Oh! Not another one Lord!

Ps:120:1

I took my troubles to the Lord

I cried out to Him and He answered my prayer.

Oh! Your troubles may look overwhelming. Your problems might look huge and unconquerable. You might seem puny before the huge wave that looks to devour you. Before the huge mountain that blocks your way.

Your strength seems to ebb away and your confidence melting into thin air. Because you do not seem to have a clue as to what to do. All your wisdom. All your assets and strongholds which you have gained over the vast experiences of your life seem to vanish off. Because whatever you try to do is not working. You literally are helpless not knowing what exactly to do.

The world seems to give you suggestions. But none of them seems to work for you. You do not seem to have strength to face the giant. But then one strength you have been provided. To take your trouble to the mighty God. You have been given the power to take it to the Lord. All you have to do is to take it and place it in His hands.

And if you boldly and confidently do it - He wouldn't either give you strength to overcome. He would equip you to scale over it. Or He would give you grace to suffer, to wait patiently. With the promise attached to it - And it will not subdue you. Slowly and steadily He will enable you to be not affected by it. Slowly and steadily you would overcome. And while in the process of deliverance you would have learnt something beautiful. May be a sin of yours. May be an attribute of God. But the process would be beautiful because you walk with Him.

Recently my son lost a badminton match with someone way younger to him. Today morning as he wakes up from the bed, this is what he had to tell me about it, "Appa, do you know, why I lost that match? Because I was proud. Because I thought I will easily win. "

God had to take him through a failure to teach him about the pride in his heart. Then I had to tell him, it was the Holy Spirit that taught him this truth because the Bible says, "God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. "

Failures are definitely stepping stones to success. The world says, it motivates you to work hard and scale over that mountain the next time you face it. But the Word says, success is when you really meet your Saviour. When you put aside all your burdens and seek your Redeemer. All the hardships are means to bring you closer to God. Be it a life threatening disease, be it losing your job, be it uncertainty about your children's future. Whatever it is. Nothing is too hard for God to handle.

Job was a person who lost all his wealth and all his children on the same day. Can we even imagine that? In few days he is struck with a disgusting diseases with unbearable pain. To add on he has all the more reasons to go to depression because of the discouraging words of his dear wife and accusing words from his friends. But in all this Job did not sin.

Will God be confident in giving you troubles to face. One after the other if it keeps coming, means He desperatley wants to teach you more things.

Or is your ship smooth sailing?

When the torrents strike which seems to sink your boat. Remember one thing. TAKE IT TO THE LORD AND MAKE IT.

And whatever He has to offer would you gladly receive? Knowing full well that He is in control? Be it instant victory. Or process of healing and learning and coming closer to God through the dangerous looking way ahead.

Both are from God. And the best part of the story is this - He is with you in this.

Image credit: https://www.freepik.com/premium-ai-image/boat-ocean-is-sinking-storm_47206143.htm

Comments

Dopamine rush

My nourishment comes from doing the will of God who sent me and from finishing His work. Jn:4:34 What is your driving force? What gives you a dopamine rush? What gives you energy to move on? For Jesus it was doing the will of the Father, who sent Him and finishing the work He was sent to do. Be it convincing an outcast woman to tell her own city, that she has found the Messiah. Be it healing fever, or blindness, or lameness. Be it sleeping in the open. Do you grade your work for God? Oh! Just because I could only wash the dishes and not give a message today doesn't mean I am not useful for the Kingdom. God doesn't categorise people by the work they do. But He sees the heart with which they do the task given to them. Am I doing it cheerfully? Or is there a list of complaints? Image credit: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/understanding-hypnosis/202402/3-activities-to-beneficially-release-dopamine/amp

Ashley

Dear Brother. Rest in peace. This life is small. Yet proved again. But you proved. Living for Christ alone matters. Trying to acquire skill And to use your well earned medical knowledge For the poor and needy. Your words still ring in my ear. "We are alone there" Brother gone too soon. Leaving behind a legacy. Well done good and faithful servant. Enough is enough. Come back and enter the rest planned for you. In His bosom, the classic smile I can imagine. Your laughter will surely resound in heaven today. There is rejoicing in heaven For a son has come back home. Fulfilling his Father's will for him Why should earth be gloomy? For he is home.

What do I mean when I say I'm born again

No one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again. Jn:3:3 Born again as told by Jesus to Nicodemus means being born of the baptism of repentance and being born of the Spirit. A new life. A new creation. The old has passed. The new has come.(v5) Born again means believing that the Son of Man, a term Jesus uses for Himself, quoting the prophet Daniel, as for the Messiah, is the only way to eternal life (v15) Born again is believing that the Father God, loved me so much, that He gave His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for my sin, that I may have eternal life (v16) Born again is loving the light more than the darkness. The darkness is normally loved by others. But light I love. It is an about turn. And as I walk, I am willing to be cleansed by the light, as my sins are more exposed and desire to walk continually in the light. (v21) Image credit: https://stockcake.com/i/sprout-in-desert_1239350_943191

Duality

Come, He replied, and you will see. John:1:39 Preaching from the pulpit is easy. Do you dare to take them home? Not a pre-planned visit. Do you dare to show them your messy bedroom? Do you dare to show them, how you spend your 'me time'? Do you dare to show them how you react at home? You preach about faith from the pulpit. But at home you fret, you are frustrated, you are angry - faithlessness written all over you. You preach about trust from the lectern. But spit words of venom back home. There is worry when small things are upside down. You speak about purity from the rostrum. Whereas your home is filled with unwholesome talk. Your thoughts are as filthy. What you are in the outside, why are you not at home? This is duality. This is hypocrisy. This is what Jesus addressed as white washed tombs. Give me integrity Lord. Make me reflect you, both in the public and at home. Image credit: https://hareesh.org/blog/2016/5/25/the-dangers-of-duality-recognition-sutra-6

His humble dwelling

Jn:1:18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and only, who is at the Father's side has made Him known. Jesus' sole purpose of life was to make the Father known to the people who forgot Him. Only a bridge could do that. Only God Himself would know Him fully. The Son - who is one with the Father - who is the One and only. He became man, so that we would know God. What a mission? To not consider the consequences as significant. Considering only the goodness of the fact that we who were His enemies would become His children. That is humility. That is love. Fullness of grace and truth as described about Jesus, depicts His diety. His Godhood. Grace only God can show. And Jesus is full of it. Truth - only God is true. This is God. This Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. Jesus is not a prophet who came from heaven to direct people to God. Nor is He a powerful being from the heavenly realms. He is the Son of God. Who became fully man to reveal God Himsel...

Beat around the bush

Do you want to get well? Jn:5:6 To the specific question that Jesus asked, the invalid is beating around the bush. When He is willing to do a supernatural miracle, the man expresses logicality. Let God do what He is good at. Expect unexpected things from God. Those are not unnatural for Him. That is faith. Believing that God can do anything. Nothing is impossible for Him. He need not walk in human's pathway. He is not limited to man's perspective. He is beyond that. Being His child it is our privilege to wait to expect Him to work that way. Image courtesy: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-man-in-a-field-of-bushes-with-a-stick--YhAwRDPjoc

Closed door

John:3:27 No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. This dictum if we inscribed in our hearts would ease up our lives. John was losing on his followers. His disciples were complaining. But John was sure - I am only here to prepare the way for Him. He is the bridegroom, and the joy of the bride is to join the bridegroom. The bestman is simply glad to stand with him. This is the solution for all forms of jealousy. There is no need to compare your walk with his/hers. No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. Which means no one can have something which God has taken away from him. Closed doors always lead to paths which are not destined for you. Do not force it open. Open doors lead to paths which God has planned for you. Walk in it. May God open our eyes and equip us to see God's hands in our lives. To see closed doors as God given opportunities to say no as well. Above all has He not promised that He will be with you till the very end...

The halfbaked Bard

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