The Bath Tub

If you were told to empty a bathtub and the choice was to use a bucket, a glass or a spoon, which would you use? 

The answer of course is none of the above. The smart way would be to simply pull the plug, because using any of those above-mentioned alternatives would never completely empty the tub. There would be a remnant of water remaining. 

Similarly in our spiritual life, if you don't pull the plug there will always be remnants of our previous sins which will remain. 

The problem is when called upon to pull the plug, our strength fails us. We are unable to empty that tub completely because of our attachments to our earthly desires and possessions. But Jesus can! 

He sacrificed himself to pull the plug and drain out sin from the world, including for you and me. 

Today, as we fill our own tubs, let us be careful that we fill it with what Jesus wants, not what we desire from this world. 

ReplyForward Add reaction

Two Ways to Play the Game: Pastor Rajiv's Mid-Week Message

 

Play to Win or Play Not to Lose! 

The 7 Christians

As we read Revelations, trying to understand, one thing stands out: the significance of the 7 churches to our lives today, with 7 different types of Christians in the world. Let's take a look:

The Loveless Christian:

First, we have Ephesus, a prominent city with a church mentored by Paul and pastored by Timothy. They are doings things right and yet do have their faults, primary among them is that their devotion to Christ had declined.

What can we learn from this church? Like the Ephesian church, we can easily fall prey to a cold, mechanical observance of religion. Like the Ephesians, many tend to focus solely on doctrinal purity and hard work, to the exclusion of true love for Christ. As this letter shows, no amount of zeal for the truth or moral rectitude can replace a heart full of love for Jesus.

Persecuted Christians: 

Then we have Smyrna. Persecuted Christians. Jesus encourages them to remain faithful, for more persecution is to come. Like the people at Smryna, many today face persecutions of different kinds. They may face satanic persecution like Job or Maybe at work, or in society or in some nations. However, They are blessed because they remain faithful to Jesus.

The Compromising Christian: 

At Pergamos the church is question on its "purity". While they were commended on the fact that believers lived in a difficult place, surrounded by pagan influences, yet they held fast to Christ’s name and did not deny Him during difficult times. Yet they were compromising with "those in the church who contradicted the ethical implications of the very gospel they followed" (Jeremiah Study Bible). Do we, as a church or as individuals, also compromise in such matters?

The Corrupt Christian

The Church at Thytira were an active, flourishing, busy, growing church yet Their problem was that they were tolerating sin. They had a false teacher who was corrupting some of them yet The church leadership failed to rebuke or remove this false teacher from their midst. This situation is seen as a symbol of the danger of allowing worldly influences to creep into the church, our families or ourselves, and compromise Christian values.

Do we do the same with people or the world around us?

The Hypocritical Christian: 

Church at Sardis. The Sardinian Believers had effectively built a winning brand for themselves in their community. By all appearances, the church in Sardis was a vibrant, effective powerhouse. But inside they were lifeless. Spiritually dead. When a church attempts to operate from any other power source than Christ, that church can officially be identified as dead. The problem with a deceased church is that it rarely recognizes the condition. A dead church will often continue to function in its own power, programs, and pomp and attribute the momentum to Christ—celebrating every temporal victory as if it had eternal merit.

This applies to us as well - when we are separated from God, we rarely recognize it and continue as before. Therefore We do not regenerate our relationship with Him because we don't know it's broken in the first place.

The faithful Christian: 

Philadelphia

Unlike other churches mentioned in Revelation, Jesus did not criticize or condemn the church at Philadelphia. Why? because they remained faithful to Jesus despite facing persecution and having little strength, holding fast to His word and not denying His name, even when under pressure; essentially, they demonstrated unwavering loyalty in difficult circumstances.

This is what we all should strive for.

The Lukewarm Christian

Finally the Chruch at Laodicia. A church who thought they needed nothing more. The Christians of this city had permitted wealth to dull them spiritually; they became prideful and independent. In fact, they behaved as though they did not need God. The land provided for them; they had enough water. They imagined they were safe because they believed Jesus was the Risen Lord, even though they did not act as though Christ’s life, death, and resurrection had impacted their hearts. They allowed God to exist but did not let Him live in them.

They lived as though they had one foot in the world and one foot in heaven, but they were foolish if they thought He would permit such wavering.

Does that sound familiar?

Those seven churches tell us what not to do and what to do, to be spiritually alive. Each individual can find their likeness within these seven churches. Finding yourself if the first step to bettering yourself and these 7 churches help us to know our own spiritual condition.

Let us wake up before it is too late, and ask God to open our eyes to see our own spiritual condition—repent of complacency, compromise, materialism and stubborn independence; respond to the leadership of Jesus Christ and do not lose your reward!

Sunday Quotes

                 

You will never be saved against your will; God drags nobody to heaven by the ears. Charles Spurgeon

This life is the only hell believers will ever know. But for those who die in their sins, this is their only heaven - Ray Comfort

Let me remind you that this is God's universe, and He is doing things His way. You may think you have a better way, but you don't have a universe to rule - J. Vernon McGee

When we share Christ, the Truth behind our transformation, we are offering people an opportunity to be transformed - David Jeremiah

Too many Christians live their Christian lives inside their heads; it never gets out through hands and feet and lips - Vance Havner

When the Lord's white sheep become dirty gray, all black sheep feel more comfortable - Vance Havner

If you see a Bible that is falling apart, it probably belongs to someone who isn't! Vance Havner

God often hides His blessing in trouble or trial, which makes it all the sweeter when it comes our way. - Aiden Wilson Tozer

Peace comes not from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of God.  Alexander MacLaren

We should not pray for God to be on our side, but pray that we may be on God's side. Billy Graham

Saturday Vespers

As in the past, we would like to humbly request all our readers to pray, not only for their own needs but also for some people whom we know to need your prayers. Your prayers can make a powerful difference in the lives of those who are struggling, seeking strength, and hoping for a better tomorrow.

Let us come together in faith and compassion, offering our heartfelt prayers for healing, comfort, and guidance for those in need. Your continued support and prayers are deeply appreciated.
Prayer Needs
Grazia requests prayer saying:
Thank you God for blessings favor victorious wins protecting my children family home and I. God I pray for an amazing job where everyone prospers I am earning twice what I'm earning now. Send unexpected income from unexpected positive resources so I can provide for my family. Thank you God for family healing health prosperity and financial abundance .
allanrking requests prayer over his Finances, Permanent Housing, Wisdom, Discretion & for a Hedge of Protection.
Tanu requests prayer for a financial break through
For a pastor in India who is going through medical concerns and needs your prayer for his healing so that he can get back to serving God as usual
For a Pastors wife who is going through Chemo for a stage 4 cancer. She needs strength to be able to take her treatment. For finances for this treatment to be completed successfully and for a miracle for her life.
Brij prays for relief for himself and a family in India saying - Psalms 90:13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Psalms 90:12, 14-17 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands. In the mighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ I pray this prayer for my loved ones, me, those that have hurt me and for everyone one else. AMEN!
Carol wants prayer support for her sons and their families to become strong and active Christians and that she and her husband be good ministers to them and disciples of God. 
For a senior lady in India who has not yet got over her back pain. Though better, it still troubles her often. We thank God for His strength that she can bear it and live with it.

Thank You all for your continued support. 

Christian Patience

Patience is not just the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting.

Are we fearfully concerned? Are we anxious? Do we get agitated?

It is not unnatural for us to become any or all of the above when what we perceive as a plan for ourselves does not fructify.

By this do we expect God to change His plan for us just so we do not get agitated and panicked?

God is unchanging as we know, so no, God will not change His plan for us. It is upto us either to accept His authority and will or rebel with our attitude and behaviour. Our fear of acceptance and change overcomes our shallow beliefs.

But fear not. We have help.

Yesterday Pastor Rajiv talked about the Holy Spirit being our prayer partner, but he also made a very important point: in addition to everything else, the Holy Spirit can also help us to understand Gods will and accept it. 

Some time back one of our readers shared that he was very scared of an early death because his wife and children were not settled and he had not yet made provisions for them. He used to panic at the thought. Till he realized his wife and children were not only his but Gods family as well and God would look after them.

This is how the Holy Spirit helps us -

To understand Gods will, to trust Gods will and to accept Gods will. If we do that, we not only wait but we wait calmly for it to unfold.

That is Christian Patience.

Our Prayer Partner: Pastor Rajiv's Mid-Week Message

Today we going to continue our series of messages on prayer based on O.S. Hawkins’ book the prayer code.

How many of you have heard of the term “prayer partnership?”

Prayer partnership is when two people tie up and make a pact to pray together at the same pre-decided time even though they may be located at different places.

Now we may not be practicing prayer partnership in our own lives even though it is a practice that brings considerable blessing but all of us each one of us who are believers in the lord Jesus Christ has a prayer partner.

Surprised? Yes, the holy spirit is our personal prayer partner.

He is with us all the time, he searches our hearts & helps in our weaknesses and, above all intercedes for us according to god’s will.

The Holy Spirit lives in the life of every believer who has called on the name of our lord Jesus Christ.

Hawkins explains that our bodies are the holy spirit’s Holy place and because he is in us, he does on our bodies what our lord Jesus Christ does for us before God the father & makes intercession for us.

The holy spirit is our personal prayer partner.

We can learn more about the holy spirit by asking 4 very pertinent questions.

Firstly a ‘what question’ - what does the holy spirt actually do? " likewise, the spirit also helps in our weaknesses".

The holy spirit helps us to pray. In other words, He lends a hand.

How? By coming alongside, and taking part in our prayers and making our prayers more effective.

Paul reminds us that “for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought”,

Why? Because we are weak, and we do need help especially when it comes to praying. A help which is not available to us through self-help books. It is only available to us from our prayer partner - The Holy spirit.

So that is what the holy spirit does: it helps in our prayer life.

Then we ask a ‘where question’. Where does the holy spirit help us? It helps in our weaknesses.

Hawkins reminds us that many of us are not very healthy when it comes to an effective prayer life.

Jesus saw this in his disciples who could not watch and pray with him for even an hour in the garden of Gethsemane which was the time of his greatest need.

This is why he sent us the holy spirit whom he called the helper so that he could help us where we are weak, and the truth is that we are pretty weak in our prayer life.

Here Hawkins cautions us about the fact that just because we have a helper does not mean that we allow the helper to help us.

There are many who resist the Holy Spirit, some grieve the Holy Spirit and some quench the Holy Spirit.

You may ask How? By never acknowledging the need for his help and continue to live in unconfessed sin.

Why does the holy spirit help us in our weaknesses? “for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought”.

This word ‘ought’ is a very crucial word in the New Testament and appears over one hundred times.

The Greek word that translates to the word ‘ought’ in a majority of these 100 times means ‘must’.

So it is most important that it is not just that we ought to pray but we must pray.

Hawkins explains the reasons why we do not always know how we ought to pray.

He gives the example of Paul praying three times for the thorn in his flesh to be removed.

The reason that we do not know how to pray as we should is that we cannot see into the future.

We need help, we are weak, we are always confusing our wants with our needs and we do not know what is best for us.

That is why the holy spirit helps us in our weaknesses because we do not know what to pray for as we ought.

And finally a ‘how question’ - how does the holy spirit helps us pray? “But the spirit himself makes intercession”. He pleads on our behalf before God the father.

Hawkins gives the example of the good Samaritan who came upon a badly wounded man on the road. He got involved and interceded on the man’s behalf, took him to an inn, paid his bill and met his needs.

This is how the Holy Spirit works in our prayer lives. We are weak like the wounded man in the story of the good Samaritan. In our weakness we do not know how to pray or what to pray for, but the holy spirit comes alongside us and pleads on our behalf.

A crucial key to understanding how the Spirit helps us is that he knows the mind of God and always prays according to the will of God.

Romans 8: 27 "now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God".

The spirit leads us to the will of God for our lives.

Yes, we can find God’s will through scripture where we know many things for certain because they are plainly stated in god’s word. But there are matters of which we may not be very certain, so this is where the spirit comes in and helps us because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Hawkins points out one very crucial point: He points out that are many who have god’s word but are unaware of the spirit. Others have the spirit but are without god’s word.

We need the Holy Spirit so that we can find God’s will and we need to yield to the Holy Spirit because he intercedes for us according to the will of God.

So, what is the takeaway from this message today?

We are not alone we have an effective prayer partner in the Holy Spirit who knows god’s will for us and helps us pray in God’s will so that God’s will may be fulfilled in us and for us.

Amen!