And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.-1 John 4:16

And now abide these three – faith – hope – love 1Cor.13:13

I remember you always for these three things:-
your work of faith,
your labour of love,
your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the sight of God and our Father – amen 1Thess.1:3

God loved you so much, that He sent His Son into the world,
To be the OBJECT of your faith – for you to believe on Him. 

This was not God’s response to the fall – although it embraces that element,
God was not startled or taken by surprise by the happenings in Eden,
God was not forced to take a ‘quick-fix’ avoidance strategy because of man’s sin,
This was planned – in eternity past;
He chose US in Christ – before the foundation of the world. Eph 1:4

This was God’s purpose, before time began :-
The Lamb of God was slain:- from the foundation of the world. Rev.13:8

God had YOU in His heart and thoughts before the earth and time were created,
You specifically – YOU have been the object of His love from eternity past,
– and you are accepted – spotless and without blemish – IN the Son.
– and you will continue as His blessed beloved through time into eternity future.

  

For who makes you different from anyone else?

"For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive?" (1 Corinthians 4:7).

All that you are has been given to you by God. Each of us has made different and individual. Each one of us has individual gifts and skills. We need to be grateful for what we are given and we need to recognize the skills we have and do the best with what we have to give due recognition to God.

For we walk by faith, not by sight

For we walk by faith, not by sight -2 Corinthians 5:7

I had been planning to send my maid back home for a holiday over the Christmas holidays as per our agreement that she gets a trip back at the end of her 2 year contract. Suddenly this morning we get a call that her son had got into a car accident so that plan went out the window as we had to find a flight out as soon as possible so that she can be with her family.

Sometimes we make plans and schedules which suddenly need to be changed.
We have to have faith that God has a greater plan for us and although there may be great inconvenience and hardship due to the change.

  

He will sustain you to the end

He will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. -1 Corinthians 1:8

Keep close to God and he will sustain you on your journey as there are many temptations on the way.

You just got to have faith

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)

There are some qualities in life that we can afford to be without,
But without faith we are not even able to begin the Christian life,
Without faith we are not in a position to continue the Christian life,
And without faith – without trust, it is impossible to please God. Heb.11:6 

Just like the George Michael song....'Cause I gotta have faith...
When all things are going wrong
And everything seems dark
Things not going right
Friends diving out of sight

What you can't see
Doesn't mean it doesn't exist
What you can't hear 
Doesn't mean someone is not listening

Faith is trusting in what your senses cannot detected
Just that feeling in your heart
You just know
Who's taking care of you

Romans 8:29 It is only through His power that we can ever be set on a right path of being ...

We must never even hint that repentance is determined by what we believe is "right" outward behavior. Repentance is always a condition of the heart, and doing right in the eyes of God is only accomplished by allowing His Spirit to transform us into a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). It is only through His power that we can ever be set on a right path of being "conformed to the likeness of His Son" (Romans 8:29).

What we do is never enough. We can never do enough "good works" to redeem ourselves from all the wrongs and evil thoughts that we have done. Only God's grace can redeem us. Similarly we cannot resist all the temptations the world has to offer by ourselves. Only through God's guidance will we be able to move in the right direction and every day we need to look to him for his strength and guidance.

Things you can learn from the Bible

Sometimes there are subtle things we can learn from the Bible.

A boy approached his father who was a minister and asked him "Dad can I use the car ?" The father replied "Sure once you have improved your grades, read the bible more and cut your hair."

Few weeks later the boy approached his dad again and asked "Dad can I use the car ?"
The father replied "I'm very proud of you, your grades have improved tremendously and I noticed you were reading the Bible more. Only thing is you still did not cut your hair"

The son replied "Dad, when I read the Bible, I noticed that most of the people had long hair, Moses, Elijah, Absalom even Jesus has long hair"
 His father replied "Yes and did you noticed that most of them walked every where !"

1 Corinthians 11:14, "Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" 

Pakistan's only Christian member of government is assasinated

Was to sad to hear of the assassination of the only Christian member of government in Pakistan, Shahbaz Bhatti. It is unfortunate that a minority's actions bring about a bad reputation for the Muslim world as they use violence for anything that they disagree with. Unlike normal rational people who can argue with words and look for compromise in any situation, these people prefer to maim and kill through the rocket, bombs and gun. They do not do their religion any favours by advocating hatred in the name of religion and target people based on their religious views.

Although God teaches us to turn the other cheek, our human side sometimes bears a huge weight and struggle to forgive and offer the other cheek. Guess this is the eternal struggle that we must endure to show the world that there is a better way to resolve issues and that the love that God gives us over comes all.

1Corinthians 13:1-3 that we might understand how we can always act as Christ would have us too

I know many of our Muslim friends who have been shocked and outraged at these people who have hijacked the headlines and perverted the image of their religion, have also struggled with the reputation that has been thrust upon them.

We can only hope the the more well balanced and rational majority will prevail against these minority.

For our part we will continue to pray and perservere in the knowledge our God is an Almighty and Loving God and his plans our beyond our comprehension. How these events play out in the bigger picture, only time will tell.