This Week With Jesus

The evening and the morning were the first day. — Genesis 1:5 "Was it so even in the beginning? Did light and darkness divide the realm of time in the first day? Then little wonder is it if I have also changes in my circumstances from the sunshine of prosperity to the midnight of adversity.  It will not always be the blaze of noon even in my soul concerns, I must expect at seasons to mourn the absence of my former joys. Nor am I alone in this, for the sun shines on all and the night darkens all.  We all have had to sing the mingled song of judgment and of mercy, of trial and deliverance, of mourning and of delight. It is one of the arrangements of Divine providence that day and night shall not cease either in the spiritual or natural creation". ( KJV Bible Study) The fact is we cannot control the good times or the bad, nor their time that we must face . But also true is the fact that what we can manage is how we respond to those times. Good times are an opportunity to show hu

  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15 After an unintended gap of a few months, we once again have Pastor Rajiv with his mid-week message. 

"Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes" .  Song of Solomon 2:15  Did you know foxes love grapes (among other fruits). In fact, the term "sour grapes" comes from the story of the fox who tried to eat the grapes on a branch but couldn't reach them so after several failed attempts he gave up muttering - "they would have been sour anyway". Little foxes are smaller animals that cannot reach the hanging grapes, so they gnaw the vines off at the ground, causing the out of reach fruit to fall with the ruined vine. It is one thing to lose some of one seasons grape, but it is far worse to lose forever a vine that took 12 to 14 years to mature. Like little foxes, there may be little faults and sins in us that seem little but can destroy the fruit we produce. These could be "little" lies , "little" selfishness, "little" greed, "little" envy, gluttony of food, gluttony o

"He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD" . Psalm 112 ver 7 We are no strangers to bad news. Not one of us. And we are no strangers to fear as well. Fear is the one thing that can undermine our belief and faith in our God. It is well written that fear is the sharpest tool of Satan and which he uses well. When we fear, it is because we see no hope for the future. We depend on man and human power to bail us out.  If we treat the word FEAR as an acronym, the full form will be "False Evidence Appearing Real". Fear is mostly based on an untruth. The best of sales people use a technique called FUD - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, wherein they sow the seeds of fear and doubt to "help" you make up your mind about buying their product.  But as a follower of Christ and God, and with the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, we do not need fear. We need to  Trust in God and wait patiently for Him. Our wisest course is to do as Mos

                                 Predestination” as it is used in the Bible means something different than most of us probably think it means. For starters, it does not mean that God has already decided what our life is to be, every instance or step, and that we really have no choice in the matter and if we don’t, we have rejected God. “Predestination” as used in the Bible refers to the individual talents and skills which God gave us as well as his purpose for us in life. In other words, God has a unique mission for everyone in life and he equips us with all of the necessary talents and skills to accomplish that goal. However, we still have a choice in the matter. Many people choose to be slothful rather than pursuing God's path for them. Many people don’t recognize His will. Therefore, even though God “predestines” us for a certain mission, it does not interfere with one’s free will to accept or reject that mission. This is in fact what the parable of the talents is about. Althoug

  Psalm 14 - Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! It can be tough to wait on the Lord. It is much easier and tempting to find our own solutions for what we need, and then ask God to bless those efforts. Do you think He will? Not a chance!  Waiting on the Lord means we are waiting on His will and His time. Two components, each as important. God knows, in His infinite wisdom, the right time, place and event which we need to address our problems or needs. Then why should we play God in our lives?  We may justify to ourselves that if some action is not taken, a mountain of problems will fall on us. You think God doesn't know? He does, and while we wait on Him, he will give us the strength, grace and interim solutions to get through. We need to have that faith and dependence on ONLY God, not on ourselves, or others.  The Bible is full of countless examples of people who didn't wait on God and took things in their own hands, much to their 

* the Free Dictionary How many times in life we take a decision or done or not done something only to realize we have blown it? When failure stares us in the face we dread the result with that sinking feeling, with the knowledge of the outcome of our failure? But guess what? We know of at least 5 Biblical characters who went through failures and yet built on it for success. You see it is not the failure itself that Hurts us but our reaction to that failure . And there are enough examples in the Bible. But God does not turn His face away when we fail. He loves a good come back ! Look at King David - he broke half the commandments! David coveted Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11:2-3), committed adultery with her (2 Sam. 11:4) effectively stealing her from Uriah (2 Sam. 12:9), lying to him (2 Sam. 11:12-13) , and eventually having him murdered (2 Sam. 12:9). The prophet Elijah had such a major burnout he ran and hid himself. And what about Paul's awful history, Peter's denial,