Love is kind!

Love is kind. 1 Corinthians 13:4b

Good morning!

Few years ago, we had a wonderful family festival in my Church. The family which came to lead us on that day enacted and conducted pretty simple games to reveal the simple but powerful truth behind them. A ninth grade girl told us a story which really touched the hearts of many. Here is her story:

A lady who was quite busy with cooking for her guests got upset when her little son walked behind her so closely wherever she went. At one point, she yelled at him and pushed him hard enough to make him cry. He ran out of the kitchen as fast as he could into his bedroom and wept a lot till he fell asleep. The lady, after she finished all her work in the kitchen, remembered what she had done to her son. When she went into his bedroom, she found him asleep on his bed. Then the Lord told her to return to the kitchen again. When she went, she saw many beautiful flowers in various colors scattered on the floor. She realized that her small boy had followed her wherever she went just to surprise his mother with her favorite flowers. She realized how badly she had hurt him without realizing that he was simply displaying his love for her. She immediately ran to the boy. She took him into her arms. She hugged him and kissed him as if she was seeing him after a very long absence.

What message does this story convey? Love has to be shared with those who deserve it. Many of us don’t hesitate to hurt those who are close to us. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7 : 12) In other words, the Bible teaches us not to hurt anyone. It asks us to be kind to others in the same way we would expect them to be kind to us. Hurting others will take just a few minutes, but restoring the relationship may take years. In some cases, may never happen. The company for which we work may only remember us after we die until they find a resource to replace us. But the members of our family, especially our parents and our beloved ones will carry the pain throughout their lives. I love kids. I love to watch and play with them. But watching and playing with a child every day is really not that easy. But the precious parents look after their children with great care. A man who is 50 years remains always a child to his elderly parents. And the children deserve the full love of their parents. Those who have children, please take an oath that you will never bring your problems from work home with you. And let us all love our parents, because they are the ones who deserve it next to the Lord. Forget whatever happened in the past. Take this time as an opportunity to be kind and to show love to others. Be kinder than necessary to everyone, because we don’t know what pain they carry in their hearts.

May God bless!

Love is patient!

Love is patient. 1 Corinthians 13:4a

Good morning, friends!

I have a friend with whom I share anything & everything. Most of the times, I send texts/IMs to him knowing that he is at work. If something happens, I will update him as soon as I can irrespective of our time differences. One day when I asked him how he is so patient toward me, he replied, “Because I love you.” And so it is with my mom & dad who always listen to whatever I say. They don’t even know anything about IT, but still they listen to all I say, and always seem interested. They could tell me, “Will you please stop? We are tired of hearing this every day.” But they don’t. Why is that so? Because they love me. 

During my college days, in the early morning, some of my friends and I always woke up to pray. It was funny that several times we chose to read 5-10 verses per person, rather than reading one at a time. You know why? We thought that we could sleep before our turn comes. I can’t count how many times I prayed the same prayer again & again because I slept while I was praying. In some all-night prayers, when the fellowship leader led us in prayer giving out some prayer points to each one of us, I asked him to repeat what he assigned to me, so many times, just because I fell asleep.

But do you know the truth? God didn’t reject any of them. He heard all my prayers and He answered them. If I were to ask God why He is so patient toward me in spite of all my weaknesses, I am sure He would say, “Because I love you.” Don Moen’s recent album ‘Uncharted Territory’ has a song ‘He loves you, just because He loves you.” How meaningful! Yes, friends, there is nothing we can do to make Him love us more, and nothing we can do to make Him love us less.

1 Corinthians 13:4a tells that love is patient. It doesn’t grow tired upon hearing a lot from you. It doesn’t grow cold just because you make mistakes. I always tell my friends that if I were God, I would kill someone who seeks repentance repeatedly for the same sin.

But when I think about all these years, all we can see is, God is so patient toward us. We have done nothing to earn this love, as the Bible tells us that even before we loved Him, He loved us. He even knew us even before we were born. He knows all our strengths and weaknesses, but still He loves us. God’s love is the only love that can never fade. We are honored to have been chosen by Him.

Let us read about the characteristics of His love each day starting today. 

May God bless you!

It is unfair!

Do not grieve; the joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:9

Good morning, friends.

During our New Year service when we were asked to share the testimonies, people shared how God has been good to them. It was such a delight to hear from those who experienced God’s hand in their lives. One girl made a statement when she testified the Lord. “It is unfair if I do not thank Him from the depth of my heart for all the good things He has done in my life.” The catchy thing to my ears was “It is unfair if I do not thank Him from my heart.” What an awesome statement that is!

I just think of how many thanks we normally say to people around us. If a person holds the door open for us, we thank them. If the cashier gives away the receipt for our purchase, we thank them. When the waitress serves the food, we thank them. When the team members do a fantastic job, we thank them. When the conductor gives the ticket, we thank them. When someone gives a ride to the office, we thank them. We can add n number of cases in which we thank several people each day because of what they have been doing.

When was the last time we thanked our God who has been very faithful throughout our lives? Every morning, we get up from the bed. We speak, walk, hear, smell, eat, sense, and breathe every day without any issues.  We travel to our work places and return safe every day. We are kept safe with wonderful jobs in spite of all the economic downtimes.  When we know that several people are admitted in hospitals for health issues, we are blessed enough that we just visit the doctors once in a while. When there are several couples cry out loud for babies, we have children living very active among us. When there are some rich people who never get sleep during the nights, we have peaceful sleep every night. We can add a huge list of privileges that we have been granted everyday even without our knowledge.

Are we thankful enough to God who supports us 24/7 without even a single pause? Or are we still worrying about that few things that bother us for a while? Can we imagine how our world will be if our God forgets us even for a minute? Whether we worry or not, God still takes care of all our needs. We should not be dipped into worries. Thank Him for everything we’ve been enjoying even when we do not deserve. Nehemiah 8:9 says, “Do not grieve; the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Yes, when we thank Him, the joy of the Lord in us increases which is greater than our greatest strength. What else do we need? Whatever bothers us today, let us keep that under His feet and wait for His deliverance. 

It is unfair if we are afraid of anything. Be joyful! Do not grieve! We have an Almighty God with whom all things are possible!!!

Simple prayers from the heart!

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Matthew 6 : 7

Good morning, friends.

Recently I watched the movie ‘Letters to God’. This is from the producers of the movies ‘Fireproof’ and ‘Facing the giants’. Watch it if you can. It is the true story of Tyler Doughtie. 

Tyler is an 8 years old boy suffering from cancer. He writes and mails many letters addressed ‘To God’. He just writes whatever he feels like sharing with God. He doesn’t approach God for only healing, but these letters just reflect his heart to God. He writes even about the simple things like “You know what God? Today was a very good day”. The mailmen don’t know what to do with these letters. This boy doesn't spend his life scared of his disease, instead he writes letters even for others' problems, behaves very patiently toward his schoolmate Alex when he teases him about his disease, and convinces his friend Samantha to behave just like how Jesus would react. After listening to an old man saying, “You have been handpicked by God. When people see how strong and brave you are, that will make them look at their own lives”, this little boy considers himself as a warrior of God. This little boy’s sincere letters and life, touch many and bring them to the truth.

One day in my fellowship when we asked a girl to pray she started like this. “Good morning, God!” We all were surprised. Yes, after knowing much about God and the scriptures we tend to use more words in our prayers and make the prayers so very formal. Just think about your initial days when you have just known the love of Christ. All the prayers would have been very simple and childish. God loves those prayers, because they would have come very innocently. We would have thanked Him even for simple things. I remember I thanked Him when He enabled me to get up at 5 AM several years ago. Now I get frustrated when the alarm wakes me up even at 7 AM. God calls us back to our first love & to the greater heights of intimacy with Him. Shall we go back to Him with an open heart today? I’m sure He is waiting very eagerly to hear our innocent prayers once again.

Have a very happy New Year 2012! May all His promises to you come to pass!

Better than Tom, Ben & Ann?

It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 2 Peter 2 : 21

Good morning, friends.

Who are Tom, Ben and Ann? Well, they are my new friends. :)

I bought an iPod Touch recently. I always like to play the Hearts game on it. You know why? Because most of the time I win the game. These three are my computer players who don’t have artificial intelligence. I believe you know the rules of Hearts. When we see someone playing the cards that could make us lose the round, we will make sure that we don’t play the cards with high numbers or face cards. But you know what they all do? They will play the cards as defaulted. They can never think that playing the card will make them lose. So they keep on playing the cards from the same losing family again and again making me a winner all the time. I wonder if I would ever win if they have artificial intelligence and could make wise decisions before they play.

We know that God created us very special. He made us in His own image. Many times we wonder why God gave us free will and enabled us to make our own foolish decisions. Creations blaming God is not something that we learned recently. When we read/hear about Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit, the very popular question that arises is, “Why did God place the tree in front of their eyes?” or “Why didn’t God stop Eve from eating at it?” and “If God had stopped Eve from eating the fruit, sin would not have entered the world.”

When we realize that we are in a big mess we blame God for giving mankind the free will. Now I understand why God has given us the free will. If he hasn’t, then you & I will be like Tom, Ann and Ben. Now the question is, are we better than Tom, Ben & Ann?  At least they obey their creators (the gaming programmers). But many times we tend to go away from the default good will of our Creator, breaking fellowship with Him, committing sins, blaming others & Him, hating people, having wrong desires, taking things for granted and doing whatever is not good & ungodly. God didn’t want us to be robots. He wanted us to have freedom. We should not take it for granted. In everything that He gives, we will have to honor Him by utilizing them wisely. After knowing righteousness, don’t turn back, for it is better for a person to not have known the righteousness than for him to reject the righteousness he has known.

You are special!

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalms 139 : 13, 14

Good morning, friends!

Here is something which reminded me how special we are in the sight of God.

Recently I prepared ‘Sambar rice’. I thought of using some vegetables in it. I opened the fridge to select the vegetables and you know what I picked up? The brinjals (egg plants) and the tomatoes which would spoil in a few days and left all the fresh ones for future use. I also prepared a lot to save it for another day. This is called cooking for the namesake and try avoid preparing something for the next day. If I were God, I guess I would have written some codes to create a bunch of human beings on a single day and have taken rest all the other days. :)

When I think of how God created us, it amazes me. In my prayer cell, I heard one speaking about how God created us. He didn’t use any reusable tool. He didn’t create all of us alike like how we programmers try creating a generic module first and then inherit it to the specific modules. He created us all unique. He took much care that He created us in His own image. He didn’t use anything that is lesser than perfect. He didn’t feel bored to spend innumerable time on each one of us. When He created us, He felt it was good.

Yes, we are very special to Him. Each one of us is unique with inbuilt skills and talents. When the birds, seas and everything praise Him for who He is, we are supposed to praise Him more for we are created like Him! We are the special among all the creations. You may have some issues that bother you for a long time, but remember how special you are! God will take care of your needs in a special way! So cast your cares on Him and start praising Him!

Some prayer requests:

Recently I am hearing from many that the children are not doing well. Please hold all the new born babies and the kids in your prayers. Please pray that the Lord should be with them all and they would be raised healthy.

Jehovah Jireh, MY Provider!

My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4 : 19

Good morning, friends! November month is very special for me. You know why? I celebrated my Birthday last Friday (11/11/11). I am completing my 1 year in USA today. Soon I will be completing my 5 years with my work. During all these years, the Lord has been soooooooo good to me. Below is just one incident which explains the Lord’s love & care for me.

On my Birthday (last Friday as I wrote earlier) I felt so hungry by 1.15 PM and as I didn’t take lunch from home I had to eat from the canteen. I knew that the caterers will be done by 1.30 PM every day at my office. By 1.15 PM, I was shocked after I realized that I left my debit card at my home itself and I didn’t have cash too. I don’t bother about lunch usually, but I was starving that day. I quickly searched some of my friends who sit next to me at my office. But they all went for having lunch in a nearby hotel. I was sure that they would not return before 1.30 PM. By 1.25 PM, I saw one coming and after seeing me, he gave me his card which can be used. I was very happy and quickly ran down to have some food. 

It was at the last few minutes that I entered in and I found my favorite cheese pizza. I asked it to be cut into 2 pieces and this time unusually the man who parceled it folded it by having the ventral side up. It was baked a little extra.

When I reached the billing counter, the lady refused to get the amount from me saying that the pizza was baked extra. I tried swiping the card anyway, but she didn’t allow me. I strongly know that there were several times before that day I did buy extra baked pizzas from the same caterer at the regular price. When I handed the card back to my friend telling what happened, he told that it should be a Birthday gift.

I know this is a very silly incident. I thought several times why I would come out without even checking my bag. But I felt very happy that the Lord took great care on me. Above all, from many of the Birthday wishes, one of my friends on FaceBook posted this verse as a blessing verse. 

Dear friends, so far in my life, I could give innumerable cases where the Lord has blessed me abundantly than I could ever imagine. I am seeing the Lord’s hands in my simple as well as greater things. I faced many struggles, but God has never put my face to shame. He has been always with me, working for me in ways I could not see. Yes, we have an Almighty God who cares about whatever bothers us!