Grace is sufficient

I was a little upset the last week because of a few things. It was my cousin’s marriage last week and he didn’t want me to attend that. He is my colleague and works from a different location than me. I was expecting a wedding invite from him any time and I thought he will stop by my seat when he comes to office and hand over one to me. But later I discovered that he sent an invite; but instead of sending it to my official mail id which I check regularly he sent it to my external mail id which I cannot access from office. There was no phone call asking me to attend. The reason he ignored me is that I am a Christian!

I was in a dilemma whether to go or not. Later I decided to go because if I don’t go others will think that I kept away from the ceremony purposefully. So I went to his house in the evening and met a few other relatives. When I tried speaking to them some of them responded but some of them didn’t even look at my face. In fact my uncle called me a few weeks back and asked me to leave my faith and go back. I was upset about the way people are behaving. I know that they don’t care for me anymore but I believe that God’s grace is sufficient and that He does care for me. I thank God for the promise he has give us.

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”
Isaiah: 49:15

How True!!

Atheist slogan
“There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”

Word of God.
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no-one who does good........ Psalm. 14:1

Conclusion:

The person who came up with the slogan didn’t read Bible. :)

I, the convert

In India the general mass has a misconceived idea that people who ‘convert’ to Christianity are those in lower sector of the society and they do it for monetary and other benefits. The Christian missionaries and organizations are accused of converting people to their religion by luring them using such measures as food, education and better life. But people often forget that it is not just the lower class of the society which embraces Christian faith. From what I have seen in past 4 years after coming to the Christian faith; I understand that it is easy to approach a poor or needy person with gospel because he is greatly dissatisfied with his present life and is longing for a divine intervention. A person enjoying the upper class life may be running after a lot of things finding less or no time for God. But God’s love is equally there for all of us.

I came across this article in the Outlook magazine last week. It contains the testimony of Anand Mahadevan the editor of Outlook Business and many other people who were ready to take the risk for their faith. It inspired me. Please check these two links.

I, the convert:
Yours, Faithfully:

I too came from a non Christian family and had to go through much trouble because of my faith. I will share these in my blog ‘christianroad’. I will publish this once I have put down enough things.

There's probably no God!

Please hold on... that is not my message :)
I saw the following in the news today. Please check.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7681914.stm
The slogan seems to be very interesting.
“There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”
Two questions which came to my mind.
Q1. What is the word “probably” doing there? Is this whole project based on some assumption?
Q2. Why should you worry to acknowledge a God who loves you?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”
Jn. 3:16,17

God is love and He loves us. So be cheerful and not worrying in acknowledging Him.

Outsourcing prayer- That worked!

I’ve been checking with my friend for last two days and came to know that he is praying and reading Bible. So that worked. Praise God!!
Now he has reached Mathew 5. He asked me a few question from what he read. I pray that God will touch him

Outsourcing Prayer

Saturday morning:
trrring.. trrring
Me: ‘Hello Good morning”
My Friend: “Good Morning. I was thinking of calling you”
Me: “hmm”
Friend: “Please pray for me. I am a little worried about my job”
Me: “I am praying. But are you praying?”
Friend: “I know it will work if you pray and that’s enough”.
Me: “I don’t think so. When did you pray last time.”
Friend: silence…..
….Looks like he doesn’t remember.
Me: “which chapter are you reading in Bible?”
Friend: “I have reached Matthew:1”
Me: “I guess you reached there two weeks back”
Friend: slience
Blah blah blah Blah blah blah
Blah blah blah

Monday morning
Me: Hie!!
Friend: “Did you pray for me?”
Me: “Of course :)”
Friend: “What did you pray.”
Me: “I prayed “lord You know my friend and You know the situation he is going through. So please answer his prayer.”
Me: “Did you pray yesterday?”
Friend: s—i—l—e—n—c—e……..

I think he will go home and pray today.

God Doesn't Have Grandchildren

The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, even if these three men — Noah, Daniel and Job — were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD. “Or if I send wild beasts through that country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate so that no-one can pass through it because of the beasts, as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate.
Ezekiel 14: 12-16

When we think in terms of the relationships in this world it is naturally perceived that if you have a son or daughter the child of that son or daughter will be your grandchild. Your grandson will be relating directly to you through your son.

In Exodus 20:5, 6 God tells His people

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

God has assured that He will bless the generation of those who obeys Him. But is that enough for salvation? The passage from Ezekiel 14: 12-16 mentioned above speaks of the necessity of having a personal relationship with God. As I was sharing about my faith with a friend I asked him how he believes in Jesus. The answer was that since his parents were Christians he also goes to church and prays to Jesus. But is that enough? So I asked him “What would you have done if you were born in a non-Christian family…..the answer “Of course I would have gone to their worship center and worshipped their god.”

So the point is your faith has to grow above that. You should be able to relate to God as a child related to father. Our God wants a personal relationship with each and every one of us. For Him the son or daughter of a believer is not grandson but just another individual. You may be blessed materialistically but the eternity is at stake.

I pray that God will lead each and every one of us to have a personal relationship with Him like that between a child and father.