Hidden (Krypto) Treasures

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Tag: Day of sorrow into a day of joy

Finishing well

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On September 30, 2011

In Christian, Salvation Story (and since)

September 30, 2011, marks 21 years of my life as a born again believer. It was on this very day, 21 years ago, that my day of sorrows was changed into a day of joy, when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And in this past 21 years, the journey with my God, Jesus Christ, has had its ups and downs. I’ve had mountain top experiences with Jesus being transfigured in my life and I’ve had the death valley experiences when I felt like I had lost the joy of my Salvation as a result of my own disobedient and rebellious lifestyle, having succumbed to the fiery darts of the evil one. And now as I reminisce of the past, looking forward to the future, I was wondering as to what I’d like to strive toward. I’d like to strive toward “finishing well.”

Recently, Sangeetha and I watched the movie, “The Book of Eli”, which was certainly a good entertainer, but what was even more impressive is the angles of faith that is portrayed in the movie. Denzel Washington (who plays the character Eli) is on a mission to take the Bible to the western shores, despite all the challenges and roadblocks he comes across, in a post apocalyptic world. Toward the end of the movie, he borrows from Apostle Paul’s final words as he prays the following prayer: “Dear Lord, thank you for giving me the strength and the conviction to complete the task you entrusted to me. Thank you for guiding me straight and true through the many obstacles in my path. And for keeping me resolute when all around seemed lost. Thank you for your protection and your many signs along the way. Thank you for any good that I may have done, I’m so sorry about the bad. …  Thank you for finally allowing me to rest. I’m so very tired, but I go now to my rest at peace. Knowing that I have done right with my time on this earth. I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith.”

21 years have gone by, and I don’t know how many more are ordained, but whenever it is the Lord’s appointed time, I’d like to finish well. I’d like this to be said of me that “Mano fought the good fight, Mano finished the race, Mano kept the faith.” and should it be that I depart from this world before the Lord’s return, I’d like the words that Jesus prayed, to be true, as my epitaph “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” (John 17:4).

Points to ponder:
Jesus prayed “I have glorified thee (God) on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” Can that be said of you and me, should today be the last day ordained for our life?

John 17:4 (KJV)
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

2 Timothy 4:7 (KJV)
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Blessed “Be” attitudes :: Be a mourner

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On June 2, 2011

In Be attitudes, Christian

Matthew 5:3-12 lists eight Beatitudes that were spoken of by Jesus. Jesus said, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

To be blessed, one must have an attitude to be a mourner when our lives grieve the heart of God. Sin grieves God’s heart; God repented that he had made men when he saw their wickedness and his heart was grieved (Genesis 6:5-6). The wages of sin is death and death brings sorrow, but godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10). In other words, godly mourning upon the realization of our sin worketh a belief, which leads to comfort and a peace of God that passeth all understanding (Philippians 4:7). Furthermore, we must also mourn for all who are captive (Jeremiah 13:17) in the bondage of death, because they have not yet believed or have refused and rejected the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. We must be like the Psalmist who said, “Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law”(Psalm 119:53). Our hearts must grieve and we must be a mourner, when we see those around us, perishing , because they blatantly refuse Jesus Christ and forsake His offer of life.

Only Jesus can take a day of your sorrow and turn it into a day of Joy. Only Jesus can turn a mourner into one being comforted.

Matthew 5:4 (KJV)
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
2 corinthians 7:10 (KJV)
10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Psalm 119:53
53 Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.
Jeremiah 13:17 (KJV)
17 But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock is carried away captive.

From sorrow to Joy

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On September 30, 2010

In Christian, Salvation Story (and since)

September 30, 1986: A lanky and frail in flesh but superbly strong in Spirit man was taken into an operating room in the Christian Medical College, Vellore, for a triple bypass open heart surgery. Even on his way to the operating room, he was recorded to have been cheerful as he was always. He was joking with the doctors telling them that they should not stitch him after the surgery but just sew a zip on him so that they could easily open him should there be a need to in the future, as he was taken to the surgery which nearly took six hours to complete. Following the surgery, the heart that was in his frail body failed. It was a heart that was dedicated to take the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Bondo tribe in Malkangiri, Orissa, as no one else had. It was the heart of the missionary, Dr. R.A.C. Paul. It was a heart that was a heart after God’s own heart. It was the heart of my earthly father, my ‘Appa’.

A few days later, when my brother Ragland Remo Paul and I came to learn of my father’s departure from this present world into the glorious one that is to come, I wailed and cried with deep sorrow in my heart, accepting little to no consolation from my mother, Dr. Iris. G.R. Paul or Dr. Jeyapaul Sitther and his family, the missionary friends who accompanied her. I missed my dad and I was sorrowful.

September 30, 1990: I, an young child was on my knees in the cold floor of the service hall in Public School in Sunabeda, Orissa as the lanky preacher, Dr. R. Stanley who founded Blessing Youth Mission (BYM) was giving a fiery message in which I remember, he was calling out a  checklist of sins. I also remember that I seemed to have a check mark, pretty much against every sin that was on that list. It weighed heavy in me and as I knelt down, tears were streaming from my eyes when I recognized that while I was still a sinner and an enemy of God, God sent His Only begotten Son Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself and died for me to pay the wages of my sins.  Preacher Stanley then proceeded to give the call to Salvation stating that all who put their trust in Jesus will not be ashamed and all who believe in Him [Jesus] will have  their mourning turned in joy for He shall turn their sorrows into joy. In response, I committed my life to the Lordship of Jesus accepting his Grace and Salvation, Trusting and Believing in Him. After trusting and placing my faith in Jesus by praying the prayer of repentance (2 Chronicles 7:14), I remember vividly that I felt elated and joyous when I learned that a byproduct of my confession in faith, snatched me from the clutches of eternal death, where I was heading otherwise. I had been adopted into the family of God, and the Creator God, who had made me had now remade me as a new creature who could address Him as ‘Abba’ father.

Not until late that evening while traveling back home to Malkangiri from Sunabeda, did it dawn on me that four years earlier, exactly to that day, I had lost my earthly father.

September 30, 1986 was a day of sorrow, robbing me of the joy of being a son to a father, as I had lost my wonderful earthly father, Dr. R.A.C. Paul.
September 30, 1990 was a day of joy, a joy that no man can take away from me, as I had gained the Wonderful heavenly Father, the Great I AM.

Today, many years later since that life changing day, I can confidently state that My God is indeed the Father to the fatherless.
He [Jesus] had turned my day of sorrows into a day of joy (literally).

Jeremiah 31:13 (KJV)
13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

John 16:20,22 (KJV)
20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

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