If someone makes a woman pregnant, and then prefers to be with God while she is giving birth, he is not being responsible as a husband and a father. A man who has impregnated his wife, should be next to her, during the entire stage of her pregnancy, and particularly during the final hours before the birth takes place. He should be at her side, while she gives birth, and give her the strength that his very presence brings. If he were to involve himself in a special prayer service instead, because he is a man of God, it does not speak well of his status as a husband and a father. The best service he can render to God in that time would be to stay with his wife and minister to her needs. Perhaps the difficulty of doing both jobs is why many people who are dedicated to God do not marry. Let the married man be first married to his wife, and then to God. Otherwise, his marital life will probably fail.
Trust less in medicine and more in God. There is no illness that God cannot cure. Put yourself in God's hands, and expect him to do his best for you. There are some illnesses that medicine cannot cure. There are times when medicine makes your condition worse. In such a situation, it is better to avoid medication, and trust in God. This is not advise for all, but only for those who are willing to risk it with God.
We should celebrate Christmas because we need to celebrate Jesus Christ. And we need to celebrate Jesus Christ because he is the love of God in concrete form.
God is good to us all, though sometimes we cannot understand or even accept his goodness. A few times he seems anything but good. But we need to go on. Blessed are the ones who don't have an earthly father, for God himself will be their father, and guide them in the homeward way.
This may not be the last day of the world. But this may be your last day. So make it count.
Time flies when there are few worries. So let's make every moment count before it slips away.
Don't blame the devil for your own wickedness. Admit your failings and know that only God can pull you through the quagmire of your evil ways. And then smile in joy, as he comes to live within you, and helps you walk out of your own darkness.
Let not a religious book be your excuse for not
accepting someone unconditionally today. For love is unconditional
acceptance of the other person, without making any demands on him for a
change.
There is something to be valued in ancient thought. But there is also
something to be valued in new insights that only the passage of time can
bring about. To hold on to ancient thinking even when it appears
unreasonable, and reject new ideas emerging from new study, because they
might endanger our affiliation to old patterns of thought can be
perilous to our growth as an intelligent species.
What turned Solomon's heart from God may not be his pagan wives, as is
often thought. But what turned his heart could be his falling out of
love with a God who demanded so much beyond what any man could give.
The most unloving thing you can do any day is to denounce a person as
wicked, when you yourself are wicked, or at least, have been wicked
once, before God saved you and invaded your own wicked heart with his
righteousness.
Can you tell when you are equally yoked? Everyone is unequally yoked to
someone else, particularly in a marriage. There will always be
differences between people. No two people can be perfectly alike, not
even two Christians in a marriage. You and I can both be Christians
without worshipping the same idea of God. Each of us has a unique idea
of God, even if your God has the same name as mine, and has been written
about in the same religious book.
Love trumps everything, even religion.
You have no right to demand a good performance from others when your own performance is far from satisfactory.
The person you marry should be in love with you above everything else.
Let me repeat this. Everything else should come next. Religious faith,
political beliefs, every affiliation to an ideology should come next.
I
met a young man today, who said that he wants to marry a woman who
believes in God, even secretly, if open belief is not possible. I told
him that this should not be the most important requirement. For belief
in God is a slippery thing. The one who claims to believe in God may not
really be a believer. And those who call themselves the followers of
Jesus Christ are often the most un-Christlike people
you can ever find. I told him that it is better to search for a person
who values his character, and honours his mother, who is at the centre
of his life. If he should find such a person, I suggested that he marry
her, even if she is a non-believer in Jesus Christ. Ultimately, we
believe in Jesus Christ, only when we find him in others. Maybe his
unbelieving future wife will see Jesus in him someday, and come to
believe in him. A marriage like this will be a greater way of glorifying
God.
Search for one thing only if your are looking for a husband or a wife.
Search for what unites you. And if your hearts are united, you can
surmount any other difference that lies between you. Don't drag
religious faith into your union. Leave your gods out of your bedroom,
and love each other and celebrate everything that binds you together,
and tolerate everything that you find different or conflicting. That is
the only way you can stay married in joy and peace.
Don't blame the location of your house for the bad things that happen in
your life. Don't blame witches for casting spells on you, causing
stressful situations in your life. Examine your heart if you can, and
see what lies in there. King David prayed for a clean heart,
underscoring the need for an inner cleanness, which is seldom within the
reach of human beings. Every human being desperately needs God, for he
alone can create a clean heart. So, the first thing you should do today
is to acknowledge that your bad fruits have come from your bad roots.
And your roots are in your corrupt, selfish, loveless heart.
When I hear that God loves people, I can't help wondering, how could God
love people? Sure, some people are loveable. But many are difficult to
love. Some people are so horrible to even be around, that one cannot
even think about loving them without compromising on one's sanity. So,
God's love, if it is true, is indeed the most difficult thing to
comprehend or accept. That he could love the most horrible and godless
human being as much as he loves the one who desperately seeks him goes
beyond human rationality and fairness.
There is a narrow definition of what it means to have God in us. The
Christian concept of the Holy Spirit coming to dwell in the believer is
the narrow idea of God living in us. And there is a broad definition of
having God in us. All humans are made in the image of God, and as such,
they bear a likeness to God, and have a godly element in their make-up.
Otherwise, humans are identical to animals.To see the image of God in
others is the first step towards treating them well.
Joy comes from the depth of sorrow. Such joy cannot be vanquished.
Aim to cry first and smile later, and not the other way round.
If you cry patiently and secretly, you may smile eventually.
When you see a smile, it may only be a final projection, and not a
faithful reflection of all that went on inside. Yes, there are many
blessings in life, which make one smile. But for every blessing there is
a downside. And our smiles are the final products of many tears shed
silently and secretly.
I'm not prepared for Christmas this time. I'm letting it happen to me.
I'm letting God take over, and I'll watch him as he is being born in me
once again.
Whatever God is doing in your life, as you submit to his will, praise
God for it, even if you are not initially happy about it. And slowly you
will understand what God is doing and then you will feel happy about
it.
I'm not prepared for Christmas this time. I'm letting it happen to me.
I'm letting God take over, and I'll watch him as he is being born in me
once again.
If Christmas makes us think of Jesus Christ, then let every day be
Christmas. If Christmas inspires us to give to others, then let every
day be Christmas. Let Jesus Christ be Lord, and let his love be our law.
And then every day will be Christmas.
I submit to the will of God, and it will take care of me, and all that I am concerned with. Thus I will rest.
The Bible does not tell us that Jesus Christ was born on the 25th of
December. But this should not prevent us from celebrating the birth of
Jesus on Christmas Day and every other day. We should not be so rooted
to the Bible that we cannot use our common sense.
Don't do what you don't want to do, even if the compulsion to do it comes from someone who is near and dear to you.
Let Christmas be what it is supposed to be. Let us not just celebrate
the moment when Jesus Christ entered the world. Let our celebration go
beyond outward festivities and move into inward seeking of God's love,
which transforms us into the image of Christ gradually. And that is what
our observance of Christmas should achieve in us. It should not just be
a remembrance of the birth of Christ in the world. It should be a
celebration of the birth of Christ in us. And our celebration should
lead us to open our hearts further to the Christ who will lead us to
God, and secure for us the eternal joy that God promises all who are in
his precious Son.
"I
am a servant of God, and God will not let me perish" I said today to
someone, who retorted, "All of us are servants of God. You are not
superior to us." I claimed no superiority, as I was only stating a fact,
as I saw it. Yet the man I was speaking to saw a difference, and he was
trying to iron it out. I believe that there are grades in servitude.
There are lesser servants and greater servants.
"The last shall be the first. And the first shall be the last" said
Jesus Christ, clearly implying that the denizens of his kingdom will be
graded. He also said that the greatest among the heavenly ones will be
the servant of all. Not all can serve like that. Servanthood is a gift
from God. And gifts of servitude do not come uniformly. And those who
are able to serve everyone, and not just their own family members, and
those who care for the weak and the downtrodden and can love even those
who hate and despise one another are the greater servants of God.
I
have lived ten years for God, learning about him and then sharing my
knowledge of him with the world. Today, someone asked me in a dismissive
way, "What did you achieve in all these years?" And this is my answer
to him. "I lived for God. That by itself is an achievement. And I
learned from God. And the outpourings of that learning blessed me and
all those who heard me. Those who heard my voice also
heard him who spoke through me. I made no money. I built no house. I
achieved nothing tangible. I lost so much. I lost nearly every valuable
thing. I sold everything and got into serious debt. But I held on to
God, even as he clutched me in a grip that would not let me go. This
achievement cannot be seen by all, but only by those who dare to give up
their lives for God with supernatural passion that is the most supreme
madness.
Along with your muscles, you should build your mind. You should care
about what is inside of you as much as you care about what is outside of
you. In fact, you should care more about the inside than the outside.
Place the ailing one in God's hands. There is no better place. That's where faith and miracle meet.
If you are sick and are in need of God's healing, I pray that God places
his healing hands on you, and delivers you from this sickness. Be
encouraged. God is your healer. Love him and seek him with all your
might. Where God is, there is only health.
An addiction is on its way out, only when the pain of it becomes unbearable.
Forgive others because you yourself need forgiveness.
Know that life is not just disappointing, but also pleasantly surprising. So life is definitely worth going through.
Don't be just disappointed. But understand that disappointment is a part of living.
This is the sum of all my learning. Anger is the most worthless feeling. Tolerance is much better.
If you want to climb a hill, you must be prepared to slide and fall many times.
The best way to protect yourself from disappointment is to experience it and then to learn to live with it.
Expect the good and the bad. And you can live with the bad, while enjoying the good.
"Don't expect so that you won't be disappointed" is a negative and even
disastrous thought process. Hope for much, but factor in the
disappointment. You maybe disappointed often, but you may also be
pleasantly surprised.
Disappointment may be inherent in life. But with God even a disappointment can bring joy.
You can expect the best when you are with God. Just don't expect the best to be what you think it is.
When the exact facts cannot be known, there is no such thing as
faithfulness to reality. We need to make the most of the facts that we
have, and celebrate the occasion as best as we can.
It’s not the intention of those who celebrate the birthday of Jesus
Christ on Christmas Day to override anyone’s objections. People
celebrate Christmas because they want to celebrate it. There is a need
to celebrate it. There is a need in every Christ believer to remember
the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day. And since no one is sure
when exactly Jesus was born, Christmas Day is as good as any other day
to remember the undeniable event of Jesus’ entry into this world.
Doing good is doing something, knowing that it is good, without expecting any benefit from it.
Why God likes someone, and why he persists with that person may never be clear to others.
When God teaches, and his truth becomes clear, a man is automatically humbled.
When God likes someone, he teaches him, no matter how stubborn and proud he may be.
God teaches those he likes, whether they humble themselves or not.
