Finest Salvo

PRAYERS

Sometimes prayers will make you bone tired. God’s love is something that man cannot fathom. Problem lies with the fact that we cannot segregate our beings or rather we confuse ourselves whether we are in spirit or soul or body. Proper clarity about God’s intent will go a long way.

Power of prayers should enliven and rejuvenate. On the contrary, mostly; it leaves the common populace listless and poker faced. Prayers are not mumbling words of pain, sorrow or happiness. It is a dedicated self forgetting experience. If your prayers are so deep-rooted in an unearthly manner, God certainly gets disturbed and turns your way.

Prayer, at its height, gets synchronized with that of God resulting in Heavenly bliss. Whatever the circumstantial compulsion, our faith should not get watery- (James 5:8-11). We are upbeat and vociferous in our faith when we are in control of our situational supremacy. When we slip through crevices of uncertainty, our faith gets thinner and diluted.

Our faith doesn’t carry conviction when we are conflict incarnate. Faith shouldn’t be defiled even by the slightest trace of impiety. Sometimes life will present you with scenarios of pandemonium. In such manic moments keeping faith, strong and imperturbable, is a rigorous regimen God expects us to practice and perfect.

Even in trying turn of events and worst of tribulations, if you are a firm believer God sends you suitable and stentorian solutions to your predicament-(Haggai 1), through somebody who He thinks fit (Zechariah 4:6-10). Prayers pregnant with substance and not somnambulated are what exhilarate our Lord!!

Praise the Lord!!

 

Companionable Warrior

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit” says the Lord Almighty  Zechariah 4:6

For the needy and the desperadoes God’s solace reaches them in multifarious ways. We look to God with burdensome supplications hoping He would disseminate blessings of rectitude and we long for semblance of God’s bounteous rush. When we are tired and devastated by the inordinate delay and ambiguity punctures the fabric of our faith, God unpredictably inundates with his Grace. When we get embroiled in monumental chaos He ameliorates mountainous imbroglio through a single epithet of His, meaning he turns His kindly spotlight on you, helps you ward off all obtrusive issues that bottleneck you.

“What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to the shouts of, ‘ God Bless it! God Bless it!’ ” – (Zechariah 4:7 )

We cannot but admire God’s  protective presence against antagonistic arrogance of supercilious and haughty. Wondrously God snaps his attention upon people of  moronic mischief and keeps them at unreachable distance from His children. His merciless gaze bores into  seemingly impenetrable visage of the dubious and the  inimical. God is tireless in saving His children, deflecting the mindful misdirection of the undelivered. (Nehemiah 6:2 -4)

God understands that Satan’s multi-pronged attack, more often than not disorients His children, despite thunderous messages. Satan twists and turns human vulnerabilities to inhuman levels that God’s belligerent presence hamstrings Satanic advancement. We must understand that God’s power is so stupendous that He generates flashes of goodness even from the vortex of evil.

Human eye doesn’t perceive evil but lethargically acts on it  regardless of the  repercussions, but fountain of benign brilliance  spirals skyward when you cling to God’s trajectory even if you are caught in the maelstrom of evil, latent or blatant. How to get the better of these fallacious Satanic filibusters and be in God’s gamut:

They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.” But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.” –  (Nehemiah 6:9)

PRAYERS – ONLY PRAYERS AND NOTHING BUT PRAYERS!!!

Only through the strength of our prayers God rebukes Satan and reprimands his nefarious necromancy

“The Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan! the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from fire?’ ” – (Zechariah 3:2)

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

 

 

Unstoppable Unrighteousness

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,  for theirs is the Kingdom of God” – Mat 5:10

For the common multitude, God’s scheme of things, sometimes looks ludicrous.  But in actual fact, we don’t discern His intent.  It is a known but an escapable fact that we commit sins that fall into two categories.  They are instinctive or reflexive sins and considerate sinful aberrations.

Knowing fully well that this will incur the wrath of our Supreme Being, we indulge in it for conspicuous earthly attributes and crave for heavenly amnesty.  We pray ardently to turn the judgment in our favor quoting God’s word suiting our predicament.  God lets you go through the rigors till you come to your senses.  In God’s parlance both type of sins have only one unpalatable connotation.  Sinning entails rueful repentance and if so, He takes the impact. Committing instinctive or reflexive sins without coming to terms with the gravity of the fall-out would land us in messy morass.

When you grow in Christ and are willing to be intruded upon, He bestows upon you the keen intellect to get the hang of His plan.  Enlightened by God’s clarity, we mortals, should walk extra mile and be bereft of satanic chicanery.  Sinful compromises and complacency are anathemas in God’s perspective.  To achieve this acquisitive discernment, unquestionable and unadulterated faith is the emphatic behavioural requirement.

God intercedes for the unrighteous-true but at the same time unleashes volcanic fury towards never ending blasphemous mutiny.  Unbiblical misdemeanor will cost us  dear despite God’s maddening care and patience.  We are endowed with the basic tenets of an immaculate Christian life.  Satan loves mudslinging.  Purposely God allows Satan to have sway over us only to have our authentic Godly attributes whetted.

God expects us to be iron-clad against the seeming armour of Satanic machinations.  Holding God’s hand in a tightening grip, start grappling with  Satan’s evil designs when it is miles away. Make God swell in pride that you are  a strong and staunch son or daughter.  Always remember that God will be close at hand when you are in slippery-cliff situations.  He unwinds a lengthy and independent ropes in our environs.

We as God’s children should know the elasticity of His limits.  To understand and live within His dictates we should palpitate with the fear for our Almighty; be fathomless fountain of love for our Creator; have everlasting steely faith towards our Maker; owe Him gratitude of gargantuan proportions; cement the covenant to astronomical accentuation.

Always get it embedded in your mind that it is not in our place to question or doubt God.

By Mr. Karun

JESUS SPEAKS, May 23 – 25, 2014, Ennore

Come near to the Lord and He will come near to you

Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up – James 4: 8 &10

OMNIPOTENT                        OMNISCIENT                    OMNIPRESENT

Retreat and aftermath

The above , if it sounds like a testimony, I am not at fault. Because of interminable and laborious goading and chiding by Dr. Clington, we could not but take upon ourselves the spiritual responsibility. Retreat is the only way to keep the doctor in good humour and harmony.

Under his hawk – eyed glare, we , meaning our team, managed to mastermind administrative and organizational chores, peppered, time and again, with his pastoral outburst. At last we, with all our bag and baggage including musical paraphernalia, drove through a traffic bedlam and reached a place which was serene and spiritual.

I was, at first sight, visibly bowled over by the holy calmness that pervaded the place. Already people –ladies, gentlemen, children and tiny toddlers- were hanging about in introductory smiles. Our team, commandeered by Doctor Clington consisted of four important protagonists with me tagging along with uncertain looks. Our spiritual journey, far from the madding crowd, started unfolding and I started blending in for I was fresh and all nerves. I had no choice but to take baby steps.

After an unceremonious supper, doctor guided me through a prayer assemblage ensuring that I did not suffer any prayer-phobia. Nervousness not withstanding, some untold bliss descended upon me. Later, in the room, in the dark, innumerable scenarios criss-crossed before sleep ultimately held sway.

Day one

Preparing myself to get attuned and cope with the spiritual onslaughts on stage and around I went through all nuances-be it sermons or testimonies or musical gaiety in nervous perfection. I envy, though understandably sinful, others for their spontaneity.

We all started with the bang glowing in Godly ecstasy and peace. Praise and Prayers rang out all over. People swayed mumbling indecipherable words, happiness largely writ on their faces. Songs blared in weighty notes. Messages emanated from people of pastoral depth and maturity laced with anecdotal humour. God’s overwhelming presence floored all of us and I could literally feel the wholesome congregational oneness.

Day Two

Doctor’s scriptural coverage is all pervasive. Br. Singmer Correra’s are riveting sermons. Br. Ravi Paul transcends linguistic barriers. Br.Victor scaled spiritual heights. Br. Albert, very down to earth, walked all of us through total involvement

Day Three

Bonding with fellow congregants was so intense that parting pangs smarted us all on the last day. Even good byes were muted. Language of tears came into full play during valedictory moments. Spiritually quenched and wrenching assurances from amongst us of perpetual perseverance in the tenacious faith towards our only God, Our Lord,we all went our ways, metamorphosed into a state of a disciple with an inner urge to turn out disciples in droves. Mark my words God’s presence lingers ever after

PRAISE THE LORD…. hallelujah hallelujah

By Mr. Karun, Participant

Can I be an Apostle?

Jesus said to the man with shrivelled the hand,

“Stand up in front of everyone” – Mark 3:3

Dear friends in Christ, it is nice to be sharing my thoughts again with you after a long time. It is really a long while for which I sincerely apologise and lot of things have happened over this time and I am glad to be back sharing with you.

This is a small but much thought provoking incident which happened in Jesus’ life and in fact it still happens in every one of us life.  The entrance to this incident is amazing! Jesus called for a public life by His Father, enters a synagogue filled with Pharisees, Herodians, and lay people: sick and healthy, all in eagerness in to watch and hear what the special man is going to say and perform that day.

Now did all who gathered there have same thoughts and expectations? It is very unlikely, as we know from our own lives. Some were there to find fault with him, some to test him, some to question him, some to listen, some to obey, some to live, some being jealous, some looking for a change, some to be healed and some to turn their lives around. Yes, my brethren! We find people of different personalities with varied interests and very many intentions on that day, as Jesus approached them, as He does with us every one of us today.

What is true is, He is there not for one but for everyone and certainly for me personally. That is exactly what happened to the sick man with his shrivelled hand that day. Jesus had a call for him personally and in fact he was calling for every one, not neglecting a single soul either. On His calling to the sick man he obeyed it, this is the first simple step one can do for Him to work in our lives.

Let us test ourselves sincerely! How often we look out for Him and how sincerely we endeavour to search for His voice and wisdom? Do we really make an effort? Irrespective of our lives and interests at Him, He is on the look out for each of us day and night! Do we not know that he neither sleeps nor slumbers? Why is He so? Indeed for our protection friend! From the evils of life, He protects us to live and reign with Him in eternity.

He is never there to do evil to us but always there to do well. In that case why do we still remain silent to Him as they did the other day?  Do we not realize that we annoy, frustrate and disappoint him by our silence? Think of someone close to you or one you are looking out for in your life or one of your dear ones, whose life you want to change or attract. If there is a silence or an unresponsive attitude, won’t you be distressed? In your extreme distress won’t you be angry at a breaking point? How many of us look at our dear friend Jesus in the same way?

It is time to change the way we think and act, it is time to show a change and it is time to change our stubbornness, which had kept our Friend far away in our lives in sadness. Does this friend stop doing well? Never! Then why we plot against Him?

He is reaching unto us today, why not we stretch out our hand as the shrivelled man did, we all will be healed this moment. Let us not plot, but obey Him in kindness and good will to carry on His message as He expects!

I am His Apostle! Let me stand up before every one!!

Easter 2011

^“And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you” – Matthew 28: 7

 

Zion Mission

Dr. Clington J Fernando MBBS D. Orth MRCS FRCS M.Ch Orth

Dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, May the love and grace of God shall bring you peace and happiness more than ever in your life! Likewise this letter shall find you all in faith and hope to meet our Lord in Glory.

The Lord is doing marvellous things amongst us and I am very happy and thrilled to write to you to share the good news, which you should spread to everyone. As we enter into the Holy week to meditate the sufferings of Christ for our sins, we also prepare ourselves for the everlasting joy of His resurrection, which confirms that we will also be resurrected to live with Him for ever.

The Lord has given the above verse appropriately for us during this time which is to preach the good news to all who are poor in their spirit. It is amazing to tell you how God gave this verse for us. I typed Matthew 16:7 on the Google and got Matthew 28:7. I tried checking it a few times and this was exactly coming first, when I realised God’s plan for us this Easter. I went on to read Matthew 28 fully where I found the verse 7, 10 & 19 gives a clear message three times which is to continue preach the Gospel. It is very important at this particular time where we all face finding and keeping faith very difficult in the society, particularly with the younger generation. This is what we read in Luke 18:8, when the Lord comes again will he find faith on earth!!

Matthew 13:58 says Jesus did not do many miracles in his home town Nazareth because of their lack of faith. This is very true even today as we make things hard for the Lord to do miracles. We often pray without fervour and believe or pray with half heart or do not like to pray for a few people as we do not like them. We think God can not work in this society of today as the situations are not conducive. This isn’t true at all. If it is true we proclaim ourselves that our God is weak, but He isn’t weak.

He is a powerful mighty God who makes the weak win, the low to high and the foolish to be clever. Do we not know King David? He killed the Goliath with a sling stone. Mary was a blessed woman who was given a Holy Child by the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth conceived when she was old, so was Sarah, wife of Abraham. Who tied the lion’s mouth in the den when David was thrown in? Let us not only refresh our thoughts on this mightiness of God, but also continue to spread it.

Even today we see these mighty things of God amongst us. We in our many weaknesses never thought God was there nor did we accept or recognize that He is powerful to do miracles. Certainly I was one of them! But you see today, I continue to spend time for God, which I never thought I would! Why? In His grace as He touches us we melt away in His power and Glory, as we start to love Him more and fervently desire to do something for everything He has done in our life. There are many amongst you today like me and would be carrying the candle of Christ’s light just because of the grace He has shown you in your life.

So why does Christ show His Grace to us? Is it because He has no other job or is it because we are Holy. Grace is something we get from Him when we don’t deserve it in our wickedness. However He was gracious to give up his life for us when he himself didn’t have sin in Him. How can a man die if he is not a sinner? So if Christ is sin free how he can die? Only because he took our sins on Him, he died! His saving grace came to us in the Calvary from His death only because He chose (not forced) willingly to take our sins on Him. However as it was not His sin the sting of death couldn’t keep him in for so long and He was resurrected on the third day.

This resurrection of Christ is a testimony of our awaiting life after death for which we are happy to take up a few difficulties, but we will die happily in Him with a lot of hope and belief. In facing these difficulties we might be far from the  loved ones, far from our home, might encounter a difficult society where we live in for Christ’s values and even more trouble some when we start to preach Him. It wouldn’t be a tolerant society any more in the days to come for Christ’s teachings, as we are moving quickly towards the period of our Lord’s second coming.

In the name of right, justice and freedom of speech everyone will be defending themselves for all what they do, which is against the Biblical values. It was a time when we recognised that same sex relationships was the reason for HIV (AIDS) infection. Now we are moving in a society where we accept or forced to accept these people in terms of equality. It was a time when in medical college I was taught that these were abnormal perversions but now we seem to accept it as normal. These are values which will never come to terms of true values.

How will a man breast feed his child or hold it in his womb? How will a woman conceive without a man? Ironically we find even churches seem to accept these ideas now and more so even for priests to be like this. They are even forced to leave the church if they can’t accept to these changes! How can this be right? Do we not think what argument they will place before the Lord? Did Job have a winning argument with God despite being a righteous person? We all should be clear here that we all shall live and die for Christ, not for the church, if we want to reign with him forever. We have to cleanse our robes in his red blood to keep it clean, white and pure. This will need extraordinary will power for which we need incessant prayers and intercessions.

Now these are the difficult times we are living with and left to face. This is how the devil had entered the church and the chosen ones, thus bringing seven woes (Matthew 23) to all those people. This is how unknowingly, but carefully the weeds are sowed by the Satan amongst us. Unless we realise it we will be easily cheated by these false values as we hear today. It is time for us to be vigilant with extra care as we see these false teachings, preachers and prophets living amongst us polluting the society. God is not going to forgive them and the judgement on them is going to be even harsher than what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah, as He had said. So let us be careful with oil and lamp, not just the lamp to meet our Lord (Matthew 25; 1-13).

The time is very near and coming closer than ever and is going shut down on all of us as it did during the times of Noah, when people were keen in drinking, marrying and making merry. This is the time we live in too. Before this would happen we have a mission to live in faith and preach the same. How shall we do it? Let us read Deuteronomy 6 to practise it effectively.

This is the same mission we are called into by Christ particularly this Easter time with comfort of His hope and presence closer to us as in Matthew 28: 19-20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Code of practice

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” – Matthew 15:3

Dear friends in Christ! It is nice to write to you all again in Christ’s name after a little while!!  I am doing this on a weekend, when I had gone to work, then finding no one to operate on, being a quite day, finishing my pending administrative work, still finding ample time, chose to write this!!!

What do you think about this? Does God get time only when I get spare time? Is that true in our lives too? If God looks it that away and want to implement Hammurabi’s code of practise, “Tit for Tat”, do I have the strength or courage to face up to it? We all know God is an ever loving, forgiving, compassionate God. So are we having a go at Him with abuse!!

Of course we all know the code of practise God instituted for us thorough Moses in the Ten Commandments. One of them is “Honour your father and your mother.” Do we practise it diligently? What do we think of ourselves as we grow and succeed, make a career for ourselves, and persevere to set up same for our children? Is there a sense of pride and arrogance which is creeping into me? If I am anointed in God, do I Understand, how damaging this attitude could be in my relationship with my God?

Often we fail to recognise our withering parents in their good old days, the sacrifices they undertook for us to be in a position where we are! Ironically their tendency to make sacrifices still continues! Of course there will always be some exceptions to the general rule of the thumb, who failed to nurture their children appropriately, gave them grief. However is it what we want to repay them, simulating them or is it time for us to show the love and compassion God showed us to live today as His child. If we are disrespectful and abominable to them despite their care and sacrifice, are we prepared to take the same stick from our children?

It is time to think these in our life friends!

I call you all now with cold hands and warm heart to read Matthew 15:1-20, to know this chillness and warmth in Christ.

We see in here the Pharisees, who are supposed to live and show people how to follow the God’s code of practise, faltering. They were concerned that Christ’s disciples were breaking the tradition, a tradition like Hammurabi’s code, unlike them. My dear friends, the Pharisees broke God’s code of practise, with a tweak here and a twitter there to keep up to a traditional (Hammurabi’s) code.

Yes, the Pharisees had that lovely elegance and eloquence in their walk and speech to be covetous among the people, with their mesmerising words to flex the truth and twist it to their advantage. They had the attitude to be critical on others, but not being self critical. They were autocratically leading them, alike dictatorship!

Friends, even today we see these attitudes in us and in our church leaders. Yes we make leaders and make them in a way they simulate us and our view points. Whom do we blame them, the leaders or us?

Yes, we all stand for our tradition, don’t we? The pride and honour standing for our tradition is phenomenal!! Is it honestly what we want to reap from the future generation when we get old? We are blind like the Pharisees, ain’t we? Can we now lead our children to do differently to what we do to our parents?

Jesus said we are hypocrites – Matthew 15:6-7. Absolutely correct as we nullify God’s words for the sake of our tradition as Pharisees did!! How correctly and cynically prophet Isaiah wrote about us,

“These people honour me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.”

Isaiah 29:13

Yes friends just as the face is the window of our heart, so are our deeds as a door to it. Our actions come from our heart’s treasure.

Jesus said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth that is what defiles them.”

Matthew 15:10-11

So it is time that I should keep up to God’s code, not my tradition. It is time to change! One question I often face is how one can change. Here we go, a few tips below!!

How can I be good to someone and make others happy? Today let me think of the ways I can make friends and relatives, parents and children happy. Let me change myself and be good to people who hasn’t been that way to me.

I am Christ’s child and I am holding His light. Let me lit the darkness with the light I have. Let the Light of Christ be shone everywhere, where I go and where I live. Let his peace be honoured in love and happiness.

“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots,” said Jesus

Matthew 15:14

I honestly do not want to be pulled out, instead I want to stay in my soil and use my energy to grow, grow for Christ that I will inherit God’s Kingdom of Heaven.

Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”

“Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them.

Matthew 15: 16-17

I am sure I have tried my best to explain this to you my friends and I am convinced that you are all brighter and intelligent than Peter.

Yes, let us love our neighbour as we love ourselves!

Yes, let us change now, a change for Christ!

Yes, let us break the tradition to practise God’s code!!

Yes, let us live and reveal Christ!!

Christ is my light and I am His light!!!

Scientific Bible

Was the ancient man wild or intelligent?

Evolutionists believed that early man lived in caves and was wild. In Genesis 2: 15 we read that God created man as an agriculturist, whom the Lord God brought to the Eden gardens to protect and cultivate it. He had access to the fruits and nuts there, which he would have eaten. We don’t know if Adam produced crops in the Eden Gardens. The forefathers violated God’s command to be evicted out of it further to God’s curse, following which they had to cultivate outside.

In Genesis 2: 19, we find that God created all animals and birds out of clay to give them life. However when it came to man, He created him out of clay but he blew His own breath of life into him to give life, further to which man has many rare invaluable characters. 

1. God gave man the knowledge to understand, which he didn’t give to the animals. Man alone has the knowledge to worship God.
2. He gave man the authority to control the birds of the air and all the living creatures of the land and sea.
3. Elephant and whales have bigger brain size than man, but the latter’s power to think, discern and act is far better than the former. According to evolutionist’s man evolved from apes. If we accept this fact of evolution, which happened 20,000 years before, when Cro-Magnon man was believed to have lived, we find he had bigger brain than us. This species didn’t evolve any further, which was still screaming and behaving like other apes.

The weight of human brain is approximately 2.5% of body weight, unlike sparrows where it is 4.5%.

1. Humans have the knowledge to differentiate right and wrong
2. Humans alone have the instinct to bury the dead.
3. Humans alone believe that there is life after death.
4. Humans alone have the power to speak and sing.

According to scholars, the human brain power is supreme than the modern computer. If we had to create an equivalent to human brain, the size of that brain would be larger than a seven storied building. Hence we have to agree that God has created man with a sophisticated brain.

Faith In Lord………

Today, I want you to think faith in terms of faith in God and within mankind!

Faith in Mankind

Now if we would put this to practise in our daily life, we slowly start to understand, what an important quality is faith to lead a peaceful life, without which there is total turmoil in the whole universe. This world had so much to offer mankind and more so since the twentieth century, when we had great advancement in our knowledge and lifestyle. At the same time we had fought many wars than any generations in the past and there are still many to come as it sounds. Nations neither trust its own people nor other nations setting a culture of spying, terrorism, wars and broken peace deals, resulting in enormous suffering to mankind. We also know about the cooked facts of climate control. Where does it all take? Lack of faith in our fellow humans, isn’t it? Humans are proving to be unreliable, dishonest, arrogant, bureaucratic and selfish, spoiling neighbour’s peace. Human values are slowly declining, aren’t they? Is it what we aimed to achieve? Surely not!!

 Faith in God

 No wonder now you will realise, why Jesus said this statement on faith in Luke 18:8, as he clearly knew and anticipated our generation’s pathetic situation on faith. Here I take a direct responsibility to challenge the faithless and the non believer’s on the subject of faith in Lord. We clearly proved above and could more and more how we lost faith within our mankind, making us live in an ever unsafe fearful peace less society. In this pathetic situation is there anyone whom we can place our faith in? Yes, there is only one person, whom you can trust than ever over these generations and it is our Lord Jesus Christ.

 How we prove that the Lord is trustworthy to keep our eyes and place our faith for all times. Let us now see a few of many fulfilled promises of the Lord!

1)    God said to Noah (Genesis 6:13), that he is going to bring great floods on the earth and would save only his family, as they stayed righteous, which he did by keeping them in the ark (Genesis 6- 8) and only 8 humans (Genesis 9) were saved from this flood, from where humans procreated (Genesis 9:1).

2)    Terah and his family, Abraham’s father, lived in Ur (Genesis 11:27-31). For long time archaeologists were saying this was a fantasy town, which never existed. Now if you would go to the British Museum in London today, you would find the excavations and pottery from Ur, which clearly says this is the town where Abraham lived, to prove its existence. Whom shall you keep your faith now, with God, isn’t it?

3)    God asked Abraham to leave Haran, where they had moved form Ur with his father Terah, to Canaan, which he promised unconditionally by oath with seven promises (Genesis 12: 1-3). Of course Abraham didn’t live there outright, but he believed with hope to realise it was coming, by his faith, which God confirmed (Genesis 12:7). We know God fulfilled this promise to his generation, after 430 years of slavery under the Egyptians, when the great Passover feast happened during Moses’ time, when they set foot to the Promised Land, which they inherited through the promise to their forefathers (Joshua 12). Today we know this Promised Land Canaan is Jerusalem, where Israelites live, which they occupied again from no where in 1948.

4)    For long times historians denied the existence of Hittites (Genesis 23), who were the second of the nations in Canaan, the tribe which became non-existent. Now it has been widely acknowledged from the scripts taken from the Anatolian Empire that this Indo- European population indeed existed, who descended from Heth, son of Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah. Who tells the truth, God, isn’t it?

5)    We can see ample evidence for many other Biblical characters in History and proved archaeologically about their existence. E.g. Sennacherib, Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel, Kind David, Solomon, Ezra and the list goes on and on. You can find evidences for this at the British Museum at London again.

6)    The promised messiah (Jesus Christ) was well predicted and had been confirmed, as we all know without doubt on His first coming. E.g. Genesis 3:14,15, Numbers 21:8; 24:17-19; Psalm 2:1-3,6-9; 22; 45: 3-6; 72; 110; Isaiah 7:14-16; 9; 11; 49; 52; 53; Zechariah 3: 8; 9:9; Malachi 3:1-3.

From the above facts we realise that God is the faithful master, unto whom all generations can reliably keep their faith and be proud in professing it.

Faith in Lord

“When the son of man comes, will he find faith on the Earth?” – Luke 18:8

We live in a time, where there is a lot of cloud on this subject. Today in our generation, we are unclear or doubt or challenge or even don’t want to involve in this debate. This is not quite untrue, when we hear everyday something about an atheist talk around us.

On 3^rd September 2010, I heard in BBC news on Stephen Hawking’s, a physicist, universe theory on universe’s origin and life without invoking God. There had been a lot of debates for and against this so far. My focus today is that this is the real times we live in now, where our faith is challenged and we would be lost, if we are unsure and unaware of this basic context.

We know from scriptures, faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 12:9), on which, rest of all the Holy Spirit’s gifts make sense. If one has faith, he can do marvellous things than what Jesus did (John 14:12). In other words nothing is impossible without faith. Hence it is important to learn and practise faith.

This brings to question, what is faith? The dictionary explains, “Faith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.” Paul in his letter to Hebrews 11:1 quotes, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”  We are quite clear by this, that faith is a quality, which you realize it is there, yet you don’t see it.  It is phenomenal, isn’t it? How true is it?

I went to check this statement and asked my junior doctor, how he perceived faith? He said, “It is taking the head of the thinking,” which sounded good, but not quite perfect to me. I went on to operate on a patient’s hand under local anaesthetic and at the end of the procedure asked her to move her fingers, which she did without a hesitation. I further asked her, as to she knew she was moving her fingers, yet not seeing it and if she still had 5 fingers, for which, she counted her fingers one by one and replied yes. Perfect!, that is faith, I yelled! The nurse said perfect teaching!!

Of course, I haven’t chopped her fingers away! Yes, she trusted me that I will do a good job and hoped it will be the case and when, she could realize she had those fingers safe without seeing it, but trusting it, hoping it and finally feeling it, she was not disappointed, was she?  

Yes my friends, faith is a quality of feeling, which you believe, hope and realize it is there to be cherished. When you board an aircraft, you believe the aircraft is checked for safety, staff’s trained and hope you will not have any accidents, which you realise is true only when you reach your destination. Otherwise no one would ever travel, will they? On the contrary you will panic to travel, which is not uncommon when you meet an accident, setting an enquiry and the purpose is it to put things right to move on. Amazing isn’t it?

So faith is an unseen subject, which is there to be seen, yet not seen, but it is there surely. Keeping our trust and hope in the Lord, whom you might not have seen, but have heard seen by many from Adam, Eve, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, the Apostles and their generations unto me, you trust, hope and believe in faith, for that to happen to you.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have  believed” – John 20:29