It is not Thanksgiving!

                              

No, it's not the last Thursday of November. That is a tradition reserved for Americans. 

Since its the season we call it out today, though it could be any day in the year to stop to think of His greatness - from the universal to the personal, and all that we have been blessed with. Think life; think Covid; think tsunami; yet we are blessed to be here. 

Thanksgiving is a tradition. Let's make it a habit!

Creation, by itself, fills one with awe when you stop to think how it could have been made. Imagine this: the earth hangs in the air, with no support, rotates so that each part of it gets the sun and the moon by turns. We praise Him for this creation that we enjoy day on day, night by night, every second.

Think about ourselves. Truly He knew us much before we were born. He brought us into a family or friends who brought us to Him. We thank God for their presence in our lives. Think about the moments of great danger we did not even know yet protected. 

He gave us handpicked life partners for continuity when our parents ceased to live. He gave us the fellowship of believers, past and present, who helped us in our journey. When we didn't connect to the right partner, He gave us access to a fellowship. When we did not appreciate them or use them, He gave us a reason to; every morning - when we woke up, we gained consciousness. He gave us each day- to live and bless. 

He used family and friends, dead and alive, to take care of us when we needed it most. He circled us with a hedge of His protection throughout our lives. He took us away from danger even when we may not even be aware.

While we may be going through tough times, we keep going in His grace and strength. We are still protected by His hedge. After all we live in this world and will face challenges of this world. But we live in hope, because all these people brought us to Him who gave us this hope. 

Let us praise Him and thank Him for His love and all these people who shared His love with us.

Crowd Sourced Missionaries

The world is full of people in need of something. Even the richest have needs, as do the poorest. Everyone has some need or the other.

As we are called upon to support one another, how do we fill in the needs of all the people around us? Financial, emotional, education, jobs, medical, loneliness, and the list goes on. No one single person can help fulfill all this.

Or can they?

We know of a lady who tries to do just that and has developed a very unique operating model. When she comes to know of someone in need, she first listens, ascertains it is genuine to the best of her ability, and then circulates that need to her circle of friends and acquaintances. People come together, contribute what they can, and she then channelizes it to the person who needed it. She does not amass on a large scale and then distribute. She addresses each need separately - be it a wedding of a poor person, or medical needs or education, clothes, food and so on. 

In short, she has created an informal support group where people come together to help address some need, of someone. They are crowd sourced missionaries, with one mission: helping people.

These missionaries do not realize it, but this is their mission. Individually, they do not profess great Biblical knowledge, nor are philanthropists, nor have any extra money. Together they are a strong force for good, driven by simply concern for others. 

The point here is that we can all do it, if we train ourselves to be empathetic and sensitive, to other's needs. 

Potentially, we are all angels, though some of us may not know it yet! So, lets pick up our socks and find out someone's need. Let us not wait for someone to ask. 

Prophecies: Part II - Continuing Pastor Rajiv's Message

 

My Horrorscope

 

Or horoscope?

Such is man's desire to know his or her future that we resort to the stars, who tell us when and what will happen. Especially when we are facing tough times, we are extremely keen to know when it will end. We pray about it, we remember Gods promises and when it does not happen, we are tempted to resort to the stars.

Many also read their horoscopes for fun, entertainment or just to pass time at an airport. Or so they think: If there is some strong prediction, one does not forget it and, consciously or subconsciously, starts linking events to it. Whether we like it or not, want it or not, it does have an effect on us. 

At such times we need to remind ourselves two things - Gods ways are not our ways, and our time is not His time. We need to wait on Him, for His ways.

As regards our horoscopes, in Isaiah 47, we see that God condemned those who did use astrology in this way. Verse 12 first condemns the magicians, and then verses 13-14 goes say the following: “Where are all your astrologers, those stargazers who make predictions each month? Let them stand up and save you from what the future holds".

I not only take that as a warning but a threat as well. It definitely conveys God's displeasure. Now, if the creator of our future is displeased, what happens to our future? 

Why is Prophesy Important: Pastor Rajiv's Weekly Message

 

This is Part I of the complete message where Pastor Rajiv gives the history and reasons behind the prophesying. 

Instant Gratification

We live in a world where time is in short supply. People need instant delivery to their wants and desires. Fast food, instant shopping, instant messaging, instant food, everything needs to be off the shelf and quick. Slow cookers are special and even hone cooked food is a luxury! 

LIFE is short on time and short on patience.

The fourth fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22 is translated as “longsuffering,” or in modern vernacular, “patience.” This concept has become completely foreign to our modern culture. But is it part of our Christian ethos? We are not saying we should not use "instant services". What we are saying is that we should not let it become our character. Why? For an answer we will draw from a spiritual website named Life, Hope and Truth where a writer named Tom shares his thoughts. He says -

"Patience is a part of God’s nature and character, and something He wants us to be developing as well....

David wrote about the need to “wait on the LORD” numerous times in the Psalms.

It seems he saw that need in himself, because God doesn’t always work as quickly as he (or we) would like! It often requires patience to wait until we see what He is going to do!

Are you and I patient enough? Probably not—so how can we learn to grow in patience? Here are a few thoughts:

1. Seek to have more empathy.

When we become impatient with people, it can be helpful to try to put ourselves in their shoes. The ability to think outside of ourselves and our immediate needs or wants—to consider what the people around us are facing—is important.

It helps us understand them a little better, and perhaps give them the benefit of the doubt. It helps us be a bit more patient with them.

2. Consider God’s level of patience with us.

This is kind of scary to consider, but how patient has God been with you and me?

How many times have we failed to grow, learn and overcome as we should have?

How many times have we come to Him asking for repentance and forgiveness—and He has willingly, lovingly and patiently granted our requests?

3. Look for the lessons in trials.

Remembering that God is always in charge, and there is always something to learn from our trials makes them easier to deal with. And it helps us grow in patience".

Joyce Meyer, a Christian author and speaker writes -

“Patience is not simply the ability to wait—it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.”

The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a study on delayed gratification in 1972 led by psychologist Walter Mischel, a professor at Stanford University In this study, a child was offered a choice between one small but immediate reward, or two small rewards if they waited for a period of time. During this time, the researcher left the child in a room with a single marshmallow for about 15 minutes and then returned. If they did not eat the marshmallow, the reward was either another marshmallow or pretzel stick, depending on the child's preference. In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes. 

The Losses of Prayer

A woman was once asked: What do you "gain" from praying to God regularly?

She replied:

Usually ′′ I don't earn anything ", but rather ′′ I lose things ". And she quoted everything she lost praying to God regularly:

"I lost my pride.

I lost my arrogance.

I lost greed.

I lost my urge.

I lost ′′ my ′′ anger.

I lost the lust.

I lost the pleasure of lying.

I lost the taste of sin.

I lost impatience, despair, and

discouragement".


Sometimes we pray, not to gain something, but to lose things that don't allow us to grow spiritually.

Giving is part of Thanksgiving! Pastor Rajiv's Mid-Week Message

With Thanksgiving around the corner next month, Pastor Rajiv talks about the importance of giving in a Christian's life. 

 As Thanksgiving approaches, we may consider submitting a part of our blessing to God, which, in todays world which is tantamount to sharing His Blessings with others as well. Pastor Rajiv talks about the importance and more, of sharing God's Blessings with others who may need what we will share. 

Lets us thank the Almighty for deliverance from a pandemic which hit the world after a century; for our deliverance from it and other evils which may have befallen. From hunger, as even today 345 Million People Are in Hunger Crisis while the haves waste food (40% of the food produced in America is never eaten and. if just half of the food waste worldwide were recovered, we could end World Hunger). 

In this context and background, Pastor Rajiv's message is ever so important. 

My Closet

It is a done strategy in the software app industry that when you want to personalize a service, you usually add the word "my" before the name. For example - MySpace, mywhiteboard etc etc. Psychologically adding "my" creates a personal relationship. It also shows ownership.

Drawing a parallel to our relationship with our creator, many of us need to personalize that - time set aside, cut off from the pressures of the outside world, when we can talk to Him in silence, relate to Him, be still in our hearts and hear Him. It is very important that we build this personal relationship. This is where my prayer closet comes in. I go into it , shut out the world and focus on only Him. Matthew 6:6 talks about this with an outcome attached -

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly".

Jesus reminds us that the Father touches us personally, when we become personal.

It is not a mental closet: the noise and pressures of the world have to be stopped - so it may be best to retire to a quiet place. Relationships are personal so building one is personal as well. While corporate prayer is great and needed, personal prayer and relationship building is equally important. The closet allows us to personalize and customize our conversations with God.

We also need to stop mechanical prayer. For example, when one says grace before a meal do we recall all those hungry? As many 10% of the world population go to bed hungry every night. That's 888 million people! When we are not one of those - it's only because of Godly provision and blessing. We often see people of other faiths praying before a meal as well. Hunger can happen not only because of financial constraints. Scarcity of food is another reason - can happen due to war, famine, supply chains and so many reasons. As of March 2023, 350 M people were facing famine! If we are not one of those, it's a blessing! Think of them and try to share.

When we wake up in the morning - do we say thanks to the almighty? Do we even know how many people in the world never wake up?

These are simple examples. As you can see, we are blessed each moment of each day. So, a personal thanks to our creator would be in order.

Today is Thanksgiving!

No, it's not the last Thursday of November. That is reserved for Americans. Since its the season we call it out today, though it could be any day in the year to stop to think of His greatness - from the universal to the personal.

Yet, it is a day of Thanksgiving. 

Creation, by itself, fills one with awe when you stop to think how it could have been made. Imagine this: the earth hangs in the air, with no support, rotates so that each part of it gets the sun and the moon by turns. We praise Him for this creation that we enjoy day on day, night by night, every second.

Think about ourselves. Truly He knew us much before we were born. He brought us into a family or friends who brought us to Him. We thank God for their presence in our lives. For those who are second generation Christians, remember Sunday school and the teachers? We have included a short chorus at the end of this post to jog your memory! We are thankful for them.

Meanwhile, lets count our blessing- on by one...

He gave us handpicked life partners for continuity when our parents ceased to live. He gave us the fellowship of believers, past and present, who helped us in our journey. When we didn't connect to the right partner, He gave us access to a fellowship. When we did not appreciate them or use them, He gave us a reason to; every morning - when we woke up, we gained consciousness. He gave us each day- to live and bless. 

He used family and friends, dead and alive, to take care of us when we needed it most. He circled us with a hedge of His protection throughout our lives. He took us away from danger even when we may not even be aware.

While we may be going through tough times, we keep going in His grace and strength. We are still protected by His hedge. After all we live in this world and will face challenges of this world. But we live in hope, because all these people brought us to Him who gave us this hope. 

Let us praise Him and thank Him for His love and all these people who shared His love with us.