Don't be afraid to be weak with God. But be afraid to be strong without God. Don't ever fall into the trap of thinking that you can handle the difficulties in life on your own. You need God every moment. I need God every moment, perhaps even more than the other person, for I'm more in need of God's strength than many. And this is a blessed position to be in. May all the weak people be reassured today. They shall go ahead of the ones who are strong. They will meet God first.
Some thorns will never be plucked out of the flesh. Some ailments will never be remedied. Some bondages will never find release. There are problems that need to be lived with. And there are people who have learned to live with their problems, Some have found God in this process. Some have discovered his strength, and been replenished by his grace. This is the way things are. Not all problems are solved in a miraculous way. To live without a miracle is the greatest feat in strength.
We should be grateful to God, despite how things are. This is what we should bear in mind: the situation could be a lot worse. So let us be grateful that it is not worse than what it is today. God is faithful. And he has proved his faithfulness in many ways. However, complete deliverance is still elusive. But we will wait. Let those who trust in God be prepared to wait.
Only God can judge me, someone said. I say to you, "Will you let God judge you today? Would you rather not have him forgive you and not judge you for your sins?" Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is described as the judge, did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world. His judgements are tempered with mercy and forgiveness. God knows the human heart and is willing to forgive even its worst excesses. When God, who is perfect, can be so forgiving, why is the imperfect human so reluctant to forgive? Let us consider this question, before we fling our judgemental words on someone today.
It is tough to be alone with God. But there is no better place. Abandon yourself to God, and expect him to help somehow. And encourage others like you, even as you fight the urge to get discouraged.
You are a child of God made by God for God. Can anything be more inspiring than that? Be inspired by who you are, and not by who you think you are.
God works in mysterious ways, says one. God doesn't work at all, says another. God doesn't care, says yet another. And there are others who are convinced that God is dead, or simply deaf to human pleading. God answers prayers, someone says. But he doesn't answer mine, another retorts. God gave me a miracle, announces one. But he gave me none, protests another. Why does God work so inconsistently, if he does work at all? Why does God care in one case, and not in the other? Why does God answer one prayer, and reject another? How can anyone believe in such a capricious person, who is simply not worth the risk of believing in? Or is this really the case? Why do people continue to believe in God? Why do they keep hoping in such an unpredictable helper? This is what keeps my scepticism at bay, most of the time.
Some would look at the predicament of the struggling believer in God, and say, "Why do you have to struggle with this? There is no God at all. Belief in him is a sheer waste of time. If only you would stop believing in him, you will save yourself a lot of unnecessary mental agony." Their argument is persuasive. God does seem unconcerned and absent on some occasions, especially at times when we would appreciate his divine intervention. He sometimes appears to abandon the one who has put his trust in him. Even Jesus Christ felt this abandonment on the cross, and echoed the words of David in Psalm 22. Mother Teresa, who was recently canonized, also felt the absence of God very keenly in her life. She struggled all through her life, trying to believe in a God who didn't care enough to be present at all times. This is the agony of all those who have gone very far into a life of faith. I have felt this absence of God very keenly in my own life. I have felt the non-working of God more than the working of him. I have also felt the devil gaining an ascendancy over me, when I expected God to take over me, and transform me utterly, in the blink of a godly second. But that miracle has not come so far. And it also seems dreadfully delayed, and the delay seems shamefully indefensible.
The problem in faith lies in failed hope. Some hopes, some expectations, some prayers seem rejected forever. And when God does not work in the way people want him to work, and in fact, works contrarily, and worse, appears not to work at all, it sometimes kills the hope nourished in the mind in a way in which no argument against God can achieve. When a man suffers again and again with weakness, which God can so easily remedy, and when another finds himself powerless in the grip of demonic oppression, which God can utterly release him from, it raises a most troublesome doubt in the mind. Does God not care? Or worse, does God want him to suffer? Does God take pleasure in his suffering? Can God be so cruel? When these thoughts are entertained long enough, that man begins to hate the God he once worshipped, and eventually turns away from him. The God I worship does behave like this sometimes. Still, appearances of apathy are not enough to convince me of God's cruelty or inability. There are enough moments in my life that speak eloquently of a caring, loving God, who seems to dwell in the details. And these moments are strongly reinforced in my memory, whenever I am tempted to walk away from God.
So, I still nourish hope in God, that he will yet stir, and show himself strong on my behalf. For years I have struggled with an addiction, crying out to him for relief and release. But he has done very little to alleviate the problem. At least, this is how it seems to me. Maybe God spoke to me what he once uttered to Paul the Apostle. "My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness." Perhaps, along with Paul, I should say, with more assurance, "When I am weak, then I am strong." But such faith is neither easy nor desirable. It makes more sense to give up, and do something practicable. But God, as I know him, does not call us to do what is easy or practicable. Sometimes he calls us to do what is downright impossible. He calls us to meet the end of our strength, so that we may find the beginning of his. So that is why I go on, addicted though I am to the pleasures of this world, my voice still stirs in response to God's inner whisperings. And my mind and my heart combine with my words to produce the salve that many long for. Yes, even I, a fault-ridden creature, can work in the domain of God, and work effectively despite my inner waywardness. This I believe is God being what I did not expect him to be. And may I give him due credit for that.
What is addiction? Does an addiction have a benefit for the addict? If an addiction is formed by a powerful attraction to something, it may have a temporary benefit for the one who experiences it. Those who are addicted to pleasures of the basic kind, experience temporary satisfaction in the exercise of their addictive behaviours. However, addicts of this kind need to ask a searching question. Is it really worthwhile to devote their time and energy to the gratification of impulses that can never be fully satisfied? Does such an exercise guarantee mental and physical health to the addict? And will he under such an influence be able to benefit others in the world? What kind of life would addictive behaviour produce?
Ultimately, time is of the essence. All of us has a certain time allotted for living. We may live only as long as our appointed time, and no longer than that. Our lives may even be cut short by unforeseeable and catastrophic events. When our lives are so frail and limited, we need to make the best possible use of time. How can we achieve this? Can we achieve this by pursuing our personal desires and cravings, which will bring us little more than temporary satisfaction? Or can we achieve this by doing something less appealing, but more beneficial to us and to others in the long run? To answer this one way or the other, we need to find answers to the following questions. Why are we here? What is the purpose of our lives? Should we live only for ourselves or should we also live for others? What is our responsibility to the world and the people who live in it? How could we use the time we have been given to produce maximum benefit for ourselves and others? If we decide to pursue the less appealing, but more beneficial goal, how can we do this consistently? How can we rein in our basic impulses that cry out for instant gratification? An approach like this is how we begin to take care of ourselves in this perilous business called life.
There are many wonderful things in life. But are you drawn to even some of them? Will you pursue a few of them? Will you devote your time to them so that you may learn from them? Or is your heart drawn to something more compelling, but less useful and constructive to your life in the long run? Judge for yourself what compels your heart. Is it something self-serving aimed at satisfying an urgent craving, without lasting benefit for yourself and for others? Are you spending your time and energy on satisfying basic instincts, which can only be momentarily appeased, or are you denying these impulses in seeking something less stimulating, but more beneficial to you and to others in the long run? Are you aware of the crucial difference between seeking immediate gratification and and working towards a long-lasting benefit? Are you able to deny an overwhelming desire, which will only bring you temporary benefit, in order to pursue a less compelling goal, which will yield lasting benefit for you and others in the long run? This is how you begin to rein in an obsessive impulse, which seeks to dominate your entire being.
What does your heart respond to? What do you find yourself drawn to? What is foremost in your mind? What is it that you want to do above everything else? There is something that demands all your attention. You need to know what this is. And then you should ask yourself these questions. Should I do this? Is there any lasting benefit in this? Can I help others even as I help myself, when I do this? When you are able to answer these questions satisfactorily, you should then decide, whether you should go ahead and fulfil what you believe is your most urgent desire, or stay away from it, and pursue something less urgent, but more useful, less self-rewarding, but more beneficial to others, less thrilling but more in tune with what you should do, to preserve your physical and mental health and to make the best possible use of the time allotted for your life.
Lord, let us not try to run away from suffering today. Let us face it in your strength, and let us learn from it. Suffering was sent for a purpose, and let that purpose be achieved in us. To share in the glory of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, we should also share in his sufferings. He warned us while he was a man here on earth that there will be many troubles in our lives, but we should be encouraged by the fact that he conquered the world for all of us. As long as we are in him, we are already more than conquerors. We too have conquered sin and death, as we remain in Christ. Let us not forget this today as we go through what seems like an unbearable pain. Even as we cry out for mercy and deliverance from pain and suffering, let us joyfully participate in what God has called us to experience. Let us briefly suffer to experience an endless joy. Just as Christ endured his terrible cross briefly for an eternal glory, let us also patiently endure our light, momentary troubles.
The work of God will go on in me, as long as I breathe. For my breath testifies to his living presence within me. For ten years I have spoken with his breath in my voice. What was voiceless became voiced. What was wordless became worded. What was heartless became laden with love. Will a tenth year be any different from these ten years? Not in the essentials I guess. But I have prayed that this tenth year will arrive at a clarity, at least within myself, about the different experiences in the spiritual quest. May it be a year of peaceful resolution. May it be a year when God puts another finishing touch on what is already something to behold.
It is possible to be a believer in God, and to lose that belief, when troubles enter one's life. Especially when personal tragedies occur, it is very difficult to believe in a caring God. In such cases, God nearly always gets the blame, and his seeming indifference puts many people off. That is why some people cannot believe in him anymore.
Some habits are hard to give up, even after you confess them to God. Repentance is a process, and not an instantaneous achievement. The more you know God, the more you renounce what you essentially are. The more you seek God, the more you discard everything not of God. Don't be worried about your lack of performance. Your best performance will not come from you. It will come from the one within you. And when he is ready to perform, you will know.
Let us celebrate beauty unselfishly, giving due acknowledgement to the Creator. Let us not try to acquire it without permission, to derive unauthorised satisfaction from it, just to satisfy our coarse, untamed, self-seeking appetites. This is how we glorify God in whose image we were made. But that image was subsequently disfigured by our willingness to disobey God, in choosing to follow our perverse desires and inclinations, when the greatest rebel tempted us. We chose to listen to him, for our hearts were in tune with him. Our base impulses were akin to his own disfigured self. But we are not doomed to follow in his footsteps forever. We belong to God and he did all that he could to secure us. Let us then not continue to walk away from God towards our ultimate destruction, for that is where our selfishness will lead us eventually.
Someone asked me whether I have a back up plan in my
life. My response is this. My plans A, B, C and any other are God, God ,
God and God. I have no other plan besides putting all my trust in God
to deliver me from my many afflictions.
Don't ever try to play with God. Don't ever dream of cheating him. If you are a rogue, be an honest rogue before God. A dishonest saint is worse than an honest rogue.
To appreciate the brightness of the sunlight, you need to experience the darkness of the night. To know the pureness of white, you should have seen the darkness of black.
Anyone who wants to know God should also be ready to know the devil. For you cannot know God without knowing the devil.
You cannot live for yourself properly without living for others. When you help others, you are ultimately helping yourself.
Today I recognize the student in me, after teaching what I have learned painfully over the years. All teachers should recognize the student in them. And the more they exercise the student in them, the more they become effective teachers.
Let fear not rule our hearts today. Let the thought of "I can't" have no place in my heart and in my mother's heart today. Let us believe that we can. In Christ we can do all things. We are more than conquerors in him, and we will overcome this terrible tribulation. We will both come out strong, even stronger than we were before. Our endurance will be our living testimony to the faith, the Spirit of God has worked in us. May our suffering produce this fruit today and always.
I'll remind you of this once more. If you say you love someone, but do not spend time with that person, you are deceiving yourself. You do not love people like that. You love people by letting them become a part of your life. You love people by becoming a part of their lives. You love them without conditions, and without moral judgement. You love people by not imposing a way of life on them.
You love people by showing them how God transformed you through his love. When you love people like this, you will reveal God to them.
Dare to be around those whom you would naturally avoid. Dare to accept them just as they are. Spend time with them. Love them as God enables you to love them. And let your love transform them. This is the way you reveal Jesus Christ to others.
The best teacher of love is Jesus Christ. If you can love like him, if you can love the marginalised people of the world, if you can keep company with social rejects, and accept them without condescension, then you are a lover like Christ. Anything less is not a Christ-like love.
For Christians to love Christians alone is an impoverished kind of love. To love only those who also believe in Jesus Christ, is a love with limitations.
If you believe that you can love people without being around them, in order to avoid being adversely influenced by them, then that kind of love cannot be love at all. Such love is a delusion.
To love is to give. And the one who loves well gives well. And to give well is to give what is precious. And the greatest love is the one that is willing to give all.
If you can love people without being bothered by their race, culture, religion, socio-economic and educational status, or anything else, which marks them as different from you, then your love is surely the kind that God himself shows.
We will have to do the best with what we have, without counting the cost and without being adversely affected by the response we get. This is the essence of good living.
You are a child of God. And therefore you are in the highest place along with him. Stand tall and feel good. But don't feel proud. We are all children of God. Some of us know it and have accepted it. Others do not know it. There are a few who know it, but have not accepted it yet.
Don't wait to be encouraged by others. Encourage yourself to be who you are. And you are a child of God made in his image, to be like him. To be like God, you should fix your eyes on God, and observe him well. Study him as well as you can. And learn from him how to approach life. Imitate God as a child imitates his father. Take joy in his presence, and look forward to spending time with him. He will be overjoyed to be with you, and he will teach you all that you need to know. With him you cannot be anything but happy and contented. When you have him, you need nothing else.
Let your celebration of a festival not be a suffering
for others. The best way to celebrate anything is to take joy in
something without causing discomfort to others. Only in that way will
the other person be motivated to join in your celebration.
Lord, grant us the faith to believe that whatever we ask for in prayer in Jesus' name will be granted to us. Give us the grace to believe that we have already received what we asked for. Enable us to give you thanks in advance for the request that will be surely granted to us. God, give us the kind of faith, which will not take "no" for an answer. Give us that faith, which will wrestle with you all night, and even risk a life-long injury to receive the blessing, which is meant especially for us. Let us not just be people who pray well, but let us also actively facilitate the result that we expect, in the ways that we have learned from the fathers of our faith.
Lord, grant peaceful sleep to those who are in pain today. Grant them relief from unbearable pain. Grant the gift of sleep to my mother, who is still not able to sleep, for her terrible pain keeps her awake. Sleep is the great cure for many troubles. May those who are suffering today be mercifully given the gift of sleep. I count on your merciful nature. Lord God, healer of mankind, grant the gift of curative sleep to those who are crying out in pain. Some are so distracted by their suffering, that they are not even able to cry out to you. Others are able to cry out to you, but they have not been granted their request. Please Lord, do not delay any further. You are able, and you are good. Let there be no further day. Please hasten to help your people today. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen
What God can do, no man can do. Let no man try to do what God alone can do. Let the wheat and the tares grow together, until the time is ripe for harvest. And even then, God will send his specialists to separate the good from the bad. Let no attempt be made now to separate what God has allowed to grow together.
