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Inspiration Message

Wisdom of God

For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2: 6)

The Dhinakarans Wisdom is the divine nature found in Jesus Christ. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of the knowledge” (Proverbs 1: 7). In whom (Jesus) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2: 3). Jesus became wisdom for us from God (I Corinthians 1: 30). When Jesus, who is perfect in wisdom, comes into you, automatically His wisdom will descend on you. What kind of wisdom is it? He has the wisdom to see what the father does. That is why Jesus has said in John 5: 19, “The son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the son also does in like manner.”

Many years ago, a particular country was hit by a severe drought. During that time no business could flourish. A young engineer in that country was struggling to come up in life. One night, in his dream, God showed him a diagram of a modern ploughing machine. In the morning, he recalled it and drew it on a piece of paper. The next day, when he took the diagram to the scientists, they were amazed to see it. They said that it was a new and modern ploughing machine which nobody possessed so far.

The young engineer got the patent for that machine and he began to manufacture a number of the modern ploughing machines. There was a boost in the sales and he earned millions of dollars. Even during the time of drought, he received immense blessings from God. Such is the wisdom shown by God. Similarly, God is going to open your mind’s eye. When you keep looking at Him and do things as per the wisdom shown by Him, you will receive perfect blessings.

Prayer:

Loving Lord Jesus,

Your wisdom is more precious than rubies and better than gold. It will protect me from the ways of the wicked. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in You. Kindly bestow me with the heavenly wisdom and help me know Your ways.

In Your matchless name I pray.

Amen.

Dr. Paul Dhinakaran @ Today’s Word of Blessing

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Devotion Inspiration Meditation Message

LEARNING NOT TO DESPISE PEOPLE

“Jesus spoke this parable to some people who viewed others with contempt” (Lk.18:9).

There are various reasons why people view others with contempt. They may have been taught by their parents from childhood to look down on others who are inferior in social status, or wealth, or education, etc. Or, if you are very intelligent and top your class in school, you can begin to view others in your class with contempt. If, in addition, you are unfortunate enough to have foolish parents who make you imagine that you are a genius, then matters could be even worse.

Let me plead with all parents: If your children are intelligent, please don’t ruin them by boasting about them. I made it a rule in my house that my sons were never to tell anyone about their rank in class or the prizes they got anywhere. I knew that if they became proud, they would lose the grace of God immediately. Then they would fall into sin, and never be able to fellowship with ordinary brothers. I fear that many parents have ruined their children thus.

It is a common habit among children to make fun of someone who cannot speak English (or whatever their mother-tongue is) with a good accent. Beware of encouraging that in your home. Did any of us come out of our mother’s wombs speaking with a good accent? We should thank God for any ability that we have. But we should never be proud of it. Do you know what accent they speak with in heaven? The accents of humility and love. Let us learn those accents clearly.

Perhaps you are a woman who keeps your house spotlessly clean, with everything in its proper place. Then you see someone else’s home untidy and slipshod – and you despise her. You are then a Pharisee; while the person whose house is untidy may be a godly person.

Some brothers have very poor music sense, and if they start singing a chorus in an open time of praise in the church, they will invariably sing totally off tune. Don’t despise them, because God doesn’t listen to the music; he listens to the words. And that brother singing the wrong tune may be more sincere than you, who can sing the right tune. Personally, I have thanked God for such brothers, because they humble all the clever musicians in the church. It is Pharisee musicians who destroy the church, not the non-musical brothers. God loves non-musical brothers just as much as anyone else – but He rejects Pharisees. Many a surprise awaits such Pharisees when the Lord returns.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t come first in your class, or that you shouldn’t keep your house tidy, or that you shouldn’t sing in tune-Not at all. By all means let us do all these. But let us be humble about them – and not despise anyone else who cannot do what we can.

There are many areas like this where we can despise others quite easily. It says in Job 36:5 that “God is almighty, but He doesn’t despise anyone”. The more we become like God, the more we will value people and never despise anyone – for anything.

So let us cleanse ourselves and learn to look at people as God looks at them. “What do you have that you did not receive from God? How can you boast then about anything or despise anyone else?” (1 Cor.4:7).

– By Zac Poonen (Christian Fellowship Church)

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Inspiration Message

The way to A Happy New Year

In John’s gospel, Jesus used the symbol of water to describe three levels of spiritual development possible through the Holy Spirit:

• Level 1: In John 3:5, He spoke of being “born of water and the Spirit”. This is “the cup of salvation” (Psa.116:13), with which we begin our Christian lives. With this cup of water, we are cleansed and brought into God’s kingdom as His children.

• Level 2: In John 4:14, Jesus went further and spoke of that cup becoming “a well (spring) of water”. This is a deeper experience of the Holy Spirit, where all our inner longings are met by Him, so that we live in perpetual victory and joy, lacking nothing. A man who has a well in his own compound is not dependent on the city corporation’s water supply. No outsider can turn off his water supply, for he has the source of water within his own compound. This is how it is with the Christian who has found the secret of perpetual abundance in Christ. No-one outside of him can cut off his supply of joy or peace or victory (Jn.16:22).

• Level 3: In John 7:38, Jesus went still further and said that the well would now become a river, and many rivers, flowing out of the believer. This is a picture of overflowing abundance. Such a believer is able to quench the thirst of many needy people around him. Whereas a well satisfies only our own longings, rivers of living water make us a blessing to many people, wherever we go.

The blessing with which God blessed Abraham was, “I will bless you….and in you ALL THE FAMILIES of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen.12:2-3). This is the blessing that can now be ours through the Holy Spirit (Gal.3:14). When God blesses us to the point of rivers flowing out of us, many families in many parts of the country and even in the whole world can be blessed through us.

The good news of the gospel is that we can be saved from such a miserable existence. We can now have rivers of living water flowing out through us constantly, and be a blessing to every family that we meet. We can be merciful to others just as God has been merciful to us. We can release others just as God has released us. We can bless others just as God has blessed us. We can give freely to others just as God has freely given to us. We can be large-hearted to others just as God has been to us.

A.W. Tozer in his article Five Decisions For Spiritual Power says:
“If you are really serious about your spiritual development – the gaining of new joy, new power and new life – then you should make certain decisions in your heart concerning your life, and proceed to keep them.

“One decision is: Never pass on anything about anybody else that will hurt him.

“`Love covers a multitude of sins’ (1 Pet.4:8). The talebearer has no place in God’s favour. If you know something that would hinder or hurt the reputation of one of God’s children, bury it forever. Let God take care of it. `With what judgment you judge, you will be judged’ (Matt.7:2).”

If you want God to be good to you, you must be good to His children. The rules of our Father’s table demand that you don’t tell stories about others who are sitting around that same table with you, no matter what their denomination, their nationality or their background.” (From the book THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS).

It will be a good thing if all of us make that decision today – never to pass on anything about another that will hurt him or his reputation – and keep that decision, not just for the rest of this year but for the rest of our lives. Those who have lived by that decision in past years have found that when they discarded the worthless from their daily conversation, and spoke only what was edifying and profitable, God in turn, fulfilled His promise, and made them His spokesmen – His mouth (Jer.15:19).

This year – and every year – can be a happy year for all of us if we release everyone who owes us anything, or who has hurt or harmed us in any way. Bury those grudges permanently and be merciful to all men and thus make a new beginning with the Lord today.

Wish you a Happy New Year

– Zac Poonen

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Devotion Inspiration

Weekly Devotion (24/09/2010)

Deuteronomy 31:8
Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.

Cling To Jesus When you have a serious decision to make and aren’t sure which option to choose, cling to Jesus.When you go to church every week, but don’t seem to get anything out of it at all, cling to Jesus.

When your bills are coming in faster than your paychecks do, cling to Jesus.When your children make decisions that contradict everything you’ve taught them their whole lives, cling to Jesus.When the doctor gives the diagnosis you most feared to hear, cling to Jesus.When you aren’t sure which church is teaching truth and which is teaching error, cling to Jesus. When grace is a subject you believe, but wonder how to move it from your head to your experience, cling to Jesus.

When your heart has grown cold and you haven’t felt God’s presence in a very long time, cling to Jesus.When a friend betrays you in a way you never would have expected, cling to Jesus.Cling to Jesus. He will guide you through His Spirit. He will nurture you by His love. He will provide for you through His generosity. He will comfort you through His tender compassion. He will heal you by His stripes. He will reveal truth to you through His Word. He will transform you by His power. He will touch you by His presence. He will sustain you by His faithfulness.

Cling to Jesus. He holds you in His arms at this very moment and will never let you go.You have been bought with a price and will display the glory of His grace throughout eternity.Cling to Jesus and know this for sure – He will eternally cling to you.

– Steve McVey

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Inspiration Message

Process of Santification | Part Three | by Rev. Vipul Kharat

Two terms used by theologians
1. Imputed righteousness
2. Imparted righteousness

Imputed righteousness: Says that we are unrighteous and there is nothing in us that deserves me the favour of God. But what Jesus does is, He comes and covers us and when God looks at us He doesn’t look us but Christ and declares us righteous. It is imputed to us on the merits of Christ, he covers, overwhelms us and God looks at it and says “I see Jesus there and because of Jesus I don’t hold anything against you, you are now my child.” But imputed righteousness itself is incomplete.

Imparted righteousness: Jesus doesn’t only cover us from outside and leave us unclean inside. God says “yes the imputed righteousness is come to you, but I want to impart my righteousness in you.” Meaning that Christ not only is going to cover you but He is going to come inside you and He wants to clean you from the inside. Hence the sanctification is also called baptism of the Holy Spirit. Therefore holiness is simply the life lived under the total lordship of Jesus Christ.

Holy Spirit is simply Jesus in the Spirit form. And He has come to indwell us. And so the distinguishing mark of the person filled with the Holy Spirit is basically and essentially the reflection of the character of Christ, because the character of Christ begins to be reflected in our hearts and the image that we lost in the garden, the image that God has created now begins to be restored and the process begins.

There is a marked distinction between a pure heart and a maturing character. The pure heart is the result of sanctification. But the result of what has happened in the sanctification is the growth that now begins the maturity that now begins to come who is filled with the Holy Spirit. The maturity of character comes after the self been crucified and after everything has been surrender to Christ, as we go moment by moment in our lives, the maturity doesn’t come instantly, overnight. A baby cannot be expected to leap and jump in an early age. The baby has to fall down sometimes, taught, instructed, supported and the baby makes mistakes. Same way we as sanctified believers make mistakes and fall down. And falling down is not the problem, but staying there.

There is a difference between a sinful nature and human nature. Sinful nature is simply the self-centredness with which we were born. It is a condition that we live in. Therefore the sinful nature is a broken relationship with God. This condition has so permeated our lives and hearts, but in sanctification God has purged us and taken out the self-centred element at our kneeling down and surrendering it and asking Him to crucify it on the cross for us. But what we are left with is our human nature. It will not be eradicated; this will have its personality and its characteristic traits. Some people have the humorous personality. God is not going to take that humorous heart but He will purify it by taking out the self-centredness out of it and use it for His glory.

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Audio Inspiration Message

What is Santification? | Part Two | Pastor Vipul Kharat

AUDIO: Part One | Part Two | Part Three

The book of Isaiah 6 gives a graphic and glorious illustration of the doctrine of sanctification.
V3 “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty” all the angles singing to him “holy holy holy.” They are looking at the very face of God and describing who God is. They are bringing forth the beauty of God’s nature. They are bringing in the revelation of the very being of God. They are proclaiming the very substance of God. They are giving us the glimpse into the very depth of God in making us realise what really is the essence of God.

Unless and until, we have the right concept of God we will not have the right concept of life, sanctification and we will not understand what victory is and way before we reach for it we will be defeated. What they are saying is “Holy the father, Holy the son, Holy the Holy Spirit.” The glorious trinity is revealed. The trinity is involved in sustaining me, in sanctifying me and in giving me the status to stand on. What then is the essence of God? What is the substance of God?The very substance of God is Holy, Holy, Holy. God is:

1. Holy Holiness – He is spotlessly and immaculately holy. If he was all holy, all glory and all majesty to him then we would not be able to have relationship with him. He is pure and there is more to it.

2. He is Holy Love – Love is intertwined with his holiness. And his agape love, which brings him down to us. And because of that love he does not treat us as our sins deserve. But as the east is far from the west he removes our sins from us. He pities us.

3. Holy Grace – If we were to hold God’s holiness and his love for us to see, there is one thread that runs through these two elements and it is the Grace. His divinity is on this grace and that’s what is revealed to Isaiah. The grace of God is that unmerited favour to man. We do not deserve it, we cannot earn it and we cannot work for it and yet he bestows it upon us. We cannot even repent upon our own. As the book of Romans tells that it is your grace that leads me to repentance.

What are we supposed to do? The bible tells us that such a God has made you and me in his likeness, in his image. If we have a mirror and if we like to see the image we need to stand before the mirror in the right position. And if you and I are image of God then we need to stand before God in right position. He created us like him and therefore he is loving and he wants us to be loving. He is holy and he wants us to be holy and he is grace and he wants us to have the grace.

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Inspiration Message

What is Sanctification? | Part One | by Rev. Vipul Kharat

As a believer we would like to know the ‘will of God’. We can know the will of God in most areas of  our life through applying the established biblical principles, whereas in some areas the will of God is so perfect and straight forward without a shadow of doubt.

Sanctification is one of the important issues where the word of God clearly states that “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. (1 These 4; 3-4). The word of God gives us ample information about the significance of sanctification in a Christian life.

In order to understand the concept of sanctification better, it is vital to know what sanctification means. Sanctification relates to being set apart for a specific use or to be cleansed from the sinful nature. In the Old Testament times several utensils, places and articles were kept exclusively for the purpose of rendering the services to God. The consequences of using these for general purposes would mean the user have to pay a heavy penalty. For instance, during the reign of King Belshazzar the sanctified vessels were brought into the King’s party. The King Belshazzar and others drank wine in those sanctified vessels and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone. The very night, King Belshazzar of the Chaldeans were slain.

According to the New Testament, we are the sanctified vessels. We are the temple of God and the most Holy God almighty wants to reside in us. Because the Christ is the head of the Church and we all belong to the body of the Christ. Each part of the body plays unique role in communion with the other parts of the body. The Spirit of God wants to dwell alone in our hearts. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour the Spirit of God regenerates our spirit and we experience the new life from the above. (Born-again experience) In this new life, we have rejected our old ways of life which contradicts to the Word of God and we welcomed the Holy Spirit into our lives.

Sanctification is the act of God and we cannot sanctify ourselves since our nature itself is corrupt. Our efforts will not help us to become sanctified and since  it is a subsequent to our regeneration. Sanctification is an ongoing process and it is an incessant work of God in believers’ life. The sanctification plays an important role in submitting ones mind and body in subjection to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The old nature always constantly wants to prevail in believers’ life and there is always a contradiction between the flesh and the spirit.

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All Inspiration

Are you facing a storm in your life right now?

Don’t tell God how big your storm is, Tell your storm how big your God is…

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All Inspiration Message

Real Faith: What It Is and What It’s Not

BIBLE MEDITATION:
Romans 5:1 – “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
It’s faith that enables us to live the Christian life. In order to know what faith is, let me tell you what faith is not. Faith is not a hunch. Nor is it positive thinking. Faith is not responding to emotions, feelings, or icicles up and down your spine or miracles, signs and wonders. Faith is not believing that God can do something. Faith is knowing that God will. Faith is taking God at His word. Real faith dies to doubt. It is dumb to discouragement. It is blind to impossibilities. Now this is the kind of faith we need.

ACTION POINT:
What kind of faith do you have? Do you have the faith that is small as a mustard seed, but can move a mountain? Ask God for it today.

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All Inspiration Message

Not Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ by Adrian Rogers

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Romans 1:16 – “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Are you ashamed to put a Bible on your desk at work? Are you ashamed to bow your head in the cafeteria? Are you ashamed to invite people to Jesus Christ? Are you ashamed of the One who died for you? A little boy had a dog, and somebody asked him what kind of dog he was. He was just a mongrel, but the little fellow said, “Well, he’s a police dog.” The friend said, “He doesn’t look like a police dog.” The little guy replied, “He’s in the secret service.” I’m afraid that there are many of us who are in the secret service. We ought to be open and bold for the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

ACTION POINT:

Ask God to lead you out in strength and boldness today to live for Him and proclaim His love to others.