He can heal your scars

“And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.”

Luke 7 : 37- 38

Now when the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of a woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”

Are you carrying scars with you this morning ? Are you carrying hurts and a heavy heart ? Is there a part of you that’s been clouded by shame and disgrace ? The Lord is able to heal Your scars and take away all your shame. We serve such an awesome God.

We read in this passage of a woman in a city who was branded to be a sinner. This was a woman who was treated with disrespect and carried shame and disgrace. The moment she knew Jesus was there in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil and washed His feet with her tears and wiped His feet with the hair of her head. Can you imagine the brokenness of this woman ? While people focused on the value of the oil , Christ focused on the value of her tears. To the people around they saw a sinner and one of them thought :If this man was a prophet he would have known what kind of woman is touching Him. In other words they wouldn’t have even let her come publicly anywhere near themselves. To Christ He saw brokenness and said to her “Your sins are forgiven”

Isn’t God awesome !

The people condemned and judged and saw her as a sinner. Jesus on the other hand saw her for who she will be…Forgiven ! When God lifts us up , He really lifts us up ! :-) Lets read Matthew 26:13 , “Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” In memory of ? Her !! God is so good ! His love is incomprehensible.

Are you struggling ? Is there this secret part of your life that is just shrouded with shame and disgrace ? Come to Jesus … Come to Him with all that you are and give yourself to Him ! The world will always be ready to judge and condemn. Come to Him ! Broken as you are , give yourself into His hands… surrender every part to Him. When He forgives, He forgives ! :-) Only He can lift us up from the miry pits that we have fallen into . Only He can heal every scar .

God Bless

Salt and Light

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

Matthew 5 : 14


I remember in high school as part of our Chemistry lab work , we had to guess the salt given to us based on the color of the flame. This was called the “Flame Test”. For example if the salt was copper sulphate then the flame would be very blue with a tinge of green. Typically Zinc salts are more on the green side…. So once we put a mixture of the salt into the fire , the color of the flame would help us identify “oh ok I have this salt”

Reading in verse 13 we read that we are the salt of the earth . And in verse 14 we are the light of the world ! I wonder if a Flame test was done on us what color would our flame be ? What would our light show ?

Verse 16 , “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” . What does our light show to the world ? It shows who our Father is ! Do people around us see Him ? When we are shining for Him , people around us will see that and give not us but our Lord Jesus the glory .

Coming back to the Flame test :-) We read in 1 Peter 3: 13 “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.”

What will a flame test of our life show today ? Has our foundation been Christ or has it been things of the world ? Are we shining for His glory or have we been trying to shine for this world ? Are we the salt of the earth ?

God Bless

Soar : Let Him carry you

“But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles,They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40: 31

They shall mount up with wings like eagles. Wow ! Awesome isn’t it . Whenever I hear this verse being read out or being sung as a song , I always get the immediate picture in my head of me soaring through the skies. Seems so fun !

I actually read a little on how do eagles mount up/soar. Its pretty interesting, they allow wind currents to carry them :-)

When we wait on the Lord , our strength shall be renewed … we will be soaring and mounting up because He will be carrying us through ! When we wait on the Lord we will know when we are to mount up and soar , when we are to run and when we are to walk :-)

If we are running when we should be soaring and if we are walking when we should be running … hmmm not the best thing to do and I’m sure the outcomes may not be very desirable :-)

Proverbs 3: 5-6 “ Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

When we wait on the Lord and trust Him …wow … our strength will be renewed.

‘ Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.

God Bless

Bad start ? So what ! Hold on to Him !

“When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Exodus 3 : 4

Do bad starts mean bad endings ? Ever felt “Oh no my day started off this way… I’m sure its gonna be a bad day”

A lot of us start getting this notion “Oh I knew this was God’s will and then I started it off but then this went wrong and this came up “ or sometimes we stray away from God’s will and then we realize and repent but we still hold on to fears saying “Oh I did this wrong and I have done that … will God really love me ? Will He use a wreck like me ? “

Difficult starts… Turmoils… Confusions…Do we allow bad starts to define the rest of our journey ? Do we turn from our ways and hold on to Him and His ways ? When we are walking in His will and when circumstances seem tough, do we still hold on to Him or do we start contemplating and doubting ?

Lets look at Moses. He was born in a turbulent time. It was a time when Pharaoh had ordered the midwives to kill any sons born to the Hebrews . In such a time as that God positioned God fearing midwives who would not listen to Pharaoh. Now Moses’s mother carefully concealed him and kept him with her till he was 3 months old. For those who are parents or have nieces and nephews you know how much noise a baby makes. So it wasn’t an easy job. Good and easy start ? Nope…Moses when he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew , he struck the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. When the Pharaoh heard of it , he sought to kill Moses. Easy good start ? Good decision ? Nope.. And he fled from Egypt and went to the land of Midian.

And now in Chapter 3 we read of the burning bush. Wow … Just picture that , God calling him “Moses, Moses” and he said “ Here I am”. . As we read through the life of Moses ,we read in the first half of the verse of Exodus 33:11 “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” Wow ! Amazing journey right ?

Do we choose to hold on to circumstances or choose to hold on to God?

God Bless

Do you see yourself as He sees you?

“Behold you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves.”

Song of Solomon 1: 15

Those in the IT Sector/Project Management field are probably familiar with project tree cartoons. This is an improvised version :-)

Do we see ourselves the way Christ sees us ?

God looks at us as His beautiful bride. The bride in Song of Solomon mentions in Chapter 1 and verse 6 “Do not gaze at me because I am dark” . How does her beloved describe her “You are beautiful my love”. :-)

Ever feel like you are useless ? Feel like you are not good looking and have low self esteem ? Seem prone to making certain mistakes over and over again ? The devil likes convincing us of things we are not !!

Don’t let the devil rob you of your inheritance by His lies ! Learn to realize how God sees you. You are the son/daughter of the most High ! You have been ransomed by the blood of Jesus Christ. You cannot be bound by sin because God has set you free ! You can overcome by His grace !!

We are set apart as holy and called to live holy lives because our Father is HOLY ! We will not degrade our bodies or take it for granted because the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. All that we are is to be for His glory !

The truth and reality is God loves us with an everlasting love ! Christ conquered sin and death ! He is also a just God ! If we have been walking in sinful ways , its time to repent and turn to God ! If the devil has been clouding your mind to lower your worth remind him of who you are because of who your Father is … I read a wonderful quote the other day “If the devil reminds you about your past , just remind him about his future” :-)

Its time to rise up ! May we learn to see ourselves and see others as God sees and may we live our lives as God would have us live.

God Bless

Consecrated Vessels

“Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them.”

Daniel 5: 3

King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords . When he tasted the wine he commanded that the vessels of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar (his father) had taken out from the temple in Jerusalem be brought. And when they brought the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple the king, his lords, his wives and his concubines all drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.

Now these were vessels that were consecrated for the temple. They were set apart. And the king decided to use them for drinking wine and gave them to be used by his lords , wives and concubines. Depending on the translation some Bibles say in Verse 4 “in the same hour” some versions use the word “Immediately” the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. The rest of the chapter is a very interesting read , please do check it out..

Belshazzar knew how the Lord had dealt with his father Nebuchadnezzar , yet he did not humble himself. He brought the vessels of God’s house and drank wine from them. And he praised the gods of silver, gold, iron, wood and stone; and the God who holds his very breathe in His hand He never glorified. In verse 30 we read, that very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.

When we say we have surrendered our lives to Christ we need to understand that we are consecrated vessels. We have made a decision to leave what is dishonorable and live a life of a Christian (a follower of Christ)

II Timothy 2 : 21 “Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”

Be careful to ensure that the world doesn’t rope you in into things that are dishonorable.

II Timothy 2: 22 “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know they breed quarrels.”

God Bless

Is it based on my works ?

“Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,”

Romans 9 : 32

For those of us who wear glasses, there are some things that can become a challenge. Like driving a bike in the rain ! (remove glasses cant see , wear the glasses cant see either ! – Need wipers !!). Another fun thing is a haircut. I went for a haircut last week and of course I had to take off my glasses during the haircut and voila the mirror becomes blurry. So I really have no idea to the finer details of the haircut, like the angle of the cuts with every snippety sound of the scissors. It does take faith that the stylist will give a good haircut or really good hair where you know that no matter how bad the haircut it will grow back pretty fast ! :-) Well by God’s grace I did get a pretty good cut ! Praise the Lord (Yes I did pray before she began cutting my hair :-) )

What did I have to do to get a haircut ? I just had to drive myself over to the stylist’s shop and that’s about it. The stylist took the pain of getting trained in the profession years ago , have a great shop set up in the heart of the city. Everything all set . It would be very silly on my part if I took credit for the hair cut saying ‘Oh guess what , my hair looks so great all because of the me ! My good hair is a direct result of my driving skills of the car’ … Doesn’t make sense really right ?

So is saying that our works will get us to heaven !

Ephesians 2 : 4-9 , “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”

God Bless

He must increase, but I must decrease

“He must increase, but I must decrease.””
John 3: 30

All of us desire that He increase and we decrease. We pray that , we sing that … but for a lot of us, we never do anything about it . We want to have the same lifestyle our way , have the same schedules our way , but still want God to increase.

We want God to work in our lives the way He worked in Paul’s life , in Daniel’s life but we don’t have the life of prayer that they did ! We like to have discussions about God , but don’t take the time to sit in His presence to listen from God.

While technology is a blessing , many of us have unfortunately used it to substitute our personal prayer time with God. We think “Oh I listen to Gospel songs and the sermons as I drive to work” , “I have verses sent to me on my phone” , “I read XYZ books this week” … that is awesome. These are all wonderful things that are meant to edify us and be a secondary source . The primary source has always been and will always be His presence and His word. Our personal time with Him cannot be substituted with anything else.

The world will drive us to be busy and have overly cluttered schedules - Handle with great caution !

As we start a whole new month by God’s grace , I pray that He will increase in our lives and we will truly decrease.

God Bless