Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - August 2015, Part 2

What is the advantage in knowing that an asteroid will strike the earth on a specific day? How do you hope to profit from knowing that? You may not live to see that day. Some people you know may not live to see that day. How do you hope to reform yourself before that day? How do you think that you can turn to God with a genuinely repentant heart before that day? What sort of a reformation except a cosmetic one can take place in such circumstances? We turn to God not because of the danger of mass destruction. We turn to God because there is nowhere else to turn. We turn to him, because there is no lasting joy or peace without him. We turn to him because we need his love. We turn to him so that he may show us how to love ourselves and others. Let us ask God to give us the grace to turn to him today, because this may well be the last day for some of us in this world, whether an asteroid strikes the earth or not.

May I live this day as if it were my last. May I take the opportunity to offer a smile to the one who
needs it, and my voice to the one who is willing to hear it.

After years of blissful living in a world of my own, I recently felt the urge to walk out into the larger world. What is my purpose in doing so apart from exposing the fact that I rejoice in doing what I do? I have been brought out of obscurity and given a desire to celebrate the spoken word and the expressed thought, and above all to honour the Giver of all things, who has made me His own. This is the task that I shall attend to.

Can I love you without holding on to you? Can I relish you without tasting you? Can I have you without taking you? If I give to you without expecting to receive, undisturbed by physical need and uninterrupted by the inconstancy of feeling there will be much strength in that. Our love will last; our joy will not fade away. We shall love without fear and without end. And thus we shall continue to bless.

“Behold the lamb that takes away the sins of the world.” What does this statement mean? Who is the lamb? What are the sins of the world? And how will the lamb take away the sins of the world? The lamb is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The sins of the world are the sins of the many generations of man and the fruits of the original sin, the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Jesus Christ, the lamb is the only one qualified to take away the sins of the world, as he is the only sinless man that ever lived in this world. And only a man without sin can take away the sins of the world.

You may not be clay, yet you may be moulded not by me, but by greater hands than mine, those of my Lord Christ. Surrender to His mastery, and He shall make you dazzle with His light.

Do not try. Let God live in you. You cannot earn God's approval. I have learned that the hard way. All that I had is nothing. It is by God's grace that I have something now. Apart from Christ, I can do nothing. I have struggled so much. I have borne love in my heart. But I cannot express it without Christ who put the love inside me in the first place. So I have learned to give up the notion of trying. I just do it as He gives me the will to do it, believing that it is through Him I can find my best expression.

How do I know God loves you? I can feel His love for you in my heart.

God loves you. And there is no question of that.

I have been given the experience of pain, and that has produced much learning.

You are lonely in your nobility. I identify with that. But I am not disturbed by that. The day will come when we won't be lonely any more.

Child of God, you are most beautiful. You have a beautiful mind. Express your beauty despite the ugliness of what surrounds you. The only way you will be able to do that is to receive the love of God that is being poured out for you.

You are a beautiful child of God, created for a divine purpose. God has a purpose for you, and he will help you find it. Pay no attention to what the world says about you in disdain. Remember what your Heavenly Father says about you. He says he has a good plan for you and that he wants you to succeed. Will you believe in him today?

Love changes everything. Violence does not.

Do what you are enabled to do, with love and with sympathy for the weaknesses of others.

Cast your cares on your Lord. Only He can lead you to sanity. Forget the past. Discard the bitterness of it. Not with earthly weapons. But with heavenly means through prayer and obedience.

Forgive as many times as necessary. There is no limit to forgiveness.

No, my child. You and I and the rest of the world are forgiven by God though we do not merit this forgiveness. So we who have received this gracious pardon must also graciously forgive those who do not deserve our mercy.

Why can you not forgive? Should forgiveness be merited? Did you not receive forgiveness from God without meriting it? Then why should you not forgive someone else even when he or she does not deserve to be forgiven?

Wait patiently my child. Your story is still in progress.

The world as we know will certainly decay and die. And those who belong to God will not perish with it. You and I and many others are together. Let us not be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are against us.

Don't give up. Let your faith come from above. Then it will not be vanquished. This world will not help you believe. But you must believe despite the terrible compulsion to disbelieve.

God is good. He is never wrong. This world is corrupt. Its ways are perverted. But you and I will be the salt of this world.

There is no fear in love. So love without fear.

You are being tested and refined. I am too. I also share your fear. But do not submit to this fear. He who began will complete.

You have done much on your own. So you have failed. So you are disappointed. Do it through Christ. Let Him do it in you. You may fail. Yet you will not be disappointed.

There is a simple explanation for complex behaviour. The complex man conceals his simple motivation. He abhors the simple, as he will not be perceived as simple. The complex man puts on his complex garb and parades the distortion of his essentially unimpressive simplicity.

I am confused too. But we will come out of this confusion. I love you though I haven't seen you. I love you not because I want something from you. I love you because I want to give something to you. This is the love of Christ. Go to Him beautiful child. Others will plunder you. He will add to you.

As a man separated from God I doubt. As a man united with God I believe.

I doubt because I am a man.

Go to God. Why will you not accept His love? No one will ever love you more. Why do we seek love in all the wrong places? I once wrote of Christ, "You are the beauty that I so desire. In you is the end of all my search."

Go to your God. Discard your knowledge. Seek His wisdom.

Help us forgive one another as you have graciously forgiven us. Soften our hard hearts, mellow our defiant spirits O God. Give us strength in times of trouble and help us resist temptation. Deliver us from evil: the evil in heaven and the evil on earth. O God you are our only hope. You are my only hope. Let everyone who calls out to you today be saved. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

I pray for myself and for all your children. Be our King O Lord. Let your will be done in our lives. Please reign on earth as you reign in heaven. Be kind to your children today O Lord. Supply our needs. We need you first. We need your Spirit. We need your love, your joy and your peace. Grant us our everyday needs. And give us your precious health. I pray for those who are specially needy and those who are extremely sick. I pray for all who call out to you. May you hear the cries of your people.

Lord, you are my Creator. I cannot live without you. My life comes from you. Thank you for keeping me alive. Thank you for keeping the world alive. Thank you for all that you have created in your love. I do not understand your ways. I do not even walk according to your ways. Forgive me Lord for my many sins. Despite my imperfections I believe that I am a child of God and that I have the mind of Jesus Christ. Thank you for giving me the Holy Spirit. I believe that I cannot pray to you without your Spirit stirring in me first.

Jesus Christ is the only solution to the problem of human sin. He is the solution provided by God Himself. Christ is the Lamb of God, the only perfect human sacrifice for the sins of all human beings. According to God, only the sacrifice of a perfect human being for his fellow human beings will atone for the sins of his fellow men. Since no such person could be found on earth, that perfect human had to come down from heaven. Jesus was that perfect human being. When He died a terrible death on the cross, He was sacrificed once and for all for all human beings.

At times my life appears terrible and defies reparation. But I know with God all things are possible to me. I cling to the hope that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I pray for my improvement all the time.

The way of love does not end in condemnation, but in acceptance of what is difficult to accept.

We who are imperfect ourselves should not demand perfection from others. We should learn to excuse others as we excuse ourselves.

Rigidity could be our undoing. Let us learn to be flexible. Let us learn to accept others just as we find them. Let us be at peace with differences. Let us love without condemning others. This is our first service to humanity, the crown of God’s creations.

I welcome everyone who runs away from me, just like God welcomes me every time I run away from him.

Jesus Christ died on the cross for you so that he may save you from an endless torment. He did this because he loved you. Now you must respond to this with joyful gratitude. Don’t spend the rest of your life focused on sins that have been paid for already. Don’t be hard on yourself for the mistakes that you will always make. Instead look at Jesus, the best friend you’ll ever have. And learn from him. He will show you how to live, and how to be a blessing to others. Will you do that today, child of God?

Don’t feel guilty when you enjoy life. Life is meant to be enjoyed. God wants you to enjoy your life. And he wants you to help others enjoy it as well.

Savour the good things quietly. Savour them well. For life is swift and you must do everything in your power to relish the moment before it slips away.

God has answered the most important prayers. This is my impression after many years of praying. The curious thing is this. God answered prayers, which I could not even say. He gave me good parents. He gave me wonderful aunts. He responded to my wish to be his servant. He gave me a voice and a desire to speak. He gave me a computer and showed me how to use it. He gave me a camera and a message to speak. He showed me how to serve him in trouble trusting only in him. And even now as I repeat certain prayers painfully, I suspect he is answering some I haven’t even thought of saying.

You are commanded to love everyone and not just whom you like. You are commanded to love like Jesus. So please don’t pick and choose the people you love today.

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

Let fear not be your excuse for not extending love to someone today. Love without fear, knowing that it is God who reaches out to someone every time you choose to love.

God provides in his time. Not in our time, at least not always. In my life there were times when God answered prayers quickly. There were other times when God took a long time to answer a prayer. There were times when I thought God would not answer my prayer. Still God answers every prayer swiftly every time. The answer is not always what we expect. So we think he has not answered. But he has. In many cases, he may ask us to wait for a while. We should hear his voice and be willing to wait. I waited three months for my computer. I waited almost the same time for my air conditioner. I waited nearly a year for a word processing programme, but I prayed specifically for it only last week, and it was granted to me yesterday. God answers prayers. And he is faithful. I know this because I waited.

There was a time in my life when I preferred complexity. Complex sentences, long circuitous expressions and strange words captured me. Now all that I seek is the very minimum of expression, in the most direct manner with the most familiar vocabulary. I now desire simplicity. And I believe I am communicating more efficiently as a result.

Love is giving. And when you give you will receive.

We learn from every thing, even from negative and harmful things. We learn even from deception. But such learning comes late.

If actions speak louder than words, inaction speaks louder than action.

Ask yourself today before you deny someone's request. Is this God or your fear speaking to you today?

This is my prayer today. Let me not be so busy that I do not notice the poor neglected one staring at me.

Don't be so busy with reaching out to the world that you do not notice the one who touched the hem of your robe. Even the God you worship notices every sparrow that falls.

Learn from God alone. We speak what we hear. And it is he who spoke first to us.

Be happy today. Enjoy this day. God is with you.

Many of us are hurting. We need to put our trust in God, who has told us not to let our hearts be troubled. Listen to God today. Put away your hurt. His love is much bigger than any hurt.

You are hurting because you need God. And the good news is this. God is near, and you should receive his love today. Then the feeling of hurt will decrease.

Run from sexual sin. Run like Joseph even if you have to run naked. He ran and yet spent many years in jail for an attempted rape that he didn't even attempt. On a superficial level his running hardly helped him in any way. In fact it incriminated him and placed him in a very poor light. Yet from God's perspective his running proved his obedience to divine laws regarding human sexual behaviour. And it is God's perspective that truly matters. For we are God's creations, and no matter how smart we are, and how hopeless and cowardly running from sexual sin may seem to us, it may be the only thing that saves a fragile human in the end. For sexual desire is bigger than human resistance.

Don't be curious about my age and my country of origin or anything like that. Be curious about what God is doing in me. God and I are not similar personalities. There was a time when I hated God and despised his people. Even now there are times when I wonder whether I like God and his people. Yet God works in me. I choose to work for God. There is no other employer I care to work for. There is something to be curious about this.

A great mistake I made in my life was that I did not honour my parents for a long time. I wasn't proud of them and didn't want to be seen with them. I was particularly ashamed of my father, and didn't introduce him to my friends. It was only much later when I learned about God and started to live under his shadow that I knew the value of my parents. I was blessed to be able to meet my father just before his death, and I was led by an invisible force to apologize to him for the years of disrespect and disregard. It was purely an inspiration of God because what I said that day to my father came out of a place in me that I didn't even know was there. I also asked my father to bless me, for no son can live well without his father's blessings. After my father passed away I have had the great pleasure of having my mother in my home for the last eleven years. I have tried in God's strength to show my love and respect for her. But I have not always succeeded. In fact I have failed many times. But I have not forgotten her importance and the value that she adds to my life. God is with me and strives in me to produce his image in my heart. And as long as that goes on I have more than a hope of being what he wants me to be.

Before we love the people in the world, let's love those at home. These are usually the people we find difficult to love and respect. Let's begin with our parents. They may have made mistakes. But let's acknowledge this. Without them there will be no us. Let's love and honour them the way God enables us to. We should seek the help of God in this. Not all of us know how to honour our parents. Only God can teach us. And then let's love our brothers and sisters and learn to get along with them. Let's not try to teach anyone anything. Let's share God by sharing his love with them. Let's love them like that always, despite everything that comes in our way. And that will be enough.

Nothing is as important as our feeling grateful for what we are and what we've been given. We should not only show joy in acknowledging these, we should also seek the one who gave us these gifts. We must desire to worship him and love him and make him the centre of our lives. And we must share our joy in him with others, so that they may also know about him and what he has done for them.

We must speak the language of love primarily. Every other human language is secondary.

Everything I do is for God and by God. Nothing is for me and by me. At least this is my principle, and may it be a reality in my life.

Say to yourself, "I am on the road to improvement. God is working in me. He has a good plan for me and I shall see it come to pass. He will take me where I need to go. And though problems may come to slow me down, I will not lose faith in God. I will trust him to complete his work in me. As God continues to work, I shall be joyously confident of the end result. I will enjoy this life that God gave me. And I will make others happy while I am enjoying it."

Don't feel sorry for yourself. You are a child of God. There is nothing pitiable about you.

If you have Jesus you have everything though you may have nothing. If you do not have Jesus you have nothing though you may have everything.

What does worry do for you? What does doubt achieve for you? This and only this - a state of misery. As long as you are miserable, you cannot rejoice. As long as you cannot rejoice, you cannot receive from God. St. Paul did not understate this when he said, "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, rejoice."

Inaction reveals as much as action, if not even more.

A closer look sometimes changes everything.

Have a good day children of God. Smile as you should. Be thankful for all that you have, even if it is little. And be willing to share what you have.

Loving starts with giving and ends with emptying. And then it just stands back and smiles waiting to give more when it is ready.

Aim at stability and not at passion. A passionate admirer is less necessary than a stable friend.

To present God as purely love is not easy. For God is the one who created hell to torment forever the ones who turn away from him. No love in human terms can either accommodate or comprehend such a godly hatred. And God hates as fiercely as he loves. This is a truth you cannot escape from. God is love to all those who are ready to receive his love. And to all others God cannot be love.

Happy is the one who says, "This is enough for me." It is the desire for more that leads to pain. Be satisfied with who are you. Be happy with what you have. And share what you have with someone else.

When I teach others I teach myself.

Don't look for change when you are happy where you are. There is a joy in stability like none other.

Love your brother and sister today, without trying to teach them anything. Love as Christ loves them. Accept them as who they are and be at peace with that. Leave the transformation work with God. He know what to change, and when and how.

We wake up only when God wakes us up. We should not shout out God's message of love. We must learn to whisper it. And in God's time it will be heard.

Ananias and Sapphira will always point us to the danger of lying to God. Speak the truth even if it is most damning in your own sight. No honesty is ever despicable in God's sight.

You may discuss God the whole day. Or you may begin to practise love right now. One takes you nowhere. The other takes you directly to God.

The path to God is a life of love. It is not in church attendance, or Bible study or theological knowledge. None of these will lead you to God by themselves. It is love alone that will lead you to God. Yet to know the love of God you must study the Bible and attend a church and acquire a deep knowledge of God. And then you must put that love into practice with the help of God. Remember how Saint Paul estimated the worth of love. Love is the greatest gift God gives to Man.

You may speak all the Bible verses in the world and still not speak love. If you do so you will be nothing.

In the morning give your very best to God. Let your first thoughts belong to him. Let the first stirrings of your heart remain in him.

An honest sinner is better than a lying saint. Lying to people is one thing, lying to God is another. One is excusable. The other is damnable.

The first thing you must be with God is honest. An honest sinner is always welcome in heavenly courts.

I don't fit guidelines. Guidelines have to fit me. I speak from my heart. And where my heart is heard I will go.

Today I need to see a God of love, a God who forgives, a God who heals all wounds. I need to see a Father who will not stop waiting for his lost child. I need to see a Father who will not let his child perish. I need to see clearly that God is love more than anything else.

On this day at this hour eleven years ago B Ganesan, my father left this world. The names he should have taken were George Godfrey. The God he should have worshipped is the God of the Bible. But he chose to remain faithful to his own Hindu god and he kept his Hindu names. After his death I chose to take those names he did not take. I chose to worship the God he could not worship. I chose to serve a God who took my terrible burden away. He led me to my father just before his death to make peace with him. I submitted to the man whom I despised and hated, and honoured him with the grace that God suddenly gave me. I told him about God, my God Jehovah, and how the Lord inspired me to love him. My father heard about God at the very end of his life, but refused to turn away from his god, even at that moment. I hope that my father changed his mind in the moments before his death. It is because of this final reconciliation I can rest today, and feel good about my relationship with my father. I hope and pray that he is resting too.

I remember a man whom I hated nearly all my life. I remember someone who lived in my home, and was in another room, all the time I was there, and yet we seldom spoke anything cordial. I remember someone who took me to school by his bicycle and on the way back, bought me slices of water melon that I savoured under a hot sun. I remember a man whom I leaned against sadly while mourning the loss of my grandfather with tears. I remember a man whom I called by many names, but very rarely called him what I ought to have called him. I remember a man who wept when I lost my vision temporarily in one eye. I remember a man who belittled me, and even cursed me in his anger. I remember the anger and the resentment that his presence inspired. Still I also remember the man whom God pointed out to me on a certain day and showed me something that I needed to acknowledge. I remember falling at the feet of this man broken and repentant, asking him to forgive me for the years of disrespect and disregard. I remember kissing his feet in humility, and asking for his blessing a few days before he passed away. God made me aware that I couldn't go on without his blessing. And I remember how this man finally gave me his blessing. I remember my father today.

You are going to do what you are able to do as well as you can today, without looking here and there. And that is all God expects of you every day.

Go out there and get what you want. But before you do seek God's favour, and ask for his will to be done.

What you do is always less important than what you believe. And this is what you should believe. Your righteousness is in Jesus Christ, and nothing you ever do is going to be good enough to improve on what Christ has already done for you. Nothing that you accomplish is in fact your own accomplishment. Everything is because of God. When that is the case what you do is less significant than what you are by grace through faith. And this is what you are. You are a child of God by adoption. And this has nothing to do with what you have done. This has everything to do with who God is. And he is a father who will not let go.

You don't have to justify what God has accepted.

Does God give everything you desire, even if the thing you desire is harmful to you? I doubt that very much.

Remember this. God is in control of your life, even when everything seems out of control. God is taking care of you, even when the ground below you is shaking terribly. God is still working in you producing his image in you, even as you cannot imagine yourself to be anything like him. And remember this also. God will not stop working till he completes what he wants to do in you.

The best approach to life is to expect God to do something good every day. When you live like that you will see everything as a gift from God, and even though some things may not produce joy in you, they will still remind you that God is behind everything, and that even what seems hard and unfair will turn out to be something beneficial to you in the end. For God will cause everything, even the horrible thing, to work in your favour ultimately, if you would only suspend your doubt and believe.

Don't think too highly of yourself. You are a child of God but you are still his work from the beginning to the end. There is nothing about you that you have achieved on your own. Everything you have is a gracious gift. Knowing that be appreciative of everyone, even the one who has less than you. For the one who you think has less may have something to teach you, and you should be willing to learn from that person humbly, appreciating what God can do through that person.

To rejoice in this day means to do joyfully what God has enabled you to do today. Do what you can still do and do it like only you can do it. Don't worry about what you cannot do. That's not your problem.

Whatever you do today, don't try to hide your faults from God. For he knows them all. Just approach him humbly not concealing the tiniest mistake. He will accept you no matter what you have done. And he will love you like no one has ever done.

An honest sinner is always better than a pious hypocrite in God's eyes.

The computer that I dreamed of is sitting on a table before me responding to the strokes of my fingers and sending out messages into the world. An air conditioner that I badly needed is cooling my room behind me and letting me conduct my work in comfort. Both these gifts are from God and they arrived like miracles. Now every moment is an occasion to give thanks to God for his goodness. This is what I have discovered. You can experience the goodness of God if you are willing to wait.

The divine and the human in us make each of us two rather than one. The tension between the divine and the human is a result of conflict and not harmony. The misery of life is due to the suppression of the divine element by the human. One continues in the conflict in the hope that the divine will ultimately overcome the human. The hope is really a promise made by God through Christ.

There are lovers of Christ. They may not be Christians. A Christian is not necessarily a lover of Christ. There are Christians who do not know Christ. And there are Christians whom Christ does not know.

You can live with Christ, and still betray Him. Judas has proved that already. You can fraternise with Christ, and still be found wanting in faith and grace. The apostles have proved that. What made the same disappointing apostles the pillars of the Christian faith is the transforming work of the Spirit of Christ. It is not by might, nor by power but by His Spirit. And His Spirit does not transform everyone who claims to be Christian, simply because many claims are not true.

People, by virtue of being Christian, or of being baptised and confirmed, do not automatically put on a garb of Christ-likeness. Merely reading the Bible, or listening to a charismatic preacher does not transform a person into a practising Christian. People who follow the teachings of Christ are those who are in love with Christ to the extent that they do not value anything else. They are also people who understand the deep truth in the teaching of Christ and appreciate the importance of putting it into practice.

The compulsion to hate is as strong as, if not stronger than the compulsion to love. Every one of us would be ready to hate as long as one has something to hate. Yet the impulse to hate is reined in by obedience to Christ who commanded us to love our enemies, and to love our fellow men. But this obedience is impossible to achieve in human strength alone, and is a work of the Holy Spirit who resides in the believer.

I believe in a childhood dream. I believe that the fire that I saw raging across the black sky was the Lord God himself. I believe that the words of English that spontaneously issued from my Tamil lips, pledging servitude to the Lord (at a time when I barely spoke English and hardly grasped the concept of service), are the signs of a future servitude to Christ that involved this foreign language. I believe that the mad desire for the sight of Christ, which I soon felt afterwards, heralded the moment when his Spirit came to reside in me. And I believe that he has remained with me ever since, even when I denigrated and denounced him with the strongest expletives both in Tamil and English. And I believe that he still remains, even if I cuckold him continually in the arms of his enemy. The Lord will have his bride, even if she has been exceedingly violated.

Rest now in His love. Every blow is a kiss. In the pain lies a blessing. In the pain lies knowledge. The price of knowledge is pain. Let your knowledge increase your love. Love those who nail you to the cross. Love those who gaze at your pain silently. Love those ants and love those men that have caused you much stress. In love conquer them all.

Let us forget the ugliness of those who belong to the world, and let us focus on the beauty of those who are in Christ. We are in Christ and we share His beauty.

We will live in God, and we will live in love forever.

You are wise. And God dwells in you. May you continue to dwell in Him and celebrate your life in Him. May you continue to live in Christ, where no death can put an end to you. Live on. Even if death is at your door, live.

I'm not dead. I'm alive in Christ. I shall live and declare the work of the Lord. Satan would like me to believe that I'm dying. But I am in the Lord's hands. I move from darkness into light. The passage is not without difficulty. But the Lord will lead me through.

I stepped from darkness into light. For years I was bound by Satan in devotion to the flesh. Ten years ago I clearly heard the Lord telling me to step from darkness into His light. I took a few steps forward and many backward. Years passed. I loved my Lord yet slept with the devil. As a child I swore to serve my Lord, but as a man I took delight in serving the devil. The hellish joy was not destined to last. The Lord will have His bride despite the violation. He has come for me. And now I go to Him. May I walk into His hands soon. This is my brightest and most daunting hour.

The only blackness that I am concerned about is the blackness of the soul.

I am with you in spirit. I shall be present with you every day. I shall be at your side as you work in your garden or have a cup of coffee. You will find my voice merged with yours as you give praise and glory to God.

The origin of my problem is in the realm of the spirit. As I grow closer to the Lord, and die gradually but surely to the desires of the world, the tension arising from this progress and from the dark powers that oppose the Lord and His servants create a formidable environment at times. I am determined to fight the good fight. This divine command I will obey.

The distances that separate us do not matter. Our minds have met. And the affection that we feel for one another is divinely inspired. May it grow and bring glory to the Christ Who unifies us.

I never had a computer until I was 33. I never knew how to use a computer until I bought my notebook. Now three years later, after experimentation of a godly and an ungodly kind, I make my own videos and post them on the Internet. Though I'm not comfortable with publicity I've decided to share myself with the world. I believe it's time I let the world know what the Lord has done with me. The experience of doing that has been mostly delightful.

I'm a servant of the Lord God Jesus Christ, and I intend to live my life for Him. He is my Lord, my lover, my everything. He is the beauty that I sought in all the wrong places. And in Him is the end of all my search.

As a teenager, I read "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy, and believed I could not read a better book ever. And then one day I picked up a copy of "The Student Bible" published by Zondervan, and started reading it systematically. I found the presentation very attractive (it was presented in a manner that would appeal to young people). The New International Version made an ancient narrative most relevant. After reading a few books in the New Testament, I turned my attention to the Old Testament. And then I fell in love with the mightiest lover I've ever known, one called God the Father. The Old Testament, the story of Yahweh's frustrated love for a rebellious nation, is not only the greatest I've ever read but also the most heart rending. That such a spurned lover could continue to love His rebellious children to such an extent that He was willing to sacrifice His own Son to save their souls won me a million times over. God the Father is not only the greatest lover but also the greatest hero. He is my hero, my God, my lover, my sweetheart and the ruler of my soul. His Son, the Lord Jesus, is the gateway to the God of my heart. His Spirit is what compels me to move towards that gateway.

Christ is the essence of all beauty and truth. Christ is the ultimate wealth a man can possess. How can I prove these statements to a man of the world? The proof for these statements lies deep within my agonised soul.

I think it would not be difficult for me to be a man of the world, and speak the language of the world. Yet I am constrained by an invisible force that makes me speak a language that this world does not understand.

The knowledge I have gained is a result of the most agonising wandering in the ugliest of places. I have been let loose into this world, and have strayed too far, and lost so much in doing that. And the Lord has rewarded me with the knowledge that the world does not love. Sometimes in my painful journey to truth, I have cried out in pain, and pleaded with the Lord to let me go. But He would not, and I thank Him for it. He is always right, even when I think He's wrong.

Should we be conventional Christians to love Christ? Should we be Christians to love Christ? Is the conventional Christian the only follower of Christ? When two minds are drawn to each other, and when Christ is glorified in that union of minds, how can those minds not belong to Him? We love Christ, that is all that matters.

I realise that God has planned everything in my life lovingly. The night is the preparation for the day. The disappointment will sweeten the coming joy. The meaninglessness will add meaning to the meaningful.

God is great. He restores what we think is irreparable. So take you broken things to God and know that he will put them together.

Whatever we've done, we can never shock God. Let us approach him boldly today in the knowledge that he will not condemn us for our wrongdoings, but will accept us as his own.

There is nothing to be sorry for when you speak the truth.

Don't be upset today. Bear with the offender. If you can, say a prayer for that person.

No one wants to be wrong in this world. Everyone wants to be right. So every religion wants to be the true one. When such things happen clashes will inevitably occur. And that is why religions instead of uniting people are dividing them. But if the people of the world learn to live in tolerance and compassion, understanding and even appreciating differences, even religious differences, then there is hope for this world.

This is the hardest question to answer. Many people have turned away from God for this reason alone. But here is an explanation, which you may not be aware of. The world is as it is not because of God's choices, but because of Man's. You might be wondering what I'm talking about. In the Judeo-Christian theology (i.e.. the knowledge of God shared by Jews and Christians) it is believed that God gave the first man Adam the freedom to do whatever he wanted in a beautiful land called the garden of Eden. However God warned Adam not to eat the fruit of a certain tree in the garden, called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned him of the dire consequence that will follow such disobedience. If Man should eat the fruit of the tree he will surely die. By death, God did not only mean physical death, he also meant spiritual death, a separation from God himself. So to cut a long story short, Man did what God forbade him to do. Adam and his wife Eve ate the fruit and suffered the consequences of their disobedience. The ultimate consequence was death. And everything else, namely physical and mental disease, physical and mental corruption and deformity came along with death to speed it up.

I teach on the Internet. About life and God.

Original voice? I always speak with my own voice.

Go to God. And thank him for his love. And receive his forgiveness. And go on in your life in his strength. Be a blessing to others.

We all have little faith. Only God can give us more. Stop underestimating yourself. Believe that you are a child of God. If you are God's child, God is your father. Remember and declare that. "God is my father. And he will take care of me."

Worry can be from many sources. But worry shows your lack of faith in God. That is what you must address immediately. Pray to God and ask him to give you calm and resolute faith. Pray for faith. For faith cannot be humanly produced. It must come from above.

Give up the worry. And go with God.

Be happy about little things. Then your joy in life will be great.

You are worried because you don't believe in a forgiving God. You are worried because you want to condemn yourself. You refuse to believe that you can be forgiven because you want to punish yourself. If you turn into your own enemy, even God may not be able to save you. Remember this. All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Remember this also. God knows your weaknesses and sympathises with you. He is waiting to forgive you. The question that I put to you is this. Are you waiting to be forgiven? Are you willing to receive God's forgiveness?

You have to receive God's forgiveness by faith. Don't condemn yourself even after God forgives you. He will forgive you if you are willing to turn away from your sin. You must want to change. But you cannot change on your own. He will change you in his own way in his own time.

Life on earth was doomed for destruction the moment the first human disobeyed God. That event triggered God's irrevocable curse of death on all life on earth. Since that event disorder and degeneration have reigned in this world. So life on earth is riddled with imbalance and injustice. We who live have to live an unfair life. Yet let those who believe in God not imitate the unfairness of life, but let them imitate their God who alone is good and fair.

Say this to yourself. I'm moving forward with God. And nothing is going to stop me.

Don't be afraid of demons. Love God, and the demons will have to leave.

Don't focus on the demons within you. Focus on God. Seek him. Be with him and receive his love. Share it with others. And celebrate the goodness that you see in God. Read the Bible and spend time in prayer as well. But above all love those whom God created. When you focus entirely on God the demons are rendered powerless. The Spirit of God lives in you, if you believe in Jesus Christ. Connect with him and accommodate his ideas. Respond to him and do what he tells you. He will speak to you in your heart, and let you know what you should do. Just do it as well as you can. And trust that you are in God's hands and that no one can pluck you out of them.

Where God is there is no place for fear. Don't be afraid of living this life that God gave you. He who gave you life will also show you how to live it. Remember God goes with you wherever you go, and is at your side whatever you do. Seek his counsel, and wait for his response.

Don't make romantic attachments that are one-sided. Romantic love is best when reciprocated. When it is not reciprocated it can weaken the person who expresses it. Submit the unresponsive person to God and let him deal with that person, or let him guide you to some other person who will return your love.

Some things are worth fighting for. Other things are obviously best discarded. You'll know what to do with everything if you submit your life to God and seek his counsel at all times.

Whatever be the case, seek God. And ask God to speak to your heart and let you know what you should do today. Wait for God to speak to you.

If our hearts have met we have met.