Compassionate Blessings!!

Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave. ( 1 kings 8:56)

Someday we will understand that God has a reason behind every no. He gives us through the course of our lives. Yet even in this life, He always makes it up to us. When God’s people are worried and concerned that their prayers are not being answered, how often we have seen Him working to answer them in far greater way! Occasionally we catch a glimpse of this, but the complete revelation of it will not be seen until later.

If God says yes to our prayers, dear heart,
And the sunlight is golden, the sky is blue,
While the smooth roads beckons to me and you,
And songbirds are singing as on we go,
Pausing to pick the flowers at our feet,
Stopping to drink of the streams that we meet,
Happy, more happy, our journey will grow,
If God says yes to our prayer, dear heart.

If God says no to or prayer, dear heart,
And the clouds hang heavy and dull and gray;
If the rough rocks hinder and block the way,
While the sharp winds pierce us and sting with cold;
Yet, dear, there is home at the journey’s end,
And these are the trials the Father does send
To draw us as sheep to His Heavenly fold,
If God says no to our prayer, dear heart.

If only we had faith not to rush into things but to “be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him”(Ps 37:7)- waiting for His full explanation that will not be revealed until Jesus Christ comes again! When has God ever taken anything from a person without restoring it many times over? Yet what are we to think if He does not immediately restore what has been taken? Is today His only day to work? Does He have any concerns beyond this little world of ours/ can He still work beyond our death, or does the door of the grave open on nothing but infinite darkness and eternal silence?

Even if we continue out thinking to this life, it is true that God never touches the heart with a trial without intending to bestow a greater gift or compassionate blessing. The person who knows how to wait has grown to an exceptional degree in God’s grace.

When the frosts are in the valley,
And the mountaintops are gray,
And the choicest blooms are blighted,
And the blossoms die away,
A loving Father whispers,
“This all comes from my hand”;
Blessed are you if you trust
When you cannot understand.
If, after years of toiling,
Your wealth should fly away
And leave your hands all empty,
And your hair is turning gray,
Remember then your Father
Owns all the se and land;
Blessed are you if you trust
When you cannot understand.

I am not alone...

So often I felt, a stillness that was gripping around,

At the edge of life I was so often found!

For I willed myself for a fight,

Yet for so long this tunnel was devoid of light!!

Day upon day, as the sun went down,

Deep into my inner self, I let myself drown!

Into a horizon where thoughts of mine,

Played in the loneliness of my mind!!

From that far-fetched horizon,

From this barren season!

I wish I could rise,

I wish there is an answer to my cries!!

I wandered, and stumbled,

My pride crushed, hurting & humbled!

Defeated, and all at loss,

Finally, I found myself at the cross!!

Then I lifted my eyes and there I see,

Someone had been through all this much before me!

I needn’t have taken this entire grind,

For the one hung there, was loving & kind!!

For redemption on my own, I did everything I can,

But all I needed was to have found the son of man!

For all my mistakes & flaws,

He had already given Himself to the cross!

I just knelt and said a prayer for a moment

And there escaped all reasons to lament!!

For I found hope, and a reason

I found meaning to this mortal season!!

From that moment, when I become His

Life has changed into everything bliss

Now I know that I am not alone...

For He loves me, and I am all His own!!

Am I willing to let him go???

The cricket grounds and the milling crowds,

The Coffee Days and the ever so languid ways!

We met so often, and we were friends so thick...

Through good & bad, we'd always stick!!

We walked through the festivities & fairs,

Telling each other "Who cares"!

We ate lunch off each other’s plate,

Got bumped off college for being late!!

We roamed by night, in the lonely street,

And also by the mid-day heat!

Such was the blessing of a friend,

I'd always love him to the world's end!!

Yet when it comes to the judgment day,

My friend & I might be going a different way!

For I realize I was a big failure,

When it came to introducing my friend to my savior!!

I knew the Lord on the cross,

But this to my friend I never put across!

Its not easy and wont happen in a day,

So I’ll go down on my knees and begin to pray!!

Am I willing to let him go?

This dearest friend, am I willing to lose?

Then what stops me from sharing the good news??

The Lord's Most Awesome Creation!!

As the sun beats down its might,

I squint into the horizon

Its brilliance so awesome,

And radiance blinds my sight!!

As the rains continue to batter

I gaze out of my window,

And watch the rain drops,

Condense into a pool of water!!

In winter, the blast of cold,

Leave the hills frozen,

Breathtaking & majestic,

In words it could never be told!!

In all this how can you not see?

That for all wonders of seasons & days,

The Lords most awesome creation,

Remains the dust thats You & Me!!

The God Standard!!

And she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."
The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.

Genesis 21:10, 11

The Bible says that our God is a jealous God and that He does not share His glory with anyone, what it also illustrates amply is that our God is an uncompromising God – be it standards, expectations or fulfilling His Word.

In our complicated and complex lives, compromise is probably something none of us can ever escape, being able to ‘accommodate’ be ‘flexible’ are highly commendable virtues, and yet sometimes they don’t cut any ice with the uncompromising nature of our Lord. The circumstances could be any, the cost of following His path could be any, the difficulty in not compromising could be colossal and yet for nothing in the world, or outside it, would our God go back on His standards.

The above passage is a great example of such an uncompromising nature of God. God had promised Abraham a son, and yet Abraham (with Sarah’s advice) devised his own methods to fulfill God’s promise. Clearly, it went outside of God’s plan! God had his own plan of blessing Abraham with a son… and then fulfilling his promise of making Abraham’s descendants a Great Nation.

By resorting to his own ways, Abraham clearly put a spanner in God’s work. God wanted to give Abraham one child, who would take all his blessing; yet Abraham now ensured that he had two sons – both vying for Abraham’s inheritance.

Our human way of looking at would be to say, “now, what can be done… both of them are sons of Abraham, its but logical or fair that each get a share of his father’s inheritance” … And yet it is not how our God looks at it, He clearly had a plan and He is not compromising on it. He wants to bless Abraham and his descendants – but only in the way He has designed… not with the ‘surprises’ bought in by Abraham.

If Abraham wants the blessing then he had to “Get rid of the slave woman & son”, no doubt the child was Abraham’s own… and he clearly is distressed by such a thought (v. 11) and yet there is no compromise when it comes to God’s standards.

Be it work, friends, relatives, habits, studies… anything… when something doesn’t confirm to God’s standards He wants you to simply get rid of them. Easy or hard… distressing or displeasing, to be partakers in God’s abundant blessing it is simply imperative that we comply. And what happens when we comply is so amply clear from the blessed life that Abraham had since then.

Momentarily, he was distressed… but when he confirmed himself to God’s standards he came to be called ‘God’s Best Friend’... there was no count to the blessings in his life, and the momentary pain/distress never again is mentioned with his story! Centuries & millenniums later... we still fondly remember him as 'Father Abraham' all for the reason that he chose to gave up on what did not confirm to the standards of his Father !!

He Came, He Died, He Conquered!!

When He saw me in tears,
When He heard me cry!
Then He choose to give up heaven,
And on the cross He chose to die!!

For He understood my heartache,
And had seen my swelling sorrow!
For He knew of all my fears,
About that unknown tomorrow!!

So He traded all the trouble,
And took all my pain!
He stood by me through thunders,
Through the darkest clound & rain!!

For He came into this world,
And "I" was all He wanted to seek!
Great and mightly He was,
Yet for me, He chose to be meek!!

Then how could I forget all of it,
And Let His sacrifice in vain!
'Cos after Death came the third day,
When my victory was complete, As He rose again!!

The Glory Of The Cross

The Glory of the Cross is beyond description. The cross is the pivot as well as the centre of New Testament. The death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the centrality of Christianity.

Here is a question to ponder. Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas for money, not Pilate for fear not the Jews for envy, but the Father, for LOVE.

God made him who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Remember always one central truth. That is, Jesus came into the world and died and rose again to save mankind from sin (matthew 1:12).

The passion and death of Christ demands our surrender to Jesus Christ. That is why Paul responded rightly when he declared "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ in me; and the life which 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).

Its apt to conclude this thought with the portion of an immortal hymn that is ever fresh and fragrant.

"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to your Cross I cling,
Naked, come to you for dress
Helpless, look to you for grace,
Foul, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Saviour or I die.
Rock of ages cleft for me
Let me hide myself in thee.............."