Christian Devotionals and Notes

My testimony

2012-01-07T00:14:00.000-08:00

I sat down and thought one day

Who or what am I?

My heart sank in dismay

that one day I must die.

What's the meaning of this life

I searched it all around;

and saw the mankind in a strife

till they return to ground

Where is it that I am bound?

I pondered all the day.

gave out a sigh profound -

Who knows it anyway!

I searched in dark without a ray

Till the frontier

To find out another day

The answer was so near

Knock, knock, I heard a sound

At my heart’s door

Answer to the quest I found

I’ll live forever more

... G.N.B

Forget Not

2011-01-26T09:55:00.000-08:00

Forget not; the time you had

with no one to attend

All the words you've uttered in prayer

the Lord did comprehend

Striving in this whimsy world

never become so blind

To the love He has shown to you with

no reason there to find.

Take a breath and give it out

Praise God! you're alive

You can't control the rhythm of this heart

Then how did you survive?

Bearing with your grumbling mouth

He watched over your soul

To find at times when your heart sinks,

that He's there to console.

Forget not the time you had

with nothing to hold on

Those precious words has given you

the strength to carry on.

....... G.N.B......

How True!!

2008-11-12T06:41:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-30T20:48:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-22T01:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-20T04:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-16T21:05:00.000-07:00

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.

Love: Where does it start?

2008-10-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

Let us examine the 10 Commandments.
Exodus 20:2-17

1. I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol
3. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God
4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.

The point here is that the first 4 commandments deals with your relationship with God; and the rest with fellow humans. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment in the law He replied.

“`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40

Loving God is mentioned first and foremost; then comes loving your neighbor. The reason is that if you love God then it automatically follows that you love your neighbor – because God’s love is in you.

I pray that God’s love will fill us and flow through us to touch the lives around.

Orissa Burning

2008-09-16T02:54:00.000-07:00

I was much worried about the things which are happening in Orissa:(. Recently I came across a blog which discuss about the happenings there. It reminded me of what Jesus said to the people who mourned and wailed for Him.

Luke. 23:31 For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Please check this link: http://orissaburning.blogspot.com/

Solace to my soul

2008-08-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

My Soul, My Soul,
Why feel so low?
You trust, you trust,
In Him Alone

My soul, my soul,
look at the Rock;
Who gave His life
for all the folk

My soul, my soul,
think of the ways
The Lord has kept
you all the days

My soul, my soul,
keep on, keep on
Stick on the ways
He leads you on

My soul, my soul,
wake up and shine.
Your King, your King
is here to dine

My soul, my soul,
you sing my soul.
Give praise, adore
the King of all.

...G.N.B

Lesson from Job - Righteous before God?

2008-08-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

Job 25:4 How then can a man be righteous before God? How can one born of woman
be pure?

Bildad had been throwing his accusations towards Job. But this time he speaks out with wisdom. He points out that God is holy and transcendental. How can man be righteous before God? Isiah pointed out the same thing.

Isiah. 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

My friend who shared gospel with me asked me a question.

“If a leper comes to you, and gives you a piece of good
creamy pastry with his infected hand; will you take it?”
I said “No”.
So
“All our good deeds are worse than this before God.”

Then how can a man who is born with Original sin inherited from Adam; be righteous before God?
I praise God for He has given us the answer through Jesus!

1Cor. 1:30 It is because of him that you are in Christ
Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness,
holiness and redemption.

Since we can’t become righteous by ourselves Christ has been made righteousness, our great atonement and sacrifice. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)

Lesson from Job: Looking beyond the paradox

2008-07-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

I am reading through the book of Job. I thought I will share some of the lessons which I learn as I go ahead
Job’s friends told him that the wicked doesn’t flourish and their name is not remembered on Earth. But Job points out that it is not true most of the times.

Job 21:13-14- “They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in
peace. Yet they say to God, `Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your
ways.

We at many times wonder why this happens and we envy at the prosperity of the wicked. But we have to look at eternity to see what a horrible fate they are getting into. Famous Bible commentator Matthew Henry said that the disproportion between time and eternity is so vast that it makes little difference whether a sinner goes to hell singing thither or sighing. We have to look beyond this paradox and learn to love them to share the Good News.
I pray that God will give us a heart that can understand things form the eternal perspective and have pity on those who are perishing. Only then we will be able to share the Good News with love.

Christian wallpapers

2008-07-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

These are some of the websites featuring Christian wallpapers.

http://www.carriedcross.org/ this site used to have really good wallpapers. But when I checked it today I found a message saying “At the Lord's direction, this site is currently unavailable”. The wallpapers are still available in http://www.jesuswallpapers.org/.

http://www.crossdaily.com/ This site provides good Christian graphics and wallpapers. Check http://www.crossdaily.com/wallpaper/ .

http://www.prayertoweronline.org/ this website of Jesus calls ministries features good wallpapers with messages. Check http://www.prayertoweronline.org/wallpapr/

http://www.christart.com/ contains free Christian Clipart

Please let me know if you know any good ones.

Psalm 23 Illustrated -2

2008-07-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

This one is really nice.

Christian Resources

2008-06-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

Google maps
Bible maps and books of Bible: http://www.biblemap.org/
Google maps for bible places http://www.about-jesus.org/maps.htm
Google map for all the identifiable places in Bible: http://www.openbible.info/geo/

Timelines
Bible time lines: http://www.bibletimelines.org/
Bible timelines and charts: http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/main.html
Chronological Bible timeline: http://www.abiblestudy.com/

Prophecies
Biblical prophecies http://www.100prophecies.org/
Biblical prophecies http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/

Who I am in Christ: Keep the bell Ringing

2008-06-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

The Bell
I KNOW WHO I AM
I am God's child ( John 1:12)
I am Christ's friend(John 15:15)
I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)
I am bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
Iam a personal witness of Christ (Acts. 1:8)
I am the salt & light ofthe earth (Matt. 5:13-14)
I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27)
I am free forever from condemnation (Rom.8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil.3:20)
I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31-34)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor.5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom.8:35-39)
I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor. 1:21-22)
I am assured all things work together for good ( Rom. 8: 28)
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit ( John 15:16)
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12)
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil.4:13)
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15:1-5)
I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2:10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). I have been justified(Romans 5:1)
I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God'sworkmanship (Eph. 2:10)
I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected (Phil. 1: 5)
I have been redeemed and forgiven (Col.1:14). I have been adopted as God's child (Eph 1:5)
I belong toGod
Do you know
who you are!?
Keep this bell ringing...

Working for God on earth does not
pay much, but His Retirement plan is out of this
world!!

Psalm 23- Illustrated 1

2008-06-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

I got this as a mail from my friend. This is really nice.

Psalm 23
The Lord is my Shepherd = That's Relationship!

I shall not want = That's Supply!

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures = That's Rest!

He leadeth me beside the still waters = That's Refreshment!

He restoreth my soul = That's Healing!

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness = That's Guidance! For His name sake = That's Purpose!
Yea, though I walk through the valley of t he shadow of death = That's Testing!
I will fear no evil = That's Protection!
For Thou art with me = That's Faithfulness!

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me = That's Discipline!
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies = That's Hope! Thou annointest my head with oil = That's Consecration! My cup runneth over = That's Abundance!
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life =That's Blessing ! And I will dwell in the house of the Lord = That's Security! Forever = That's Eternity!

What is most valuable is not what we have in our lives, but WHO we have in our lives!