Are you in power ?

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it
when it’s in your power to help them. – Proverbs 3:27

I read this portion and thought to myself, “Okay! I’ll feed the hungry and dress the poor once my cash gets fat” and then I said to myself, “Better than that! if I become a CEO, I’ll start this really big charity and be merciful to all, ‘coz that’s what this verse is all about….when I’m in power I’ll do good”

After a while, the goody good righteous thoughts took back seat and my imagination took me for a ride on a flashy white merc which would definitely be my first indulgence if I ever get some heavy cash.

I smiled to myself and eventually, captain imagination descended to planet earth and I realized that I was sitting inside a crowded public transport bus traveling back home after work.

A middle aged lady entered the bus, she looked like she had a bad day at work. She climbed in and leaned on the supporting pole beside me and asked if I could hold her bag. I took her bag and looked up to have a closer look , her haggard and fatigued face was trying to tell that she would collapse any moment  . I could almost hear the cells in her body scream in pain.

I did something silly after that, I looked at her abdomen, to see if she was pregnant. Ok! I was safe, she was not a senior citizen, and not an expectant mother;  so even if I don’t give her a place , no one would call me heartless.

Suddenly I remembered the verse that I just read,

” Do not withhold good from those who deserve it
when it’s in your power to help them. – Proverbs 3:27 “

My  Master was just about to teach me a great lesson.

Power is not what I imagined to be, not that high throne with a crown on my head.

In this case, the power was my physical strength, and the seat that I was happily seated was the good that I could do. And the drained out woman was certainly someone who deserved my comfortable seat that was in my power to give.

Many times we attribute power to possessions and position. These are the things that we tend to acquire because of power.This is not power by itself. Power is the innate potential God has placed within each of us, which He enables us to use, groom and build upon. Hold on to your power, not the things that come as a result of power.

Jesus held on to His power and authority as the Son of God but used it for the salvation of mankind. The only difference was that; in this case, we never deserved it. Yet He did good.

The power in you is unique, special and is very important for those around you.Use your power to empower , encourage and withhold not good from those who deserve it. Sometimes, those who really deserve good may not  be the exact kind you have in mind. Take a moment to look intently and identify opportunities to be a blessing.

As for the lady, I gave her my seat. She was extremely happy to sit  and dozed off to sleep instantly.Man!! she was really tired.

And I stood there leaning on the pole, smiling to myself  thinking about my fancy white merc. 🙂

God can make the rich young ruler follow Him too…

The rich young ruler could not renounce his worldly possessions in order to follow Christ Jesus.Jesus remarks, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God?”

But then Jesus proceeds to make a divine proclamation, “What is impossible with men is possible with God!”

God’s Word never fails; the impossible are coming to pass today.

My friend forwarded me a link to Outlook India magazine, an article written by the editor of Outlook Business, Anand Mahadevan.

An amazing testimony indeed. I believe this is the kind of worshipers that God is looking for, people fervently seeking a relationship with God and not a religious identity. I don’t want to copy paste the article here, because the effect of reading it in the midst of other national and international news is truly mind blowing and I don’t want you to miss it.

I, The Convert : My conversion was not a change of religion but a change of heart – Anand Mahadevan

The Disobedient teacher

I’m in one of those particular bad-mood day today, for one reason things did not happen as I planned or the other could be some weird hormonal imbalance. I wanted to start writing ths entry without making this proclamation but my creative juice refuses to flow without blurting out the truth.I’m kinda famous for getting into mood swings, When I’m in one of those I care a least about what others think and I just misbehave like a spoilt kid.

While I retrospect my previous experiences I remember one very particular time where my Master taught me a valuable lesson.

I was heading to Scripture Class from my home, my sister and I usually walk our way to church which would take us about 10 minutes. We start by 10:50 so that we can reach by 11:00 which is when the second service of our church gets over. After this, scripture class begins.I happen to teach Grade 5 children and there are 10 children in my class.

This particular day, I started kinda late from home (i.e. around 11:00) which was purely my fault. My sister started walking with me, she had a bad cold that day and was walking really slowly. I am a kind who walks really really fast, my sister is a snail, to top that she had a bad cold that day, she was dead slow. The more she sneezed the more I got angry, I screamed at her for being disobedient and sneaking into the kitchen for chocolates from the fridge when others were asleep. I can tell you that she has a great appetite for chcolates, she can finish 5 bars of chocolates at a time.

I stopped at the middle of the road and shouted, “Just start walking back home, I don’t want a fussy running nose to church”.Well aware of her sister’s unpredictable moods, she stayed silent and said, “I’ll come, you walk ahead”. But seeing that she was really slow behind me, I kept grumbling about her even more. That was when I heard the little voice of my Master in my heart “Callie.. you are just about to teach little children about Me, about My gentleness, about My patience, with this kind of temper, you cannot carry my Word to them, control your temper.”

I argued with my Master, ignoring His gentle stir, and continued scolding my sister, when she could bear it no longer, she started crying and started walking fast irritatedly. My Master had to resort to Plan B.I walked a few steps and phew!! I hit a little rock and my slipper’s strap ripped off!!! Bang!!, this time I felt the hand of my Master spanking me, my crying sister was many metres ahead me. I was dragging myself with the torn slipper really very slowly and crawled my way to the church. I was late by 5 minutes.

Throughout my ordeal under the scorching sun while I was inching my way to church, I didn’t hear a voice from my Master instead I was telling Him, “Thank-you God for this lesson!! You love your little ones in Scripture Class very much, so you would’nt allow a disobedient teacher teaching them”.“Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.”[Job 5:17]

After the opening prayer, this was the first story I narrated to them before I could tell them how Jesus healed the sick woman, and the daughter of Jairus.

I walked back home with a group of laughing children and a surprised sneezing sister, only that she was kind enough not to leave me behind as I could in no way walk in conformance with her speed now.

21st century Josephs!!

I have learnt a lot of lessons from the life of Joseph (the son of Jacob). The 17 year old guy, the father’s pet, with lots of dreams and aspirations about his life was sold as a slave for 20 pieces of silver. He was at that time a naive, inexperienced, adolescent unaware of the dark wicked world.

He kept the commands of God when God didn’t do anything good for him at all. First he was in the pit, then in the prison. He had a choice, he could compromise and become more comfortable or obey God and suffer. He chose the second option. Because he truly loved God.

I have seen many Josephs in my life. My grandfather, My mother, my best friend and many others. But right now I’d like to talk about someone in my church. I don’t know much about her, I only heard her testimony in our youth meeting and I felt that her life is worth a mention.

A simple looking girl, not from a Christian family, but passionate about God and His ways. She got baptized without the knowledge of her parents, only to see them furious when they came to know about it. Coming late to church and leaving early (A condition so that her parents allow her), she would have caught the eyes of many ‘spiritual’ christians. Waking up early to finish extra household chores to convince her mom to allow her for youth retreats.

When the time for marriage came, she was firm that she’d not be yoked to an unbeliever making her the parents all the more angry.”You’ve become bad-mouthed and arrogant” her mother said. Her pain was further aggravated when ‘christian’ proposals refused her because of her hindu ‘background’ (As if the power of Jesus can only work if your ‘background’ is Christian!!). Arguments, insults, discouragement and fear was all that she got in return for her perseverance to be a child of God.

Without the freedom to pray and without anyone to encourage her. She trusted God and prayed tears. “I’d open my mouth to cry aloud, but I could’nt because mom would be sleeping beside me, I’d groan in tears all night.” she said. There came a point when she could take it no more, and she said “God, if you don’t do anything now, I’ll take it that you haven’t forgiven me yet nor accepted me as your child.”

God never allows anyone to be tested beyond what they can bear. There He goes!!! He gave her a Christian bridegroom and she’s going to get married soon.

Its not just about her marriage. Its not just faith or ‘confessions’, its about OBEDIENCE and PASSION for God. That’s something I’ve learnt from her life. When christians discouraged her she was in the ‘pit-experience’ and when her parents did not understand her she was in the ‘prison- experience’. Wherever she was, she never compromised.

Jesus said “if you love me, you will keep my commandments”. She truly loved God.

I’d like to share something that I read in a Derek Prince’s Book “Living in God’s Abundance”.

“What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, that you examine him every morning and test him every moment?” (Job 7:17,18). God does not test us because He is angry with us or wants to put us down.On the contrary testing is a mark of God’s favour.He tests us because He wants to establish our value. A jeweller will subject gold or silver to certain tests.He does this because they are valuable.He does not bother to test common metals such as iron or tin. “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10).

I believe that this young girl has also emerged as gold, and she will now go places and shine forth the light of God and win many lives for Christ.

She influenced me and got me to write this entry. She’d never know that her testimony was being communicated world wide through the internet.I believe that she’ll continue to touch many more lives and win many souls for Christ than she ever imagined!!!