Gracious giver...

Sometimes we worry too much when most of our prayers seem to be on the waiting list...We often forget that our heavenly Father is a gracious giver...

The Word of God explains this truth so astonishingly in the below scripture...

Romans 8:32 (NIV)

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

What more do we need to understand? God has His timing which no human being on earth will able to comprehend. When we learn to leave our concerns and worries into His hands, He will work things beautifully for us in His time ...

We should not grumble when things don't work out as per our expected time, we should only remember that He who did not withheld Jesus for us, surely knows when to meet our needs.

Truly Satisfied...

In a world where we are taught more -to hoard, possess and buy, it is really difficult to cultivate the habit of contentment. Contentment is a rare quality these days. People are behind acquiring more... Enough is not the word as per the world's way.

And sometimes even we as God's children, get into the habit of asking for more, desiring for more and our list never stops as it goes one after the other...

But look what Apostle Paul says,

Philippians 4:12 (NIV)
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

We need to have a heart like Paul's, so that we learn the secret of being content. Otherwise we will never be satisfied...

Hebrews 13:5 (NIV)
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

God shall provide all our needs not our wants. So let us live with contentment and find true happiness...

Joy in Trouble

When we are preplexed while going through some kind of emotional stress, it is very difficult to keep our hearts at ease. We may consciously know that our Lord will work out the problem we face or might give us strength and wisdom to solve it. Yet it is hard to feel alright...

But look what the Word of God says,

James 1:2,3 (NIV)
(v.2) Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,(v.3) because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Though this is easy said than done, I used to wonder how to be joyful amidst worry or sadness?

The joy comes from knowing the truth and experiencing it...that Jesus is in control of our life and He will not allow anything in our life which will disrupt our well-being...

Joy erupts in our heart when we will learn to dwell our mind in the truth rather than the problem we face... and so will be able to say ...

...for the joy of the LORD is my strength (Neh 8:10)

Fleeing away...

How to live a sinless and a blameless life? What do we do when we sin unintentionally out of the weakness of the flesh?

Every child of God faces these lurking questions. The Lord knows that we are flesh and that we will encounter temptations in our day to day lives. All that we need to do is, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit... When the Spirit of God warns us by tapping our conscious with regard to sin, we flee away from temptation or quickly repent of our sin.

If we have accidentally fallen for sin by harboring sin in our thought process or by having taken an action, we quickly deal with it by repenting it .That is the nature of any child of God. We don't play with sin or with temptations but rather flee from it. If we have sinned unintentionally we speedily repent it wholeheartedly!

1 John 1:9 (New International Version)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Effective Prayer

Whose prayers does God answer? Everybody's? True ...everybody's ...anyone who calls upon Him in truth...

Psalm 145:18 (NIV)

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

Jesus is sure to answer people who call Him wholeheartedly. But there is one more hitch here... If there is any sin in our life then we cannot assume that God will take our sins lightly and will continue to answer our prayers. He will first convict us of our sin. It is upto us to recognize it, repent and turn away from that sin. We should not presume that God will answer our prayers in spite of our indifference to His convictions...

For sin is like wall between us and God. It will block our relationship to Him...

That is why the Word of God says, that the prayer of the righteous man is more effective than others...

James 5:16 (NIV)

Therefore confess your sins ...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

A righteous man is one who lives life pleasing to God...

1 John 3:22 (NIV)

and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

Therefore let us be careful to live our life right with God, so that our prayers might not be hindered...

Real Hope

I have heard people say that they don't have faith to pray for certain things in life, as they are unable to see any positive cue's... This is just an excuse to not pray or to hope for better. They know that our Lord can do amazing things ... like healing, deliverance, provision, salvation, miracles etc... Yet to hope for something good or miracle to happen for them, they consider it is next to impossible...

But to hope for something good or miracle to happen to us, we need to have faith that the Lord who did these things in His time is able to do the same now... For He is the same yesterday , today and tommorrow.

Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

But people find it difficult to apply this in their life, they want positive cue's before they need to pray for something. But look what the Word of God says,

Romans 8:24-25 (New International Version)
24.But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?
25.But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

We see with our eyes of faith, not with our natural eyes and hence pray with hope and faith. We need to be careful not to rely our faith on circumstances, but on God's Word and promise, so that what we hope for will certainly come to pass...

Never Quit

Have you ever felt like quitting to pray? Say for somebody's salvation or healing or change of heart or some other thing for which there seems to be no answer. It is very natural to think that the issue for which we might be praying, may not be God's will when we don't see any change or improvement in situations. In such instances, we may feel like quitting to pray ...

But then I recently learnt a lesson from a fictious story of a little girl, who goes on a mission to return the lost toy sack to Santa Claus (which he looses on his trial run) along with her friends to North pole. During the tough trail, when her friends feel like quitting, she encourages them saying, that if she tries she might have a chance to accomplish the mission, but if she quits she might not have a chance...

This is a powerful lesson for us to learn from the little girl that when we don't know whether our prayer may be answered or not ... we as well try. If we try we may get our prayer answered, but if we dont, we may not have a chance of having it answered...

So let us not give up but pray without ceasing...

1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 (New American Standard Bible)

17 pray without ceasing;
18 in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus

Life's Goal

Each one of us has goals in our lives. Our goals may be different and also many, in terms of career, family, personal etc. Yet there is one goal which will give the purpose of our life. People without this goal are those who live their lives without much purpose.

But as God's children we do live our life here with a purpose. For Christ, His purpose was the Cross, because of which He could redeem us from sin and reconcile us to God. For Paul, it was to preach the Gospel...

Similarly, we all have a goal which will fulfill our life's purpose.

Mine is to write devotionals...What is yours?

Phillippians 3:12 (NIV)

...but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Mind setting

Throughout the day,we think of so many things. If we try to recollect our thought process, it is too difficult at times to figure out what we have been focusing on...

We hear people talk so much about food, clothing,beauty, etc., in their day to day lives. To think, how much of time would have gone into these details can be ascertained from the depth their talks. People are so beauty conscious, career concious, calorie concious these days that they forget to be God conscious...

Col 3:2[ (NKJV)
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Let us ask ourselves honestly what we have been setting our minds on?

Covenant Relationship

When we enter into a relationship with God, it is a special relationship because it is a covenant relationship. A covenant is a promise that binds persons within that relationship, such as in a marriage.

When God made a covenant with Noah He gave a promise saying that He will never destroy the earth through flood (Gen 8:11-13) and as a symbol set the rainbow on the sky. Similarly when God made a covenant with Abraham, He made a promise to Abraham, saying that all the families of the earth shall be blessed through him (Gen 12:2-3), which was fulfilled through Christ Jesus (as Jesus was the seed of Abraham).

Likewise God makes a covenant with each one of us in a special way...and also gives us a promise that is unique to each of us.

Since every relationship is two way, we too are to make a promise to God as a token of our relationship to Him. Israel, after having betrayed God several times entered into a covenant relationship with God, after repenting by making an oath or promise...

2 Chron 15:12 (NKJV)
Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God ... with all their heart and with all their soul;

What is your promise to God?

Torn Veil

Sometimes there can be a veil in our lives which can block God's presence in our lives. It can be an unconfessed sin, an unyielding part in us, an unsurrendered thing which we would not want to give up or perhaps a thought process that is against His will. It could be anything such as these because of which we find our prayer times unfulfilling. We would have spent time with God, yet know that God did not speak to us through His Word or we did not feel that prayer time as edifying or fulfilling. We know that something is missing or empty or void.

When we experience such things, it is better that we come to God with an open mind and ask Him to show that which is blocking His presence in our lives. Or perhaps we know what is blocking His presence, for the Holy Spirit of God would have revealed it to us where we are at fault or what is not God's will.

We quickly need to repent and be restored, so that His presence flows back and the veil which blocks us from God, is torn off...

2 Corinthians 3:16 (Amplified Bible)
But whenever a person turns [in repentance] to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away.

Fear?

Fear is said to be a sin. And is said to be opposite of faith. Yet as God's children we all go through some sort of fear and anxiety especially of uncertainty. Easily said then done, fear is one entity which can be easily warded off or avoided. It can grip our souls to that extent that it can freeze us during the time of its existence.

For those who trust in Jesus, fear is one aspect which the Lord is ready to remove and instead fill our hearts with strength and courage.

Look what the Lord's promise is...

Isaiah 41:10 (New International Version)
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Even God knows the way fear can inflict our hearts and minds and thus He gives us this promise.
This should provide strength to our hearts for the One who said it is sure to do it.

Am I asking too much?

3 John 1:2 (New King James Version)

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

What a wonderful thing it is to know that our Lord desires that we prosper in all aspects of our life. Physically , mentally, financially and spiritually both by being in good health and well being. It is only the enemy (Satan) who would try to steal away all these things... by bringing difficulties into our lives. But we know that we have victory through Jesus who had already accomplished it in the Cross. And we need not fear as long we are under His wings.

There are many believers who are deceived by the devil that they should not ask God for too many things like financial prosperity etc. So they try to be pious in their prayer lives by asking only for limited needs. It is true that we should not be greedy and coveteous, but there is nothing wrong in asking for prosperity in all aspects of our lives, the way the above scripture says. And God knows to bless us accordingly.

So let us be sure that God desires our prosperity and pray for it for ourselves and our families without being deceived by the devil.

Standing Yet...

What happens when what we expect does not happen? or what we plan to do or have done do not accomplish? We feel frustrated isn't it? It is natural for any one of us to become frustrated when the thing that we expect doesn't come to pass...

We get annoyed and sometimes angry. We may also become upset that we may feel like having been struck ...for we feel immobilized to take the next step or even to think next.

We may feel as if we have come to a halt but we should not continue with this phase for long, for it may hamper our well being. Therefore all that we need to do is, change our mind from what we have been focusing on and then try another option or alternative.

Jesus did this and so did His disciples. When Jesus was not accepted in one town, he moved to other town. When the apostles faced persecution in one city they moved to another place. So when something doesn't work for us or something we expect doesn't come to pass then all we need to do is commit our concern to God and seek His counsel...

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (New American Standard Bible)
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

Sanctification continues...

All of us know very well the fact that we are God's children. Because we believe what the Word of God says in John 1:12 -"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (NIV).

But are we all living like God's children? Sometimes we so easily act, behave, think and make decisions unlike God's children. Yet we go about calling ourselves as God's children. So how do we know exactly whether we are living like God's children or not?

The Word of God says, "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" Romans 8:14 (NASB).

This doesn't mean that the children of God are perfect and has no fault in them. But God's children are the ones, though in the flesh, they do their best to live a spotless and blameless life consciously with the help of the Holy Spirit. And they always have and exhibit a spirit of humility which is teachable, correctable, responsible and flexible, so that it is seen that they are in the process of sanctification.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 (New King James Version)
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,

As long as we go on yielding to God's Spirit and keep changing to be more like Jesus, then we are indeed the children of God who are led by the Spirit of God. Amen.

Boiling?

Eph 4:26 (NASB)
Be ANGRY, and yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger

I have heard people say ‘It’s not Christ-like to be angry.’ I knew what they meant: - ‘It is not Christ-like to respond in anger.’
Anger like any other negative emotion is unavoidable. But the way we choose to express our anger is what really matters. When we get angry over some issue or someone, how do we choose to express it? Do we quarrel, yell, argue, use slang language or abusive words, throw things or bang the door?
Though anger is unavoidable, its outburst can.
We all know what the scripture talks about anger and understand it quite well. Yet at times when it comes to applying in real life, it becomes difficult. I have often struggled with controlling outbursts of anger. I sometimes have whacked my kid (mildly though) in anger or have used slang when badly provoked. I know there is no reason to justify one’s outbursts of anger. We can always stop, consider and respond in a Christ-like manner.
I have prayed a lot about the issue, asking the Holy Spirit of God to give me self-control, to selectively express my anger or at times refrain from it. And it’s a long process of learning.
I have been remorseful at times and it dawned on me that it takes time to really get trained in our minds. Our personalities are different. For some it may be easy to learn this lesson and for some hard. And for the fruit of the spirit (self-control) to really soak in our beings and change our personalities it takes effort and time.
Whatever be it, as long as we are continually in the process of learning to express our anger in a matured manner, we are not in the path of committing a habitual sin.

Prayer:
Lord, help me to express my anger in a matured way and not to sin when angry. I pray that your spirit will give me more of self-control, so that I may refrain from expressing feelings in an inappropriate way.

Instruction Manual...

Many of us do things in life thinking that we know best. Yes, it is true that we live to the best of our intellectual abilities by exercising our knowledge, wisdom and reasoning gained from our experience and observed learning's. Though this is the common way of living, a child of God learns life through God's Word. That is why the Psalmist in Ps 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path" (NIV).

The Word of God (Bible) is the instruction manual to man.

Ps 119:9 (NIV)

How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.

But only those who believe it will take efforts to live by it. And those who does so benefit from its promises...

Deuteronomy 32:47 (NIV)

They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long...

He can emphathize...

Many a time we just hope that perhaps there is atleast someone who can understand us- the way we are, the way we see things, feel in a certain way, etc...

We just hope that people accept the way we are and the way we make choices, are able to see things from our shoes... Even our loved ones sometimes may not be able to emphathize with us in the time of need.

But we have a wonderful heavenly friend- Jesus, who had gone through every trial and situation when He lived on earth... which we go through today. There is no difficulty or problem in this world, which He cannot understand or emphathize with...

Hebrews 4:15 (Amplified Bible)
For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.

Hence we can pour out our hearts to Him knowing that He understand us and can emphathize with our weaknesses...

Power unlimited...

When we face some kind of oppression in our thought process such as fear, worry, anxiety, tension, gloom, boredom or lonliness, we need a lot of mental strength to deal with it. We often try to overcome such oppression through positive thinking and involving in activities that helps us feel good. Yet these oppressions can sometimes drain us mentally as well as physically.

In order to deal with such oppressions, we need more of a mental strength that can help us keep our peace. The Word God has an encouraging solution for this...

Eph 3:16 (NASB)

that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.

It is true that when we derive the power from our Lord, we can overcome any oppression be it mental or otherwise. All that we need to do is to ask the Lord to supply His power in the inner man.

In line with Him...

When we are keen on doing God's will, the Holy Spirit of God will reveal God's will to us through convictions which is foreign to our thoughts, desires and emotions. These convictions will be so clear beyond doubt that we will know that it is from the Lord and not our own. Sometimes it is may be something that we desire and sometimes not. However the peace of God will accompany the thought process which confirms God's will.

Many a time, if the will of God is something against our thought process, we may try to achieve what we want to, through our efforts. And that is the when we will lose our peace. So it is better that we do God's will so that we may keep our peace and not face the consequences of doing our own will.

Isaiah 26:3 (New King James Version)
You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.

His Will - Really Good...

Surrending fully to the Lord is a problem to many. Because fully surrendering to God is like, there is no wish and will of our own. Many of us while praying to God may tell the Lord, "Thy will be done", though inwardly we may be saying "It better be what I am asking for".

For many years I have lived like this. Even the smallest matter which I ask for, I will say, "Lord thy will be done". But inwardly I will hope for something that I desire to be answered. Because I believed that God would give me something that I may not like.

When I got saved several years back I wanted to serve God in the area of counseling. I assumed that to be God's will and I prayed about it earnestly. Though I had a few oppurtunities to carry out my vision, it didn't turn out to be full time as I desired. I always feared that if I give over to my desire and vision to God, He may ask me to do something else which I may not like. Finally when I realised that I cannot proceed in the area of counseling full time, I surrendered myself to God wholly.

A few years back, the Lord slowly ignited the talent of writing in me which was there right from the time of salvation. The Lord helped me grow in that talent and get shaped. The Lord placed this in my heart as my calling which He confirmed through Jer 1:9. I believe it and love what I do. The Lord did not lead me into something which I didn't like. But He inspired me to do something that I loved to do. Now I can say wholeheartedly that I love more to write than to counsel people.
The will of God is always good, pleasing and perfect (Rom 12:2) if only we could taste and see it...

Romans 12:2 (New International Version)
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Being cleansed by His blood

How can we be sure that we are living our life on God's standards? One- through the Word of God and secondly through the Spirit of God. God has created every human being with a conscience. Each one of us know what is right and wrong. Yet sin rules so much in man that even wrong is rationalised as right by man sometimes, according to his situations and needs. For instance, lying is rationalized as right, if it is for a good cause, which people call it as white lie. Whether white or black or green or blue, a lie is a lie for God. Therefore, sin is sin in the eyes of God whether big or small.
So let us be sure that we live as per God's standards by reading the Word of God (allowing the Lord to teach us His ways) and by being sensitive to the Holy Spirit (so that we don't ignore Him when he communicates to us through our conscience)
Psalm 51:6-7 (NIV)
(v.6) Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
(v.7) Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
1 John 1:7 (NASB)
...and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Rating Self...

When we look at the fruit of the Spirit the general idea which we get is, 'Hey, these are some qualities I already possess'. But when looked closely and honestly especially in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit, we will be able to see most of our carnal nature.

Galatians 5:18-21 (New American Standard Bible)
(v.18)But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
(v.19)Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
(v.20)idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
(v.21)envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Though we may not see all of these in us, sometimes we may see some of them like jealousy, outbursts of anger, bitterness, hatred, usage of bad words, being rude etc. To get rid of all these unholy stuff , we need some replacement of God's Spirit such as self control, patience, gentleness etc. And when we can recognize those attributes in us which needs to be replaced, we can repent and work with the Lord's Spirit for complete restoration. And this is possible for sure. Amen.

We can live like Him...

It is such a challenge to live a life without sin in this world. But it is possible since our Lord lived it so. And so we ought to by His grace and through the enabling of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit of God lives in us He sows the seed of Christ's nature within us which the Word of God calls as the fruit of the Spirit.

Gal 5:22, 23 (NIV)

(v.22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,(v.23) gentleness and self-control.

And as the seed grows everything which has been carnal or sinful within us is rooted out while fruit of the Spirit manifests in our nature. So we grow more and more in His image. Since we were born in sin, the image of God with which we were created was badly marred. After being born again in Christ, the Spirit of God who lives in us restores us back to His image who created us. This is called sancitfication and it happens as we yield more and more to the transformation and changes that the Spirit of God instills in us through teaching, correction, discipline, intruction etc.

Since sancitfication depends on our yielding or resisting God's Spirit, let us ask ourselves whether we really want to live and be all that God wants us or no?

Living by the Spirit

When we say that we belong to the Lord, that we believe in Him and are His children, then definitely we cannot live a life of sin. We are called to live a holy life (1 Pet 1:16) and hence we need to be done with all forms of sin consciously.

Then do all God's people live a holy life? It is not possible to live a holy life by our own efforts but with the help of the Holy Spirit and by the grace of our Lord it is possible. We only need to be willing to ...and yield to God's Spirit. When the Holy Spirit of God convicts us of sin we need to repent and be done away with every kind of sin. But since the flesh is weak and is against the Spirit of God it will wage war against our soul, yet the beauty is... we can overcome the flesh with the help of God's Spirit. As we yield to the Holy Spirit of God we will start hating everything that is sinful and we will be enabled with the power to resist all forms of temptations. And those sins which once ruled over us will no longer be a part of us as we will see the fruit of the Spirit take root in us.

So let us make conscious decisions and take effort to live a life in the Spirit so that we give no room for sin to rule in us.

Galatians 5:24,25 (Amplified version)
(v.24) And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.
(v.25) If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]

Drawing from His resource

When faced with worries, problems or any cares which wearies us down, it is natural that we fall into gloom easily and even forget to take the matter to God though we know deep down in our hearts that He can help us. But the truth is, the Lord waits patiently for us to bring all our cares and concerns to Him. He cannot force Himself on us unless we wholeheartedly come to Him in faith. We have to move from self-dependence to Christ-dependence which is a problem with most of us.

That is why the Word of God encourage us to draw close to God,

James 4:8 (NIV)

Come near to God and he will come near to you.

We can come close to God in prayer by being alone with Him and share all that is in our heart like that to a friend. Then He will speak to us through His Word according to each one's need and situation. He will also intervene in our lives and do things beyond our ability and imagination. That is why He is God, the Almighty. Let us not forget who we are and Who He Is.

Ephesians 3:20 (NASB)

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think...

All Praise and all Glory to Him! Amen.

Amazing Future

Psalms 139:16 (NIV)

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

What a wonderful thing it is for me to know that all the days of my life is written in my Lord's book. Should I worry about what my future will be? Or what will I be doing in the next five years? Whom will I be getting married to? Will be achieving this or that?

How many questions each of us will have when it comes to our future? So many desires, plans and ambitions. But the beauty is that our Lord knows it all and He has everything written in His book. We cannot ask Him to show us everything like that of knowing from the stars or reading of the hand.

Our Lord shows it beautifully as we faithfully walk with Him holding His hand like that of a father and a child. He only shows us step by step as it comes to pass, so that we may relish it joyfully. Let us not hurry to know everything but walk faithfully as we trust in Him for He says,

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Those who trust Him and rely on Him can be rest assured that their future is truly amazing...

Why worry?

When we are worried it is very difficult for us to remain calm and composed unless we find an answer. Not every single problem we face may come up with immediate results. At the same time we will not be able to arrive at solutions by worrying. Though as intellectual beings we know this truth we are unable to help ourselves from worrying. But the Word of God has a remedy for us,

1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Nahum 1:7 (NIV)

The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.

Cares here refers to God's intervention and help or in simple terms a solution for the problem. So let us learn to just give all our anxieties to the Lord and trust Him to work on it.

Who really follow Him?

Is it true that everybody who believes in Christ follows the Lord? May not be so. Some may follow Him only for the blessings and goodness received while some who have tasted Him personally and have accepted Him as their Lord will follow Him for the free gift of salvation received.

Even the Bible says in John 6:6 that few who followed Him initially turned away and quit following Him because they found His teachings hard to follow.

John 6:66 (NIV)

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

It is true that following Him is at times difficult as it requires denying sinful pleasures of the world and not following the world's pattern of deceit and impurity. That is why some choose to quit but for those who know whom they believe in and why they follow Him, the gospel is the power of God for saving their souls.

1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

What is your choice?

Believing is following?

For many people it is easy to believe in Jesus, but difficult to follow Him. For following comes with a cost. And when calculating the cost it looks difficult or sometimes optional. So many choose to just opt out from following believing that we can go on and there is no harm in doing so... Let us not fall into this trap of the devil to believe that following is optional...
John 10:27 (Amplified Bible)
The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me.

For only those who follow Him end up with Him in heaven otherwise we may end up at Satan's home-hell. Some may ponder why should we bother about hell and heaven now? Let us live here happily while on earth...
But look what the Bible says,
1 John 5:11 (New Living Translation)
And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
Romans 2:5-8 (The Message)
You're not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it's going to blaze hot and high, God's fiery and righteous judgment. Make no mistake: In the end you get what's coming to you—Real Life for those who work on God's side, but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire!

So let us be warned that believing is not casual ...it is following.
And by following we dont loose anything only gain - blessings and eternal life. Amen.

Do we really mean it?

Many times we just say things just for the sake of saying it without really meaning what we say. Especially in the Christian circle we so often say "I will pray for you". But to be honest do we really do it? It may not just be with prayers alone. We may sometimes very casually say things without doing it committedly. But this is not right in God's eyes. The bible calls it 'mere talk'. Saying things for the sake of it.
Prov 14:23 (NIV) says that
"All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty".
What sort of poverty does the Bible refer here? Poverty in all terms - in relationships, business as it affects the esteem of the mere talker. So let us be careful when we say something. Let us mean what we really say and not out of obligation. And if we have done it let us stand by it.

What next Lord?

Among various difficult trials of life, one such path which can put a soul to gloom is the path of uncertainity. Many men and women of God has travelled through this path and our only hope is that our Lord is very next to us, though we dont even know what to expect. Every trail that we may opt to take may seem so uncertain. Anything that has been tried may not work. This is a very difficult path , yet sometimes the Lord leads us through it to strenghten our faith in darkness, make our dependability more on Him and make Himself a glorious name.

Take heart my loved ones for the Word of God assures us a wonderful promise in
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)
However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" .

And we all know for sure that it is something good for He is good.

For reference:
Isa 64:4
Since ancient times no one has heard,

no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.