The Thorn in the Flesh

Have you ever been pricked by a thorn while trying to imbibe the perfume of a rose? My guess is everyone has. The thorns are part of the stalk of the rose flower.

Similarly, when we try to imbibe the perfume of God's word and try to practice it, we also get pricked by the thorns which are a part of our life. They could be derision, opposition and even persecution thorns. Essentially, they will be things which our ex-friend, Satan, will throw at us to keep up his friendship with us, usually things which we are most scared of. Being a friend of our past life, Satan knows us as well as God does, so he knows our weaknesses. He will keep throwing things to prick us, as we try and break that friendship and move away from him.

And those thorns are not going to go away anytime soon.

According to the Webster dictionary the phrase is an idiom meaning: a person or thing that repeatedly annoys someone or something or causes problems.

Paul had a constant thorn, which he prayed for removal three times but was given the grace to face it. The thorn itself was not removed. That did not stop Paul and that should not stop us. But first we must learn to recognize the thorns, pray for removal or strength to overcome and then go on our way to practice our spiritual freedom.

So today, let us challenge ourselves to think: what are the thorns in our life? What do we need to do to get rid of them?

Well, to begin with, by making a commitment to change the priorities in our life. This may require a big change in our schedules, in our attitudes and work life. We will need God's help in this as we try and break the shackles. 

When we invest ourselves in what pleases our senses rather than the Word of God, we automatically are drawn to the world and create idols for ourselves, like money, businesses, jobs, homes, entertainment, alcohol, drugs and so on.   It could be something as seemingly harmless as shopping or more serious stuff. Remember a movie called " Confessions of a Shopaholic?"

In Matthew 6:33, Jesus said, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” This means we must put God and His kingdom FIRST. 

He must be our highest desire and priority. 

Living on the Edge

Some people know the true meaning of the words "God provides", because they have lived with nothing in hand, no idea from where they will meet their daily expense and yet they are able to. Quietly and without fanfare, through some God given providence.  

While Gods provision is true for all, these people have lived on the edge of collapse, with nothing in sight except hope for Gods provision, unlike other people who have wealth or jobs or plans which they depend on, not realizing that even those were provided by God.

One is not better than the other. We all go through hard times, possibly living on the edge. We may feel let down or that life is unfair, but there is another perspective: it brings about true dependence on God. Such times remind us of the journey of Israel as they walked to the Promised Land. They were not allowed to store manna as an exercise in trusting Gods daily provision.

Why?

Ms. Francis Taylor explains it beautifully - 

"We take these troubling events and turn them into powerful witness statements! The Holy Spirit leads us to opportunities where we can share our stories and comfort people who are experiencing the same turmoil". 

Selah (Pause and think).

We welcome all who may like to share their stories to encourage others. 

Religion or Relationship: Pastor Rajiv's Mid Week Message

 

Choices: The Professionals Bible

  

We are not Robots. We all have the ultimate freedom - the freedom of choice.

“Thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee” (Moses 3:17).

As did Adam, we are also free to choose between good and bad and live our life the way we choose to. These choices reflect both in our professional and personal lives. I can choose to make good decisions or bad decisions for both. 

God has given us this gift of free will, the freedom to choose. Why? Because He would have us as His children, not as His slaves or robots. God created humanity in the image of Himself and called them to partner with Him in expanding his creation. But partnership requires trust, so God trusted us and gave humanity the freedom to choose. 

So, we can either choose to work and live with God, following His wisdom or we can choose to live our life, according to our minds and heart. Sadly, humans often make the choice to trust their own wisdom over God’s, and our own understanding while making choices.  Like Uriah Heep said (in Choices) " we all make our choices, Like a blind man feels his way.....". Come to think of it, that is exactly what we do, because we do not have a vision of the future nor can we change the past. 

But those who do consult God in their business or personal life, do eventually end up with the right choice. So how do we do that? 

Ask yourself these two questions as you consider decision-making - 

• When did you last seek God’s wisdom regarding any choice you were faced with AND gave God time to revert to you? 

• How often could you or perhaps should you, seek God’s wisdom? 

If we do that, we are not only growing in wisdom through biblical values or advice, we are also creating wisdom-building moments in our business and into our life. This is the key to our growth as a leader at home or at work. 

Now how do we do that? The question is - Do I really trust God with this problem or this choice? Or are we doubtful we may not like His answer. 

Today, the choice we have is not between a good decision or a bad one. The Choice always is this:  a Bad decision or God's wisdom. 

The moot question is do we really believe Him and trust Him in ALL aspects of our life? A lot of us will be surprised by an honest answer. 

And if we do believe and trust Him, then let's believe in this verse as well and make that choice.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" 

A Second Chance : Inspired by Corrie tenBoom

* Corrie ten Boom Showing the places where she hid the Jews during the holocaust

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” ~ Corrie Ten Boom

The future is always unknown. Who can say "tomorrow I will achieve this or do abc"? Will he or she be alive tomorrow? Who can say "I won't lose my job"? Who can say anything of the future?

Every day we wake up, is a second chance from God. We therefore do what we have to today, trusting in God for tomorrow. Each day we wake up is a second chance to live the way He taught us to live, with His help.

Corrie Ten Boom learnt this through circumstances we cannot even imagine today.

Arrested by the Nazis along with the rest of her family for hiding Jews in their Haarlem home during the Holocaust, she was imprisoned and eventually sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp along with her beloved sister, Betsie, who died there just days before Corrie's own release on December 31, 1944. Inspired by Betsie's example of selfless love and forgiveness amid extreme cruelty and persecution, Corrie established a post-war home for other camp survivors trying to recover from the horrors they had escaped. She went on to travel widely as a missionary, preaching God's forgiveness and the need for reconciliation. Corrie's devout moral principles were tested when, by chance, she came face to face with one of her former tormentors in 1947. In her words-

"It was in a church in Munich that I saw him, a balding heavy-set man in a gray overcoat, a brown felt hat clutched between his hands. People were filing out of the basement room where I had just spoken. It was 1947 and I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives. ...

And that's when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones. It came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister's frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were!

Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland; this man had been a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp where we were sent. ...

"You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk," he was saying. "I was a guard in there." No, he did not remember me.

"But since that time," he went on, "I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein, ..." his hand came out, ... "will you forgive me?"

"And I stood there — I whose sins had every day to be forgiven — and could not. Betsie had died in that place — could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?"

It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.

For I had to do it — I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. "If you do not forgive men their trespasses," Jesus says, "neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." ...

And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion — I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand, I can do that much. You supply the feeling."

And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

"I forgive you, brother!" I cried. "With all my heart!"

For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then".

The above description of that experience is excerpted from her 1971 autobiography, The Hiding Place, written with the help of John and Elizabeth Sherrill. Every time I read it or parts of it, I can picture it and get goose pimples. 

Corrie Ten Boom did not wait for a second chance to forgive, going through a pain beyond imagination.  She knew she had to do it here and now. We cannot afford to dither, or put conditions when we are called upon to forgive. We must take that first chance to live the way Jesus wanted us to. 

i hope our readers will be motivated to read this book and get inspired, as it did so many of us. I read this book at the age of 12 and have never more been aware of this verse -

Help me to forgive those who trespass against us. 

Those interested, can read the book here 

Why Worry? Pastor Rajiv's Mid-Week Message

 

“When worry is present, trust cannot crowd its way in.”

Billy Graham

The Wall

Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,” declares the Lord, “and I will be its glory within.” - Zechariah 2:4-5 (NIV)

A human mind is conditioned to build security for ourselves and our families. Security of a home, of parents, of brothers and sisters, of medical insurance, life insurance, money in the bank, assets, jobs, businesses ... and the list goes on and on. And by the way, God is also there as a backup, is how we think. No person in his right mind would not try and create security for his life and his family through the world's mechanisms.. We consider that our primary security. That's the human way.

But what is Gods way? He does not say these things are bad. What He does say is that our primary security is God Himself. Not what we create but what He does. We are invited to make Gods provision of His security our primary source of protection, our Armour (as David did).  And this means letting go of world conditioned thoughts and attitudes. And practices.(as David Did)

As scary as letting go may be, the world has experienced this during Covid. 

As for us, no amount of insurance, no amount of money and no amount of human security could protect us. It was an invasive, intrusive epidemic which left disaster in its wake. People were ruined, some left parentless, some childless, some lost jobs, some businesses. It was a real life demonstration of Gods will and protection.

We traded in the security of human walls to accept in faith that God will be a wall of fire around us. We traded in the measurements of worldly accomplishments to give God space to be our glory within.

Some survived, some didn't, and some lost everything. Gods' protection and grace covered all.

My family should know - we lost friends and close relatives, lost health insurance, lost business and revenue, away from our home for two years, we separated during the first phase from one child, money soon ran from plenty to zero, and what not. But God's grace carried us through with plenty of food in a Pastors home where we sheltered for 2.5 years (my elder brother and his family, till date haven't heard of anyone doing that for anyone brother or not!). 

We never fell seriously sick (we didn't have insurance remember?) , our one family member left was soon reunited (through a miraculous seat on an repatriation plane), somehow money appeared when needed, Gods solace came when we lost a close relative and in a short break between lockdowns we were able to go and meet their children and be with them. 

That break from the business of life helped a lot of us to learn and grow. Today, we can either look back in horror, or look back in awe. As a family we choose the latter. And during these hard times we remember and state-

As for us and our family, we shall follow and serve the Lord. He is good.

God bless everyone.