Rejoice

But don't rejoice because the evil spirits obey you, rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.

Lk:10:20

Why do you rejoice? Material blessings? Academic excellence? Job opportunities and career growth? Even ticking the spiritual boxes? What would happen when these things are not there?

Rejoice with an eternal perspective. Not the futile things that you have in your hands. If you rejoice in the things that you have, the moment those very things are taken away from your hand, the joy also is naturally taken away.

But if your joy is focussed on the hope that you have, if the joy is based on the future and inheritance that you have been promised, then that joy is abounding; a joy which cannot be taken away.

Especially when the plates are turned against you; you can find and rejuvenate in this joy; by believing that the one who gives this joy is your Father who is the Almighty. And that He has got it in control. That He will take care. For He has promised not to leave nor forsake you. Joy is found in the person, not on what He gives.

That will bring the difference in your approach. That will bring the difference in finding joy in the midst of difficult circumstances.

Image credit: https://opentheword.org/2020/02/07/why-would-belief-in-god-make-us-happier/

Comments

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.

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...

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

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

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

Words are not enough _ a poem

There was pain, there was rejection There was loneliness, mocking and ridicule There was suffering to the peak There was bloodshed to the highest degree. Why had He to endure this? Why on earth had He chose to go through this? It was not the nails that held Him there. But His love to you and me! He was mindful of you, When He chose to go through it all For He said, out of His own will. Not my will, but Yours. The gruesome death, the public shame The shearing pain, the flesh writhing flogs The spot, the blood, the sweat, the public disgrace Naked as He is, He lies there helpless. Peter denies Him, Cyrene comes to help All His disciples fled, the women stayed back They yelled, crucify, Joseph declares his allegiance One thief curses, one thief is with Him in paradise. Just for the sake of redeeming the lost He endured all these, because of love Sin is serious. Consequences of rebellion are real. I will bear it on my own, for their sake, He said. What love is this? What God ca...

Show off

Luke:20:45-47 The teachers of the law and Pharisees wanted to show off with their robes and long prayers. In the core, they wanted to do things which would show off their pomp and authority. They would boss over the underprivileged to exercise authority. Why do we want to do the things that we do. To be appreciated by the public? To be recognised by the public? Or is my life gospel centred? Do I do the things which I do only for the sake of Christ being glorified? Oh, to be empty and lowly Meek and unnoticed and unknown And to God, a vessel Holy Filled with Christ, and Christ alone May Christ be all, and I be nothing His glory shines in the vessels weak May Christ be all, and I be nothing This is my hope Not I, but Christ in me - Grace worship. Image credit: https://www.dmoose.com/blogs/training/body-builder-pose?srsltid=AfmBOopwLNyg0Ru1vxMPvba9LVcGUQh9cVO3YMwT5EIxMkPJ5Z3iO-Z-

The halfbaked Bard

Search This Blog