Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George , April 2017

Don't let anything or anyone disturb you when you are in the zone. Let inspiration alone be your companion.

 

It is better not to try shortcuts. You just might meet with an accident if you do.

 

To be able to love someone even when that person does not return the love is the kind of freedom that should be particularly desired.

 

To be able to love anyone without expecting anything in return is an enviable freedom.

 

Not to care about results is a great freedom, which may even improve one's performance.

 

True freedom is to be able to do something without expecting any response from anyone.

 

Don't wait for someone to do the dirty work. Do it yourself if you care about the mess.

 

God does not always speak. Nor is he always silent. That is why it is hard to turn away from him.

 

Sometimes you just have to keep quiet. The undesirable will leave on its own.

 

Moderate desire will not get you to the top. If you want to climb an impossible peak, you need to be madly passionate about getting there.

 

Prayer is not a matter of uncertainty, but certainty. Almost certain is not certain. Total certainty is total abandonment.

 

You cannot be a sensible person of faith. You can only be a crazy person of faith. In this world, the true people of faith are perceived by the faithless as lunatics.

 

If you do something because you have to do it, it is better for you not to do it. It is good for you to do something only when you want to do it.

 

Life may seem hopelessly complicated. Some may even find it meaningless. The world is an evil place, some think. Yet God loved the world so much. What did he see in this world that captured his heart? He saw his own children without a sense of identity. He saw human beings misled by the devil, who usurped the role of father. God saw people behave like their satanic father. And he had to do something to redeem his children from the clutches of this murderer. If he had done nothing, that would have shown us that he did not love us. But he actually did something, which changed the course of history. He sent his only Son. Jesus Christ came into this world. He came to take us all back to God. And his sacrificial death for us on the cross, establishes beyond doubt the love that God has for us. That God is love is an eternal truth. That God loves human beings is the specific truth that Jesus Christ demonstrated to us. Whether we believe in the truth of God's love is up to each and every one of us. We may not be convinced of any truth regarding God. But if we would only believe, despite our doubts, that will do. And God will be pleased.

 

God is love. We are his children made in his image. Yet, we are so full of hate, you say. And God does nothing to stop this hatred from spreading like wildfire. What about wars and genocides? What about evil tyrants who gas their own countrymen? Why does God not intervene, when innocent children are abused and killed? Didn't God himself order genocides, you ask. Didn't God himself order the killing of all Canaanites, children included, in the Bible? If he is like that, how could he be described as a lover of humanity? This is my response: let Jesus Christ be a mirror to God. Whatever Jesus is, God is. Whatever Jesus is not, God is not. Did Jesus order genocides? Did Jesus advocate cruelty of any kind? Did Jesus not lay down his life for all human beings? Does that not show his love for us? Did he sacrifice himself so that we may perish on earth, and even go to hell? No, he did that, so that we may live with him in heaven. Only God loved us so much that he did not want us to perish. Also, consider how patient God is with the world. The first century Christians expected Jesus to return in their own lifetime. Twenty centuries later, we are still waiting for the end of all things. Why is God taking his time? I believe he is waiting on account of his love. He loves us so much, that he does not want to put an end to everything, without giving everyone a chance. This may not still convince you of God's love, But God does not want to convince anyone of his love. He wants us to believe in his love, even when we think we see the opposite of it.

 

God is all-powerful. Yet he seems to do nothing, when we want him so desperately to help us. He even seems not to care about us. Did he not walk away from his disciples, when they were tossing about in that wild sea? Why does God behave like this? God wants to build our trust, you say. God wants us to enlarge our faith. Did he not reprove his disciples for the little faith they showed? Yes, that could very well be the case. In difficult times, God seems distant and uncaring. It is at that time, we must hang on to the eternal truth that God does not abandon his children. No one who trusted in him was ever disappointed. But, there are many cases of disappointments with God, you say. That however, is the short-term picture. But in the long-term, from an eternal point of view we ought to believe that if we place our trust in God, he will not disappoint us, no matter what happens while we undertake the journey from earth to heaven.

 

God is good. But his goodness is not easy to understand or appreciate. He is good in a way human beings​ cannot conceive. His goodness may come across to us as its very antithesis. But let us remember that we see very little right now. And much of our understanding is coloured by our selfishness. If God did not do what we wanted, he is just not good, we think childishly. But if we want to know God's goodness, we have to give up our childish way of thinking. We need to believe in more than what we can see. We need to believe in the eternal truths of God.

 

Trust in God even though the pain is great and inexplicable. How can a good God allow such turmoil and disorder? How can he remain indifferent to pain? Could God be not as powerful or good as we thought? Such questions may linger in your mind. But relegate them to the periphery. Let faith alone be your greatest impulse, and let the eternal truths about God occupy the centre. And let our hope in the eternal virtues of God rage like an inextinguishable fire.

 

Should I be happy that I am popular? Should I be happy about my influence on others? I derive happiness from whatever popularity and influence that I have in this world. However, let my chief happiness not consist in statistical achievements, but in God-ordained and meaningful​ connections that help save lives.

 

Marriage makes little sense if you have a child while you are still engaged. It​ is unfair to the child that will be born. And it completely overrides God's design of the holy union, which marriage ought to be. People should be willing to wait for great blessings, and should consider them very sacred, that they don't trivialise it by doing it their own way.

 

You cannot understand God all the time. There will be times when you will totally misunderstand him. There will be times when God will seem insensitive and cruel. But remember this in your darkest hour. God is on your side, and always good, as long as you keep trusting in him. All things, even terrible things, will work together for your good in the end, if you will only hold on to your faith.

 

Don't focus on your disability. But focus on your ability and be happy that you can still do something useful today.

 

Be happy about what you can do. Don't be sad about what you can't do. This is how you get the most out of your life right now.

 

The world is not your own. Even the piece of land that you may own right now will have to be relinquished on the day of your death. So, live your life knowing that you own nothing. And be aware that you are owned by God. Your soul belongs to him. So, you belong to him. Live knowing that you are owned by God, and if you have anything now, it is God who has given you temporary control over it.

 

The best way to live is to be grateful for every day as if it were our last.

 

A very hard part of life is dying. And when you have die to early and suddenly and painfully, it has the power to destroy you utterly. But it can also be a golden opportunity to overcome fear and hopelessness and embrace the life that is everlasting with greater passion and tenacity than would be the case when a person dies in ripe old age.

 

Paul never intended his letters to be a part of the Bible. They were included in the Bible many years later. We need to read them carefully because there are many personal opinions in these letters, along with God-given instruction. We should ask the help of the Holy Spirit to make a distinction between personal opinions and divine instructions.

 

The biblical writers do not always speak for God. Sometimes they speak their opinion. We need to make a distinction between God's words and human opinion And we cannot do this without​God's help.

 

Only God knows what is right for you. Let him decide it in his own time in his own way. But if you are in a rush, you may do it your way. But you will have to live with the consequences.

 

The purposes of God are beyond human understanding. Suffice it to say, if it is meant to happen, it will. But if it doesn't, accept God's no with grace. And even that grace must come from him.

 

I didn't know who I was until ten years ago. And it has been a steady unravelling of God's plan in my life. I discovered myself, as I was actually doing what the Holy Spirit inspired in me. It started with a casual video recording of the Lord's Prayer with my limited smartphone camera. Now it has emerged into compulsive video-making, churning out message after message, generated by some invisible mechanism that works even in total darkness. My tools and output have evolved in time. I talk and write at a pace that I cannot fully understand. It looks like I have more energy and direction than I expected from myself.

 

Let the Holy Spirit guide you. He is your Master, and he is at work in you. When he empowers you and directs you, you will know that somehow. Your work will display a quality, which you never had before. It will benefit others in ways in which you had never imagined before. Do not train yourself to do this. But let the Spirit train you up in God's ways. And he is a most unconventional teacher. He may guide you in total darkness, but he will eventually bring you out into everlasting light.

 

When you are a child, you will be a child. You are a growing child with growing awareness of who you are and what you should do. You are by no means grown up until God completes his work in you. You will discover yourself more and more, as the Spirit's inner work makes outward manifestations.

 

We are all rebels. We all rebel against God daily. We fail him daily. We deny him daily. But he will forgive us daily, if only we would admit our failings and return to him seeking his grace.

 

Don't worry about failing God. Every disciple of Jesus Christ failed. The greatest among the disciples denied him three times, to save his own skin. But Jesus Christ restored him to his position, when he received three tearful assurances of love from that person. When Jesus Christ could welcome betrayers back again, you need not worry about your own betrayal of God.

 

The greatest discovery we can make about ourselves is that we belong to God. He paid a high price for us, to secure our souls, so that we may live forever. When we realize this, our old perception of us will cease to matter, degree by degree, until our old way of life will make way for the new way.

 

You are a child of God. There is nothing more to find out about yourself.

 

It is not enough if you pray for peace. You should also work for peace.

 

Not everyone knows the language of the heart. Some know only the language of the wallet. It takes time to develop the heart, and those who know the language of the heart should teach it to those who do not know it. And they should do so patiently, allowing time for learning.

 

Let us thank God for his precious Son, Jesus Christ. May Good Friday be a day when Man and God will connect meaningfully. Let the Calvary scene inspire lost sons and daughters to return to their Father.

 

Knowing that Jesus Christ died for us is not enough. We need to experience why He had to die for us. We need to experience sin, and why it is impossible for us to make atonement for our own sins. When we recognize that, we will be able to appreciate what Jesus Christ did on the cross. And we will be able to respond desirably to His Father, who sent him to us. May Good Friday be a day of such responses. God bless you all.

 

Till then let me not give up this struggle. I will not cease to do what God tells me to do in my heart. I have walked far and abandoned much. If I wanted to turn back, it will be too late. But I do not want to turn back. I want to go where this path leads me. And though there are horrible disturbances and impediments before me, I will overcome them all with the strength of God. For when I am weak, then he is strong in me. Let the people of God continue to trod in troubled paths. For God himself goes with us, and he is near us, when the journey becomes unbearable.

 

The disciples of Jesus quarrelled among themselves. There were rivalries and jealousies among them. I notice the same spirit of strife in my home. People are constantly warring and competing. There is no time or desire for giving and serving. If service is rendered, it is often done grudgingly and complainingly. In such an environment, God has allowed his desert flower to grow within me. Not only have I bloomed in hostile ground, others have also seen me and been delighted by me. This is my great consolation as I toss around on a sleepless night, which threatens to go on without end.

 

I have spoken of strength despite a terrible weakness in me. I have spoken of light despite a great darkness within me. I have spoken of peace, even as war raged in me and out of me. I have spoken of godliness, even as ungodly anger and discord surrounded me nearly uninterruptedly in my life. I feel I must speak of what I have not experienced, because even if it is not true in my life, it is true according to God and precious in his sight, and what matters to him matters to me.

 

I go through the Jesus experience every day. When I pray, the people around me are often sleepy and weary. But I continue to pray. I continue to hope in a new day, when the ugliness will be dispelled, and the suffering will cease.

 

I will not let the attitudes of people shape my worship of God. I will worship God as I am led by his Spirit. Even if people around me are sleeping, or not paying attention, and even if people are fighting and quarrelling bitterly, I will continue to read the Bible, and say prayers for the well-being of all. This is my labour. This is my cross. But it is a pretty small cross compared to another I bear silently.

 

Even an excellent depiction of Jesus Christ does not automatically lead to salvation of souls. People may receive the message and fail to respond to it with their hearts. The act of conveying a message is twofold: one, the ability of the communicator and two, the receptivity of the receiver. The success of communication lies equally with the receiver, whose mental and spiritual states are vital to his receiving the message. So ultimately success in the process of conveying Christ to others does not lie in the hands of the communicator, but in the hands of God who alone facilitates both the communication and its reception.

 

If miracles happen every day, they may not qualify as miracles. Still, it is not a bad idea to think that miracles happen every day. It helps us develop gratitude for small blessings.

 

A madness is overwhelmed only by another. You cannot sweep it away by rational arguments.

 

You cannot rationalize a mania. Even if you try, you cannot lessen its severity.

 

Jesus had to fall from a place of adoration to a place of disgrace for the sake of human beings. It is because of that fall we get to rise to the level where God is. Somebody had to fall to get us to rise. Somebody had to be punished for us to be exonerated.

 

The sudden fall of Jesus took place because God had ordained it. Spiritual forces obedient to God’s will were at work in the life of Jesus, particularly in those final days of his life. They orchestrated the catastrophic events that culminated in the Calvary moment. Even though the Roman governor, Pilate, tried to save Jesus from his deadly fate, he could not prevail over the clamorous mob who unequivocally demanded that Jesus Christ be crucified. The Good Friday moment was above all spiritually induced. It was not brought about by the argumentative skills of Caiaphas and his priestly cohorts or the mob they so successfully incited against Jesus Christ. They might have had a small role to play in the way the events played out. But powerful spiritual forces were the ones that dictated the course of events in an unalterable way. These unseen forces are ultimately responsible for the Messiah falling into disgrace, and being sentenced to a form of death reserved for the worst criminals in the Roman empire. For such was the will of God, that his only Son should suffer the worst death as the worst criminal ever on earth. Let human beings who observe this terrible fall of the greatest man who ever lived remember that this ignominious fate was thrusted upon him for our sakes. Jesus suffered and died in the worst possible manner to save us from sin and death. And let us not forget that he fell from a great height to a great depth, so that we may rise from a great depth to a great height, by God’s grace.

 

The fall of Jesus Christ is the rise of Man.

 

As you wave your palms exuberantly today, don't get lost in the ritual, but try to remember the truth that Christ must be king in your life. Or you will only be an onlooker and not an inhabitant in his kingdom.

 

Reaching people should not be the goal. Helping people should be the goal.

 

You can pray a most fervent prayer and still receive a negative answer. Jesus Christ discovered that the day before his death. Answers are ultimately in God's hands, and not always in the quality of our prayers.

 

You cannot discard your past, because the present is all that matters. Learn from the past, and avoid past mistakes in the present. If you do this, your future will be better.

 

When you wait for something and it finally happens, it may give you some joy. But when you are tired of waiting for something, and it finally happens, it may fail to give you any joy.

 

When something doesn't happen when you want it to happen, it does not make a great impact when it finally happens.

 

I'm from a place of trouble, so I believe I can understand those who are in trouble. Trouble varies from person to person, but the reaction to trouble should be the same. You should face it bravely and calmly. And you should hope that your life will get better. If you are a believer in God, you should rely on God to solve your problem. No matter how terrible your situation is, believe that God will help you find a way out of it eventually. Stand firm then, and stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. Otherwise, you will be in worse trouble than you are in right now.''

 

You need to weather your storm. And if you believe in God, trust in him, and cast your cares on him. Your worry will only make you feel worse.

 

You are small only if you want to be. Think of yourself as big and capable of handling the troubles in your life.

 

Many in this world have problems. And some have many problems. But it is not to your advantage when you buckle under the weight of your problems. You need to face them, and do even better. You need to overcome them. That is what true living is all about.

 

Does love your neighbour mean only love a fellow believer? If you love only believers, what is the great achievement in that? Jesus Christ told us to love our enemies. But how do we love our enemies? We pray for them. We ask God to be gracious to them. We pray that God would show mercy to them. But should we live with them as best friends? I don't think so. We should try to get along with all kinds of people. But we cannot live with people who hate God, unless we are forced by circumstances. Sometimes, in a marriage, people find themselves unequally yoked in the spiritual sense. That is when people need to stay faithful to their marriage vows despite spiritual differences. In all other cases, it is best to maintain a distance between the believer and the unbeliever. But distance in this sense does not mean frostiness or hatred. It just means a physical and mental space brought about by spiritual incompatibility. And this may be necessary for most spiritual humans, who are vulnerable to the evil of others.

 

God is doing something new in your life every day. So be ready to see the new. He asks you to do something new today, something you have never done before. Be willing to be used in a new way.

 

In this life with God, be prepared to see your weakness thoroughly exposed. It is when you know your utter inadequateness, you will discover God’s overwhelming adequateness.

 

God rarely asks you to do what is easy. Many times he asks you to do something, which you find very challenging. But you should be willing to do what God asks of you, for he will provide you with the resources to do his task. But to be enabled by God, you need to trust in him more than in your own intelligence.

 

Seldom do people stay and prove through their actions what they passionately said.

 

We don't like to be called servant. We'd rather be called worker or something even less disparaging. But God has called us to be servants. God himself became a servant, and he served us by doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. So let us not be dismayed by the label servant. It is mightier to serve in heaven than to reign on earth.

 

A poor talker who is a great doer, is better than a great talker who is a poor doer. Actions always matter more than words.

 

You serve God by serving his creations. You honour God by respecting the works of his hands. You worship God by sharing his love with those who have never known him. You live for God by dying for all that you desire selfishly for yourself. You work for God by doing what many others are unwilling to do, for such work is beneath their self-image, and offers no gain that they value.

 

We need to walk dry roads to reach wet places. We need to travel with parched mouths for a long time to reach a place where our thirst will be permanently satisfied. We need to experience lasting pain to receive a joy that cannot be taken away from us. This is heaven's design for earth. And the sooner we realize it, the better for us.

 

Don't spend your time seeing what you have seen before. But devote your time to seeing what you have never seen before. When you have seen the old, turn to what is new, and always be in search of the new.

 

Don't criticize your servant. Be willing to serve like her, and do what she is not able to do. Show your servant by example how to serve.

 

Talk less and do more. The greatest doers are the least among talkers. Action is what matters in the end. Your words will amount to nothing, if they are not superseded by action.

 

Instead of complaining about what someone has not done, do the work that is incomplete or unattempted, and don't even complain about it. This is what will make you a great worker.

 

We should learn to be happy with what we have accomplished in less-than-ideal circumstances. Instead of berating the flawed process, we should be grateful for the end result.

 

The best way to worship God is by giving thanks for the life he gave you. The best way to give thanks to God for life is by enjoying the life he gave you. The best way to enjoy life is by expressing the gifts that God gave you. The best way to express the gifts you have is by sharing them with with others. It is by making others happy that you are happy. And you cannot worship God without being happy in this life.

 

Take care that you don't spurn your brother on your way to worship God today. Make things right with your brother so that everything is right between you and God.

 

You cannot love God without​ loving people. You cannot worship God without honouring people. You cannot have a good relationship with God without having a good relationship with the people around you.

 

Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter and Christmas are man-made holidays. We need to think about God every day. We need to celebrate Jesus Christ every day. We need to think of the birth of Jesus Christ every day. We need to remember the death of Jesus Christ every day.

 

We worship God by honouring one another. We celebrate God by celebrating one another. If we fail in interpersonal relationships, we will also fail in our relationship with God.

 

God is with us. No matter what is against us, it cannot succeed. So, let us not be afraid. Let us trust in God today.

 

Being in Christ means believing that we have a Saviour called Jesus Christ, who saved us from our sins, and who conquered death for us, and made us right before God, and gave us his Spirit, who lives within us, revealing to us the mind of God, and enabling our mind to agree with God's mind, as we submit to him degree by degree.

 

The commandments of God will never cease to be important. Only perfect obedience to them will not be by us, but by Jesus Christ, who has already done it for us.

 

The commandments of God cannot be obeyed perfectly by anyone. Only Jesus Christ could obey. And if we are in him, we have also obeyed perfectly.

 

It is the law that gives sin its power. It is the Spirit that frees you from the power of sin.

 

You should consider yourselves dead to the law of Moses. You died to it when you were born of the Spirit. If you still live under the law, you are under its curse. For no human except Jesus Christ was justified by keeping the law. You now live in the Spirit by the grace of God. But if it is the law that you prefer, you will find out that it will arouse every desire that it forbids.

 

When we are born again, it means that we have died already. When we are born of the spirit we have already died to the flesh.

 

God is good. In difficult times, he has helped me once more. He turned my wailing into dancing once more.

 

The advise that I give is first for myself and then for others.

 

I minister to myself, thus I minister to others.

 

The more you look at something, the less remarkable it becomes.

 

If you are happy about what you received today, even though it is little, you surely have a big heart.

 

Sin is dead. God is alive. This is the truth that overrules every worldly reality, if you are born of the Spirit.

 

You don't always have to do good. You don't always have to enthuse others. Sometimes you should just sit down and take care of yourself. If you cannot take care of yourself, you cannot take care of others.