The Secret of a Successful Fulfilled Life.

To live a wholesome life everyone knows that we must be healthy and strong both physically and emotionally. To ensure that we operate at our optimum we do best what we know how.

We read up on what to eat, on how to keep fit, on how to be successful in life, on how to make money and be financially stable and on how to make our relationships work. Our resources are spent mostly on the pursuit of our success and happiness.

When we are successful we get a sense of achievement and we take pride in what we have done.  We depend mostly on ourselves, our knowledge, our abilities  and our resources, failing which on others. Very sadly, in our youth we think that we know everything and that we do not need any parental advice. When all our efforts fail we discuss with elders and like minded friends and tap on their experiences and knowledge.

Where is God in all this? What part does He play? Except for atheists we all know that there is a God Who created us and Who sustains us. Yes we have a vague knowledge of Him and He is kept at the back of our minds and we turn to Him as the very last resort, when we know that no one on earth can help us. Even then, some turn to other supernatural sources, spirits and mediums before surrendering to God.

Many wait till they are in deep trouble or they lose their loved ones or they are financially broke or critically ill before they turn to the Almighty. God does help even when we turn to Him as the last resort, but why wait till then? We may say that we must stand on our own feet and be independent first and we may even say that God helps those who help themselves, but sadly that is very wrong thinking.

As human beings, we are helpless without God. We need Him. That is why we are us and He is God, the Almighty. Happy is the man who depends totally on God to mould him and lead him every step of the way. A successful person is one who develops and builds a deep and intimate  relationship with God.

We Christians are fortunate that we have a Saviour in Christ Jesus; God Who became man for our sake to show us how to live and attain salvation; the God-Man Who took the sins of the entire world past, present and future, upon Himself and won us, victory over sin, sickness, Satan and spiritual death. All we have to do is believe in Him and accept Him as our Lord and  Saviour and look to Him for direction.

We have a Success Manual (the Bible) and it is full of instructions on how to live a happy, healthy and successful life. We are told that if we put our trust in God we will be blessed.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream…. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.(Jeremiah 17:7-9)
How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood. (Psalms 40:4)
O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You! (Psalm 84:12 NKJV)
"But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.(Jeremiah 17:7 NLT)

Then we are told that not only must we put our trust in God, but that we must seek Him first, above all else.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33 KJV).

What will be added to us when we seek God first? Yes, we will have success, financial stability, health and good relationship with everyone, added to us when we do the following:-
1.  Acknowledge that we are nothing and we can do nothing by ourselves.
2.  Surrender our lives and our desires and our plans to God.
3.  Let God mould us and use us.
4.  Submit to God's leading and authority.
5.  Spend quiet time with God daily to get our lives recharged and to seek His will for our lives.

Wise is the man who does this early in his life. Foolish is he who tries all else first, because he will be extinguishing all his resources due his stubbornness of heart. But still, even if we go crawling to Him , He is always there with extended arms to forgive us and to receive us and help us. 

The Lord of angel armies is waiting for you. He is waiting to lead you to sure success and fulfillment. Will you seek Him first today?

Under Pressure to fulfill your Pleasure?

What kind of pressures do we face today? There are three kinds of pressures :
1) one that shapes us
2) one that breaks us
3) finally one that is sweet yet fatal.

A little of the first kind of pressure is good because it means we are being shaped into the likeness of our Saviour eg. Pressure to complete datelines or to be in places on time would force us to plan well ahead. Pressure to meet people and mingle in their company for long periods would teach us to be understanding, compassionate, non-judgemental and forgiving. Pressure to get well, would teach us to eat healthily, moderately and live healthy lifestyles. These, I would deem are good pressures. All we have to do is surrender to God completely, in humility and remain pliable in His hands so that He can mould us and use us to bring His Kingdom into the lives of people of this world.

Pressures of the second kind occur through no fault of ourselves. It happens when others pressurize us to do something not right. This kind can be overcome or even avoided  through constant prayer and meditation.  Whenever we are pressurized by others to do something we know is not right or something against God's will for us, we have to constantly remind ourselves of the following words of God, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13) Then we must make the bold step of rebuking binding, casting out and praying against the principalities and powers in Jesus'mighty name. We must also not let these pressures weigh us down but have faith in Him who has promised that no weapon forged against us will ever prosper...Isaiah 54:17. After praying we must confidently pursue what is right and just, without fearing and without yielding to such pressures.

Finally the third kind of pressure is the most sweetest but deadliest. It is the pressure to fulfill one's pleasures without thinking of the consequences. We see in the Old Testament that Esau traded the lasting rewards of his birthright with the immediate pleasures of food. He showed complete disregard for the spiritual benefits that would have come his way, had he kept his birthright. He acted on impulse without considering the eternal consequences. Like him we may be pressurized into following our own impulses to satisfy the immediate needs of our flesh like food, sex etc.  When we see sumptuous food the health aspects may not seem important to us. Some even say, "I will die eating, what I want to eat!" When we feel sexual pressure, the pressure to fulfill sexual urges, a marriage vow may seem unimportant and for those already married, adultery will seem all too permissible. Therefore to avoid falling into the trap of being pressurized into fulfilling our pleasures, Jesus tells us to watch and pray.

Matthew 26:41 NIV
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

He also teaches us how to pray in the 'Lord's Prayer,'
Matthew 6:13 NIV
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ’

We are constantly reminded to  humbly submit ourselves to God and resist the devil. Only when we submit ourselves to God and resist the devil, he will flee from us. Until then he will pursue us and be on our heels.
King James Bible
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. -James 4:7

When the Word of God tells us to renew our minds, it means constant renewal, to do it constantly and consistently, not once, not twice and not even three times, but all the time. How do we do it? Well, we are to  read and meditate on God's Word everyday and be soaked, marinated, fully immersed in His Word and let His Word transform our thinking. we are to bring our every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Then we are to dwell on pure, lovely, righteous, reputable, excellent and praiseworthy thoughts at all times. Below are the four key Scripture references for the renewal of the mind.

First Verse for Renewing the Mind
2 Corinthians 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Second Verse for Renewing the Mind
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Third Verse for Renewing the Mind
Romans 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.

Fourth Verse for Renewing the Mind
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Therefore my sisters and brothers in Christ, let us pray for Wisdom and do what we are told to do in God's instruction manual (bible) to avoid falling into the trap of  acting on our impulses to fulfill our immediate and fleeting pleasures while disregarding the consequences and losing our eternal rewards in heaven.

God be with you always.
Mary Augustine.

Abide in Christ and Soar to Greater Heights with Him!

Sunday Feb 16, 2014

God wants to bring us from glory to glory. He wants to bring us from where we are to where He wants us to be. He wants to raise our level; our level of understanding, our level of maturity, our level of endurance, our level of complete dependence upon Him.

To do that He needs our cooperation. He wants the total surrender of ourselves, of all we have and all we are. He wants us to let go of our fears and embrace His unconditional love. He wants us to soar with Him, above all the circumstances of our lives so that He can bring us to greater heights.

Remember :-

Ephesians 2:4-7

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

We have to, 'Know who we are in Christ Jesus'.

Only then can we receive all that He has prepared for us, all the abundant treasures, stored in heaven's storehouses. Just name it, He has it. It is ours for the taking.

Therefore let us first know who we are in Christ Jesus. Next abide in Him to know His heart's desires. Be afraid to hurt an all loving God by our old way of sinful living. Finally seek to fulfill His Will in our lives with perseverance. All the time remain in constant communion with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Develop an intimate relationship with God. Then we will soar with Him, high up above, to greater heights and will glorify God in our day to day living.

Let us glorify our Lord together!

A Valuable Lesson Learnt

20/09/2013

We had a teaching & preaching, knowing your bible & art of teaching test at SALT Bible school today. First we had to preach a 10min prepared sermon. I had spent 3 days conceptualising what I wanted to preach. I then prepared a written sermon on that topic and I also went on to prepare teaching aids like a majong paper of illustrations. Spent a long time in my preparation. My dear husband was in awe and he said that I would be the top. The test came and the results came too. I thought that I had done very well because I knew I had prepared carefully and I was very confident. The lecturer told me that I was a good teacher but that I had forgotten that it was a sermon and that I was to have preached and not taught. My marks for that was quite low and at first I was very disappointed. I felt ashamed because I was thinking of what the others would think of me. Then I also thought that the lecturer was unfair. I felt sorry for myself because I spent days and hours preparing and I heard from the others that they only prepared at the last minute. I suppose my countenance showed my disappointment because my husband told me not to have this competitive spirit. I then began to check myself internally. 

Then suddenly I had this realisation in my heart. I felt like I was standing before the judgment seat of Christ. Now I thought that I had prepared well, but according to the lecturer I was wrong in the way I presented. I likened this to my daily living. I am thinking that what I do, say and think everyday are all right before God. I am even careless at times.  Now when I stand before God on my final judgement day, would I be found worthy or would Jesus say,"Although you thought that was right, that was not what I wanted you to do, say or think. You got it all wrong Maria." What would I do if that happens? I certainly would not be able to go back and change my behaviour. Nor can I ask Him why those who repented at the last minute were rewarded. Those who received the marks they received, did so because they prepared according to the teaching and expectation of the lecturer. When I stand before Almighty God, my every motive for doing, saying and thinking as I do would be carefully examined. I would not be able to change even an iota of anything after I die. That was really scary. 

When that realisation hit me, it hit me real hard. My marks for that prepared sermon did not matter any more. I knew that it was a valuable experience to learn something from.  All I want for Jesus to tell me, when I stand before Him on my judgement day is, "Well done Maria. You have lived according to my heart's desire. What you did, said and thought were all very pleasing to me. Come in my good and faithful servant. I Am well pleased with you." 

Although I felt humbled at that time, I am now glad that the Holy Spirit used that experience to teach me that I have to be very scrupulous in examining my every thought, word and action to ensure that I am in alignment to God's holy will at all times. The motive which prompts me to do, say and think what I do has to be scrutinised here and now itself by me. I have to do it by myself with the help of the Holy Spirit and not rely on anyone. What others think about me is not at all important. What my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus thinks about me is of vital importance. 

Am I doing something to help others or do I desire to elevate myself in their eyes? I have to be very humble always. I really thank God for giving me a wonderful husband. He acts as my conscience always. I know that God has given him to me to help me check myself. 

Thank you Lord Jesus for loving this sinful me and thank You Holy Spirit for guiding and counselling me. Help me always to live in Your Holy Presence Father. I pray this in Jesus most holy name. Amen!

Grace and Law...do they Contradict or Complement each other?

Does Grace and Law contradict each other? Let us take a look at the following references from the Word of God. Paul says in...
Romans 8:- 1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death.

Gal 2:19:-When I tried to obey the law's standards, those laws killed me. As a result, I live in a relationship with God. I have been crucified with Christ.

Here Paul talks about, living under the law versus living under God's grace.
He says we who have accepted Christ are no longer under the worldly law but under the law of the Spirit which is Grace. Therefore we live in a relationship with God.

But again in the following verses he stresses the importance of no longer living in sin but bearing the fruit of God in our lives.

Romans 6:2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Romans 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 7:4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

Through His death and resurrection Jesus won victory over sin, Satan and eternal death and because of His immense love for us, the Father covered us with His Grace, so that whoever calls on the name of Jesus and confesses Him as their Lord and Saviour, they are saved from eternal damnation.

When someone accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour, first, he is convinced of his own unworthiness and tells Jesus that he is sorry for his sins and only after that he confesses his belief in Christ.Thus that person is forgiven. He then is expected to put on the Righteousness of Christ and live a life pleasing to Him. Why does one have to put on the Righteousness of Christ? Because 'That' Is the covering for our sins. It is doubled up with Grace.

Grace is not given to us so that we can get away with purposeful wrong doing. No, it is given freely to us so that we will have a window period to realise our faults and tell the Father we are sorry whenever we fall into sin. Not for us to treat it cheaply and trample upon it. The Holy Spirit, who is given to all the believers who ask the Father, will convict them of their sins during this grace period.

As humans it is natural for us to slip and fall into sin when we are not aware or careful. Grace gives us time to repent and the Righteousness of Christ covers our multitude of sins. Again we must remember that Jesus said to the prostitute, "I forgive you, go and sin no more."

Now let us look at the following verse.
Romans 4:14 For if what God promises is to be given to those who obey the Law, then faith means nothing and God's promise is worthless.

Many when reading this verse argue that if you rely on obeying the law then grace means nothing and that Christ's death is in vain. My dear friends, I beg to differ. Now look closely at that verse again. To whom is God's promises given? To believers right? Ok! Paul here says that if God's promises are given to those who obey the law...here he is referring to all the righteous unbelievers. When I say righteous, I mean that these people do not believe in Christ but they are living according to the law. They live morally upright lives and they are charitable to the widows, orphans and the poor and lonely and they love unconditionally. They do not steal or kill. They are righteous according to the worldly standards. But the bible says that according to God's standard our righteousness is filth in God's eyes. The bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No one is worthy of entering heaven. Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life! No one goes to the Father except through Me!"

Paul's argument is that if God's promises are given to these people who do not believe in Christ, then what is the use of having faith.

Thus in essence, Grace is given to those who accept Christ. Christ is the only Way to heaven. Therefore those who follow the Law and do not accept Christ do not receive Grace and are not covered with the Righteousness of Christ. This does not exempt Christians from living in right standing before God. Grace does not allow Christians to go on living in sin, when they know that it is sin.

Yes, we are human beings and we easily fall into sin, but we must be able to overcome our human tendency to sin while we are still under God's Grace. That is the main purpose of His Grace which is given freely to us. If someone knows what he/she is doing is against the Word of God and continues to do it saying,"I am under Grace, therefore I will be forgiven," then what that person is doing is like a child of an all forgiving parent who goes on disgracing his mother in public, hurting her physically and emotionally and saying, I am loved immensely by her therefore she will forgive me every time I do it. Won't the mother lose her patience eventually and discipline her child? In such an instance, I would question that child's love for his mother. If he really loves her, would he want to hurt her? Likewise, if a Christian really loves God, he would not sin consciously but would try his best even to avoid sinning unconsciously.

Therefore Grace does not in any way contradict Law but it in fact complements it.

Now, the grace period given to us Christians is coming to an end according to God's Word. After that it will be God's final judgement. So it would be good if those of us who profess to be Christians really examine ourselves and change our lives to be pleasing to God, or else be prepared to face His wrath on the day of the final judgement.

Who say's Christians are not in hell? Jesus Himself said in Matthew 7:21-23...."Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of heaven......And then will I declare to them, " I never knew you; depart from Me you workers of lawlessness."

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Obedience Attracts Blessings and Power!

Luke 5:1-11 (NLT)
[One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee,] [ great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God.] 2[He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.] 3[Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon,] [ its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.] 4[When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ] “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.” 5[“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”] 6[And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!] 7[A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.] 8[When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.”] 9[For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.] 10[His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. ] Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!”[ ] 11[And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. ]

Just this past weekend in his sermon, pastor Pacer Tan preached the following:-
"Peter and his boys (workers), had just spent the whole night trying to catch fish and came back exhausted, with empty nets. After teaching the crowd which was a gathered there, Jesus told His new friend, the expert fisherman, probably a fishing enterprise owner, to go back and throw the nets for a catch. In his mind Peter must have thought, " Here I am, a fishing expert. What does this carpenter who plays with wood, know about fishing?" Yet, Peter chose to obey. His obedience attracted blessings! Yes, the nets were so full that they began to tear."

Now, God's Word says that obedience is better than sacrifice. (1 Samuel 15:22). God our Father searches for willing candidates to carry out His ministry of saving souls on earth. Just as He found willing candidates in the apostles so too we must become willing candidates in His divine hands,. When Peter obeyed, Jesus was able to use Him to further God's Kingdom on earth.

Peter did try to catch fish. Yet he was unable to catch any fish using his own knowledge and strength. Even if he had been able to secure any catch, the catch which the Lord brought in through Peter's obedience, far superseded, any fish that Peter would have caught. Likewise when we, though we may be very educated, very rich and very powerful, humble ourselves and surrender to the Lord and obey Him, we will be used mightily by Him, for the salvation of souls, which is His mandate for us Christians.

Bless & pray for those who hurt me?

He cut into my lane when I was driving...so I let out a swear word or a curse! ...Her boss keeps picking on her unnecessarily and she curses him in her heart... His son is rebellious and he angrily shouts all sorts of negativity to him...
"How can you curse man whom you can see and bless God whom you cannot see, because if you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me," says Jesus.

Yes when someone hurts us, our natural tendency is to become hurt, feel misunderstood, then angry, then we pass hurtful remarks either to that person directly or behind him/her or about him/her to someone else. Finally we presume the motives behind their actions and speech and we become judgemental. This causes us to play and re-play that incident in the amphitheatre of our minds and keep the pot of anger brewing. The gulf created between us and them becomes larger and larger and it will eventually become our final grave.

The anger brewing subtly within us, will cause heart-attacks, ulcers, high blood pressure, diabetes, liver failure, kidney failure and finally cancer. Ha, ha, so you think that all these diseases are caused by eating the wrong kinds food and not exercising, eh? That's where you are wrong my friend, you are very wrong. Unforgiveness, anger, hatred, bitterness, cursing...these are the culprits which drag you to your grave before you fulfil the task God sent you to planet Earth to fulfil.

You may say yes, I have forgiven but I cannot forget what he/she has done. Yes it may be difficult to forget because we are just human beings. Some just try to brush off the wrong doings of others and try to make peace but are stung by them again and again and this makes them wary and they just try to avoid them at all cost so as not to be hurt again. Well I am no one to judge and say what one should and should not do...but Jesus tells us what we can do in Luke Chapter 6:-

Luke 6:27-33 (NLT)
27. “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. 28. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. 29. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. 30. Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. 31. Do to others as you would like them to do to you. 32. “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! 33. And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!

Yes, Jesus wants us to pray for those who hurt us in order to receive abundant blessings, power and all the answers to our prayers. Now before an all loving, sinless God our good deeds are not good enough. What we consider good works according to human standards is actually filth according to God's standard, but He makes all things acceptable, pure and new through the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ. So none of us can be proud and say, "I am good !" or "I am worthy!" None of us are. If God can forgive us and accept us then who are we to hold back forgiveness from our fellow men?

Jesus is now asking us to go one step further and pray for those who hurt us. We must bless them as much as we would want God to bless us. We must bless them sincerely with all our heart. Only then we will be made new from within.

Now imagine that a silver plate has life. Someone eats from it and it becomes dirty. If that plate does not allow itself to be washed it cannot be used again. If it not only allows itself to be washed clean but also to be polished, it will begin o shine brightly. Just like that metaphor, if when we forgive we allow God to wash us of our inner filth. When we bless those who hurt us, and pray for them, we are allowing ourselves to be polished to shine brightly. That is, we will be made new from within so that we can be empowered by the Holy Spirit and be used mightily in our ministries to win souls for heaven. Just as an unwashed plate cannot be eaten from so too a person who does not have the heart of God cannot be used fully and mightily by Him. We will lack spiritual power.

Jesus came in the flesh and so He knows our every weakness. He knows that we will not be able to forget easily. That is why He asked us to pray for those who hurt us and to bless them. Prayers made for those who hurt us and blessings imparted to them will supernaturally release the Holy Spirit's special healing anointing from within us which will miraculously heal our memories and will change the other person. So shall we begin to bless and pray for those who hurt us, from this moment forth?