#CountYourBlessings

All too often, in this great world, we seem to lapse into a state of ingratitude, taking for granted all of the blessings and comforts we enjoy or have enjoyed. We either revert into an attitude of self-satisfaction, expecting that peace and bliss will always follow us, or, become despondent and depressed and totally hopeless when face with adversity and think that our desperate situation is forever.

During these times we should, with sincerity of heart, count our blessings! Maybe even write them down to keep reminding us.

There is a song too, by the same name which has a history which demonstrates the reality and truth of this song. We may have heard this song in school or #Sundayschool, because maybe adults think it is childish to thank #God so simply. 

Gipsy Smith, a famous evangelist of yesteryear, said of this song, "Men sing it, boys whistle it and women rock their babies to sleep to it."

How did this song come about? 

Johnson Oatman, Jr., born April 21, 1856, was a citizen of Lumberton, N.J. His dad was a local merchant and just happened to be the best singer in town, with a rich, powerful voice. Young Johnson could not sing as well as his father, yet he grew up wanting to make some musical contributions of his own. However, for a time he worked in the family business, but soon gave up those opportunities and began to study for the ministry. After finishing school and ministering in the Methodist Episcopal churches for a time, Johnson continued to hope that life surely held some other plans for him.

At 36, he realized that he did, without question, have a musical talent after all. While he could not sing, he could write songs for other Christians to sing. So, every year some 200 songs flowed from his pen. He eventually had written 5,000 songs and was happy that in his musical compositions he had found a way to "preach the Gospel."

"Count Your Blessings," was written in 1897. Almost immediately it began its meteoric journey.

Like Johnson, each one of us too is blessed with something which can be used for Gods message of hope, love and peace to the world. We need to find it and use it.  

Listen to this great song once again and get inspired. For old times' sake.

Count Your Blessings sung by Guy Penrod

#graceupongrace

#Praying with Power: Pastor Rajiv's Mid-week message

 

The 19th century evangelist and pastor R. A. Torrey wrote, “We should never utter one syllable of #prayer, either in public or in private, until we are definitely conscious that we have come into the presence of #God, and we are really speaking to Him.” Today, Pastor Rajiv on his series on prayers with this powerful topic - Praying with Power.

Our Legacy

                

I cannot forget a Book by Robin Sharma called "Who will cry when you die". The title inspired me to think, and often I ask myself the same question: who will cry when I die? Maybe not literally, but who will genuinely grieve? 

Apart from my family and a couple of friends, I really can't count any. We are so involved with self and careers and God knows what else, we forget to carve out a legacy of good which can live on after us. But why should we? 

Because "Life" is not a career; life is not about just us. There is nothing wrong about doing things for us but that is not the end. Life is the means to the end but life is living in harmony with the world around us. Taking care of the world and people around us. Using our talents wisely for the benefit of others. Thats how we can create a legacy. 

Creating a legacy is about making a lasting impact that transcends your lifetime. It involves living with intention and purpose, and making contributions that benefit others

Hebrews 13:16 says "And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased".

Everything we have comes from above. Do we even stop to give thanks? Do we share it with others? Do we become a channel of His blessing and grace to others? Do we even want anyone to remember us?  

Note the word "sacrifices" and "sharing" in the verse.  

Pastor Rajiv has already talked about sacrificial giving or sharing in earlier posts and clearly defined what it means to give and more so, what is sacrificial giving. 

Careers and material things will end one day as will life itself. What will last will be the legacy we leave. Can we start creating it today? 

In Case You Missed : All Things Bright & Beautiful

 

Today we take a trip down memory lane with two posts we thought you may like.
All things Bright and Beautiful
This post aims to underscore humanity's greatest shortcoming, which lies in our inability to adhere to God's initial directive to mankind as stated in Genesis 2:15: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." We have indeed created a disaster of the #environment and #nature.
The Hypocritical Tree
A notable post from the past depicts Jesus showing an unusual response to a barren fig tree. Even with the assurance that #Jesuslovesyou, the implications and lessons from this event are indeed frightening.

Have a Great Week. 

Course Correction

Not many of us like to be corrected, whether by a true friend, a parent, a partner or even God! We also do not like "change". We are happy to continue in our state of ignorance, rather than correct ourselves.  

Chipotle Biti has this to say about correction. 

"It is far better to be smarting from the correction of a friend who cares for you, instead of being led on the wrong path by people who try to deceive you with false approval. If you choose to base your life on positive feedback only and you block out any form of correction, you will end up with the wrong people advising you". Such a situation has been the ruin of many a leader, and many Christians. In fact, it is equally harmful to always give false feedback which a lot of us do in the name of "motivation".  It's tantamount to "bearing false witness". 

She goes on to say - "Correction is necessary for our growth as Christians. We need correction in our spiritual lives in order to ensure that we are reflecting God and His love and righteousness. 

We also need correction in other aspects of our life. We can never know everything or get everything right. When we are corrected, we are alerted to the areas in our lives that we need to work on. When we work on those areas, we become better people. If we don't receive that correction, how will we grow?". 

If we are open to correction, the best advice we can get is from God's word. It covers every aspect of life - both spiritual and everyday human life. Sometimes God puts people in our lives who provide us the guidance. God loves us and will always desire the best for us, no matter how wrong we are. 

Correction may be hard to receive, especially from the people we love, and more so when we are chastised by God, but it is worthwhile. The people who love you will always desire to see you become the best person you can be. In order for that to happen, they have to correct you when they see that you are headed in the wrong direction. For a Biblical perspective consider Proverbs 3:12 (NET): "For the Lord disciplines [corrects, chastens, punishes, scourges] those He loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights."

People who are trying to use you will not care about what is best for you. They will only be concerned with how you can serve their hidden agenda. They will take advantage of your shortcomings in order to gain a one up on you.

S.C.R.A.B.B.L.E

I love the game of scrabble.

Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left to right in rows or downward in columns and are included in a standard dictionary or lexicon.

Once played, no play can be taken back or withdrawn from the board.

Scrabble is so much like human speech. We use words which have a standard meaning, which send a message to the other person and which cannot be taken back.

In scrabble the player makes points with each word and creates a score to win or lose, likewise our words create an effect on others, making some impact. Positive or negative.

Our words are important and powerful, and definitely not to be wasted.

Words should be a testimony to the grace that is working in our life. If one has experienced grace, is aware and grateful for it, it will show in our words. Our words communicate the grace we have experienced.

A high-ranking corporate executive described what happened when he had not known grace. He said -

"Many years ago, as a professional manager I prided myself in my hard-hitting attitude and cold-hearted professionalism at work; letting nothing come in the way of success, whether people or circumstances. And when facing bottlenecks, my words and temper ripped people who I thought were responsible. Many years later, I realized those words, attitudes and temper were not a strength or a tool as I had thought, but a product of my own fear of failure because I did not know grace. And because I did not know grace, I could not show grace. "

Words are powerful tool to share the grace we have received.

In a world filled with hopelessness and uncertainty, let us use our words to share grace and bring hope. Can we practice charity in our words and use them to convey blessings, not curses? How many of us can recall the words someone spoke that pushed us past something we were dealing with, encouraged us, sparked creativity, or gave us confidence?

It's time to pass it on and heed Paul's advice when he says in Ephesians 4:29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Depths of Despair

"Are you afflicted and burdened excessively? Do you feel as if you're under such intense pressure these days that you are close to despair? I have some surprising news: you're exactly where God wants you to be. It took all these years to get you this low, this needy. Now, look up!"

That was Pastor Chuck Swindoll.

This statement can make us wonder if our God is a sadist. But, if you have ever lived by grace alone, if His grace alone has ever been truly sufficient, one can understand what Pastor Chuck means. But why should God want us to be at our lowest? 

Firstly, God wants us to be reliant on Him and His grace alone. Not on self or money or power or position. He will take away all such crutches and teach us to walk independently with Him. This is critical because of point no 2 -

Second, blessings given us by God need to be shared. His blessing needs to flow through us - not stored in us. On our own, we will never allow them to flow through us to others unless we have learned to live by His grace alone.

Lastly, if something new has to be built, it is necessary to completely break the old. It's the same thing with us. God will not put our new self in our old framework. (Remember the story of new wine and old wineskins).

So. If anyone is going through the very depths of despair and affliction, take it as a training period to prepare us for a role in Gods team. In this world or the next.

Walk on Water: Pastor Rajiv's Mid-Week Message.

 

Why did Peter start sinking when he tried to walk on water? What did he do wrong? Did he lose faith? Did he waver?

As Pastor Rajiv expands on this important story and the critical lessons for us today, here is a brief summary of that event. 

Peter, one of the disciples, responded by saying, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water." Jesus invited Peter to come, and Peter stepped out of the boat and began walking on the water toward Jesus. However, when Peter noticed the strong wind, he became afraid and began to sink.

True Power!

The celebrated Scottish preacher, James Stewart, made a statement explaining ....: "It is always upon human weakness and humiliation, not human strength and confidence, that God chooses to build His Kingdom; and that He can use us not merely in spite of our ordinariness and helplessness and disqualifying infirmities, but precisely because of them."

This fact actually transforms our mental attitude toward our circumstances.

Our cribbing and self-pity over issues we face, weaknesses we have and lack of resources, all fade away once we acknowledge all and yet commit to being ready to serve. We maybe financially broken, physically challenged or mentally destroyed, yet we are of use in His kingdom. How we will be used is left to Him.

Let's take a look at some of our Biblical greats who served God. As a leader, Moses need to be a great speaker yet he couldn't speak straight. Jacob was deceptive. Abraham, too old to father a child, begot a nation. Did you know Elijah was suicidal? The great Gideon started as a coward and ended as a conqueror. Samson was a womanizer. Rahab was a prostitute. David was an adulterer and murderer. Job was bankrupt. Noah was a drunk. In fact, he is the first drunkard mentioned in the Bible. Yet God used them all magnificently! 

True Power therefore, does NOT lie in our human achievements, competencies or knowledge but in the shadow of the most high. 

Throughout scripture we see God using imperfect people for the sake of his perfect mission. The weakest become the strongest.   

Pastor Chuck Swindoll comments thus - "Once you are convinced of your own weakness and no longer trying to hide it, you embrace the power of Christ".

Thus, in our weakness we become powerful, all powerful through the power of Christ.

Where are we today? Weak and broken? Jobless? We still have opportunity and time to donate to God. Living in a country where religion is banned? Here is opportunity to share hope. Let us not use our weakness as an excuse. 

Let us use it as our power, received from God to serve God and humanity.

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The Higher you Grow, the deeper you must Bow*

Have you noticed how the tallest trees bow the most before the wind, while humans (mostly) bow before none, not even God? 

1 Peter 5 Ver 6 remains a verse in the Bible, to be referred to once in a while. 

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time".

Commenting on this topic, Chipo Biti wrote - "When we try to live our lives according to impulses inspired by pride and our egos, we are simply setting ourselves up for failure. There is no good that can ever come from thinking that we know better than God. When we try to rush for opportunities that we are not ready for, we simply end up setting ourselves up for embarrassment.

When people are not used to delayed gratification, they believe that they deserve to get whatever they want whenever they want it. This is not a wise way to live. When this happens, we ignore God's instructions and we choose to follow our own way instead because we believe that it is far better than the path that God has planned out for us".

The problem is humans have been conditioned to be goal oriented with complete dependance on self. The truth is we think God is just a helping hand and we are the main cause of our success or failure. We are so proud of our own knowledge, we become so arrogant that we lose the ability to recognize our own arrogance.

"But", Chip Biti says, "the truth is: we cannot do anything significantly meaningful without God. If we try to live our lives on our own terms it means that we are turning our backs on God."

Genuine humility lies in the fact that we put God's will, direction and timing before our own desired outcomes. The Bible defines humility in Proverbs 22:4 as - "...the fear of the LORD; its wages are riches and honor and life." (Please read "fear" as reverence). It not only defines humility it also states it's benefits.

It is of critical importance that along with other things, we pray for genuine humility to fill our lives. 

Humility is an important characteristic to develop as a follower of Christ, because "pride and arrogance" are the biggest barriers to a relationship with God.

It’s hard not to gloat about the praise, glory and all the accolades that come our way. But humility requires us to point that recognition back to God.

* Old Chinese saying