Hidden (Krypto) Treasures

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Tag: Abide in Christ

The Lord makes room (for fruitfulness)

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On March 11, 2016

In Christian

Genesis 26:18-23 gives the account of Isaac, the son of Abraham, re-digging the wells of his father, that the Philistines (of Gerar) had stopped. When Isaac’s servant dug in the valley of Gerar, there was a well of springing water, which the herdsmen of Gerar came and strove for, claiming that the water was there. Isaac called that well Esek, meaning “strife.” Then Isaac’s servant dug another well, for which was even more strife, combined with hostility by the herdsmen of Gerar. So Isaac called that well Sitnah, meaning hatred or hostility. Isaac moved from this hostile territory and dug another well, but the third time, the Philistines did not strive for the water, and Isaac, called it Rehoboth meaning that the Lord had made room for them and that they will be fruitful in the land.

Points to ponder:
When we are faced with strife and hostility, we must not give up for the Lord can make room for us (if it is in his permissive will) and so that we can be fruitful. The Holy Spirit is the spring of living waters in us and when he abides in us and we in him, we shall be fruitful (John 15:1-7) and the Lord will make room for us (to be fruitful). The Lord makes room for you to be fruitful with the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) – the question that remains is – Do you make room for the Lord?

Genesis 26:18-23 (KJV)
18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
19 And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
20 And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
21 And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.
22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
23 And he went up from thence to Beersheba.

Fables Rewritten :: The Bundle of Sticks

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On May 21, 2012

In Christian, Fables Rewritten

AN OLD man on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give them some parting advice. He ordered his servants to bring in a bundle of sticks, and said to his eldest son: “Break it.” The son strained and strained, but with all his efforts was unable to break the bundle. The other sons also tried, but none of them was successful. “Untie the bundle,” said the father, “and each of you take a stick.” When they had done so, he called out to them: “Now, break,” and each stick was easily broken. “You see my meaning,” said their father – UNION Gives STRENGTH. (Reference: Aesop’s Fables)

The Bible counsels us to be of one accord with other believers (Philippians 2:2) and Jesus prays for the unity amongst his disciples (John 17:20-23). In fact Jesus prays that the believer not only be one with each other but also with one with God (John 17:21). Unless we abide in Jesus Christ, we can bear no fruit (John 15:4). The old Irish saying, “Ni ceart go cur le cheile” means that there is no strength without unity and without Jesus Christ we are weak, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Union with Jesus Christ gives strength and nothing or no one can break us.

John 17: 20-23 (KJV)
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

John 15: 1-5 (KJV)
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Constant Communion

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On January 1, 2012

In Christian, New Year's Resolution, Poetic Prompts

O Lord, it is the first of the year
And this, my earnest request, I pray thee hear
That with you, ‘I have Constant Communion
For fruitless will I be, without that union.’

‘Behold, I come quickly’, came your word
And in me, your Holy Spirit stirred
And on this impending Truth, I gird
So please show me each moment, my prayer you heard.

In my family that loves you, I see
That your favor is life for life, and not momentary
And in all of the issues that life deals
We can hold fast, for with your stripes we are healed.

No weapon formed against thee shall prosper, you promise.
And on this, help me have the faith of the centurion, not Thomas.
And in the coming year, anticipating your return, our lively hope
Help me to lean on you at all times, when atop mountains, in valley depth or any slope.

Fixing my eyes on Jesus, let me march into battle
Bridle my tongue, lest I dishonor you by my prattle
In your presence, let my words be few
So I may experience your faithfulness and mercy, each day anew.

O Lord, it is the first of the year
And this my earnest request, I pray thee hear
This one thing, I desire and seek
To love you and be loved by you, I plead.

From the Author’s/Poet’s Desk:
As we arrived at the beginning of a new year, reminiscing on the year gone past and looking forward to the year ahead, this poem is requisition of our hearts, that in the coming year, my family (Sangeetha, Reuben and the one, soon to be born), and I are in CONSTANT COMMUNION with God.

During the watchnight service on December 31st, at the Austin Christian Fellowship of India (ACFI), my wife and I picked promise cards for each one in the family and the cards we picked were as follows:
For Mano: … in his favor is life (Psalm 30:5)
For Sangeetha: … with his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5)
For Reuben: No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper … (Isaiah 54:17)
For our son (to be born): Blessed be God, … for he has begotten us into a lively hope … (1 Peter 1:3)
This poem references those promises so that it can remind us of God’s promise to each one of us personally. Additionally, by way of voting (poll), the theme that was picked for the ACFI church was “Be Ye Ready for Jesus Christ” taken from Revelation 22:12, which is also referenced in the poem as a reminder.

It is written with pronouns such as ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘we’ to make it personal to the reader. I reckon you substitute your name or your family’s wherever appropriate to personalize this poem for yourself and be edified.

An explanation of the poem in square brackets has been given below. There are some sections of the poem that may need further explanation, and if you need any clarifications or have comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. Your comments and thoughts are most welcome. God bless.

O Lord, it is the first of the year
[January 1, 2012]
And this, my earnest request, I pray thee hear
[Incline thy ear unto me; Psalm 102:2]
That with me, ‘I have Constant Communion
[My new year’s request to Abide in Christ; John 15:5-8]
For fruitless will I be, without that union.’
[For without Christ, I can do nothing; John 15:5]

‘Behold, I come quickly’, came your word
[Revelation 22:12]
And in me, your Holy Spirit stirred
And on this impending Truth, I gird
[The return of the Lord to reign is not only impending but inevitable; 2 Peter 3:9]
So please show me each moment, my prayer you heard.

In my family that loves you, I see
[In Sangeetha, my wife (a favor from the Lord), I see God’s love and forgiveness and my Son, Reuben, reminds me of God’s unconditional presence, provision and protection as a father to me; Proverbs 18:22]
That your favor is life for life, and not momentary
[My promise card – Psalm 30:5]
And in all of the issues that life deals
We can hold fast, for with your stripes we are healed.
[Sangeetha’s promise card – Isaiah 53:5]

‘No weapon formed against thee shall prosper’, you promise
[Reuben’s promise card – Isaiah 54:17]
And on this, help me have the faith of the centurion, not Thomas.
[Prayer for a faith that marvels Christ and not be one who doubts his word; Hebrews 11:1, Luke 7:9, John 20:29]
And in the coming year, anticipating your return, our lively hope
[Reference back to Revelation 22:12 and the promise card that was picked for our son, who is to be born; 1 Peter 1:3]
Help me to lean on you at all times, when atop mountains, in valley depth or any slope.
[Trust in the Lord at all times and lean not on your own understanding; Proverbs 3:5]

Fixing my eyes on Jesus, let me march into battle
[Hebrews 12:2, Ephesians 6:10-18]
Bridle my tongue, lest I dishonor you by my prattle
[James 3:1-10]
In your presence, let my words be few
[Ecclesiastes 5:2]
So I may experience your faithfulness and mercy, each day anew.
[Great is his faithfulness and his mercies are new every morning; Lamentations 3:22-23]

O Lord, it is the first of the year
And this my earnest request, I pray thee hear
This one thing, I desire and seek
[Beholding God’s beauty, until we see him face to face upon his return; Psalm 27:4]
To love you and be loved by you, I plead.
[To love God and to be loved by Him is what makes CONSTANT COMMUNION with him possible, for if we love him with all of our heart, all our of soul, all of our mind, all of our strength; we will obey him and keep his commandments and we will abide in him and be fruitful as he expects us to be; John 14:15, John 15:7-8]

One thing is needful

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On May 3, 2010

In Christian

Jesus uses the phrase ‘One thing is needful’ in Luke 10:42, but He does not explicitly spell out what it is. In order for us to understand what Jesus meant, we ought to look at the context in which He expressed this. Jesus had come into the house of two sisters, Martha and Mary. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and was listening to His word, while Martha was encumbered with the worries of serving Jesus to the point that she even questions Jesus as to whether the act of her sister, sitting at His feet, listening to Him, while Martha had to serve Jesus alone with no help was something that Jesus did not care about. Jesus replies to Martha that Martha’s mind has many worries, but one thing is needful and commends Mary for her choice. What can we learn from this passage?

The one thing that is needful is that we sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to Him, his word. This is more important than trying to serve him. Serving Jesus is secondary. Abiding in Him and His words abiding in us, as our act of worship staying at His feet, is the one thing that is needful that supersedes our act of serving. To be fed by the Lord than to try to feed (serve) Him is a choice that according to Jesus is the good one. Working without worship is not what the Lord expects. We need to worship first, work next. What is your choice today? Is it one that Jesus can say is commendable; one that He would deem good?

Luke 10:38-42 (KJV)
38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Law of Universal Attraction

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On August 27, 2009

In Christian, Physics and Christ

LawOfUniversalGravitationWhat causes the 1st and 2nd law of Newton to operate is the Law of Universal Gravitation which was first published in 1687 by Newton in the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. This Law states that ‘Any two bodies in the universe are attracted to each other with a force that is proportional to the masses of the two bodies and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.’

It is equationally represented as F α Gm1m2 / r2 where F is force; m1 is the mass of one body and m2 is the mass of the other body and r is center-to-center distance between the two bodies and G is “gravitational constant”

An application of this physical law in our Spiritual life could be used to derive what I call the Law of Universal Attraction. The Law of Universal Attraction states that “The  force of our attraction to Jesus Christ in inversely proportional to the distance between us and Jesus Christ, with the Gravitational pull of the love of Jesus Christ being a constant.” In other words, the closer we are to Jesus Christ, the greater His force will be in our lives and the farther we are from Jesus Christ, the weaker we feel His force in our life. Remember Jesus’ words, ‘Abide in me and I in you, for without me, you can do nothing‘.

The center-to-center distance between us and Christ determine His power in our lives. The more Christ centered we are, with the center of our lives revolving around the central will of God the more proximate we will be to Him and greater His force will be in our lives.

John 15:4-7 (KJV)
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

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