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.