Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Have you ever experienced a fall?

Am sure that all of us at some point of time did fall. In most cases it could be lack of balance, distraction, lack of focus etc which could be the cause. Though these are reasons for physically falling down, the same reasons apply for a spiritual fall too. Thinking about a fall, the best example that comes to my mind is that of Peter. Visualize him getting out of that boat on that stormy night trying to walk towards Jesus. He did walk for sometime but later started sinking. What caused it? He moved his focus away from Jesus. As long as he had his focus on Jesus he walked firmly on water but as soon as he moved his focus and started looking around him he started sinking.

This holds true for each one of us.The cares of the world, pleasures, unwanted relationships, priorities etc are all sorts of distractions that we have around us. These distractions keeps our mind & heart so occupied that we slowly start to drift away from God and the day we let those distractions take away our focus we are bound to fall. At times we might just balance ourselves back and avoid a fall but at times we might fail. Even when you fall make it a point to get up and train your focus back on Jesus. Be aware of all the distractions in your life cos being aware of them will help you avoid future falls.

Remember that a toddler falls several times before he or she starts to walk firmly. When we are spiritually born again we start our Christian life as an infant, then as a toddler and so on. We go through the same phases as we do physically. Initially we will fall but if we get up again and keep attempting to walk ,we will eventually learn to walk. The main thing is to keep attempting to walk. Let me conclude this with a scripture from Hebrews chp 12 ver 1-2 ,

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith”

God Bless You

Monday, June 14, 2010

How do i know if I am in love...... with God?

I most of my life was a name sake Christian. Regularly attended church, took part in all activities and so on but never felt like i ever loved God. It seemed to be more of a custom for me and it would have been the same if God would not have pointed out this to me. How can i know if i really love God? The answer is very simple.

Have you ever seen a boy and a girl fall in love? You will know when they are in love when you see all this happen to them:-

1) They can't stop thinking about each other

2) They keep telling each other, “I Love You” a zillion times every single day

3) They are hooked on to their phone all the time and won’t miss any opportunity or reason to call up

4) They give gifts to each other

5) They tell others about their love and will keep talking about them all the time

6) They keep praising each other for every single thing

7) They love to do things together, they try to please each other

8) They write letters to each other and keep reading them over and over again

These are just few of the things that I could think of. If this is how people in love behave then do we have this kind of behavior in us towards God

1) Is God on top of our minds all the time, Is he the number 1 priority?

2) Do we keep telling him that we love him a zillion times every single day

3) Do we talk to him or communicate with him. Do we pray without ceasing

4) Do we give our gifts to him or is it just one sided act of receiving gifts from him

5) Do we tell others about Jesus (Your love)

6) Do we praise him for who he is and what he has done for us

7) Do we love to please god by doing what he loves to do, to care for others and love others

8) Do we read his love letter(Bible) over and over again

If the answer is yes to the above then, yes , you are in love with God, If not then it important to rekindle the flame in our relationship with him..... God bless you....

Follow the Shepherd


The first bible verse that I learnt in my life was Psalms 23:1 "The lord is my shepherd". Sheep is considered to be the dumbest animal on earth. All that the sheep does is follow its shepherd; it keeps its eyes on him and just follows where the shepherd leads it to. Sheep’s don’t reason, nor argue, nor rebel against the shepherd. They just blindly trust the shepherd. The shepherd on his part protects the sheep and leads it in green meadows and besides peaceful streams.

If God is our shepherd and we his sheep then we also need to be dumb like the sheep. We need to surrender ourselves and let God have full control over our lives. God gave us a free will and we can make choices. It’s the wrong choices that we make which brings misery in our lives. We humans are short sighted and can only see as much as our eyes can and only think as much our brains can. God who’s our shepherd, knows our future. He has already seen our end and he knows what is best for us. To follow God we need to give up our free will and seek his will to be done in our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 says For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. If this is the plan of God, won’t we want to entrust our lives to him and ask him to lead us.

In my daily prayers, I ask God to make me a puppet in his hands, so that he can pull the strings and control me fully. He has done everything good in my life. Though I didn’t get everything I wanted, he provided everything that I needed and he did it at the right time. Truly I can say, “The lord is my shepherd, I have everything that I need”

When Jesus called out his disciples, all that he said was "Follow Me". Will you make a choice to follow this GOOD SHEPHERD...Will you ask him to make choices for you… God bless you