Category Archives: Christian Foundation

Recognizing our critics

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Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thought:

Apostle Paul in his instructions to the church of Thessalonica asks them to recognize three important characteristics in people; those who work hard, those who care for others, and those who admonish others. It seems sensible and practical to appreciate hard-working and caring people but it’s not easy to appreciate them when they strongly criticize us. The type of admonishment that Paul talks about is done in love where the person who admonishes someone cares enough about them to boldly warn them of their sinful ways. A simple illustration is a mother admonishing her child for playing with fire. We know she does it in love and it is for the child’s well-being. As believers, we should be able to humbly accept and live with people who admonish us, at the same time, when a situation arises, we should also be courageous enough to admonish others in love.

Word:

1 Thessalonians 5: 12, 13

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord, and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.

Prayer:

Lord, help us to be humble when You or others admonish us, help us fix our sinful ways, and also give us the courage to admonish others in love. Amen.

Thoughts, words, and actions

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Greeting in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

Thought:

Sometimes our thoughts are not often as talked about as our words or actions. In many cases thoughts will be the starting point of a good or bad thing that we may do in the future, so we need to guard our thoughts. Apostle Paul gives a good idea of how our thoughts should be: pure, true, noble, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. We should avoid sinful thoughts to stay, sometimes being too busy can also stop us from those good thoughts as mentioned in verse 8. In verse 9, He leads by example and asks us to follow either by what we have heard from him or from what we have seen from him, which essentially is his words and his life in actions respectively. Our thoughts are for us, and words and our lifestyle is for us and others to witness, but all need to align with God’s will.

 Word:

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.          

 Prayer:

Lord, give us your Spirit, to govern our words, thoughts, and actions. Amen.

Humility and Serving

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Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

Thought:
As we approach the holidays, let’s remember to imitate Christ in terms of humility and serving. Though our God is mighty above all, we are here on earth to be humble and serve others, just like Jesus. We can do this only when we place more value on others rather than ourselves. Death on the cross was not only a painful experience but also an extremely shameful form of punishment. But Jesus, at the cost of His dignity and His life, did that to serve us with the hope of salvation.


Word:

Philippians 2: 3-4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.
 
Prayer:
Lord, help us stay humble and serve others. Prevent us from having any selfish or prideful thoughts and tendencies. Amen.

Submit to all Authority

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Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ.

Word: 1 Peter 2:13-14
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

Thought:

Human authority can be upper management at the workplace or local/national governments. In any case, they aren’t always believers themselves. But in all cases they are appointed by God and thus we should submit to them, this doesn’t necessarily mean we agree with them, but we are called to be humble and respectful to them. Grumbling, gossiping, being disobedient and hateful are some ways we fail in being submissive. When we find it hard to live under any authority, we just need to pray and ask God for endurance through it rather than react to their wrongdoings.

Prayer:

LORD, We know You appointed all authority, therefore help us to be submissive to them and we pray that you bless the authority and provide them with wisdom and strength to lead the people and make decisions as per Your will. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

Cornerstone

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Dear all,

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Word: 1 Peter 2:6-8
6 …“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.

Thought: In the above verses, Peter is talking about Jesus when he is referring to the stone.

For people who trust in Him, he will never be put to shame. Sounds almost impossible, but once we abide in Him, only what He thinks matters to us, the world may shame us but, for us believers, the world is not where we place our trust and hence what they think shouldn’t bother us.

The verses also mention that whoever rejects the stone, it causes them to stumble. One of the things that this could mean is that the truth can be offensive to people. Many Jews of Jesus’ lifetime were offended and rejected Him and His message. Even today, the very fact that Jesus is the only way for salvation is offensive to most non-believers, but that same message is precious to believers.

Prayer:

LORD, Help us to place our trust in You, the chosen and precious cornerstone. Give us the courage and burden to lovingly share about You among non-believers through our words and actions. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Holy Life is a Jolly Life

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Dear all,

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Word: But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16

Thought: God has called us to be holy because He is holy. Things that make us unholy can be internal or external. This could be anything like our words, thoughts, actions, people we hang out with, places we go or habits we pick up. As humans we are bound to fall short one way or the other, but God’s mercy and grace through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His resurrection more than makes up for it. Let that inspire us to be more holy and ultimately more like Jesus.

Prayer: LORD, give us the strength to overcome the things in our life that make us unholy, so that we can become holy like You. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

Misplaced hope? Trust God! No Matter what!

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Dear all,

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Thought: What are the worldly things that we put our hope onto? Sports, politics, entertainment, money and even family/friends are sometimes things we misplace our hope on. All these can perish, spoil or fade. A good way to know if our hope is misplaced or not is, how we react to changes in any of the aforementioned things, say like, a closely lost game of our favourite sports team or person, a lost election of the party we hoped to win, sudden financial loss. If we lose our peace  over such things it’s time to shift our hope. How and where? It’s clearly mentioned in the word (included below).

Word: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you. 1 Peter 1:3-4

Prayer:

LORD, We are grateful for your mercy because you have given us a living hope through belief in Jesus’ resurrection. Help us to overcome temporary worldly things that distract us from putting our hope on You. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul!

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Dear all,

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Word: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10: 28-31

Thought: A very common reason believers hesitate in sharing the gospel is that there is fear of being rejected harshly. It can either be direct in the form of threats or indirectly like being ignored and cast aside. But Jesus says as believers we know anything that happens on earth dwarfs in comparison to what lies ahead for us in terms of eternity. God also assures that we are more worthy than any of his creations and hence we are more protected in His care. As believers we should boldly share the gospel through our words and our lifestyle.

Prayer:

LORD, we ask that you give us the courage in sharing the Gospel. Help us overcome any fear and distractions that come our way. In Jesus’s mighty name. Amen.

Psalm 91 Conveys the Themes of God’s Protection and Rescue from Danger

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Dear all,

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Word: I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:2

Thought: The author of Psalms 91 walks the talk by showing how he trusts the Lord before telling us the benefits of doing so. When we are in God, there is nothing to fear, because our trust is in God, the creator of the universe who loves us dearly. Problems of the world like politics, diseases, wars won’t scare us when we are in Him. As believers we have to continually and unwaveringly put out Trust in Him and not be shaken by what the world throws at us.

Prayer:
LORD, you are able and faithful. Help us to put our trust in You irrespective of whatever situation we are in. In Jesus mighty name! Amen.

Every tribe, Tongue, and Nation: Christ – Centered Missions and Purpose of Missionaries – LIVE & SENT

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Dear all,

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Word:  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  Matthew 28:19

Thought: Let’s take a moment to  appreciate the work of the missionaries of our faith. They dedicate the entirety of their lives and sacrifice so much to spread the Gospel, Why? Because it’s Worthy. We all are called to share the gospel to others, either locally or globally. For the people who go globally, we can support them in many ways like Praying for them, being in touch with them and providing resources to them.

Prayer:
LORD, provide for our missionaries, wherever you send them. Grant your wisdom so that they can live a life that reflects the gospel. Give them the boldness and courage to share the gospel in all situations. Help me be caring and supportive of them. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen