Ruined Houses

My alarm rings at 5:00 in the morning. My hands anxiously search for the mobile phone all over the bed. I find it either under my pillow or under the bed. I thank the creator of the snooze button and go back to sleep. It rings again at 5:15 am and then at 5:30. From now on, it is no longer an alarm to my ears…. its music.

A loud bang rings… this time it is not the alarm, but my head, and I wake up with a start. I stare at the clock glaring at my face. It is 7:00 am; I’ll just have time to finish my morning routine. I jump out of the bed….

I mumble a careless prayer, that hardly lasts for 3 minutes and read my bible portion in a glance, and then I hurry my way to work.

I’m sitting on a bus and I can’t remember a thing…just what did I read today morning? ….no clue!! So, I take my bible from my bag to help me recollect. I try to memorize a few verses, so that I can meditate through the day. The chill breeze blows on my face…and puts me to sleep. With the bible in my hands, I close my eyes.  I finally awake, when it’s just time to get off the bus.

My day is almost over, and I realized that I’ve exceeded my clock hours. I walk out of the building and am on the way to the bus stop. My ears are plugged with my ipod, blaring loudly my favorite Christian Rap. I suddenly realize that I don’t remember what I read in the Bible today morning.

After a rather unpleasant ordeal, I finally find a place to sit in the bus. My ipod is still plugged in my ears. I have every intention to take my bible and read, but my eyes are too tired. I had a stressful day after all. Besides, I need some diversion. I continue listening to Toby Mac. And when he sings, “I need some time with God, and a mental vacation”, I cringe in guilt.  I promise myself to spend some quiet time with God the moment I reach home.

I am finally at home. I pounce at food. If you look at me eating dinner, you’d think I’ve been starving. While I am eating, I need some diversion. I browse through my facebook page, lazily looking at the photos of my friends. (My eyes are not tired now!!)

I’m done with food now, and every single cell in my body starts crying out in exhaustion. I need sleep. What about my quiet time? Hey, c’mon you can’t pray and listen to the Master’s voice when you are tired; you’ll doze off. Its better I get some sleep and postpone my quiet time for tomorrow morning.

I set the alarm for 5:00 am.

You don’t have to be a prophet to tell what would happen tomorrow.

There were people like me in Bible times too. People like me, who resolved to rebuild the temple of God, as soon as they returned to Jerusalem. They were determined to return to God his rightful place in their lives.

But shortly after their arrival in Jerusalem, things changed. They laid the foundations for the new temple. But the Persian king ordered the work on the temple to cease.

Later the barriers were lifted by another king. But even then, the people lapsed into spiritual lethargy. They were not idolaters, but they had lost their early passion for the worship of the living God.

And just like me, their excuse was, ‘The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.’ (Haggai 1:2)

While they didn’t have time to build God’s house, they had all the money and the resources, to build homes that rivaled that of the kings. And God asked them, “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house(God’s House) remains a ruin?” (Haggai 1:4 emphasis added)

God asked me this question too.

When we say that we are the temple of God. It does not stop with God just staying in us, sitting in our hearts and looking around. It means that God considers our lives to be a source of His comfort. He wants to confide with us. He has a heart that He wants to share. But we are usually caught up with our own priorities, building our own houses, decorating our own imagination, and living our own fantasy.

Today we do too many things at once. We’re running everyday, working against time and we’re infact not living, but racing our lives. Quiet times, have become a thing of the past. When we read the works of great men and women of God, we shrug and say, “They have no clue about life today”. To add to our slothfulness, we now have Christian leaders, proposing 2 minute devotions and quick prayers for busy people. Pitiful indeed.

God’s message to the Israelites was, “Consider your ways!” I guess, that’s the same message to us as well. Most of our habits and activities make no sense to God, and we’d slowly realize that all our preoccupations finally take us nowhere.

“You have planted much, but have harvested little.

You eat, but never have enough.

You drink, but never have your fill.

You put on clothes, but are not warm.

You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” (Haggai 1:6)

Today, we have many attractive man-made principles of faith. Principles that have the audacity to limit the powerful works of an awesome God to some repetitive utterances assumed to be “authority from God”. But our Savior proclaimed the only true principle central to our faith.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33)

We don’t need quiet times to win God’s favor. God does not evaluate our lives by the lengths of our prayer or scripture reading portion. But He longs to make Himself known to us through these quiet times. Quiet times are for us to know God and understand His voice.

The more, I denied myself some time alone with God. The more I felt miserable. It was then that I realized, that spending some private time with God, enables me to see more of Him and less of myself in every situation that arises through the day.

Most of the times, we don’t move away from God because of some shameful sin. We just starve our hearts without Scripture and prayer and ruin God’s house.  Spiritual lethargy is how we get separated. Consequently, the sweetest communion of all gets wrecked.

“Oh the pure delight, of a single hour

That before, thy throne I spend

When I kneel in prayer

And with thee my Lord,

I commune as friend in friend”

God did not reconcile with man, through His paramount sacrifice on the cross, so that He can manage to have 5 minutes in our busy schedule.

God sacrificed everything so that He can live in me and reach out through me.

Will my sacrifices be any harder?

Have we left His house in ruin ?

Are you losing it right ?

One king never stood for God, the other king was blameless in his ways and followed God’s ways that he even dedicated all the gold and silver vessels to the temple of God. Yet both had to face losses.

One king was looted and the other king suffered loss because he had to pay a huge bribe.

King Rehoboam had an idolatrous life and kingdom.In the fifth year of his reign all the huge treasures in his box was looted away by the Egyptian king Shishak.Rehoboam lost all the wealth of his treasury and assigned bronze shields to replace the stolen gold shields. He never really accomplished anything.His was a fruitless, empty reign.

1 Kings 14:26-27

²⁶ He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. ²⁷ So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace

King Asa’ s life was very different.He put away the male cult prostitutes, removed the idols made by his predecessors Solomon, Rehoboam and Abijam.He even removed Maacah(his mother) from being the queen mother because she had an image made for the goddess Asherah.Asa’s heart was blameless and followed the ways of the Lord.

But he too had to part away with all the wealth of his treasuries.He was put in a position where he had to give away all his gold and silver as a bribe to the king of Syria to lure him to severe ties with Asa’s persistent troublemaker – king Baasha who captured the city of Ramah in Judah and deployed his troops there.Having received these expensive gifts,the king of Syria makes a treaty with Asa.Baasha seeing the threat posed by the armies of Syria, withdrew his forces from Ramah.

1 Kings 15:18,21-22

¹⁸ Asa then took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the LORD’s temple and of his own palace. He entrusted it to his officials and sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus.

²¹ When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and withdrew to Tirzah. ²² Then King Asa issued an order to all Judah—no one was exempt—and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using there. With them King Asa built up Geba in Benjamin, and also Mizpah.

King Asa reigned securely for 41 years and built the towns of Geba and Mizpah.

Children of God are sometimes led through losses. Financial losses, loss of relationships, loss of honor,loss of health,loss of dreams and sometimes you could even lose very dear and precious things to your heart that you once dedicated to God.

There are times that strike like it did for king Asa where we have to lose and let go of our prized possessions.

But if we are like Asa, passionate about God’s commandments, following His ways never compromising with the world,and holding firm to God’s Word then even things which seem like a huge loss would result as a blessing in disguise.God uses our losses to weaken our enemy and strengthen our hands to build higher grounds and scale higher peaks.

But there is a question that we need to ask ourselves and an evaluation that we need to make.

Have we placed God as our priority and given Him the rightful place in our lives that we can be 100% sure that He will compensate our loses ?

or like Rehoboam, we in our own compromising lives,have made many ‘functional gods’ for ourselves and allowed the devil to steal, kill and destroy and eat up our potential ?

And are we now living in a false sense of honor by making bronze shields for ourselves and living out of the nourishment of our own egos and arrogance?

Being a child of God does not guarantee you a no loss life.Sometimes you may see the same losses as everybody else,and sometimes even more.

I don’t understand how God works but I do know that He works for good. Just remember if you are hidden in Christ, He has already covered up for you. He is a God of compensation.

But before we claim His promise we need to ask the Holy Spirit to confirm our condition. We need to make sure that we only have God in our altar and nobody or nothing else. We should allow the High Priest to evaluate our status and surrender to His voice when He convicts us.

We can then be sure that the Christ our Lord would lead us not just to build Geba and Mizpah but the Kingdom of God itself.

Are you losing it right ?

From Danger to Refuge

From Danger to Refuge

Every period of transition makes you a little uncomfortable.And it is common to think that what you’re going through is the most difficult phase of your life. But the truth is, that in every step up ; your journey has its own share of trouble and pain.

In the previous stage of transition in my life, I spent the entire time, in denial. Unable to accept the things that were happening.Until then, I was in control, I chose what I wanted and did. The very thought of stepping into a life, that was way different from my aspirations put me in tremendous anxiety.

Yet another transition now, this time; its not denial but reflection.

And I just made a very frightening observation…

I have been living a very dangerous life.

DANGER #1 Instead of drawing a sense of fulfillment and joy out of my relationship with God, I have been using broken and cracked pits, even some ‘spiritual’ ones that I’ve made for myself.

My longings are the most powerful part of my personality. It drives me forward, shapes my thinking and fuels my enthusiasm to stay alive.

The things that I long for, do 2 things to me ; they give me a great deal of personal satisfaction and challenge the growth and maturity of my spiritual life.

One of the things that I long for, is to communicate God’s heart through the written word.Though, I am nothing but a terrible amateur; each time I finish a writing piece, I feel so elated and blessed. But recently, I was wondering, what if I can’t write ? what if someone stops me from writing ? what if a career comes in between ? what if I stop receiving that divine spark..???

Will I still be happy and satisfied..?

Was I wrong in enjoying the fact that I can write ? Ofcourse not. What was wrong was depending on that for fulfillment.

We all have foolish strategies disguised as noble motives, that we depend on, to fulfill God’s plan for our life. Instead of finding our security and significance in God, we try to find them in our own efforts.

Jeremiah 2:13 (CEV)

You, my people, have sinned in two ways– you have rejected me, the source of life-giving water, and you’ve tried to collect water in cracked and leaking pits dug in the ground.

Are you depending on anything else like a good career,a bright academic record, a fruitful ministry or a happy relationship for fulfilment ? Then you are living a dangerous life.

DANGER #2 I sometimes get caught up pursuing lesser goals than God and His Glory. Many legitimate objectives of my life (like education, excellence ,missions or even service) sometimes override the priority that I give for God and His honor.

Charles Colson, the one time assistant of President Richard Nixon, went to prison due to his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Later he surrendered his life to Christ Jesus. He is famous for his unique ways of presenting his clear grasps on God. In his book Loving God, he writes, “There seems to be a desire in many of today’s Christians, to be more interested in finding themselves than in finding God.”

Eccl 3:11(NIV)

…He has also set eternity in the hearts of men…

I think that the thing which brings more pain to God is the fact that His children settle for superficiality.I have God in my intelligence but the world is in my heart. This is evident when I sometimes compromise on my eternal goals.When I think that I am the centre of God’s plan, instead of giving His will priority over mine.

It took me some time to understand that God’s will and plan is not just the ‘best’thing out there, but it is the only thing that will establish my identity. If I end up doing anything else, my life would rot away and I’d just be an unsatisfied, unhappy wanderer.

What if God were to say to you today, that the goals that you have for your life, are not in His mind ? Will you be able to take that ?

DANGER #3 I don’t find worth in who I am but in what I do.

While I was evaluating my Christian life, I realized that my condition is not bad enough that I need counseling, but also not good enough that I can call it an abundant life. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). I react with anger or guilt or spend my days in fear and anxiety. I am not the kind who can say with Ezra: “The joy of the Lord is my strength”.

Thus came the painful realization, that I was really paying lip service to God but depending more on my ego strength than spiritual power to progress ahead in my journey.I never experience satisfaction or devastation either. I am just holding myself together. How different is my life from the rest of the world?
God bases your worth not on your performance, but in who you are in Christ.When we assimilate this , we’ll have the joy that was meant only for His children. A joy that will never decrease.

Colossians 2:10(NKJV)
…and you are complete in Him…

.

Do emotions of worthlessness take over you often because you don’t perform very well? Instead of learning from your mistakes, do you think that your life has no value at all?

Such a thought pattern, will allow a huge range of negative emotions to take over . Remember your worth is in, who you are in Christ.

DANGER #4 Not knowing God enough that we can understand His magnificent love.

Recently in a communion service, God confronted me about my nature of grumbling. The words that brought me to my knees was this, “Grumbling and Complaining is a symptom of ungratefulness.”

I asked God for forgiveness and told Him that I’d rather not have anything at all than to be called an ungrateful daughter. I said, “God, teach me to love you enough”.

But recently, the Master taught me that I cannot manufacture love towards Him. My love towards Him is a consequence of His love towards me, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). Selwyn Hughes says, “Our problem is not that we don’t love God enough, the problem is that we don’t realize How much God loves us”.

In the fiction, The Shack, William P Young writes; “So many believe that it is love that grows, but it is knowing that grows and love simply expands to contain it. Love is just the skin of knowing”.

We don’t usually doubt God’s power or His authority. We all know that He is Almighty God capable of doing mighty things in our life. But during periods of exhaustion, we don’t doubt his power but His love. If the devil can succeed to make us believe that God does not love us enough, then you’re already in his track, with time he’ll be directing your life and influencing your decisions.

Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)

..pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Do you spend enough time getting to know God ?

Maybe you too are in a transition like me, with a head full of dreams and a heart full of God. I encourage you to wait, for a moment and receive some inner strength from the Source. My dad often says, “If you have one full day to cut a tree, spend half a day sharpening the axe”.

The greatest privilege in my life, is to be able to be picked up by God and given the grace to receive Him into my life. When I received Christ Jesus as my personal saviour, He did not just give me something to make my life better, but I received Christ Himself to think, feel and choose in my life.

But most of the time, I fail to experience the life that He wants me to have and depend

on my foolish strategies for fulfilment ,
on my lesser goals for honour ,
on my performance to evaluate my worth and
on my own capacity to love my Creator God.

This kind of living is dangerous, because it makes me a candidate to a whole range of negative emotions that could take over any time.

So I’ve decided to

depend on my relationship with God for fulfillment ,
to never override my goals for God’s glory and honor,
to evaluate my worth based on who I am in Christ,

and to enjoy every moment of life feeling cherished that God loves me with a love that I can never imagine.

Enjoying my lessons!
Callie

The Leper’s prayer

Recently I began to evaluate my personal prayer pattern.My prayers were long, emotional and sometimes even teary eyed. But somehow I didn’t feel connected to the heart of my Master.

I was trying to figure out what was wrong. My prayers, my talks with God were of high priority now ,I needed Him to guide me, strengthen me and encourage me. It was not the ‘making-a-melody’ prayer neither was I narrating mundane events to Him. I was desperately needing God so much. But…

No sign of the Master’s voice.

So I put my dead prayers in the post-mortem table.And I began to see the different stages of my prayer.

*…….the first stage of setting the stage and the person of focus.

“God I need this, I want this, I’d love to do this, You know what my desire is. You know what I long for. You placed a calling in my life. “

*……and the second stage of victorious declarations.

“God you are All Powerful, you are able to do more than what I can ask or imagine, you give me only the best, I can do all things through you, I am more than a conqueror because of you, You love me with an everlasting love, Oh God! you alone are able to do wonders in my life”

*…..and the final closing remarks.

“I surrender to your will God “

*…..Amen

Okay!! What you just saw was not just my prayer pattern, but my attitude.

My!! things come first.

I use God’s power to endorse it…

And because I have no choice, and because my prayer has to sound ‘spiritual’ I say, “I surrender to your will God” as a concluding remark.

It was then that a leper from the Bible taught me a valuable lesson.

Luke 5:12 (Amplified Bible)

While He was in one of the towns, there came a man full of (covered with) leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You are able to cure me and make me clean.

Let me make myself clear, I am not trying to create a prayer formula here. I am just sharing a little attitude check that the Holy Spirit made in my life in the last few days.

What struck me, was this guy’s way of asking Jesus to cure him, “ Lord, if You are willing, You are able to cure me and make me clean.”

In spite of the physical pain,distress and humiliation that he was going through, he gave priority to the will of Jesus . What he wanted, and his desire to be healed came last. The will of Jesus was his primary concern.

I usually used to think of God’s will as His plan, His agenda, His flowchart and what He wants to do. And our life takes shape according to the course of actions that He’s planned before hand. But there is something more to God’s will that I failed to look at.

The Greek word for “willing” used in the above Scripture is, “thelo”. “Thelo” actually means desire, fond of doing, delight, pleasure. The nearest word in English for this is ‘will’.

What we usually attribute ‘will’ to is just a strict strategy of God,and nothing more. But God’s will is not just His agenda but something that He is fond of doing, something that He delights in, and something that His heart longs after.

When I surrender to the ‘will’ of God. I’m not just executing His plan, but I am constantly doing that which He delights and pleasures in.

Isn’t that a privilege that God should choose me to do what He is fond of doing?

The Greek word for “able to do” used in the above Scripture is, “dunamai”, which means capable, strong, powerful.

Whatever God delights to do, He is capable and powerful enough to accomplish it. So I when I surrender to do His pleasure; By His might He will enable me to succeed in it.

What God wills to do, He is able to do, but, what I desire to do I am not able to do.

The Holy Spirit made me realize that my attitude towards God’s will was not right.

I thought I was sacrificing my own dreams and desires to surrender to God’s will. But I was terribly wrong. Living for my dreams would only mean suicide because I don’t have the capacity to fulfill them. But living for God’s vision and plan is rewarding and complete, because He has the strength and power to fulfill His dream through my life.

I won’t deny that sometimes its hard to accept God’s will for our life. Even Jesus found it terribly agonizing.

“And going a little farther, He threw Himself upon the ground on His face and prayed saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will [not what I desire], but as You will and desire.” Matthew 26:39

Jesus surrendered to the perfect will of our Father. Because He knew that what His Father desired to do, He is able to complete. And just the same way, our Father enabled Jesus to a glorious ressurection, the defeat of the grave and the victory over death.

Today you and I enjoy access to the Father because of God’s pleasure to invite us and the Son’s obedience to submit to the Father’s perfect pleasing will.

I am getting back to my Master’s heart.

“Master, not that I desire but as You will and desire.”

I can already feel His sweet embrace.….

Would You show me the Way?

Well, a lot happened over the last few days. A month has swept fast quite quickly, but my hands were quite full.A lot of things happened throughout these days, a lot of times where I heard the profound voice of my Master.

One of my favorite Scripture is Psalm 32:8 ” I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.”

One thing that I pray everyday, and say almost every time I pray is “God guide me”, I say it so many times that now I wonder if I even mean it when I say it.When I read this Scripture recently again, my Master spoke something more.

God’s guidance reaches us in different levels.

Level 1 – Instruction

In this age of the machines, we have gadgets to simplify or and complicate most of our tasks. Most of these stuff come with an instruction manual, they tell us how to use them, the precautions, and some basic troubleshooting information as well.

Most of us who know nothing about engineering design and other technical jargon can handle most of these paraphernalia by ourselves because these manuals do a great job in enabling us operate complicated stuff through an easy sequence of steps by skipping theoretical details.

In our lives too, sometimes God gives us just instructions and nothing more.

Genesis 12:1

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

Just an instruction!!, no strategy, no explanation and no route map.

If at that point God were to explain to Abraham his rather long journey to Cannan followed by the adventures of his grandson, and then the bondage of his generation and their wanderings in the wilderness, their disobedience and stiff neckness, and then how this small race would help bring Light to an eternally condemned world. Abraham’s head would have begun to twirl and would have definitely turned down God’s direction to leave Haran and missed his spot in God’s perfect Vision.

Maybe that’s why God sometimes just gives us instructions and a promise and asks us to get going. When we try to find an explanation, at this level. We wont find it, and even if we do find one, we would still be clueless.

But what we can do is to trust and obey. And follow his directions immaterial of whether we understand it or not. God does not go to the details not because he wants to show off His bossy attitude, but because we don’t have the capacity to understand it. When we continue in this wonderful journey with our Master, slowly but gloriously we will begin to understand the reason for His ways.

Level II – Teaching

For some of us, the only kind of teaching we are exposed to are the never ending, lullaby lectures that we hear in the class room. This kind of teaching is one way traffic, the ‘guru’s’ monologue keeps going non-stop irrespective of whether the listeners get a hang of it or not.

Well, this is not the way our Master teaches. He actually does not go to the next lesson until we have learnt the previous one completely well. Many of us get stuck in our lives, primarily because we refuse to learn our lessons. The moment we listen to our Master’s Voice in every circumstance of our life and learn what He has to teach us, we would be progressing everyday.

But our problem is that we are either too busy to listen to His voice, or too spiritual confessing victory that we fail to learn what God wants to teach.

James 1 : 2-5

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

God asks his children to consider every trial as an opportunity for joy[NLT]. Because He plans a perfect lesson in the midst of each of those tough times. These lessons are taught by ‘faith-testing’ exercises and completing them require perseverance. On finishing each of these lessons, we attain a new level of maturity, A higher level of relationship with our God.

In order to understand and implement these lessons we need quite a lot of wisdom and understanding, that God promises to give in generous dosage. However we are busy praying for deliverance instead of asking God for wisdom to understand His teaching.

One of the most exciting levels of God’s guidance is the part where he teaches us.The more we learn, the more rewarding journey becomes. We begin to see things with more clarity and make decisions with definite direction and discretion.

Level – III – Counsel

We think that if God leads us then our path will be ‘fault proof’. I wish it were that way, but God just does not work like that. He does not believe in military discipline, He is a perfectionist but allows us to make our own mistakes and attain perfection in our pace but in His time.

This level of guidance called His Counsel helps us out when we really mess up somewhere. He does not stand there with crossed arms accusing you like the rest of the whole world, but shows you a way out in a place where you least expect.

We are so afraid of making mistakes that we do not step out at all. Mistakes are maybe not part of religion, but they are definitely part of relationship. God knows that, and that is why in His way of guidance He has made provision for counsel. To guide us out of any mess that we may get into.

Job 12:13
To God belong wisdom and power;counsel and understanding are his.

Don’t be afraid of taking your messes to God. If we follow His counsel, He can make glorious things come forth out of our mistakes.But if we are going to regret and condemn ourselves living out of guilt and self pity, our life would become a burden.

Level IV – Watches over me

God’s way of saying this is “with My eye upon you”. What God really means is that, God does not just give guidance and gets done with our life. He is always watching over us. He involves Himself in every small activity of our life, and loves it even more when we acknowledge Him in all our daily routines.

We really are never alone, God never leaves us that way. He is watching over each of our thought, emotion, and action. Not like a policeman, but as someone who wants to make sure that we get nothing lesser than the BEST.

When you are traveling alone, or awake working late hours at night , or in the midst of people among whom you look really small, or in the midst of a crisis all by yourself. Just pause!! BE still, and see WHO’s eye is on you.

May God’ s guidance be with you throughout your journey!!!

Laboring Queens

The last week was berserk.

Mumbai, the most energetic metropolitan of India was paralyzed with fear when terrorists attacked 11 busy and populated places on 26th November.The Taj luxury hotel, a prestigious 105 year old heritage building was under siege holding in custody many hostages. The Oberoi Trident Hotel was also victim to the same.The Nariman House, which is a Jewish outreach center in the city was seized and assaulted leaving 8 of its inmates killed. The total number of confirmed fatalities of the 2 day Islamic militant attack sized up to 195 and more than 300 people were wounded.

In Tamil Nadu, torrential rains created havoc.86 persons died, and thousands became homeless.Roads became inaccessible, and standing crops in over 100,000 acres of land became totally submerged in flood waters.

I was reading the book of Esther as a part of my daily devotion and in seasons of crisis, such as these times, I’ve learnt many lessons for my own life from the life of Esther.

“…Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” [Esther 4:14]

The Background

King Xerxes ruled over a kingdom that stretched from India in the east to Egypt in the west.

The lives of all the Jews living in this Persian empire were threatened by the order given by King Xerxes who in-turn was poisoned by minister Haman, an anti-semitic.
One Jew was safe, Haddasah, who rose to be a queen and was later named Esther.

She had a choice, she could reveal her identity and fish an opportunity to save her kindred, but if the King was not convinced she could lose her life instantly. Or ; she could stay silent, and live in safety and comfort while her brethren were being massacred.

We know how Esther fasts and prays for 3 days to boldly confront the situation. She meets the king, despite the high risk involved, plans a perfect banquet inviting Haman, and gently revealed to the king his evil ploy , and further created opportunities to provoke his anger and completely destroyed Haman, along with his plan and secured the safety and progress of the Jews.

The Lessons

Some are called to be a queen in the enemy’s palace.

I am graduating in Engineering this year, I plan to do a masters in Business Administration and also want to be certified in various technologies.I see myself as an entrepreneur in the near future handling diversified products and services.

But do you know what I am called for?

I am called to be laborer in the field of the Lord’s harvest.This is not my wish list, but my confirmed purpose.

Every work, every degree, every business venture for me is an effort, an act of labor in my Father’s vineyard.

Esther used her position to maneuver the decision of the king preventing the annihilation of the Jews.She could not have done this, had she been an ordinary Jew girl.[Esther 5:3]

Sometimes God gives His children extraordinary position and power in this sinful world, not just because He loves to “bless” but because there is an assignment that He intends to complete through the position He’s given you.
*God uses those who are willing to be promoted but who are not willing to be assimilated.

Greater the position, higher the responsibility towards the Kingdom.

You need Prayer even if you are a queen.

It is strange how some of us label only a few as “prayer warriors”, and conveniently delegate the conscious praying habit to them alone.

She was the queen, but she fasted and prayed for 3 days in order to confront the situation with the king.[Esther 4:15]

Fasting is the act of humbling your whole being to the sovereignty of Almighty God.Prayer is the result of my yearning to be connected without interruption to the Heart of the Master.

Esther did not ‘brainstorm’ or try ‘six thinking hats’ or operate on ‘metaphorical thinking’ ,or ‘Fuzzy thinking’ or ‘mind mapping’ or ‘Synetics’ , to solve her crisis situation; instead she prayed.

I don’t deny the power of creative thinking, but that comes second to the power of prayer. Don’t just do it, Pray first; a prayer of humble submission.A prayer of total acknowledgment of the authority of God. The Master will then speak His strategy and plan for action.

Because she prayed,

1. she found favor in the eyes of the king and found an opportunity to meet him,[Esther 5:2]
   
2. she came up with a strategy to throw a banquet inviting Haman ;[Esther 5:4]
3. God made the king have swings of insomnia which compelled him to read the old diaries where he read the account of how Mordecai had saved his life from an assassination plot years before.He was reminded that he never rewarded him,so early next morning the king make arrangements to reward him.[Esther 6:1-10]
   

All of this further made way to complete her assignment.

On the day of the banquet, Esther intelligently provoked the king’s anger by exposing Haman and his evil plot and caused him to be hung in the gallows that he arranged for Mordecai.[Esther 7:1-10]

Divine providence will not come your way, without continuous conversation with God.

Give up your present and step out in courage and faith.

Hadassah, gave up her comfortable average, ordinary Jew girl’s life, and proceeded to venture out into an entirely new world, to become a queen in a pagan palace. She had to undergo 12 months of beauty treatment and preparations before she could enter the contest and qualify to be King Xerxes’ new queen.[Esther 2:12-18]

It is easy to play a safe game, and stay secure. But it needs tremendous courage to get out of your comfort zone and dare to take the challenge.It takes preparation and perseverance to be promoted.I believe Hadassah believed that she was not ordinary material, so she stepped out and she made a difference in the lives of millions of Jews.

Once she became queen Esther, she did not settle for luxury, and allow her self to become a slave to the new life that had got hold of her, instead she stepped out in boldness risking her life by deciding to reveal her Jewish origin, saying “If I perish, I perish”.[Esther 4:16]

As a Christian, we need to face battles in every day life, because we have a very powerful enemy who is afraid of our very powerful potential given to us by our omnipotent Father.

We have a choice, we can fight and move forward or grumble and remain where we are.

You make the decision.

Will you step out in faith and take a risk, and reap the benefit, for yourself and many others whose whose eternity depends on you?

“…Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”[Esther 4:14]

Drowned!!!

“Where did it fall?” the man of God asked. When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water. Then the ax head rose to the surface and floated. “Grab it,” Elisha said to him. And the man reached out and grabbed it. 2Kings6:6-7

When people see me, this list would probably pop on their minds to identify me.

Name: Callie

1) Dressing sense not up to scratch.
2)Dark skin tone
3)Gapped teeth
4)Messy curly hair
5)A terrible bore
6)Extremely poor at sports
7)Weak in Maths
8)Untidy and real big appetite.
9)Moody
10)Highly obsessed.

But I believe that when God sees me He uses only one unique identifier.

Name: Callie: #MY PURPOSE#

In him we were also chosen,having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.(Ephesians 1:11)

While we use many parameters to identify those around us God identifies people only by the purpose He’s assigned for them. When our purpose is completed, life expires.Our purpose is the only reason we’re alive.But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. (Psalms 33:11)

An ax with a heavy flattened sharp iron head had a distinct use today. While it was working for other mundane things, it was picked up to cut trees to obtain logs of wood for building a new place for the prophets to meet. A special purpose indeed!!

As it began working on the trees……Alas!!!! the heavy impact caused its strong iron head to fall into the river and it drowned deep. It hit rock bottom. It couldn’t fulfil its special purpose.It was useless and would ultimately become a rusted piece of metal.

Seeing this; Elisha, the man of God cut a stick and threw it into water. A stick?? It can only produce ripples on the surface of water… but this stick brought the iron ax head to float.The ax head could now fulfil its special purpose.

I was strong, talented and bubbling with potential. But while I was working, I got stripped apart and was thrown into the waters of depression,failure, rejection, pain, accusation and loss. Having no where to turn, everything was dark and cold. I became weak, dispassionate, and was just being wasted away in a place where no one noticed.

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath…(Hebrews 6:17)

This is when the Cross entered my life. An unappealing, humble wooden cross. It was the power of this Sacrifice that helped me get back on the surface, and ultimately back to the tree to fulfil my PURPOSE.

The power of the Cross is incomprehensible.“This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross”(Acts2:23). We enter into a reconciliation with our Divine Creator because of believing that the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ was for us. When this happens, we get back on track to fulfil our PURPOSE , life gets a meaning and our hearts are filled with peace.

Money, relationships, status, power are the resources God puts in our life so that we can fulfil our PURPOSE. Sometimes even after becoming ‘saved’ , ‘born-again’ , ‘Spirit-filled’ Christians we lose our purpose, that’s because we begin to focus our entire life(sometimes even our Salvation!) to earn these stuff and to keep us more comfortable instead of recognizing and using these things that belong to God to live up to and execute our PURPOSE.

If we’ve hit rock bottom and drowned deep, its only the Power of Jesus Christ.The power of a renewed commitment, that will get us to float so that we’re picked up to perform our special PURPOSE!!!

For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
(Philippians 2:13)

The Right Kind of Worship

When Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman He says, “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” I wonder if I’m offering this kind of worship to God.

The first thing I do everyday is to brush my teeth. I can’t start my day without brushing. I brush for around two minutes and before I realize it, I’m finished. Another important part of my routine everyday is to meet my chirpy buddies in the bus on the way to college. If I was on holiday, then I have to speak to them over phone at least. Now the process of meeting my friends and talking to them is routine, but it doesn’t stop there, it is an experience. A beautiful one.

When I go to sleep I don’t dream about the smell of the toothpaste or the mouthwash; but rather I dream about the new joke that my friends would have to tell.

It is very important that the first thing we do every morning is to read God’s Word and pray.Though I am not always very regular, I cherish the times when I go to God in the morning and say; “I so happy to know that I’m important to You. Everything that’s important to you, is important to me, I surrender this day to you!!!”. Certain days would be so beautiful, that I would spend the whole day dreaming about the time I had in prayer.

But off lately I’ve been thinking, my meeting with God in the morning, my times of worship; Is it an experience? or Is it like “brushing”? Am I doing because I have to do it or because I love to do it?Do I pray because I love the experience of talking to God, or because it is a task on my routines check-list?Am I conscious every moment that I spend in prayer or is it finished before I even realize it?

Have you become emotionally unstable?Are you struggling with other relationships? Are you suddenly becoming increasingly judgemental?Do you see any major negative behavioural changes in you? Are you increasingly being confronted with fear? Then I guess its time for a ‘ MASTER check-up’ .

If JESUS no longer fascinates you, and ‘salvation’ no longer fills your heart with gratitude, then you need to sort things out, and find out what’s going wrong where.

God detests superficial worship. And if we’ve got into any kind of pattern, we need to cry out, ” Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me”(Psalm 51:11) and see to it that we’re out of it before it annoys God any further.

“At least I’m praying every day.. Isn’t that good enough?” ” Not at all.. Jesus did not die on the cross to get us to be glued to a routine. This paramount sacrifice was done so that He can have a thriving relationship with us, share His heart and transform the dying world through us. But when we start becoming satisfied with a superficial ‘hi-bye’. None of the intended purposes of God are fulfilled in our lives.

Making a relationship beautiful, requires hard work.Maybe, I could tell you some things that I’ve tried whenever I’ve felt that my connection is starting to deteriorate;

• Avoid talking unnecessarily with everyone else until my talking with God resumes to normal.
• I try writing love songs to Jesus (I don’t know poetry or much of music!!!) so that I can arouse my flesh to submit to God’s spirit. (Only God can hear these songs!!)
• Consciously start conversations with God while commuting, or in the bath, or doing something wherein your not totally involved.
• I put up posters on my room.
• Listen to good Christian music.
• Meditate on the Majesty of God and His Sacrifice for the sake of love.
• I meditate on the stupid things I’ve done in the past, and wonder if I can really afford to continue to ignore His great love towards an insignificant, imperfect person like me.
• Every time I say Hallelujah or Praise the Lord, I pause for a moment and think about a specific gift God has given me and I praise Him for that, in particular. This keeps me from vainly repeating these profound words of worship.

Doing these stuff only acts like a catalyst to ultimately get us to the Word and back to our knees with a renewed love and a fresh commitment. When God sees the kind of effort that we put in, He will honour us, and strengthen our relationship with Him.

Talking about work.. God put a lot of effort to make the relationship right.. He gave up His Life.

Do we deserve this?
Are we giving Him the attention and honour that He really deserves? or Can we?

Isaiah 29:13
….These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me….
Psalm 4:5
Offer sacrifices in the right spirit,and trust the Lord.
1 Corinthians 3:10
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

An Attitude with Gratitude

James 4:6
But He gives more grace .Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

James 4:10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.

Proverbs 22:4
By Humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life.

Another king?

“Now appoint us a king to rule over us like all other nations” This is what the people of Israel asked Samuel when he became really old. Samuel is displeased with this request and so is God.

God takes it very personally and He says “they have rejected Me”.

When I was reading this passage, I said “God!!! you are over-reacting, all that the people of Israel wanted was a king like every other nation”.

And as I was meditating on this, God showed me some stuff that He did not allow me to have in the past, things which I was very passionate about but I was bluntly refused. God asked me “Did you ask for the wrong things?” I said “No”. He continued by saying “Had I allowed those things in your life, would you be the same today?”. I replied sarcastically, “Definitely not, I would have been a lot more happier”. And God said “Exactly!!! you would have been a lot more happier and then rejected me”. I tried to argue with God “No that’s not true !!!”. But I had my own doubts.

Every Christian who knows God personally will agree that getting close to God is a process, it is long, sometimes exciting, sometimes painful, sometimes fun, sometimes dry and sometimes it feels like your in love.

I believe that rejecting God is also a process. The first thing that draws us away from God can be anything that gives us security other than Him. For some it could be money, for some relationships, for some education and for some a career; sometimes even good health can give security.This kind of security that replaces God will slowly rule over us.For the people of Israel a ‘king’ would give them security.

I stood there reminiscing my past. I was a lot stronger,braver and confident before. I was secure. But the source of my security;was definitely not God. Today I feel week, impoverished, inadequate; by myself, so I have to rely 100% on God; there’s no way I can afford to reject Him now.

I said “God!! this makes you look like a bad guy!!”. And God said “You’ve forgotten who I AM child…. relying on me 100% is your greatest privilege…..only this way you get to do things and achieve heights you could never have done by yourself;to get you to do this I have to look like a bad guy..all for love!!!!!!!!!”

Friends, we are talking about a God here, who does not want to stop with just being someone who is there to answer prayers. But He involves Himself deeply in our lives and concerns Himself with every activity that we perform. Don’t be discouraged!! You don’t need the securities that you are looking for. Let God rule over you.With Him you will see great heights and explore new horizons.If this is what you are looking for, then leave it to God because HIS ways are HIGHER.

This is what I call faith.

II Samuel 9:5
They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”

II Samuel 9:7
And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”

John 11:40
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

Isaiah 56:5
I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.

Ephesians 3:20
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us