Hurdles

Jn:11:33. When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within Him, and He was deeply troubled.

Why was Jesus angry? Out of all emotions, in a grieving family, why was He angry?

He was angry at the plight of man. At the fallenness of man. He was angry with the consequence of sinfulness. His anger comes out of His love to him. Seeing his helplessness.

But because of what happened on the cross, now this helpless man can ask - Where O death is your sting? Where O hell is your victory? We have come out victorious. Yes we are more than conquerors. If through our big brother, we have overcome the greatest consequence, how much more the petty hurdles that come our way, if the same Jesus is with us.

Image credit: https://runningmagazine.ca/the-scene/how-dangerous-is-the-steeplechase/

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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.

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...

Aide

Jn:4:43-54 The government official wanted Jesus to come and heal his son and he wanted Him to come then itself for the boy was very sick. But Jesus said - Go back home, your son will live. And he just believed and went back home. The moment Jesus said that, fever left him. The man simply believed. No traditional background. No previous experiences. Not according to his own plan. But his faith made his son well. The son had a believing father. The paralysed man had four believing friends. Whose faith- aide are you? They wouldn't be able to believe, because they are in the midst of suffering. But will you have faith? Not that your faith will save them. But you be steadfast in faith. You continue to intercede for them. You tell words of faith to them. You bring them to Christ. You pray with them. You be instrumental in instilling faith in them. I believe. Image credit: https://blog.businessglu.com/reaching-out-with-a-p-u-s-h/

What is your dream?

My Father is always working; so am I. Jn:5:18 Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. Jn:5:19 Infact the Father will show Him, how to do even greater works. Jn:5:20 The Father has life in Himself and He has granted the same life giving power to His Son. Jn:5:26 Anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done and even greater works because I am going to be with the Father. Jn:14:12 The Father and I are one. Jn:10:30 And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads you into all truth. Jn:14:16-17 You see the sequence of events? The Father has a will and He is executing it. The Son does the Father's will. And because He rose up from the dead and is living even now and because He has sent the Helper, the Holy Spirit to His beloved children, we are called to do the Father's will. See, we are called to do a greater purpose. A greater life. Not a mediocre one. Are you just pushing...

I can do nothing on my own.

I can do nothing on my own. Jn:5:30 This is not a statement of a helpless man. But of Jesus Himself. The Son of God. God Himself. This doesn't reflect His helpless state. But that, His will was so aligned with the will of the Father, that made Him say - I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my will (later in the last part of the same verse). In the garden of Gethsamene, He echoes the same thought - not my will but Yours. Jesus knew that He had come to do the Father's will. Not His own. As I said, it was not out of helplessness. Infact He was so focussed that He did not want any other will. Anything apart from the will of the Father, He did not want. How tuned are you, to God's will in your life? Whether you eat or drink, do it for the glory of God. Anything apart from this is hamartos. Am I sensitive to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit? So much that I will do only what the Father desires. How foolish of me to bring God to the center of my will...

The halfbaked Bard

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