joyancejames

Category: life

  • Never alone!

    All His promises saying “I will never leave you…” came alive in a new dimension when my work commitments as a Doctor took me to a mission hospital in a remote, nondescript village (read jungle): Jagdishpur in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The remoteness of this place can be gauged by the fact that this place even baffles Google when you inquire about it! On reaching my destination on the first day my mobile network betrayed me leaving me disconnected with the world outside the hospital and it took me a couple of days to establish connection.

    It is in this solitude that I realized that Christ is enough and I learnt that “Whatever I have and wherever I am I can make it thorough anything in the One who makes me who I am” (Philippians 4 The Message). I realized as the lyrics of the song by Hillsongs says, “Christ is enough for me, and everything I need is in you.”

    When we stare at the sun for a moment, all else around us fades, similarly when we focus on the Son (Jesus), everything else fades into oblivion. As the lyrics of the famous song, “When all things surround me become shadows in the light of you…” I experienced the solitude & social seclusion fade away when I fixed my eyes on Jesus.

    Then there were night calls from the hospital which I’d to attend and walk the distance from my room to the hospital in the dead of night sleep-walking on paths carpeted by autumn leaves. Every rustle of the leaves would quicken the senses fearing some creeping or crawling fiend would jump out with my next step. In those eerie moments He filled me with a fuller measure of His love and reminded me of this beautiful song:

    “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
    Your perfect love is casting out fear
    I will fear no evil for my God is with me and if my God is with me whom then shall I fear?” You never let go by Matt Redman

    Another song that I’m reminded of as I now muse over my experiences is:

    “You were singing in the dark
    whispering Your promise
    even when I could not hear
    I was held in Your arms
    Carried for a thousand miles to show
    Not for a moment did You forsake me” Not for a moment (after all) Meredith Andrews

    Indeed when His loves fills our hearts to overflowing it also fills us with the assurance of the surety of His promises. As John puts it best, “Perfect loves casts out fear”.

    Certainly once in Christ, we’re never alone!

    IMG_20160228_172050
    The lake at Jagdishpur

  • Defined by love!

    As I grow up I’m assured of my identity and who I am in Christ but how do the people around me perceive me?  Jesus told His disciples in John 13 that in the same way that He loved them, they are supposed to love one another. Further adding He said, “This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples – when they see the love you have for each other” (The Message).

    I have been called to love my neighbors, but wait who exactly is my neighbor?

    Neighbor is my obnoxiously loud and uncouth person living next door,

    Neighbor is the inhumanely demanding boss,

    Neighbor is the egocentric bully, who cherishes picking on me,

    Neighbor is the impatiently furious store clerk yelling at an “innocent” me,

    Neighbor is the biased coach who preferred an amateur over an “experienced” me in fact my neighbors also include the lot for whom I’m as inconspicuous as a fly on the wall. My neighborhood also comprises of those who didn’t believe in me or in my dreams and who never gave me a second thought. But as if to interject my pessimistic rant something beautiful happened and it is described in John 1, “The Word (Jesus) became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood”.

    Hanging on the cross Jesus offered forgiveness to a world which didn’t ask for it cause they never felt a need! But Jesus said, “Father, forgive them…”, before He said “It is finished”, because without forgiveness it wouldn’t be finished. He presented forgiveness before repentance and acquittal before the trial or conviction.  He epitomized love because He loved an undeserving world. I love Him because He first loved me and I love others because He showed the way.

    I’m a recipient of an unmerited favor and undeserved love can I become giver of what I have freely received?

    When “His love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me and on and on it goes” (One thing remains by B Johnson & J Riddle) can I “live like there is no tomorrow and love like I’m on borrowed time” (Good to be alive by J Gray).

    “If not me, tell me who will be like Jesus to the least of these” – Kings & Queens by Audio Adrenaline.

    As apostle Paul puts it without love I’m just a clanging cymbal and it is by love only that I’m defined and people will know I’m His disciple and a child Of the King.

  • Already there!

    When I’m lost in the mystery
    To You my future is a memory
    Cause You’re already there
    You’re already there
    Standing at the end of my life
    Waiting on the other side
    And You’re already there
    You’re already there
    Already there by Casting Crowns

    We are unfazed by tomorrow’s uncertainties cause the One waiting for us is already there and He is sovereign!

    He promised never to leave nor forsake us, no wonder David could not run from His Spirit, David realized that neither the ocean depths more the mountain heights can hide him from God! Then Paul exclaimed, “there is nothing that can separate us from the love of the Father”. Our part is to trust Him one day at a time and be unperturbed by the challenges of an unknown tomorrow.

    We are myopic (short sighted) we just see the present but we don’t need the horoscopes or the stars to tell us about tomorrow, because the One who put the stars in their place is already there in our tomorrow!
    Our future is too wonderful for our meagre minds to comprehend so our myopia is a blessing in disguise!
    Go out and live this day- Carpediem!
    image

  • The Most-read Gospel!

    It is not the gospel written on tablets of stone or on ancient manuscripts of papyrus or sheepskins or the contemporary inked ones sold leather bound, but it is the Christ of the Christ-ian that is read the most!

    “Ah, friends of the Christ, in the world today
    Are many who watch you upon your way,
    And look to the things you say and do
    To measure the Christian standard true:

    Men read and admire the Gospel of Christ
    With its love so unfailing and true,
    But what do they say and what do they think
    Of the gospel according to you?

    You are writing each day a letter to men
    Take care that the writing is true;
    ‘Tis the only gospel that some men will read,
    That gospel according to you”
    -The gospel according to you
    Anonymous

    We are God’s workmanship created in Christ to do great works! And He is a master Craftsman who makes no mistakes and His creations come with a life time validity!

    We are meant to be light bringing out the God-colors into the world (Mat 5 The Message). Doesn’t matter if you’re a candle or a torch or just a flickering spark cause in the end all the 3 strive to dispel the darkness around them!

    The torch was not meant to light up the tiny cellar nor was the candle meant for the regal hallways! Each has its place and destiny!
    And a thing to remember is that we reflect His light, just like the moon, we light up and shine to reflect God’s glory.
    Can we say like Lecrae, ” I’m just a trail of star dust leading to the Superstar “?
    Does your cave seem dark? Think you need to shine brighter!
    image