GodSprings - 01 December, 2016

Am I Ready for God to Break into my Life?

  

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Matthew 1:18-19

The students of the Christian Medical College help us in making our church service more meaningful by their singing. As examinations are going on, last Sunday the students asked me to lead the Praise and Worship Session. I too was busy with travel and work, and started searching for a song late night on Saturday. I asked my wife, Saumya, to help me out in the Praise and Worship. We learned a new Hindi song and we were confident. On Sunday, we both started off the Praise and Worship with a known song and then moved on to teach the new song. We started off well but something happened as we came to the chorus. We both were singing in different tune. We realized we had messed it up. The congregation was staring at us. I was embarrassed by what happened and tried my best not to put a face of embarrassment. I was praying that I may be able to handle the situation. By God’s grace I got an idea. I told them this can be used as an illustration to understand family and church life. When tunes and notes don’t match there is disharmony.  

Interruptions! It’s hard when they happen. They are one of life’s great frustrations. Everything is moving along well, and then the unexpected happens. But interruptions are inevitable. They are part of life.

And we shouldn’t be surprised by this, because God is a God of interruptions. The word “interrupt” actually comes from two Latin words: the word “intero,” which means “into,” and the word “rupere” which means “to break.” To interrupt means “to break into.” And this is what God likes to do. He likes to break into our lives.

We look to the Christmas season to be a time of perfect peace, harmony, and joy. But the first Christmas was not that way. It was an interruption.  It is all about God breaking into neatly planned tightly wrapped, well-ordered lives and doing something new.

Joseph and Mary were engaged to be married. Like Christmas, an engagement is supposed to be a wondrous time. But it was during this time that an angel appeared to Mary and told her that she would miraculously, as a virgin, conceive and give birth to the Son of God. What joyful news! Yet, what an interruption! How would she explain her pregnancy to Joseph? Would he believe her? Would he be willing to take on that responsibility? This was not in their plans. And yet, she accepted it.

We know how Joseph responded. He didn't believe her. How could he? His plans for a happy home with the woman he loved were dashed before his eyes. His life, as well as hers, had been powerfully interrupted.

A betrothal, an ancient engagement, was much more binding than today's engagements. The only way out of one was divorce. In fact, Joseph had the right to have her stoned to death for infidelity. Yet because he was a good man, he did not want to harm her or even embarrass her. He would divorce her privately. This was Joseph's human response to a powerful interruption. But what a mistake it would have been.

If we are not careful, our response to an interruption can send us down the wrong path. Joseph nearly went down the wrong path. When he discovered Mary's pregnancy, he was devastated. He couldn't buy her story about a virgin conception. As much as he loved her and wanted to be with her, there was nothing to do but divorce her.

We are people with full schedules. We often think that our security is in our plans, our routines, our calendars and in the control, that we imagine we have over situations and circumstances around us. So, we develop neatly planned, tightly wrapped, well-ordered lives and think that our sufficiency will be in these things. Then come the interruptions, because God is a God of interruptions.

The key to handling an interruption is to get God's take on it. Thankfully, God rescued Joseph from his error.

As we begin this Christmas season, we need to look at the whole of Jesus’ life and purpose and for that we need to look at the manger, the cross, the empty tomb, and living Savior who says to us: “Acknowledge your need for God to break into your life. Invite Me to do it.”

GodSprings - 30 November, 2016

Is my Prayer Helping Anyone?

  

Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance.

Philippians 1:19

Philip Yancey in his book Prayer: Does It Make a Difference? tells of a young American soldier in Iraq who learns that his wife back home has advanced cervical cancer. Doctors gave a bleak prognosis. In desperation, he sent an urgent email to his church with the request that everyone in turn forward his prayer request to every praying person they knew.

The email said, “Pray and forward. It only takes a second to hit “forward.” Please don’t delete this, your prayer can and perhaps will save her life. Please pray and ask everyone you know to pray for the HEALING of Cindy, removal of the cancer in her body so she may enjoy all that life has to offer, and continue to be the wonderful mother to our 5 year old son.”

Yancey goes on to ask, “Does prayer operate like a pyramid scheme – the more people who pray, the more likely the answer? Does a sick woman who happens to have praying friends stand a better chance for recovery than an equally deserving person who does not?”

This verse reminds us that there is power in corporate prayer. There is a special dynamic that comes into play when God’s children come together, united in faith and purpose, to seek the face of the Lord in prayer.

There is only one real problem in the Church these days, and that is the prayer life of the Church. We could enumerate many other problems that God’s people face. The problem of finance, or the problem created by the lack of love and unity that can prevail. But these are all secondary and almost superficial; they only touch the circumference of the situation. The real problem is the prayer life of the Church, and if that is solved every other problem at once finds solution.

Paul was having a tough time. But he says he is confident of having victory over it. The reason being the prayers of the faithful in the Philippian Church.

One of the most difficult things for us to grab a hold of in intercessory prayer is the fact that it doesn’t appear to be doing anything. If you bake a cake and take it to the neighbors, you are doing something. If you stand at the church door and pass out bulletins you are doing something. The hardest thing to get past when trying to understand intercessory prayer is that it somehow seems we aren’t doing anything. Most of us want to do something for God.

Most of us do not look at ourselves as "world-changers." We do not see ourselves as having the power or influence to change the direction of nations. As Christians, however, we affirm the power of God to impact the nations. That power is released through the prayers of people just like you and me.

Can we make a commitment today to change our world? It begins with a simple yet difficult step in prayer. Begin to pray more for the people around you, as well as for world leaders and the flow of world events. Bring the amazing power of God to bear upon this world and see what our awesome God will do!

GodSprings - 29 November, 2016

Can I Preach Christ if I am Jealous?

15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Philippians 1:15-18

Two shopkeepers were bitter rivals. Their stores were directly across the street from each other, and they would spend each day keeping track of each other's business. If one got a customer, he would smile in triumph at his rival. One night an angel appeared to one of the shopkeepers in a dream and said, "I will give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive, your competitor will receive twice as much. Would you be rich? You can be very rich, but he will be twice as wealthy. Do you wish to live a long and healthy life? You can, but his life will be longer and healthier. What is your desire?" The man frowned, thought for a moment, and then said, "Here is my request: Strike me blind in one eye!"

In trying to deal with false accusation it's important to understand that Paul is not talking about doctrinal difference. He’s talking about something else.  The detractors here were not attacking Paul's theology. It was his person that bothered them.  And so they are preaching Christ.

They are not proclaiming another Jesus, like 2 Corinthians 11:4 and 13.  This is the same gospel and the same Jesus Christ.  They are not the Judaizers of Philippians 3:2, called “the false circumcision.”  They're not “the dogs” or “the evil workers” of that verse.  There's no difference in their content.  There's no difference in their gospel. There's no difference in their preaching.  The difference is in their motive.

It's their motive that messes them up. They were jealous.  Jealous of what? They were jealous of Paul's giftedness, Paul's success. They were jealous that Paul was so beloved.  They were jealous that everybody found Paul to be the touchstone of truth.  They were jealous because more people followed him than them.  They were jealous because he had so eminently upon him the blessing of God. They may have been jealous of the fact that he on three occasions had encountered the living, resurrected, and exalted Christ personally.  They were jealous - jealous of his gifts, jealous of his blessings, jealous of his ministry, jealous of his success, jealous of his high esteem.  He was a menace to their prominence.  He was a menace to the exaltation of their egos.  He was in the seat they wanted to be in, only he was there rightly.  And as a result of being jealous they created “strife.”  Their jealousy pitted them against him and conflict occurred.

Paul is not writing to gain sympathy for him but so that we'll know this is how it is.  And he reminds us in writing this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the Lord takes note not only of what we preach but of why we preach it.  And to add to it not only what we do and think but of why we do and think. That the Lord is not only into content but the Lord is into motive. 

It’s a sad thing but it is rampant in the church today. Amongst the clergy and the laity. We sometimes turn out to be people who are motivated out of jealousy and envy. We focus our whole life on trying to discredit other people who occupy some kind of place of blessing that creates envy in our sinful hearts. 

We are angry that someone else is more successful than we are, as an evangelist, clergy, writer, doctor, advocate or a teacher.  If we get angry at others success, we too are producers of rivalry.Who were we jealous of in the last one year, month or today. Before we go back to sleep today let this be our prayer dear Lord may I not bring your name down because of jealousy.