Being different in an unfavorable environment

The environment which we live may not be favorable to us all the time. There will be times where we would be put under totally un acceptable and hostile surroundings. The book of Daniel starts with one such case. I would encourage you to read the first chapter of Daniel here

We see that Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon taking over Jehoiakim, King of Judah by force. Another interesting point to note in verse 2 is that, the Lord delivered Jehoiakim into the hands of the enemy. This is very similar to the Lord delivering the Israelites into the hands of Pharoh. This shows that at times, God does allow tough and unfavorable Kings to rule us. The political climate over us today seems to be one such everywhere, and we must understand that God is in control over all these, and he would make everything to be favorable to us in the end.

Nebuchadnezzar unleashed all his pagan principles in Judah, and he wanted to pick the most handsome and efficient men of Judah, feed them well, train them by teaching them the language and literature of the Babylonians, and use them for the service of his pagan God.

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were selected for this service, but the important point to note is that God had already selected them to bring glory to Him by their acts. It required obedience on their part, and they were so passionate about God. The King ordered them to be fed with food and wine from his table. This was a very fabulous offer from a worldly point of view and for compromising Christians, but Daniel was a zealous person for God.

Daniel didn't want to eat the food and wine served from the King's table, as an act of extreme trust on God, and wanted to be served just vegetables. This gives us a clear indication that we need not succumb to everything that is being thrust on us by force. If we could stand for God in something, we need to be bold and go forward with it.

Once Daniel decided to take a stand, Lord granted him favor in the eyes of the chief official, and he ordered the guard to serve Daniel and the three others with vegetables. You see, when we take a bold stand for God, He just charts the path by granting favor in the most unexpected places. We see that God also provided great wisdom and understanding to the four. God does look after His uncompromising children with great care.

When the period of training was over, Nebuchadnezzar found that the four Godly men were not only healthy, but they had 10 times more understanding and wisdom than the King's magicians and enchanters.The world might have a party today with the best entertainment and luxury, but God will take care of His own children, with ordinary things that look so low to the eyes of the world. If God could make these four men who ate vegetables to surpass the others who dined with the best food and wine, He could change the ordinary that is inside you to be extraordinary in the eyes of the world.

This is how a Godly person should live in the most unfavorable circumstances, to see the hand of God lifting and lifting them up. But, these days, we don't even care to stand for God in the most favorable situations, and we just look for our own comforts and needs. This is the reason God is not able to move amongst us. We are so lukewarm, and hence there is no revival.

God needs Daniels and Elijah's not people like Lot who was a compromising Christian. Would you be the one God is looking for these last days?.

Why Easter?

In the last post, we dwelt through the reason for Jesus to undergo the cruel death on the cross, and the story did not end there. Had it ended there, then Jesus would have been just another religious leader to have lived on this earth and there is no point in going further following Him.

But I am so glad that Jesus rose again on the third day, and all the historic and scientific evidences support this fact. Not only that, the personal experiences of so many believers in Christ reveal that He exists today at the right hand of God, interceding for all who have accepted Him as their personal Savior and the Holy Spirit is the perfect evidence in each believer’s heart that we could connect with God through Jesus Christ anytime.

Now, why did Jesus rise again from death and what He accomplished through that, is worthy enough to be discussed on Easter day. Adam and Eve were created by God to live forever. There was no concept of death then. As they sinned against God, they lost the privilege to live forever with God, and a limit was placed on the number of days that they would live, and thus death came into action. This was a punishment for sin, along with losing the communion with God.

Is there a way through which human beings can get back the eternal life and live forever with God? Is such a turnaround possible? Yes, with God everything is possible. But, the way He orchestrated it is very difficult to comprehend with the limited human knowledge and wisdom. In a believers life everything is inherited from Christ. As with the death of Christ, all our sins were laid on Him, and we all died with Him (This is the faith that we need to exercise), through the resurrection of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we all have a new Spirit in us, and it is set towards eternity. Our physical bodies are going to die one day, but our Spirit has the option to live with God forever, if we accept and believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again for us. This is the anchor of the Christian faith.

As we can see, in the life of a person who has accepted Jesus Christ, everything is very spiritual, and is completely driven by the Spirit of God (Holy Spirit). The Spirit controls the flesh and thus we can live an overcoming life. To put it simply, we will be led by the Spirit of God, and our body will cooperate towards the plans of God when we live in this world. When we die, our Spirits will be taken away from our bodies and they will rest in the paradise (a temporary state) till Jesus comes back to take us all with Him to live forever and ever in Heaven.

The resurrection of Jesus is the only source of hope in the life of a believer. If Jesus did not rise again, then there is no point in worshiping Him. But, as I said earlier, the power of death could not stop Him from rising again, and thus death was shattered when He rose again. On this day, we have the option to align back to God through welcoming Jesus into our hearts. Our priorities will change and we will venture out into a brand new experience with Jesus. But, you need to believe and put your complete faith in the risen Savior. Would you?

Why Good Friday?

Year after year, Good Friday comes and goes, and has become a custom for many of us, but there is a great treasure hidden in it which very few would recognize. The aim of this post is to unlock it. Christ died for everyone not only for Christians, and any body could connect with Him by accepting Him anytime.

Good Friday and its significance

The sin, curse and death, that we inherited from Adam, through his willful disobedience and submission into the hands of Satan, was negated and taken away by the willful obedience and submission of Jesus Christ into the hands of God, even unto the point of giving up His life on the cross for each individual who would live on this earth. The Savior, who gave up His life for you and me, the reason behind the greatest sacrifice to be ever made in the history, is important more than mere religious sentiments and customs that surround it.

What Christ accomplished on the cross?

The greatest problem in the world today is not economic turmoil, political instability, sickness, poverty or unemployment. It is more moral than temporal. In short, it is “Sin” that destroys each and every person and every other evil in the world is an outcome of it. Nobody can escape the power of sin by any of our best efforts including self-discipline, self-control, sacrifices, charity or good deeds. It is far beyond all our best efforts to remain good. I hope that all of you will agree with me on this point, that we can never get rid of the sin in us by “our self”.

We sin because we have the nature of “sin” in us. It is part of our DNA, the inheritance that we have from Adam. Each individual who is born of a father and mother is a sinner, and that is the reason why another “human” can never remove the sinful nature from us.

One person (Adam) sinned, and through inheritance, all who were born with his nature are sinners, and became enemies to God. If we are enemies of God, then we would be clueless in this world that He had created, and would be surrounded by the power of darkness. How could we become united with God again, and the nature of sin plucked out from us? Read on….

What does that mean to me?

Adam was born into this world “without” sin as God made him with His hands, and sent His life giving Spirit into him. The life is nothing but “Spirit”. God sent Jesus into this world by being born of the Spirit without human intervention (The birth of Jesus). Adam fell into the trap of the devil and sinned, but Jesus Christ, as a human being in flesh overcame sin by living such a righteous life before God, that counter balanced the effect of Adam’s sin. Everything was set back to square one. The glorious state of living which Adam and Eve had lost, was regained again by the unselfish life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He was brutally killed even though He did not commit a single sin (it simply means that he didn’t even have a bad thought or a motive). Through Adam, everyone became sinners and were separated, and through Jesus Christ, everybody can become righteous and be united with God.

The turmoil that Jesus had to go through on the cross, was for all the sins committed by each and every person on this world. It was not simple, it was pain, sweat, blood and above all Jesus was looked upon as a sinner by God when He underwent that cruel punishment. The heavy burden of sin of the entire world was on His shoulders. As Jesus was God’s only Son being coequal with God, He had the power to crush all His oppressors. At the snap of His fingers, He could have brought in armies and armies of angels who would have swept the world away. But, He chose not to do it as He remembered your and my state of chaos and helplessness.

What can I do about it?

Today, the offer to become friends with God is in front of us, and again we need to take a decision. We can choose life by accepting that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and to give me a new life. We can accept Him through faith, and ask Him to come into our life. Jesus is the only way to God, and there is no other way. Believe me, it is a great feeling to discern that our sins are taken away and we have a new life in Christ.

This Good Friday, would you try Jesus? You might have tried so many things in your life to bring about a change in your life only to see further degradation. Why don’t you give a try by accepting Jesus? You have nothing to lose by doing this, everything is there to be gained. 

I can personally say that Jesus loves you more than you deserve. He will never turn you away. I can also say that He has the power to change you completely. You can become a new person with a new character, new personality and a complete brand new life. The story doesn't end with the death of Jesus, He rose again, and continues to live today and through eternity. I will share more about that on the Easter day.

Would you pray the following prayer with me if you want to invite Jesus into your hearts? I request you to say each and every word from your heart.

"Dear God I know I'm a sinner, I know I am not where I want to be, and I want your forgiveness!  I believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for my sins. Please wash me clean from all sin, shame, and guilt, come into my life Jesus to be my Lord and Savior.  I ask this in your name Jesus.”

The substitution of curse

 Galatians 3:13

"But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

The above verse has a profound message in it, and a clear understanding of it will give us utmost hope and clarity of thought on what Christ accomplished on the cross. For many of us, the days of lent, Good Friday, and Easter are just a routine. But, these days are very important in our lives, as it is when the son of God, bore our sins on Himself and sacrificed His life for us, and thereby redeeming us.

What is so special about it? . The Mosaic law failed to liberate us from sin, and in fact, it made the grip of sin to be much stronger on us. Deuteronomy 28 gives a detailed account of the blessings that would be on us if we follow the law, followed by the curses if the law is broken. It makes me tremble with fear even to just read through the curses mentioned there. Yes, I mean the curses are so terrible.

As human beings, we were never able to satisfy the law, and the inheritance of the curses were looming large on us, as Romans 3:10 says "No one is righteous, not even one". Oh, what a pitiable state for anybody to be in. This is where we need to understand the greatness of Christ, and His accomplishment for us. The burden of the entire sin of the world was laid upon Him, and He had to undergo the punishment for all of it on our behalf. There was a substitution of sin and curse. All our sins and curses were laid upon Jesus, and we became eligible to inherit His righteousness and blessings. How was this possible? By the willful submission of our Lord Jesus Christ into the hands of the Roman soldiers to be crucified on that old rugged cross.

Never think lightly of what Jesus did for you and me. It was agony and pain, physical, mental and a huge separation from His father was what He had to undergo for us. I bet the best of our friends or anybody for that matter would dare to do such an unselfish act for us. Christ died on the cross for us when we were still sinners, so that we could be made righteous.

Now, if this message has touched you, would you rededicate your life to Jesus? and start loving Him with all your heart? Would you start following His commands? He is still speaking on our behalf to God. Those secret sins of yours, those lustful looks and thoughts, that ego that you have, and many more things that you do everyday has to be advocated by Christ, and He is continuously doing it for you and me.

Today is the day of salvation. There is no tomorrow. Would you come back to Jesus? The choice is yours, and there is no compulsion.