Jesus Loves You .....

This season is called as the lent season, or simply put it is the days which lead upto the death and resurrection of Jesus, and it is this one singular event that gives us the right the boldly say that I am a Son/Daughter of God.

So as God is leading me, I want to challenge everyone who reads this article.

I was reading the last chapter of the book of John, this morning and in it Jesus asks Simon Peter, His disciple three times, "Do you truly love me more than these?", and when I read that it was as if those words just jumped at me. SO, here's my challenge to you, both christians and those who are not.

• If you are a Christian the same question Jesus asked Simon Peter I ask you, "DO YOU TRULY LOVE JESUS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE?"

• And for those of you have not had the oppotunity to meet Jesus the Savior or have passed up such an opportunity, my question to you is simply this,       "DO YOU KNOW THAT JESUS TRULY LOVES YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE?"

So I hope that this Food for Thought will leave you stirrd and thinking as we remember what Jesus did for us.

 

A Miracle in my life .....

Hi !!! Everyone .........

The title of my blog may sound weird, but believe it or not all I am about to say is true.

My name is Susan, I am 18 yrs old from Madurai.God healed me of grade 4 spondylolisthesis 5yrs ago and He can do the same for you to.

 Here's my testimony:
We lived in Dubai for a long time and there I was an athlete. At the age of 8 yrs I participated in a 3 km marathon. And every athletic event I participated in I won. During my summer vacation in the 4th grade ( 2003 ) I went for ice skating classes, obviously as it was my first time I fell numerous number of times. Later on as school re-opened my teachers began to ask me why I wasn’t walking properly, and at home my parents thought that I had developed a bad style of walking, and often told me to walk properly. But I felt that my walking was perfectly normal. But as time progressed during my P.E. classes I began to struggle to run up to my usual speed.

Soon after that my parents began to take me to various doctors, to find out why my style of walking was deteriorating, the first doctor gave me a bandage tightly wrapped around my legs, saying that some times around that age children develop bad habits. But it didn't work and again we began to shuttle from one doctor to another. A friend of my parents who was a doctor, suggested the best doctor in Dubai Dr. Kerim Antoine Attari who after taking several X-rays finally diagnosed me with Grade 4 spondylolisthesis in the Lumbar Sacral region (L5 and S1). The doctor told my parents that even if I was his own daughter he wouldn't do the surgery and advised them to take me to either Germany or Switzerland for the surgery. But even then he didn't guarantee 100% success. And even if it was successful it would have to be done again when I turned 18 as by then my bones would have grown. By then my condition had seriously deteriorated. I began to walk exactly in the shape of the letter 'S', I looked like a walking zombie. I would bend my knees outward, bend backwards, walk on my toes and to balance myself I would stretch out my hands. My mum would always give me a book or bag to hold so that I wouldn't stretch my hands out. When we went out shopping or my parents would walk on either side of me and my older sis would walk behind me to hide me from the staring eyes of people.

 I couldn't walk for more than 5 - 10 mins without severe pain shooting down my legs. Every morning when I woke up, my back would feel stiff as though someone had poured cement down my back. I couldn't reach down to put my own socks. My parents purchased a triangular shaped pillow to place under my legs when I slept as I couldn't stretch out my legs.I would wake up several times every time due to discomfort. I had no idea of the seriousness of my condition coz at the time when the doctor diagnosed I was asked to sit outside. The only time I knew the way I walked was different was when I saw a side view of myself in the mirror. The doctor had given me a spinal support belt, but I hated to wear it, the climate in Dubai is really hot and so it would sweat so much that I went and cried and cried to my mum that I didn't want to wear it, that finally she gave in. This was one of the reasons that my condition deteriorated.

The doctor had also prescribes steroids as pain killer for the pain. And this is where the first little miracle during my journey began, I recall exactly one incident when I took that tablet but from then on my mum would, pray for me and say "In the name of Jesus I command this pain to leave" and after a few minutes it would be gone. My parents decided that if medical science could not completely cure my problem they would take up my case with my creator, Jesus. And so from then on whenever I had pain mum would pray with me and the pain would leave immediately.

Later on we moved to Bahrain, where I used to sing in the church choir. I would always be provided with a chair to sit because of the pain I would experience after standing for more than 5 mins. One day I decided that I would stand without the aid of the chair. We started to sing and after a few minutes, my legs began to grow numb, I held on to the microphone stand with all my strength, I knew that if I took one step forward to even reach a chair I would fall, I called my sis who was standing next to me and told her my plight. She said she would help me to a chair, but just as predicted I took one step forward and fell like a ton of bricks. I couldn't get up, the ladies in the church lifted me onto a chair and gave me some water to drink, I never dared to sing in the choir again. I was so embarrassed that I hid at the back of the church for a long time. There were two or three instances where I had lost sensation in my legs and fallen. Only later did I find out that this was a symptom of my deteriorating condition.

All this time I suffered not only physically but my mind was in chaos. I hated myself for so many reasons, I knew that my condition pained my parents, I was rejected by all my friends who were so close while I was a popular athlete, I was in continuous discomfort. During the first few months since my diagnosis, I was full of faith that God would heal me. But the as time progressed I saw people all around me, who were diagnosed with various conditions get healed and instead of my faith being enriched I got angry at God. I became this rebellious bundle of anger. One day when I was praying I got this number 3 in my head and I assumed that God would heal me in three days and so I waited, and at the end of the third day I was just the same, there was no change. We then moved to India, and I was still in the same condition, my dad took my previous reports to some doctors in Chennai, where one of the doctors asked my dad if he was an educated man, to keep me without taking me for surgery immediately.

 My parents applied to a place called as the 'Healing School' in Johannesburg, South Africa where they teach about healing from the Bible. We didn't get any reply from them for a long time. Then one night my dad called from Chennai ( my mum, sis and myself were in Madurai ) and told us what the doctor had told him and he reasoned with my mother whether they should take me in for surgery, we were also getting pressure from our family members, who were concerned about my welfare. That night my mum opened her mail and saw an invite to ' come to the Healing School ' and they resolved to take me there for prayer. So in September of 2005 we landed in Johannesburg, South Africa, from then on it was an intensive 3 week teaching from the Bible about healing, during this 3 week period I saw with my own eyes ppl with AIDS get healed, paralyzed ppl walk, and so many countless miracles. I guess after so much of unbelief on my part for a long time, seeing these miracles was like a drink of fresh water to my dry soul. At the end of the 3 weeks of teaching, a person called Pastor Chris Oyakhilome prayed and that was the first time in 3 yrs that I could put my foot flat on the ground, and from then on I progressed a little bit and then a little more and now I am completely healed.

Pastor Chris is not God. He is just a vessel who is being used by God, so don't get the wrong impression about him.

Now I play badminton and volley ball in my P.E. class at school, badminton at home with my sis and I am an absolutely normal person. There is a God who always has you on His mind. And healing is His gift to you. But the greatest gift of them all is His Salvation offered to us through His Son Jesus.  God holds in His hand the gift of healing and everything else His Word has promised all we have to do is receive it in faith. Those 3 yrs may have been painful. but they brought me closer to God and now I enjoy a close relationship with God as my Father and Friend.

ALL PRAISE BE TO JESUS !!!!! hostgator coupon code



THE BIRTH OF JESUS 

I never actually thought that I could draw something of this magnitude, but it was God's hand that guided mine as I drew of His birth. This is the first picture of this kind that I have ever drawn and is dedicated to God, I hope that I will be able to draw more of this kind in the future and I will upload them as soon as I am done.

Hide Me ...

When we step out into the world, many of us put on a different face to hide the feelings which we bury deep inside our heart. But why do we do it ???

For this very reason I would like to tell you my experience with hiding. I discovered that we hide ourselves behind walls of anger, extreme sensitivity, gossiping, shyness etc. so that no one really sees who we are on the inside.

For a long time I did the very same thing. I would hide away all my feelings deep inside me and when things got bad, I would have all these pent up feelings just erupt, I'd end up saying the wrong things to the wrong person and usually end up hurting the persons I love the most. I tried for so long to put up a picture on the outside of a perfect peron and hold up an image that was acceptable to people who I so badly wanted to be friends with. See the thing is I never had a person who I could call my best friend, Of course now my eyes have  been opened and I see that all along I had a best friend forever, Jesus, who lovingly guided me through thick and thin, but back then I really wanted to be accepted by so called friends, and so I struggled quite a bit with the issue of 'acceptance', but God helped me overcome it. The point I'm trying to make is, I hid the real me under fakeness, and covered it up with the picture perfect person that I was not. All I ended up doing was supressing the unique person that God created me to be.

And this is what I want to share with everyone. STOP HIDING FROM YOUR SELF, the real you and all that God made you, you don't need to fit into soneone elses mold of perfection but all you need to do is be who God made you to be. You are a unique person created by God in His image, and if people can't accept that then, why should we bother with the trivial matter of trying to enter into their good books, but a word of caution, if we are wrong then we must accept that we are wrong. There's only a limit to what you can do on you own, and just as PROVERBS 3:5 says Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. The reality is we are all not perfect, but Jesus through His death and ressurection makes up the difference, so that when God looks at us He sees us as pure and acceptable.

2 Corinthians 5:21

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

When I feel the pressure is too much and I can't stand it any more I go to the Word of God. So I guess I found out that the best way to stop hiding is talk to someone who can guide you to and through the Word of God, or if you feel you have no one you can trust, TELL GOD Himself, He's your Friend, your Father and everything you need Him to be.

Proverbs 3:6 :

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight.

NEVER FORGET THAT JESUS DIED FOR YOU, HE LOVES YOU SOO MUCH, JUST TRUST HIM IN EVERY STEP YOU TAKE AND HE WILL BE YOUR GUIDE

Submission Is Worship

I was reading this book called 'Purpose Driven Life' by Rick Warren with my friends and about three chapters were all about worship. And the author connected Worship and Submission. And as I read it I began to understand that worship is an act of love, submission is a way of showing God we love Him, and submission is giving God our all, we can't say " God I love you and I submit my
life to you but there's this one part of my life I'm really happy with so just don't interfere with that " No, that is not submitting to God's will. I've come to understand life as a huge painting with God as the painter and all of us as the painting, when things happen we don't always understand it becoz we can't see the other side of the picture, only the painter can ..... so we must trust Him and when we do so we are saying " God I love You "

Hebrews 5:7
 During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

If Jesus submitted his will into the Fathers hand must we not do the same ???
It's probably not the easiest thing to do coz it means giving Him everything we cherish and carrying the cross of Christ instead, but the Bible says that His burden is lighter, and God will never give you more than you can handle. Christianity is not a road of peace and tranquility, belief in Jesus will give you the peace that passes all understanding but we are in a war against the devil, which I might add is already over but still we must fight the good fight, keep the faith and finish the race, and it means we must live a life of sacrifice for Jesus which all starts with submission.

Another thing I would like to say is that worship is not only singing songs in the church, everything we do from waking up in the morning ( yes, even Monday morning ) till we fall asleep at night, we can do it for the glory of God, our Daddy, our Friend, and that is TRUE WORSHIP.

Never Let Go .....

Recently a friend came over for dinner and we started talking about life in general, about how our spiritual life influences our regular lives. She said that she heard a pastor say "Hold on or you'll be swept away". And I realised, I can relate to that. You see unless we hold onto Christ with everything we've got we get swept away by the strong current of Satan's lies. We no longer become stagnating Christians but backsliding ones.

A few months ago our church had a youth program where the theme was 'Be Fruitful', and one of the competitions held was a preaching competiton, one of the participants quoted the Bible verse which says :

"I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in Him bears much abundant fruit. However, apart from me, you
can do nothing" ( John 15:5 )

In this passage our life as a christian is described as a branch of a vine, who is Jesus Christ. Now if you take the branch away from its source and plant it else where it will not grow on its own, it cannot even stay in its present condition it will eventually wither and die. Thats what Jesus means when He says "apart from Me you can do nothing" and also what my friend meant when she said that you will be swept away. There is no middle ground, you're either supported by God's grace or you're dying.

I can give you an example from my own personal life. When I was in the 11th grade I had this girl who I called as my 'Best Friend', but at the back of my mind I knew that she was not the true friend that I needed. But my desire to have a friend was so strong that I ignored all of God's warnings and went on with the relationship, and all the while this girl was betraying me on the side. I went out of the way to stay in this relationship and in the process was pushing God away, but then God opened my eyes to see my folly through the wisdom of my mother, so the next year as we happened to be in the same class again I cut her relationship off from my life and it was as if my relationship with God was suddenly renewed with a new bond and strength, and although I did not get a 'best friend', I know that God is in control, and more than that He is my Best Friend.

Our part of this relationship with God is so simple, all He asks is that we accept the eternal life, that He freely gives us,and continue to obey Him, but if we reject that life we will wither and die as it is written in the 6th verse of John 15. So accept the love that Jesus gives to us through His death and resurrection.

Loneliness ..... A Good Thing ????

I wrote this one day when one of my teachers was absent, my bench mate was also absent that day and so I was alone and from the back of my class I could see all of my class mates and I realized that everyone was engaged in meaningless chatter. And so I just began to ponder away on what might actually be going on in the mind of the ppl around me ( not to say that my guesses were right ). The things that ppl do and say is all a grand scheme to hide who they really are on the inside. I saw ppl laughing loudly to hide the insecurity on the inside, some ppl were so quiet maybe becoz they think that they are superior to everyone else or maybe becoz they are really really scared or hurt, then there were those who just kept on and on talking, maybe to cover up all the turmoil and confusion in their lives and hearts.

And during all this time I was reminded of the book of eclesiastes in the Bible where the author repeatedly says " Meaningless everything is meaningless ... ".

And still more thinking on this leads me to wonder where we as christians fit into all of this. In my previous post I 'The BIG Difference' I wrote about how there is a huge distinction between pleasing and obeying God, well I think at times like this, even though it is difficult to be alone, it is the only way that we can obey God. The Bible says that ' we are in the world but we are not of the world and if I pretend that I'm not a christian and laugh out loud without real joy and speak without meaning then I guess that makes me a fool. Yes, I said a fool and rather than trying to look cool among friends I rather be a fool for standing up for what I believe. But the thing is I've been foolish for a long time, following my own desires, when I should have been listening to God's voice.

I've always wanted to belong to a group, to be like others but I'm realizing, day by day, to be like Jesus I have to walk the path he did, and it started out with 40 days ALONE in the wilderness.

For me and you that means, even if the whole world is doing something, which you know, according to the Bible is wrong and even your own brothers and sisters in Christ are doing the same thing which you know to be wrong then you have to be alone, at that moment I had to be alone. But I knew that I would grow stronger and so will you if you just take this walk of faith with Jesus.

The thing is in actual fact we are not lonely, we have our Friend, Father and Guide Jesus holding our hand and leading us towards the goal, a closer relationship with God. And if we make it through this phase of life then it is not the end of the journey but the beginning of a new journey or continued strong walk with God.

The BIG Difference !!!

I feel different this year. I think it's my approach towards life that has changed. I realized that there's a world of difference between pleasing God and obeying Him. And sadly for a long time I've been trying to please Him. I mean as a christian I've realized that my righteousness is like filthy rags in God's sight, but still I've tried to pleases Him with good deeds. But it's never worked and I ended up stressing out and piling my life up with so many burdens, instead of just following the simple principle of 'TRUST AND OBEY'