Thanksgiving

Luke 18 (NKJV) 10  “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.   11  The Pharisee   stood and prayed thus with himself,   ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.   12  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’   13  And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise  his  eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’   14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified  rather  than the other;   for everyone who exalts himself will be   [ a ] humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” God despises proud. And we immediately think ah! I don't have pride. I am not proud of the Blessings I have received like materialistic stuff or personal or family achievements but I give Glory to God in all those instances.  Well, little do we realize we have a much bigger and worser form of pride - pri

Hannah's prayer from I Sam 2:1-10 .  prayer reminds us on giving Thanks and remain Thankful when our Prayers are answered. Most of the times, we wouldn't thank God or spend time with Him once our Prayers are answered as much as we would have spent when we had been Praying and waiting for that Blessing. I Sam chapter 1 tells us how much Hannah suffered without the Blessing of Child and how amazingly God changed her shame to Praise. This prayer highlights thanksgiving, giving Glory to God and most importantly faithful affirmations of God's promises and who God is. If you look at Luke 17:17-19 we see only one leper coming back and thanking God. Its not that God expects thanks its our relationship with Him matters most especially once our Prayers are answered. Prayers of praise can be best learnt from King David, take any of the Psalms all will start and end with Praises to God. David will crib about his issues , express his worries, frustrations but he will always ensure he i

  Matthew Chapter 1 verse 22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”   Right from Genesis if we see God always wanted to be closer to man and have a fellowship with us. But, it was man, who walks away from God. Still God did not give up on us rather He came to this world to be with us. And this promise that He fulfilled is not just for few days or few years but always as He says in Matthew 28:20. We see this prophesy in Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. – This was a prophesy to King Ahaz as a sign to trust God and not to seek Assyria King’s help. But Ahaz dint. It’s difficult at times but when life makes us to question our faith let’s try not to be like Ahaz but in any situation be

Whenever I read Mark 11 my focus had always been on Jesus speaking about the importance of belief and faith in action (verse 22 to verse 24). But, while reading that chapter today my attention was drawn towards verse 12 to verse 14.  12  The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.   13  Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.   14  Then he said to the tree,  “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” I was surprised to see Jesus getting angry not just that but, he cursed the fig tree which is quite unusual of Him. The big question I had in my mind was - why will Jesus curse that fig tree knowing that it was not the season for figs. The only thing that came in my mind was that fig tree had leaves and it was deceptive but cudnt quite connect the two. gotquestions.org set the context for me by explaining the characteristics of the fig tree.

The Lord's Prayer The whole Christian world (Churches /24 x 7 Prayer / Christian leaders) recently started buzzing about this Prayer. So, what is this Lord's prayer? I wanted to share about this Prayer which is super special for me always.  This is more of my understanding of this great Prayer and how I feel about it. This special prayer was first taught to me by my mom when I was a kid to say every morning and evening. Being raised in traditional Church, saying this Prayer became a religious practice during school days. But after a time understood the actual meaning of this prayer and started saying it whole-heartedly on daily basis. Many a times I have felt I don't know what to Pray and how to Pray for certain scenarios and all those times I have prayed Lord's Prayer and trust me it was the best times and the answers I received were just amazing. This prayer does not have vague words, right structuring, right themes and words - A perfect prayer or you can eve

"By this My Father is glorified, that you may bear much fruit;   so you will be My disciples" (Jn 15:8)  In response to the rain the field must bring forth fruit. Rain is from above. God pours His blessing on us so we may be fruitful to Him. We must be productive to avoid backsliding. The rain typifies God's Spirit, God's Word and God's Grace. Let's briefly study the expected response from us on the receipt of each of these blessings.   God's  Spirit  is rain. This demands a twofold response. First our character. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal 5:22,23). The Holy Spirit is out-poured on us that we may bring forth these fruits. If instead we still continue to be manifesting "the works of the flesh" (Gal 5:19-21), we are bearing "thorns and briers" only. Every effort must be taken by us to cooperate with the Spirit to produce