Vision Alive

How amazing to know that God wants us to be His co-workers? It shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, and the waters which are flowing down from above will stand in one heap. Joshua 3:13 Ever wondered why? If at all God had said one word ‘let the waters be cut off,’ immediately the sea and waters would have listened to His majestic voice and stood still as a wall. That’s how God created everything. When God said ‘Let there be light,’ there was light. When God said let there be living creatures, they immediately came into existence. But wasn’t all these before man came into existence? Once God created man in His own image, God wanted man to be His co-worker – work along with Him in everything He does. God loves us so much that He longs for our participation when He works. It is not that God cannot do ...

What is love? Often our ideas of love gravitate towards the love of parents, siblings or spouses. All of these are representative of the selfish love of humans. To understand what love truly is, only God can epitomise and define. The greatest experience I've had in my life is the awakening of my knowledge that I have a father who adopted me to be his very own child. For thousands of years in the history, even God's people didn't understand that He wanted to be their Father. So the Lord had to burst onto the human scene in Jesus and reveal his deep desire that He loved to be our Father. The God who set the stars in the sky knows us so well as to know even the number of the hairs on our heads!  He is a Father who provides for our needs and cares about our every concern. Even the most vulnerable beings can reach out to God, call him ‘Daddy’ and be welcomed into His arms of love and comfort. Never forget, each one of us is dearly loved by our Heavenly Father! ...

At one point in time, all of us would have wondered why did God create the tree of knowledge in the center of the garden and forbid Adam and Eve from eating of its frits when he was sure they would break the rule?  The fact that God knew Adam and Eve would eat of the forbidden fruit is His foreknowledge and not pre-determination. If we would not accept this fact, we can keep questioning everything. Why did God create Cain and Abel when he knew Abel would be killed? Why did God create the whole of mankind if he knew all of them except Noah’s family would be destroyed in flood? If God would wilfully avoid any circumstance/incident that would lead us to sin, where is our act of obedience do God? The term obedience loses its significance. But as you skim through the pages of the Bible, you would read of the blessings of God through the simple yet difficult act of obedience. Abraham obeyed God and received great blessings. In fact, his obedience was accounted ...

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul gives practical life applications in order to be a good Christian and a good leader. As I was going through, I made note of several points, useful for our day to day life. Here are they: 1.  Your faith impacts your children’s faith Timothy’s faith is supposed to be impacted by the faith that dwelt first in his grandmother Lois and then his mother Eunice. Your children constantly note the practical demonstration of your faith in your day to day affairs. If you express faith in little things and small problems, your children learn to do the same. 2.  Stir up the gift of God given to you Each of us has some gift received from God. But our gifts are still wrapped and covered with dust. First we must recognize what gift we have. Only if you unwrap the wrapper, you would know what gift is inside. This is done with prayer and God’s wisdom. And then we are to use our gifts for the glory of God. 3.  Commit to faithful men ...

What is God’s will for me? What should I do in order to be in accordance with God’s will? How can I be certain I am not moving against the will of God for me? These are the questions that we often hear in the Christian circles. But you need not complicate a simple truth. When Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica, he gives a powerful truth that we must all know. ‘Rejoice always,’ ‘Pray without ceasing,’ ‘In everything give thanks‘ And then he continues ‘for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.’ [1 Thess 5:18] 1.   Rejoice always Normally, our joy depends on our situation. And it’s human nature. As human beings, we tend to be joyous when something good happens to us. Marriage, birthdays, promotions, functions, recognition, etc. make us happy. We rejoice in God to a great extent. But my question to you is do we rejoice the same way when circumstances do not favour us. It is practically difficult. When I have lost a job, when I can’t afford to pay ...

A GOOD SOLDIER OF CHRIST JESUS Bible says in 2 Timothy 2,3 - Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus . In Scripture, we find several references to the Christian as being a soldier in warfare. We are constantly in a battlefield. To be Good Soldiers, we need three important things: 1.   Courage A good soldier will be courageous. He who is coward cannot be a soldier. A soldier needs to be strong and bold. If you are a soldier for Christ, you need to be strong in spirit and bold in heart. As a soldier problems are expected. A soldier does not sit by the green lawns but stands in the battlefield. He must be courageous to face his enemies. As Christians, we are also constantly in a battlefield. There is a spiritual warfare taking place. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you ...

When Jesus uttered these second words on cross of Calvary, he was hanged along with robbers. Mathew uses the term ‘robber’ while Mark and Luke use the word ‘Criminal.’ According to the Greek Word that Luke used, they were professional criminals, men who killed not for need but fun & profit. Beyond that, we know little about them we do not know their names, their hometowns or the specific crime they committed. It may appear that these two men are exactly alike. They were both criminals who were sentenced to die at the same time, same place and same day. Both are now dying, covered with blood & wounds. But they differed in how they viewed the man in the middle, Jesus Christ. One man wanted escape and not forgiveness. Other man wanted forgiveness, not escape. One robber said to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. (v 42). No man would be in a more desperate situation. He was dying in agony for the punishment given to him was just. The man is close to ...

Luke 22:45 - When He rose up from prayer and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Many a times, troublesome and painful events take place in our lives that makes us sorrowful. The disciples were confronted with a similar situation. Their Master Jesus would soon be taken away from them. Jesus already shared about God’s will for His future to his disciples during the Lord‘s supper. This made them sorrowful – sorrowful for plenty of reasons: 1. They had left everything – their houses and probably their family members too – to follow Jesus. 2. They were so intimate with Jesus for the last three and a half years. 3. They were filled with dismay as to how others would treat them or react to them after Jesus’ death. True, disciples had plenty of reasons to be troubled. But at the same time, Jesus too was sorrowful. Although Jesus was certain that it was the Father’s will ad the very purpose He was sent to earth, the thought of crucifixion was hard to bear. This w...