Vision Alive

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...

“I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.”                                                                                                                                 Isaiah 43:12 Introduction You can divide the book of Isaiah into 3 parts. Ch 1-39 is written before the people of Israel were taken into exile, chps 40 to 55 was written during the period of exile and the remaining chapters were written after the people came back from captivity. So this ch 43 is written when the people were under the bondage of Babylonians. It was at that time that God asks the Israelit...

I was born in a Hindu Brahmin family. My mother, Jayanthi, was a pious lady and she religiously offered daily prayers to several images of gods and goddesses in our house. I remember as a little child, I and my sister used to sit beside her early in the Tuesday and Friday mornings, watching her chant the mantras and sing the  bhajans (slogans). We did not miss a single festival – these were times of great celebrations. Our balcony, corridor and entrance were filled with lights – light from the diyas (candles). There was so much fun - new dresses, relatives and friends at home! We had all that we wanted in life. Both my parents were working in a bank. My grandparents took good care of us, when our parents were away at work. We were financially able to look after ourselves in the expensive city of Mumbai. But in spite of having everything and despite persistent prayers, my mom felt something was missing – the peace she was longing for.  Things went on. Amidst several health...