Prayers

Give me the grace to live this life. I am weighed down by this trial. And your answer to my prayer troubles me. My life is riddled with difficulties and I am without what I used to have. Should I go on when I can do something about this? Yet this has been a long labour conducted unwaveringly. For many years I was frustrated by no obvious gains. But now after many years, the work seems to be getting results. Yet I am not sure. Is this the fruit that I was meant to bear? My doubts are aimed at the root of my plant. So come to my rescue today. Set me right. Steady my mind. Strengthen my heart. And give me the grace to live this life as you want me to live it.

O God, please restore order in my house. Let your example of love shine before us and show us the way to your dwelling place. Let us resolve to love one another just as you loved us. Let us forgive one another just as you forgave your killers on the cross. Let us not fight worthless battles seeking our own way. Let us not speak bitter, hateful words that can only destroy and kindle the worst in others. Teach us how to overcome evil with good. O God, please fight our battles for us. Let us learn to rest in you.

O please give me the mind to seek you today. Give me the eyes to see your many wonderful works. Give me the desire to see what you have made with joy and love. Give me a heart overflowing with gratitude for the gift of life. O Lord, even the shortest life on earth is better than not having lived at all.

Friend, may God be with you today. May he protect you from all evil. May he grant you his desires and enable you to live life to the full. May you be happy today and may people know the reason for your happiness.

Today pray for a drunkard who cannot quit drinking. Pray for an addict who cannot say no to the thing that entices him. Pray for a man who has been given a gift but cannot give it. Pray for a man who is determined to ruin himself because he cannot see a way out. Pray for his family whose lives have turned into hell as a result of his violence. Pray that they will still hope for a miracle. Pray that this man may see Jesus and walk into his welcoming arms. Pray that he and his family may find lasting peace.

Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - May 2015

The best thing in my life is that I get to share God with the people in the world, even as I go through a certain storm.

The heat can affect your mind. But let your heart be steady.

When you don't receive an answer to your prayer, pray for someone else.

When you can laugh at yourself you have grown.

Now I can agree with what I previously disagreed with. That's the passage of time and the thing that comes along with it called growth.

Don't fight for preserving numbers. Fight for preserving sense.

There is the need for advancement in every kind of knowledge. But as far as spiritual knowledge is concerned, some prefer it as old as the hills. Old is best. The inspired biblical writers are the only available sources of divine knowledge. Also no departure beyond the written text, preferably authorised by King James is recommended.

It is either don't worry or worry. It is either God has paid for all your sins or you must pay for all your sins. It is either focus your attention on loving somebody today or focus your attention on feeling sorry for your many sins today. You can't mix these opposites and then call it good news. Yet this is what is often referred to as good news.

Trust no human wisdom if you are out to seek God.

You must go through your mistakes to know what is wrong with them. You must live out their consequences to flush them out of your system. In short before you divorce them, you should be married to your mistakes.

No matter how many times you fall today know that you will rise in the strength of the Lord.

Those who want to love must be willing to suffer for that love.

You can speak volumes about Jesus love. Or you can go out and serve someone, and be the best friend that you can to that person.

You love by showing. Show your love today.

We have all rebelled against God and fallen short of his glory, and the glorious image in which we were made. Yet only some of us feel sorry for our rebellion.

We were created to be perfect. But we became imperfect when we chose to believe in God's great enemy.

Let the addict not accuse the society of feeding his addiction. Let the corrupt man not look at God and accuse him of faulty craftsmanship. Let the sinner admit his sin and take responsibility for it. For the weak man should learn to say he is strong. He must discover his original strength, when God created him in his own image.

Let the drunkard not accuse his wife of infidelity. Let him look deep into himself and see the moral failure that he is. Let him admit his insecurity and his inadequacy. And let him seek God who alone can make him secure and adequate.

We are all rebels. Some of us are ashamed of our rebellion, while others can live with it.

Don't let the devil tell you who you were. Let God tell you who you are.

It takes more courage to believe in God than to disbelieve in him.

Let us give glory to God because he gives us the strength to go through trouble. This is a greater gift than just delivering us from trouble. God wants us to discover our true strength, the strength that we find in him, in the midst of trouble.

Your God will not desert you. Just wait for him quietly believing in his faithfulness.

If you want to keep a friend, don't like him too much. Be moderate in the way you respond to a person. Never show excessive attention to anyone. Let everyone be equal in your eyes.

I'm learning the most unforgettable lesson. In this walk called life God alone is constant. At least he emerges eventually as the only one who can be found at one's side when all have left.

Loving God and all that he created is the greatest act of obedience.

God has thought of me. He has not forgotten me. In my time of trouble God has reached out to me. As I struggle on in life, trying to do what God inspired in me, I called out to God for help. And he responded. His grace is sufficient for me. Let me believe in this today. And let me give thanks to God for his kindness to me. May God be kind to all his people. May he supply their needs today.

From God I have learned to shut up.

Along with the ability to use words, I have also gained the ability not to use words, when words can only damage.

At the core of worship is gratitude. At the core of gratitude is contentment.

It is impossible to be grateful if you are not happy with who you are.

Be what God made you to be. And God apparently didn't want all of us to be the same. There is variety in his artistry, and there is difference within everything he made. Let us then be ourselves no matter how different that may be. This is the way we truly celebrate life. Let us be grateful for our individuality today.

God's apparent slowness and indifference may send the wrong signals to the believer. But the believer must determine to see things God's way and trust in the faithfulness of God to complete what he started.

Will Jesus Christ come back soon? This is not even on my mind. Will I believe in Jesus Christ today despite his apparent indifference to me? This is the question on my mind that requires an immediate answer.

I don't think about the end times. I think about my own end, and how I want to do something of value before I die. This keeps me going.

From fearlessness I have moved to fear. But this is no fear of man or what humans can do to me. It is the fear of God, and of who he is and what I cannot be without him.

To withhold the sword is the greatest feat in power.

I will declare that I am strong even as I feel weak. For the Lord keeps me at peace even in the most difficult times.

The idea of God is that no man should boast and consider himself better than others. If faith makes a man feel better than another who does not have faith, then that faith is not from God.

"Holy Spirit filled Christian", "born again Christian" - these are only man-made labels that seek to distinguish and glorify human beings. Before God we are either yielded or rebellious. If we are yielded, it is not by our own effort, for faith from the beginning to the end is a work of God.

People react in many ways to the Bible. It is desirable that they see hope instead of despair, tolerance instead of bigotry, love instead of hatred as the goals to pursue after reading the Bible. But such a reaction is by no means guaranteed. A reaction that runs contrary to this is more often seen among those who claim to have read the Bible.

We are all Holy Spirit filled if we are believers in Jesus Christ. This is nothing new and deserves no special attention. That we have the Spirit in us reveals nothing about us that is praise-worthy. Faith from the beginning to the end is the work of God. The human just hangs on to the faith given to him, and does that by the grace of God.

If you are a follower of Jesus, you are the follower of the Servant. The follower of the Servant is a servant too. So be prepared to do whatever you need to do to serve God and his people.

Today is the day to submit to God. Today is the day to prepare for his coming. It is as simple as that.

Even a lesson, especially a lesson is a blessing.

God's way is best. But Man must have his way, and live it to the full. Only then will he accept God's way as the best.

If you desire sanity in the heat of your madness, then you are sane indeed.

All misunderstandings must be realized. All misconceptions must be given up ultimately. Yet this is a process. You'll have to misunderstand and misconceive again and again until realization and disillusionment ripen to the point of falling off your tree. You may pluck the fruit prematurely, but its early loss will be mourned.

Let the offence go. Hand over the offender to God. He alone can make restitution.

Extreme care is extreme fear.

The worst thing a human can do is to define God and godly actions. There is no one formula that fits all. Each and every one of us has to discover God in his or her own way.

This is the reason why I live. This is the reason why I work for God. And if I ever doubt God, what he has done in me in the last ten years and more attests to his transforming power.

Bible study is essential. But practising love is vital.

Knowing the heart of God is more important than knowing his head.

Sin drives me to God. Once sin became visible as sin, the road to God appeared along with it. And the strength to walk the road is directly proportional to the enormity of my sin.

"Will I be known?" is no longer relevant to me. "Will God be known through me?" seems a worthwhile question to ask. Anyway I am a little player in a very big game. That's all I see these days. Any focus on my own agenda seems ridiculous now. With God I can only shine. So I will not think about my personal goal any more.

I'm waiting for God, not for any human. I wait for God to come down and marry his bride, and I hope to be united with him in an unending relationship. I hold flowers only for him.

Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - April 2015

Have the humility to correct yourself. You'll need to do it many times in life.

This is humility. To know that one can do nothing apart from Jesus Christ, to know that nothing good can ever happen to a person apart from God willing it, in short to know nothing is essentially a personal achievement for everything is a work of God, is humility.

I'm waiting for God, not for any human. I wait for God to come down and marry his bride, and I hope to be united with him in an unending relationship. I hold flowers only for him.

Reading the word of God is not the same as knowing the word of God. Knowing the word of God is not the same as agreeing with the word of God. In short you can read the Bible well and not be a friend of God. There's one more thing. Knowing the word of God is not knowing God as someone you want to follow. To know him like that you must know the indispensability of his love. For without it none of us will escape from the uncompromising fire of his judgement. If we have received such love, then the least that we can do is to share it with other humans.

Today you may listen to one voice or the other. One is the voice of God. The other is the voice of the devil. To listen to God you must hear what he has to say. And what he has to say will not be pleasant to the ears. But if you would suffer for him, and will suffer with him, he will lead you to a place of quiet even as terrible noises are heard all around you. But if you choose to listen to the devil, he will have something pleasant for your ears. He will encourage you to be selfish and do your thing, even if it is something you can barely whisper to another person. He will lead you to joys that are as temporary as your life, and in them you will forget yourself and everyone around you.

When doubts arise in your mind and fears regarding the faithfulness of God engulf you, think of your starting point. It is God who brought you from a state of being nothing to a state of being something. You who were nothing, an absolute zero, became something in a human womb, when God made you. If he can take you from zero to one, he can take you to 100 or 200 or wherever you have to go.

Jesus said, "The enemies of a man will be the members of his own household." At an external level, this statement seems very improbable. But I have tasted the bitter truth of this in my own life. I now say openly that I am living with enemies. No one has troubled me as much as the people in my own home. Is this a cross I need to bear? I suppose so. May God help me carry this cross.

If Jesus Christ carries the weight of the world upon his shoulders, I know that he will carry each and every one of us, if we would only go to him.

My desire to glorify God persistently is my great blessing.

Despite the troubles in my life, I'm still happy to do the work of God. This is the joy of the Lord.

Even if you let go, God will not. Remember that you are in his grasp, and not the other way round. And no one can pluck you out of his hand.

When things fall apart, try to do one thing right. Treat those around you well. Speak kindly, If you can't, speak nothing. At least smile. Do that one thing well.

Just don't feed a person. Know that person.

Belief in God is a risk. You could end up looking like a total fool, as you lay down your life for him. Still take the risk. The joy of heaven is worth that risk.

Let the tares be removed by angelic professionals. Just let them tangle around your wheat for a while.

Don't shear off the black hair. There's pure woolly white growing underneath.

Every fall has a purpose and a lesson to teach.

If you've fallen today remember that God is there to help you rise.

Don't look for an excuse to sin. Don't look for a justification to surrender to a weakness. Believe that you are strong in God. Declare it again and again, even if it makes no sense. And believe that this tempting thing shall pass.

What we do with God is far more important than what we do for God.

Do I feel like a new creation in Christ? It doesn't matter how I feel. What Christ has done and is doing will be continued until completion.And as long as I live, whatever battles I fight, I will not lose confidence in the newness of what Christ created in me.

To love someone is to bless someone, and when we love someone we give the greatest blessing.

God does not force us to accept his love. Nor does he force us to express our love for him. There should be nothing forced about love, either God's love or our love.

The thing that keeps me going in this life of suffering, in a seemingly indifferent world, is the knowledge that God in some great unknowable way cares about me, and everything that happens to me. He cares about all that troubles me, more than anybody else, even more than what I can guess. This hope alone steadies my walk even as the hostile gales of life blow hard against me.

If we let lose our natural instincts, they will lead us to insanity, not to mention horrendous crime.

Hoping in God seems to be a most treacherous road. Still strangely it keeps me going,

He who hopes in God must be ready to see many doors slammed shut in his face. For hope is what remains even after many disappointments. Such hope can only come from God, and is inspired by uncompromising belief.

We shouldn't stop doing good because someone is not grateful to us. We should always be willing to do good for God's sake. God gave everything to us when we were utterly ungrateful and unaware. Then how can we withhold our God-inspired actions in the world because people are not grateful to us?

Don't let the evil thought reign in your head. Cast it away in the name of Jesus Christ. Be prepared for a long battle. Even if you lose many times, do not ever give up your resolve to cast out the evil thought.

Let God always be in my head. Let every thought proceed through him and be blessed by him. Let God always be in my heart. Let every feeling be channelled through him and meet with his approval. Let God always be with me until the very end of my life. This should be our prayer as children of God.

If Jesus Christ has set you free, then you are free indeed, no matter how you feel.

It is not by gritting one's teeth and clenching one's fists that the great victories in faith are won. It is by trusting in the promise of God, who will never leave us or forsake us. This we must remember even as the ground beneath us is shaking and our world is appearing to collapse.

"I will think the thoughts of God. I will speak the words of God. I will do the deeds of God." This should be the resolve of every child of God.

The body of Christ should be a place where the most unwelcome people find welcome. The church should be a place where the most broken and twisted people find refuge. The people of Christ must be grace-givers like Christ. A policy of not associating with such people and keeping them out actively only shows the separatist, exclusivist tendency of the church, and this is not only un-Christlike but also treacherous on the part of those who were once broken and twisted themselves. We who were lost in our sins have been saved so that we may welcome others who need to be saved. If we fail to do this we fail utterly to show gratitude for our salvation. Any excuse for our alienation of such people, including a biblical justification for separating ourselves goes against the very concept of love, which was lavished on us even while we were out-and-out rebels.

Don't wait for me to say sorry. Embrace me before that. That's how the God you love is.

This is my wish for you. May God fill the vacant places in your mind and your heart. And may nothing be lacking in your life.

I'd like to visit a church, where practising prostitutes and active criminals frequent. I wonder whether such a place exists.

You were right. And I was wrong. So what? Let's be friends. Let's show some sweetness while we still can.

Nothing makes a person so unappealing as a hard heart does.

Let us not forgive people by casting them out.

When I go to church it is to see people worship. When I see them worship I know that I am in the presence of God.

If churches are places for respectable people, it is best to avoid them.

When someone knocks on your door please open it. Don't pretend that no one knocked. If you must send him away do so. But let your rejection be plain.

Why this hardness? Be soft. Be forgiving. Be like the God that you say you love. Show me some love today. I may not always be here. You may not always be here. Let's show some love while we can.

My work for God is not dependent on who walks in and walks out. People are always invited. In fact there is no justification for work without people to serve. But the reaction of people will not adversely affect the course of my work.

It takes a lot of inner strength to be cheerful around a complaining person.

An inflexible doctrine may be the worst thing in faith. Our knowledge of God is always growing and changing. Some things will never change. God will always remain great even though our perception of him changes.

Intolerance is the ugliness of life. It is the ugly thing that disfigures the Christ doctrine of unconditional love in Christian circles.

If you are still struggling with sin after inviting Jesus Christ in you, remember this: you are already more than a conqueror in Christ. You have already attained the status of an overcomer. And though you're still struggling, and still feeling the pain and disappointment of the struggle, remember that this is the sign of God living in you. Unless God is in you, you will not experience the struggle that you are now going through.

I minister to myself. Thus I minister to others. God made me a chief carrier of disease, so that I can learn all about it, and then apply to myself the self-help tools that such knowledge brings, and then apply to others the same tools. With grace these should work.

I would like my life to be trouble-free. But the closer I get to God I realize more that my life will not be trouble-free. But if I am a man of God, I must believe in the promise of God who said that he will deliver me from all my troubles.

I don't know whether Jesus is coming soon. I guess that many of us are going to die soon. It is wise to make the best of life today. We must enjoy the gift of life before it is too late. And we must give as freely as we have received to know the ultimate joy in life. And we must seek God tirelessly even as we contend with innumerable distractions in this world.

Every time human beings have tried to predict doomsday they have failed. And they will continue to fail. It is better to live life assuming that this could be the final day of our lives. This way we may do what we need to do before it is too late.

Love is the greatest blessing we can receive. Love is the greatest blessing we can give. Let us not fail to receive and give love today.

In anger one wants to lash out words of death. But we who follow Jesus Christ must remember his final silence in the most terrible hours of his life. We must learn to forgive like him and speak blessing instead of curse.

The followers of Jesus Christ are the followers of love. The love they follow is the love of Christ. It is a love that forgives and erases sins. It is a love that accepts the unacceptable and celebrates the return of lost sons and daughters of God. It is a love that does not judge or condemn anyone. It is a love that only Christ can teach. It is a love that must be received first. And then it must be given away to those who need to receive it.

People who invite Jesus Christ into their lives will fail to live their lives. For Christ will live for them and in them, and they shall die forever, so that they may live forever in him. This life that Jesus lives in them is not always obvious or overpowering. Yet Jesus is in there, in them, guiding them, keeping them, and he will not let them go, no matter how slippery the places where they walk may be. For Christ never loses the ones who are given to him. His Father's hand will not yield those who are firmly in its grasp. So let those who are in Christ abandon the fear, and welcome the faith. Nurture it. Speak it. Shout it from the rooftop: "I live in God. He lives in me. And nothing can separate the two of us."

How foolish of me to try to complete what God started in my life! What God does, no man can do.

Just believe. Just believe in a God who is watching out for you. Just believe in a God who wants the best for you. Just believe in a God who knows what you need even before you ask for it. Just believe. Dare to believe. Don't be swayed by what you see. For what is seen is temporary, and what is not seen is permanent. There is a loving, caring God in the invisible realm, who cares more about you than anyone in the visible world.

Someone has accepted Jesus Christ. What does it mean? Is it a moment's acceptance captured by a camera? Or is it something deeper, less obvious, and more prolonged? I believe that to accept Jesus, we must also accept our own severely flawed selves and the love that God shows us despite our apparently unending sins. This love is expressed mainly as forgiveness, and this we must not just accept but also learn from. We have been exposed to so great a love, so that we may reflect it to others. So to accept Christ is no momentary event, which can be captured and displayed for public awareness. But to accept Christ is to be transformed by his love, and inspired by his forgiveness, and this takes time, very much beyond a single moment.

I say to God today. Give me the grace to forgive. For forgiveness is the outcome of divine love. If God could forgive me, and I know what I have done, I should be ready to forgive anyone and everyone any time and every time. Let me not fail to do this.

To love God is to love beyond disappointment.

If I can wish my enemy well today I am well today.

At a certain point in our lives, all of us who want to be near God must say, "This is enough. I can't go on any further like this. I must stop what I am doing. For this is not what I am. I am a child of God. I think like God. I feel like God. I want to do like God. I belong to God, so this bondage, this thing that I do repeatedly, is not what I really am. I am better. I am higher. I am nothing like what this thing is making me out to be. I'm done with this. I'm going to be what God has made me to be."

"The evil that I do not want to do, this I keep on doing." When I read this line and the passage from which it comes, I was stunned by the realization that Saint Paul had written about my life. And now it has become rather clear that he had written about all of us in this world, who want to be like God, but are struggling hopelessly against sin.

It is being sick that keeps the doctor next to you. So if you need the doctor at your side be at peace with your sickness.

Love is what happens after you do not get what you want. If you continue in your love despite the disappointment of not receiving from the one you love, then your love is surely a love from God.

If we humans do good because God programmed us to do good, then that kind of good is not really good at all. God gave us the freedom to do either good or evil, so that we may choose to do good as he does. Only when we choose to do good are we really doing good.

Our ultimate aim in life is to learn to be like God. God has given us the freedom to live any way we want, so that we may ultimately choose to do good as he does.

We were told not to grow weary of doing good because one is perfectly capable of becoming weary of doing good. There comes a time in the process of doing good, that it appears futile and thankless. And the doer of good gets deeper and deeper into trouble for his good intentions. That's when he wants to quit. So he is told by God not to quit at a time like that, for a reward is coming in due season. Yes, we humans do good for a reward, whether we like it or not. So let us wait for it and do as God says.

I feel like a work frustrated and halted on many occasions. Is God really working in me? Is he such an inefficient worker that he has to take such a long time to craft me? Yes, God seems terribly slow and woefully inefficient. Yet he is God. And I must trust him, and believe that he is all powerful. Today it is difficult to believe this. Yet I will believe. For this is the essence of faith - to believe in the impossible, to expect the improbable, and to contemplate expectantly what seems hopeless.

Every experience is good, especially the bad experience. Nothing teaches and equips one as much as a bad experience, for in badness much is revealed, if only we would open our eyes and see.

There comes a time when external noise should not reach our inner places. That is the time we must fix our eyes on God, and just behold him in stillness.

Pray for the afflicted one today. Yes pray for that person who afflicts you with her affliction. Pray that God may touch that person and fill her with his love. You may be the only person who is praying that for her.

Let the insults you have received turn into opportunities to bless others. Remember what Jesus said. "Bless those who curse you." If you can bless those who have cursed you, you can certainly bless those who have insulted you. Look at it this way. An insult is a doorway to blessing. Yes, by blessing others who have insulted you, you bless yourselves.

Don't carry the insults of others on your back. Give them away to Jesus Christ, and carry his love and forgiveness in your heart and give them to those who have insulted you. Let the insults you receive turn into opportunities for you to bless those who have insulted you.

To love your neighbour as yourself you must excuse your neighbour as you excuse yourself.

The act of listening to God in my life has been the act of listening to silence.

Sometimes silence speaks louder than words. So hear what silence tells you today.

There will be change only after pain. Be ready to suffer to be able to change. Those who are happy with what they are will never change.

We cannot live for ourselves. We have been bought at a price. We have been made in a certain way. We cannot pretend forever that we have the right to live our lives any way we want. When we hear the voice of God, let us pay attention to him, and be willing to abandon our way for his.

There is something paranoid about the tendency to give God all the glory. The glory belongs to him anyway. None of it belongs to the human for the human is a work of God. Knowing this is enough. Mentioning it often does not increase its factuality or augment the speaker's veracity.

Very often in life we find things not working out as we wanted to. That's when we must learn to accept the will of God. He wants the best for us, even if we don't like what is happening in our lives. God is with you. Just entrust everything in his hands. And look away from your problems. Acknowledge these things and feel happy. Above all you have God. You can never walk away so far that God cannot reach you. Just remember that.

Be strong.There is a lot in you that is admirable. Just find it. And hold on to it. And whatever your problem, give it to God. Just speak to him as though he is sitting next to you. Tell him everything. And ask him to take care of you, as only he can. After that just turn your attention to everything that seems beautiful and hopeful in life.

As far as I know myself, I have found out that I am exactly what God is not. To know God then, I had to know myself. Still it was God who revealed to me who I am, and when I saw myself I saw what God was not. Or to put it another way, God is what I am not.

After knowing myself till now, I believe that God is everything that I am not.

The truth of God is always the same. The truth of Man changes every now and then.

Today I will say only two prayers. "Thank you" and "Your will be done."

You cannot know God without knowing yourself.

When you are with God, it is never too late or too hopeless. Just call out to him and you will know.

Knowledge by itself is not enough. Experience by itself cannot sustain a good life. What sustains a good life is God's grace, which a person must constantly need, for grace alone can remedy the many ills of life. A man who is constantly weak constantly seeks God, who constantly strengthens him. This is the only way out of the mess that life can so very easily be without God.

When I started my work for God I was alone with God. Now as I continue my work in the midst of a few people I am still alone with God.

I don't become a man of God because people call me so. I don't stop being a man of God because people fail to call me so.

The hardest thing to do is to forgive people who don't seem to be sorry for what they have done. Yet this is what Jesus did on the cross, and we, his followers must learn from this.

Rejoicing in God is not a matter of feeling, but is a matter of will. Let us decide to rejoice in God and in the great gift of life today, no matter how we feel.

It doesn't matter how far you've gone and how much you have wasted. Let the prodigal sons return to their father.

Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - March 2015

Blessings are of many kinds. Some seem good, others seem bad.

A touch of love is more than enough most of the time, One word of love can quieten the fires of fury that are intent on destruction. Yet to speak this word of love sincerely we need a mountain of strength. That can come only from God.

Let us not forget what God is calling us to do today. He is not calling us to lament over something, or complain about something. He is not calling us to denounce and curse others who we feel are unfair to us. He is not calling us to be rude and impolite and hateful. He is calling us to rejoice over his goodness, and to trust in his timing. He is calling us to love and bless others with our words and deeds. He is calling us to be like him. For all that he expects from us, he has already done for us. If we are his children, we must act like him.

Let me pray for the offender today. Let me pray that she recognizes a God who loves her just as she is. Let her receive the love of God today, and when she does, she will be able to accept God's forgiveness. And when she knows that she is forgiven she will be free to love and forgive everyone who irritates her.

The offender is a greater victim than the person she victimizes.

To be able to turn to God any time we sin, in the confidence that he will hear our prayers and forgive us, is the great confidence that God has blessed us with.

Knowing that there is a God who loves us unendingly is our greatest blessing.

Let our eyes be fixed on God. Let his loving words dwell in our hearts. Let his promises be the rock on which we stand. Let us not be distracted by the hatred around us, and let us not pay attention to the curses uttered to us. Let us absorb God's love and forgive the vilest offender today. O God grant us the grace to do this!

The eye is the lamp of the body. To be able to see like God is the greatest of blessings.

God's love is our greatest blessing. It is not based on who we are but on who God is. And God's love never ends.

Take time to enjoy the blessings that are out there right in front of you now. And celebrate God's love for you.

To live well you must dare to experiment. You must be willing to fail in your attempt.

With God you are most likely to walk into uncharted territory. And the only way to do this is to stop questioning and start trusting.

If I could only tolerate myself as God tolerates me, I will be at peace.

You must learn to live with your imperfections to be at peace with yourself.

The undeserving me is the best candidate for God's grace.

A day with myself is the best therapy for my pride.

The first step in love is forgiveness. Forgiving who you are and forgiving what others are are the necessary ingredients of this forgiveness. We need to forgive ourselves for our moral ugliness, and forgive others for theirs. And the next step in love is tolerance. If we can tolerate who we are, when we know who we are, then we should do the same for others. If we cannot do so we are being terribly unfair.

When I know myself, I can only love others.

People are people. You either welcome them with open arms, or do a background search to screen out the undesirable, and then let in only those who make you feel comfortable. I wonder what the Jesus approach is.

With God it is impossible not to enjoy life.

Let what happens in my life today be according to God's will. Let God govern every thought, word and act that proceed from my mind.

How many outsiders will look on the Christian community and see a loving, tight-knit group of people devoted to glorifying God without being negatively impacted by individual differences and peculiarities that mark people in general? How many will see Christians as a compassionate group of people who are driven purely by the motive of sharing God's unconditional love with others in the same unconditional way?

What is the use of faith and devotion when you can't treat one another well? What is the use of knowing the Bible like the back of your hand, without being able to be kind and considerate in your dealings with others? As Saint Paul said, all the heavenly and earthly knowledge amount to nothing if we don't have love. Let us today focus on the one thing that makes us something - love. And let us first receive that love from God graciously and then give it to others also graciously.

The hypocritical talk regarding sin must stop first. Who has not sinned in this world? By God's definition everyone has sinned and is actively sinning every day. There's nothing we can do about it as long as we are in this world. So if we have anything to say, let us lift one another up, and encourage one another. There is a God in this world who loves us despite our sins. This is the message that we must send out. This is the joyful truth by which we must live.

God does not always answer prayers affirmatively. When we do not receive an answer to repeated prayers, we must still thank God and affirm our faith in his greatness. We must trust in him to do what is best for us in his time.

Our love for one another must reflect God's constant love for us. If God is constant the people of God should also be constant. To be constant one must commit to loving at any cost, to enduring any situation or reaction. It is to persist in understanding love, persevering despite the challenges in the expression of that love. This alone can be our greatest act of worshipping a constant God.

If you are troubled and you believe in God, remember that Jesus Christ told us not to worry. To worry is to betray fear. And to worry a lot does indicate a flagging confidence in God. Let us remember the times in the past when God stood by us and saved us from many difficulties. What he did then he will do again, if we would only believe.

To forgive you must love.

Only God can recover his own territory. And the territory that God prizes the most is the human heart. And slowly but surely human beings are turning back to God.

Who are the children of God? And where are the children of God? Do the children of God necessarily carry the label Jew and Christian? Are they located geographically in certain pockets of the world? A child of God is any human being who has gone through a process of regeneration, when his spirit has been transformed into divine likeness by the mysterious work of the holy spirit in all those who have believed in God's love for the world expressed in the act of sacrificing his own son, Jesus Christ, on the cross as the expiation for all the sins committed by humans from beginning to end. Such a transformed person cannot carry any label other than the child of God, and any other man-made label such as Christian or Jew or anything else is only secondary in nature. He may be found anywhere in the world, and groups of people like him may also be found anywhere in the world, not necessarily in a politically defined geographical area. In essence the children of God are transformed spirits existing everywhere and anywhere in this world.

The entire world is God's territory. And he will have it bit by bit if necessary. But he will have it eventually and entirely. According to the biblical story, the world was given to Man for safekeeping. And Man gave it away to Satan, when he became the devil's slave through his fallen nature. The world will now be wrested away from the devil and his demons degree by degree. The first and the foremost act in this direction was accomplished by Jesus Christ through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead many years ago. Now God is gradually reconciling humans to himself by the preaching of his gospel to the ends of the world, and by turning men and women to himself, he is recovering the most important territory, the hearts and minds of people. This is far more significant than any geographical conquest.

It is difficult to remember the great deeds of God when we tread a problem-ridden path. Every time we face a problem on such a path, we tend to panic and even lose our faith. No one saw miracles of the kind that the Israelites witnessed on their way out of Egypt into the promised land. Yet frequently they panicked and lost hope. They gave up on God many times. But God did not give up on them. Today as we go through problems in life, let us remember the times when God saved us in difficult, even impossible situations. And let us keep the faith when we come upon bitter waters in a time of great thirst.

Do not embrace your weakness. Embrace your strength.

We shall fall, and we cannot prevent that. But we shall also rise every time we fall in the strength of God. This we must not fail to do.

Christ lives in us. But we are responsible for the extent to which we allow Christ to be seen in us. And the more we reveal Christ along with our prejudices and insecurities, he will come across to others as a god who is also marked by prejudice and insecurity.

God exists. He exists in us. When people see us they see God in us. Let us take care as to how we reveal God to others.

We teach love by showing love. Let us show love today. And let us show it to everyone regardless of who he or she is.

We are never in a position to discriminate between who is good and who is bad. We are certainly not in that position at a moment's notice. The danger of not letting someone in is this: this person may be someone whom God has sent to us for a purpose, and only by letting him in will that purpose be fulfilled. If we let our superficial, faulty judgement of the character of this person come in the way of our ministering to him, or his ministering to us, we miss out on God's will either way.

If you are worried about the one who knocks on your door, remember that you too knocked on Christ's door disfigured and distorted by sin. He took you in just as you were. If you are in Christ, then you are like Christ. And if you are like Christ you cannot turn away the person who knocks on your door, no matter how terrible he is. However, this belief is neither accessible nor practicable to all. We are still a fear-ridden, self-protective group of people desperate to be like Christ, yet without the daring to be like him.

When someone knocks on your door, the most Christ-like thing you can do is to let him in.

Spiritual arrogance is more deadly than worldly arrogance.

Jesus Christ did not come into the world to begin a religion called Christianity. He came into the world to reveal God's love for all people in the world. Let us not pretend that God is only for a select group of people called Christians. And even Christians are terribly divided and uncertain of any commonality. Our greatest act of worship is love, modelled on the love of God for all people. If we wish to honour God, let us love and respect one another and believe in our equal access to his throne of grace, despite our various, dissimilar paths. On the contrary, to believe that Christians alone have an access to God denied to others, and Christ can be perceived only by Christians, may be a severe underestimation.

No one should be absolutely sure that he belongs to God. God alone will decide who is his and who is not his. We must always seek him in the awareness of our own unworthiness, the depths of which we have not fully discovered.

A discriminating mind is not a loving mind. To discriminate people based on differences is not the way of love. Ultimately we are all children of God, not just the Jews, not just the Christians. To glory in our state of being the elect, is a terrible kind of arrogance, which is not in keeping with what Jesus Christ taught.

Fear is from the devil. Faith is from God. Yet we cannot see the power of faith in the absence of fear. When faith rises above fear and hopes in God even in dire circumstances it becomes glorious.

It is never too late to say thank you. Say thank you to someone today, no matter how delayed your thanks may be.

Let us never treat the elderly with disrespect. They need us and let us be there for them, no matter how difficult they are to be with.

Be kind to your brother and sister today, even if this person has hurt you.

Let us not sow bad seeds today. Let us not punish people for their behaviour towards us. Let us not fail to show kindness to everyone, especially to the one who has hurt us. Let us ask God to give us the strength to do this.

Faith in the absence of fear is no faith.

Faith must walk alongside fear and overcome it.

Do not fear today whatever the trouble. Cast your cares on God. Trust in him to deliver you. Sing a song of praise no matter how you feel. Believe. Just believe.

A love for God and all that God has done is what will unite the people of God. Doctrines and theologies emerging from human understanding can only divide.

I entrust all my cares to God. And I will be happy today. For this is God's will for all his children.

Great weaknesses bring about a great humility.

I need to have a child-like faith in God above all book knowledge and spiritual wisdom.

I have lost many things in this life lived for God. Still Jesus Christ will always remain mine, and I will always remain his.

Let all brothers and sisters learn from Joseph, son of Jacob. He did not curse his brothers even once, though he had much reason to. God has not given us brothers and sisters so that we may curse them, no matter what the provocation. Let us learn to forgive and coexist in love. It is certainly good and pleasant when brothers and sisters live in harmony.

What can a human curse do to me when I have God's blessing on me?

If someone curses you, bless that person. Forgive that person and pray to God that he may heal that person Say boldly, "I am blessed and I cannot be cursed, If God is for me, no one can be against me."

The greatest need today is to receive God's love. If we taste God's love we can forgive anybody and anything.

No day is a bad day to say thank you to God.

God will not let his children be humiliated. So just believe that you will be all right.

It is sad when the children of God instead of building each other up are tearing each other down. Instead of looking at what is good and admirable in others they are distracted by what they find bad and distasteful. No one in this world can satisfy another perfectly. Since each one of us falls short of the glory of God, and still God accepts everyone just as he or she is, we must do the same for one another. If we fail to do that we prove that we only want to receive grace but not return it to others.

Jesus has proved conclusively that we are absolutely in no position to throw stones at anyone. So let's put down our stones, and remove the beams from our eyes.

Do you work quietly. Love everyone. Judge no one. Leave everything to God.

Do the right thing. Don't do the selfish thing. It brings immediate satisfaction. But the right thing brings lasting satisfaction even if it hurts at the beginning.

There was a time when I gave and very few were willing to receive. But I continued to give. That is why I'm still giving and there are now many who are willing to receive.

Even if some people don't welcome you, you welcome everyone.

God, help me see the good in everyone. And let me not be quick to judge anyone. Grant me compassion to see people as you see them, so that I will not condemn them.

I just want to take my eyes off the world and look only at God. This is my prayer today.

Losing our temper is our excuse for uttering curses. We say that we spoke in anger and didn't really mean it. If we didn't really mean it, we should have never spoken those hurtful words. Once we have spoken them we have become responsible for them. And we will not escape from being condemned by them.

Let our rage not become our excuse to destroy others. We are all capable of verbal destruction. But blessed is the human who can rein in those terrible words even after a horrible provocation.

Even an unuttered curse in our hearts is as bad as an audibly spoken curse. And we must account for that.

If we want a blessing we must bless others. It is that simple. Yet the last thing we do sometimes is to bless others. In fact many times the first thing we want to do is to curse others.

Let's do a hard thing today. Let's bless the one who has cursed us. Let's pray for this person and ask God to heal the mind of this person.

There is a terrible truth regarding words. We can't undo the words we speak. And it is impossible to tame the tongue. Let us pray today and ask God for mercy and grant us the grace to speak words that will not destroy both others and us.

God requires people to show faith in him. Without faith it is impossible to please God. So those who ask for proof to believe in God are wasting their time.

A particularly good test of Christ-likeness is when one is repaid evil for doing good.

What really hurts the Christ worker is not rejection by non-Christians but rejection by Christians. I have said this before. I say it again. Christianity is hurt most by Christians.

There is no point in running away from temptation. You must face it boldly and study it thoroughly. You must know yourself, and know your weakness. You must ask God to grant you his strength, for you cannot overcome your weakness without the strength of God. And the release from your bondage will be gradual. You must trust in God and believe that he will grant you the grace to overcome your temptations degree by degree. Finally don't run away from your weakness. For when you are weak then you are strong. God works best in your weakness.

Many are the troubles of God's people. But God will deliver us from them all eventually. This is the promise we must bear in mind as we undergo troubles in life. And God does not give us only troubles. He also gives us moments of relief and joy, when we can replenish ourselves to continue the struggle.

Without the Bible there can be no proper understanding of God and his mission in this world. The great story of God's love will not emerge in its present clarity without the biblical texts that progressively reveal the heart of God to the point of climax in Jesus Christ. For me, the Bible is essentially a message of love and forgiveness to the world, and a reminder of God's faithfulness to his people, whom he loved to the extreme extent of sacrificing his own beloved Son for them. It also presents God as the ultimate judge who cannot accept sin and those who sin and by sinning transgress his holy law. Still the perfectly just God emerges in the Bible as the one who above all knows that there is no human being other than Jesus, who can ever fulfil the requirements of his law and merit the reward of eternal life in heaven. That is why Jesus fulfilled the requirements of God's law for all of us. It is by resting in Christ by faith that we fulfil every commandment that God has laid out for us. When we do this there is no place for boasting in our lives, for nothing in our path to salvation is achieved by our own efforts. And the greatest of God's commandments are to do with love. We must love God with all our heart and mind and might, and this we can do only when we love one another as we love ourselves. This brings us to the ultimate point. How can we love ourselves? Can we love ourselves by rejecting ourselves? Only if we can do that we can reject others whom we love. Or can we love ourselves by not even knowing ourselves? Only then we can love others by not knowing them, by not even associating with them. None of God's commandments can we fulfil without being in Christ. When this is the case no man should boast of his ability to do God's will. And the will of God is that we should know his love and share it with others as we receive it ourselves. The Bible should lead us to this realization and not impede it. A legalistic and literal understanding of the biblical texts will lead to a strident, inflexible interpretation of the spiritual life, which is devoid of love and compassion, the ultimate guiding principles of life.

You can't find those who are lost by keeping your distance from them.

Abandoning everything to seek the lost is the distinguishing characteristic of Christ and all who follow him.

You can't choose the people you love. You can't run away from the people you love. The one who chooses and distances himself from those he claims to love, is no lover in the order of Christ.

Love is not love if it is controlled by fear. Love bears all things. Love conquers all. Anyone who says he loves and yet fears what might result from that love cannot love at all.

Ultimately the people of Christ should be characterized by love - accepting, embracing, forgiving and participating love. Such love must also show compassion for all those unlike us, because we ourselves were like them, when Jesus Christ reached out to us. Jesus did not leave us or forsake us even when we were lost in our sins. He was very much with us loving us until we recognized his presence in our lives. We, the body of Christ in whom Christ lives and works must learn to love people as Christ loved us. We must not reject or despise people for being different from us. We must not condemn or denounce them for their imperfections. We must love them even when they hate us and bless them even when they curse us. Above all we must care for them even when they reject and kill us. This is the love of Jesus, which must reside in us, if we are to be anything like him.

The difference between Jesus Christ and Saint Paul is this. Paul taught us love, but it was Jesus who showed us love. Paul spelt out the faith. Jesus demonstrated that faith through his own life. Paul led us to Christ. But it is Christ who saved us ultimately. Paul is a servant of God speaking for God. Jesus is God, speaking for himself. Knowing this difference will make it easier for us to understand the Bible.

Jesus said before he went to the cross, "Love one another as I have loved you." Our question as Jesus followers should be this. "How did Jesus love us? Did he love us even when we didn't love him? Did he love us even when we were sinners totally removed from his light? Or did he love only those who responded to him and sought his light? Did he love us by coming to us and spending time with the most despised among us, or did he love us by distancing himself from us? How did he respond to those who felt lost? Did he let them go, or did he go after them, determined to find them at any cost?" Once we arrive at the answers, we must ask a further question. "If Jesus loved like this, should we also not love like this, as he commanded?" And we must ask God to give us the grace to love like that.

God doesn't change people by teaching them. He changes them by loving them.

The last thing a sinner needs is a lesson in morality. Give him love and forgive him completely. That is what he needs to turn around.

To love people we must be with them without trying to teach them something. If possible let us try to learn from them.

If we spend our time being afraid of people then we will have no time to love them.

If compassion and humanity are the hallmarks of Christianity, then the world will pay attention to it.

The problem with being like Jesus lies in being with people we would rather avoid.

If you want to be like Jesus you must accept all who come to you.

I who hated and despised God have become a worker for God. I who hated and despised my human father was led to him just before his death, and given the grace to apologize and seek forgiveness. God has led me from darkness to light. And this testimony is true.

Don't let yourself be condemned today. Jesus Christ paid a price for you, and that is the one and only payment required. You don't have to do anything more to retain your salvation. The work of Jesus Christ is truly finished in you today.

Perhaps none of us is normal. Every one of us may be disabled in some way. Yet many of us find ourselves in many ways less disadvantaged than those whom the world labels disabled. Let us who find ourselves in this position give thanks to God for what we have.

Even I couldn't see God once. Now I see him in all the life forms around me. I see him particularly in the human being, who consciously desires to be good. This desire alone speaks powerfully for God, to whom the human seems irreversibly linked. Yet this is not a link that everyone discovers.

God is everywhere, even in your heart if you have welcomed him there. You can worship him wherever you are.

Now it certainly looks bleak. But it will not stay like this forever. Believe in God. Trust in his working.

Let us not give God give any time frame for acting. He will act in his time.

Some people don't like the idea of God because it seems so primitive, and so remotely detached from the intellectual giants that they have become. Also the acknowledgement of God may lead to the imposition of an external authority on them, which may not agree with their liberated temperaments. So to avoid this regression to God, they try their very best to progress to a godless scenario, which is difficult to demonstrate. Yet this difficulty cannot dissuade them from venturing further, for a godless universe is a premise that they will not discard.

God showed clearly through Jesus that he identified with the poor and the humble people of this world. So let us also stay with the poor and identify ourselves with them.

Sex is God's gift to Man. But when sexuality occupies a place that only God should occupy in a person's life, it has become a bondage. And no man can overcome this bondage on his own, for lust of this kind cannot be humanly tamed. It must be submitted to God, who alone can liberate a person from this bondage.

Show me love today, O Lord. And you will have shown me everything.

There is always something to be afraid of if you want to give in to fear. But if you have God in your life why should you fear? The last thing God wants you to be is to be afraid.

Do not fail to help those who are dependent on you. These are your family members and your spouses. Be firmly committed to helping and supporting them in their time of trouble.

Our troubles are very little in comparison with those of Christ on Calvary many years ago. His suffering is on a different scale and may even be in a different dimension. But we participate in the sufferings of Christ to be identified with him in death so that we may be identified with him in his glorious resurrected life as well. Though the intensity of our suffering cannot be the same as that of Christ, it is still rather severe and cannot be ignored. We suffer with Christ so that we may be glorified with him. This is the essence of it. And what we undergo to achieve this is by no means little.

Love the people you have in your life today. And love them well. This is the one task that you must fail to do. For if you do so you will also love God.

It is indeed good when brothers and sisters live together in unity. But will they? Let us pray for this unity.

It's good to crawl towards God. For once I was just sitting without moving towards him.

Love someone today who least expects your love. Show kindness to someone today who least expects your kindness.

The best parenting I've had is from God. I've had good human parents. But without God I cannot even stand.

Let there be more of hope and less of dread in my faith. The tendency to fear is so great in the human being that God had to repeat "Fear not" hundreds of times.

There is only so much I can do (and even that I cannot do without Christ living in me). Everything else must be done by God.

Don't be afraid of being weak. Because when you are weak, then you are strong. God works best in people who are so weak that they cannot function without him.

The best way to convey Christ to someone who does not know Christ is to love him unconditionally and do our very best for that person without forcing him to believe in Jesus Christ or imposing any other theological demand on him. Any forced act of belief is not belief at all.

The act of telling people about Jesus Christ does not automatically lead to salvation of souls. People may hear the audible message and fail to respond to it with their hearts. The act of conveying a message is twofold: one, the ability of the speaker and two, the receptivity of the hearer. The success of communication lies equally with the hearer, whose mental and spiritual states, if he is hearing about Jesus, are vital to his receiving the message. So ultimately success in the process of telling people about Christ does not lie in the hands of the speaker but in the hands of God who alone facilitates both the speaking and the hearing.

Tell children about Christ. But tell a story about him. Don't theorize. Don't get into theology. Tell the story of the prodigal son, for there is no other story that better illustrates our great forgiving God. And make it clear that God forgives so much because he loves so much.

Children cannot understand what Christ has done for them. Even I, a 43 year old, have not yet grasped what Christ has done for me.

Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - February 2015

It may not be always possible to feel joy in God. But we must learn to rejoice in the fact that even during troubles God is blessing us, for difficulties lead us to God.

In the most trying circumstances let me be calm and think kind thoughts about people who have not behaved well.

Let the true colours of your faith be exposed by troubles.

All trouble is humbling. And all humbling is ultimately good.

Don't try to understand trouble. Just try to give love. And try to say a prayer.

Fill me with your love O God. Your love alone will help me absorb the wickedness of this day.

My life in pursuit of God seems like an experiment gone terribly wrong. Yet there are also moments when I see the immense use of it. There are moments when I feel that I have lost more than I gained. And there are other moments when I'm glad I lost it for whatever I have gained. Feelings are bound to fluctuate. Impressions are equally fleeting. A most suspect God appears totally faithful in a matter of moments. So I cannot go by feelings. But I should go by truth, not by my truth, for I don't know what it is, but by God's truth that seems so hard to believe, yet must be believed for the sake of trust, which lies at the core of my dealings with him.

Forgiveness feels like the worst thing when directed at others. Yet it seems like the best thing when directed at us.

Every scathing moment is a brilliant opportunity to forgive.

Someone said today that he marvels at my videos. I respond to him by saying that I marvel at my own videos. How can I speak so calmly about my faith when I am going through turmoil in my life? I wonder whether anyone can guess what suffering I went through even as I spoke my messages calmly and collectedly for my God. Even now as I go through another wave of turbulence I say to God, "I'm still hoping in you, I still believe in your goodness, though what I see in my life are disturbing scenes. God give me the faith to believe in you today. God give me your peace. For I see everything heading toward ruin. Please pray for me Holy Spirit. I cannot even pray for myself right now."

I have had a good life. God gave me plenty of time to make mistakes. And these mistakes have led me to God.

My life is in God's hands. And I will not worry about what I cannot do anything about.

A person who says, "I love you. I love you so much", and does not show up or express his love in any action is, to say the least, a most unconvincing person.

To talk about love and not express it is the most pitiable thing of all.

The rule of love remains the same for all of us. It doesn't differ from person to person. If you cannot discard your own father or mother or brother or sister, then you should not discard someone who is not related to you by blood, as well. Discarding people and detaching from them is more for your protection than for the purpose of love. Love truly bears all things. Human beings with their imperfect ability to love cannot.

We must love everyone no matter what influence they have on us. And we must give to everyone, especially to those who do not know Christ. Distancing ourselves from people is the last thing we must do. For if Christ had done that to us, we will not be saved today. Our lives with others should not be marked by paranoia of what they may be able to do to us, but by confidence in Christ, who will enable us to do all things for others. Our love should know no fear.

No goodness will go unresisted in this world.

The best of men was hated by many men to the point of being murdered on a cross. What hope do lesser man have of escaping the hatred that runs in human blood?

A religion which is based on Jesus Christ, who taught us to love everyone, cannot marginalise those who are not within its perimeter of acceptability. Such a religion cannot be like Christ who spent much of his time with the social rejects of his age. He who welcomed prostitutes and tax collectors cannot be the founder of a religion which keeps out moral and social offenders and has little love to offer anyone who is disturbingly different. Jesus Christ taught us to love those who are different from us and accept them as one of us. They are made eligible to be in his kingdom not by status or education or morality or religion but by his overpowering love, which cleanses each and every one of us of our essential human corruption. None of us, even in the name of religion, can show contempt for anyone or any group that fails to match our social and moral standards, for none of us ever deserved to be included in God's kingdom. Those who received grace cannot practise a religion based on Christ without grace.

A life with God has brought me a lot of trouble. But with that trouble has come a string of benefits, which I could not have obtained without God.

My father was a Hindu. Could I have rejected him and failed to fellowship with him because of his religion? No I could not have done that. My father is my father. Ultimately I don't care about his religion. And my father cared even less about my Christian faith. Our father son relationship rose above all these man made distinctions. After he died I cried for many days. I wept for a man whom I couldn't love when he was alive. And whatever trouble I had with him while he was alive had nothing to do with religion or faith. After he died, all that buried love was resurrected from my heart. And that I believe was a work of my Christian God. Think of that. A Christian God awoke the love in my heart for my Hindu father. If I have a son someday, and if he were a Muslim, would I fail to fellowship with him? Absolutely not. I would love my son unconditionally. He is my son. I am his father. And that is all that matters. Anyone who withdraws himself from another on the basis of religion or any other distinction is someone who does not know the first thing about love.

The rule of love remains the same for all of us. It doesn't differ from person to person. If you cannot discard your own father or mother or brother or sister, then you should not discard someone who is not related to you by blood, as well. Discarding people and detaching from them is more for your protection than for the purpose of love. Love truly bears all things. Human beings with their imperfect ability to love cannot..

There is only one thing that matters today. We need to love one another despite our many irreconcilable differences.

A part of being wise is to be able to ignore the voices of idiots.

The best approach is to be direct. If what you want to say or do is acceptable, then do it promptly and directly.

If you want to be with God be prepared for trouble. And when you are faced with many troubles learn how to rejoice.

There is only one way to run this race. And it is not by being afraid.

A boy said to me once, "Why do you want to pray for me? I have everything." Those who are in Jesus Christ are the children of God. They indeed have everything. Yet some of them are far from being as confident as this boy who is not even a Christian. They seem guilt-laden, fear-ridden and panic-stricken. And displaying these qualities they attempt to win other people over to Jesus Christ.

A fear-stricken faith is as pathetic as slavery to sin.

No human can keep the commandments of God. No human should even aim at keeping the commandments of God. A human must only aim at being in Jesus Christ, who alone has kept the commandments of God. It is God's plan that those who seek Jesus Christ and desire him as their Saviour, will be ascribed his righteousness. And with his righteousness as ours we become fit to be citizens of heaven.

Should we be scared? Or should we be bold? Should we be bound? Or should we be free? Let everyone answer this question himself or herself. This is how I answer. I should be bold and free. I should be bold to live without the fear of punishment, for all my sins are already paid for. I should be free to serve God without the fear of condemnation, for I am the very righteousness of God in Christ. And this is not a truth that can be erased.

To be aware of one's faults is one's blessing. May such blessings never end.

When God appears to be doing nothing, that is when you have to keep your hopes up and believe that he is up to something in your life. You must lay aside your feelings and doubts and trust in the unchanging nature of God, who will not fail those who trust in him.

It is good to declare and expect the goodness of God in your life. But beware of this. God's goodness may come in a form that you may not be looking forward to.

Trust in God and wait for him to answer, even if takes a very long time.

Trust in God and what he made you to be. And then live the life he gave you by doing what you know will please him and do it without fear.

Don't sleep in the morning. We were not made to stay awake at night and sleep in the morning. The morning is the most stirring and vibrant time of the day. It's the time when all life wakes up. We should not miss God's recreation of the new day every morning. Acknowledge God early in the morning. Declare his goodness in your own life. Recognize yourself as the child of God who has a good plan for you, a plan to prosper you and not to harm you. Then speak to him as a child would speak to his or her father. Tell him that you will rest in his truth and trust in his faithfulness no matter what happens today. And then work with your hands and devote your mind and heart to glorify God in some way.

We may not have tomorrow. So let's love today.

Belief in God is difficult. Your belief must stand the test of difficulties. You must endure severe trials of your faith and survive the fear of defeat. Will you believe like that?

No matter how dark this journey of life is, don't forget what Jesus promised you. He will never leave you alone. So be strong today.

I'd like to keep my faith simple. So my simple cry of "Father help me!" will serve as an adequate prayer today, for I am in need, and only God my father can supply my need.

He may have a stern exterior. But no one understands and sympathises with the human being as much as God. So approach him boldly today expecting to receive his kindness. He will not disappoint.

We should not be afraid of being influenced by other people. Greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world. Love should not be marked by fear. There is no fear in love. And we must love people without fear.

Jesus loved people and accepted them more than he preached to them. You don't change people by preaching to them. I don't think Jesus related to people at the spiritual level only. To love people you must meet them at every level.

Your loving someone does not make sense if the other person does not receive your love. To love someone without associating yourself with that person can hardly do good to that person. And it can't do any good to you either.

Jesus came as a great light to illuminate our dark world. He came that those who lived in darkness might see his light. He walked into our darkness shining his light. He could not have given his light to us if he did not want to step into our darkness. The sole purpose of his light is to dispel darkness. His light lives in us, and if we do not shine it into the darkness of other people, how then shall they be filled with the light? So if you are anything like Christ I know you will not hesitate to step into the darkness of another person's heart and shine your light there. I believe that this is what Jesus expects of you.

Let the Bible not become your excuse for not loving someone unlike you today. You should love like God. And God loves everyone. And God wants everyone to be his child. We should not forget this.

God shows us how to love. Let us learn to love like God today. And let us not give up if we fail.

Let us love others despite their many faults just like God loves us despite our many faults.

In the Jesus kind of love the recipient is always an unworthy one.

If you feel that the other person is worse than you, so he or she is not the right one to be with, you are in trouble.

God is not just good. He is better than that. He is great.

Even John the Baptist doubted Jesus Christ. If the greatest man who ever lived could reach that point, I can't see how lesser mortals can avoid that doubt.

We do more damage to God as spiritually cocksure people than we would do as spiritually humble people. Everything about God is a matter of faith and nothing can be established with undeniable proof. The only thing we can do for God is to show what he has done in our lives. We must show his strength rising above our weaknesses. And we should pray that he does something like that in the lives of those we want him to touch. It is he who does the touching. We cannot do that.

No faith is flawless just like no man is flawless. We must learn to admit our inadequacies with regard to the spiritual life as we admit our inadequacies with regard to the earthly life. In the spiritual life, it is better to be poor in spirit than rich. Jesus made that clear.

When I cast my care on God, l leave the situation with him and trust him to do what only he can do. I will not try to help him do it.

The scenario is highly discouraging. Yet don't be discouraged. Let us hope against hope.

We need to dismantle the places of worship that we have built over the years. We need to throw away everything that we held central in the place that only God should occupy. We need to throw away everything that hinders and seek God with a repentant heart.

We may not even be aware of what God is doing in our lives. But as long as we are alive we are receiving from him the great gift of life. For this let us be thankful.

The highest point in faith is to survive the sense of abandonment that a believer in God feels at a moment of crisis in his life. Even Jesus Christ felt this abandonment. But a moment later he felt a sense of unity with God. His great despair came before the great reward of the resurrected life that God bestowed on him.

Will you reject your own son if he rejects God? Will you reject any member of your family if he or she should reject God? No we are commanded to love one another. And one another means everyone, even those who are not aware of God. God loved the world, not just the believing world, but also the unbelieving world. He came to save the lost and not to be content with the ones that were still with him. We who say we love Christ, must also seek the ones who are lost and go after them determined to find them and bring them to God. Anything less than this is not service to God.

"Love one another as I have loved you", said Jesus to all his disciples. How did Jesus love us? Did Jesus separate himself from sinners and unbelievers? Jesus came to save those who were in darkness. Surely saints and believers are not in darkness. The great commission of the Lord is to spread the message of love to all people in all parts of the world. So we the followers of Jesus must tell unbelievers about the love of God. Separating ourselves from them and forming Christian clubs will hardly appeal to those who are not aware of God. We must be inclusive and not exclusive. And we must always reach out, especially to the most resistant.

Approach with love and give joy to others. You cannot fail.

Fasting is not merely a matter of abstaining from food and water and spending time in devotion and prayer. It is actually a matter of helping others in distress and saving people from their difficult situations. It is not turning away from your own flesh and blood. This is the kind of fasting that God has ordained.

If your reply is going to hurt, then don't reply. But if you must reply to do good, then reply even if it causes hurt.

Just say, "God will not fail me", even if the ground under you is shaking.

Now that we are in with God we must look forward to suffering. Those who are with God become the enemies of the devil. And he will fight against the children of God all day every day. Be ready. Above all be willing.

The worst thing we can do for God is to adopt a holier-than-thou attitude while dealing with his people.

Appreciate when you want to find fault. Compliment when you want to rebuke. Just love people today despite their faults. For the day will come and may have already come when you need the same thing from others.

We are different but we are made by the same God. Therein lies our oneness.

Even as distressing and disturbing events take place in my life I am trying to say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." it is not easy. It seems even hopeless. But I must say it.

It is not important whether you observe Lent or Christmas. Observe love. Think the thoughts of love. Speak the language of love. And perform the actions of love. This is what you really need to observe.

When you see the light you have to smile.

God is love. And love is the language of his creations. The one language all living beings understand and respond to is love. So learn to speak love.

Love is the safest investment in the world. It always provides returns.

Today look for what unites you with others. Don't search out what tears you apart.

We need to trust in God because we cannot trust in anything else.

When you give you have not wasted your time. You have not wasted your God-given energy.

You can't ever discount the heart. It is the most deceptive of deceivers. Even a dying ember can resurrect in a demonic blaze. So you need something outside of yourself to keep it checked. And that is the power of God.

Today I choose what brings life even as my heart desires what brings death. As time moves on I discover that my heart is not as persuasive as it used to be, and that my head is now in the ascendant. Above all, the Spirit of God has occupied more territory in me and is now more palpably bringing God's kingdom to me.

Regardless of how I am today God will be great.

Faith minus love is nothing.

The problem with accepting God's forgiveness is this: we can't forgive ourselves for what we've done, so we can't accept God's forgiveness for our sins. We want to be punished. We expect to be punished. But God welcomes us with open arms. And we are ashamed to approach him.

Whatever I wish for myself I wish for you as well my brother and sister. Therein lies what Christ has done in me.

God's greatness will be revealed in our lives today. Let's hope in this.

Instead of telling people that they might fry in hell, tell them that they will be forever in the embrace of God. That will make a world of a difference in the way they respond to God.

Look forward to the love of God today. God is a just god, and his justice will be done. Above all his love will reign supreme.

Let the fear of hell and imminent death not scare you into believing in Jesus Christ. Know his heart and be moved by his love. He loved you enough to give up his life for you. He cared for you so much that he didn't want you to perish. He desires the very best for you and wants you to live with him eternally. Know all this, and belief in Jesus Christ will follow.

Love even those whom God did not give you. For all need love.

Jesus did say, "Repent!" But we cannot repent without knowing his love. The adulteress could repent only after Jesus said, "Even I do not condemn you. Go and sin no more." So it takes the experience of love to evoke repentance. And repentance is a gift from God, and cannot be humanly produced. So let us ask God today for a revelation of his love.

It is only when we experience the love of God that we can repent for our wrongdoings. Repentance is a gracious gift of God to those who are irresistibly drawn to him. It cannot be humanly produced.

Christians come and Christians leave, but Christ goes with me forever.

Those who follow Jesus Christ and worship God should be honest with one another. They should be kind, considerate and helpful whenever they can. They should honour their word and if they cannot do so they should explain and even apologize to those who are affected. The God we worship would find a lack of honesty and kindness among his people more lamentable than the grief he supposedly feels over the way his people celebrate Christmas and Easter, which are described by some as pagan in origin. What God cares about is the way we treat one another. His final commandment to us is that we should love one another as he loved us. I believe God cares more about this than our celebration of festivals.

The last thing I will do today is to overrate the power of evil. God is in me, and he is bigger than any evil that lurks around.

Today I will bask in the light and not wander in the darkness. There is a lot of darkness in the world. But the only way to dispel the darkness is to increase the light. Let the seekers of light walk into the light and may they reflect more light on the dark parts of this world.

Has God waited 2000 years to terrorize people into heaven? He waits because he is patient. He waits so that people may respond to his love and approach him on their own without coercion. None of us want anyone to come to us under duress. None of us desire love that is forced and given to earn a reward from us. God is certainly not trying to do that. Let us not make him out to be one who demands our love with threats of the worst punishment in a terrible lake of fire if we fail to give him what he wants. It is a dreadful way to present a wonderful God.

Any friend of God is a friend of mine, despite any personal disagreement.

Those who believe in God should allow God to solve their problems without interference. Though it is hard to be still this is exactly what they must do.

We should thank God even when nothing makes sense. For this is what God expects of us at all times, and especially at such times.

Prayer is not asking. Prayer is speaking. It is speaking to God our best friend. It is acknowledging his role in our lives. It is acknowledging the fact that we cannot live without him. We may live without knowing him. But we can never live without having him in us, for our very life is a breath from his nostrils.

Fear-mongering is the lowest tactic in religion. It has brought many terrorized people to God. But It has also driven many brave people away from God.

Even if God didn't exist, a life for God will never be a waste. It will be lived for others and will be a blessing to everyone. For God is the noblest person in life. From him come all notions of goodness and beauty. Anyone who embraces God, even if he should turn out to be a gigantic effort of collective imagination, will not be a loser.

The Christian ought to be the humblest, the most repentant and the most accepting person in the world. He should be glad to be seen with the lowly and the sinful without any care for his own reputation. His only goal should be to love the unlovely and to care for the downtrodden. He should lose everything he values to embrace what no one values.

May we reach out boldly to the one who is waiting at our door today. May we not restrain ourselves from doing what we ought to do.

You don't get to bottle love and store it away for a rainy day. You need to pour out that love today indiscriminately and with total abandon for anyone and everyone you meet in life. And you need not fear running out of love, for you will receive even more of it from the only one who can give you an endless supply of it. His name is God.

Don't bottle your love. Let it flow freely to all around you.

The most heroic thing in this world is a persevering faith in God.

We have to rejoice in the Lord always no matter what is coming at us.

It is God who gives. People are only agents.

Let prayer not be our excuse for inaction today. Let our prayers lead to action whenever that is possible.

The best way to thank God for his priceless gift of life is to live it joyfully, exploring what is beautiful and edifying to our souls.

There is only one way in which evil is overcome. And it is by doing good to those who do evil. It is by blessing those who curse you, and praying for those who hate you. You do this only in God's strength, for God alone is love, and his love alone can extinguish the hatred glowing in human hearts.

Jesus Christ came into the world to show the love of God to people who were living in darkness. He came not to condemn the world but to save the world through laying down His life for us. We, who follow Christ, must endeavour to reveal the love of God expressed in Christ to all who do not know it. It is love alone that compels a human soul to step out of its darkness.

One of the best things we can do for others is to pray for them. But if there is something more that we can do for them, and we still choose only to pray, we reveal a reluctance to move out of our comfort zone. Prayer is very essential, Yet doing something to help, when such help is possible is even more essential.

One of the regrettable things anyone can do is to make a promise and then fail to keep it. But for a Christ follower to do it, seems even more regrettable. Failing to keep a promise is bad enough. But failing to apologize for not keeping the promise is even worse.

Don't look at what you do not have. Look at what you have.

Rejoice in what you have. Give thanks to God for what He has given. Count your blessings. And expect to receive more.

I will make an attempt to be friendly today no matter how many times my friendship is not accepted. I give not to receive. I give because I have received.

The human being is the most compelling evidence for God. We stand apart from the entire animal kingdom in our ability to reason. In the very act of our questioning God's existence we prove that we are unlike other living forms, and that we are unique in this ability to question and verify every concept. Thus we prove the biblical assertion that we are the crown of God's creations and made in the image of God. Like God we seek what is true and even question truth in the process of knowing what is true.

Don't seek human approval. You never need it.

To be able to love your neighbour you must be able to love yourself.

To love God more you must be forgiven more.

Sometimes God seems distant from us, though He is really quite near. Our prayers don't seem to reach Him, though He actually hears them. Yet His apparent silence and inactivity send the wrong signals to us. So we must persevere in faith and expect Him to intervene and save, though there seems to be little hope of that happening.

What God does for me is so much better than what I do for myself. I've received the best gifts in my life without much praying.

A Christian must have the heart to forgive. When an offender reaches out in apology, he must be forgiven. If a Christian can't forgive even after an apology, then he must seriously consider his relationship with Jesus Christ, who forgave all His killers even before they apologized for their murderous act.

God's faithfulness far exceeds our faithlessness. So He is perfectly able to be faithful and good even while we are faithless and lost.

It is not by human might, or by human power, but by your Spirit that the work of God will be done. This I will not forget today.