God's Audit- Get prepared

“An unexamined life is not worth living” Socrates

‘God does not call me to be successful; he calls me to be faithful’. Mother Teresa 

As we come to the end of 2018 and prepare to enter into a new year it is good to know where we stand in terms of our relationship with God, the effectiveness of our Church and the impact our ministry has made. Whether we are willing to take stock of the same or not the Bible clearly states that the Church will be measured to see if we qualify His standard. In Revelation 11:1 it says, ‘Then I was given a measuring reed like rod, with these words: “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar and count those who worship there.’. Are you prepared for His audit?

We all know that the Church is the divine strategy instituted by God to propagate the gospel of salvation and the message of love in this world. Sadly, we see many Christians and Churches have defined it very differently according to what suits them. Apostle Paul talks about such groups who have their own way of measuring themselves.  "but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.". 2 Corinthians 10:12 NASB

In 9Marks journal an article on ‘Healthy Church’ defines beautifully what a Church is not and it goes this way, “the church is not a place. It's not a building. It's not a preaching point. It's not a spiritual service provider. It's a people - the new covenant, blood-bought people of God. That's why Paul said, "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Ephesians. 5:25). He didn't give himself up for a place, but for a people.”

While Jesus was on the earth one time was highly disappointed when he literally visited the temple  and looked at everything. (Mark 11:11). In-fact He was infuriated when he saw the prayer house     was made a business center and He vehemently remarked, “is it not written my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves.”. (Mark 11:15).  God is going to measure it again as we see in the book of Revelation chapter eleven.

Today still there is a big gap between the Church and the members whether we want to accept or not.  In some cases, the members are made to believe their job is over when they give their maximum offerings. Unfortunately, Christian faith and many Churches are caught in a web of lies. Are we willing to rectify the same? Church is not a small scale or large-scale business. 

Let’s not forget that the Church is already under the radar of the government, fascist and political groups. Anytime our differences and sub-standard way of operating and functioning will not only disappoint the people around us, but also God. We are nearing the coming of the Lord and He already is in the process of pruning and cleaning. In the book of Malachi God expresses His disappointment as He articulates this, “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle a useless fire on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the Lord of Armies, "and I will accept no offering from your hands. Malachi 1:10 (CSB)

Christianity is not a survival business, it is all about relationship, commitment and more important, accountability. Both lay people and Church leaders need to be careful that they do not fall short of the standards of God. Let me close this article for this year with a quote by Mahatma Gandhi which says, “I have never been able to reconcile myself to the debaucheries of the Christmas season. They have appeared to me to be so inconsistent with the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.”. May the Lord help us to think in these lines and ask God to make us worthy in order to meet His divine standard and exemplify our faithfulness to Him. 

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Blessings.

Resource: https://www.9marks.org/article/churches-in-india-a-people-formed-for-god/

Jesus needed feedback, how much should you look for?

Simple definition of "Feedback" goes like this, "Feedback’ is used to describe the helpful information or criticism about prior action or behavior from an individual, communicated to another individual (or a group) who can use that information to adjust and improve current and future actions and behaviors."

When something on “Feedback” or “performance review” has to be picked up, then the first reaction would be that this is applicable only in secular organization and multi-national companies and it does not have any place in Christian ministry or Churches. This is definitely not true. People need feedback on their efforts. They have to know where they stand in terms of current performance and long-term expectations.

Feedback enhances effectiveness and helps to reach the point of excellence. Unfortunately, most of the individuals, leaders, churches wouldn’t want it. Either they assume they are already perfect because of the position they hold, or they are not ready to accept from people whom they serve. It is said, “People don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions to be destroyed.”.

Jesus was willing to receive feedback, it is said in Matthew 16:13 Jesus wanted to understand the perspective and opinion of people about Him“. "Who do people say that the son of man is?" And then a pointed question to the disciples about who He is (Matthew 16:15). I have heard sermons on number of occasions from the pulpit and I am sure you would have heard too. But my question is, Is there a mechanism to receive honest structured feedback in Churches, organization? It's not once-a-year or once-every-three-month event. There may be a need to plan the timing to receive formal feedback in the case of Churches or organization in a more structured way; (in a form of feedback form, survey etc.), but informal, simple feedback can be given much more often – perhaps every week or even every day, depending on the situation.

Jesus asked for a feedback, which means God intentionally wanted to set a pattern for us to follow.

Some leaders limit their feedback from their chosen committee, some from people who hypocritically praise the leader for their own personal ends when actually their name or church reputation may be odious in the community. Romans 1:8 NASB says, "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world." The reputation whether positive or negative is up on the air.

Jesus at one time challenged the crowd when he asked this, "Which one of you convicts Me of sin?" John 8:46 NASB. Jesus was the embodiment of perfection and commanded us to be perfect too, as individuals and Churches. "Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48 NASB.

Blessings.

Selective Believing!

Have you noticed that our belief system most of the time revolves around a selected zone? Usually we believe what we want to believe and most importantly, it is based on feelings and our mental state at a particular point of time. But when we go through a difficult phase then it becomes even more hard to hope and think positively. This is not the case in children, their trust level is usually very high.

‘Object permanence’ is an expression used by psychologists of a child’s ability to understand that objects still exist even if they are no longer visible.

It is said up to about four months old, babies don’t have the capacity to believe something exists if they can’t see it. If you hide a toy it no longer exists as far as they are concerned. They reach a stage where if you hide a toy, they will keep on looking for it. They realize that objects exist even when you don’t see them.

This is a sign of Christian maturity: when we continue to believe in God’s love even when we don’t see it or feel it. We remember and recall. As we believe in the sun even when it is not shining, we continue to believe in God’s love even in times of darkness when we don’t feel his love.

I read an incident about Alex Buchanan who was well known as a ‘pastor to the pastors’. He was profoundly deaf in one ear, with only 5% hearing in the other, and one side of his face was paralyzed after he suffered nerve damage during a major surgery. He was once speaking about God’s love and he kept repeating the words, ‘God loves you unconditionally, wholeheartedly and continually.’

When he finished his talk he came up to a renowned leader and said, ‘Do you believe that God approves of you?’ to which the leader responded ‘Actually, I really struggle with that because I know things about myself that mean I find it difficult to believe that God approves of me.’ Alex replied, ‘We all struggle with that. But God wants you to know that he approves of you. He wants you to know he loves you unconditionally, wholeheartedly and continually.’

Yes, it so true that at some point we also struggle when we see things that we expect does not go as we anticipated. We have to trust and believe in His word, be encouraged by the history of His redemption recorded for us in the Bible and not go based on our feelings and context. God said in the book of Jeremiah, ". . .I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you". Jeremiah 31:3 CSB. He is too generous to assign days of misery in your life.

Blessings.

Striving to be relevant, for the benefit of the listener

       

The way of communication and how it is intended to reach the audience is the greatest challenge. Most of the time there is so much to say that people either want to say a lot and miss the core or say too little and miss the essence. It is said that the biggest challenge is when one is not able to present the claims of Christ in a correct manner and leave the people return undecided. A real sad state of affairs.

How convincing the message of Christ is to you? Does it inspire you daily? Does it make you emotional when you contemplate the claims of Christ and His sacrifice? Is your relationship with Christ meaningful and convincing daily? Think about it! The effectiveness of your message depends upon the state of your heart. Keep it pure and holy in order to have the message rich and sublime.

All of us communicate, some write articles too. I thought it is very important to learn to put things in proper sequence for the people to recall even after a week, in some cases it can remain even longer. People who speak to crowds or in Churches or in any other important platform should be conscious to prepare the message by putting the content in order, what God inspires to them. It is said about Peter, when he was prepared to explain things, “..He proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence” Acts 11:4 NASB.

By all means the inspirations and revelations from God should not be wasted for the reason that we hold on to this one ideology that it was the spirit of the Lord that lead to speak that way and then try to make it more appealing to the crowd and wanting to sound impressive. The result of Peter putting things in this incidence is narrated in Acts 11: 18 NASB “When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.". This particular situation happens when one group misunderstood Peter for his association with uncircumcised group.

We all admit Paul was a great orator, his sermon on various contexts, if you notice, had a proper order and always challenged the ideology of the people and established the truth. Sermon on mars hill quoted in Acts 17: 22-34 is just amazing, thought provoking and convincing. Sometimes we all at some point experience sitting in the Church or in some Christian platform and not be touched or challenged at all by the message. The Pastor, leader or whoever is the speaker entertains, cracks humorous jokes but just misses the point and doesn’t realize that he has gone way out of the subject. Sometimes we want to talk about everything whatever comes to our mind at that point of time to keep the congregation entertained. This season of Christmas let us be convincing and stir the hearts of the people. “A prepared messenger is more important than prepared messages”.

Blessings.

Teacher! Do you not care that we are perishing?

Life schedules series of challenges capable to immerse even the strongest one in order to break every hope someone has on God. One learns to understand that the latest victory he/she had is not the final and the last one. What you hope for becomes a mirage and what you dread becomes more and more a reality. 

The tempest is bellowing and the storms are swaying you all over, you just wish if you can have a breathing space and the Savior notices you and rescues you to safety. Yes, my friend, I understand what you are going through because I go through the same and mine is also very intimidating and life threatening too.

I am clinging on to His promises and quietening my heart in the fact He watches over me. Even if your heart refuses to believe that God will help you, yet force yourself to trust on His sovereignty because no trouble is too tangled for God to untie. No path is too twisted for him to straighten. No heart is too shattered for him to gather up and put back together. Your problems may be agonizing, but your God is tender. Place all your fears and frailty before him, and ask him to quiet you with his love.

 I want to draw your attention on Jesus traveling in the boat along with His disciples, when the storms were fierce and loud. The first reaction while they were battling to keep the boat to sail was questioning God if He was not concerned of their lives. “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?”  Mark 4:38 CSB What they failed to understand at that point is God was in the boat too and He was tossing all sides yet sleeping peacefully. How could they forget all the greatest miracles performed by Him and now believe they will sink to death along with Him? We all know the story thereafter, He hushed the storm by saying, ". . Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ". Mark 4:39 KJV.

When the promises of God seem powerless to quiet our fears, soothe our grief, lift our worries, or motivate our obedience, we need to do more than simply hear his promises again. We need to behold the God who gives them. Jesus is just there beside you. Try to come out from all your personal entanglement and focus on the savior.  Jesus does understand. He’s felt every sorrow you have, and he’s walking with you in yours right now. The God who did it so far will do it again. Listen to this beautiful song.

Blessings.

Dare to throw a challenge

“How long will you waver between two opinions? (18:21)

1 Kings 18:20-40

The story of Elijah challenging the king and the Baal worshipers is breathtaking. It is so dramatic that it appeals to our mind and challenges us, time and time again. I am challenged by the fact how could someone dare to try the unusual and demonstrate the power of God standing alone as a protagonist. What an audacity to stand the ground firm and keep bombarding with propositions to challenge their dumbness and infidelity towards the living God. The story is so dynamic and animated that it makes a great sermon, even motivating for children. But I am afraid if anyone today would want to try something closer to show how big God is.

 Magicians and illusionists perform live and are so spontaneous but note, prior to the public show they make a rehearsal in private with all the specifications sketched and drawn in the mind. They are sure of every move while they trick the audience. But in the case of Elijah it was completely different, this is a first time, on the spot, unique act. What makes so special about this whole incident is his daring faith on God, He knew God better than the situations. If you notice in this incident, Elijah made the challenge easier for the people who wouldn't acknowledge the true God but increased the severity of the challenge unimaginably difficult for himself. The water was overflowing all over the altar, the trench was overflowing too. (1 Kings 18:35). After making the situation extremely challenging, he makes a simple, short unselfish Prayer, immediately heaven opens and people see the mighty power and act of God, rest is history which we are all familiar with.

As people of God at the foremost, are we convinced that our God is living and Big enough? And do we possess the required faith that He will never let us down however intimidating the situation can be? Most of the times we are not successful because we give specification to God to makes things happen as per our expectation and that’s the disappointment unfortunately. David Bowden quotes “God is often absent in the ways we desire, but present in the way we most require”. How often we want to hide and go invisible when we are in a plight and in some desperate situation. If we come out victorious we make a public testimony, otherwise we align our perspective based on the situation and continue to remain invisible. Can we ask God to increase our faith in order to live an extraordinary supernatural life? The only successful way to have so is to soak oneself in the word and build an unselfish relationship with God. In Romans 10:17 it says “..faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.”’ NASB. 

His power and acts are timeless. Acknowledge Him with a sincere and honest heart. British preacher Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy used to say, “Faith is not believing in spite of evidence-that’s superstition-but obeying in spite of consequences.”. Having faith does not mean never having doubts or questions. It does mean remaining obedient. The same Elijah after the magnificent performance in Mount Carmel was intimated when Jezebel challenged to kill him the very next day. Elijah ran from there and asked God to take his life, but the Lord did not give up on him. He sent his angel and provided a hot meal to nourish him and then instructed him to resume his journey to 'Horeb' the mountain of God. After every challenges you throw to satan you are likely to be attacked by the evil in order to crush your faith you demonstrated recently. Henry Kissinger quotes "Every success only buys admission ticket to a more difficult problem", but be of good courage, God will not abandon you. God is bigger than all your misfortune, most difficult challenges and unfavorable contexts, just trust on him for a breakthrough each time.

Blessings,

David Raj

How Worship is understood and misunderstood in our times?

Worshiping the Lord is one of the most satisfying gesture expressed unto the Lord. All creation and the highest heaven worship the Lord in reverence. Today we notice worship is skewed to suit the church denomination, taste of people, age group and the style of music. Before I could take this further, I wanted to draw your attention to the first place in the history of Bible where worship is mentioned.

We are familiar with the story of Abraham taking his son Isaac to the land of Moriah in obedience to God's command to offer his son as a sacrifice. And just before Abraham and his son could leave behind the servants and climb up to the mountain in Moriah Abraham asks the servants to leave them for a while, "Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” Genesis 22:5 CSB. Abraham meant sacrifice to worship unto the Lord. Apostle Paul is so precise when he profoundly explains the same concept of worship in the book of Romans 12:1 "Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.".Romans 12:1 CSB.

True worship is one hundred percent commitment of your body, mind and soul. Unfortunately, today worship in most cases is limited to songs, great music and so-called worship leader's emotional status. If you carefully analyze, worship is also confined nowadays to 'feel good factors'. Worshiping silently is criticized and condemned by the charismatic Churches at the same time worship style of charismatic Churches are critically condemned by mainline Churches.

In recent decades, ambient sounds have become omnipresent in church gatherings. Meetings start with a synth swell and every song after that is connected to the next with musical glue. Synth pads play softly behind prayer, Scripture readings, song intros, communion and, in some cases, the preaching. But while music and the Holy Spirit’s presence can be related, they’re not the same thing. That’s why David’s lyre comforted Saul at one point and on another occasion led him to try to pin David to the wall with his spear (1 Sam. 18:10-11). Music is a means. God is the source. God often uses physical means to do his work. But when we start to view a means of grace as a “need” for worship, it can subtly take on the characteristics of a mediator (1 Tim. 2:5).

Harold Best warns, “Christian musicians must be particularly cautious. They can create the impression that God is more present when music is being made than when it is not; that worship is more possible with music than without it; and that God might possibly depend on its presence before appearing.” (p. 153). Let us be careful to balance at the same time worship the Lord in spirit and truth. Listen to the short video by R Stanley which clearly explains what worship is in its true sense and what it is not as mostly understood by us.

Blessings.

70% or more (worldwide) in queue – Do you have the capacity to deliver?

David Geisler & Norman Geisler in their book ‘Conversational Evangelism’ beautifully defined Evangelism this way, “Evangelism is every day and, in every way, helping your non-believing friends to take one step closer to Jesus Christ.”. Apostle Paul in the book to Corinthians writes, “Yet preaching the good news is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News! . . . for God has given me this sacred trust.”. (1 Corinthians 9:16-17) NLT. Mind, this obligation is not confined to any particular group of people, we all are responsible. R. Stanley from Blessing Youth Mission emphasizes by saying, ‘Every heart without Christ is a missionary field and every heart with Christ is a missionary force.’. He further challenges by saying, ‘every Non-Christian funeral is the missionary call.’. 

Let me point out couple of hurdles that stand out when we are trying to reach the Non-Christian. 1) Most of the time we are lost in the fellowship of believers that we aren’t thinking to reach out to the Non-Christians. 2) It is seen in many Christians, including senior leaders, in order to reach the people with the gospel they quickly rush in abruptly and witness adverse results. 3) The other crucial area of barrier is when it is seen Christians are only familiar with Christian worldview and completely ignorant of other worldviews and this complicates the whole deal of delivering the gospel effectively. 

“When we are confronted with other world view we do not have adequate resources to equip ourselves because we are in love with this gospel in an emotional way when we also have to be committed in an intellectual way”.” Krish Dhanam. A professor from Oxford University once said ‘The good news is only the good news when people think their lives are bad.' How are we going to address this?

‘We should be careful not to burn our bridges and make the task of another Christian who comes after us more difficult. Rather we should talk to our non believing friends in a way that they actually want to learn more about our faith.”. Conversational Evangelism throws good amount of light by providing different perspective on Evangelism. The book further comments by saying, ‘We may have to till the ground before we have the opportunity to plant a seed. We are not called to bring all persons to Christ but simply to bring Christ to all persons.’.

First, we need to redefine what we mean by evangelism. Most of us have been taught that evangelism is “proclaiming the Good News and inviting others to trust Christ.” Yet, a valuable element is missing in that definition. The missing element is simply that evangelism is a process. The apostle Paul said, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6). You and I may not be able in one conversation to share the entire Gospel with our non believing friends and then invite them to trust Christ. But we may be able to help them take a step closer to the cross with each encounter.

Possible suggestions; You may add more to the list,

*Build relationship with Non-believers in order to deliver the Good News effectively.

*Get to know other worldviews by picking good books or attending seminars.

*Stop using Biblical terminologies while relating with Non-Christian.

*Stop concentrating to write articles and messages for Christian group exclusively. If you have the     gift, start addressing general topics connecting to eternity and address common crowd.

*Do not force people to come to Church. It may disrupt your efforts. (The Bible says “Prepare your   work outside, and get your fields ready. Afterwards, build your house.”. Proverbs 24:27)

Blessings.

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations

Reversing Conscience to Compliance level- Matter of concern

           Compliance level    To   Conscience level;

                    Reversing again

Conscience  level    To   Compliance level

When we go through the old testament, the so many laws (613 laws), system, regulations are so overwhelming and burdensome. It is a sheer grace of God that through His son Jesus Christ we are actually free from the huge burden of laws. Paul when cites in Ephesians 2:15 says like this, “He made this no effect of the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.”.

In Romans 2:15 it says “They show that the essential requirements of the law are written in their hearts; and their conscience [their sense of right and wrong, their moral choices] bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or perhaps defending them”. God has refined and tuned everything to our conscience level. God’s voice is now so powerful with the help of the holy spirit that ignites our conscience to do things that are pleasing to God and do things right. God moved the entire old testament from a compliance to Conscience level, but the Big question is, how much are we accountable in all level?

During the time of Joash when the temple was repaired, the Money and wealth collected was given to those doing the work- and those who oversaw the Lords temple would pay it out to those working on the lords Temple (1kings1: 11-12) There was no confusion, in fact stronger testimony of the people who supervised is cited in 1 Kings 2:15 CSB, “No accounting was required from the men who received the silver to pay those doing the work, since they worked with integrity”.  

How about today? Can this be so true now? We have different committees, task forces, and when it comes to money, there are diversification of interest, sadly in many cases resulting to court cases and litigation. Even Christian make headlines when it comes to property and wealth. The utilization of offerings is another big challenge in most of the Churches. Working with most of the Churches all over India for more than a decade there are sad stories that I witnessed. I wish and pray the leaders are more careful to use the money for the right purpose.

There is definitely a breakdown of systems in terms of utilization of funds in temples, mosques, Churches and in any religions places. Anytime the freedom is not used properly or misused God makes a way out, now It is becoming a forced level of pushing once again to a compliance level. You are going to be monitored seriously. Supreme Court in India orders massive judicial scrutiny of all religious shrines, where Church is included too. 

Your choices are limited hereafter. The Church leaders are responsible to use the resources for all good reason and most importantly to restore and recover the early Church model ensuring that the poverty related issues are addressed effectively.

Check this site: 
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/sc-orders-massive-judicial-scrutiny-of-all-religious-shrines/videoshow/65513061.cms

http://persecutionrelief.org/church-schools-in-india-among-those-that-should-not-exist/

Faking it out! God noticed it.

I always wonder why  many people are not up to themselves? Why do we sugar coat things and comfort someone when actually we don’t mean it? Why on earth we always want to hide behind the position, designation, influence, our artificial smile and our common unrealistic slogan most of the time that we use, “I am praying for you”? The list is endless. Is it just because our survival means a lot and we want to maintain it? Can we seriously think from God's point of view and confess the ignominy of our masks? We all may have a valid reason to do so but miserably fall short from Christ estimation. Ever wondered how He takes it?

Psalms 51:6 “Behold you desire truth in the innermost being and in the hidden part of my heart. .”.

The psalmist King David is conscious while he articulates the above claim, ‘God desires truth in the innermost being’. As Christians, Leaders, Pastors it is so important that we display the transformed personality of who we are and not give a mirage image of ourselves. I can narrate so many experiences that I encountered with Christian leaders with whom I happened to discuss and get to know about their work and ministry. Some of them were so promising in their commitment to God and to the ministry, later at some point when I have tried texting them or contacting them (mind, not for any help) they would not even read the message and can just ignore it as a trash. 

 At one time I had a long discussion with a Christian leader about trying to add value to enhance the ministry. He was very assuring too, but then after a week or so I tried calling to know how things are going he ignored my calls thereafter. What we do to one we will do to others. This is who we are sadly but never have the slightest guilt for our misdemeanor. We contradict ourselves in so many areas and yet seen in the forefront to minister to people in various ways and expound God’s word.

Proverbs 23:7 “.. ‘He says to you Eat and drink!” but his heart is not with you.’.

Just prior to the above verse it warns us not to eat or drink with ‘a selfish man’ basically not to have any fellowship with such kind of a person irrespective of who he is, because of his selfish nature. We may judge a person by the content of the message and act, but God judges us by our intent, therefore we are inescapable. It is so easy to preach, write articles, send daily devotions to groups, send amazing quotes yet fake our identity in Christ. Proverbs 24:12 says “Does He not consider it who weighs and examines the hearts and their motives? . . . Will he not repay [you and] every man according to his works?

Blessings,

Have you ever wondered how you would look if the presence of God leaves you?

In the book “Run with horses” by Eugene Peterson who is the author of the brilliant message version, narrates a personal story which has a stronger impact on me and I do not want to forget it all my life. The real time incident goes like this, a man by the name Willi Ossa was an artist, who worked as a janitor at night in a Church on New York’s west side and during the day he painted. Eugene got to know him when he was a theological student working at the same Church as an assistant pastor. Willi decided to paint a portrait of Eugene for which he had to visit couple of time to his house and sit for thirty minutes. The only condition by the painter is not to see the picture before it is completed.

The painting work was nearing completion when one day Eugene wife came to the room and looked at the portrait and exclaimed in outrage because the picture looked like a corpse. Willi had to pacify her and gave the reason for what he was doing and said, “He’s not sick; that’s the way he will look when the compassion is gone, when the mercy gets squeezed out of him.”. Does it make sense? So much for me. When the presence of God had to move out from our lives we would just be like a dead corpse attempting all that we did while God was with us and yet bringing blasphemy to His name. Romans 2:24.

Let’s not forget Samson once used by God powerfully when lost His presence had to play a part of a clown, entertaining the crowd gathered in the temple (Numbers 16:25)

Lucifer the most beautiful angel whose description magnificently narrated was thrown from the position Ezekiel 28: 12-19 (Sad latter stage)

The Ephesus Church was warned because of the fallen stage and it says, “..I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place ...’ NASB Revelation 2:5

Paul warning the common people too in Galatians 5:7 “you were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth”

Let us be careful not to lose His presence and fight a losing battle with the enemy. May our prayers be like David in Psalms 51:11 CSB, “Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a wiling spirit.

Blessings.

Have you attained the celebrity status?

Human beings tend to flocking themselves to one who is famous, who has attained celebrity status, who is often televised and in the news all the time. The factors of preferences change depending on people tastes and choices. Christendom isn't spared from this. There are two things to it, one a particular minister of God with a special gift or may be with the opportunity for him to appear in public gained fame and starts establishing a strong fan club. The next is the common people whose needs are being met by this one man/woman of God, or he/she felt God speaking to them through this man/woman of God, totally clings to this person and starts depending on him/her all the time.

 The next thing the people want to do is identify themselves with this Christian celebrity sharing his/her fame and feel good about it. Sadly, they even go to the extent to mobilize money, resources and promote all his commodity and be satisfied emotionally or sometimes be profited. How do we address this? Does it even hit us? God keeps reiterating again and again by saying I am the savior and there is none beside me (Isaiah 43:11, 44:6) Paul addressed this in 1 Corinthians 3:2-3 ‘because you are still worldly. For since there is envy and strive among you, are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans? For whenever someone says “I belong to Paul”, and another “I belong to Apollos”, are you not acting like mere humans?

There is an incident narrated in Acts 14 where a man without strength in his feet, lame from his birth was healed by Paul.  The crowd immediately jubilant and remarked that Gods have come down in human form and intended to sacrifice bulls for them. In (Acts 14:14) We see Paul and Barnabas tore their robes and immediately clarified that it is Jesus and they have no power. They did not  come up with a plan to build a club rather directing their attention to Jesus always. At any point of time in their ministry they never encouraged the celebrity status.  Do we see this happening today? This same Paul now when he writes to Corinthians condemns people who are flocking to a group.

There is a warning for both, one who have attained a big status and not conscious enough to keep correcting the attention of people and the followers who are just so happy to be identifying with their fame. God Says in Isaiah 42:8 “.. I will not give my glory to another..”. Also in 1 Corinthians 3:21 MSG Paul warns, "I don’t want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else...". We read so many stories of miserable fall of so called great people and the news are there everywhere. 

Unfortunately, Christianity is judged by the abuse of such people who were used by God or whom the ordinary lay people made them gods.  “Being Christians does not mean we’re any better than unbelievers. We are still as sick as anyone - we just have found the doctor.”.  “We are all broken”, it is assured. “we are all miserable failures is the refrain. ". Stop promoting yourself openly or subtly and stop creating a fan club and be deceived miserably.  Christ is the only Savior and God, don’t try to replace God.
Check this Video.

Are you prepared to be persecuted and killed”- Jesus said it.

As strange as it seems there are undeniable truths which are rarely articulated and sometimes deliberately pushed under the carpet. I am sure you would agree with me that we have already stepped into a dreadful era where Christians are the target of violence all over. Things are culminating towards the prophetic end. I am personally inspired to pick on this very important topic to sensitize everyone including me. This is about God's truthfulness while He declared on some of the things which unsettles our comfort zone.  Apart from the promised pronouncement of blessings like abundance, refilling, refueling, extension of the territory there are also other things that will happen to “Christians” who in all sense determine to live as true disciples. 

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“Then they will hand you over to be persecuted, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name.”.Matthews 24:9 (CSB)

In Spite of Christian agencies advocating the security of Christians, persecution is definite and would only stand to increase rapidly. Few may be rescued but a large number will be persecuted and die with increased intensity as promised by our Lord Jesus Christ. Mind, not even one disciple of Jesus was spared from the martyr's death, in fact their death was cruel and gruesome incomprehensible to our human existence. This takes us back to the core principle of evangelism found in John 12:24, where Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.”, there ends the matter. He further takes people to the past, giving an example in Matthews 5:12 “…For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”. Church history is the witness where it gives us proof that many are giving their lives to Jesus from the place where people where martyred for the sake of the gospel. Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians induces the spirit of Martyrdom, “You fool what you sow does not come to life unless it dies”. (1 Corinthians 15:36)

“In fact, all who want to live a godly life will be persecuted.”. 2 Timothy 3:12. (CSB)

Apostle Paul is leading us one step forward by declaring the challenges and the cost one has to pay to live and lead a godly life. This means those of us who claim to be His disciples will be tested. We will have to pay a cost to be a Christian. It is high time to shed all hypocrisy and complacency and build our determination in Christ. The Bible says, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”. Matthews 24:13. Our Lord God will definitely be with us while we have to undergo excruciating challenges.

What you become in the end matters. Dallas Willard puts it beautifully “What matters is not the accomplishments you achieve, what matters is the person you become.”   India ranks 11^th in terms of persecution (according to world watch data) towards Christians, it is spreading like a wild fire. I kindly request you to share testimonies and prayer requests from any portal or source that can keep Christians informed, motivated and pray unceasingly for our brothers and sisters in Christ, who are being persecuted. Prepare the churches on this important matter so that people can come out from their comfort zone and be strongly built in Christ for higher immunity. Jesus promised, “..You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”. John 16:33 (CSB)

I am attaching a video which speaks about persecution and its implication to a Christian in the most clear and simple way:

Blessings.