Are you always defeated in your spiritual life?

There are many of us whose spiritual life is can be summarized as below

1. Feeling very good one day, and completely down the next day
2. Getting inspired when hearing a good song, a powerful sermon or hear someone share their experience and once that influence is over, we go back to the same dull and uninspired state.
3. Defeated life with lots of sin, wearing a mask by showing a different picture altogether to the outside world, whereas we struggle with so many secret sins inside.
4. An extreme condition where we are on a high for a few days and completely down and depressed on the other days.

If we closely analyze these conditions, the following reasoning can be derived upon

1. We take everything emotionally and long for an emotional high all the time.
2. We depend upon our flesh to give us an emotional high as we have not died to our flesh in reality.
3. We share our loyalty between the world and God.
4. Living only through the influence of soul and body, not giving the Spirit a chance to influence us.

How can this be solved?

1. Clearly understand the needs of the Spirit, soul and body
2. Always bring the soul and body under the control of the Spirit.
3. Defeat the desires of flesh like lust, extreme worldly passions, gluttony etc and exalt the Spirit by giving importance to Prayer, Bible reading and by using the parts of our body for righteousness

The story of Rahab - Some insights

I have been always fascinated by the story of Rahab. Though she was a prostitute, she had a noble and gentle heart. I had written about her story in another article. Today, I tried to analyze this from a different angle with the help of the Holy Spirit. I am summarizing my study through this article.

First and foremost, why should the spies enter the house of Rahab when there could have been many other options that were available before them. Isn't it odd that the men sent by Joshua to spy around Jericho chose to enter the house of a prostitute and stay there for a night? I think it was a divine plan to demonstrate the fact that God even honors a prostitute who is being trampled by the society. We can compare this with Jesus's conversation with the Samaritan woman who had illicit affairs. God never rejects anyone, even though the society might seclude them.

Rahab didn't treat these two men as her customers. She was very thoughtful of the situation and wanted to save them from the wrath of the King who sent his men to search for them. Rahab hid them in her home and lied to the King's messengers that they had left already.

The final thought is based on verse 2:9. It shows that Rahab was scared that the Israelites would destroy the people of Jericho as God had given that land to them. She wanted to escape this destruction along with her family members. Hence, she is requesting the spies to spare her and the family in return to the gesture that she had offered them.

It was Rahab's desire to live and not to be destroyed, along with the divine plan to honor her that made the spies enter her house, and she in turn was saved from the destruction through the scarlet cord which she had used to send the spies out to safety.

God can use anybody from the society to fulfill his plans, and they need not be accepted by the society. Even at the cross, Jesus saved the thief who was remorseful. Jesus honored the sinful Mary Magadelene as well as the woman who was accused of adultery. Take heart then, if you are in a situation being rejected by your family, friends and the society. God can give you a brand new life if you decide to follow Him!

Life's purposes from Bible characters

1. The purpose of John the Baptist's life was to reveal Jesus to the world. He fulfilled it through baptizing Him
2. The purpose of Apostle Paul's life was to proclaim the gospel to the jews and the gentiles. He did this successfully and was able to say that "I finished the race"
3. The purpose of Jesus's 12 disciples (of course Judas failed in this and was doomed) was to take the gospel throughout the world. They indeed went throughout the world proclaiming it and were martyred.
4. The purpose of Moses's life was to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to Canaan and proclaim the Ten commandments. He did not enter Cannan because of an act of small disobedience but passed on the Ten commandments to the people of Israel
5. The purpose of Abraham's life was to help God bring out the promised inheritance by giving birth to Isaac. Abraham was successful in this even though he had his own doubts about giving birth to a son in ripe old age.
6. The purpose of David's life was to serve as a starting point to the lineage of Jesus and build God's temple at Jerusalem. He failed in the later purpose as his hands shed innocent blood, and his son Solomon fulfilled it.

These are the primary purposes of their lives according to me. I will continue with the life purposes of other characters in the Bible in the next post. The idea is to analyze and see if we are on course with the purpose for which God created us.

Three things to learn from the miracle at Cana

The miracle at Cana teaches us the following things
1. Water and stone jars are such ordinary things. But, Jesus used them to bring out the best tasting wine which amazed the master of ceremonies. The same can be applied to our lives. We may be just insignificant and worthless in the eyes of the world. But, we need to always remember that Jesus can change our lives into an extraordinary one for the benefit of those around us.
2. Jesus tells His mother that His appointed time has not yet come to do a miracle. But, Mary doesn't listen to that and went on instructing the servants to do what Jesus would say and Jesus obliged. Jesus could have easily revolted and put Mary to utmost shame. But, the greatness of our Saviour is such that He never lets anyone down, even when people go against Him
3. This miracle helped Jesus to reveal His glory and His disciples started to trust in Him. The same Jesus can do miracles in our lives today to reveal His glory and to increase our faith.

The valley experience in a Christian life

"One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak." - G.K Chesterton

There is a profound meaning hidden in this quote. We sometimes question God on why we feel low, saddened, depressed, helpless when situations bring us down to our lowest possible state. The question is this...Do you want to see great things or small things?

From a mountain peak, you could see only small things as the grandeur of the mountain hides everything, but if you venture to a valley, you could see everything "big". Why? because you have reached the lowest possible state, and everything is clear in front of you.

In life there will be times when you feel like you are at the top of the world. Praise God during that time. When you are down and depressed, thank God even more because He wants to see you bigger things which others would miss out. Job's valley experience made him realize the greatness of God and so it was with Jacob, David, Abraham, Moses and every other saint in the Bible. They saw the greatness of God in their walk through the valley.

Today, you might be going through a great turmoil inside, but outside you may look alright. Call unto God and ask Him to show you greater things in your life. May God bless you!