Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - August 2016

Self-help is the way to help others. This is what I find to be a working truth in my life. In order to treat others, I treat myself first. In learning to bandage my own wounds, I am able to take care of others, when they come to me wounded. So, I am thankful to God today for the many wounds I have received in life.

 

I only convey the inspiration that I have received from others. And often when I try to inspire others, I am also trying to inspire myself to do the very thing that I am urging others to do.

 

God is indeed great. He uses someone as weak and as flawed as I am, to convey his great strength. And that strength is found not in his judgement but in his unmerited love and forgiveness.

 

Your faith in God will be rewarded. Your faith will heal you. So don't despair. Go on in the hope that the one who waits for God will not be disappointed. Wait in joy. Wait in expectation. And your Lord will come and rescue you.

 

If you are in need ask God. He will supply your needs according to his riches in glory. When you ask, believe that you will receive, and you will receive. Put your trust in God and in no human being. If you are in trouble, go to God, and not to any human being. Ask only God, and he will honour your request when you do so.

 

Either we are incompetent worshippers or we have an incompetent God. The choice is left with each and every individual. The most devoted believers would have no hesitation to swear by their own incompetence as worshippers than lay the the slightest blame at God's door. But some, like Job, will ask the unmentionable questions, and will receive no answer. Perhaps the truth is that neither God nor his worshippers are incompetent. They may both play their parts well, yet there is another player in the game, who also plays his part well. God is not obliged to answer anyone, I read a few days ago. Perhaps God cannot explain, for the truth is too complex for the human mind. Still, when troubles come unceasingly and hope is snuffed out repeatedly, a terribly uncomfortable realization settles in the mind.

 

Beware, all you God-seekers! Your God will hide for a while. He will be absent when he is most needed. He will arrive late, after a death has taken place. But don't lose hope ever. Keep hanging on to your faith in the God who never fails the one who trusts in him. Heaven and earth will pass away, but his promises to you will never pass away. Nothing on earth, or in heaven or in hell can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, your Lord. So stay near Christ. Better, stay in Christ, and in him you will overcome your worst despair.

 

Be ready for humiliation, as you walk toward your God-given destiny. Your God will not permit you to be humiliated in the end. But you will feel humiliated for a while. You will feel forsaken and betrayed by a friend, in whom you had invested all your hope. You will feel utterly lost and cheated. But don't let this temporary state become a permanent reality. Be determined to believe in God, despite his absence and apparent betrayal of your trust. Remember that you cannot see everything right now. You will not know fully until later, when you see God face to face. Then you will understand why you needed to walk through your terrible road. Then the injuries you suffered will not matter. For great will be your joy, when you meet God. It will be a perfect joy that erases all your pain, and gives precious meaning to all your endless struggle. Believe in that day. Believe in your God who will not fail to meet you on that day. No matter how it looks now, go on. For what is seen is temporary, but what is not seen is permanent.

 

As you are lying helplessly in a hopeless situation, you will wonder about your missing God. You will wonder why your God is missing and uncaring. All his promises will seem hollow and false. Unbelieving people may laugh at you and scorn you for your foolish faith. "Where is your God?", they will ask again and again. But don't hang your head low. Just say, "Even now I believe. I may be in a desperate position. Yet I believe and hope in my Lord, for he is my saviour and my God!"

 

Beware. There are twists and turns in the road to your destiny. Some are so unexpected and dark, that they would endanger your stability. Be warned. The road is full of pitfalls, and you will most likely fall and injure yourself. And the injury may seem beyond hope. But you need to believe, even as you are lying helplessly in your pit. Believe that help will come somehow. And trust in God, who promised never to leave you or forsake you.

 

Enjoy your failures. That is how you are happy. The reason for much unhappiness is the failures that people experience often in their lives. If you view failure as an attempt at learning to do something, and that every failure reveals your ever-increasing desire to succeed, then failure will turn into something sweet. The next time you fail, don’t be bogged down. Rejoice in your steely will to go on and get it right, no matter how many times you fail.

 

Not everyone gets everything in life. The wealthiest man among us does not have something he badly needs. Want is the distinguishing characteristic of the over-reaching heart. Learn to be content with what is given to you. And not everything you want will be given to you. To be content with what you receive, and to not want what you cannot have is the essence of happiness.

 

You will fail many times in life. So don't worry about failures. Just rejoice in the fact that you are still trying. As long as you are trying to be thankful, you are trying to be happy. And every trier meets with some success. And failure too is success. For every time you fail you succeed in trying even harder.

 

You need to be a habitual thanksgiver to be happy. And your thankfulness should not be fake. It should be a genuine appreciation of your gifts. Learn to see all that you have as gifts. Learn to see even your problems as gifts. Learn to see every painful experience as an opportunity to learn from. If you do, it will be the beginning of much happiness in your life.

 

Count your blessings. Name them one by one. And not only will you be surprised by what God has done, but you will also realize that there is much in your life you should be thankful for. So start being thankful today. It is never too late to start. And it is always difficult when you begin. But don't stop your thanksgiving, even if it feels forced and unnatural.

 

You should endeavour to enjoy what you have. If you cannot, you should seek help. The best helper out there is God. Ask God to show you the value of what you have. Ask God to give you a heart of gratitude for all you have received from him.

 

Happiness is enjoying what you have. When you cannot enjoy what you have because you are thinking about what you do not have, you are unhappy.

 

Whatever you do today, don't fail to worship God. You worship God by honouring what he created. Be good to one another. Help others as much as you can. Give love to someone who needs love. Be good to animals and plants, and do whatever you can for them. Help in keeping the world safe, by doing all that you can to preserve this world.

 

Don't seek love. But give love. Let your aim today be to give love to someone. When you give love, you will receive it inevitably. There is nothing better than loving someone. Turn to God for the ability to love others. Ask him to help you love people. And as God teaches you, you will be able to love even those who are not loveable at all.

 

Observe the world, and notice what is all around you. Don't be glued to your smartphones, believing that there is a better world inside them. All that technology can do is to reflect inadequately the glory of God. To see that glory, we need to lay aside technology, and look at the world all around us and make note of what God has done, as he has done it, without embellishment and exaggeration. Learn to appreciate things as they are, and not as what they ought to be.

 

Let your mobile devices not be your best friends. Let people be your best friends. Learn to communicate with people without technology. There are times when communication is impossible without technology. But if you wish to communicate at your very best, you should do it face to face, person to person, as people have always done it since time began.

 

To love God is to love others. Don't focus on just loving yourself. Focus on loving others as you love yourself. This is the commandment of God. And it is not something we can afford to ignore.

 

It is good to appreciate who you are. It is good to know what God has made you to be. But don't be lost in yourself. Appreciate others. Take the time to notice how special other people are. And acknowledge their specialness.

 

Believe that you will do the impossible today. That is the first step to doing it. And take from what God has placed in you. Use the supernatural strength that only he can provide. And then do what you never even thought you can do.

 

And let us not stop rejoicing in the glorious victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death. Let us not stop celebrating how he delivered us from the power of sin. Let us never cease to praise God for his ultimate, once-and-for-all sacrifice for all the sins human beings have committed in this world. Let us never cease to receive hope from God's promises. Let us never stop boldly approaching the throne of grace every time we are in need. When we are in want, let us always seek our Shepherd, for we will not be in want, as long as he is with us. When we are sick, let us always touch the stripes of Jesus Christ, for it is by them we are healed. When we are afraid, let us always hide under the shelter of his wings, for he will protect us from every harm, as long as we stay there. Let us not fail to rejoice in such a mighty God, who has made all his power available to us. We need to believe this, and then declare it joyfully. As we do so, we will experience the power we can only dream about now.

 

How does one rejoice in the Lord? Particularly, how does one rejoice, when the situation in life does not warrant rejoicing? In what about the Lord does one rejoice in a time of ever increasing suffering? What are the benefits of such rejoicing? Why should we rejoice in the Lord, when this life is so full of troubles? What has the Lord done, which gives us any hope that our lives will improve? Jesus Christ, our Lord, warned us clearly that the life we live on earth is full of troubles. Particularly troubled is the life we live for God. The Bible warns us that many are the afflictions of the righteous and also assures us that God will deliver us from them all. The Lord, who warned about the many troubles, also said that his people should be encouraged by the fact that he had conquered the world and its evil. We need to believe that Jesus Christ, has conquered the world, and its evil, by laying down his life for all of us, and by rising from the dead three days later. Knowing that he has done this should encourage us to go on, despite the troubles in our lives. And even though we may find ourselves surrounded by problems in life, we should be encouraged that we can always stand firm in Jesus Christ, as he has overcome all the challenges in this earthly life, and in him, we are already more than conquerors. This is not only a matter of belief, but it is also a matter of vocal declaration. Let us not merely declare this victorious truth, but let us affirm it with joy. Yes, let us find that unearthly joy in uttering this truth, of a victory, which we have not seen with our eyes, but have believed, for our Lord himself affirms it. Let us ask God to fill us with this joy. Let us first believe in what he says about us. We are more than conquerors, without having conquered anything. This is what we should rejoice about.

 

What we have may not be much. What we have may feel like a curse. But let God reveal what we have in his time. Let us submit to his mysterious working, and believe that he will give us beauty for our ashes, and will turn our mourning into dancing. Let us thank God today for what we have, though it may be the last thing we want to do.

 

Will we gain everything we have lost? Will God restore everything that has been lost? I don't think so. Not in this life, anyway. But there are victories that are secured only in pain. There is wisdom gained only in disappointment. There is a grace that emerges only from despair. So don't stop hoping today, if you have lost much. You have certainly gained what you could not have obtained had you not lost so much.

 

Say, "Thank you God" even in pain. Thank God for life, even if that life is filled with disappointments and pain. Recognize what you still have, and try to feel happy about it. That will be the beginning of your road to recovery.

 

Expect much. Receive whatever is given. And be grateful for what you have received, even if it failed to meet your expectations.

 

Be grateful when you receive less than what you did before. Be glad now for all that you have received, even if what you have received today has fallen below expectations.

 

Our fathers do not always rise to our expectations. That is why we need a heavenly Father. On him, we can safely rely, or so we think.

 

And my faith survived a major crisis in 2004, when my father died, after I had prayed so desperately for his life to go on. God denied the most urgent prayer request, and inspired in me a fear that he would do that again and again. And I had to live with a terrible mystery. Why did God deny my request? Why did my father have to die, soon after I was reconciled with him, after many years of mental separation? Why did I not get more time to spend with my father? Why could I not tell him more about God, and convince him that Jehovah is God? Why did God deny the miracle, and the victorious testimony that would have followed? I wanted to testify to the great miraculous healing power of God, along with my father, and I could never do that. Did my father accept God, before his death? Did he accept the Lord Jesus Christ, as his Saviour, before his death? I do not know the answers to these questions, and at times, I dread what the answers could be. But I go on despite this slaying, for God did slay me, when he denied me my father's life. I go on believing in a good God, though I have seen a goodness, which is nothing like my understanding of goodness. How I go on defies understanding. How I persist in my belief in God is beyond rationalising. But the truth is this. Even after twelve years, I am not ready to abandon my belief in God and his essential goodness.

 

The answers to some of our most persistent questions will not come from God in this lifetime. There is much unfairness and injustice in life. And even God appears unfair and unjust, at times, in life. Some would say, that this is usually the way life is. The good appear to suffer more than the bad. The godly are often deprived, and the godless are often thriving. The people who pray the most appear to suffer the most as well. The people who never pray appear blissful. Belief in God seems like a hopeless waste of time, at the least, and terribly unfortunate and misguided, at the most, for it apparently ushers in a guaranteed life of misery. But the great believers in God go on believing in God, despite these terrible appearances masquerading as realities screaming at them that God does not exist, and if he does, is nothing like they thought he was. They are like Job who held firmly to his belief in God, though God seemed to be slaying him mercilessly. Despite what appears to be God's heartless denials of prayers, they go on holding on to their beliefs, for there is much mystery in all of God's workings. They go on probably because they have also seen and experienced God's goodness in their lives. They have received favourable answers from God as well. So the happy memories in faith, keep the people of faith going, even in a time of terrible crisis. And strong faith will have to survive these crises.

 

On this day, twelve years ago, my father, B Ganesan, passed away, leaving me wondering whether God cares enough to answer prayers. After all these years, I know this and hold on to this: God answers prayers, but his answers are not always what we want. Some answers are actually denials, and when these answers come, we don't receive them well. We often deny the denials, and move on, believing and hoping for a favourable answer. But I was led to face this truth head on. God will sometimes, maybe even more often, deny the very thing we ask. And we often deny the denial, believing that God will always grant what we want. God will not grant all that we want. In fact, the life we live for God is full of surprises, some of them, very unpleasant. But we go on, in the faith, that God is ultimately good, and even the bad that he appears to do, will ultimately benefit us. This seems like madness even to me sometimes, but I hold on to it nevertheless, and I'm in no hurry to give it up any time soon.

 

I welcome all people, even unbelievers in God. Some of my best friends are unbelievers. But what I will not welcome is an insensitive approach to people and their beliefs. If someone does not show the required sensitivity to different beliefs and ideas, then such a person will find himself or herself unwelcome. I endeavour to appreciate different ideas as long as they are expressed constructively and sensitively. But when they violate such requirements, I do not welcome them at all.

 

It is good to express your mind. But it is not good to hurt others, and their beliefs and ideas. Don't ever make the mistake of correcting someone insensitively. For you are not without mistakes yourself, and if someone should point out your mistakes in a thoughtless manner, you would not like that as well. And bear this in mind, what you think is a mistake made by someone, may not be a mistake at all. In fact, you may be mistaken in thinking that it is a mistake.

 

When you have decided not to expect anything from people, you will not be disappointed often in life. You will, in fact, be often pleasantly surprised.

 

Silence speaks louder than words. I am grateful for the many silences I have received in life.

 

None of us is equipped to love like God. None of us can love like Jesus Christ. Our love is at best selfish and restricted to our near and dear. And even in such a close-knit circle, our love is seldom selfless. But to love selflessly, we must get rid of self. And God alone can do that. And he does that when we welcome him into our lives. When we have more of him, we will have less of us. And as we let him invade our lives, our selves will be thrown out eventually.

 

If you tread cautiously, you cannot love. If you want to love, you should be prepared to go where you feet can get seriously damaged and even destroyed. Your entire body and self will be at risk, when you love like that. Such self-sacrificing love is the greatest love, and that is the kind of love that Jesus Christ told us to give. Do you dare to love like that? Do you dare to die in the process of loving someone? Do you dare to be destroyed by your love? If you are, then you have the love of God in you.

 

Don't be paranoid about extending your friendship today. Walk boldly if you are confident in your love. But if you are not confident, don't express your love. For such love is not love. True love dares to give with absolutely no expectation of a favourable return. Aim to love like that. Or do not love at all. All friendship is love. Anything less than that is not friendship.

 

May all friends be happy today and every day. There is something very special about a friend, that we cannot derive from anywhere else. Family is very special, but so is friendship. It is said that there is a friend, who sticks closer than a brother. I have had very special friends. Without them, my life would have been quite unbearable. So I am thankful for all my friends. May the blessings of heaven always be with them. It is indeed a wonderful designer who placed in us the desire for a friend. Friendship, in its most beneficial, unselfish state, is a blessing that no one should ever miss in this life. This is my wish for all people.

 

It's good to have a friend in this world. I'm glad that I'm not friendless, though there was a time when I avoided people. Today, I'm breaking free from this long-standing tendency, and I'm paying attention to those around me. On the Internet, I've made many meaningful connections with people. On Facebook especially, I've made several of these. Of late, I've received many friend requests, and have accepted nearly all of them. I'm not sure that a Facebook friend is similar to a non-Internet friend, whom I've known and interacted with face-to-face in life. In the non-Internet life I have a few friends. But on Facebook, the word "friend" conveys to me anyone in the world, who is willing to walk along with me towards similar goals. Though I don't meet a majority of my friends on Facebook, I seem to have, at times, a more meaningful and a richer experience of oneness with these friends than I do with those whom I call my non-Internet friends. So I am thankful for all my Facebook friends today. And I say to all of them, "Thank you for extending your friendship to me. Thank you for knocking on my door. Thank you for coming in and enriching my life. May heavenly blessings be showered on you every day."

 

Sing a song of praise, even as you want to weep with pain. Even as your body is racked with unbearable pain, sing a song of praise to the One who can relieve your pain. Sing to him. Acknowledge his greatness and his ability to save you. Sing for relief. Sing for strength. And keep singing until he moves in you and calms your fear, and dulls your pain. Sing to him all through the dreary night, until rejoicing comes in the morning. Don't fail to sing to him today.

 

Don't scream out meaningless sounds in your pain. But scream out the name of the One who removes your pain. Scream out the name of the One by whose stripes you are healed. Scream out his name all night if you want to. And as you scream, plead with him, and ask him to relieve your pain. He is merciful and just, and he will not let you suffer beyond your ability to endure. Believe that, and continue your entreaties, until you receive your answer.

 

When you suffer with pain, remember the one who suffered more than any other human will ever suffer. And remember that he suffered for you and me, and every other person in this world. When your own suffering becomes unbearable, think of the one who suffered for us. And though he didn't have to, he suffered for us. And let us look at the tree on which he was hung. Let us see his pierced hands and feet. Let us imagine the unbearable agony of the one who suffered for us. And let us be happy to share in his sufferings to a small degree in this world. For it is blessed to suffer for him who suffered for us.

 

Don't focus on your pain. But focus on the reliever of pain. Call to him, cry to him if you need to. But know that he will pay attention to what you say. Also know that he will respond to your request. But try not to doubt his goodness and faithfulness. When you call out to him, believe that he will respond favourably, and expect that favourable response. Let your pain not be bigger than your pain reliever today.

 

What does a person care about? Does he care about life as it ought to be lived? Or does he care only about how he wants to live his life? Does he have any preference for external direction, or does he choose to direct himself? If he prefers external direction, where does that preference lead him? Does it lead him to others or to God? And then the question arises, "What people and which god?" Or if he depend on his own ideas of life, we need to ask: "are his ideas of life valid enough for him to live well?" And finally we should ask, "What is a life that is lived well?" The answers to all these questions will vary from person to person. But there are some agreements, and even these agreements are variable among groups of individuals who are supposed to believe in the same thing.

 

Life is a matter of choices. A good life is the sum of many good choices. There is the possibility of accident determining the course of life. But barring that, the choices that human beings make determine the quality of their lives. And when we speak of a person's choices, we can also ask, "What does this person care about?" His life will answer this question.

 

Glib statements won't do. Life is a very complex and frustrating thing. The mind is the ultimate centre of decisions. It is in the mind that God works. And he works only if permitted. So will the human permit God to do what he wants him to do? This is the problem-ridden question in faith. We want something, yet we are not willing to change. This is the tragedy of human inaction. It is a tragedy because desire does not lead to action.

 

Don't make friends casually. Be serious about the people you extend your love to. Don't quickly withdraw what you give. For such behaviour is not love, and simply not wisdom.