Its not a full stop , its just a comma!!!

The dusk of FIFA and the dawn of my understanding:

Here's a confession(it teaches you lessons) of sorts to all Game-addicts, Internet-addicts and whatever-addicts out there :

I once came across this game called FIFA'07 and wanted to master it. There's no wonder that we don't feel this kind of determination to conquer things in our academics or life. Like every other kid, I always loved the air of chill after winning a game. Oh! How glorious it would be to kick a swinging corner shot or a direct fireball from the half line ! The passion which caught me first turned into addiction and I never realised that. I whiled away time neglecting the other little pleasures of this world, and sometimes getting irritated to do my own daily chores. It was something which cannot be simply left un-noticed or convived(GRE padichathula chinna santhosham). Days passed by without any change. The little time I used to spend creatively shrinked and I was nowhere for many days. I achieved nothing except for soar eyes and a cluttered head after every game(even..if I win).


One fine day , I had to make a choice. Choice always comes with his arch-rival called sacrifice. If there are two good options, you have to sacrifice one and embrace the other. After all, you will love to choose the one which returns the greatest favour. My Lord struck me in the form of my friend and rebuked me for bothering least about the other things which I have left un-turned. Things which are to be tested and tasted for its goodness. I was neglient. May be a game or two a day(like an apple a day) can save you time and peace of mind, but I did not want this routine to inhibit my passion for trying new things. I realised that it becomes a habit and it gets worser unless you have some control (it was the case with mine and most of the young people). However there are some rare exceptions like Shankar :) .

Dear friends ,
I don't suggest you to become an 'ascetic' and give-up FIFA once for all in your life. Anything which tries to control you is dangerous. We cannot forsake the little pleasures in our life ; we need something to cherish and laugh about. I can boast that I have got enough of this tonic(FIFA) to convert one of my future mechanical work-oriented life into a merry day just by recalling a memory of it. I have tasted it and found it good. The journey is everlasting and never-ending. I just don't want to miss out several other , FIFA-like-pleasures which God has created me and lying out in the open fields. Its not a full stop , its just a comma!!! :)


Jai Praveen.


P.S: Only God knows, I may install FIFA'09 and try that too.lolllz
For all you folks who haven't played FIFA , you have missed 'something' in your life. Better download hamachi and rock-on for sometime.Make it a testimony of how good life is and not a confession ;)

Wilderness training by God - But why?

When I finish this post , you will be able to explain anyone 'Why evil exists in the world and why there is suffering in this world?'. Pastor Teju started the sermon with a scripture from

Hosea 2:14
"Therefor, Behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her."

'I' here refers to God and 'her' refers to God's children and that includes not only Israelites but also us. Why does God want us to enter into wilderness? Is God a sadist to lead us into a dangerous path and then take pleasure in watching us suffer ? [ Definitely NO!] He lead the Israelites towards the fertile land which flowed with honey - Canaan - as promised to their forefather Abraham. He promised us heaven and eternal peace for eternity, but do we have them or atleast are we on the path to reach them? God made us know the destination and endpoint but what about the route?? Is God playing the fool with us by leading us astray into the wilderness and then comforting us? I ask these questions just to trigger your thoughts and opinions.

Three things are to be noted carefully from the above scripture verse and what does God want to communicate from it?

1.] Imagine a case where the Earth is full of heavenly places and desert was some place which was hard to find. The mere thought of it creates a nice feeling and comfort. But will it always keep us in a close relationship with the Master who made us ? We will soon forget Him and remember only His works. Not only that, we will attach ourselves closely to this world and forget the place which our father in Heaven has reserved for us . God wanted to test and correct our ways before we reach Heaven. So he created something like wilderness which is devoid of all earthly beauty. While we go through the tribulations and sufferings , God speaks to us during our times of our endurance. Soon we will start to depend on Lord for everything and reciprocate his grace towards us. He takes us through a journey of tears and pain , teaching us to trust in Him even at times of despair and depression. It also creates a hatred towards this worldly pleasures and when we humble ourselves before the Lord, he will show us great and mighty things which we have not seen. Of course, God created the world for us to enjoy and live in harmony. But the technology advancements have only widened the gap between God and mankind besides creating a materialistic and self-centered society. It is rare to find people who really do care for their fellow human beings nowadays.

I Corinthian 7:31 clearly teaches us not to misuse this world.To sum up, " Too much of friendship with this world is enemity with God."



2.] This point will be incomplete without starting with the centre verse of the Bible ,

"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man" says Psalm 118:8.

When we go through the wilderness, it's easy to catch up with fever or allergy . When we have a doctor at our side , we will take the medicines with great faith in his diagonsis skills and rely heavily on it. Eventually we may get cured. But under certain cirumstances, when we get an incurable. In a similar way, God wants us to learn, to trust in Him , in all our ways - whether it be small or big.

This was the second reason for God to take the Israelites through the wilderness. Their faith was shattered and mended - it grew with time and learnt from God. Similarly whenever you face a tough time in our life , just say 'I trust in the Lord with all my heart, mind and soul'. He would love to hear us saying that and will not allow us to be tempted beyond which we can bear. The moment you raise your hand and heart in prayer, he will start fighting for you. Sometimes our situation may seem desperate and totally lost, but He will watch us closely and bless us till our cup overflows once we cross the temptation.


3.] The crux of the third point is , " God wants us to love Him , more than anything in this world." When I say this , most of us may get a feeling of ascetic and spartan life. The answer my friend is -- please think carefully. He wants us to lead a God-centered life rather than a world-centered life. It doesn't mean that we need to surrender all the good pleasures of this world for God's sake. When we live a God-centered life loving him alone and setting a limit for all the worldly things, he will give us all those things which we need. Its true and His mouth has said it,

"For your heavenly Father knows that you need ALL these things. ' But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.'" Matthew 6:32,33.

All these things include all that is good for us in this world. Once we focus on God and his righteousness, he will add all the worldly things which we need to our life. Entertainment, happiness, pleasure and other worldly needs are addressed by Him in our life.

Why did God love us? --- Tough question to be answered. Are we sinners , worthy of his unfailing love and mercies? The Answer is pretty simple. There is no reason for Him to love us and that makes God's love unique from Earthly love(sometimes confused with divine love in the case of laila-majna,romeo-juliet :-) ). He wants us to love Him the same way and most of the time we fail when he keeps a simple test. We would have prayed to him the other day thanking Him and singing how much you love Him.But when you fail in an exam or rejected in an interview after long hours of prayer , we start to mumble if not curse or question his existence :-) !!

I would like to end this long blog with a quote from Song of Solomon 8:5 ,
'Who is this coming up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved.'

When we truly understand God's love and trust in Him completely, we like the woman in the desert may come out of the wilderness(world) leaning on our beloved Saviour(Jesus).

Jai Praveen

The Light of the world

Jesus said , " He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light " in John 5:35

'He' here refers to John , the Baptist . In the present world, we always linger in darkness both in mind and heart. There are thousand ways by which we are distracted in our spiritual life. First we need to surrender ourselves to God's will , as John did. He was chosen to announce the coming of the Messiah. He was the sound in the wilderness. He ate nothing but grass-hoppers and honey. He submitted himself to the will of God. No, I don't ask you to eat grass-hoppers and cloth like John(he wore animal skin). We need to draw inspiration from his life.

Jesus , the Light of the world declares John as the lamp. A candle whose source was God with the fuel of the Holy Spirit. There are three things before the light starts to shine upon us :

1. We need to grieve for our short-comings, weaknesses and sins to the Lord. We are nothing but dust made to glorify God. We should acknowledge our creator for what He is. When the first light enters us, it shows us the way we are -- nothing less nothing more. All the dark secrets within us, so far are made to shone in the light which comes from God. For the first time in our life, God gives us a chance to realise ourselves who we are and where do we stand from God?

2. The second light comes and provides solace at our times of trouble. When we are able to see our own sins, the light shows us Jesus , our saviour who has already carried all our sins on the cross. We enjoy a father-children relationship with our creator. We are made heirs in Christ. Oh, what a privilege? There's always a person waiting to take our sins, if we confess. He has already removed our transgressions as far as the east is from the west. We need not condemn ourselves for our sins. What better can this get?

3. Once we have witnessed and cherished the first two lights, the third light is all about dis-integration of our self. We need to relieve ourselves from us. 'Me' and 'I' should change to 'You'(GOD). He is the source of everything. His hands made the heaven and the Earth. Once we have this wonderful feeling, we can let our light shine upon others.

This light will even expose other people's darkness and make them aware of their transgressions and sins.

This is an excerpt from a short message given by Pastor Joshua. The first time meeting with him happened at MIT Hostels. I was shocked to hear that he was visiting the hostels for the past 15 years! What a God-fearing man , he should be. Bless him Lord and Praise be to Lord forever. Amen


Jai Praveen.

Discouragement

Discouragement is dangerous , started my church Pastor.Get rid of it , else it will even poison who are near you and multiply like a virus.It can kill you spiritually as well as literally. When the Israelites reached the boundaries of the promised land, which is just forty days journey from Egypt, they camped outside Canaan and sent twelve spies to espionage the land that the Lord had promised to them. Ten of the spies brought news that Canaan had abundance of riches,water and fruits , but the land was full of giants and , added that they looked like grass-hoppers before them. But the other two spies said that although there were giants, it was possible to conquer the land since it was assured to them by the Lord himself. What happened then?

The whole of Israel grew discouraged hearing the words of the ten spies , who uttered words of discouragement. They all started weeping and God became angry, since they have refused to believe in the covenant that God had made. What did he do ? He made them wander in the deserts for forty years(!) and favoured their children(next generation) to enter into Canaan - that was their punishment.

When we take a closer look at this incident, we come to know that the people faced words of encouragement (from the two spies) as well as discouragement(from the ten spies). Its natural on the part of human beings to incline on the side of peer pressure. The ten spies compared themselves with the Giants and, the Giants appeared BIGGER whereas the other two spies compared the Giants with GOD and the situation appeared a lot SMALLER. Oh ! What a beauty!
They believed in God's word and assurance.

Whenever we feel dejected or drained out of hope , we may start to question God . Does he really remembers me ? ; -) Has he forgotten me? Where is He? You may be lonely , or even would have prayed all the time seeking God's intervention and help. Sometimes silence kills more compared to thunder and lightning.


When God instructed Noah to make an ark and get into it , before the flood , he gladly heard His voice and did as God commanded. The rains came and washed away all the place on Earth and filled the valleys, and reached the apex of mountains. He stayed inside the Ark for 150 days ! An astonishing fact was that God did not speak to him during those 150 days -- there is no recorded conversation in the Bible. He would have been inside feeling lonely and oppressed under terrible fear of whats going to happen next. He would have been jolted back and forth by the roaring waves and the rough waters. He would have felt horrible like you and me , seemed to be forsaken by God. But something more wonderful happened before the flood.

Genesis 7:1 (King James Version) says that God stayed in the ark with him !!!!

"Then the Lord said to Noah , 'COME INTO the ark , you and all your household because I have seen you righteous before Me in this generation'."

Whenever we are faced with a situation, do not see how big the situation is ? We may appear smaller compared to the situation. But imagine how big our LORD is ! What a mighty God we serve! He's always there to protect us. Sometimes he prevents a danger from happening to us. Sometimes he lets the danger happen to us and reveals his protection in an unimaginable way making us think and trust in Him more.

We may get into a situation of morbid fear where we lose our senses. We won't be able to come to a decision. Suicide and condemnation seems simple compared to living. But then , you may think that no prayer or words of comfort can win you solace. Discouragement can lead to such things. Whenever somebody says that they are discouraged, rebuke them and let them know what a mighty God we serve!!!

Jai Praveen.

Chrisitans and the end of days..

They will put you out of the synagogues ; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service

John 16:2

This was written during the time Jesus lived and I am astound by the relevance with which it addresses the present situation

The massacre of christians is increasing world-wide and to everyone's attention , I can see it happening in my own country. Are the Christians safe here? When a nun being gang-raped and paraded naked in the streets , with the police serving as accomplice, makes me put forward such a question. What has happened to our "democracy" and "image of secularism"?

The end-time prophecies are getting fulfilled every day and the Chrisitians are already preparing a banquet to celebrate the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Besides creating terror in the hearts of Christians in Orissa, Karnataka and parts of Tamilnadu, it has triggered Christian communities to pray fervently for the redemption of the lost flock in a never-before-way. To some of us, who are absorbed in a mechanical work-oriented life , it is just another story where people are killed and fighting in the name of God. We are all busy preparing for a life that will end shortly !

Where will I spend my eternity ?

II Corinthians 5 :1 says , "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ."

Everyone who believes in Christ , that he died for all our sins has already a place reserved in Heaven to spend after eternity. The beauties and glory of Heaven is beyond words and human understanding.




Paul says that in one or other way , every one on this earth has sinned and falls short of the Glory of God. It may be a petty lie, murder, lust,greed and you name it.

Scripture says , " As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions(sins) from us ." What a loving God we have ? He has removed all our sins by the crucifixion of His son.

John 3:16 says , " For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life ."

This is a promise and covenant made by God with the mankind. He wants us to accept all our sins, and sin no more! He is not cruel to condemn us for eternity just because we refused to hear his voice! He gives us chances and opportunities to get closer to him. We may be absorbed by the worldly desires and pleasures ignoring the word of God, yet he will come to help you when you call on His name! Blessed be His name forever. The Bible is not just another book in the shelf preaching moral ethics and disciplines to run our earthly life. Its something more than that -- A PROMISE -- A HOPE -- which every Christian cherishes as he waits upon the Lord to come and put an end to all the tears and sins.

Revelation 21: 4 says , "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed way ."

Dear beloved in Christ , if you are reading this article , it means that God wanted to speak to you and reveal His purpose for you in your life. You may be lonely, oppressed, rejected, sick beyond cure and under demonic influence. Whatever it might be , ask the true God to reveal His ways for you. I pray to God that he may touch your life today and lead you to the eternal life giving waters. God bless you!


Jai Praveen.