Chained Hearts

Have you ever been in a place where you did not want to do something, but end up doing the exact thing that you were running away from? Doesn't it feel like your hands, feet, eyes or tongue are completely bound to do that particular thing? Apostle Paul expressed his frustration in these words, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. I have the desire to do what is right, but end up doing the opposite, I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing" (Romans 7:15-19)




Is it possible for us to break free of such a bondage? Is it possible to exercise the kind of self control that Jesus himself exercised when he was on this earth? We can debate for hours as to if the answer is yes or no! However let me give you an example. If somebody jumps high into the air, is it possible that he will not land back to the ground? Well, we may say no! Ask the same question to an astronaut who has been into the space and he will tell you that it is possible!



Walk by the Spirit
The bible says in Galatians 5:16 Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. I can talk about the 10 easy ways to get rid of an addiction or the best books you could read or the preachers that you need to listen to, however none of it will make any sense to you untill you reach the place of walking by the Spirit. Where every step of yours is led by the Spirit of God. You can spend all your time, your efforts, your blood and your oxygen in removing the dark areas of your life and in turn end up in self pity, Instead soak yourself in God, in His word, in prayer, in allowing Him to talk to you, in letting His glorious light shine over the dark areas of your life, and see how you don't even remember the day or the date when you actually broke free off of your addictions.


Know the Truth
Jesus said "you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32 ESV) As much as a person needs a release in the spirit, so much so does he need to have renewal in his mind! And that comes only by knowing the truth. At times the devil tries to deceive you by getting you to believe all the lies about yourself and your habits. Truth is at times painful, however a lotliberating. I remember the days I was hooked to masturbation, when the devil used to convince me with the teenage saying "it's ok", and that "I can never get rid of it". But the truth is that sin will have no dominion over me, since I am not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:14 ESV) When this truth about the matter invaded my mind, exposing every deceiving lies of the devil, I knew I had won the battlefield of my mind!


Slaves of Righteousness

Heed to this firm commandment in the word of God, Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6:13) Though the battle begins in the spirit and is fought in the mind, it is finally triumphed upon in the body! If your actions don't support what you have been experiencing in your spirit and soul, then all your experiences are worth nothing, but a fancy waste of time. You have to let the victory you have experienced in your spirit and in your mind to sink into your body, to the extent that even your flesh craves for nothing but God, to the extent that every part of your body becomes slaves to righteousness.

Walk by the Spirit, allign your spirit completely to the Spirit of God even as you commune with him, allow the revelations He gives you to flood your mind and free you from the devil's lies and allow your body to be chained by righteousness, where you do nothing but that which glorifies God and exhibits His righteousness, and that's what it takes to exhibit Self-Control. Galatians 5:22,23; The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, SELF-CONTROL; against such things there is no law.

Am I Humble?

Key Verse:
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men… He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him…"
(Philippians 2:5-9 MKJV)

Intro:
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Gentleness… (Galatians 5:22-23 ESV) Personally speaking, this one's is my favorite! There is nothing that impresses me more than a person who is humble. Bible is very clear about the fact that there is none that can impress the heart of God the way humble hearted people can do. Gentleness, humility, meekness, call it what you want, is the quality that we are looking at, in this post. It is a state of the heart not of the mind or the body. Whatever possesses your heart will possess your mind and in turn dictate how you act outwardly. Of course we have been hanging out with too many religious folks, that we all know how to put on the humility mask outwardly. Guess what, that doesn’t last long, one day or other you will be embarrassed to find out that the beans have spilled!


The Meek Moses:
One of my favorite characters in the bible is Moses. Bible says that the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3 ESV) Wow! Is God comparing Moses' humility with others? Of course yes! Some people wrongly define humility as compromise or living in surrender to people. Well, Moses wasn’t doing so. He was one of the most fiery man you could have encountered in the whole Israeli camp. If you are genuinely interested in developing humility in your life, I will suggest that you take out some time to do a character sketch study of Moses. Moses, though he was brought up in the royal palace, with the royal training and luxury, had to come to the place of no confidence in the flesh and absolute dependence upon God before God could start using him. Christians don’t believe in the concept of self confidence but in God confidence.  Moses was pastoring a church of over 2 million people in the context of that verse. That's humility.


Success follows Humility:
Jesus laid down the ground rule for promotion in the kingdom of God when he said "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."(Matthew 23:12 ESV) I know that it's not the way things work in the secular world, in the corporate sector, in all the glamour industry, etc. Out there, if you have to make it big, you have to prove yourself good, better and best! In the kingdom of God, somebody like an unwise and uneducated child gets more preference than a rocket scientist or the best philosopher around. Funny, isn't it? Here, the more you humble yourself, the more you will be lifted high. Again and again, the bible gives you a shortcut to success, it is humility. Jesus said when you pray, don’t pray in a way or place where everyone can see you. Instead, humble yourself and pray in a way that only your Father in heaven can see it, only then will you be rewarded! (Matthew 6:5,6)


Humility is painful:
Another fact about humility is that  it is very painful and discouraging to lead a life that's truly marked with humility. That is why very few people have it till the end. There are many people who started off with small beginnings and absolute dependence on God. However, when God starts changing the circumstances, our attitude towards everything starts changing for the bad! This is cause a life devoid of humility is enjoyable. But a life filled with humility is very painful, it is like dying to self. Jesus said"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24 ESV) Paul said "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20 ESV) The grain of wheat looses its individual identity to give birth to lot more other grains of wheat. Doing that is painful!


Am I Humble?
Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5 ESV) Can we take some time to inspect our hearts and check if we are truly humble from the inside? I pray that we will always keep this exhortation of Apostle Paul on our hearts. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus!

'Pistos' Children !!

Key Verse:
His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' (Matthew 25:21,23 ESV)




Intro:
The word "Faithful" is one of the favorite adjectives of all the new testament speakers and authors. As a matter of fact there are almost 48 verses in the new testament itself referring to God's faithfulness towards us and to the faithfulness of many believers. Note that Jesus never said, all who have prayed the salvation prayer and go to church regularly will be saved! But he said, the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:13 ESV) and further added "Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life." (Revelation 2:10 ESV)  (Galatians 5:22 ESV)  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, Faithfulness…


Word Meaning:
Webster's dictionary explains faithfulness as genuine loyalty, firm adherence to allegiance & duty, fidelity, strict adherence to promises, trustworthiness, etc. Goodness and faithfulness are the two sides of the same coin. A person who is not integrally good can never remain faithful, and a person who is unfaithful, lacks genuine integrity. The root Greek word for faithfulness is 'pistis' and for faithful is'pistos'. It is generally translated in the new testament as faith or assurance or belief or fidelity. Strong's dictionary defines this word as a 'moral conviction'. In other words, if a person has to demonstrate genuine faithfulness, he needs to have a strong moral conviction about who he is and what God expects from him!


Degrees of Faithfulness:
Jesus quoted many parables teaching about the importance of faithfulness. We could deduce a few conclusions on the basis of those parables. The first is "to whom much is entrusted, from them more will demanded" (Luke 10:48). Self explanatory, isn't it? If you have learnt more, seen more, have more and lived longer than your brother, trust me you will have to give a greater account. Thesecond is "one who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much" (Luke 16:10). At times we ask God reasons for scarcity of resources or souls. It is generally cause God is testing our faithfulness in little things before trusting us with greater resources or souls. The third is "God tests our faithfulness in money before trusting us with spiritual riches" (Luke 16:11). Jesus preached more about money than any other preacher in the bible. Here is the reason, as long as God doesn’t see us use money wisely and faithfully, God will not trust us with true spiritual blessings. The fourth is "lack of faithfulness can land you up in hell" (Matthew 25:15-30). As scary as that sounds, it's true!!


Son or Servant?
There is a great difference in the faithfulness of the old testament and the new testament. The attitude of the saints in the old testament is different than the attitude of believers in the new testament. Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. (Hebrews 3:5,6) That is the same attitude that God expects from us. There is a great difference between Sons and Servants. God has given us the authority to be his children (John 1:12). A servant will only be faithful as long as he is paid well and is well appreciated. But the attitude of a son is not so. A son takes the ownership of the entire thing that his father has entrusted in his hands. He will never give excuses because he has taken up the responsibility to see the task fulfilled.

However, we can never serve as sons before we learn how to serve as a servant!! (Luke 16:12) We all start as children and as servants. As we live in obedience to God and the leading of his Spirit, we mature into becoming sons. Faithfulness is an essential quality of a loyal son. Not only is it enough to know who we are but also to know what we are supposed to do. We need to know the purpose of our lives and the call of God upon our lives. We need to be faithful in the ministry that God has entrusted us with, on this planet earth. The people that come our way don’t just walk right in. God brings them our way by divine appointment. May the Lord help us to remain faithful in all those small and big relationships as well. If we have a strong moral conviction of who we are and what we are called to do, faithfulness is bound to follow in our character!

Looking forward to that day, when my Master will call me "Good and Faithful" servant, I pray and hope that's your desire also.

Inheriting "Goodness"

Key Verse:
I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. (Romans 15:14 ESV)





Intro
A ruler once came to Jesus and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (Luke 18:18-19 ESV) In essence Jesus was linking the quality of "goodness" as something that only God possess. Galatians 5:22 states But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness… In today's lingo, we use 'good' as a very general word. The Greek word used in this context is chrēstotēs which Thayer's dictionary translates as moral goodness and integrity. The word integrity in the whole of new testament is generally translated as goodness.


Being Complete:
Moral goodness or Integrity could be simply explained as 'Demonstrating trustworthiness by doing what is good and saying what is right'. The word integrity is related to the word integer, often used in Mathematics, which is also rooted in Latin. An integer is an individual entity. It represents wholeness or completeness, in contrast to a fraction, which is incomplete. The root word tangere means "to touch", so integer means "untouched, entire" (adapted from Cultivating Character, Character Solutions International) This leads us to explain chrēstotēs as wholeness or completeness of character. That is of course essentially a quality that only God possess!! That is why Jesus said "No one is good except God alone".


Is it possible?
Apostle Paul, mentions goodness as the fruit of the spirit. I have had people ask me, if it is ever possible to attain perfection or completeness in character as long as we are on earth. The answer is yes, Gal 5:22 supports that! When we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us to the extent of producing the fruit of the Spirit, we could come to a place where we are perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. That's what Jesus commanded us to do. (Matt 5:48) If it wasn’t possible, the Lord would have never commanded us to do so. I pray that, this will be the aim and focus of our hearts all day long, that we be found blameless and perfect in character in everything we do and say.


Growth is Essential:
In other words, since we are born of the Spirit, we inherit the goodness of God, though it might take some time for it to show up in our character and our lives. A baby when it is born, doesn’t exactly look like his Father. As it grows, he becomes more and more like his Father. As long as we are spending time in knowing God, learning from him and growing continually into him, we will never lack goodness in our lives. Children, however sweet they are, have a very selfish and attention seeking attitude. A friend once tweeted "It's cute to be kid, but to always remain so is not so cute!, God desires growth"

My prayer is that we will be full of the Goodness of God. Our level of integrity should be at such levels that people should be able to trust us on our word, than our signed letters and bonds!

Sweet Hearted Christian!!

Key Verse:
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.(Ephesians 4:32 ESV)




Intro:
It feels good to start writing again after 2 months!! I have been spending time praying, thinking, observing and working upon this post since the last post. Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,,, It is often hilarious and also painful to watch Christians who claim to believe in and follow Jesus and the bible talking and acting rude to people around them and even with other fellow believers without even a hint of kindness. It is one thing to put on a sweetheart's mask when in church or when with believers, but it’s quite an other thing to become a person who by nature is kind, tenderhearted and gentle in talk and behavior.

It's in my blood!
I have heard people say: it's in my blood, brother! I just cant take things coolly! I am always hot! Etc, etc!! Jesus said, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6) If you are a born again Christian you cannot give that reason! Cause, now it’s the life and blood of Jesus that's working in your body. Jesus was a person so kind and sweet that the children loved to hang out with him, the worst sinners in town found comfort being with him, so did the cruel roman soldier who crucified him also testify about him. It was always the hypocrites and the religious nuts who were the focal point of Jesus' anger.

Forgiveness is the Key!
One of the key thing in being kind hearted is the aspect of forgiveness. In this life of ours, we will of course run into one another, rub against one another, offend one another in small or big things. It might be a person you know or whom you don’t know at all who has hurt you. It is easier to forgive someone whom you don’t know than to forgive someone who means so much to you. The standard of forgiveness mentioned in Eph 4:32 is God forgiving us of our sins! You and I know it deep within that we don’t deserve this kindness from God. But he did forgive us. That's exactly what God expects us to do with people who rub against us! The standard of forgiveness is not to the extent of your patience or till he or she "gets to your nerves". Its as God in Christ forgave you.

Words are important, so guard your heart!
The saying goes this way, Actions speaks louder than words. Its true, but at the same time a kind word spoken can be heal faster than the best medicines available.(Prov 15:4) When it comes to an act of kindness, I believe gentle and loving words can speak louder than the kindest of the actions! Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.(Eph 4:29) Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. If you and I by the power of the Holy Spirit constantly guard our hearts from the world's culture portrayed  continually in the newspapers, magazines & movies and keep it pure and undefiled by greed, hatred and lust we will by default become kind Christians. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.(Matt 5:8) Such a person will see God in everyone and serve them as if he is serving God.(Eph 6:7) Remember  Matthew 25: 34-46

In Conclusion,
Jesus said, Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:38) If you believe in Jesus, and trust in him according to his word, out of your heart will flow rivers of sweet and living water which will overflow through your words and actions giving life and taste to every dead person and situation coming your way. Such a person is whom Jesus would have called the salt of the earth, and I would call a Sweet Hearted Christian! I pray that we'll willingly take up this challenge of becoming like Jesus in every words and actions of ours!

Beware you Choleric !!

Key Verse:
However, because of this I was shown mercy, so that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, as a pattern for those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.
(1 Timothy 1:16 EMTV)

Intro
The first of the character traits of a person's love for his neighbor is his patience. Since we live in a community, it is but obvious that we will brush into each other, hurting or offending each other. There is no way you can live in a community yet not offend anyone in you entire life. It is because the fall not only destroyed Adam's relationship with God but also his relationship with Eve. Patience is not showed in action but in your reaction. It deals with how you react when someone crosses your line. If the person is an extrovert he might just blow off his head on that person while an introvert will get carry the hurt in his heart. Both of which is unhealthy.  But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience… true patience or longsuffering is a result of genuine and selfless love for people around us.


WDJS
What did Jesus Say about patience? Jesus said in Luke 17:4, if your brother sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him. The standard for patience that Jesus taught, at times seems unattainable to me. How can I simply let go off someone who offends me 7 times in the same day? I can imagine why the disciples replied to him saying "Increase our faith". They obviously didn’t think they could ever do that. However all of Jesus' teaching in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-7 seem to emphasize and reemphasize the same over and over again. The KJV bible translates patience as Long-suffering in most places. It brings out the meaning of what Jesus intended it to be. It is not just suffering. It is suffering long. Jesus said Do not resist the one who is evil (Matt 5:39), if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. I have heard people (including me) say, I will not allow anyone to take advantage over me or try to control me. But that's exactly what Jesus taught and practiced for us to follow.

Paul says, I was shown mercy, so that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, as a pattern for those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. In simple words, Paul says its not my duty to be patient or longsuffering. The Christ who dwells in me will show forth his longsuffering through me. In other words, I am just a branch, he is the vine. It is his duty to bear the fruit. My duty is to just remain attached to the vine.


Practical Implications
Strength is born in the deep silence of long-suffering hearts; not amid joy, said Sir Arthur Helps. Patience is one such virtue that cannot be cultivated in our lives without people or situations rising up against us. Just like muscles cannot be developed without pressure and weight applied against your body, a person who wants to be patient should be always willing to face opposition and try to use every opportunity that comes his way to develop patience, instead of blowing off one's head or getting discouraged.

The bible says, be angry and do not sin. Anger is a natural emotion. At times inherited genetically. Patience keeps you from sinning. Patience does not mean you will not have the natural tendency of getting angry. It means, that you will control yourself even though you are angry. It means, you will forgive even though you are deeply hurt. Forgiving someone who has wronged you is a very essential thing in the new testament church. Jesus said, you should not even pray or worship or give if you haven't forgiven someone you ought to have. (Matt 5:23-24). If you wont forgive your brother, your Father in heaven wont forgive you either. Forgiveness is appropriated only when it is from the heart.


In Conclusion
We have a natural tendency to excuse ourselves saying, we are short tempered in nature or cant bear injustice and all that crap. However, Jesus never made a special provision in his teachings for short tempered people. As disciples of Jesus we are expected to reflect his image in our lives. He suffered till the point of death, without opening his mouth for anything other than to forgive and to bless them that persecuted him. Let us look onto Jesus, the perfect one, who's the author and finisher of our faith life. If he could do it, you and I can also achieve it through the sin-conquering power of the Holy Spirit.

Who’s my neighbor?

Key Verse:

Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.  (1 Corinthians 10:24 ESV)

Intro

The cross of Jesus Christ had two wooden planks, a vertical one and a horizontal one. The death of Jesus Christ brings reconciliation not only in our relationship with God but also in our relationship with our fellow human beings. It is not possible that one can truly love God and ignore the people around him. That's why Jesus said the second is equally important, "Love your neighbor as yourself." We are living in a day and age when helping someone is looked upon with suspicion even by the person being helped. No one cares about the other. As a matter of fact, sometimes even if we care, we don’t have the time to show that we care!

Biblical Understanding/WDJS:

The people around us can be divided into our immediate friends and family, our church, our non-believer friends and then the people we are not related to in any way. The bible talks about how godly and respectable our relationship with each of this group should be.

The first category is the Friends and Family. The Lord Jesus was once told that his mother and sisters are waiting outside the room to meet him. Jesus replied saying the ones who are inside the room and listening to him speak, are his family. In other words Jesus meant that the church where you fellowship is your real family. They are also your immediate parents, brothers, and sisters. The bible is very clear about our responsibility towards our family. As a child, to obey. As a husband to love, as a wife to submit. And as brothers and sister to live in harmony. This applies not only to our biological family, but also to our spiritual family, i.e. the church!

The second category is our friends who are not believers. As true friends, we have a great responsibility to shine the light of God into their lives. Jesus said "Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father." It is God who has placed you in that particular friendship, or relationship with a specific purpose of shining his light in their lives. Friendship is not just about hanging out together, having fun, going for games together and doing stuff together. It's more about keeping your life as an open book before the other person that the light of God might shine through you. Jesus made a friend in that thief even when he was hanging on the cross.

The third category is the people we don’t know or not related at all. We are all aware of the story of the good Samaritan. The Samaritan man was probably seeing the hurting traveler for the first time in his life. Still he chose to wait and help. Taking upon himself the risk of being attacked by similar robbers and also missing his important appointments for the day (things we consider so important). I can imagine someone doing that for a friend or a family member, but helping a total stranger is something unheard of. This story was in reply to a question asked to Jesus, Who's my neighbor?

An Example:

The life and ministry of Heidi Baker is one living example of obeying the command of Jesus "Love thy neighbor as yourself" God has used her apostolically to change the course of an entire nation of Mozambique, and reach out to 25 other nations just on the simple principle of preaching and practicing divine love. What identifies her with Jesus is not the numerous number of signs and wonders in her ministry but the expression of self sacrificing love. Its said that even the street children has access to the very same clothes her children wears! Her sermons are an expression of her worship and love for God. Oh how we need more people with self sacrificial love like Heidi Baker. Recommended read; 'Compelled By Love' by  Heidi Baker and Shara Pradhan

Practical implications:

Some people have a completely wrong understanding of the whole topic. They just go out on a charity spree! Nothing wrong in doing that, though! If you have the money please go ahead and do that. The point I want to make is that you need not have love or compassion to do a lot of charity. Anyone with a lot of money can do it and those who don’t can excuse themselves by saying 'I am not capable of doing that!' Please understand that God doesn’t judge you by your actions but by your motives. If the motives are right even a glass of plain water given to someone is a great feat. Two principles behind being a good neighbor is being Selfless and beingSensitive. The root cause of all sins is selfishness. The day your self and your selfish ambitions die you will start to become sensitive to other people's needs and helplessness. It says Jesus was moved with compassion every time he saw a suffering person. If we are just sensitive to the people around us, we would know of numerous number of things we could say and do that would make us a loving neighbor to many in this hurting world.

Conclusion:

Did you know that being insensitive to the people around you can land you up in hell? Please read Matthew 25:31-46 to understand that. Whatever category of people you are dealing with, its very important to be selfless and to be sensitive! Why don’t you ask God to make your heart and mind more sensitive to people around you and their real needs. Even when Jesus was on the cross he was sensitive to the needs to his family, the unbelieving friends and even the people who were mocking at him. As a result Mary got a new son in John, the thief on the cross entered the paradise and a roman centurion got saved!! I pray that the life and character of our Lord Jesus Christ may shine through your life for many around you to see and believe in HIM!