Tag: Jesus Christ

Prepare Ye, Prepare Thine

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Isaiah 25: 6-9

6. And in this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees.

7.  And He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.

8. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken.

9. And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

Another year has come to a close and a new year has dawned upon us. Let us thank our good Lord for carrying us through another year filled with a mixture of joyous and anxious moments, tragedies and pleasant surprises. Our good Lord has never failed us. We rose up from our mistakes and are forging ahead equipped with better experiences. Throughout this tumultuous year, our Lord stood by us like a pillar of strength. Thanks be to Him!

As I look forward for another year, I am reminded of a song “Prepare the way” by Darrell Evans and Eric Nuzum. We are reminded to prepare ourselves for God’s reign in our lives. First and foremost, we need to prepare our hearts, our homes and the people of God for our Lord. However, knowing my Savior, I couldn’t help but see the underlying desire of my Lord for this preparation.

Our Yahweh God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to save us, die instead of us and restore us to our Heavenly Father. In addition to the rescuing and restoring of our souls, He deeply desires that we are in perfect joy, peace, health, and success while we are in this world. It is just like Him. It is His very nature. He desires that we be restored everything that the devil has stolen from us: health, joy, success and peace of mind. In so doing, He is preparing a people who are just after His own heart: generations of people who live for the Lord, live in the Lord and live by the Lord. He desires to see people who are victorious, healthy, gracious, peaceful and always joyful. Such a generation of people will bring forth a heaven on earth that we now only dream of. A heaven that we so look forward to where there is no strife or tear, we could as well have it right here when there arises a generation who strive to live God-centered lives.

Make ready your hearts, make ready your homes and make ready a people of God in this New Year as our Restorer God is making His move to restore everything that we’ve lost: our joy, peace, love, health and success. It is not just a one-time restoration but a wave after wave of overwhelming blessings that will chase us down and wash over us. A time will soon come when we will look up to Him and say, “Lord, why do you love me so much?” In that time, all we can do is surrender to His love with raised hands, tears of joy and eyes longing to behold such a loving God face to face. Prepare yourselves, prepare your families and prepare a generation of people for our God. Our Restorer is waiting to make His move!

Love Endures All

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali ~ 1 Comment

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Innumerable messages preached, books written, poems rhymed, songs sung, sculptures carved, and wars battled over this four letter word – love. Yet mankind still searches for that all- satisfying, all-sacrificing, selfless love in this world from another human being or self-made idols. Despite knowing that God is love, we are still seeking a kind of love that is only fathomable, and unwilling to dive in to the depths of God’s love that is unfathomable.

Why is it that we are not willing to succumb to God’s love when it is within our reach? Is it because of the fear that we will be transformed? Is it reluctance to direct that love outwards like God instead of inwards? Do we consider that that kind of love is just a fable when it is utterly impossible to be extremely unselfish? Whatever the reasons, until we tread into the waters of His love, we will not experience the superiority of His selfless, all-forgiving, all-enduring, encompassing love.

It is indeed hard to die to self when we taste God’s love. However, not in our strength but His. When Jesus appeared to His disciples by the Sea of Tiberias after His resurrection, He asked Peter specifically if he loved him thrice keeping in account of the three times Peter denied Jesus. After affirming Jesus that indeed he loved him, twice, Peter could not confirm of his love for Jesus the third time. He simply said, “Lord, you know all things.” Jesus knew the kind of love Peter has towards Him. Jesus’ love for Peter was enough for Peter at that moment (St. John 21: 15-17). Jesus’ command for Peter was to feed and take care of His sheep.

We need to step into a realization that indeed we are immeasurably-loved, highly-favored by God despite of our numerous shortcomings. When His light shines, darkness in every corner of hearts will be dispelled forever. Just like Peter, we should realize that it is not our love towards God that is important but His love for us. When our focus is on Him, transformation is easy. We will no longer be troubled when wading through troubled waters. Our attitudes will change drastically. We are no longer selfish, mean, short-tempered, etc., but sacrificial, kind, sweet-tempered, loving unconditionally, enduring everything with a smile on our face. That’s because we will be walking clones of Jesus on earth. We will be wearing His robe of righteousness, walking & behaving like Him so much so that others will know that we are Christians by our LOVE.

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