A shephered was leading a flock of sheep. Each and every sheep was obediently following him. Whenever he asked them to take rest, they laid on the pasture and relaxed, when he asked them to walk, they followed his voice. But there was one sheep which wanted to experiment in life. It was not satisfied with what the shephered was doing. It wanted more fun, more glamour, and it wanted to lead a different life than what the shephered wanted it to do.
The result, slowly it stared to wander off from the flock. It went through rugged terrains, and hurt its legs. It landed in a thick dense forest and was made to run for its life by furious wild animals. It tried many other things to be successful in life, and it thought that all the other sheeps in the flock are wasting their life by blindly following the shephered.
One day, after doing all it could in quest of the life which it set before itself, the lost sheep was at the cross roads, it did not know where to go, it was hungry, it was afraid, it was lonely, it was in despair, it did not know the way to reach its shephered. It started to understand the love of its shephered and was on the lookout for him to come and take it.
Are you that lost sheep looking for the good shephered, our Lord Jesus Christ. Are you the one who wandered away from His words and His plan and set out to accompolish something great in life. Are you the one who wanted to be independent in life?, Are you the one who got bored with the word of God?, Are you the one who found it difficult ot sit in the church?, Are you the one whose eyes were blinded by the lust and glamour of this world?, Are you the one who thought that you could live this life by your own intelligence?.
Oh, if it is you, dear friend, dont lose heart. Jesus is very near. He hasn't left you away. He is always willing to have you back. You need to change directions and invite Him to take you back into His strides. You need to give Him the first preference in all the areas of your life, not just when you are in need, but always. You need to seek Him before you start doing any other activity each day. If you are ready to do that, He will take you back, and not only that lead you through the green pastures and you will never be in want.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
When you are away from God
A popular saying is that feeling is deceptive. What we feel may not be real, but the feeling of the presence of God is absoultely real. I am not speaking about an outward or some sort of an emotional experience, but about the inner peace that surpasses everything else.
Have you ever felt being close to God?, and also at times away from God....?. I tell you being far from God's presence is the worst thing that can happen to anyone. It really makes life so devastating. Our entire hope of living would be lost and even the greatest personal achievement would not revive our happiness.
When we are with God, even when everything else falls apart, we would have a hope to cling onto, but at the same time when we are away from God, though our personal and professional life are at a high, we would find a big vaccum in our self and that vaccum is God. Yes, we do really miss Him sometimes and go through a valley of confusions and hopelessness.
But, take heart. God will never leave us nor forsake us. All that we need to do is come into His presence,reaffirm our devotion to Him and give Him the right place in our hearts and allow Him to rule us. He would fill us with unspeakable joy. Yes, He is God and with Him all things are possible.
To quote David from Psalm 51:11 and 12 "11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me". He pleaded like this when he was trapped in one of the worst sins, and was feeling despair. God did restore him with a willing spirit and he wrote the ever green Psalms to praise his loving God.
Have you ever felt being close to God?, and also at times away from God....?. I tell you being far from God's presence is the worst thing that can happen to anyone. It really makes life so devastating. Our entire hope of living would be lost and even the greatest personal achievement would not revive our happiness.
When we are with God, even when everything else falls apart, we would have a hope to cling onto, but at the same time when we are away from God, though our personal and professional life are at a high, we would find a big vaccum in our self and that vaccum is God. Yes, we do really miss Him sometimes and go through a valley of confusions and hopelessness.
But, take heart. God will never leave us nor forsake us. All that we need to do is come into His presence,reaffirm our devotion to Him and give Him the right place in our hearts and allow Him to rule us. He would fill us with unspeakable joy. Yes, He is God and with Him all things are possible.
To quote David from Psalm 51:11 and 12 "11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me". He pleaded like this when he was trapped in one of the worst sins, and was feeling despair. God did restore him with a willing spirit and he wrote the ever green Psalms to praise his loving God.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Anxiety - The silent destroyer
"If you have nothing to lose in life, Then everything is there to be gained". I wrote this statement when I was thinking about or rather concerned about the outcome of many things in life. A lot of times in our life, we fast forward certain things and try to predict their outcome and in the process, our thoughts go through a vicious cycle of waves.But, in reality, not an inch would have been moved.This is anxiety!. Typically anxiety is characterized by the following things
1.You feel insecure in life.
2.You think always about the future.
3.Two lines of thoughts about a certain event - (a)Had I not done this, Life would be been wonderful.
(b)Having done this(this is the compulsion of anxiety),My life is going to be a mess.
Now let me ask you this question
1.Would you be anxious if you know that tommorow is going to be your last day on this earth and there is no way to avoid it?
I think most of us would not be anxious if we are in such a situation because we know we cannot do anything about it.We would make up our mind to face it, and try to be peaceful.If we can make up our mind for something like this, then why are we not able fight against anxiety, where almost nothing that we think ever come to reality.This is because we try to live our life by ourself. We think that we are in control of our life and hence everything would happen as we think. This is not true. Our life is controlled by our Maker. He is the one who runs the show, and only if we believe this amazing fact, we could find rest. If we realize this and surrender our lives to Him and allow Him to direct our paths, all our anxieties would vanish and we would only live for today and for this moment and leave the rest to God. This is what is called faith, and this is the faith that God honors.
Today we may be tormented by so many anxieties in life.May be the insecurity in job, a fear of a breakup, or about a terrible disease.Just take a moment and think about this, would you be able to prevent anything from happening by your actions?.If so, try to do what you can and leave the unpreventable to God.If somebody is to undergo a complicated bypass surgery tommorow, is there something that he can do about it?,Absolutely nothing. All he can do is to commit everything to God and be peaceful. This is what we need to do exactly to overcome anxiety.
I will close this with a beautiful passage from the Bible
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" - Philippians 4:6,7
Unless the peace of God fills us, we can never overcome anxiety."The beginning of faith is the end of anxiety and the beginning of anxiety is the end of faith".
1.You feel insecure in life.
2.You think always about the future.
3.Two lines of thoughts about a certain event - (a)Had I not done this, Life would be been wonderful.
(b)Having done this(this is the compulsion of anxiety),My life is going to be a mess.
Now let me ask you this question
1.Would you be anxious if you know that tommorow is going to be your last day on this earth and there is no way to avoid it?
I think most of us would not be anxious if we are in such a situation because we know we cannot do anything about it.We would make up our mind to face it, and try to be peaceful.If we can make up our mind for something like this, then why are we not able fight against anxiety, where almost nothing that we think ever come to reality.This is because we try to live our life by ourself. We think that we are in control of our life and hence everything would happen as we think. This is not true. Our life is controlled by our Maker. He is the one who runs the show, and only if we believe this amazing fact, we could find rest. If we realize this and surrender our lives to Him and allow Him to direct our paths, all our anxieties would vanish and we would only live for today and for this moment and leave the rest to God. This is what is called faith, and this is the faith that God honors.
Today we may be tormented by so many anxieties in life.May be the insecurity in job, a fear of a breakup, or about a terrible disease.Just take a moment and think about this, would you be able to prevent anything from happening by your actions?.If so, try to do what you can and leave the unpreventable to God.If somebody is to undergo a complicated bypass surgery tommorow, is there something that he can do about it?,Absolutely nothing. All he can do is to commit everything to God and be peaceful. This is what we need to do exactly to overcome anxiety.
I will close this with a beautiful passage from the Bible
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" - Philippians 4:6,7
Unless the peace of God fills us, we can never overcome anxiety."The beginning of faith is the end of anxiety and the beginning of anxiety is the end of faith".
Sunday, July 4, 2010
All about our work
I want to write today something about our work and work places.Many of us are going through great agony either because of too much pressure of work or for the lack of challenging assignments which drives us into a state of low self esteem.Some of the thoughts that swing across our minds are
1. Can I change my organization?
2. Can I ask for a change in the current organization itself?
3. Can I wait for some more time?
These three questions predominantly run aross our thoughts most of the time.Before, we start analyzing these, I want to refer to a beautiful verse spoken by the wisest and the most intelligent man who has ever lived on earth. He had everything he wanted and enjoyed everything, and King Solomon says in Ecclesiastes chapter 2
"17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? 23 All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.
24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind."
We see it is very clear that the satisfaction is not achieved by any of our efforts, but it is a gift from God. Listen to me very carefully, we cannot find satisfaction by ourselves in any of the things that we do, and it has to be presented to us by God. In verse 26, we find that God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness to the one who pleases Him.
Having said this, let us now go back to our questions. Work is something which is given to us by God. It was one of the curses that Adam took upon when he disobeyed God, and it was something that God permitted. In the Bible we find a lot of things being said about work and this ushers us to take work seriously. Jesus was a hard worker, as he helped Joseph in the early days of his life with carpentery. It is God who gives us the work, and He expects us to do it faithfully, and in turn He rewards us with satisfaction. This is the sequence and if understood in the right way would wipe of so many confusions.
Why does God put us at unfavourable conditions at work sometimes?.Why there is pain and anguish at work?.The reason is all very simple, we are not yet fully prepared to do the work. Either we lack the skills to do it, or we dont have the right attitude towards work and He wants us to change. We see in Joseph's life he was put through so many difficulties before he became a governor. God's training is much different from the world's and it is perfect. He can see through our motives and intentions.If we successfully pass the test, He would exalt us and give the desires of our heart.
Practical things to be done :
1. Examine to find if you are lacking something that is required to do the work in the field that you are currently in.
2. Are you giving the right place to God? Do you think of your work more than God?
3. What is your attitude towards work? Do you consider everything as if done for God?
4. Are you procastinating, lazy, and irresponsible at work?
If you are at fault at any of these, ask for repentance, and commit yourselves to Him, who would transform your personality and grant you the desires of your heart.
If a job change has to be done, He will do it in His time.
1. Can I change my organization?
2. Can I ask for a change in the current organization itself?
3. Can I wait for some more time?
These three questions predominantly run aross our thoughts most of the time.Before, we start analyzing these, I want to refer to a beautiful verse spoken by the wisest and the most intelligent man who has ever lived on earth. He had everything he wanted and enjoyed everything, and King Solomon says in Ecclesiastes chapter 2
"17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? 23 All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.
24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind."
We see it is very clear that the satisfaction is not achieved by any of our efforts, but it is a gift from God. Listen to me very carefully, we cannot find satisfaction by ourselves in any of the things that we do, and it has to be presented to us by God. In verse 26, we find that God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness to the one who pleases Him.
Having said this, let us now go back to our questions. Work is something which is given to us by God. It was one of the curses that Adam took upon when he disobeyed God, and it was something that God permitted. In the Bible we find a lot of things being said about work and this ushers us to take work seriously. Jesus was a hard worker, as he helped Joseph in the early days of his life with carpentery. It is God who gives us the work, and He expects us to do it faithfully, and in turn He rewards us with satisfaction. This is the sequence and if understood in the right way would wipe of so many confusions.
Why does God put us at unfavourable conditions at work sometimes?.Why there is pain and anguish at work?.The reason is all very simple, we are not yet fully prepared to do the work. Either we lack the skills to do it, or we dont have the right attitude towards work and He wants us to change. We see in Joseph's life he was put through so many difficulties before he became a governor. God's training is much different from the world's and it is perfect. He can see through our motives and intentions.If we successfully pass the test, He would exalt us and give the desires of our heart.
Practical things to be done :
1. Examine to find if you are lacking something that is required to do the work in the field that you are currently in.
2. Are you giving the right place to God? Do you think of your work more than God?
3. What is your attitude towards work? Do you consider everything as if done for God?
4. Are you procastinating, lazy, and irresponsible at work?
If you are at fault at any of these, ask for repentance, and commit yourselves to Him, who would transform your personality and grant you the desires of your heart.
If a job change has to be done, He will do it in His time.
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