joyancejames

My Walk With Abba…

  • 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!
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  • Catty Persistence

    At the outset let me absolve myself and set the record straight (for non-cat lovers): I’m not a cat-lover/fanatic myself, but we need to take care of what God gives us! These feline friends, 3 in number spend the better and the greater part of the day in our backyard.

    Whenever they sense any human presence in the kitchen they start meowing. Though it feels annoying at times but it’s their perseverance and persistence that took me by surprise. Even though we don’t feed them regularly or give them milk daily but they’ve become a part of our backyard as much as the 2 coconut trees in the backyard. It’s as if the cats are there by default whenever we walk out into backyard and those beautiful expectant-staring eyes trying their best to make us guilt conscious when we venture empty handed. And every once in a while moved by their persistence we give them the left over fishes etc to enjoy. All the 3 don’t have the same level of resolution to hang around but in the end only the one which is present at the moment is awarded with a meal (leftovers to be precise)! But it’s not just the food, because it’s as if they have made a home here, they hang around not only to satiate their appetite but also play and sleep here because that’s what you do at home.

    How many times we lose out because we give up, here these kittens seem to have perseverance on a wholesale and are excellent teachers when it come to diligence. Our case unlike these cats is different in the sense we don’t have to meow our way to our blessing and our Giver (Father above) loves to listen to our voice. Do we just hang around a bit just for the blessing? Are we just content with the bits? Do we just seek His hand and not His face? As His children we are meant for more, if He cares for the sparrows, He all the more cares for us. The next time can we hold on a little bit longer?

    I think I’m hungry! Guess I’ll hang around my Father, not only to seek His hand but also His face.IMG_20160212_193538.jpg

  • Oh! Be careful little ears!

    ear

    We live in an age where we are constantly surrounded by ambient music, especially in an ethnically diverse country like India; there is always music if you choose to hear above the perpetual drone of traffic. Music genres have become brands and we tend to associate with those who have similar tastes. Music both lyrically and instrumentally is constantly undergoing metamorphosis to suit tastes of the generation X. Some might even argue that popular music has been reduced to loud noise along with lyrical degradation.
    Now here is a generation ordained by Yahweh as a chosen generation and a royal priesthood allowing itself to be victimized by the enemy’s ultimate weapon:- Music. Taking a cue from the Punjabi pop music culture which is currently the hottest fad of Bollywood movies; the lyrics in these beloved songs mainly concern with booze, heartbreaks, girls (in an obnoxiously derogatory sense) and more booze. The mystery here is to understand how a generation so educated and sophisticated chooses to enjoy such music.

    Continuing further, we’ll take another illustration of one of another beloved song by Bruno Mars, the lyrics go like this: “I could hold a grenade for you…”. So much for super-exaggeration and what about the One who actually took the nails and the cross for you!

    It is disheartening to see most of our Gen X hooked on to such senseless music. What is seen as a harmless relaxation means soon distorts our reality and perception about the most important things in life and when this delusion is extrapolated into our daily lives it wreaks disorder. Not only do the lyrics create delusions about love but it also celebrates careless lifestyle, persuades revenge and rebellion. And as one keeps on listening to it day and night totally oblivious to its side-effects we allow the Satan to bombard us with lies.

    It’s high time we believers stood up to take our stand to say “No” to the senseless music and be extremely careful to what we listen. God has blessed us with immense talent much more than what we realise, so the onus is now upon the worship leaders, song writers to come up with anthems of praise which will glorify the Creator, spiritually awaken and uplift the church and at the same time engage our generation and satiate their needs. It’s time to experiment and improvise, push our limits, strive for excellence and with God’s help we shall prevail. We’re meant to be light. Let’s shine His light and bring His hope to a despaired and disillusioned generation. The distorted world-view of love needs to give place to the Unconditional-Agape love that Jesus ushered, hopelessness that the media preaches needs to resign to the hope that Jesus brings.

    Let Hallelujah resound!