Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Money, Money, Money

Money is never enough. We keep striving and working for more. This is not new; it is from eons that we already always trying to earn money and more money.
Tom Harper explains this from a Biblical perspective.
Imagine you suddenly find $100 million in your bank account (and it's rightfully yours). What would you do with it?
Once you've celebrated, paid off all your debt, bought a couple cars and moved into your new private-island home, what would be next in life?
An Indian saint and poet, Sant Kabir Das, said thus - 
"Sayeen Itna Deejiye, Ja Mein Kutumb Samaye.
Main Bhi Bhookha Na Rahun, Sadhu Na Bhookha Jaye".
(Please God, give me enough so that I can support myself and my family, and so that no one goes hungry, not me nor any saint who comes to my home). 
Proverbs 30:8-9 also says it so well:
"…give me neither poverty nor riches!
Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, "Who is the Lord?"
And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God's holy name".
Ecclesiastes chapter 5 directly addresses this dreamy scenario of finding the rainbowed pot of gold. Here are a few points Solomon makes in verses 10 and 11:
1. Those who love money will never have enough.
2. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!
3. The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it.
4. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!
These pithy statements are straight from the New Living Translation. And how true they are!
The main point, which is also a universal truth as we have seen, is in verse 15 "We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can't take our riches with us."
If we can't take it with us, why do we strive for more than we need?
Trusting God for just enough is a way of describing how God provides what is needed in the moment, while also requiring trust in what will come next. 




Monday, November 4, 2024

Monday Quotes

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. Francis of Assisi
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. Vince Lombardi
Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. Warren Buffett
When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost. Billy Graham
My home is in Heaven. I'm just traveling through this world. Billy Graham
Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has. Billy Graham
The main rule to me is to honor God with your life. To life a life of integrity. Not be selfish. You know, help others. But that's really the essence of the Christian faith. Joel Osteen
When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous. Now, if that man, when he gets all he can and saves all he can, does not give all he can, I have more hope for Judas Iscariot than for that man! John Wesley
The Christian missionary may preach the gospel to the poor naked heathen, but the spiritual heathen who populate Europe have as yet heard nothing of Christianity. Carl Jung
Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone's face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come. Henri Nouwen
First of all, the Jewish religion has a great deal in common with the Christian religion because, as Rabbi Gillman points out in the show, Christianity is based on Judaism. Christ was Jewish. Barbara Walters
The sometimes-tough love of the Christian faith of my childhood demanded a certain amount of self-reflection and, occasionally, self-criticism. J. D. Vance
The bird is powered by its own life and by its motivation. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right. Abraham Lincoln
Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous. Albert Einstein
There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'All right, then, have it your way.' C. S. Lewis
God meets daily needs daily. Not weekly or annually. He will give you what you need when it is needed. Max Lucado
This is a paradox of man: compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God. Dieter F. Uchtdorf
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. Mahatma Gandhi





















Saturday, November 2, 2024

Saturday Vespers: Come to the Water

And Jesus said : Come to the water
Stand by My side.
I know you are thirsty You won't be denied
I felt ev'ry tear drop
When in darkness you cried And I strove to remind you
That for those tears I died
Lord Jesus, you have called us and we have found you. You feel our pain, our joy and our challenges and are with us through it all.
we thank you for providing us with parents who brought us to you. We pray for all those who have gone before us to you, parents, father, mother, husband, wife, aunts and uncles and friends, as we remember them not only today but every day. We thank you for our time with them.
Thank You for the gift of this new day. May this Saturday be a day of rest, renewal, and peace. Fill our hearts with gratitude for the blessings in our lives.
We pray for healing for the sick, comfort for the grieving, and hope for the discouraged. For financial health, physical health and healing and emotional strength for those who need it. For a Pastor in India who's wife is suffering from stage IV cancer - we ask for your miracle of healing. For a senior - relief from pain in her back and hips and renewed mobility.
Ben requests prayer for his Mum that the skin cancers she has been diagnosed with yesterday, will be completely and successfully removed on Friday 13th December. Please pray that all cancer cells will be removed and that she will be 100% cancer free after the surgery. Please pray that God will comfort her and take away her worry and fill her with peace as He protects her and His healing hands will be upon her.
Anonymous requests us to pray for healing for her husband, mom and dad.
Trishey and Tanu ask for prayer in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
Rajeev P prays For his personal life with Jesus and giving him wisdom and strength through tough times
Sara says "Please join me in prayer for my mom. She has a severe bacterial infection for 8 weeks now (2 months) and she slips into bouts almost of hysteria. There is demonic influence with it because she has demons come to her in the night telling her she is going to die soon. Please pray for my whole family for deliverance from generational strongholds and for my mom to be healed".
Lord Jesus, May Your love and grace surround us all.


Wednesday, October 30, 2024

What's in it for Me?

“Religion today is not transforming people— it is being transformed by people. It is not raising the moral level of society— it is descending to society's own level and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smiling, accepting its surrender.” - A. W. TOZER (1897-1963)
These words reflect the true state of society and Christianity today. As Christians, do we embody Christianity? Or do we take what is convenient and ignore or justify the rest.
Christianity is not a convenience. It is a way of life to be led by emulating Christ for the Glory of our Father in Heaven. Don't we pray that? When we help someone in need is it for Gods glory or our own? When we perform church activities, is it for our own name to be up in lights or for the body of Christ? When we pray for someone to be healed is it for Gods glory or because we just like that person? Do we use the church as a social and networking platform or THE house of God? Do we follow Christ with a zero agenda ?
The fact is today's society views every thing with the lens of WIFM (what's in it for me) instead of "what's in it for God".
We cant pick and choose as we do. Living the Christian life means going out of our comfort zone and our "convenience zone", with a zero agenda. It means taking a step back from self glorification.
Christianity is not supposed to be the surrender of the church but our own surrender to God. It can involve surrendering small things throughout the day, or surrendering bigger things like hopes and dreams. Are we ready for that or is it an inconvenience?


A Small Peg in the Wall

                                          

A Pastor in Haiti related this parable to make a very strong point. We relate it as it is:
A certain man wanted to sell his house for $2000. Another man wanted to buy it very badly, but he was a poor man and he couldn't give the full price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house to the man for $1000. But the reduced price came with a stipulation. The owner would sell the house, but he would keep ownership of a large nail, protruding from over the front door.
Several years later, the original owner decided he wanted to buy the house back. Understandably, the new owner was unwilling to sell.
As a result, the original owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog in the street, and hung it from the nail he still owned. Soon, the house became unlivable, and the family was forced to sell to the owner of the nail.
The Haitian pastor concluded the story with these words: "If we leave the devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotten garbage on it."


Tuesday, October 29, 2024

The Coffee Story

The coffee story is quite a common analogy to human nature. If you are carrying a cup of hot coffee and someone jostles your hand, the coffee in the cup (or whatever is in it) spills over.
Similarly, in humans, hidden feelings, frustrations, fear etc spill over and out of us when our life is jostled by circumstances or someone's behaviour. We can take some ones advice negatively and react or some thing which hurts us.
In our life stresses and "jostles" are inevitable.
Consider the cup to be the heart and mind and whatever is in it to be the coffee. Whatever we fill in the cup is what will spill out, when jostled.
King David's cup ran over with Gods goodness and provision in his life because he recognised God. He understood His works. He talked, God answered and he listened. David was Gods friend. King David's heart was filled with God. His cup ran over with God.
Today let us meditate on ourselves: when we are under stress what spills out of our cup? Can I fill my heart with the Spirit of God rather than anger, abuse and violence so that when I am jostled, His spirit spills over?
"You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup runneth over. ."




This Week

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