Mary and Martha

 In my morning devotions the Lord brought some things afresh to me. Let me share it with friends: 

Rev. Ch.2:1-7 has a corollary with the Bethany family, friends of Jesus. The church at Ephesus was DOING a lot for Christ. He still says it lacks the LOVE demonstrated at the start of their Christian walk. Martha was all DOING/ SERVING and Mary her sister was all DEVOTION. The risen Lord demands from His church a delicate balance of 'Martha' and 'Mary'. 

The energy we spend in working for the advancement of God's kingdom must be replenished equally by the time we spend in devotion at the feet of Christ every day, failing which we get burnt out!! 

We need to be both 'Martha' and 'Mary' like two sides of a coin. 

Without one side the coin  will still be not 'TRANSACTION worthy'. 

AMEN.

What do you have?

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God asked Moses, 'What's in your hand?'..... Moses replied 'a rod'.... God used it to part the red sea.

Jesus asked the disciples,'How many loaves of bread do you have? They replied 'five loaves'..... Jesus used it to feed over 5000 people. 

·         Peter's empty boat was given for the Master's use and it was returned to him, as two boatloads of fish. How?
Peter LISTENED to Lord Jesus' voice and OBEYED in spite of his experience in fishing business, that told him it will not work!!

What do you and I have, for the extension of the kingdom of God? Let us bring it to Him and He gives it back to us to bless that in need, physically, financially, materially, emotionally and SPIRITUALLY. Be it so....

Jesus is unchanging for all times. He can do the same thing to all of us.
What should we do? LUKE 5:4, 5

'Launch out' ….. Get out of the daily din and noise

'into the deep'…. Live in a deeper relationship with Christ

'and cast down the net'…. Give up the past disappointments/ failures which we are holding on to            

AS WE  LISTEN TO THE MASTER'S VOICE AND OBEY in spite of the discouraging circumstances,  TWO BOATS ARE ON THE WAY, FILLED WITH A BIG CATCH OF GOD'S PROVISIONS, JUST   FOR US!!!

The Sower

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  As I was meditating on the parable of 'The Sower' told by Lord Jesus I learnt something new. May be it will be of interest ... to some friends!!

Seeds fell in various locations. This showed me variety of hearers' responses:

 Seeds which fell on the....

                    Wayside  ...        Indifferent

                    Stony ground.... Impulsive. 

(                  Thorny place...  Indecisive 

(                 GOOD soil....   Internalized responses that yield harvest.

 I love to internalize the WORD of GOD every time it addresses me!!!

Psalms and Psalms

    

 Let me share some interesting aspects of Psalm 1 which I have come to learn: It is the ' preface psalm' to the Book of Psalms, the Prayer book in the Bible. It forms the BASIC TEXT for the whole of Psalms, a 'divine sermon.' Starts with "Blessed", just like our Lord's Sermon on the Mount starting with "Blessed". I have coined three commands from this psalm.... WALK NOT ... STAND NOT.... SIT NOT...

What else to do? 'Meditate on God's word habitually'. Let our roots go deeper (unseen) enabling us  to  live  fruitful lives. (Seen by others of course)... LIKE IT?

No one strays away from Christ just like that. I understood it happens in stages. I was preparing for a study on Psalm 19 sometime back. My eyes were opened to this fact! 

    v.12, 13.. 'Slipping down into the mire stage by stage'. I wish to term it.

•   .  ERRORS..
•   . HIDDEN FAULTS.
•   . WILLFUL SINS...
•     GREAT TRANSGRESSIONS.

King  David speaks from his experience. May the Holy Spirit of God/Jesus help us to check our ways when we are in the process of ERRING so that we are lifted up by Him before it starts hurting very badly?

Viewers are invited to take a look at my slideshow on Psalm 91. I have shared the lessons I learnt from a study of this psalm. May click on the URL given :
http://www.slideshare.net/kalaneethy/shadow-of-the-almighty

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Out In The Wilderness

 

I am following recently a devotional, which is exploring the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. I learnt somethings new . It may be of interest to some of you!

Here it is:

God led the Israelite slaves out from bondage, by 'the much longer route' since He did not want them to be discouraged by war on the 'shorter route to freedom'.

 May be the journey of life today seems long and strenuous for me and you. We may long for ‘quicker solution’ for life’s challenges. Let us remember that God always has our 'best' in mind and leads us with 'the best of intentions.' However long the route seems to be the Glorious Presence of God is going to stay with us all through.

Come on; Cheer up my friend!!

The Amalekites came to battle with Israel and Moses went up on the mountain, along with Hur and Aaron. They both helped Moses to keep his hands upheld throughout the battle atop the mountain. "This represents the posture of prayer and the mighty act of parting the red sea with his staff uplifted. The people got strengthened by looking at it and won." 

For us: "The cross and the Savior's outstretched arms are reminded of, by this posture of Moses." Let us lift our hands in praise to the Lord Jesus, for winning our battle on Calvary's cross. 

Come let us worship Jesus the Victor!! The sound of 'trumpets' brought the walls of Jericho down along with the praise of the people!!

Degrees of Faith

We find Jesus talking about different stages of 'faith' in the gospel books of the Bible. As I studied the Bible, I found these challenging my faith. 

 As  we read the list below, may we always strive towards the highest level Jesus commends?

1 Mk 4:40 ... 'no faith’... fear rules...disciples

2. Mt 14:31...'Little faith'... doubt arose... disciples

3. Jn 19:27 ... 'doubt and faith'... walking by sight...Thomas the disciple

4. M.t. 17:20 'mustard seed faith'..(I consider this as a living, growing faith)..mountain  moving.

5. Mt 15:28  ...'great faith'... prayer granted... gentile woman

          6. Mt 8:10 ... 'such great faith'... healing by the Word of Jesus...
                              Centurion who stood proxy for his  helper... 
                              Jesus commends this degree of faith