Just look to Jesus

"Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed."

Psalm 34:5

When I heard this verse as a kid, the first image that popped into my mind was someone looking at the sun.  Growing up in India we were never short of sunny days :)  Step outside and there it is... shining brightly. Keeping it simple, couple of things that are an automatic outcome of looking at the sun... Well for one, you are automatically covered in the light of the sun ! Its radiance is all over you.  Stand there long enough and theres transformation thats happening that cannot be seen with our eyes but its still happening.. what is it ? Vitamin D formation in our body. Yeah grade 4 science... The Sunshine Vitamin. The body makes Vitamin D when the skin is exposed to the sun allowing the body to absorb calcium and phosphate better which is key for bone formation.  

Now this is just the sun. Imagine the gravity of looking to Jesus Christ the founder and perfecter of our faith !!! Oh wow ! The transformation that takes place within, being covered in the radiance of His glorious presence ... walking in victory !

"Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed."

Have a wonderful blessed day and weekend

Everything

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.  "

1 Peter 2:9

Last year when I was on vacation , one morning I sleepily staggered upstairs to be wonderfully surprised to the sight of some of my church family busy baking cakes and cupcakes :) Its the best sight ever :) Kids whipping stuff , some looking on , while there's the watchful eye of  a friend who's our baking whiz ensuring all goes well while checking on the oven.  The cake and cup cakes had all these amazing colours from within that flowed out... It looked terrific. Now what if I said , "Well though the cake was made by them, Im going to call out this lil chunk out of the cake and say that no this specific part wasn't made by them"   ... You would probably look at me and say "Go back to sleep. You need rest. You are not making sense"  Yes it does sound absurd. It was a cake made with great love by amazing people. To demarcate certain portions of it and call it anything less would be a meaningless statement with absolutely no point or purpose.

Sometimes though, we tend to apportion our life and say "Well this aspect of my life is God's... but this part of me God cant use that.. This is not God's"  We are created in His image , set apart for Him. All that we are is His.  Sometimes we focus on our spiritual gifts and become poor stewards of the natural gifting that God has given us. Sometimes we focus on doing things that are visible to the world and lose out on developing a Godly Character.  ALL that we are is by Him and for Him ! God is interested in every aspect in every area of our life.  We are called to a life of complete surrender. We are called to put away things that are dishonourable and be set apart for Him. And we do this not by might but by His Spirit. He gives us the grace and the strength to pursue Holiness. God is as interested in our university life/work life/family life just as much as He is our church life :)

This is who we are : "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.  "  and I pray by His grace every area of our life be a reflection of this truth

God Bless

Seek Him

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Matthew 6:33

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied"

Matthew 5:6

Yes, decided to have two verses today :) 

If you were craving cheese and I said "Here you go, here's a cheese sandwich... Try it"  Its as simple as taking a bite into the sandwich and knowing how good it is. 

In His presence there is fullness of joy. When we hunger and thirst for righteousness the word of God says we WILL be satisfied (not maybe, but definitive).  And in the laying of everything at His feet , in the seeking FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness, all other things that God knows we need will be added to us.

We read in Psalm 34:10 , "The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing"

Let our every day be a reflection of giving God our first, our best , laying it all at His feet. Let's do it. 

Have a wonderful beautiful awesome blessed day by His grace and for His glory.

Pressing on Toward the Goal

"I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus"

Philippians 3:14

Boxing day here is meant to be a day for great sales and shopping. I needed to pick up a gift for a dear friend of mine. Now I knew the store I wanted to go, had already checked out the store timings, when I woke up I got to meet up with my church family and their kids , the moment the clock struck 9am I was out the door on my way downtown. Now there are tons of shops to go to on boxing day, like literally every place is buzzing with some offer or the other. While the temptation to swing by a few other stores was always there , but I knew my goal.  So drove straight to the store, by God's grace God showed me exactly what to buy and I was back home in just over an hour :)  

A wonderful man of God once said "How do you know what's a distraction unless you know what your goal is ?" :)

Now this is something so small. But yet knowing my goal directed my choices. It changed what would consume my time. 

Paul writes "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus". In fact in the previous verse he says "But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead"

The upward call of God in Christ Jesus ! I pray this be the goal that rises from within us... The very reason for our existence is to live by His grace and for His glory.

May that drive our choices , may that cause us to think and choose and live differently.

God Bless

The Day to Day

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."
Lamentations 3:22-23 

It is great to get back to the groove of writing and wrapping more discipline around my schedules by God's grace :)  One of the many things that God's been impressing upon my heart is the intimacy and specialness of a daily walk with God. 

Those who know me know how much I love spending time with my youth. However , what captures my heart is not this one off big dinner (though those are terrific and valued too), its the day to day.  I love knowing what tea or pizza topping they love. I love knowing how their day went. I love the day to day. I love knowing how their classes went, listening to them just share anything. I love holding the toddlers and seeing them recognize me.  The day to day ! Its the heart behind it all.  And this is just me as a flawed human being :) If my heart can recognize this, just imagine the day to day with God. If I being human with all my flaws and imperfections, would love to listen to one my kids just talk their heart whatever it may consist of (be it food, the weather, hair styes, lip balms,  theology, Word of God, issues, school papers...) , can you imagine the heart of God !

There's something just so intimate about the day to day. Often our mind is warped around this and we have turned our relationship with God into a ritual.

Its time to get back to being real and enjoy this awesome daily walk with God. No relationship as important as His ! Created by Him and for Him.  

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;

great is Your faithfulness."

 

God Bless

Peace Beyond Understanding : A life Surrendered to Him

" And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:7

 

A very familiar verse that we have heard. How does this verse look like when lived out loud ? Lets look from verse 4 onwards , "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;  do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"

Having surrendered it all to Him , not faking it , but truly laying it down to Him, making our requests known to Him and resting in the surety of who God is, His peace which is just beyond understanding will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

So how indeed does this look like when lived out loud ? It looks like Joseph still following the Lord immaterial of whether the walls that surrounded him were the prison walls or the palace walls. It seems unreasonable to be at such peace when wrongly accused and put in prison. But that's what God can do , because that wasnt Joseph's destination. He was still en route to where God wanted him to be.

We read in Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

When does a tree bear fruit ? When it is firmly rooted in good ground and is being watered and nourished.  

 A life lived for Christ is one which overflows from an intimate relationship with Him.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus

God Bless

I Surrender All

"“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted."
Job 42 : 2

 
We read in chapters 38 onwards God's response to Job's questioning. Its an amazing few chapters and if you can, please take the time to read it.  Chapter 38, v4-5 , “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know!  Or who stretched the line upon it? "
As we read on through the chapters it just expounds how little we truly know and how magnificent God is in His wisdom.  Job finally responds to it saying "“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted."
Now if I were to preach this from the pulpit and say , "How many of you agree with this ?" I am sure to get a loud response of Amens all around.

So here is the question we need to ask ourselves ... God who's wisdom is far beyond anything we can begin to comprehend.. This God whom we serve and we love... How often do we push time with Him aside because we need to get to work ? (as though we are so confident that we control every minute. It is sheer grace that protects us and carries us through the day).  This God whom we say is our Saviour , how often do we push aside and not go to church because we want to catch a few hours of sleep or even study for an exam (forgetting it is God who gives us wisdom in the first place.. what could we ever do on our own)

Im not being legalistic but rather want to ask questions so that we take a moment to think, is our life a testimony or a contradiction to the word of God ?

Here's the beauty of it.. Moses lifted the rod (a stick, yup thats all he had) and God parted the red sea. David took a few pebbles and a sling and God gave him victory over Goliath (which trained soldiers feared to do) , a little boy gave his five loaves and two fish and God multiplied it to feed five thousand men plus many women and children.

How amazing it is when all that we have is surrendered to Him ! How wonderful a day is when it begins at the feet of the Lord ! How testimonial our lives are when we desire to live for Him and be doers of His word !

God Bless