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

Setting Boundaries

                                                

*Image taken from Wikipedia

Adapted from the KJV devotional.

"But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you"; Matthew 5:44 KJV

Easier said than done! What does it take to forgive someone and love them despite of what they have done to us?

"When Jesus says to love your enemies, does that mean allowing them to continually abuse you, maltreat you, or claim access to your life? Jesus Christ specifically gave us healthy tips on how to show God’s agape love to our enemies: to speak blessing upon them when they curse us, to pray for them that use us and persecute us, and to do a good thing for them when they are in need, even if they hate us.

We can powerfully show God’s love with healthy boundaries toward our enemies. Loving them doesn’t mean allowing them to step all over us or abuse us. (But it also means we do not retaliate)."

Sometimes saying “no” and setting boundaries is a struggle because we feel guilty of being unloving towards others. But boundaries often equal agape love and we must find the courage to set such boundaries. Agape also sets up a boundary to their negativity to us and opens a channel of our love to them. Thats the only way one can overlook hurt or insults thrown at us and continue to love.

"But, when your enemy is in need, don’t hesitate to offer help. When your enemy is troubled, offer a prayer and sympathize with their pain. And continue to speak good things about them even if they curse you and say all kinds of negative things. By doing this, it shows that you are truly God’s child! Let God’s agape love saturate you today!"

"Prayer point: Lord Jesus, thank You for showing me how to love. Thank You for Your words that have so much wisdom in application. As I grow to walk in God’s agape love, especially for my enemies, may my life bring You glory and honor. In Jesus’ name. Amen".

A SIMPLE REQUEST

                              

Starting with 12 followers 2000 years ago, Christ has a following of more than 3 billion people today. This is unprecedented growth.

So how did it happen?

The simple answer is sharing the peace. Sharing the spiritual and the physical blessings, sharing Gods word and sharing strife.

And that is our mandate even today.

Sharing God's word doesn't always mean evangelizing to people from other faiths. Sometimes, it means getting together with other believers and strengthening each other as well. 

Today, we have one simple request to make of you, our reader: participate with us and share these posts in your Christian friends circles. 

“Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.”

Someone, somewhere needs to hear God so please help us to spread the word as far and wide as possible.

God Bless you. 

An Accidental Human

Today we will share a short story, based on our post of yesterday, where we talked about how we, as individual humans, can carry the love from God that we have received, the sacrifice of Christ and the daily guidance of the Holy Spirit, and can make sure we get up each morning, filled with the vigor of knowing our duties for the day, as outlined by God. 

This story was shared by a person, whose age I cannot determine, and whose nationality can be that of anyone and whose name does not matter. This story was written during Covid days, reflecting the pain, failures and setbacks of those times, of all those youth, students and young workers who got stranded without jobs, food or shelter. This story is also an ode to all those Human Angels who chipped in and made sure we all got through. 

So, without further delay, here is the story, and we hope it encourages each one of our readers to be running for God when that sun comes up every day. Click anywhere in this para and read. 

The Lion & The Gazelle

 Lamentations 3:22-23

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness".

There is a traditional story in Africa which goes like this -

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.” That is nature. Each does what they were created to do. 

For us too, every day is a new day, a new promise and a new beginning. Another chance to be what the creator wants us to be. To do what He wants us to do. Another day of hope for the brokenhearted. Another chance to live. Another chance to experience His love.

What should we do with this new day? This new beginning? Will it be the same as yesterday or will it be different?

As we go through life, we pass through three phases: youth, when you read and believe the word of God; middle age when you experience His word and the retired age when you relate it to personal experiences and share it with others as living evidence and in fact become the evidence.

Every day is a chance to build ourselves in whatever phase of life we are in. It is also a choice: to live for us solely or include God and fellow man in our day. To be a crutch for someone, to give someone life, as we build our own. Every day is a chance to evidence "agape" to the world.

Everything in Gods wide creation gives something to someone. What can we give?

A life worth living is of one who gives life to another. 

Just as God gives us hope, become hope for someone. As He gives us provisions, become a provider for someone. Become "love" for some. Become a helping hand or a listening ear to someone who needs. Or simply let someone know you are there.

We need to ask God every morning - "what would you have me do today? Who would you like me to reach out to? What would you like me to say?"

There is no time to waste another morning. When the sun come up tomorrow, let us be running to His will and instruction.

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Imp Notice

Pastor Rajiv invites anyone who may need prayer to simply comment in the box below mentioning what they may like prayer about. You may also write to him confidentially at rshipstone@yahoo.com