This Week With Jesus

  The Story of David and Goliath is extremely well known to most if not all the earth, regardless of one's beliefs.  Goliath was a descendant of the Nephilim—the offspring of the “sons of God” and their human wives.  The Israelites failed to wipe out the Anakites—a subset of the Nephilim—in their conquest of the Promised Land, and so the Anakites survived in Gath and its surrounding cities, eventually becoming what we know as the Philistines.  Goliath was a Philistine warrior from Gath—a powerful symbol of Israel’s previous failures. Like the Israelis, we all have, have had or will have a Goliath in our life and will have to face it someday. A Goliath could be anything - a debt, failing faith, a family tragedy, a life threat, a mortgage, addiction, losses, or so many things this world has to offer. David's story teaches us two things - a. It is possible to defeat Goliath no matter how big and strong he is. And 2. the way to do it. David was in constant communication with God. M

It is easy to be distracted by various choices we tend to make in our daily lives. What clothes we will wear, what will be do, what will we eat, what TV show to watch, a.d so on. However, the primary choice we need to make is something we keep putting off - to some time in the future: Choosing God. What does it mean to choose God? Firstly, choosing God does not simply mean that one believes in God. Choosing God means choosing to live a life following Gods word, His instructions and the way of life He has specified. This becomes the primary choice and once we make this choice, everything else is secondary. Deuteronomy 30, 19-20 tells us that choosing Him is choosing to live in this life as well as the next. Choosing Him and walking in His ways leads to blessings for generations; it brings to life His promises specially where He says His thoughts are not to harm us but to prosper us.  But choosing God involves overcoming the world's biggest hurdle: Ourself. We are our own enemy. C

We really don't know the future, no matter what we read or believe. The fact is: we don't know about tomorrow, and as the song goes, in reality we just live from day to day. How does one accept this reality? Suppose we knew that today would be our last day here on earth, what would one do? How would we spend it?  Surely, we would make each second count, mend broken relationships, seek forgiveness for things we know we have done wrong talk to people we may have ignored, smile at a stranger and many things we wanted to do but put on the backburner. Take time to appreciate the people in our life and let them know how much they mean to us. We won't obsess about trivial inconveniences, as we are wont to do today, or ruminate about small affronts to our ego. We wouldn't brag, as there is nothing to brag about- what we had is about to become someone else's; we wouldn't gossip. We would focus on what matters. We would desperately believe that there will be something

Before we jump to preconceived definitions or understanding of manna, let's take a step back and understand what manna was. Was it only for the Jews when they wandered in the desert and didn't have food? Manna has a Greek root that comes from the Hebrew "man", and although it literally means "substance exuded by the tamarisk tree," it's almost always used to refer to God's nourishment, in the Bible. Figuratively speaking, you could say that when I was ravenous in the morning - The doughnuts my coworker brought in this morning were like manna ...." Combining both statements, the key here is Gods provision at the time when you most need it! With this background, can we think back and remember all that God provisioned us when we most needed? It could be health, food, money, a shoulder to cry on, a friend who dropped by when we were down and out? When He enabled us to achieve something. When we or someone we prayed for had a successful operation?  M

   Flowers bring beauty and serenity to our lives. On every occasion we present flowers to our friends and family, to bring cheer to the day. Think about how a flower, becomes a flower and presents its beauty to the world and there is so much we can learn from it. Think about the dandelion. Dandelions are both fast growing and incredibly hardy. It can spread both by seeds and by new shoots from roots or root segments. The seeds are easily blown around by wind and will quickly spread into adjoining downwind areas. It needs no special treatment yet produces 13 benefits for humans.  But what is more important is this:  a flower blooms where it grows. The dandelion does not say I will grow here but bloom there. It does not put conditions to its blooming. It simply shares its beauty and its scent, wherever it is, and goes wherever the wind takes it. It does not put-up conditions for sharing its goodness. But we people do, don't we? "I wish I had more money so I could feed the hung

                                                  Read Matthew 18 21-35 This is a very important parable and teaching. Probably the essence of Christianity revolves around this principle of forgiveness. Not only in thought but indeed and action. I doubt there may be a single person in this world who does not bear some ill will towards someone else. So today we quote from Ms. Francis Taylor on this very important topic. "I'm sure you are familiar with the parable of the unjust servant. The servant in this story owes the king a lot of money but when he begs the king for mercy and promises to pay it all back if he will just give him a little more time, the king forgives the debt. Then the servant sees another servant who owes him some money – nowhere near the amount he owed the king! – and he demands that the servant pay him back immediately. When the servant begs for more time, he refuses and has him put into prison until he can pay back the full amount. The other servants are h