust and onto eternal life minus all we have known. Meanwhile I can either strike off the day or moments I have lived or   add each day of my life to my treasure of days lived ( Robert Brault). Therefore, each moment of life is to be celebrated; with joyous gratitude and celebrating those moments with sharing a piece of ourselves. William Arthur Ward pointed this out and famously said "God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say '

Good question, but the answer depends very much on the definition of humor. Perhaps the best indication that God does have a sense of humor is that He created man in His image (Genesis 1:27), and certainly people are able to perceive and express humor.  The American Heritage Dictionary defines a “sense of humor” as “...The ability to perceive, enjoy, or express what is comical or funny.” According to this definition, then, God must show an ability to perceive, enjoy, or express what is comical. The difficulty is that people perceive what is comical differently, and what sinful man perceives as funny would not amuse a holy and perfect God. Much of what the world calls humor is not funny but is crass and crude. Our humor is expressed at the expense of others (tearing down rather than building up), again something contrary to God’s Word. To understands Gods sense of humor let us look at His word - the Bible and its historical narratives. Here we find a humorous side in many, many situati

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