It is the beginning of another day. Each day is an opportunity given to us by God, so make the best of every bit of the 24 short hours you have in it. What is your day looking like? Did you have a time set aside for God today?

Warning Against Idleness

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us”.

2 Thessalonians 3:6

The strong verse above is spoken by Paul to the Thessalonians. In today’s world, ‘idleness’ has become a main issue. King Solomon seemed to have had a real go at idleness when he said, “Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labour” (Proverbs 12:24); “A sluggard does not plough in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing” (Proverbs 20:4).

A famous saying tells us that idleness is the devil’s workshop. This is true, as the people who are lazy and have little to do, get busy finding fault with the hard work of others. We must admit that idleness originates from deep-seated selfishness. Often individuals do not take on responsibility in their homes, work places and churches because of selfishness. Many would rather enjoy the comfort of their homes than to get out and give a helping hand to someone who desperately needs it.

As parents, we are responsible to train our children to share the work load at home so that they will be saved from idleness and be raised as responsible adults. Similarly, wise church leaders will train and raise other leaders to work for the ‘building of God’s kingdom’, and to run every section of the church smoothly. Paul says in Ephesians 4:11-12 to equip the saints for the work of service, to the building of the body of Christ. Often people in churches are idle because the church’s leadership has given them nothing to do.

If we have had failures in our part, in leading an idle lifestyle leaving others to do all the hard work; or if we have failed to guide and train others to be effective with their hands, today’s word should bring deep conviction in our hearts. Let the Holy Spirit deal with those areas and change us to be effective and efficient people of God.

Dear Lord, I come to You in Jesus’ name. Help me to invest my time wisely. Give me the excellence to serve You with diligence. I pray that I will be an effective steward over every responsibility that You have placed in my hands. Amen!

God bless you!

Your obedient servants in Christ,

Theo & Manju

It is good to be with you again. Hope you have made a good start of the day and will be able to accomplish all what you have planned. I also hope you got connected to God this morning through the power line of prayer!

Faith

“As for other matters, brothers and sisters pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honoured, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one”.

2 Thessalonians 3:3

In today’s verses Paul is writing to us that it is not every one who will have the gift of faith. He also emphasizes this in Romans 12: 3 in saying ‘God has allotted to each a measure of faith’. Each one of us is the sons and daughters of the almighty God who are called to share eternal life with Him. If we ask God for faith that is a gift from Him, He will surely give it to us in great measures through His Holy Spirit.

We must understand the essence of faith for our Christian life. Without faith we cannot please God. In Mark 5:25-34 we see a remarkable story of faith of a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She believed in Jesus and what He can do in her life, when she said, “If I but touch His clothes, I will be made well.” As she believed, her haemorrhage stopped; and she was healed of her disease. Immediately.

Today we need to see what our faith levels are like. Jesus said in Matthew 9:29”According to your faith will it be done to you”. If we desire for the gift of faith and ask God to increase our faith in Him, He will do it to us in great measures.

Dear Lord I come to you in Jesus name. I submit my life to you and ask you to undertake for every one of my needs. I place my trust in you as I look up to You to increase my faith and my dependency in You and help me serve You in total dedication. Amen!

Your obedient servants in Christ,

Theo & Manju

Today is the 1st of May. It seemed like the year had just begun. You probably would have made your New Year’s resolutions and vision for the year at the beginning of this year. It might be a good time to recapitulate on them and see whether you are on the right track.

Our Hope is in the Lord

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer”.

Romans 12:12

Yesterday we learnt that if we must seek Him first, all the other things that we need will be added into our lives. Today the Lord wants to teach us another important truth.

In the above verse teaches us that the Lord wants us to be Joyful in hope. Hope is the finish line. When we run a marathon we do not see the finish line. However we run the race in hope of finishing and winning the crown. Paul compares our earthly race to a marathon. He encourages those of us who are struggling with the obstacles in our lives to be joyful because the promises of our faithful God are yet to come. Therefore we need to hold on as the Lord is neither too late nor early. He knows what is best for His children and He is always on time.

Today the Lord wants us to be patient in the afflictions that we are going through. He is aware of every tear and all the pain in our hearts. But He wants us to have that hope and while we wait He will teach us to be patient and to endure.

Finally the Lord wants us to be faithful in prayer. Often when we don’t see things happening at our own time we neglect prayer and we begin to grumble and blame God. Today let us be renewed in our minds, have hope in Him, be faithful in prayer and trust Him with all our hearts.

Dear Lord I come to you in Jesus name. Lord my Hope is in you. Help me to be joyful through every difficulty and help me find my victory through faithful prayer. Amen!

God Bless you!

Your obedient servants in Christ,

Theo & Manju

This has been a short week to those of us in New Zealand and Australia. Thank God for holidays that are amazing times of rest. The Lord has called us to be the salt and also to be a light. Let our lights shine on others in us being a good influence to those around us.

To Walk in Integrity

“Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God”.

2 Corinthians 2:17

Once again we are deviating from 2 Thessalonians to write about the importance of walking in integrity. To be children of the light we have to walk in integrity. The above word brings out a few truths which we can meditate on.

Firstly we should not peddle the word of God. This means the word of God should not be taught for financial gain but be spoken with great sincerity and honesty. We must also mean what we say and model it at all times. The world admires sincerity as it is the ultimate expression of our character.

Secondly we should be purposeful children of God with a godly goal to accomplish rather than be idle dreamers. It is good to ask ourselves whether we have good spiritual goals in our lives.

Thirdly we must remember that we are transparent and that nothing can be hidden from God. Both the outer and the inner man should be the same because we are His disciples.

Lastly, we must speak in the authority given to us by Christ Jesus because we are His children. When we take His word to others we carry the Word of God as His ambassadors.  This is why 2 Corinthians 5:20 says, ^‘We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.’

Today we must understand the seriousness of the responsibility that God has placed upon each of us as we are called to take His word to others. We need to ask God to equip us so that we can be truly the Lord’s ambassadors.

Dear lord I come to you in Jesus name. I seek you today to guide me in all what I do and equip me to be an effective ambassador of Your Son Jesus. Amen!

God bless you!

Your obedient Servants in Christ,

Theo & Manju

It is good to be with you again after a day of rest. Let this day fill you with His presence and let His word be a light unto your feet.

“But we ought to always thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth”.2 Thessalonians 2:13.

Thank God for the Faithful

Paul never seems to get tired of thanking God. He seems to continuously think of the faithfulness of God as he thanks God with a heart full of gratitude. In today’s word we see that Paul’s heart is overwhelmed with joy because of the spiritual blessings that he sees in the lives of the Thessalonians. When we see God’s grace at work in the lives of His faithful servants, it becomes a powerful testimony to us. When we see our children growing in their faith in God and also dedicate their time and energy to serve Him, it pleases our hearts and intern we can only thank Him for the purposes that He has for them. Similarly Paul’s heart is full of thanksgiving to God as he knows that the Thessalonians are a chosen people who had been saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through the belief they had in the truth of God’s word.

When we see the lives of people who have dedicated their lives to the Lord and are full of zeal for the Him, we must give thanks to the Lord for the encouragement their lives are to others. We must see the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that leads them in obedience to Jesus Christ and unfailingly thank God for such people who are called to be a godly influence in the lives of others.

Dear Lord I come to you in Jesus name. I want to thank You for every one of Your children whom You have chosen to be saved through the sanctifying work of Your Spirit. Thank you for choosing them as messengers of your love. May Your blessings abound in them. Amen!

God bless you!

Theo & Manju

Every morning is a blessing from the Lord almighty. Let our hearts give Him thanks in all our situations. By doing this we can enjoy His presence in us. Thereby be overcomes in this world.

By Perseverance we endure the promise

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised”.

Hebrews 10:35-36

Today we are deviating from Thessalonians as the Lord wants to breathe confidence in you so that you will be richly rewarded. Such rewards that are promised in the word often come with a condition. In today’s word the condition for us is that we need do His will.

There are truths that we can learn from today’s word. The word says, ‘Do not throw away your confidence’. We also must remember that the Lord came to save us and not to condemn us. Hence if we fall we must get up and get back on track. As an athlete, I always relate to running. If an athlete ever gives up on the track that he runs on, he will lose the race. Even if he falls, a good athlete will get up and run. This is perseverance. There is always a gap between the promise and the time one receives it. The gap is the time of endurance that an athlete takes in completing the race. The race is never easy.

Similarly our lives can never be a bed of roses. The hurdled that we face often will shatter us and make us throw away our confidence. Today’s word encourages us to hold on to God’s promises and have the determination to run on and to complete the race with the help of the Holy Spirit who will be our coach from within. By our endurance we will gain our lives. The word says it is the one who has endured to the end, who will be saved.( Mathew 24:13)

Let us walk this day with confidence to know that the Lord is breathing confidence into our lives to live a life of victory. Today let us ask the Holy Spirit to direct us so that we can run in such a way that we will win.

Prayer

Dear Lord I come to you in Jesus name. You are my sure hope and I place my confidence in You. Help me and strengthen all my weaknesses so that I can persevere and do Your will at all times. Amen!

God bless you!

Your obedient servants in Christ

Theo & Manju

It is wonderful to be with you again at the start of a new week. Yesterday we watched a one minute video at our church which spoke about how we should be people who use every single second of our lives effectively. The most precious thing that we have in this world is time. We can never earn back even a single second when it is gone.

How Are You Spending Your Time?

“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ has come.”

2 Thessalonians 2: 1-2

Paul wrote the above verses due to some of the Thessalonians becoming alarmed by the teaching that the coming of Jesus was near at hand. Paul wanted to remove any unsettledness caused by erroneous teaching of expecting the coming of Christ before the predicted time as according to the word of God, several events had to be fulfilled previous to this great event.

2 Timothy 3:1 tells us in the last days perilous times will come. As we live in such lawless and perilous times, what is important for each of us is to guard ourselves from being influenced by the world and to live a life that portrays our preparedness to meet with Jesus at any time. Also we must use our time, effectively considering the kingdom of God to be the most important goal of our lives.

Do we spend our time wisely? Do we spend too much of our time on television, Internet and sports that leads to giving God the least time in our lives? What is our priority in using our time to read the bible, pray and get involved with Church activities? Time is a commodity that we cannot buy back. As the Psalmist said, remember that “our days are numbered.” (Psalm 39:4)

Prayer

Dear Lord I come to you in Jesus name. I thank You for the life that You have given me and the gift of each new day. Guide me and give me wisdom to schedule my time wisely and live a life as a light in the darkness, full of zeal for You and be prepared to meet you at all times. Amen

God bless you!

Your obedient servants in Christ

Theo & Manju

Dear All,

It is wonderful to be with you again at the start of a new week. Yesterday we watched a one minute video at our church which spoke about how we should be people who use every single second of our lives effectively. The most precious thing that we have in this world is time. We can never earn back even a single second when it is gone.

How Are You Spending Your Time?

“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ has come.”

2 Thessalonians 2: 1-2

Paul wrote the above verses due to some of the Thessalonians becoming alarmed by the teaching that the coming of Jesus was near at hand. Paul wanted to remove any unsettledness caused by erroneous teaching of expecting the coming of Christ before the predicted time as according to the word of God, several events had to be fulfilled previous to this great event.

2 Timothy 3:1 tells us in the last days perilous times will come. As we live in such lawless and perilous times, what is important for each of us is to guard ourselves from being influenced by the world and to live a life that portrays our preparedness to meet with Jesus at any time. Also we must use our time, effectively considering the kingdom of God to be the most important goal of our lives.

Do we spend our time wisely? Do we spend too much of our time on television, Internet and sports that leads to giving God the least time in our lives? What is our priority in using our time to read the bible, pray and get involved with Church activities? Time is a commodity that we cannot buy back. As the Psalmist said, remember that “our days are numbered.” (Psalm 39:4)

Prayer

Dear Lord I come to you in Jesus name. I thank You for the life that You have given me and the gift of each new day. Guide me and give me wisdom to schedule my time wisely and live a life as a light in the darkness, full of zeal for You and be prepared to meet you at all times. Amen

God bless you

Your obedient servant in Christ

Theo & Manju

It is always good to be with you. In Auckland, New Zealand, it is the time of the year where we enjoy the best of climates. It is autumn and the temperature is mild and very pleasant. Praise God for this beautiful land!

The Goodness of Christ 

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.

2 Thessalonians 1:11

We repeatedly see how Paul placed great importance in two things. He always thanked God for the Thessalonians and he also continuously prayed for them.  In today’s verses Paul lifts up his heartfelt and earnest prayer that God would make the Thessalonians ‘worthy of His calling’. Paul, who had the direct touch of Jesus, knew that only through the work of the Holy Spirit, these heathen people could be transformed into ‘fruit bearers’. Having experienced God so intensely, Paul did not find it hard to talk about the immense grace of God and the supernatural power of His Holy Spirit that transformed him overnight.

When we become believers of the Gospel of Jesus, we also become part of His body. Once we become members of the body of Christ, we share the Holiness and the goodness of Christ.

In our physical body, every organ is circulated with a continuous supply of food and oxygen because of the steady flow of blood that is pumped by the heart. Each organ has to be connected to the main body to receive these life giving substances. Similarly if we are connected to the body of Christ, where the heart beat is Jesus, we will be nourished by faith and His righteousness that will lead us to bear much fruit.

Just as Paul interceded and prayed for this young church, we too must pray that God will greatly increase our faith in Him so that our desire for goodness will increase each day.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I come to You in Jesus’ name. Today I submit myself and every believer known to me. I pray that You will lead us with Your power so that we will walk in faith, being worthy of Your calling and bear much fruit. Amen.

God bless you

Your obedient servants in Christ,

Theo & Manju

Hope you are having a wonderful day. Remember that it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose (Philippians 2:13).

Glorify Jesus

On the day He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

2 Thessalonians 1:10

Paul says Jesus will come to be glorified by those who are called ‘His very own people’. Paul tells the members of the Thessalonian church that they are called as ‘God’s people’ ever since they became believers of the Gospel of Jesus. In other words, Paul is telling them that they have lived a life that has brought glory to Christ.

We have been reading about these young Christians for the past few months and we can see that they glorified Jesus through their lives. They brought glory to Christ Jesus by their patience and endurance through times of trial. They also brought glory to His Church by the transformed life of love and unity they lived even though they came from a different pagan background.

Though the Thessalonians continuously faced enormous trials and would have also faced temptation to return to their old ways, they refused to be moved from their strong faith in Christ. They were truly God’s holy people in whom Christ was glorified.

Surely When Christ returns it will be a glorious event of great honour. But even greater honour will be brought to Him through those who live a life that brings glory to His name.

Today we can reflect upon the Word and ask ourselves if we have lived lives reflecting His image.  Like the Thessalonians, do we embrace the teaching of Jesus and live as a testimony to bring honour to His name?

Dear Lord,

I come to You in Jesus’ name. I believe that You will come to be glorified in Your holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. Change me each day by the work of Your Holy Spirit so that I will walk in a manner that is worthy of You. Amen.

God bless

Your obedient servants in Christ,

Theo & Manju