Meekness and Majesty

Meekness and Majesty

 “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke2: 4-7)

Christ was born in a manger not in a palace-

Jesus chose where He would be born, He chose a manger instead of a palace to receive all who would come to Him. He received

The shepherds

The wise men

John the Baptist

The fishermen, tax collectors and other sinners

The sick and afflicted

And us.

Christ came for sinners and not saints-

St.Paul says in I Timothy 1:1,“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

He laid His life to save the sinners, He came as the sacrificial lamb to pay for the redemption of our sins.

Christ birth was announced through prophecy-

Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Prophecy written: Between 701-681 BC

Prophecy fulfilled: About 5 BC

In Micah 5:2, there is a prophecy that reveals that Bethlehem would be the birthplace of the Messiah.

Prophecy written: Sometime between 750-686 BC

Prophecy fulfilled: About 5 BC

Christ lives because only He attained victory over death-

But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57

He brought back a dead lazarus to life. John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

He rose from the dead after being buried in a tomb 3 days.

MATTHEW 28:2-7 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 

His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you."The huge stone was moved, and the Roman seal was broken, in spite of the guards at Jesus' tomb

Christ will come again Soon, Are you ready to receive your Saviour?

"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. Rev:22-12 

Joel –Our witness for the Lord is God

My diary on 19-12-2010 reads,

Mark 11:23-24 Truly, I tell you, if you say to this mountain , “Be taken up and thrown into the sea” , and if you do so not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it; it will be yours.

‘Believe that you have received it and it will be yours’.

A very true positive statement which gives us a challenge to trust, the very statement and more on the person who has promised it. It is very difficult to accept impossible challenges as human. But the faith we place in the hands of God or in simple words, ‘obedience’ is all that is enough for this promise to work  in us.

On the most difficult task that lies ahead for us, i.e., our challenge in life, the way to go about it is, first submit it to the Lord in prayer. Next, we must do our part in fulfilling our efforts as per the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The result of this will be our actual  test of faith. Faith in God is directly propotional to the outcome of a believers healing/blessing. The healing could be in the part of affliction, in the body or in his spirit. But always a healing from God is complete. Amen.

May 3, 2012

Isaiah 49:1 He called me before I was born, while I was in my mothers womb He named me.

“Congratulations, Praise the Lord, you have a baby boy,” said mummy on the other side of the phone. “Praise the Lord”, I replied. Reactions were mixed for a moment , my mind went from Thank you Jesus and then hows Jijo(my wife) and then what must I do next.

Messages, calls all came through the whole day. But what mattered most to me was the Lords promise, fulfilled. Yes, the Lord has been faithful. I put my trust in Jesus, when the hands of this world denied us hope.

The Lord spoke to me clearly in 2010, the year of our crisis, that we would have children and gave me their names. We had been in and out of hospitals, met the best of doctors in India and Kuwait. They all told us its impossible to conceive naturally. We were very depressed, just as any couple would be. Our agony turned to prayer requests for many. Many prayed for us everyday.I was operated upon  for a brain tumor on 25th October, 2010. I had a month of radiotherapy in Feb-Mar, 2011.

But we had taken a very important decision in January, 2011, that we would not take any treatment  for conceiving. We prayed on, but my wife kept getting her problems back from time to time. She had been through ovarian cysts and couple of surgeries in the past. This time when she missed her periods for long we thought, we had to get the doctor and get a scan done and take medicines to regularize her hormones. As usual we had to do a precautionary pregnancy test.

I tested her blood that August 2011 morning and was shocked. Her result came out positive. We were in tears of joy. We waited more than 5 years for this blessed day, we rose up to witness the Lord, he continued His abundant grace over us all through the past  9 months.

On 2nd of May, 2012 , Joel was born, Lord is God.

Today we have the Lords promise to us fulfilled, and His witness lives among us. Nothing is impossible to God if you truly submit to His name.

Are you seeking a blessing in your marriage? Get on your knees, open your bible, turn your tears to prayers. Look unto the Lord who gives life. He will show you the way.

Do write back to us, we will pray for you and your  family.

There is no boundaries in the Kingdom of Heaven and no boundaries between people of God.

Benoy John Varghese

Kuwait

4th May, 2012.

Article 3 FACING THE REALITIES OF LIFE By BENOY JOHN VARGHESE,http://www.lightoflife.com/LOL_Arch_Vol2_IssueP9.htm

The foundations of our faith and the roots within our relationships with God and men, keeps us alive in all the storms in our life. An earnest search of God in every walk of life and a mind to thank Him for all His providences, makes God, to surely speak to our inner minds, where ever we are. He will remove the veil of darkness from our conscience and lead us to Light of His wisdom.

Life has always been a bag of uncertainties for all…. None of us has had a smooth sailing as yet in this turbulent episode of our voyage to eternity. But what keeps us alive as we are today is based on the foundations of our faith and the roots within our relationships, which help us through each storm in our life. I’m trying to reflect on certain views running through my mind and I’d like to share these with my dear friends. Let us take it in the Bible perspective and analyze what God has done. God selected a community of people to be His own and He never repudiated others. God demonstrated the history of Israel for us as a living example. He's what Hagar experienced in the wilderness. Hagar was asked to leave Abram’s fold.. Hagar is a nobody but God makes her as important as his chosen Abraham and Sarah. God promised her and she had faith enough in Him. Many of us go through the Hagar experiences in our lives. It is at these times we hear the call of the Lord who not only sees but listens too. Hagar says that God is not a seeing God but a Listening God too. She calls the Jehovah by a new name Beer-lahai-roi. (Genesis 16) God never wants us to run away from our situations and aversions in life. He wants us to face the real truth and we grow in Him with difficulties that come our way. We may take things for granted, I have a good income, secure accounts, good family, my children love me, but what happens incase of Job, that’s where trials and tribulations are put to test. God helps us if we stay by Him. I think there’s not another person than Job who would have stood by God when all these evil befell his household. All of us I bet would have murmured and denied such a cruel God. But this is where such a deep faith comes to work. God steps in when the world steps out. Trust in God and He will act. See the social point of view in Hagar’s case, she was pregnant and didn’t have a husband. Imagine her situation in today’s society. Wouldn’t it have been worse then!! Won’t she be abused and stoned? Let us put ourselves in a situation like this. Hagar is being ill treated that’s clear cut here. But just look back and see this ill treatment upon her is from a family having very close ties with God. What would our response be in such a case? These kind of situations do exist today in many of our lives. This is the situation very often when people conclude and doubt the very existence and necessity of God. Well God intervenes in these situations for people of faith and this is purely divine mercy. This is what Hagar says “God not only sees but Listens too”. Yes, he`s Beer-lahai-roi. There was a British man who visited India and his guide told him, “This is Kerala God`s Own Country, but Devil’s Own People”. Well these are but the right words to sum up the people of our land. We are responsible for this. Do we nurture the future generations in for our selfish intentions or according to the will of God? There are 65 lakh Christians in kerala! Whats our role in today`s society? When do we start a God oriented goal search and see God in what we do whatever our profession and situation be giving thanks to Him in all that we do and all what we are. God will surely speak to us to our inner minds. He will remove the veil of darkness from our conscience and lead us to Light of knowledge. Pray to God, Lord show me the realities of life and give me courage to face them, never make me run away from my responsibilities. Have mercy and grant us the wonderful grace to hear your call in our lives. May God work wonders in your life? God bless you Benoy

Till my Lord comes

Inspired by Job chapter 23

For this  journey that I take

Till my Lord comes that I say

It has its trials, it leaves its trails

But only His  grace and glory prevails

I take up the yoke of life each day

But that I know till my Lord comes.

Till  my Lord comes? 

If one may ask

Yes, till my Lord comes I will say

I know not when!

But one thing i know 

Its a new life when my Lord comes.