John study series - Part 1(Word becomes Flesh)

A good understanding of the book of John is very important for a successful Christian life. It doesn't mean that it is superior to the other books in the Bible, but the simple way in which John reveals deep spiritual insights, will be useful for the new believer as well as for the seasoned one.

John begins his gospel from a different angle than the other gospel writers Matthew, Mark and Luke. John doesn't give much details regarding the birth of Jesus, but he in fact goes very much before, to the beginning of the world. The book of John starts with the word "In the beginning". It is very interesting to note that the book of Genesis also starts with the word "In the beginning".

John gives utmost importance to the "Word". Who is this "Word"?. He illustrates it clearly by saying that the Word existed from infinity, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We can clearly understand that the "Word" is none other than "Jesus", and He was the One who was instrumental in all the creative work which Good undertook. In other words, the entire creative power was given to Jesus Christ, and He was the one who created the entire universe, all the living beings, and of course His master piece, the human beings.

In verse 4, we read that life of Jesus gave light to everyone. The life is in the spirit, and when God breathed down the nostrils of Adam, His spirit was imputed into Adam, and the spirit of God gave life to him and he became a living creature. The spirit of God is always good and is the leading light of our lives. Verse 5 talks about the fall of man due to sin, and the nature of Satan, darkness being introduced into the world and that the darkness constantly tries to overpower the light, only to be unsuccessful forever and ever.

This struggle was on since the time of Adam, and every one had to constantly depend on God each day to over power the darkness. People who failed to do so, perished to the power of darkness. So, from the time of Adam, the onus to be peaceful with God, was on the people and they had to depend on themselves, to make sure that they don't disobey the ten commandments, and if they sin, they had to make the sacrifices on time to escape the wrath of God. It was a terrible period of time. But, God made sure that the darkness never overpowered the people who chose to depend on God, and we have great examples in the Bible for that starting from Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel and a vast number of others who stood as people of light.

Now, Jesus was observing all these from the heaven, and God decided that enough is enough, and there is no way that people are going to save themselves from the grip of sin, and Satan was letting loose his cunning tactics, which the people couldn't bear. God decided that the only way to save the world is by Himself coming into the physical world. God is a Spirit, and He needed to come to the world as a human being in flesh. This is the miracle that took place in Bethlehem in Judea, the almighty God becoming completely Human and coming to the world that He had created. Verse 14 clearly says that Jesus came into the world in a completely human form, as you and me. The almighty and powerful "Word" had to become "Flesh", to be transformed from a Spirit into a Human Being.

Summary: Jesus is God and is part of the Trinity. The entire world was created by Jesus and belongs to Jesus. Jesus also existed as a Spirit (Word) from the beginning. As the destructive power of darkness was doing so much harm to God's created beings, The Spirit became Flesh in order to come into the world as a tiny baby in the womb of Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, without any human intervention.

The Beatitude Series - Part 5 (Pure heart, Peace makers and enduring persecution)

This is the last part of the series on beatitudes, which Jesus preached on the Mountain. If you want to read the earlier posts on this, please start with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Let us try to understand what Jesus conveyed through the below verses.

⁸ God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
    for they will see God.
⁹ God blesses those who work for peace,
    for they will be called the children of God.
¹⁰ God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

The blessing of God are upon those whose hearts are pure, and they will see God. What is meant by having a "Pure heart"?. It means that those whose hearts are purified by the cleansing act of the Holy Spirit. It is not something that we try to do. It is not abstaining from certain things for keeping our hearts pure, though the Holy Spirit will however keep us away from those, when we yield to Him.
So, when we surrender our everything including our hearts to the Holy Spirit, He cleanses it, and prepares it in such a way that God would like to reside in it. Seeing God means, We would be able to see God through our Spiritual eyes, which is faith. Surrendering to the Holy Sprit leads to purification of our hearts, which in turn imparts the needed faith to commune with God in our spirits, which is a blessing.

Verse 9 speaks about a very common universal subject called "Peace". Everybody likes and wants peace. We need peace inside us (our hearts) and around us (in the world). The internal peace is something which is given by the Holy Spirit, when we yield to Him. But, the peace mentioned in this context is about the peaceful atmosphere in the whole world, and we are called to work towards that state. Each and every believer should make sure that peace is upheld in their families, neighborhood, workplace and in every place and circumstances. We need to be very conscious about this, and make sure that we are peace makers and not peace breakers. Be friendly and kind with others, love everybody irrespective of all the differing factors. Be merciful to everybody around. Avoid gossip and backbiting, and this list can go on and on.... When we work towards setting up a peaceful world, We would be called the Children of God. God always desires peace, and wants His children to spread peace and avoid hatred and enmity.

Verse 10 speaks about the persecution that we should undergo for doing right. Why should somebody be persecuted for doing right?. It is because we live in a fallen world, and there is evil everywhere. When we try to do things in the right way, there will be opposition and tribulation for sure. All the apostles and missionaries were persecuted when they tried to do good things, because the world didn't understand their good intentions as Satan has blinded them. For example, we may take a stand that we will not bribe somebody to get something done. This is a righteous stand. But, we may not be welcomed for this, as the worldly standard doesn't consider bribe as a sin. We may try to start a movement to root out corruption only to see that we become enemies to many, and even may be threatened or killed. Why should we endure all this?. Because, as the children of God, We don't belong to this world. We are part of the Kingdom of God. We are a different people who worship the almighty God and live according to His standards.

May God give us the grace to put all the teachings of Jesus in the beatitudes to practice in our daily lives. It will really transform us into people who radiate the characteristics of God in this world.

 

The Peace of Christ

We all have read the 4th chapter of Philippians so many times, and should be very familiar with the following verse.

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

The question is, have we ever taken this to our heart and applied it in our lives?. I have come across this so many times, but when I was reading this today, a new sense of meaning prevailed over me. I would like to share it with you, and would be happy if you can read this with prayer.

In the Bible, all the promises of God come with a condition. None of the promises are free and can never be taken for granted. It is no wonder that we are not able to feel the liberation after proclaiming the promises so many times, as most of the times, we would not have obeyed the command preceding it.

If you read the above verses carefully, Verse 6 is a command, and it should be strictly followed. Then, for sure the promise in verse 7 will come to pass in our lives. Let us take some time and analyze the commands in verse 6. It can be explained as below

1. We should never worry about "anything", but pray about "everything". We are called to take everything to God in prayer, and once prayed about, We should just leave it to God, and should not worry about it anymore.

2. We should thank God for whatever He has done so far in our lives.

Clearly, We would have always failed to follow these two commands, and that is the reason, the promise of "God's peace guarding our hearts and minds" is not fulfilled in our lives. We talk about peace all the time, and never experience it fully. I would request you to try this. Just put all your requests to God, thank Him for all His goodness in your lives, and leave all your worries to Him. When I say "forget" the worries, we should forget it completely. No half measures with God. 

God bless you and fill you with His peace. 

The power of the Holy Spirit

One of the most important things in our lives as Christians, is to yield to the Holy Spirit, and to allow Him to empower and transform us. Do we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit?. Do we seriously think about what He can do for us?. The Holy Spirit is always present inside a believer, from the moment he is saved through faith in Jesus Christ. But, the Holy Spirit can work only when we allow Him. If we suppress Him by giving importance to our flesh and worldly desires, the Holy Spirit is grieved and He cannot operate in us. It is very important to understand that the Holy Spirit is God, and He has a personality and feelings. What are the things that the Holy Spirit does for us?. Please read on with a prayerful mind.

In our life on the earth, the Holy Spirit is the one who makes us strong followers of God. He binds our hearts with love towards God and other people. When we place our faith in Christ, He will live in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit inside us will do more than whatever we can ask or imagine. Believe in this wonderful and astonishing fact today, and allow the Holy Spirit to work inside you, and you will see His power manifested in your lives. All your sorrows, troubles and worries will crumble in front of that mighty manifestation of Power and Strength.

Also, remember that we need to lead a life worthy of our calling in Christ, and the Holy Spirit helps us in doing that. The Holy Spirit also makes us humble, gentle and peace loving. The Holy Spirit unites us with other believers and works through all of us. We read about all these in Ephesians Chapter 3:14 - 4:10. The most important action of the Holy Spirit is that He works in all of us to help us build the Kingdom of God, and to live according to its principles here on the earth.

The Beatitude series - Part 4 (The righteous and merciful people)

We have been trying to understand the sermon on the mount, and applying it in our daily lives. So far, we have covered three sessions on it. If you would like to read it, please start from Part 1. Today, We will cover two of the important things that Jesus mentioned in the sermon, and we will base our study on the two verses below from Matthew chapter 5, verses 6 and 7

6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,
    for they will be satisfied.
7 God blesses those who are merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy. (NLT)

The word "Justice" is also denoted as "Righteousness" in some translations. In today's world, people are depending on the courts, and other lawmakers for their justice. But, Jesus was not speaking about this justice. It is about the Justice of God, the righteousness which God desires. In simple words we can say that "You will be blessed, if you put your heart and soul in understanding the righteousness of God revealed through the Lord Jesus Christ". If you desire for it, as a deer pants for water, you will be truly blessed. We can never attain the standard of righteousness, set by God by any of our best efforts. It is only through placing our faith on the finished work of Jesus, We become righteous. So, our thirst and hunger should be to read the word of God, and depending on the Holy Spirit to put what we learn into action in our lives. This way, we will inherit the blessings of God, and not by doing things that we think would bring us blessings.

The next verse speaks about "Mercy". It is very clear that if you want God's mercy, you need to demonstrate mercy towards others. Jesus also teaches this in the Lord's prayer, as "Forgive us as we forgive others". From these things, We can understand that we can receive God's mercy by being merciful on others. This would also include being merciful to our enemies, people who hate us, people who envy us, and the others whom the world hates and sidelines. Christ had a special place for all the adulterers, drunkards, and all others who were drenched in sin, but we as Christians look down on such people most of the time. Have we ever shown mercy to someone whom we don't like?. Have we ever shown mercy to someone whom others don't like to associate with?. Let us resolve in our minds today, that we will show mercy to others every day. Let people see our mercy and come to the light of Jesus Christ. In today's world, mercy is the most sought after virtue, but yet, many of us never think about it. Let us be merciful, and receive the blessing of God, and His everlasting mercies.


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