The Gap between intention and action

There certainly is a lot of discrepancy between saying what we are going to do and actually doing what we said we would do, just as there is a lot of inconsistency between what we ought to do and what we actually do. In other words, there is always a gap between intention and action. The apostle Paul stated this succinctly in his letter to the Romans (7:15) “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” We all want to do the right thing and avoid the wrong, but inevitably end up doing the opposite. Paul identified the source of this conflict. In verses 18-20 in the same chapter, he says “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

The last sentence was not a “cop-out” for Paul, but I am certainly guilty of having used this as an excuse many a time. It is much too easy to blame the World, the System, the Circumstance and everything else including the Kitchen Sink for our failures to do the right thing. Unfortunately, the cause for such failures rest squarely with us and we have to bear the consequences of these actions. The first consequence is usually self condemnation that hangs heavy after we realize our error. Paul knew this well, and that is why he addressed this right away in the next chapter.

In Rom 8:1-4, Paul clearly shows us the difference between the Law and Grace. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.“

Although we know that we need not face condemnation (from within and without!), and that the Grace of God through Christ’s death washes away our sins if we confess them, we still have to bear the consequences of our actions and make the effort to change.

We can do this only with the help of the Holy Spirit that God has so freely given us. Bearing the consequences and enduring the struggle to change, though, can be life-long affairs, and you and I will certainly need patience, persistence and utter dependence on God in everything in order to get through. The struggle to do the right thing is a daily battle – a battle that will end only when we pass from this world into the next. We will have to stand firm until then and know and use the full armor of God (Eph 6:13-17) in this battle.

Just as I mentioned in the post on “Recipe for Life“, we have to do our part. Making the effort to change involves first determining what needs to be changed. While I should not dwell on my weaknesses, I will certainly have to understand them, determine where the enemy attacks me, take steps to avoid situations where I might be compromised and change old habits that led me down the “wide path”. Personally, whenever someone invokes the green monster of envy in me because of what they have or are, lately I have tried to replace that thought with a prayer of blessing for that person. (I learnt that from Bishop T D Jakes, a man I admire, who admitted this fault – I now know I am not alone in this!). When anger wells up (see my previous post on “Anger Management“), I consciously take a deep breath and try again. I have a long way to go on the “narrow path”, but I have taken some steps in the right direction. I also know that with God’s help, I will continue to advance.

My prayer is that eventually, the sentence “Do as I say, and not as I do” will be a thing of the past for me! How about you?

In Him,

John Kanagaraj

A death, a resurrection and many other events in between

The story of Lazarus’ death and resurrection is a familiar one. However, there are a number of truths (other than the obvious!) that we can learn from this very captivating event that is recorded in John 11. As noted in John 11:1, Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary was ill. Jesus was a family friend loved them all deeply (11:5). So the sisters, knowing that Jesus can heal their brother, sent word for him. And this is where the story takes the first of it’s unusual turns. Jesus, when he hears about this confidently states: “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” (11:4) Not only that, he stayed where he was two more days, deliberately delaying coming to the “rescue”, and by this time, Lazarus died. The result? A dead brother and his two weeping sisters, who I am sure felt let down by their friend who could have prevented this heartache….

More times than we can count, we have been in dire situations, and have prayed this way. Confidently, based on Heb 4:16 (“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”), we go to His Throne and say: “Lord – I am in trouble. Help me now!” It seems, however, that at times, God may have other plans. And the problem is this: We do know that rescue is on it’s way, but many a time, it does not work out the way we imagined it should, and neither does the rescue occur when we want it to occur.

So how did this story pan out? Jesus finally arrives on the scene when “Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.” (11:17). Martha went out to meet him first and displays her faith in Him: “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” I like this kind of faith – faith that says “God: I don’t understand what happened, but I know that You have a way of working it out…” When Jesus says “Your brother will rise again”, she takes a major leap in faith and says she knows that Lazarus would rise again at the Final Resurrection, and that Jesus is the Son of God….

And what is the significance of Jesus arriving “four days” after Lazarus’ death? Apparently, many Jews believed that after a person’s death, the soul hovered around the tomb for three days and that only on the fourth day did it leave for good to the kingdom of the dead. Therefore, from a human point of view, since Lazarus had been dead four days, there was no more hope for him. It was just too late! Martha knew this, and this added to the hopelessness of the situation. While she believed that she will see her brother again in the Final Resurrection, Jesus, however, was asking her to believe now! Sometimes, we are like Martha: We believe in the “generic” nature of God and that He will “generally” help us. How often we forget that God is going to help us in everything, even now in the least of our needs! Like Martha, we look at the situation from a worldly standpoint and say “No way can this situation be retrieved!” But God sees it differently. In the words of Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you!” Sometimes he might ask us to “Take away the stone” (John 11:39), even it if the situation seems hopeless. He needs us to act even when we may have doubts. We are an essential part of the recipe for the Life he has in store for us and we need to act on His command, even when it doesn’t make sense! (See post in link)

Getting back to the story: Mary arrives on the scene next, having been informed by Martha. And amazingly, Mary makes the same statement as her sister: “”Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus was moved by this and was greatly disturbed. In fact, John records that Jesus wept along with them all – the only time when this strong Man has been recorded as weeping…

What is interesting though is the fact that some Jews had come to comfort the sisters, and they follow Mary out assuming that she is going to the tomb to mourn. Now, notice that the text says “Jews”, and not the “townspeople” or “family friends” or even “relatives”. John uses this word to indicate people who were generally opposed to Jesus (see John 10) or did not side with him. These Jews were probably devout and caring (they did come to comfort the sisters), but followed Jewish Law and had no place for Jesus or his teaching. However, they are now witnesses to the ensuing resurrection of Lazarus. And John 11:45 says “Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.” I emphasized the “therefore” to get to this point: The four days of sorrow, the feeling of apparent abandonment, and every thing else that the sisters faced, all of it was in God’s plan to save these Jews who had come to visit!

Jesus knew that the trial and sorrow that the sisters faced would result not only in the increased faith of Lazarus, the sisters, as well as his followers, he used this painful event to bring some of the Jews, the opponents, into belief in Him. If Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8), it follows that the trails and tribulations that we face and overcome with His help will result in a witness that will either encourage a fellow believer or help others to come to Christ! What a wonderful privilege it is to be used by God in this manner! Painful though it may be, we may be called to allow the events in our life to be used when God wants to and how He wants to. This may not for everyone, but God knows what you can bear, and He will not allow you to be pushed beyond your limit (I Cor 10:13). Further, in Romans 8:28, Paul states this: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose“. I.e. God works through and in us not only for the good things, but in everything!

This story, however, did not stop at Lazarus’ resurrection and ensuing celebration. While some of the Jews started believing in Him after witnessing this event, “some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin“. (11:46-47) At this meeting, Caiaphas, the High Priest suggested that Jesus be put to death in order because “it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” Essentially, what was just plain jealousy and apprehension on the part of the then Jewish leadership turned to real danger for the Son of Man after this miraculous event. While Death on the Cross was what Jesus came to this world for, I believe that this resurrection was the event that was the “final straw that broke the leadership’s back” and pushed them to commit to Jesus’ death, unwillingly playing into God’s grand scheme to save Mankind.

If Lazarus hadn’t died, or Jesus had stepped in earlier to “save the day”, I doubt that this attention-drawing miracle would have happened at the time that it did. And it was important that this “trigger” occur at that time, because Jesus, the Sacrificial Lamb of God had to be slaughtered at the upcoming Passover. I hope you now see how Martha, Mary and Lazarus fit in this Grand Scheme…

And yet, the story did not stop there. The believing Jews continued to spread the word! (John 12:17-18 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him). Like ripples on a pond, this event spread way beyond those immediately involved!

The point is this, and I make it again. We who are His children are part of His Grand scheme – that of saving everyone! Part of the responsibility of being His children is to allow Him to work in our lives and use us however he chooses to. In the popular song “Bring the Rain”, MercyMe sings thus:

“Bring me joy, bring me peace / Bring the chance to be free / Bring me anything that brings You glory / And I know there’ll be days / When this life brings me pain / But if that’s what it takes to praise You / Jesus Bring the Rain”.. Will you join us in singing this song in order to take part in the Grand Scheme? I hope you will!

In His Service always,

John Kanagaraj

Recipe for Life: 3 parts “God”, 1 part “You”

Last week in Church, a visiting speaker referred to Eph 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do“, and talked about how we need to do our part in His Kingdom. This thought has been on my mind all week, and I thought about how this could be a four-part recipe that we can use for living “Life”.

First, let us break down the verse to see it’s four parts: First of all, “we are God’s workmanship.” Second, we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works“and thirdly, these “good works” are activities that “God prepared in advance” and finally, and of equal importance these works are “for us to do“. Psalm 139 (parts of v 14 and 16) says this all so well: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb… All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (The fact that the same Spirit that inspired King David way back to sing this song did inspire St. Paul as well – the message is consistent!)

That I am God’s own handiwork boosts my confidence immensely: Confidence not only in myself and my God given abilities and gifts, but confidence that God’s handiwork is always flawless and purposeful. However, you do need to keep in mind that not all of us are created the same. Paul provided this differentiation in I Cor 12: 14, 18-19 “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many..But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be?” (In fact this whole chapter compares a human body and the interaction of it’s members with that of the Body of Christ – further discussion probably in another post) The fact is this: God knew what He was doing when He created you and me. You and I have all we need to do His work, and we need to work together with what we have been given to get the job done!

On the second part, I was wondering about why these good works were “created in Christ.” I am reminded that I am not saved by “good works”, but by His Grace as shown though Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross for me (and you). All the “good works” that are outside of Christ are just that – good stuff, but nothing that can stand eternally. See my post on what we can take into the next world. I am reminded (and need to be constantly and continually reminded!) that what I do needs to be created and directed by Christ. In the words of the same St. Paul (I Cor 9:26) “… I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.” And as Paul did, so do I need to press on in Christ – (Phil 3:13-14) “.. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.“

Thirdly, I am reminded that although I am going to be surprised by what Tomorrow brings, God is NOT! He has already planned out my Tomorrow, the Day After and on through Eternity. The prophet Jeremiah knew this well: In Jer 29:11 he stated God as saying “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” The kicker in this oft-quoted verse is this though: In verse 10, God talked about when this would happen – “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place“. The prediction (and thus Hope) was not just for that generation, but for the next. God prepared not only my steps, but the steps of the generation that comes after me. Not only do I have this Hope, my children and their children do too!

Now that God has done His part, it all comes down to me (and you!) The last part of the verse is very clear:  “… which God prepared in advance for us to do” All this preparation comes to naught if we don’t participate! I remember well the time when my children were young and we used to put 100-piece puzzles together. It was hard for a five-year and an almost three-year old to make sense of 100 pieces, but they had a challenge, a reference  (the final picture – the expected end result), disparate pieces that fit together  to make parts of the picture, lots of time and enthusiasm, and finally parents that helped them when they were stuck and frustrated. They used to do it well, and there was joy all around when the job was done.

Similar to this simple family affair that united father and son, and mother and daughter, we are those children that God wants to interact with in this huge million-piece puzzle called “Life”. He wants us to put this puzzle together along with Him – We do it, and He provides help. His final complete “picture” is already recorded in His Word. The solutions, methods, advice, solace and indeed “Instructions for Life” that we constantly need is already provided for. If we do not know His Word, we will never know what His Plans are. If we are to try and put Life together without Him, we will never be able to make it on our own. He is by our side when we are about to give up in frustration. He sets everything up, but needs us to do our part….

Unknown to the children, we (the parents) had a larger purpose in this puzzle building activity. I am not sure why we chose this type of activity, but we probably wanted the children to build problem-solving and team-player skills, persistence and patience, self-confidence and dexterity. But God is deliberate in His Plan for us: he wants us to build the same characteristics, and ultimately, bring every living person into the same saving Grace that we ourselves have encountered. However, His Plan can work only when all the ingredients are present and work together. Like a good recipe, every part, including you and me are essential.

God has already set up three-fourths of the Great Commission. Can we add our one-fourth and complete the puzzle? This recipe needs You to become complete. Will you join in?

Here’s praying you do!

John Kanagaraj

The value of “physical training”

I exercise regularly – anywhere from three to five times a week. Usually, it is a three mile run (my favorite route is here, near my house) or a 1-hour body sculpt at work during lunch hour where a group of us work out in an instructor led class using free weights (I will sorely miss this class – more on this later!) Given my previous post about investing in the right stuff, I needed to investigate if the time spent exercising is useful.

Saint Paul, writing to his protège Timothy said this “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (I Tim 4:8). So at least in one sense, I knew that the time I spend exercising has some value. The same St.Paul also wrote (and I use the Message Bible here rather than my usual NIV) : “You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.” (I Cor 9:24-27). While meshing with my previous post, this implied that training is essential to “winning”, whether it is physical or spiritual. (Hold this thought – I will tie all this up at the end!)

The final verse that supported my stance was this, again from St. Paul, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (I Cor 6:19,20). To me, this clearly meant that I was to look after my body – feeding it the right amount of food at the right time, and (because we don’t live in a world that demands hard physical work in most jobs), keep it strong and healthy via exercise. As you can see, the exercise I do involves both aerobic (via running) and strength training (via the body sculpt and other weight training exercises), and I believe this is a good mix.

My only concern was this though: Was the time spent in exercise balanced against the time I spend with Him, in worship, prayer or reading or meditating on His Word? In other words, is it possible to mix the two? I believe it is indeed possible to get these “two birds with one stone”, if you are just a little creative… While running, I use a Sony Walkman and listen to my collection of various Praise and Worship songs. Running is an activity that does not involve much thinking, and I can easily let my mind sing along in worship and praise while I perform this aerobic exercise. My heart and body is strengthened both physically by the heightened but steady heart-rate, and spiritually by His Word that comes via a Christian song I am listening to (and at times singing along in my out-of-tune tone!)

As for the body sculpt class, I was able to spend this time in prayer thus: The exercises are a series of movements, usually with weights as well as floor exercises. We work against gravity to strengthen various muscles – each series is a fixed number of movements. Our instructor is the best: She leads by example, always cheerful, always strong and encouraging, and although it is a tough class, she makes it light. She calls out the number of steps left so we know when that series is ending.

Since these numbers are fixed, I divide them up into as many portions as required and pray for specific people (and myself as well) or things that bother me during that time when I perform those movements. For example, we have side-lifts to strengthen our backs and shoulders, twenty-four on each side. I divide that into four sets of six each for each side: Pray for strength for myself in the first six, for my wife in the second set of six, for my daughter and son in the remaining two sets of six. Then, when I move on to the other side, I pray for my father (my mother is safe in Jesus’ arms), my brother and his family, for my in-laws and finally my brothers-in-law and their family. You get the idea – just break up any series of exercises into manageable chunks that you can use as a reminder to pray for a specific item or person(s).

I have to admit though that there are certain exercises which are really hard. They break my numbers, but I still am able to use that exercise! When my muscles ache and I want to give up, I think about the time when Jesus Christ died on the Cross for me. I think of how it must have hurt to hold his body up on the cross, all for me and you. Amid all that pain, he gave us seven words of wisdom and strength, and even prayed for His enemies! So, when I want to give up, I say “Lord: If you can do that for me, help me do this for you!” And that helps me get through and complete the exercise (most times, anyway!)

So back to the topic: Is the time I spend in exercise worthwhile? You bet! Is this exercise the right mix? Spot on! So where does the “training for winning” part that we talked about earlier come in? I posted about this previously in “The Father seeks..” We are strengthened when we praise and worship and derive strength for ourselves and others via prayer. My exercise not only helps me physically (and that by itself is a good thing), it strengthens me spiritually as well. Just as our instructor does her part and helps me exercise, we are asked to strengthen others as well.

If you don’t like exercising, I hope this inspires you to try. If you are a regular, I hope it will make it productive. In the words of Paul “I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line.” Winning this world for Him takes strength, and you can easily build up “strength to win” this way!

In His Majesty’s Service,

John Kanagaraj

Now there *is* something that we can take into the next world….

The song “The Blessing” by John Waller has been ringing in my mind for the past week or so. In this very popular song, John sings of the legacy that we will leave behind when we pass on. One part of the song goes this way: “Let it be said of us / That our hearts belonged to Jesus Let it be said of us / That we spoke the words of life / Let it be said of us / That our heritage is blessing for life”. While it is important to make sure we leave behind a good legacy, one needs to question what , if any, we can carry on with us when we move on.

Although, the words of Job (“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart” – Job 1:21) indicate that we came into this world without any physical assets, and will depart the world without the riches we have worked so hard to build up, it is important to remember that a person who builds on the foundation of Jesus Christ will be able to carry their work into the next! I Corinthians 3:11-15 talks of this: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”

That “Day” of course, is the Judgment Day when God will judge a Christian’s work. In short, our work here for the Lord will exist eternally if it passes the ‘quality test’ of God’s Fire, and it is clear that we will be rewarded for ‘quality work’ built using durable ‘quality materials’. On the other hand, if we use cheaper hay and straw, this will get burned up in the fire, but we ourselves will survive and be saved, “but only as one escaping through the flames“……

Now obviously, Paul was not talking about building a physical building (“of course” I hear you say .) Paul, however, was talking about investing what we have in God’s work and building God’s Kingdom here on earth! In that case, we need to ask ourselves if we are giving Him our “leftovers” in Time, Money (yes I used the “M” word!), Passion, Energy and whatever Gifts we have been given, or are we using things that really cost us for His Kingdom. I have to ask myself whether I, like David in I Chronicles 21:24, will “insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing“. Before I do anything for Him, I also have to remind myself that “the LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7) I have to measure my attitude, actions and results towards His work as per His Yardstick and His Measure, not mine.

Since what I do here for Him, and how I invest in building His Kingdom is going to be the only possession that I can carry into the next, I better make sure I am using ‘quality material’ that will survive the fire on That Day. And this my friend is something worth investing in!

In Him,

John Kanagaraj

Anger Management

I blew my top yesterday, and yes, I am ashamed about it (rightly so!) I apologized later, but that still did not make it right – it never does That was not the end of the matter – I wanted to figure out why this happened, and more importantly, how I could prevent this in the future.

I don’t know about you, but at least in my case, I am more prone to loosing it either when I am frustrated or when things aren’t going ‘my way’ (which in turn leads to frustration). Rarely, my anger rises up when I see some unfair event or circumstance occur, usually to someone else. As far as I could determine, Jesus came close to the latter in Mark 11:15-17 (and Matt 21:12) when he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. Nowhere does it say that he “lost it”, although there are times when he seems to have heaved a deep sigh that said “now why don’t these guys get it?”…. (Interestingly enough, although both Matthew and Mark place this event after the Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Mark mentions the fact that Jesus approached a very leafy fig tree expecting to find figs and was disappointed. Read more on this in Mark 11)

Coming back to my issue…. I went back into the past to analyze previous episodes when I had “lost it” (this wasn’t the first, although I pray this is the last!) And I realized that this larger, visible breakdown of the senses began as a series of smaller events of frustration that eventually resulted in this public display of anger. I realized that warning flags had indeed popped into my head when these smaller events frustrated me, but I ignored them, and it was a slippery slope that I could not stop sliding into. I believe I could have extricated myself from this future explosion if I had just stopped to recognize these warning signs.

The writer of Hebrews warns us of this in Heb 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart“. It was clear that the Spirit was holding up these warning signs. However, being the gentle person He is, the Spirit rarely if ever whacks us over the head with these signs. It is up to us to recognize them and stop our negative behavior.

So is this possible? In 2 Cor 10:5, Paul says thus “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Controlling our thought life is indeed possible, and according to this verse, it lies squarely in our realm of responsibilities. I need to know that I can recognize negative thoughts and indeed stop them. Paul in fact says this in the preceding verses (2 Cor 10:3,4) “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” So , with His help, I should be able stop my thoughts from following my frustrations, and stop allowing these negative strongholds to be built up in my life….

I also realized that I need to go back to what I said in my previous post (“The Father seeks…”). In short, I need to humble myself, stop trusting in my own abilities and instead depend on Him to pull me through, and He can do that only when I heed His Word and allow Him to work in me. Will you pray with me that from now on, both of us are humble enough to recognize the signs and stop before we slip off the edge?

In His Service,

John Kanagaraj

The Father seeks…..

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” In John 4:23, Jesus made this statement to the “woman at the well”. This Samaritan woman had come out to get some water at the well (apparently it was one of Jacob’s wells), and she came out in the middle of the day to avoid meeting other women (read John 4 for the whole story)…..

Although there are so many things to consider and learn from this short interaction, what caught my attention was the fact that the Father actually seeks those who worship Him in spirit and truth. This might sound sacrilegious, but I initially thought this sounds as if God is actually seeking some sort of validation of His character from His creation!! So we do need to address this question: If God is Sovereign, and He knows it, why does he need us to tell Him that He is the Greatest? Why does He seek praises from us if all that the angels do is praise Him all the while? (see I Chron 16:9 “Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts” and many more such verses throughout the Word)…..

I believe that we ought to worship God (for who He is) and praise Him (for what He has done or will do) not because He wants us to, but because we need to. When we worship our Majesty, we are in effect telling ourselves that He is our all powerful God who is more than capable of doing great and marvelous things. When we praise Him, we are reminding ourself that He is our source. Worship and Praise is for our own selves!

God knows that when we acknowledge Him in Worship and Praise, we become stronger because we stop depending on our pitiful strength and human effort, redirect our focus on the One who is capable, remind ourselves of times in the past when He came through for us and finally look forward to the future with hope because we know we can depend on Him. This in turn creates a stronger people who can then carry out His work in this world.

And that is why the Father seeks worshipers who worship Him in spirit and truth!

In His Service,

John

Hello world!

The words “Hello World!” is usually used as the output of the very first piece of computer programming code that a newbie to the programming world would write (as shown below for a ‘C’ program):

main() {

printf(“Hello World!”);

}

Although I am an Oracle Database techie, this blog is not about technology. Rather, it will be (I hope) a series of letters from the heart, the recipients being this whole world! I am a layman when it comes to Theology and it is my prayer that even this layman (me in this case!) will be able to talk about God in a meaningful way without having any theological learning.

Enjoy!