Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Bible says “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”” (Genesis 18:14 NKJV) As we study the Bible we see that how God's promises fulfilled in Sarah's life.

Jeremiah 32:27- “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27 – With God all things are possible.

Jeremiah 32:17 -Ah Lord God! … There is nothing too hard for thee.

Luke 18:27-The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

Luke 1:37- For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Abraham’s faith in God was also remarkable, “And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead–and so was Sarah’s womb”. (Romans 4:19)

Is anything too hard for the Lord? Have you been through a situation that seemed impossible? How have you seen God at work in your life both through the good and bad? How do we keep our faith from weakening when we face the impossible?

He is still willing today to undertake for any of His children that will trust Him and depend on Him alone. We are all tempted to think that our situation is too small or too big or too complex. But God is bigger than all your problems and circumstances. Keep trust God beyond your circumstances.

He is in control

Amen!

God’s Way | Lydia S. Leech

God’s Way | Lydia S. Leech

God’s way is the best way, though I may not see
Why sorrows and trials oft gather ’round me;
He ever is seeking my gold to refine,
So humbly I trust Him, my Savior divine.

Refrain:
God’s way is the best way,
God’s way is the right way,
I’ll trust in Him alway,
He knoweth the best.

God’s way is the best way, my path He has planned,
I’ll trust in Him alway while holding His hand;
In shadows or sunshine He ever is near,
With Him for my refuge, I never need fear.

God’s way shall be my way, He knoweth the best;
And leaning upon Him, sweet, sweet is my rest,
No harm can befall me, safe, safe shall I be,
I’ll cling to Him ever, so precious is He.

“Finishing well”

This word may be familiar to us but I want to present it in a different perspective. God is looking for people who can walk with him and finish the race successfully for the glory of God.

God is not looking @ your past but he is concern about your future, to work with you and to help you out in this journey. If you are willing to change or transform and allow God to work in your life; your life will be blessing to so many people. God will use you to accomplish his plan and purposes through your life.

I want to take your attention to the life of Jacob. He was a deceiver; he cheated his brother and took his birth right. But you know in the course of life God started to work in his life. He changed a lot. Jacob was running away from his brother because of fear. Because he cheated him, he was afraid of his brother

There are several occasions God spoke to Jacob and then God changed his name. Jacob means deceiver but God changed his name to Israel. Praise the Lord! if you are willing to work with GOD, WALK WITH GOD he never remember your past but he will allow you to have a new beginning and new pace of life that trust God alone. That’s what we see from the life of Jacob.

When we reach towards end of Jacob life you see the how he changes. he changed a lot in the course of life.

What are the characters developed in Jacob’s life?

• Cheater/ Deceiver become Israel
•  He completely trusted God        
•  He become so humble
•  Admitting his hardship

47: 9 Jacob replied , “ I have lived for 130 hard years, but I am still not nearly as old as many of my ancestors .”

48:15 God who has been my shepherded all my life and the angel who has kept me from all harm

what a wonderful finishing Jacob had?? Though he started his life as deceiver he ends with a man who walked with God and having Godly characters in his life. 

Life Learning’s from Bill Bright

“I have come to the conclusion, after many years of serving our wonderful Lord, that there is nothing too big for us to attempt for the glory of God. If our hearts and motives are pure, if we do is according to the word of God, He hears and is able to do more than we ask or even think”.  Bill Bight

“When I fast unto the Lord.. I can expect a supernatural supply of energy “ Bill Bright

Key Decision’s from Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ.

·         He choose to think about and meditate on the existence  and presence of God as a way of life.

·         He decided Jesus Christ is the most extraordinary, absolutely unique person in the universe

·         He received Christ as his savior and Lord, then devoted everything he had to the cause of Christ.

·         He majored on the attributes of God in his Bible study.

·         He chooses a wife of character and intelligence and made honoring her a daily priority.

·         He consciously chose to be godly examples to his sons.

·         He loved his parents and did not lose touch with them or with his home town.

·         He stopped letting money motivate him

·         He decided to make a difference in his world

He and his wife signed a literal contract with God, relinquishing ownership of all they had, purposing to live their lives in submission to God their full and major partner- He as master, they as slaves.
He decided to be a daily learner

I Wouldn't Change A Thing

I signed my life to You
Giving everything I had
It's nothing much compared to what You've done
Now the vision is clear
For a world that needs to hear about
A loving Father and His only Son

Chorus:
Some will say I sacrificed
But they don't understand
That to walk with You makes me the richest man
I wouldn't change a thing
I wouldn't give a moment back
I've lived beneath Your grace and faithfulness
I wouldn't change a thing
For there is nothing here I lack
For I've been truly blessed
Every day I've spent with You has been my best

You've brought so many friends
Humbly laying down their lives
I'm amazed by their great faith and love for You
That the whole world may know
It's the reason that we go
We walk not knowing what You'll take us through

(Chorus)

And I thank You for my wife
She's so precious in my eyes and Yours
Even now I wouldn't wanna walk a single step
Without her... without her

Now the shadow is long
And the race is near the end
Yet the years I'll share with You have just begun
I desire to finish well
For I've always longed to hear from You
The words from Your own lips,
"My friend, well done."

(Chorus)

"I was driven to my knees in the privacy of my home
And in the most sacred moment, I surrendered myself
To Him"

God is in control

Mark 4: 35-41

Words 35: Jesus was alone with his disciples for sometimes and he is taking them to the other place or other shore for a purpose

Why did he take them to the other shore?

He wants to achieve a special mission over there, that to was to heal the demon possessed man

When you want to achieve or do a special thing for God there is an opposition, trouble on the way but remember you are going to do a special mission

When He takes you to the other shore He will provide the resources and everything that you needed to fulfill the mission

Word 38: Jesus was in the stern

Where is stern? It is a most dangerous place – when take you to the other shore he is there in the most dangerous place and he keeps you in the secure place. Even he take care of you because he has initiated the journey

Do you still have no faith?

Why Jesus did ask them this question?

• They have seen the wonderful things that Jesus has  done for them and for others still they don’t have faith
• Words 35- the journey is not started by themselves, it is initiated by Jesus. Jesus said “Let us go over to the other side” still they are not put their trust in Him
• Words 36- leaving the crowed behind, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat: they took him along with them just as He was, still they are doubting or afraid

Remember, this journey is not started or initiated by us, it is by the divine purpose, He started- when he start it and He is completely responsible for you -to take you to the other shore

He never promised you that there won’t be crisis / trouble / persecution on the way but He promised to be with you or reach you to the other shore

In your journey you may be tired / weary / not able to move forward because of the storm, remember he who initiated the journey he has a plan for the storm that he allows in your way.


So relax;God is in control!

Are we willing to go for an extra mile for Jesus?

Are we willing to go for an extra mile for Jesus?

In my mission trip to West Bengal in 2011, I met few pastors as they were having monthly gathering there. They are working by their own but partnering with IMB mission for their work. Most of them are representing several house churches in their area. They follow the Luke 10 strategy which Jesus taught the disciples- going to the villages and look for a man of peace and spend time with him and slowly start a church over there. And for my amazement this strategy works very well. In a short time they made good progress and they have many house churches here.  Some of these pastors are from very poor background but for their survival my friend taught them various skills and gave little money for it – one person is doing a phenol business, another detergent, etc. They spend few hours in a week for the business purpose and rest of time they engaged with church. They are willing to work (going extra miles)for the sake of mission. I was really challenged to see their commitment for the Lord.

In 2005 when I was there in Lahul Spiti in Himachal Pradesh I was staying with a missionary family there for few days. This is the one of the remote place in HP and boarder to Tibet. When I was staying there few days with a missionary and it was altogether very different experience. This place will be covered in snow most of the time in a year. It was very hard for us to survive in this extreme climate. But I heard about few people from south they came to this place and they do tuition classes and they go for work in Tibetan house – they use this work as strategy to share gospel with Tibetan group. This is a closed group and it is very difficult to share gospel with them. So they took an extra mile to work in the Tibetan’s houses in order to share Gospel.

In Luke chapter we read about Jesus feed the five thousand and great miracle. In this story there was a boy, who was willing to go for an extra miles. This boy also was there in the crowed but he was willing to share his Tiffin. And we know the result Jesus took this bread and prayed and it was enough for the entire people gathered there. I am not very sure what God is asking you to go for an extra mile for him. Probably your time / effort/ resources/ share gospel to your friend/ share resources with someone in need, etc.

How many of us are willing to go for an extra mile for Jesus?

Learning from a Tea plant

Learning from a tea plant

As a gardener expects fruit from his vineyard; our God who planted us in His vineyard, He expects good fruit from each one of us. There are different processes through which the gardener can get more fruit out of his plants.

Ö    Cleaning: Cutting the extra branches and cleaning the surrounding in order to get more fruits

Ö        Budding: Binding a good stem with the plant which is not yielding much fruit

Ö        Pruning: A major cutting down of branches, retaining only the main stem

God was teaching me a lesson from learning from the pruning process of tea plant, which I saw in the Nilgirs. A tea plant gives its leaves for many years and after 20 - 30 years, the gardener cuts off all the branches, with only the main stem remaining. Once this is done, for quite some time, the tea plant does not give any leaves. It is a silent period. After a certain period, it starts have leaves, giving much more than before.

In our spiritual journey too, God may use different ways of pruning. All of us need to arrive at a stage where we can realize that we are nothing. In ministry, we may have many things to be proud of, but God wants us to rely on Him and nothing else. Our focus should be on God than the experience we have had or the things we received from God. God wants to bear more fruit than before. This happens like the tea plant, when we have arrived at the stage, where we have completely surrendered before Him.

During pruning, the gardener spends a good amount of time with the tea plants for cleaning, cutting, putting manure and medicines on the cut areas. So is the case with God. When God prunes us, He also spends more time with us, investing in our lives. This leads to us being more fruitful in the areas where God has placed us.

God is at work, he can use anything/anyone to reveal himself

For one of the mission survey I , we tested several Bible passages with a Christian. He was now not attending the church for quite some time due to pressures from his family. They wouldn’t allow him to attend any Christian meetings. He told us his story. After finishing his studies he was working in Calcutta and his life was completely messed up because of his life style. One day, he met with an old friend, who was a Christian. He shared with him about Jesus and he accepted Christ. But he was unable to come out of Badaga customs and barriers, as he was by now staying at home, without any fellowship. It was during this time that we went to his home for checking the audio Bible. As his mother and brother were at home, he took us to a small room, a little away from their main house. After the introduction, he listened to the audio version of the story we had selected. The story was about the prodigal son. Hearing the story, he realized that he is away from Jesus and need to come back to Jesus. He was very happy and he said God had sent us to talk to him about God. He told us, “Jesus was talking to me while I was hearing the story!” He realized the need of coming back to Jesus just like a lost son. We prayed for him. It was wonderful experience. One thing I learned – we have to be tune with God, so that God can use us in different ways.

Set apart for a Higher Purpose

One fine day I was in Coonoor (near Ooty, south India) in relation to our mission research. But I was not able to do anything in that day as many people were not avaialble. I was alone out there, since my friend left due to Jaundice. That particular day I was feeling lonely and discouraged because I could not proceed with the work as per my plan. Suddenly a word “consecrate” – kept ringing in my mind. I checked the dictionary to know the meaning of this word and found out it is “set apart for a high purpose”. That thoughts stuck me “I am consecrated".


As i am set apart for a purpose; I can’t go and enjoy everything in this world; I should discern between the things that I can do and I can’t do in each and every step of my life. I may have to avoid certain things; I am expected to be different in everything I do” these thoughts kept coming in to my mind.

Since my work was not accomplished, I had to return back to Kotagiri (Place where we stayed). On my way back I stopped the bike and I was moved to pray. Then all of sudden God drew my attention to the army campaign on the road. I saw them climbing up the road with heavy baggage at their bags and guns. Most of them looked very tired and some of them were unable to move, but still their commanders were not leaving them. I saw some recruits coming to their rescue by pulling them up. I also saw a few collapsing on the road itself. But they were given first aid in the army vehicle that was following them and they were asked to run again. This scene again made me to think that these army men go through these tough training because they are set apart for the higher purpose. In order to achieve their purpose they themselves go through the tough training that would prepare them to tackle any tough situation.

In order to achieve the higher purpose,

Ö        the soldiers have to pay the price, discipline themselves

Ö        Even if they collapsed on the way, they were given first aid and made to move forward

Ö        They go through the struggles and difficulties, in order to achieve the higher goal

God was reminding me that I’m set apart by God in order to achieve His purpose. We are called for an extra ordinary journey with Jesus. God take us through different situations to train you and me but be available in the hands of our master as you are set apart for a higher purpose.

Eldose Mathew