The halfbaked Bard

When you pray do not keep babbling like pagans for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Matt:6:7 Do not be formal in your prayers. Do not be official. The formulation of words is not what pleases the Father to answer your prayers. It is not the way a child asks that impresses a father to provide for him.  Let our prayers be more secret than public. Let our prayers flow from a wholesome relationship with the Father. Let the relationship be the key. Not the prayers. Your Father knows your needs. Will He not provide even before you ask? It doesn't mean you shouldn't ask. Asking brings in trust. But more important than asking is trusting. That He is Jehovah Jireh. That He is enough. That He is Jehovah Shammah.  Image credit:  https://earlychristiantexts.com/praying-in-secret/

Matt:6:1 Don't do your good deeds publicly.  God looks at your hearts; not your hands. God looks at the motives behind your good deeds. If it is to gain appreciation and good words from others, then all the reward you will get from God will be lost.  Does self stand between you and the reward that you would get? Whom do you want to appreciate you? Don't you want to hear from the Saviour? Well done good and faithful servant.  If man's appreciation is all you desire, it is all you will get. If God's appreciation is what you desire, that is what you will get. So do everything as for God, so that people wouldn't know. Pray shutting the door behind you. Not empty babbling of words. Worship when you are alone more. Let your left hand not know what your right hand does.  Image credit: https://www.inc.com/brent-gleeson/20-tips-for-mastering-art-of-public-speaking.html

But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect Matt:5:48 That is not something what you can humanly achieve. God the Father is perfect. How can fallen man be? Well it is a process. Today is better than yesterday. This year higher than 5 years. Grow closer to God. Walk with Him like Enoch did to imbibe Him.  The perfect perfectness happens when you will have that glorious body, when you have the glorious body. When you see Him face to face.  Oh! We were initially created thus - in His image and likeness. Because we sinned, we fell short of His perfectness. Now He is giving us yet another opportunity. God's desire is this. Do you desire? It is a process to the culmination.  Image credit:  https://www.istockphoto.com/search/2/image-film?phrase=perfect+hand+sign

How can I show my other cheek. Already he has slapped me. The world will be making fun of me already. And if I show the other cheek too I will be called a fool.  It is pride to not let go. To not let to be trampled. Jesus practised what He preached. He did not retaliate when He had all the power to do so. He could have brought fire from above and annihilated everyone who ridiculed Him. He kept quiet. He let Himself to be crushed in the hands of His own creation.  If anyone calls you names. If anyone spreads rumours about you. One side of the world says to face it and retaliate. Other side says, not to bother, to grow above it. For you are what you think what you are and not what others think. Jesus says to love those who hate you. Oh! It looks improbable. But Jesus led from the front. He loved me who ridiculed Him. He loved me who denied Him. He loved me who did not want Him.  Pray for him who spreads rumours about you. Pray for him who hurts you. It might be ...

Anything beyond this is from the evil one - Matt:5:37 When you are trying to convince, you swear. When the history is that, you are not true to your word, you vow on something greater.  We swear calling on someone higher, out of fear of punishment - saying, I swear this on God's name, for if I do not do it, God will strike me. How silly? Who is God to obey your commands. Have a better understanding of God.  Instead be true to your word! Let your yes be yes and no be no. Let people know that you are a man of words. How would others believe? By your sticking to your words. It will take some time. To revert back to this from what you were. But it is worth it.  Image credit:  https://lawpath.com.au/blog/whats-the-difference-between-swearing-and-affirming-a-legal-document

God hates divorce The same God tells husbands to love your wives as Christ loved the church. The same God tells wives to submit to your husbands. You cannot pick and chose what to obey or not. You might not be physically divorced. You might hang on because it is command to obey.  Love as Christ loved the church, unconditionally, selflessly - is also a command to obey. Even when you do not feel like loving. Be it your spouse, or children or your difficult colleague.  And if you break one, you are guilty of breaking it all.  Image credit:  https://www.shutterstock.com/search/hands-separating

Matt:5:20 Unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of the religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Then Jesus tells about the heart's motives. He says being angry is equivalent to murder. Calling someone an idiot or cursing someone is dangerous enough to stand before the judgement throne. Lustful looks (online or offline) according to God's standards are like adultery. This standard of God is definitely higher than what man teaches because man doesn't know what is in the heart. Only God sees. Only you know. And God says, the heart is the most deceitful of all things. Heart is self directed, prideful and self loving.  That is why Jesus tells us to deny our own self as the step to follow Him. Can't hold on to both ideologies which are diametrically opposite Man has been so tuned to think about and love His own self. Man without Godly intervention cannot help but think about self. If you wan...

God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right For the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.  God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it. Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven.  Those being persecuted, mocked, lied about and being said all sorts of evil against you, because you belong to Jesus, are fools are losers. Retort back. Retaliate. Fight back. Don't be a fool. To defend yourself, only you are there. Even if it is your brothers or sons or friends or fathers. Jesus says, suffer injustice. Do not do as others do. Show the other cheek. The Apostles and the early church did the same.  Physical, emotional, mental turmoil remember is by the principalities of the evil kingdom, trying to bring you down. Don't worry. God is on your side.  Your reward is waiting. God is your very great reward.  Image credit: https://medium.com...

God blesses those who work for peace For they will be called children of God.  Nations fighting against nations. War and riot everywhere. In order to prove who is having a heavier hand and ascertain authority.  Peacemakers are blessed for they will be called children of God, Jesus says.  In families, amongst friends making peace is not everyone's task. It is a difficult job to extend that hand. Only those who know the living God of peace can do that. It is completely different from the world who teaches the fittest will survive.  Being different just as our Saviour was, is challenging yet rewarding. They spat on His face, they took Him as a sheep to be slaughtered. They ridiculed Him. They bet Him and tortured Him. Yet when He had all the power, He kept quiet, for He was the true Son of God.  Image credit: https://www.inc.com/amy-morin/10-things-mentally-strong-people-give-up-to-gain-inner-peace.html

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God Cunning hearts win battles in the world. People with pure hearts are labelled naive and are often cornered, utilized and taken advantage of. Some amount of cunningness should be there to live safe, the world says. Or else people will cheat you.  Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart. For they will see God. What more do I want. Make my heart pure before you. Make me naive for I want to see you.  Image credit:  https://newdayos.com/2022/06/15/blessings-of-a-pure-heart/

Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy.  Mercy is not for tough people. Mercy is for the weak. It is more theoretical than practical in this world. You can't trust anyone. You have to look after your own world.  Jesus says, be merciful to others and you will be shown mercy. The story of the good samaritan still holds good. It is valid and true. Though the world secretly acknowledges it, no one wants to show mercy for they are all selfish. No one wants to be shown mercy because all are self made.  But Jesus says, without mercy from above there is no scope. All our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. You can't measure up with God.  Image credit: https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=gods+mercy

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice For they will be satisfied This world is filled with cheating and malpractices. Be it your boss or be it taxes. And the world calls it not sin, but smart, intelligent and wise. The one whom the world calls wise, God calls fool - if you are not rich unto God. Hunger and thirst for justice for you will be satisfied.  Righteousness only comes from Jesus. Whatever good we do will not catch up with God's holiness. All are filthy rags. Hunger and thirst for the righteousness that God gives, for you will be satisfied.  Image credit:  https://www.bespokefundingprogram.com/smart-money-technique-for-funded-traders/

God blesses those who are humble for they will inherit the whole earth.  Be proud of yourself. Highlight your accolades. Let the world know. Post it in social media. Get maximum likes and retweets and shares. Pride comes from what you have achieved. It is a natural healthy feeling that comes when you inherit the earth.  Jesus says, be humble. What is it that you have that has not been given to you. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. Don't think high or low of yourself. Don't think of yourself at all. Denying self is a key to be humble. Then you will inherit the earth.  Moses was the probably the greatest man in the history of Israel. Yet God calls him the meekest man on earth. And it was he himself who wrote it in the annals. Yet he was not proud.  Proud goes before a fall. God gives grace to the humble.  Image credit: https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/what-does-humility-mean-in-the-bible-why-should-we-be-humble.html