This Week With Jesus

  “God’s purpose for my life was that I have a passion for God’s glory and that I have a passion for my joy in that glory, and that these two are one passion.”  (Jonathan Edwards) “What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.” (Hans Urs von Balthasar) “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” (John Wesley) “We may speak about a place where there are no tears, no death, no fear, no night; but those are just the benefits of heaven. The beauty of heaven is seeing God.”  (Max Lucado) “We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.” (A.W.Tozer) “Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.”  (R.C.Sproul) “When we are securely roo...

When the Christian faith becomes defined by who we are and what we do and not by who Christ is and what he did for us, we miss the gospel - and we, ironically, become more disobedient. Tullian Tchividjian The truth is the real Christian experience is truly about repenting every day because there is no Christian that doesn't sin. Stephen Baldwin I'm excited to create more awareness about the importance of giving the youth of America a choice. There's a 24-hour music channel. There's a 24-hour comedy channel. I believe there's a 24-hour gay channel coming. Why isn't there a 24-hour Christian channel that's edgy and hip and cool and new and different, like all that other stuff? Stephen Baldwin Some of us live a Christian life as if we're always under the stern, watchful eye of our Father and he is very impossible to please... No, God delights even in our heartfelt attempts at obedience. Kevin DeYoung If creators of Christian culture hope to produce work...

Money is never enough. We keep striving and working for more. This is not new; it is from eons that we already always trying to earn money and more money. Tom Harper explains this from a Biblical perspective. Imagine you suddenly find $100 million in your bank account (and it's rightfully yours). What would you do with it? Once you've celebrated, paid off all your debt, bought a couple cars and moved into your new private-island home, what would be next in life? An Indian saint and poet, Sant Kabir Das, said thus -  "Sayeen Itna Deejiye, Ja Mein Kutumb Samaye. Main Bhi Bhookha Na Rahun, Sadhu Na Bhookha Jaye". (Please God, give me enough so that I can support myself and my family, and so that no one goes hungry, not me nor any saint who comes to my home).  Proverbs 30:8-9 also says it so well: "…give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, "Who is the Lord?" And if I am too poor...

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. Francis of Assisi Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. Vince Lombardi Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. Warren Buffett When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost. Billy Graham My home is in Heaven. I'm just traveling through this world. Billy Graham Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has. Billy Graham The main rule to me is to honor God with your life. To life a life of integrity. Not be selfish. You know, help others. But that's really the essence of the Christian faith. Joel Osteen When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous. Now, if that man, when he gets all he can and saves all he can, does not give all he can, I have more h...

 

“Religion today is not transforming people— it is being transformed by people. It is not raising the moral level of society— it is descending to society's own level and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smiling, accepting its surrender.” - A. W. TOZER (1897-1963) These words reflect the true state of society and Christianity today. As Christians, do we embody Christianity? Or do we take what is convenient and ignore or justify the rest. Christianity is not a convenience. It is a way of life to be led by emulating Christ for the Glory of our Father in Heaven. Don't we pray that? When we help someone in need is it for Gods glory or our own? When we perform church activities, is it for our own name to be up in lights or for the body of Christ? When we pray for someone to be healed is it for Gods glory or because we just like that person? Do we use the church as a social and networking platform or THE house of God? Do we follow Christ with a zer...

The coffee story is quite a common analogy to human nature. If you are carrying a cup of hot coffee and someone jostles your hand, the coffee in the cup (or whatever is in it) spills over. Similarly, in humans, hidden feelings, frustrations, fear etc spill over and out of us when our life is jostled by circumstances or someone's behaviour. We can take some ones advice negatively and react or some thing which hurts us. In our life stresses and "jostles" are inevitable. Consider the cup to be the heart and mind and whatever is in it to be the coffee. Whatever we fill in the cup is what will spill out, when jostled. King David's cup ran over with Gods goodness and provision in his life because he recognised God. He understood His works. He talked, God answered and he listened. David was Gods friend. King David's heart was filled with God. His cup ran over with God. Today let us meditate on ourselves: when we are under stress what spills out of our cup? Can I fill my ...

  "God never said that the journey would be easy, but He did say that the arrival would be worthwhile." — Max Lucado "You are the only Bible some unbelievers will ever read." — John MacArthur "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important." — C.S. Lewis "It is not the trials in your life that develop or destroy you, but rather your response to those hardships." — Charles Stanley "If you believe in a God who controls the big things, you have to believe in a God who controls the little things. It is we, of course, to whom things look 'little' or 'big.'" — Elisabeth Elliot "We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations." — Chuck Swindoll "The greater your knowledge of the goodness and grace of God on your life, the more likely you are to praise Him in the storm." ...

In management, there is a concept of self-talk. There is nothing crazy about talking to oneself. Self-talk is the internal dialogue that people have with themselves, and it can have a big impact on how a person feels and acts. Positive self-talk can help people feel better about themselves, and can have many benefits, including goal attainment and building an overall positive attitude. Drawing a cue from this concept, when we do our daily devotions and or read the Bible, instead of a mechanical tick in the box, if we relate what is being read to our own lives, each phase or period, we will be able to spot where we went wrong and what we did right. This knowledge will help to correct ourselves for future, aligning our life to Christ and Gods ways and will. That is exactly how computers also work. They analyze the past to predict the future. What does it mean to "preach to ourselves"? "Preaching to ourselves is essentially the biblical call to "meditate" on Scrip...

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...

Today, we cover a book named "Time to Rise and Shine" by Janice Riley, a dear friend, book publisher, and ordained minister. She and her husband Rob, a professional and short-term missionary, have visited India, Honduras and the Dominican Republic for revival meetings. Their mission trips included construction projects, prophetic training, community outreach and more. The book highlights the changing needs of Christianity in today's world and the need for a Christ-like response to people and situations. According to Janice, "this book is a heart’s cry to come and be transformed into the likeness of Christ, calling the Bride of Christ into her destiny, her identity. While The Church has been told what to do, given the top five ways to make it happen and a comfy seat to sit in while they watch the sage on the stage preach one more sermon, and enjoy one more musical performance by the worship team, religious tradition has assembled a mass of spectators to watch a specia...

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...

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...