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.”

Prevailing Prayer: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

"By his strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed...." 

Influencing God through Prayer!

Paul said to make our appeals to God through faith and thanksgiving. There are many examples in the Bible of people who had influence with God through prayer, and today we want to talk about this as well. 

We call this prevailing prayer, something we can fall back on, when answers from God are not forthcoming. 

Let's understand this. According to the Apolistic Faith Magazine, Prayer is the most intimate form of communication between God and His creation, because it is the heart of man communicating with the heart of God. What an amazing definition of prayer! 

The word prevail means “to endure, accomplish, triumph or overcome, and have power or influence. A clear example of this is Jacob wrestling with God. Not for a moment do I believe that the night Jacob spent was only on a physical wrestle, I believe it was a spiritual wrestle as well, converting Jacob from form a deceiver to Israel, meaning let God prevail. 

That night Jacob prevailed with God, getting His blessings. And so it is even today. Prevailing prayer is not a perfunctory prayer. It can go on for days, cause us a lot of pain and hardship and needs a lot of patience. We have always said that a prayer or conversation with God can be done throughout the day. 

Prevailing prayer must be made within the promises of God. We prevail when our entire lives are aligned to the truths of God’s Word. We may want to prevail with God, but unless there is surrender, there can be no victory. Before there can be revival, there must be total submission. If we want to have the fullness of God, we will need to be emptied of everything that crowds out God. 

Given the importance of prevailing prayer, we will cover the critical components of it in the next few days. Till then once can start practising.

The Prodigal's Father: Pastor Rajiv's Midweek Message

Sunday the 4th was Father's Day in Australia and on this occasion, Pastor Rajiv delves into the parable of the Prodigal Son and the role of his Father

This is the way; walk in it. : Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

"This is the way; walk in it”

Read Exodus 13 17 to 32

When Pharaoh let the people go, God didn’t lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, even though that was the shorter route. God thought, If the people have to fight and face war, they will run back to Egypt. - Exodus 13:17

Everyone, each one, go through a period of dark days, extreme needs and see no solution in sight. We pray, possibly day and night, for relief. Yet we don't see it in our sight.

Over the years I have come to realize that dark days do not mean the end days, but a major turn that God has planned for us and because of our antipathy to change, has to close all doors but one: the one he wants us to go through.

The Israelites were led through a longer way so that they would not run back to Egypt. I am sure that longer way would have been very painful, but God in His wisdom, needed them to do that.

When all doors seem closed, I now try and look beyond what I want, to find that one door which is open because God wants me to choose that path. It maybe painful at first, but in His wisdom He has directed it, therefore it will be the best.

Meekness and Weakness: Pastor Rajiv's Mid Week Message

 

The Esacpe Route: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

One of the principles of physics is that to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In essence, whatever we do has consequences - good or bad.

In  Christian life, similarly there are consequences of wrong decisions, trusting ourselves rather than godly guidance, etc . While Jesus will not change those consequences, He will change us and our attitude if we ask Him to do that.

David prayed day and night for his baby to be saved and not die. But that did not happen. When he realized he had to bear the consequences he stood up, had a bath, thanked God and moved on, having borne the consequence of his sin with Bathsheba.

And that is one of the biggest disconnects in our understanding of Gods forgiveness. When we make a mistake and ask God for forgiveness are we truly looking to be forgiven or are we asking for an escape route from the consequences of our wrong doing?

Let's understand this better with a fictional example. Let us say I owe the government 10,000 in taxes and I omit to pay it. And then I get served a notice. 

Now here is what happens: I have been disobedient to God (He said give to Caesar what is Caesars) as well as committed a crime in the land where I live. So I start praying to God - Lord forgive me, save me. Don't let me go to jail. Don't let me bear this punishment. Of course God will forgive me for being disobedient to Him. I am sure of that. But will he save me from the consequences of breaking the law? I don't think so. But He will give us the strength to bear those consequences. He will make the burden lighter.

Remember Lot and his wife? 

“And as they (angels) brought them out, one said, ‘Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.’” (Genesis 19:17)
“But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back and she became a pillar of salt.” (Genesis 19:26)

Lot lost everything he had hoped to build in his chosen "city" life and she lost her life itself. Our human capacity to disobey is still very much prevalent, but thankfully we have Jesus to help us through. 

Thank God for Paul: Pastor Rajiv's Mid Week Message

 

When God Says NO: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

The blessing of a "No".

When God says no,  it's a lesson to be learnt or a disaster being averted. Learn the lesson, don't tempt the disaster. Give thanks and move on.

Gods blessings are not always in His giving but also in His with holding as well. God knows better than we do, and his ‘no’ is always merciful, even when it hurts.”

And that is usually when God wants a change in direction for us, from where we want to go to where he wants us to go. 

C.S. Lewis once wrote, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” How insightful is that? 

The best is often painful because the human emotion is to resist change in our thinking and doing. We are so invested in the past we often fail our own future.

The only way to alleviate that pain is to trust, understand (through His word) and obey. And only after that will be able to say in all honesty - Let thy will be done. Amen.

Ethics of hypocrisy: Pastor Rajiv's Daily Reflections

“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”

Luke 6:46

The word "Ethical" comes from the Greek ethos or  "moral character" and describes a person or behavior as right in the moral sense - truthful, fair, and honest. Sometimes the word is used for people who follow the moral standards of their profession.

As a Christian, have you ever wondered what our ethics should be? We profess Christianity but do we know the ethics of our profession?

If not, it's time to read the scripture again, because without due consideration, we will tend to wrongdoings or sins, both of commission and omission. For those who don't understand what these sins are - Simply put, sins of commission are things we have done which are biblically wrong and sins of omission are things we should have done but did not do. For example I should have told the truth about something but I kept silent because it was not convenient for me. That is omission of truth. 

Expanding further, in these Covid days people may have Covid but omit to inform thereby endangering others. That is omission of truth. To explain further using the example of truth and lies, commission is actively lying about something and omission is keeping silent on the truth. 

Both are equally dangerous.

When we acknowledge Jesus as our Lord, we are supposed to practice His teachings, both actively and passively. But when we don't do that and yet say Lord Lord, are we not being unethical and hypocritical?

Let's become more aware of sins of omission and commission so that we consciously avoid being a hypocrite, but be held accountable to Jesus's ethics.