Fill your void before your adversary does!

Colossians 3:2

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

With all the booming technology around us, there’s no lack of distractions today, that can instantly carry our thoughts into the things of the world, conditioning our mind to think as the people of the world think and to keep us engaged in thoughts that have minimal or no value. We are living in a world today where technology has made itself a master over people’s lives, tempting us to frequently check our mails where there’s a load of marketing, and to scroll through social media feeds that promote online socialization, meaningless and shallow relationships and narcism. I believe that it’s an everyday struggle to keep our focus on God and things that really matter, as I’ve felt that my mind wastes no time in constantly prompting me to check the news website, to follow trending hashtags to stay updated, to keep checking my phone for notifications! Satan’s crafty plan is to keep every mind busy – with the thoughts of the world, and to take away the seed of the life-giving Word. As goes the saying, “An idle mind is the Devil’s workshop”. There’s therefore a need for us to intentionally fill our minds with Godly thoughts. Of course, our flesh will rage against it to pull us towards the worldly things, but that’s when we reach out to God and ask for His grace to focus on things that really matter, on things that are eternal.

Paul instructs that as children of God, as we walk in the light of God’s Word through God’s grace, we are to guard our thought life in Christ. It’s easy to be carried away by the wind (The ungodly are… like the chaff which the wind drives away. – Psalm 1:4) – but it sure does take a lot of effort to swim against the current, to take our steady stand on our Rock (The righteous... shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water – Psalm 1:3) and to say “No” to the worldly distractions - every single day. Taking time to shut off all these distractions and to spend time with God, pondering on His Word, His mighty deeds and His incredibly amazing character – is so vitally important in our spiritual growth towards Holiness and to become like Christ. Let’s be reminded today that our mind is a battleground and let’s pray for God’s grace to overcome the world through the One who overcame! Let the Holy Spirit lead our thoughts today towards what’s right, what’s pure and what’s noble and in a word – what’s Godly. Let our heavenly attraction be stronger than the earthly gravitation.

Philippians 4:8

⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Decisions that matter along the way to the Celestial City!

Matthew 7:13,14

The Narrow Way

¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 

¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Sharing a few thoughts from the Pilgrim’s Progress

There’s a lot of different places that Christian goes through in his journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. I believe that the spiritual journey of our lives, can be related to “decisions” that we make every day that can either glorify or disappoint God.

Just pondering on two instances where Christian was led astray through his own (silly) decisions, much like how we mess up life through some hasty decisions! In this temporary life, as we live “in the world” and at the same time being NOT “of the world”, there are some distractions that can keep us out of God’s best. The two key things that Christian learns in these instances are as below:

1.      Don’t settle where you are - Keep moving!

When Christian climbs the Hill of Difficulty, he finds a "shady resting place" that the King had made for the traveling pilgrims to rest for a while before continuing on their journey. Christian decides to rest for a while and then dozes off in that refreshing, comforting place and ends up missing his scroll (the seal of the Holy Spirit). We read on to see that Christian realizes that his scroll was missing only after crossing the Hill of Difficulty. He's then forced to go through the Hill of Difficulty once again to find the lost scroll!

The world is no permanent resting place for us. When we settle for the comfortable lifestyle, finding our sweet spot where there’s no risk involved, being hesitant of any changes that can throw us out of our comfort zone - it's easy to lose the zeal for God's kingdom and the desire for His will to be done in our lives, and settle for mediocrity! This is a dangerous condition where Christians can lose the Holy Spirit in their life and the Light inside them is put off. At times when we tend to settle where we are, let’s not forget that there’s a Holy calling – an adventurous journey up ahead of us, as we do life with God, learning to trust Him along the way.

Philippians 3:13,14 ..but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

2.      Sticking to the King's Highway – At any and every cost!

When the two pilgrims Christian and Hopeful come to a sidetrack called the By path meadow, which ran parallel to the "straight and narrow path" and they saw that the by path meadow seemed a lot easier to walk along than the path they were already on. They decided to take the easy alternative that ran “alongside” the Highway. This was a distraction setup by their adversary, the Devil to lead them away from the highway and lead them into the Doubting castle where the giant called "Despair" captures and chains the pilgrims and Diffidence (Shame/Shyness), the giant's wife asks him to beat the pilgrims without mercy. They finally use the "Key of God's promise" to escape the prison and the giant, and they made it back to the "King's highway".

There’s just ONE way to our Celestial City (Heaven), which is along the straight and narrow path shown by God’s Word (Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path - Psalm 119:105). Sidetracks and shortcuts do not lead to our destination. Anything that seems like a better alternative to “God’s way” will lead us into prisons of doubts where Despair and shame capture our souls! Nonetheless, we have the Key of God’s promise to get out of such prisons!

There are times in our lives when we seem to wait (forever?) on God to come through, for a situation to change. These are the times when the Devil suggests an “easy” alternative and tricks us into thinking that we will still be on a “parallel” road to God’s will if we choose the “easy” way out to the problem we’re facing. When we yield to that temptation, we miss out on God’s best and find ourselves in places God never intended us to be in! Let’s pray for the strength to overcome such distractions in our lives right now and God will help us make Godly decisions that glorify Him! Amen.

Renewal of Hope

Psalm 42:11

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

The Psalmist has always reminded his soul to cast all its burdens upon the ROCK of his salvation. This is so important in our lives as well. When we walk through the valleys, when there’s darkness all around, when it’s difficult to sense the presence of God - It is all the more important to renew the hope in our never changing God. From the above scripture, we see that there are two things that helps in renewing and restoring our hope in Christ.

1) Reassuring our soul that God is our Keeper and so there is no need to despair – reminding ourselves of all the things God has done in the past boosts up our faith.

2) Praising Him in the dark and stormy circumstances – thanking Him for the lessons God is teaching us through the tough times and for the amazing things God has stored up in our future.

For we know, that

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:19)

The Biblical Stress-reliever

^{Philippians 4:6,7}

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Nothing can get better than this promise! Reason? There’s a lot of fake promises and empty guarantees out there in the world that claims to provide us joy and peace – but in the end, it’s all absolute vanity and makes us crave for a peace that’s true and lasting.

Philippians 4:6 -  is the ultimate stress-reliever for every believer!

It’s an undeniable fact that we are constantly bombarded with anxious and fear inducing thoughts that are bound to stress us which eventually steals our joy and inner peace. But, we as the children of God have a way out of this – simply by “casting ALL our cares on our Caretaker”, thanking Him for His mercies that are new every morning and presenting our requests to the God who answers prayers. And the outcome? (Philippians 4:7) It’s the divine peace that can never be understood; it sure is insane to be happy and peaceful in the midst of a storm! – That’s the kind of peace that this world could never offer.

God bless!

The Divine Counsel

Psalm 32:8 (New King James Version)

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will guide you with My eye.

There may be a lot of instances in our lives, when we find ourselves meeting the crossroads – wondering “which way do I choose now?”. Be it in taking up a course to study, choosing a career, selecting a life partner or any other major milestones that define our lives and impact our future. While the world offers numerous options, we know that it only further complicates our decision making process. But, the Bible clearly states that as a man/woman who trusts in God, we have access to divine counsel from our loving God, the Creator who has infinite wisdom and the One who holds our future. What a comfort that is! The only question that now remains is – whom are we running to for directions? Whom do we consult to help us take major life decisions? The divine counsel is guaranteed to only those who completely yield their lives to God and who choose to trust Him in every circumstance.

Proverbs 3:5 -6

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.

The Real Faith

A Hymn of Faith – Habakkuk 3: 17-19

¹⁷ Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail,

And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

And there be no herd in the stalls—

¹⁸ Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

¹⁹ The Lord God is my strength;

He will make my feet like deer’s feet,

And He will make me walk on my high hills.

The power of “Faith” is in declaring our trust in God, when the circumstances look discouraging or even impossible. It’s in the furnace of these difficult times that the genuineness of our “Faith” is tested and proved valuable. Let us declare our trust in God just as Job put it, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” This kind of radical Faith does one thing – elevates God above anything and everything that we have/possess in our lives. It often corrects our perspective, purifies our motives and keeps our focus only on God and the things that are eternal.

As the hymn goes,

My goal is God Himself, not joy, nor peace,

Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God;

’Tis His to lead me there—not mine, but His—

At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.

-          Frances Brook

"Brokenness" is the starting point for God's chosen vessel

Psalm 51

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.

Just a reminder that God does not expect that we should stay positive and all-smiling all the time.

God can handle a broken and weak spirit if we choose to lay our broken and (seemingly) meaningless lives down at His precious feet as He graciously accepts it as a ‘living’ sacrifice.

Whatever we may be going through right now – however impossible our circumstances might look – let’s just take time to pour our hearts and cry out to our God of salvation! He knows how it feels (for He’s gone through the worst possible suffering in every aspect Himself) and He has endured till death on the cross. God comforts us in our deepest sorrow, and strengthens us in our genuine brokenness, for “through the burning crucible of desert, where holy men and prophets are cleansed and purged for God's great purpose, until at last, at the end of human strength, beaten into the dust from which he came, the metal is ready for the Maker’s hand”. (Quoted from the “Ten Commandments” script)

A broken spirit and a contrite heart
You will not despise, You will not despise
You desire truth in the inward parts
A broken spirit and a contrite heart

Lord, my heart is prone to wander
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Your courts of love

- Don Harris and Marty Nystrom

God bless!