Reflections

Our Triune God 2 Cor.  13. 11-14  “The grace of The Lord Jesus Christ ,and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (14) In this passage Paul gives us a creed within the context of an exhortation to the Corinthians. Paul is concluding his second letter to the Corinthians and wanted to assure them that the key of rejoicing, being comfortable, and living in peace lay in God's disposition towards them. This is one of the passages of the bible where the three persons of the Trinity are mentioned. The three personalities of God are exclusively a Christian doctrine and a truth of scripture. This is a doctrine that goes beyond the scope of human's finite mind and it lies outside the realm of natural reason and logic. There was a unity and continuity in their experience of God as the God of their fathers, as the Christ who was their master and Lord and as the Holy Spirit, the ‘Paraclete’ who came to be with them. The love of God, the grace of the o...

Stand Firm 2 Thess. 2:13-16 “….So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm  and hold fast to the teachings …” In Matthew 7:24 – 26 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock …”  All of us will go through storms of temptations and trials; we will also go through dire circumstances and extraordinary difficulties. They can lead us to backslide, lose our faith, fail and fall. Even the greatest saints had moments of doubts and were shaken in their faith. No order is so holy, no place so remote to be free from sin and temptation. What can we do to stand firm in the face of temptations and trials? How can we hold on to our faith in difficult situations? Jesus tells us when we obey him ( hear and do ) we will be able to withstand the storms in our life. He tells the story of two houses: one built on the rock, the other on the sand. Both looked alike from the outside. The one built on the...

Chosen to proclaim God’s Praises Psalm. 137 “May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy.”   Psalm 137:6 Psalm 137, which was written during the Babylonian exile of people of Israel, reflects the bitterness of their captivity, the intense longing they had for the city of Jerusalem and also their prayer for judgment of God upon their enemies. Zion – representation of Kingdom of God Israel, the redeemed people of God, has been given the promise of being a blessing and peculiar treasure unto God above all other nations, a kingdom of priests and a Holy nation. (Exodus 19:5-6).  Later Jerusalem, or the City of Zion, became a symbol of dwelling place of God and center of worship.  Songs of Zion like Psalms 48, proclaimed the beauty of Zion, its glory, joy and its security - a picture of Kingdom of God. Exile – alienation from Zion experience: The people of Israel in exile were the c...

Spirit Transforms Ezekiel 37 "I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” (37: 6) In this passage we read about the valley of dry bones.  Ezekiel talks about Israel's spiritual state from being hopeless to having faith.  What is your response when faced with an undesirable circumstance in your life?  Some of us may become overwhelmed and wonder why we have that burden in our life, others may come to accept it and understand that God is teaching a lesson through the trial and will bring us through it.  It's easy for some of us to become paralyzed by our fears, unanswered questions and situations that don't improve. Ezekiel's vision for Israel was to have faith and be renewed regardless of their circumstance. This vision was for the Jews to realize Gods ability to deliver them from their captivity. God delivers us from our sin. As humans we are averse to confessing them or even submitting ourselves to God to...

The Holy Trinity Ephesians 1:1-4  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight”. As I write this from Boston, I have to acknowledge that God has revealed the treasures of his goodness and mercy, grace and blessings after the recent Boston Marathon bombings.  In the immediate aftermath, the Holy Trinity revealed that the human spirit is a beautiful thing, because in such a tragedy, it is resilient, color-blind and full of potential. President Obama remarked, “Our faith in each other… our common creed that cuts across whatever superficial differences we may have – that's what makes us strong." In such a tragedy, mutual love and human sympathies are not bound by the shores of a nation, but pervade throughout humanity. Immediately after the traumatic event, “Boston Strong” became an...

Experiencing the mystery of God in hospitality Genesis. 18:1-15 He lifted up his eyes and looked and behold three men stood in front of him, when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth and said “My lord if I have found favor in your sight not pass by your servant”. Gen. 18:2,3. There is a conceptual understanding that God is “absolutely Other”. No one can talk to God as there is an infinite distance between creator and creature.   But, for Abraham, there was no such distance. We read: when he saw the three strangers, he ran to meet them.   Abraham’s hospitality earned for him favor with God and he was promised:  “I will surely return to you in the spring and Sara your wife shall have a son”. v10 . It is the reassurance of His great mystical promise “to be a blessing and made of him a great nation”. 12:2 Hospitality is an invitation attached to diakonia Hospitality is a divine fellowship. Our genuine ...

The Glory of the Holy Trinity John 1: 12-18 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (14) The Gospel of John is different from all other Gospels. The purpose of writing the Gospel is given in 20:31...'These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.' In introducing Jesus, this gospel is not giving the birth narrative, but linking Jesus with the Trinity and saying that Jesus was there in the beginning of creation and remained one with the Creator God. This particular passage is given in the context of the writer John saying that though Jesus incarnated to be in the world, humankind did not receive him ( vs. 11 ) . So the gospel is emphatic in saying that receiving Jesus in faith is necessary 'to become the children of God ' and 'to have eternal life...

The Gifts of Holy Spirit Isaiah 11:2-3 “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him …..” Today is Whit Friday or first Friday after Whitsunday, or the festival of Pentecost, The Seventh Sunday after Easter which commemorates the descent of Holy Spirit upon the Christian church in a very special way. It is perhaps unfortunate that we so often speak of the events at Pentecost, as the ‘coming’ of the Holy Spirit. The danger is that we may think that the Holy Spirit came into existence at that time. That is not so. God is eternally Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In fact Acts makes that quite clear: the Holy Spirit was speaking with David (Acts 1:16), the Spirit spoke through Isaiah (Acts 28:25), Stephen accused the Jews of having opposed the Spirit all through their history (Acts 7:51). In this sense the Spirit is God revealing his truth. At the same time something special happened at Pentecost. THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT There are seven Gifts which we shall medi...

True repentance leads to everlasting Joy. Joel 2: 12-21 “Surely he has done great things!     Do not be afraid, land of Judah; be glad and rejoice. Surely the Lord has done great things.” (21) The Prophet Joel’s book is a small book in the Old Testament, but it highlights some important principles of our faith. In this passage the prophet is focusing on the importance of repentance in the spiritual journey. One of the main functions of the Holy spirit is to convict every believer about sin. Conviction about one’s  present condition and about sin lead to have a heart to repent. Repent and return In V: 12” God is saying to nation of Israel to repent and return to me.”We cannot come to the presence of God without repentance and brokenness. No matter who we are, we need to come to this realization that we should repent from our old ways. This is the same theme God is presenting throughout the Bible. Nature of repentance In V13: is talking about t...