Grace

Some time back I was having a business lunch with a person from a non-Christian background, for some business planning in the following financial year. As our food was served, I dove into it, but this person bowed his head for about 10 seconds and seemed to have prayed. I asked him and he said he was giving thanks to God for his food. He had picked up the habit in school. It is called saying grace and is fast being forgotten.

Sometimes we’re so busy worrying about the future that we overlook what we have already received, taking everything for granted. 

Food is one such blessing that we have started taking for granted. But look at the stat's. From 2019 to 2022, the number of undernourished people grew by as many as 150 million and 10% of the world goes hungry even today. That's more than 800 million people!

Today, saying grace before a meal is slowly being forgotten. We specially do not say it when we are outside or in a business lunch or dinner, though I think it is an admirable practice, to thank our provider. Remember, even Christ did (1 Corinthians 11:24 “And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat...)

That day I re-learned this great truth. Not to get so carried away planning and anxious for the future that we forget to thank our maker and provider for the past.

The Certainty of Uncertainty: Will the truth really set you Free?

The truth will set u free. What does it mean?

God's word is the truth and God’s word offered us not only freedom from fear but also perspective and hope.

Our unknown future is extremely frightening. But let's look at another perspective. Do we really know our future, even in parts, that when we face uncertainty, we become fearful? Do we know our next one second from right now? When we plan for the future, do we even know if we will live to see that plan? There is only one certainty: that is uncertainty.

At first, we let our fears overwhelm us. Lies and assumptions take root in our minds and grow ferociously. Fear chokes us. Yet, we claim to trust God. This is not really trust, when we are so afraid! So how do we create that trust, which gives us peace and freedom from fear? 

The simple answer is, ASK HIM! How do you build trust in another person? By knowing that person! Similarly, Firs we need to know God. And we can do that only if we read His word. 

Second, we need to experience Him. Try praying, asking, seeking His advice or His help. After all He did say - "Taste and see that the Lord is good". Each of us need to create our own experiences with Him. 

Third, find His witnesses and ask them!  

One such person was Jeremiah the prophet, when he says - 

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

As one continues to study more of the Bible, God’s word gives not only freedom from fear but also perspective and hope. We don’t have to let fear consume us. When we put our fears into words, God’s word answers us with truth and hope.

It's that simple! 

The Partnership

A partnership is always formed in order to attain a known objective, such as providing a service to the public with some benefit for the partners. 

In our religious life we too are invited to partner. In fact, throughout time, Biblically, every patriarch had a partnership agreement with God to achieve some objective. They were called covenants.

Today, we can all have our personal covenants with God as well, for our personal needs or for someone else.

There is an old hymn with  the following verse

"I can only spread the sail;

Thou! Thou! must breathe the auspicious gale.”

There is deep meaning here about a partnership or a covenant between us and our maker, creator and keeper. We must do our part and God will do His. Don't forget, man was created to partner with God in achieving Godly objectives of keeping His world beautiful and maintained and while we endeavor here on earth, we need the driving force to come from God.

Here are a few pointers for a successful partnership or a covenant: 

A. Each of us have been given some ability and which is used to achieve Gods objective for our life. Psalm 37:5 where we are advised to let God be in charge. (A significant part of "walking humbly").

B. Success is achieved through our human efforts aligned with Gods will. So it is a good idea to keep checking if our life objective is in sync. One way to do this is through prayer and meditation, closing out the "noise" of this world to keep still a d hear him when He speaks to us.

C.As partners, we too must commit to invest! we can't just keep asking and taking. We must invest in a relationship with Him to know and fellowship with him. Get rid of irritants to that fellowship; control anything that can disrupt our time and fellowship with God, be it our jobs, bad habits, bad time management, or simply laziness.  

Notice the people of Scripture that lived in partnership with God:

o Noah’s partnership with God saved his family from the Flood and preserved the human race.

o Abraham’s partnership with God also made a global impact. His faith secured the Promised Land for the Hebrew people and brought spiritual blessings to the nations.

o Jacob’s partnership with God brought him tremendous wealth even while laboring with his conniving father-in-law.

o Moses experienced “face to face” fellowship with God, and in so doing liberated two million Jews from Egypt (Deut. 34:10).

o And Joshua secured a military alliance with God that conquered the Canaanites and settled the Hebrew tribes into the Promised Land. Joshua’s partnership with God was so phenomenal, that without earthly assistance, the angels flattened Jericho’s impregnable walls!

In our personal covenants, we ask for our needs but what does God expect from us as an individual? Micah listed out the three principles of what God asks of His people: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with Him. After all, blessings come with responsibilities.

These three are not in isolation but based on Biblical principles laid down in the Old and New Testament.

When we want our sails to be filled with the heavenly gale, we need to be sure we have the sail up. Do not miss the gale for want of preparation for it. 

The wisdom of decision making.

Decision making is a much debated and much learnt subject with courses and books to guide us in our professional development. We are told there are multiple building blocks to this Decision making process, and which qualify the quality of our decisions.

But one building block no one really talks about is the state of our mind when we are taking decisions. If we do so in a state of panic and fear, we are bound to make mistakes as our analytical abilities goes down.

Psalm 37 verse 5 gives us the key to making good decisions when it says Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you. In addition to committing we also are given multiple resources, like wisdom, peace and understanding.

James 1:5, says If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Proverbs 1:5, NIV let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.

Proverbs 11:14, NKJV Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

Success or failure usually depend on the choices we make in life. And the importance of correct decision making is something we can’t underestimate, since finally, we all have to live with the choices we made. So better make the right one and the wise one.

Today if you are facing a crucial decision, why not ask God for advice and counsel and the wisdom to understand your choices and choose the right one.

Can you Sleep amid a storm?

Can you sleep amid a storm? Can anyone? 

In all honesty, left to ourselves I don't think anyone can. The fear of uncertainty created by a storm just does us in.

But someone did. While on a boat, in the middle of the storm, someone was fast asleep while others were going crazy with fear. 

If we take a storm in the figurative sense, we all face it many times in our lives and most times reacting negatively (in fear and panic) with a crushed spirit to those around us, hurting them as well as hurting ourselves.

How great it would be if we could sleep through them, unconcerned about our post storm future!

Here is the thing. We can.

The man who slept through the storm was able to do so because He had peace within Himself. He didn't have a care about the future because He knew the future. 

Today, He has promised us that same peace and it is ours for the taking. He asks us to cast all our cares upon Him and in return take His peace to enjoy. 

This has some very practical implications: With that peace within us, we will be able to make the right choices (not desperate ones but logical ones) and hence the right decisions in our lives. We will be able to live a life unburdened by fear and the consequences of that fear on our health, heart and people around us. We will be able to lead without fear - shining professionally and personally.

1 Peter 5 ver 7 and John 14:27 respectively give us the keys to these promises ...

7 "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" 

and 

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.

Bloom Where You are Planted: Our Daily Reflection

Flowers bring beauty and serenity to our lives. On every occasion we present flowers to our friends and family, to bring cheer to the day. Think about how a flower, becomes a flower and presents its beauty to the world and there is so much we can learn from it.

But what is more important is this:  a flower blooms where it grows. It does not say I will grow here but bloom there. It does not put conditions to it's blooming. It simply shares its beauty and its scent, wherever it is. It does not put-up conditions for sharing either. 

But we people do, don't we? "I wish I had more money so I could feed the hungry". "I wish I had more time, to visit the sick, or the widows, or lonely people around me".

Or simply, "I can't come to Church because my car is in the garage". 

Sounds familiar? Sure, it does, we do it all the time! 

 Let us remember some key instructions - 

..... ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

The Goodness of God: Our Daily Reflections

There is a chorus which goes - God is good all the time. Believers also constantly tall about the goodness of God. That is till our prayer requests are not answered in the way we expected, then we are not so sure.

To honestly say God is good, we must have an acceptance of His will over mine and that He knows best. If our prayers are not met in the way we expected, so be it. It does not mean He is not so good, but that he knows much better than us, as to what is good for us. So -

A. We need to believe He knows better than we do and will choose the best way in the right time, which will maximise the benefit for us, even to the point of death. and

B. His will is over mine, and which will make my journey easier.

God’s goodness shows up in our lives every single day. Although we often think of his goodness when something big happens, his goodness abounds all the time--in every hour, minute, and second of the day, in the smallest of things around us. Here are five examples of his goodness in our everyday lives as per Carrie Lowrance: 

When He wakes us up every morning He shows us His unfailing love. 

When He pours out His favors on us - Carrie Lowrance says "We need to pay attention to all the little things in our day, both big and small, that are a blessing to us. A lot of times, it’s the little things that mean so much".

When He protects us: From ill health, from malicious gossip and so many big and small things. 

Finally, when He speaks to us and guides us. 

So, lets think about life, how we have been part of receiving so much even though we may not acknowledge it or even be aware of it. Lets try and count our blessings, on by one. 

You can read more about this from Carrie Lowrance's Blog Here

When weakness is strength: Our Daily Reflections

"Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light." - Micah 7:8 (NIV)

It is easy to trust God when everything is going well. But when something terrible happens, it is easier to turn our backs on God. Often when we experience grief, loss  and pain, we get lost in the struggle and cannot see God’s guiding light. We may even fall away from our walk with God. But sometimes it is in those dark times that we can more clearly see the light of God shining through. Our source strength and hope.

Our duty therefore, inspite of circumstances, is not to wallow and Instead, live on the three principles of what God asks of His people: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with Him. This is our strength. The rest to be left to God, because He will uplift us far and above our troubles.

The man who lost it all: Our Daily Reflection

The phrase "do not be afraid" occurs 365 times in the Bible, one for each day. There are times when the heavens seem shut and drought and barrenness and failure surround us in whatever we do. It must happen to everyone and we have nothing to do but wonder what went wrong? At such times friends, relatives etc offer no consolation. They can't because they themselves may not know the pain or outcome.

But there is one who knows. One Who had gone through worse and yet survived. Job. Job's story in the Bible, is the perfect example of holding God high, irrespective of His circumstances. Looking beyond the obvious as we say. Today his story can help us beyond and to the other side of failure and fear.

Of special mention are verses Job 5:17-26

"He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.

Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.

At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.

Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.

Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season."

These verses give strength when they say that while we may go through the worst - the worst cannot kill us.

We may not be spared the situation, but the situation cannot destroy us.

Today if you are going through such a phase in life, it maybe a good idea to read through the book of Job.

Why? : Our Daily Reflection

Most of us if not all of us have asked this question since time immemorial. Whenever we face troubles or challenges, death, a job loss, financial difficulties etc., we tend to ask ourselves why. We are good people, strong believers, haven't harmed anyone, so why are we suffering this problem?

We get this answer from Job, may be the biggest sufferer in the universe, in chapter 42, verse 5, where he says- 

"My ears had heard of you

but now my eyes have seen you".

This very clearly shows that unless we have experienced God, we can never be firsthand believers and will always have a secondhand faith, largely dependent on others.

In the words of Ms Francis Taylor, "We have been taught about God by others. But the time must come in each of our lives to actually "see" what God has done both in the world and in us. For our faith to be "ours," we can't let it rest on the confession of others.

Have we seen the hand of God so that our faith is truly ours, or not? Faith dependent on someone else's isn't strong enough to withstand the trials this life will bring".

So, like Job, next time you question God with a why, remember the answer Job has left for all of us to learn by.