Friday, 8 July 2016

What should we do to Possess the Promised land?


What should we do to Possess the Promised land?

Deuteronomy 10:11-13 And the Lord said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.   12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, 13 To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

The Book of Deuteronomy is a very interesting book that I love to read. In it I find a lot of promises which are very practical and relevant today also. The book is the 5th book of the Torah and is the more of teaching given by Moses to the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land.

Are we ready to enter our Promised Land? What is our Promised Land? These are the questions that will be in your mind. I urge you to pray to God to reveal His purposes and plans for your life.  But there are some basic guidelines before we do it.

In Chapter 9 Moses talks about the Sin of the people and why they should not depend on their own righteousness.  This is highlighted a number of times in chapter 9. In chapter 10 Moses talks about how God has reconciled to the people in the wilderness. Now he is talking about five basic things that the people must do before they enter the Promised Land. What does the Lord require of thee, is how vs 12 starts.

1 Fear the Lord thy God. – By fear it is now like we talk about fear today. In this context it means acknowledging the power of God in your Life. Accept the authority of God. Accept his majesty in our life. Dread his wrath. In our day to day works can we be in the Fear of God.

2 Walk in all His ways. -  Walk in the ways he has appointed us. Live like God would have lived.  I recently heard about an incident. A murderer who had finished his jail term comes to a Preacher and asks is he could be part of his Church. The preacher welcomed him whole heartedly. Then the murderer confessed that he was the one who has killed the Preacher’s son. The preacher lovingly replied, I had forgiven you long back. Now you are welcome to attend my church.  This is an extreme case but even then the preacher lived like Jesus would have.  In each of our transactions can we live like this? Walk in ways that Jesus has shown us.

3 Love the Lord - Do we love our Lord to the core or are we namesake followers of Christ.  Can we love Him more than we love our earthly father/ mother? He will encompass us with His abundant love.

4 Serve the Lord with all thy might and soul - We must devote ourselves to His honour. We must live our lives to enhance His kingdom. Be it in our workplaces, our homes, our conversations in short in all our deeds and actions. 

5 Keep the Commandments - The Old Testament commandments were to make the people know that without His grace we cannot live by the law. Once Jesus came to the earth and was beaten, crucified, buried and resurrected for our sins, this Mosaic Law of the Ten Commandments is over. Now we need to be under the new Covenant. 

The above are very easy to follow. In our daily walks of life we need to be walking talking living Christ like lives in this earth. Be a blessing for the family, Community around us and to the people that come into touch with us.


        
               May the grace of the Lord and the love of Jesus Christ bless you and your family. May He grant you knowledge and wisdom to understand His purpose in your life. May Jesus guide you to your promised land. Amen

Friday, 24 June 2016

The Lord will make PERFECT that which concerns me.


         Psalm 138 : 8   The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.


     Psalm 138 is mainly a song of thanksgiving. Whatever it is that David went through, he has come out of it and now wants to Praise and Worship God. “With my whole heart I will sing praise to thee” is how he starts this song. Before the “gods”. Before all the people of the world.
   How many times in our life do we thank God, or Praise God? In this world today we are hearing only about a lot of negative things, be in the gun culture of USA, or the natural calamities that occur around the globe. Closer home in India, we see violence and strife on a daily basis. I dread to open the 2nd page of the newspaper now a days, as many a time it talks of horrific murders. The alarming fact is that the age of the masterminds who plan this is coming down and it is not only men today women also are equally in the race.
  Inspite of all this we are safe in God’s Arms, He will answer when we cry out and He will strengthen our soul. (vs 3).  We also need to learn to praise God similarly. He regards even the lowly too. In the time of crisis God has helped David and now he is Praising God from the bottom of his heart.
  Verse 8 talks that God will perfect all that concerns me. He has put us in this world for a beautiful purpose to be accomplished and He will Perfect it. Only we need to wait on the Lord with patience.
  Perfect. - How can you describe this? I remember a story of a sculptor carving an image on a stone. Right next to him was a finished piece of the deity that he was carving. A passer-by who was observing this asked the sculptor what happened to the first one, there does not seem to be any defect in it. To which he replied saying that there is a line on the nose. The passer-by asked him where this is going to be placed. The Sculptor pointed out a high tower on which this was going to be placed at the top. This intrigued the passer-by and he said so what no one will see it. The answer from the sculptor was, yes no one will see it but I know that there is a defect in it and it will hurt me.
Our God makes us PERFECT, Be it in the place we are in, the work we are doing, our relationships, our family, it will all be PERFECT.  He will not Forsake the work of HIS Hands, 
 He will not forsake us. What a beautiful promise. Can we praise God each moment of our lives, even for the very small things in our life that might seem insignificant but in His plans it is all big. As vs 7 says though we walk in the middle of difficulties He will Revive us. What a joy. What a blessing for this promise.
Thank God for whatever we have, Thank God for our family. Thank God for our Job or Professions. Thank God for the food we have. 
Oh give thanks to the Lord for His Love will never end