How precious are His thoughts towards me

What a wonderful God we serve! Psa 139:17 says: How precious towards me are your thoughts, How vast are the sum of them. If I count them, they are more than the grains of sand!! Dear friend, if the word of God says this, it is true indeed. Today, let's just look back and thank the Lord for His loving care towards us - through thick and thin of our lives, through times when we walked along His path, yea, even in times that we rebelled and went away, such was the love and patience of our Lord. His love is manifest in the level of attention He has for us.

1. He numbers our hair

Mat 10:30But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

Fear not, dear friend! you are of much more value than a sparrow. The Lord says - they fall to the ground and the Lord knows them. How much more will He care for us who are made in His image, and especially if we have believed Him unto eternal life! The very hairs of our head are numbered. Our God loves us so much that every tiny detail of our lives has his undivided attention. All that He wants us to do is: To acknowledge Him before others (Mat 10:32) and He shall surely do the same before our father in heaven!

2. He names us by a personal name

John 10:3--- The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

Have you had the experience of the Lord addressing you personally ? Ever felt like the bible was written as a personal love letter between the Lord and you? Such is the intimacy that the Lord has for us, that he calls us by a pet name! We are not one in a multitude for Him. We are precious! So precious that He bled on the cross for us. For me! For the Joy set before Him, he endured the cross, despising the shame. (Heb 12:2). The good shepherd of our Soul shall call us forth by our names! And better still, he shall give us a new name (Rev 2:17) as we enter into eternity with Him.

3. He records our conversations and even our thoughts

Mal 3:16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.

So often, we have casually mentioned our good and godly desires before others in God-fearing conversation, and the Lord who paid attention and heard it wrote it in a book of remembrance and even gave us those things that we desired! This verse reminds us that His attention is on us and he grants us the desires of our heart and the things we casually mention in conversation. Beloved, how is your conversation ? We can't afford to be profane in our conversation because the Lord records it all.

4. He numbers our steps

Job 31:4 Does not he see my ways ​​​​​​​and number all my steps? ​​​

The eyes of the Lord are on his beloved and He observes the ways that a man takes and even his steps. He is so keen, even to count the steps of a man. Spiritually, the Lord keeps an account of the steps that we take to grow in Him, to be more righteous, the steps of faith, the steps according to his will, etc. Let's desire to please Him forever more.

5. He bottles our tears

Psalms 56:8 You have kept count of my tossings; ​​​​​​​put my tears in your bottle. ​​​​​​​Are they not in your book? ​​​

When we seem to be wandering about in our lives, dear saint of God, when your pillows are made wet by your tears, when your heart groans waiting for the Lord, remember, we serve a God who bottles our tears. Every single tear has been seen and recorded by the Lord and He will surely give you an answer. He shall not pass you by! He shall not leave you in the pit. He shall raise you up to the heavenlies where He is and where we belong!

Remember His love & faithfulness as you desire to love Him & serve Him all your life.

God bless!

Do the Will of God

Heb 10:36 KJV For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Heb 10:36  AMP For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and  carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised

Living in an age of instant gratification, it is difficult for us to understand the concept of patience. In the post-digital era where information and services are on our fingertips, we have to go back to the old paths to learn the ways of God. All things spiritual come with patient expectation. God's gifts may be given in an instant, but His fruit may take years to come to maturity and sweetness. We may be saved in an instant when we truly believe. But the fact is, while we were saved in an instant (justified), We are still being saved (sanctified) and yet, We wait for the final redemption wherewe will be saved (i.e. Glorified).

Consider these verses again: For you need to have patience! I have often written about the need for the Christian to wait on the Lord before they receive certain blessing. Yet again, I want to stress today on the need to fulfill certain requirements before we come to enjoy the blessings that the Lord has given us. Pleasenote: I am not trying to stress on works for salvation! I believe fully that salvation is a free gift from God received by grace through faith. Yet, spiritual life is an endurance race than a 100m dash, and the way to prepare for a race is through patient training for years! No one has won a race because they decided one fine day to participate in it! It needs a decision to participate, adetermination to win, discipline to stay on training, humility to yield and change where it is necessary and dedication to suffer the process because they consider the reward to be worth it. This is the sum & substance of spiritual endurance too!

Patience is one of the fruits of the spirit. And in some of the older saints, I have seen this mature fruit where they wait with expectancy and much patience because they count Him faithful - He that has promised will surely bring it to pass. Finally, it boils down to our relation with the Lord. If we're right with the Lord and if we enjoy His presence, we will have no shortage of the fruit of patience in our lives!

Note again the words - After you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise! We want it all NOW! But God insists that it is only after we do the will of God that we can come into our promises. Dear friends, find His will for your life. Seek it with all your heart. For the will of God is your sanctification. Decide and desire to be purified progressively and to be made more conformed to His image. (and His nature). As we submit to this for our lives, we will see the great move of God bringing us closer to His precious promises for our lives.

Prayer: Father God, we know you're preparing us for eternity with you and we thank you for the grace that you have given us through your son Jesus. May our live reflect His goodness. Teach us to patiently endure our Christian lives that we may come to the reward that you have kept for us. Teach us to do your will and be in your will. If we have strayed, nudge us back to the center of your will. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!

God bless you!

Don't live among the dead

Luke 24:3-6 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:And as they were afraid, and bowed down [their] faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen:

In the last few days, most of my meditation centered around the events of the Lord Jesus' last few weeks here on the earth - and as I was meditating on these themes, the words of the bible passage above was quickened in my heart. One of the key expressions of Christian faith is the LIFE that the Lord promises us. Our Lord was not to be shackled by death, and He rose from the dead on the third day. (Rom 8:11 promises that if the Holy spirit lives inside us, then the same spirit who raised up Jesus Christ shall also make us alive).

After Jesus' resurrection, the group of women came to the tomb where he was laid and they found the tomb empty. Are you glad that we serve a LIVING God ?! All other God-men and demi-Gods and so-called saints are dead and gone. But our savior is alive - and He lives forever more. He's not just alive ; He is here right inside us!!! Christ's resurrection is one of the most foundational aspects of Christian faith. This is what separates our faith from all others. Jesus said so many things related to this. John 14:6  I am the way, the truth and the life. John 11:25 I am the resurrection & life. John 1:4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men.

Consider again the verse: Why seek ye the Living among the dead?

Often, we find many people eagerly accepting Jesus Christ as their savior. They even get baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. But their ways rarely, if ever, change! One of the key reasons for this, is that they continue to stay among the dead, even after they are made alive! One of the key principles of this scripture is: If you have been made alive (if you were dead in your sins earlier, and are now made alive by the Lord), then don't stay among the dead!! I.e. All around us, in our day to day life, the world offers umpteen opportunities to sin and go back to the old life. The believer consciously (and often at a great personal cost!) has to separate himself from these opportunities.

OK. This is a bit difficult for us to understand. So let me illustrate. Let's assume there was this person who died. His body is now in the morgue (mortuary) and is among about 30 other corpses. Imagine ; Suddenly the Lord brings this man back to life and gives back to him the breath of life. He is now alive. He wakes up and realizes that he is in a mortuary. What sane man would continue to remain there? He'd be up and he'd rush out of that atmosphere of death as quick as his legs could carry him!

Now, where can we find a similarity in our lives ? We may be born again, but we may have consciously submitted ourselves to vain human traditions which keep us away from the Lord. We may be still in the friendships which take us back to the path of death. We may still be in dead assemblies or the religious traditionsor idolatry, which is a rebellion against the living God. We may consciously be living in sin and living our old life without tapping into the abundant supply of grace which powers us to walk righteous and blameless! The same Lord who cried out to Lazarus "Lazarus, come forth." is crying out to us! Come out!

2 Cor 6:17-18 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 

Rom 6:21 says: What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things [is] death. But the Lord continues in the next verse (Rom 6:22) that we are made free from sin and we are to become servants of God. The fruit that God expects from us is - Holiness and the end thereof is Everlasting  Life.

Old Life in Sin (Rom 6:21)	New Life In Christ (Rom 6:22)
Constant Shame	Constant Joy
Servants of uncleanness & iniquity	Freed from bondage of sin Servants of God
Bitter fruit of fleshly works	Blessed fruit of Holiness
End is Death	End is Everlasting Life

May the Lord lead us to this blessed path of victory!

God bless you!

Behold the Lamb of God

John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

The central theme of the Bible is God’s wondrous compassion for the human race, which was created in His image and likeness but has fallen so far short of His nature and goodness. Through the disobedience of the first man Adam, sin (meaning: all that is evil) entered into the world and shattered the communion between Mankind and His Maker.

The wretched sinfulness of mankind

The common cry of all men with a conscience is that we be delivered from our sins. The greatest burden that Man has to carry is the burden of sins. From Adam, man has carried this burden for the Word of God says: All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Look into ourselves and we will see a law in our body and mind which is contrary to Godliness. (Rom 7:23). This portion, i.e.Rom 7:16-25, reminds us that in our flesh, there is no good thing!(Rom 7:18) We end up doing the evil that we don't desire to do instead of the good that we desire to do! (Rom 7:19) Such is the depraved state of man. Out of the lips of such a man comes the cry - O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the shackles of this body of death. (Rom 7:24)

The Love of God

But though God is a holy and just God, and though he hates sin and wants to punish it, He is also a loving God (1 John 4:8,16). He desires fellowship with mankind and He desires that we are restored back to a relation with Him. This very same love is what sent Himself to Earth as Man Christ Jesus to bear our sin. The most famous bible verse (John 3:16) reminds us that  God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. To redeem humanity, God decided that He would bear the punishment for all humanity.

God Himself had to pay the price to redeem us back into fellowship with Himself. Thus, it was He who had to give His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for our sins. He therefore had to become man. God the Father prepared a body for His Son in the womb of Mary of Nazareth. Jesus was conceived by the third member of the Holy Trinity, the blessed Holy Spirit.

He bore our sin!

The primary task of the Lord was to be the Savior - to save people from their sin. Mat 1:21 - He shall be named Jesus, For He shall save His people from their sins. When he was taken by the Jews and the Romans and crucified, the Lord laid on him our sins. In the garden of Gethsemane, the Lord sweated drops of blood and became exceedingly sorrowful even to the point of death because of the weight of the sin of the world. To be more specific, He bore my sin & yours! And He took this burden to the cross. The nails of the roman soldiers didn't bind the Lord to the cross. It was His love for us that bound Him to the cross. It was my sin that held him there.

Slain from before the foundation of world

As Jesus came to this world as a baby (conceived by the Holy Spirit & born of the virgin Mary), remember, His life purpose was to live as man, to be tempted as we are, yet be pure and without sin, so that He could be the blameless Passover lamb who would die for us and whose blood will consecrate the new and living way for us to enter into the presence of God. By whose blood we are promised reconciliation with God! Rev 13:8 says, Jesus was The lamb of God who was slain from the foundation of the world. Because even then God knew that Man would sin and He had to prepare the plan to restore humanity.

The Son of God called Jesus, meaning “Savior”, lived a life without blemish. He then offered Himself without spot to His Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. Accepted and approved by God, Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God, who became the sacrifice for all who believe, upon the cross of Calvary outside the walls of Jerusalem. He was buried in a garden tomb, and He was raised on the third day as a sign for our justification.

He shall come again!

The Lord Jesus lives forevermore seated at the right hand of God until He comes again with 10,000 of His saints to receive all who believe on His Name, and to punish all who reject Him with eternal fire. This great salvation, which cleanses us through His shed blood on the cross of Calvary, is available to all. We must simply believe, confess we are sinners, ask Jesus to forgive us, ask Him to come into our hearts, and receive Him by faith. Then we will be born again by the Spirit of God and become a son or daughter of the Living God.

What must we do?!

As the jailor in Acts 16:30 asked, you may now be thinking - What must I do to be saved? My answer to you is: Acts 16:31 - Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved and your household! Who shall not perish - it is he that believes in the Lord! John 1:12 says: as many as believed Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God. Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

I invite you, blessed friend, to do so now and receive Jesus as your Savior.

Also I invite you to read your bible prayerfully (and experience the treasures of God’s Word, which is a guide for believers from earth to heaven.) Do so prayerfully and your eyes will be open to the wondrous truths that are contained therein. Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The Good news for the believer is that the Lord shall prepare us to be like Him and to make us as Kings and priests in His kingdom for all eternity.

In this season, when the world around is remembering Jesus & His sacrifice, My prayer is that it will cease to be an empty yearly, seasonal meaningless ritual and that it will become a daily meaningful reality to be lived and to be experienced.

God bless you!

Faith of Moses

By Faith .. Moses

One of the most exciting chapters of the bible is Hebrews 11 because it summarizes God's view of who all are worthy to be placed in the hall of fame of Faith. And amongst the faithful of the Lord who are mentioned there, one of my personal favorites is Moses. While this account just makes a casual passing mention of David (Heb 11:32), despite him being called a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22), the word dedicates 8 verses to the faith of Moses.

Moses is a model of faith for all of us. In the below excerpt, we will look at a few reasons why he qualified to be in this hall of fame.

1. He forsook worldly titles - Heb 11:24

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter

Here was a man who was the second in command of the land of Egypt (which is equivalent of the Americas today in terms of the development (social, scientific, economic) and also the decadence and depravity (moral, spiritual, etc). He was earmarked to become the next pharaoh probably. And yet, look at the humility of this man, who when called by God refused the title that the world offers. He refused to be called the son of the Pharaoh's daughter, and chose to identify himself with the slaves of Egypt.

How easy it is to fall into the trap of earthly honors and glory, all at the cost of forsaking the heavenly! As the Lord reminds us, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?

2. He chose affliction over pleasures - Heb 11:25

choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Christian life is all about choices. God honors you for your choices. You win or lose rewards based on your choices. You choose to follow God (or not!). Moses chose well. He chose to be afflicted along with the children of God and he chose NOT to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Remember, friends, the pleasures of sin are but for a season. It always tastes bitter at the end. Moses chose suffering afflictions with the slaves of the land rather than continuing to enjoy sin. He had set his mind on eternity and a healthy, holy fear of the Lord consumed him. It provoked him onto the righteous path and to forsake the way of sin.

You are either a friend of God or a friend of the world system. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Moses chose the friendship with the Creator and that comes at a cost - of leaving and forsaking Egypt.

3. He chose the reproach of Christ - Heb 11:26

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

Even before Christ was manifest on this earth, there are people who suffered reproach for his sake! Moses bore the reproach of Christ. Even today, there is a reproach that the world will place on us purely because we are a zealous disciple of Christ. Friend, welcome and embrace this reproach. I'd much rather be reproached by men than be reproached by God. Again, Moses chose reproach over the treasures of Egypt.

Once you have tasted the heavenly and once your spiritual eyes are opened, you know that the best that the world can reward you with is but dung and trash compared to the eternal weight of glory. Paul had such a mindset.

(2 Cor 4:17-18) For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

(Phil 3:8) Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Every saint of God who has been used by the Lord had this mindset. Again, Moses chose wisely. The word of God says: he chose thus because, he was able to look heaven-ward and see the reward that is waiting for him if he chose the narrow way here on this earth.

4. He left Egypt behind - Heb 11:27

By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

Only a person who leaves Egypt behind can lead a band of 3 million souls across the wilderness and towards the promised land. Only a person who sees how vile Egypt and the pharaoh are in God's eyes can decide and choose to leave Egypt behind. The lesson for the believer is that we have to forsake the world and the good of the world to follow Jesus. It's one or the other. While leaving Egypt behind, he was more aware of the invisible God and desirous of pleasing Him than, the visible wrath of Pharaoh and his displeasure.

Being born again opens our eyes and magnifies the emotions of our Lord God in comparison to the opinions of mere mortals.

5. He obeyed the word of God - Heb 11:28

By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

Moses was faced with the command of the Lord to observe the Passover to save the souls of the Israelites. A new commandment. The realm of the unfamiliar. Yet, what a blessed type of the precious sacrifice of the Lamb of God who took the sin of the world! By observing this commandment, Moses opened the way for the salvation of the Israelites from the realm of Egypt and their subsequent journey to the promised land.

It's only by that Faith in God that you can obey the commandments of God. If we love God, we will obey his commandments. It's only in loving him and obeying Him, that we can please Him.

When you are faced with the situations like Moses, my prayer is that all of us will choose wisely to obey Him as we have seen in the above situations. What a reward to this man of God to immortalize his faith in the Hall of Fame. May we choose wisely when we are at the crossroads!

God bless you!

Heart of Missions - Nations as our Inheritance

Psalm 2:8 – Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations as Your inheritance

While this is a messianic prophecy, it will truly be fulfilled by the body of Christ (i.e. us). We, the blood-purchased saints, are the ones who are the royal priesthood who have the charge of reaching the world and work towards expanding his kingdom.

Ø  ASK OF ME – The Lord commands us to Ask Him – ask Him to give us the nations as our inheritance. We are expected to be passionate and intentional in our evangelism and disciple-making. As you map your heart’s passion for the lands of India, as you feel the spirit of God move you into a deeper prayer for a state or a region, ASK the lord to grant you that land as your inheritance.

Ø  I WILL GIVE YOU – The Lord promises with His unchanging word – I WILL. You are asking The Most High God, who can and will answer your prayer, because it’s a biblical surety.

Ø  THE NATIONS AS YOUR INHERITANCE – The lord is never slack concerning his promises. While the result of our prayer may seem overwhelming, he promises you an eternal inheritance in the coming kingdom; He promises you that the land that you ask in your prayer shall be granted to you. He promises that the regions which didn’t know Christ will lift His name high, as a result of your simple, persistent prayer.

Caleb in the Old Testament fully followed the Lord (Deut 1:36), and he asked the lord for the land of Hebron (Josh 14:12) and the Lord gave him the land of Hebron as his inheritance (Josh 14:14). The land was filled with giants, but by faith, Caleb at his 85^th year waged a good warfare, and drove away the giants from the land and possessed his inheritance (Josh 15:13-14). We can also possess our inheritance by 1) Praying for the regions and lands of our burden 2) Sending the gospel into those lands 3) Going into the lands to proclaim the gospel of the lord.

“Missions, after all, is simply this: Every heart with Christ is a missionary, every heart without Christ is a mission field.” - Count Zinzendorf

Power of your choice

Ezra 7:10  For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

A lot of our spiritual life depends on what we decide to do with the opportunities that are given to us. Ezra set his heart to study the law and to do it and to teach it. These words remind us two things.

1) There is a power of our choice - God honors and aids our good desires of our heart. We'll meditate more on this in the devotional today.

2) The way to be a disciple is to first, set your heart, then to study, then to do, and finally to teach! How often do we fail in honoring this biblical order ? In Acts 1:1, the holy spirit mentions that this was indeed the order followed by our Lord. He did and then He taught. If we reverse the order, there is no life in our teaching, because we haven't yet been obedient to the word that we're ministering!