This Week With Jesus

"Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light." - Micah 7:8 (NIV) It is easy to trust God when everything is going well. But when something terrible happens, it is easier to turn our backs on God. Often when we experience grief, loss  and pain, we get lost in the struggle and cannot see God’s guiding light. We may even fall away from our walk with God. But sometimes it is in those dark times that we can more clearly see the light of God shining through. Our source strength and hope. Our duty therefore, inspite of circumstances, is not to wallow and Instead, live on the three principles of what God asks of His people: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with Him . This is our strength. The rest to be left to God, because He will uplift us far and above our troubles.

The phrase "do not be afraid" occurs 365 times in the Bible, one for each day. There are times when the heavens seem shut and drought and barrenness and failure surround us in whatever we do. It must happen to everyone and we have nothing to do but wonder what went wrong? At such times friends, relatives etc offer no consolation. They can't because they themselves may not know the pain or outcome. But there is one who knows . One Who had gone through worse and yet survived. Job. Job's story in the Bible, is the perfect example of holding God high, irrespective of His circumstances. Looking beyond the obvious as we say. Today his story can help us beyond and to the other side of failure and fear. Of special mention are verses Job 5:17-26 "He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither sh

Most of us if not all of us have asked this question since time immemorial. Whenever we face troubles or challenges, death, a job loss, financial difficulties etc., we tend to ask ourselves why. We are good people, strong believers, haven't harmed anyone, so why are we suffering this problem? We get this answer from Job, may be the biggest sufferer in the universe, in chapter 42, verse 5, where he says-  "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you". This very clearly shows that unless we have experienced God, we can never be firsthand believers and will always have a secondhand faith, largely dependent on others. In the words of Ms Francis Taylor, "We have been taught about God by others. But the time must come in each of our lives to actually "see" what God has done both in the world and in us. For our faith to be "ours," we can't let it rest on the confession of others . Have we seen the hand of God so that our faith is truly our

I will help thee, saith the Lord. — Isaiah 41:14 When we pray, we often expect God to grant our requests in just the way we ask. But in that moment one realizes that while we were praying and asking God to give us a new start, to give us what we thought we needed, God was doing just that but in a different way than we had imagined. And then we think and assume we are at a dead end.  The problem is we don't know the mind of God! We don't know when the way we want our prayers to be answered is not in God's plan. We pray in the Lord's Prayer, "Thy will be done." Unfortunately, we don't like it when our will and God's will aren't the same. Many years ago, in a theology class, the teacher joked that we believe that God made us in his image, and we have been trying to return the favor ever since. This morning let us hear the Lord Jesus speak to each one of us: “I will help thee.” “It is but a small thing for me, thy God, to help thee. Consider what I hav

Deuteronomy Chapter 28 verses 1 and 13 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them". Leadership is a subject which has received much attention from the management perspective. It is now agreed that Servant Leadership is a powerful concept and probably the best leadership style. But did you know that the concept of Servant Leadership was best exemplified by Jesus Christ? Christ's Leadership is further based on Biblical principles, starting with the 10 commandments, through the proverbs and in fact every book of the Bible. Some of the key traits practiced by Jesus Christ are - Humility, Focus, Story telling (or explaining through

What do we do with our gifts? This is an ever-present  question. But  first, let me point out the difference between a present and a gift. A Gift is something of value given by one person to another without consideration, out of love, with no expectation of return. A Present, on the other hand, is something of value given by a person who is invited to attend a function or party, such as, a wedding party, birthday party, marriage-day party etc. Unlike a gift, which is absolutely free, a present is not given absolutely free; there is an understanding of giving and taking — present is given in lieu of taking part in the function or party We all receive Gods gifts - as blessings.  Our nontransferable skills, talents, job etc., are gifts coming from God's blessings. The greatest gift of all was God's gift to mankind, Jesus Christ. The question is what do we do with these gifts?  Ms. Francis Taylor sums it up beautifully when she prays - "When God blesses us with abundance, even

Leaders embrace the unknown Read: Genesis 12 Managing risk and uncertainty is a mandatory skill and habit for business leaders. They are called upon to maintain a stable attitude whether they are in a profitable state or a loss scenario. Seldom do they flinch from carrying out what they are supposed to do. Yet, in personal lives we normally hate risk and hate uncertainty. We avoid such situations to the best of our abilities. In our reading today, Abraham was directed to head out to a distant land, not knowing how and why. He is the e ample of someone embracing the unknown. Not questioning or doubting, just with faith in the future. A future based on a promise made by Jehovah. How many of us would do that? Yet Abraham did and we all know how it turned out for him. We can be leaders in our homes, our workplace or society, carrying out our purpose and our role assigned to us.  Like Abraham, we too can make a difference.